The Nāṣirī Generations 170.4.7

170.4.7

This may truly be called the Romance of History. Deceived, apparently, by this translation, Elphinstone [page 316] has fallen into great error. He says: ‘‘He [Shahab u din] gained a great victory over the king of that country [Kharizm], besieged him in his capital, and soon reduced him to such straits as to constrain him to sue for aid to the Khitan Tartars,’’ &c. Never was a statement more erroneous. Marshman too, possibly quoting from the same, says “Mahomed led his troops against Takash,” as he styles Sultan ’Ala-ud-Din, Muhammad, the son of Sultan Takish. The following is Firishtah’s account: — “Sultan Shihab-ud-Din was between Tus and Sarakhs when the account of the decease of his brother, Ghiyas-ud-Din, reached him, and in whose name the kingdom was [i. e. in whom the sovereignty rested. This is the passage misinterpreted by Dow — ‘‘who retained nothing of the empire but the name.’’ The original is j\ y *..,1]. From thence he set out for Badghais, performed the mourning ceremonies there, and, in this year, he divided the whole of the states of Khurasan [Firishtah here shows that he is himself no authority as to the geography of was a second Yusuf [in beauty], and the Afrasiyabi Maliks of Turkistan, who were Musalmans, interposed and brought about an accommodation, and the infidel forces drew back again, and the Sultan returned to Ghaznin, and commanded that forces should be organized for a three years’ campaign in Turkistan, and determined to march into Khita.