The Rashīdī History 96: CHAPTER LXVII. · SULTAN SAID KHAN, SON OF SULTAN AHMAD KHAN.
The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross) 96
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CHAPTER LXVII. · SULTAN SAID KHAN, SON OF SULTAN AHMAD KHAN.
96.1
Sultan Ahmad Khan had eighteen sons. The eldest was Mansur Khan, of whom I have just spoken. Next to him came Iskandar Sultan, who died a natural death, after his father. Then came Sultan Said Khan, who was fourteen years of age when Sultan Ahmad Khan went to [the assistance of] his elder brother, Sultan Mahmud Khan. He had taken with him, on this occasion, two of his sons; namely Sultan Said Khan and Babdjak Sultan. While the two Khans were together, Sultan Said Khan passed his days in the cell of instruction of my father, and under the kindly protection of my uncle. [This lasted] up to the time of the battle at Akhsi, between the two Khans and Shahi Beg Khan (which has been mentioned). In the flight which ensued, Sultan Said Khan was struck by an arrow in the thigh, and the bone was broken: so he threw himself onto a side path. After the flight and rout had subsided, some of the people of that district found him, but as his leg was broken, they did not remove him from where he lay. After a few days had passed, and he was almost recovered, they took him before Shaikh Bayazid, Governor of Akhsi. An account of Shaikh Bayazid and of his brother, Sultan Ahmad Tambal, will be found in Part II. Shaikh Bayazid kept Sultan Said Khan in prison.
96.2
In the year following, when the corn was high, Shahi Beg Khan again came against Farghana and Sultan Ahmad Tambal. Sultan Ahmad Tambal and Shaikh Bayazid, together with all their brothers, were put to death by Shahi Beg Khan, who then possessed himself of Farghana. Sultan Said Khan, who was in prison, by the order of Shaikh Bayazid, was now released and conducted before Shahi Beg Khan, who treated him as his own son, and being moved to pity at his sad condition, took him to Samarkand. From there he took him on his campaign against Hisar and Kunduz, at the time when Khusrau Shah had just subjugated the provinces of Hisar, Kunduz, and Badakhshan. When he had brought this enterprise to a close, he again returned to Samarkand. He next invaded Khwarizm. But on the occasion of this expedition, the Khan fled from him and came into Moghulistan. He journeyed by way of Uzun Ahmad as far as Yatikand. His uncle, Sultan Mahmud Khan, was at that time in Yatikand; with him he passed a few days, but finally, being wearied with the careless way in which his uncle conducted the affairs of the State, he departed and went into Moghulistan to visit his brother, Sultan Khalil Sultan, who was governor of the Kirghiz. He remained four years with his brother, among the Kirghiz in Moghulistan. During this period many transactions took place between Sultan Mahmud Khan, Mansur Khan, and these two brothers.
96.3
The result of these proceedings was that Sultan Mahmud Khan found, on account [of the opposition] of his nephews, that he could no longer remain in Moghulistan. So he went to seek Shahi Beg Khan, in hopes of kind treatment. But Shahi Beg Khan, as has been related, put him to death on the river of Khojand. When Sultan Mahmud Khan went abroad [to viláyat] to visit Shahi Beg Khan, these two brothers remained in Moghulistan and the Kirghiz country. In the meanwhile, news of the approach of Mansur Khan's army reached them. For Mansur Khan had led out an army from Chdlish and Turfan against his brothers, in order to seize the land of the Khirghiz and Moghulistan. So Sultán Said Khán and Sultan Khalil, having collected all the [fighting] men of the Kirghiz and the Moghuls, took up a strong position at a place called Charun Chák, ready to receive the enemy. On the arrival of Mansur with his army, the signal for battle was given, and finally Sultán Said Khán and Sultán Khalil Sultán were defeated. Mansur Khan made the Kirghiz march into Chálish, as has been mentioned in the account of Mansur Khán. Sultán Khalil Sultán escaped from the fight with a considerable number of men, and came to Farghána, [hoping] to fall in with his uncle Sultán Mahmud Khán, and to be kindly treated by Sháhi Beg Khán. But when he reached Akhsi he was put to death by Jáni Beg Khán, a cousin of Sháhi Beg Khán, and governor of the country of Farghána.
96.4
Sultán Said Khán, for some time after the battle, took to robbery, but events soon came about which rendered impossible for him further sojourn in Moghulistán. (These events are described in Part II. To avoid repetition they have only been given in epitome here.) In this state of hopelessness Sultan Said Khán went to Andijan, and thence to Kábul, to visit his (paternal) cousin Babar Pádisháh, the son of Omar Shaikh Mirzá, who received him with honour and kindness, and with whom he stayed for three years at Kábul. When Sháh Ismáil [defeated and] slew Sháhi Beg Khán in Marv, Bábar Pádisháh moved from Kábul to Kunduz, taking Sultán Said Khán with him. At this same time Sayyid Muhammad Mirzá, son of Muhammad Haidar Mirzá, and uncle of the author of this history, invaded Andijan and, driving Jani Beg Sultan out, became himself master of the country. He then sent messengers to inform Babar Padishah of what he had achieved. Babar Padishah thereupon sent Sultan Said Khan and what Moghul Amirs he had in his service, to Andijan. On his arrival there, Sultan Said Khan was received with ceremony by his uncle Sayyid Muhammad Mirza, who also delivered over to him the whole of the territory which he had just subjugated. The Khan showed my uncle every mark of honour, and according to the ancient Moghul custom, conferred upon him the title of Ulusbegi, which became his hereditary office.
96.5
Meanwhile Mirza Aba Bakr, having set his heart upon the kingdom of Farghana, had collected an army in Kashghar, and was on the road to Andijan. The Khan marched out to meet him with an army of 1500 men. The two forces came into contact at a place called Tut-lugh, about two farsakhs from Andijan. By the help of God [that small body] of 1500 men overcame an army 20,000 strong, after a very fierce struggle, and in consequence of this victory the fame of Sultan Said Khan was established among the surrounding Sultans. The Uzbeg Sultans from Farghana then began to assemble on the borders of Samarkand and Tashkand. Afterwards, Babar Padishah engaged these Sultans in a battle at Hisar Shadman, and was victorious. By this victory he was enabled to rid Mavara-un-Nahr of all the Uzbeg, and he himself mounted the throne of Samarkand. In the month of Rajab of the year 917, the Khan was again firmly established in Andijan. In the early spring [awal bahar] of the same year, the Uzbeg again entered Tashkand. Ubaid Ullah Khan advanced in the direction of Bokhara, in the neighbourhood of which place he fought a battle with Babar Padishah, who had come out to oppose him. Ubaid Ullah Khan was victorious, and Babar Padishah retired defeated to Samarkand, whence, withdrawing his family and all his belongings, he fled to Hisar. Thus the Uzbeg recovered their ascendency. The Khan remained in Andijan.
96.6
Babar Padishah, meanwhile, appealed to Shah Ismail for assistance. The latter sent Mir Najm, one of his Amirs, with 60,000 men, to the Padishah, who having joined his own troops to these, marched on Samarkand. The Khan, in the meantime, having harassed the Uzbeg in the neighbourhood of Andijan, also marched towards Samarkand, and encountered Suyunj Khwaja Khan near Tashkand. All the other Khans and Sultans had assembled in Samarkand and Bokhara to oppose Babar Padishah. But in the battle near Tashkand, between the Khan and Suyunj Khwaja Khan, the former had 5000 men and the latter 7000; after a hard fight, the Khan was defeated and fled to Andijan. Your servant, the author of the present history, having taken leave of Babar Padishah, at the time when he went to join Mir Najm, entered the service of the Khan, who was in Andijan, and had just sustained a defeat at the hands of Suyunj Khwaja Khan. In the spring, the Khan went to the court of Kasim Khan, who was ruler of the Dasht-i-Kipchak. At that time his army numbered 300,000 men. Kasim Khan received him with so much respect and honour that the Khan remembered it for years after. On his return from that visit, he distinguished me from among my equals with the connection [musa'hara?] of Kurkani. All this is related in Part II.
96.7
In the early spring of the year 920 all the great Uzbeg Sultans, with a very numerous army of warriors, advanced against Andijan. The Khan, not deeming it wise to offer fight, retired into Moghulistan before the foreign army reached Farghana. When he arrived at Yatikand they held a council of war, and acting on the timely advice and persuasion of my uncle Sayyid Muhammad Mirza (who was brother to Mirza Aba Bakr), they marched towards Kashghar, where a terrible battle was fought, in which the army of that place was routed and obliged to retire within the fort of Kashghar. The Khan then marched on Yangi Hisar, which he besieged for three months. At length the inhabitants entered into a capitulation with my uncle, and delivered up the fort. On this news reaching Kashghar, the army that was in that town abandoned it. When the fugitives joined Mirza Aba Bakr in Yarkand, he too resolved on flight, and took the road to Khotan. The Khan pursued him to Yarkand, and then sent on troops after him, as far as the mountains of Tibet. Much booty in the shape of cloths, goods, cattle and horses fell into the hands of the Moghul army (as is described in the Second Part). The accession of the Khan to the kingdom of Kashghar was in Rajab of the year 920. At the end of that winter Aiman Khwaja Sultan, who was brother to the Khan, by the same father and mother, came from Turfan, as has been stated above.
96.8
He instigated and encouraged his Amirs in the matter of the extermination of Mansur Khan, explaining to them the decline of the Khan's power, and dwelling on the enmity that had existed in Moghulistan, in times past, towards the Khan. But the Khan said: "He is the elder brother; in former times I did not pay him due respect, and consequently he punished me. I ought on this account to bear him no enmity. The most fitting thing for me to do, is to apologise to him for my shortcomings, and offer him reparation for the past." He then sent ambassadors bearing words of peace and submission. At this message, Mansur Khan, whose soul had come to his lips, from fear and foreboding, now received new life and joy without bounds. He came in fear and trembling to the conference [mulakat] which was held between Aksu and Kusan. The Khan showed him great honour, and agreed to read the Khutba and strike coins in his name. And all the ill-feeling that he had formerly borne Mansur Khan, he now changed to brotherly affection and obedience. From this peace and reconciliation between the two brothers, resulted such security and prosperity for the people, that any one might travel alone between Kámul or Khitái and the country of Farghana, without provision for the journey and without fear of molestation. Some ingenious person, to commemorate this peace, invented the following chronogram, "Jhk lashkar ba nisbát" — that is, 922. ["Two armies in happiness."]
96.9
The next year, when Muhammad Kirghiz had made raids into Turkistan and Farghana, and had plundered the Musulmáns, the Khán, in his desire to protect Islam, looked upon this action as an insult. He therefore set forth to attack Muhammad Kirghiz, whom he seized and threw into prison, where he remained for fifteen years. In 928 [1522] the Khán took his son Rashid Sultan into Moghulistan. He subdued the whole of Moghulistan and the Kirghiz, and a number of the people of Moghulistan supported Rashid Sultan. Finally, on account of the [superiority of the] Mangit, the Uzbeg Kazak, being no longer able to remain in the Dasht-i-Kipchak, came over into Moghulistan, to the number of 200,000 persons. It was impossible to resist them, so Rashid Sultan retired with his men to Kashghar. Meanwhile the Khan invaded Badakhshan, and conquered half of it, which is, to this day, subject to the government of Kashghar. This is a long story. The disputes that arose out of the claims to its inheritance made by Shah Begum (who has been mentioned) are related in Part II. of this History. The Khan twice invaded Badakhshan, once in the year 925 and again in 936 [1519 and 1529-30]. In the year 934 the Khan sent me, with Rashid Sultan, to Balur, which is a country of infidels [Kafiristan] between Badakhshan and Kashmir, where we conducted successfully a holy war [ghazat] and returned victorious, loaded with booty and covered with glory.
96.10
A short time after this, it came about that some malicious and impure devils set up Aiman Khwaja Sultan in Aksu. This town, which from the date of the conquest of Mirza Aba Bakr (909), to the year 913, had been in a state of ruin, was now rebuilt by Aiman Khwaja Sultan. The Khan sent me, together with Rashid Sultan, to Aksu, whence we drove out Aiman Khwaja Sultan, and sent him to Kashghar. Then, having set in order his military and civil affairs, I left Rashid Sultan in Aksu and re-entered the service of the Khan. Aiman Sultan was despatched to Hindustan, where he died a natural death. At the end of the year 938 [1532] the Khan made a holy war on the infidel country [Kafiristan] of Tibet, sending me forward in advance of himself. I had taken several of the forts and subdued most of the country of Tibet, by the time the Khan came up with me. The two armies together formed a body of 5000 men, which was a larger number of people than all Tibet could support in winter time. So the Khan saw fit to send me, in company with Iskandar Sultán, to Kashmir, with 4000 men, while he himself proceeded to Balti, which is a province between Tibet and Balur. He spent the winter there, engaged in a holy war, and in the spring returned to Tibet.
96.11
I entered Kashmir that winter, and at the end of the season fought a pitched battle with the kings [malik] of the country. Thanks to the Most High God, I came off victorious, and exterminated the whole army of Kashmir and the kings. I might also have subdued the whole of the country, had it not been for some of those malignant persons who, by their words and actions, throw things into disorder, and who rendered the further reduction of the country impossible. Peace was made with the kings of Kashmir, and the daughter of Muhammad Shah, the Padishah of Kashmir, was given in marriage to Iskandar Sultan, while the Khutba was read and the coins struck in the Khan's name. All the wealth of Kashmir, that it was possible to collect, was brought, in the spring following that winter, to the Khán in Tibet. The Khan, on my return, honoured me with every mark of royal benevolence and favour, and sent me to Ursang, which is the Kibla of Khitai and Tibet, while he himself set out for Kashghar. At the time of his arrival [in Tibet] he had become very weak and much reduced, from dam-giri, and during the whole period of his sojourn in Tibet he never quite recovered. Nevertheless, he was obliged, under any circumstances, to make the [return] journey. When he reached a spot where dam-giri was prevalent, his pious soul took flight to the regions of the blessed. This was at the close of the year 939. All this is fully related in Part II. of this History.