The Rashīdī History 73.1

73.1

Having passed the winter at Kar& Tukai, the Kh&n proceeded in the spring to Tdshkand. At that time there was, in Tashkand, one of the Amirs of Mirzd Sultdn Abu Said, Shaikh Jamdl-ud-Din Khar by name. Sultdn Abu Said Mirza had just died in Irdk, and had been succeeded in the rule of Khordsdn by Sultan Husain Mirzd ; while his son, Sultdn Ahmad Mirzd, succeeded him in Samarkand. The government of Hisdr, Kunduz and Badakhshdn had devolved upon his son, Mirzd Sultdn Mahmud, and Mirzd Omar Shaikh became p&dishdh of Andijdn, and vali of Farghdna. Yunus Khdn made all three of these Mirzds his sons-in-law. (I will mention each of them in his proper place.) In short, this Shaikh Jamál Khar was one of Sultán Abu Said's Amirs, and had been appointed Governor of Táshkand, subject to Mirzá Sultán Ahmad of Samarkand; but his allegiance to the Mirzá was very imperfect. The Khan, on account of the scarcity of barley in Moghulistán, came to Tashkand, where he mixed freely and unsuspectingly with the above-mentioned Mirzás. For the Khán had come without any apprehensions; but his Moghul followers had sent secretly to Shaikh Jamál Khar, inviting him to come and oppose the Khán, to which the Shaikh, after much persuasion, agreed. He approached the Khán as if to do him homage, but when he drew near, all the men who were with the latter, went forward to meet the Shaikh, leaving the Khán alone.