The Rashīdī History 132: CHAPTER XXII. ARRIVAL OF THE NEWS OF THE DEFEAT OF SHAHI BEG KHAN BY SHAH ISMAIL. MARCH OF THE EMPEROR FROM KABUL TO KUNDUZ.
The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross) 132
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CHAPTER XXII. ARRIVAL OF THE NEWS OF THE DEFEAT OF SHAHI BEG KHAN BY SHAH ISMAIL. MARCH OF THE EMPEROR FROM KABUL TO KUNDUZ.
132.1
In the early part of Ramazan of the year 916 [1510 a.d.] a person came to Kabul with a letter from Mirza Khan to the Emperor. The passes were blocked with snow, for it was the season of the beginning of Capricorn. The letter contained the news that Shah Ismail, having come from Irak, had engaged and defeated Shahi Beg Khan at Merv. It had not been fully ascertained whether Shahi Beg Khan had been killed or not. All the Uzbeg had recrossed the river Amu, and fled to Kunduz, where Amir Urus Durman then was. Nearly 20,000 Moghuls, having separated from the Uzbeg, had also gone to Kunduz from Merv. "I, myself," he added, "have gone over to Kunduz. If you will quickly turn the reins of your power in the direction of Kunduz, I will attach myself to you, and I have the firmest hope that you may soon recover your hereditary kingdom." [As soon as the Emperor had read the contents of this letter] he set out with all possible speed [although it was] in the depth of winter. [He took the route] of Ab Dara [since by that route] there were no high passes to cross. He kept the Feast of Ramazan in the Bamian district, and at the beginning of Shawal reached Kunduz, where he was received by Mirza Khan, and by the Moghuls who had been with the Uzbeg. Having reposed for a few days in Kunduz, after the fatigues of the journey, it was proposed that they should proceed against Hisar, where Hamza Sultan and Mahdi Sultan, two of the most eminent of the Uzbeg Sultans, were ruling.
132.2
The winter was nearly over when they passed the River Amu, at the ford of Tukuz Taram. When Hamza Sultan heard of their approach, he rode out of Hisar and repaired to Yakhsh, while the Emperor advanced to the plain [dasht] of Kulak, which is one of the most noted localities in Khatlan. There he learnt that Hamza Sultan was in Yakhsh. That same night he set out by the higher road to surprise Sultan Hamza, and at sunrise reached his camp. Nobody was there. They searched on every side, and found a few peasants, who gave them the following information concerning Hamza Sultan: "Yesterday, at the hour of midday prayers, news came that the Emperor had pitched his camp in the plain of Kulak, whereupon [Hamza Sultan] immediately set out for that place, by the lower road." The Emperor at once started in pursuit, along the road which Hamza Sultan had taken, and at noontide prayers again found himself at his quarters of the night before. Hamza Sultan, for his part, had reached the camp at dawn, and found a precisely similar state of affairs; he, too, set out in the track of our army, and at midday prayer time re-entered his own camp. The Emperor and his men believed that Hamza Sultan would not be able to resist them; while Hamza Sultan, on the other hand, thought that [the Emperor] had only brought a few men with him from Kabul, and that the Moghul army, having only just arrived, would not yet have made sufficient preparations to be able to fight.
132.3
As both sides entertained such ideas as these, they became afraid of one another. That same night the Emperor pressed on to Kunduz, while Hamza Sultan fled to Hisar. After a few days, they each received the news of the other's flight, and both of them repeated, in thankfulness for their escape, the verse "Praise be to God who has averted from us an affliction." The Emperor, on reaching Kunduz, found that an ambassador had arrived from Shah Ismail, bearing tenders of friendship. In the meantime Khanzada Begum, the Emperor's sister, had come from Khorasan [having been sent by Shah Ismail]. It has been already related how the Emperor, at the siege of Samarkand, had given his sister, Khanzada Begum, to Shahi Beg Khan, as a ransom for his own life, and had thus escaped. The Begum was taken into Shahi Beg Khan's haram, and by him, had a son named Khurram Shah Sultan. After this, the Khan [Shahi Beg] began to fear that she might, in concert with her brother, plot against his life; he therefore divorced her, and gave her to Sayyid Hadi, one of the most eminent Sayyids of the Sayyid-ata — a man who was held in the greatest respect and honour by himself and the Sultans and all the Uzbeg. Sayyid Hadi had been killed in the battle of Merv, and the Begum and her son had fallen into the hands of the Turkomans. When Shah Ismail discovered that she was Babar Padishah's sister, he treated her with great attention, and sent her back, with an ambassador bearing costly gifts, to the Emperor.
132.4
When Khanzada Begum arrived [the Emperor was overjoyed] and despatched Mirza Khan to Shah Ismail laden with presents, and charged with protestations of submission, good faith, and entreaties for support and assistance. Shah Ismail received him well, and having acceded to his requests, speedily gave him leave to return. During this interval, a messenger came from my uncle to announce that he had entirely cleared Farghana of the Uzbeg, and that he had brought that country under his complete control, so that the extermination of the Uzbeg and the conquest of Mavara-un-Nahr would now become an easy matter. This brings me to the next chapter.