The Rashīdī History 234.5

234.5

Rashid Sultan, on his father's demise, put to death my uncle, his children and Ali Sayyid : that is to say, he sacrificed them. [Two couplets]. . . After he had killed my uncle, and had ill-treated [his family], he went on to offer such insults and indignities to the haram of his noble father, as modesty prevents me from describing. Maulana Sharaf-ud-Din Ali Yazdi, in the Zafar-Nama describes the misdeeds of Sultan Khalil Mirza, one of the grandsons of Amir Timur, who succeeded his grandfather on the throne of Samarkand. This passage I have copied exactly into this place. Certainly, with the exception of Sultan Khalil Mirza, no one but Rashid Sultan has practised such tyranny and wrong. These matters being somewhat delicate to relate, I have copied out the passage in order to give some idea of this lamentable affair. The evident intention of Sharaf-ud-Din Ali Yazdi, in mentioning these hideous deeds, was that his readers and men of note might be warned to avoid criminal acts, and practise works of righteousness.