The Nāṣirī Generations 139.9

139.9

from Ghaznin to Balkh and Kabul, Ghaznin to Hindustan, Ghaznin to Sijistan, and from Ghaznin to Hirat, and thence up the valley of the Murgh-ab ; and Mas’ud appears to have passed through Ghur to Ghaznin, when he had to fly, after his defeat by the Saljuk, and yet we hear not a word about these powerful rulers of our author, although the Sultans must have passed through the mountain tracts of Ghur constantly—in fact the Sultans of Ghaznin held several fortresses in Ghur ; and Tigin-abad was in that very part, and Muhammad, brother of Mas’ud, was confined in the fortress of Nae in Wajiristan, one of the very districts mentioned by our author as forming part of the Ghurian dominions. I think ’Utbi and Baihaki were more than likely to have had thorough knowledge of these potent Maliks and sovereigns so called, yet Baihaki and ’Utbi treat them as very petty chieftains, although they held some strong fortresses. Our author quotes Baihaki constantly about other matters, but not here in regard to what happened under his [Baihaki’s] own observation as it were ; and this looks suspicious. I will now give an abridged account of what he does say respecting Sultan Mahmud’s proceedings with respect to Ghur, and of the expedition undertaken by his gallant son, Mas’ud, against some of its petty chiefs, during the time he held the government of Khurasan, before he succeeded to the throne of Ghaznin.