[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Kashmir](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir) › [Tārīkh-i Rashīdī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi) › [The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross) › 8.4.4 # The Rashīdī History 8.4.4 The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross) 8.4.4 - **Language:** English ### [8.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.4.4) The poet Khusru, in the passage cited above, calls the people he describes, by the name of Tatar, though a little lower down (on the same page) he says they were "Turks of Kai;" while elsewhere, he frequently speaks of the same people as Moghuls. Further, the late Mr. R. B. Shaw has explained, with regard to the word Tajik, that it stands in opposition to Turk, just as Arab stands to Ajam, and thus is not necessarily a race name. Many other instances might be given of this non-ethnic use of the word Turk, and with them might be included also some relating to a similar employment of the term Tatar. But the above will suffice to make it clear that, though the Moghuls of Moghulistan were often called Turks, during the period including the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, it need not be assumed that they were actually of Turkish race, either by origin or by subsequent fusion of blood. There was, however, another and very important circumstance that complicated this question of nomenclature still further. It was, it seems, the desire of all the tribes and nations of Central Asia, to identify themselves with the race which happened to be in the ascendant at any particular time. They endeavoured to adopt its name, and to pass themselves off as members of the nation in supremacy, regardless of racial affinities. - [Previous: 8.4.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.4.3) - [Next: 8.4.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.4.5) - [Up: 8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.4.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.4.4) · Pramāṇa