The Rashīdī History 166.1

166.1

After the victorious Khan had settled all his important affairs in Yarkand, it was discovered that Mirza Jahangir had not followed his father into Tibet, but that he had settled down in the district of Sanju. The Khan, thereupon, sent my uncle to bring back his nephew, by some means or other. When my uncle reached Sanju, Mirza Jahangir came out to receive him, offering rich gifts, and said to him: "It is evident to all, that during my father's reign I lived in retirement and in mortal dread of him. During all that time, I did not enjoy a single moment's security or freedom from anxiety. Fear of violence had always made me seek seclusion, and thus the eye of my nature became closed to the splendours of wealth and rank, and I have always been obliged to drink from the cup of dissatisfaction. When the evil foundations of my father's realm began to give way, and his power to crumble from the earthquakes caused by the Khan's forces, he drew me forth from my corner of seclusion, and set me upon the throne of pomp. And I, who during forty-two years, being in fear and trembling for my life, had never gained any experience of the world, how could I suddenly be expected to supervise a whole State? Besides these difficulties, it was my father's constant practice, whenever he stripped one of his children of the garments of life, to lament the unfortunate victim in my presence, saying: 'He was a full grown youth.