The Nāṣirī Generations 123.1

123.1

Sultan Takish was a very great monarch, and was endowed with considerable attainments, capacity, and understanding, and was a proficient in the science of music. When he ascended the throne he brought under his sway the different tracts of the territory of Khwarazm, and likewise some parts of Khurasan, either by force of arms or by peaceful means. He entered into union with the Khan of Kifchak, who was named Akran [or Ikran], and married the daughter of that ruler. That lady acquired great celebrity in the world, and rose to great eminence, more particularly during the reign of her son, Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah. She was a woman of great firmness of character, very impetuous, and of imperious temperament; and, during the reign of her son, she had the title of Khudawandah-i-Jahan [Princess of the Universe]. So great was her spirit, her haughtiness, and her resentment, when roused, that, on one occasion, she became enraged with her husband, Sultan Takish, on account of a female slave with whom he had formed a connexion, and followed him to the bath, and closed the door of the hot bath upon him, so that the Sultan very nearly perished. Information of the circumstance was conveyed to a party of the great nobles, and a number of lords and chiefs arrived, broke open the door of the hot bath, and took Sultan Takish out. He had been reduced to a state of lividness, and one of his eyes had been nearly destroyed.