The Rashīdī History 4.3.1

4.3.1

Abaka, the Il-Khan of Persia, who had always acknowledged Kublai as the rightful Khakan in opposition to Kaidu, and who had never forgiven Borak's invasion of Khorasan, was only watching his opportunity, and his Wazir, Shams-ud-Din Juvaini, had only to draw his attention to a favourable omen, to start him for Bokhara, which he entered about 1274 (672 H.), plundering, burning, and murdering right and left." Dava reigned for some thirty-two years and was almost constantly at war. He possessed himself of Ghazni, and from that stronghold, as a base, made several expeditions into India, ravaging the Punjab and Sind, and sacking at different times between 1296 and 1301 Peshawar, Multan, Lahore, and Delhi. In the meantime, Kaidu had involved himself in wars of long duration with the Khakan Kublai, and as these took place shortly before the time of Marco Polo's travels through Central Asia and China, detailed accounts of some of them have been handed down to us in his narrative. These wars extended, from first to last, over a period of some thirty years, and were not even concluded in 1294, when Kublai died and was succeeded as Khakan by his grandson Uljaitu. The credit indeed of finally overthrowing Kaidu is due rather to this prince, and moreover it was not Kaidu alone whom he subdued, but Dava also, for this last, on his return from a campaign in India in 1301, seems to have allied himself with Kaidu and to have assisted in the wars against the Khakan.