The Rashīdī History 3.4.5

3.4.5

Hence, fearing that he might meet with the same treatment as his uncle and others of his family, if he returned to Kashghar, he had to seek for a refuge. It was impossible to stay longer in Ladak, while all the direct roads to India and Kabul were in the hands of those whom he had lately been chastising and plundering, in the name of religion. With the daring of despair, he determined to try and reach Badakhshan with the handful of adherents that remained in his service, by turning off from the usual track between Ladak and Yarkand, at a point called Ak-Tagh, to the north of the Karakorum Pass; and after following the course of the Yarkand river for some distance, to gain Raskam, the southern Pamirs, and Wakhan. This adventure — apparently almost hopeless under the conditions in which he attempted it — he accomplished successfully, accompanied by about twenty followers, though not without much hardship and suffering. The winter of 1536-7 he spent in Badakhshan, the following summer he repaired to Kabul, and shortly after to Lahore, where he was received by Baber's son, Kamran Mirza, and found himself, as he tells us, raised from the depths of distress to honour and dignity. Kamran was at that time engaged in a struggle for territory with the Persians, and had, soon after our author's arrival, to proceed to the relief of Kandahar, which was being besieged by Sam Mirza and by Shah Tahmasp, the sons of Shah Ismail, the Safavi;