The Nāṣirī Generations 248.4
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 248.4
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248.4.1
Abu-l-Fazl, the author of the Akbar Namah, however, makes a very bold guess indeed, and has the assurance to fix the period at “about 2000 years.”—This is almost as absurd as the Fanakati’s 4000 years previously referred to—He has mixed up the account of the I-ghurs with that of Kaiat and Dural-gin, and hence this assumption. He also asserts that this migration took place at the end of the reign of Nushirwan, the Just, ruler of I-ran [A.D. 521—579], and “supposes” that the art of writing and reading did not exist. He also states that, during that period of “nearly 2000 years,” while they dwelt in Irganah-Kun, twenty-five persons “reigned,” which would give over eighty years’ reign to each; but most of the other writers I have compiled this account from, with the exception of Abu-l-Ghazi, say nothing about any previous rulers, while some others distinctly state that they obeyed no single chief, until the period when the chief authority over the different tribes fell to I-yal-duz, son of Mangali.
248.4.2
At the time that the descendants of Kaian and Naguz determined upon issuing from Irganah-Kun, the chieftainship had fallen to Yal-duz—-jj jI—or Yul-duz—or I-YAL-DUZ—jjjlil—khan, son of Mangali Khan, [styled Mangali Khwajah, by some], son of Timur-Tash, of the race of Kaian, and he was a chieftain of considerable power and dignity. In this matter all agree except Abu-l-Ghazi, who states that, when they issued from Irganah-Kun, their chief was named Bartazinah [? and gives names of seven other chiefs before he reaches that of Timur-Tash, Mangali Khan, and Yul-duz or I-yal-duz, but gives no account of them beyond their succeeding and dying. This however we cannot credit, since, in the account of the Chingiz Khan, almost immediately after, he says, that, while dwelling in Irganah-Kun, the Mughals were in total ignorance of the names of the rulers, but that they an account of these occurrences, from the beginning of the were certainly jgCaiats, and, since the books of the Mughals contain nothing certain on this head, he is obliged to leave a gap in this place ! !
248.4.3
At this point the different writers I have been quoting mention the boundaries and limits of the Mughal country — Mughalistan. “It lies,” they say, “a long way east, and far from cultivated countries, and is seven or eight months' journey (in extent),” some say it is a year’s journey. The Mughals lived in forests and wilds, their food was from the animals of the chase, and the produce of their flocks and herds, and their garments the skins thereof. The extreme eastern limit was the frontier of Khita, on the west it adjoined the country of the I-ghurs. On the north it extended as far as the country of the Kirghiz — [the Akbar Namah has Farghanah which is absurd] which is also written Kirghiz — and and Kirghiz — and — being interchangeable, and Salingae — [the country towards the River Salingah is evidently meant here], and south it reached to the frontiers of Tibbat. Our author says the forces of the Chingiz Khan had to undertake a three months’ march through “the wilderness,” or steppe, from the place where he assembled his host on hearing of the massacre of his emissaries and merchants by the Khwarazmis, to enable them to reach the Utrar frontier.
248.4.4
The country of the I-ghurs is described as containing two great ranges of mountains, one of which they call Kara-Tu, and the other, Uskun-Luk, and the mountain (range?) of Kara-Kuram lies between these two ranges. The residence built by Uktae Khan near it is named after this koh of Kara-Kuram. To the south of these two great ranges, before named, is another which they style Kut-Tagh. Out of one of these ranges ten rivers flow, and out of the other nine; and, in ancient times, the I-ghurs dwelt along the banks of these rivers. Those who dwelt on the ten [un] rivers were called On-I-ghurs, and those who were located on the nine [tokuz] Tokuz-I-ghurs. There were some other tribes dwelling near them, but space forbids my going into farther detail here.
248.4.5
Mirza Muhammad Haidar, of the Doghlat! tribe of the Mughals, previously mentioned, a native of Farghanah, in his work, written in 951 H., explains the southern boundary as extending towards Tungut or Tangut, and the northern to Kara-kir, the Karhiz or Kirghiz of others. He adds [I only give a brief abstract] that of “these four boundaries, mentioned in the Jahan Kushae of the Juwaini, the country of Khitae is distinct and known, but, as regards the I-ghur country, nothing is known of it at present as to where it is, and, at this day, nothing is known of Kara-kir or Salingae, and no places with such names are indicated. The name of Tungut often occurs in the history of the Mughals, and the Chingiz Khan, at the outset of his power, despatched an army thither, but now nothing whatever is known of it, nor is information to be obtained regarding these parts which are mentioned in books, and the same may be said of many famous cities such as Bilasa-ghun, Taraz, and the like.” He further states, that “the extent of Mughulistan, so called in his time, which was much contracted from what it had been [and which is styled Jatah in the History of Timur], was seven or eight months’ journey in length and breadth, and gives the following as its boundaries. On the N. the Kokjah Tingiz — Koom-Labas or Labs — and Kara-Tal — the territory of Farghanah, Kashghar, Aksu, Jalish, and Turfan. On the E. it adjoins the land of the Kalimaks [the Kal-i-mak?
248.4.6
this is not the name irruption of that race, and domination of that nation, up to of the people, but merely their nickname] which is the Paras or Pars-Kol — I-mil — Irtish — [or Irdish — also the name of a tract of country] and the Paras-Kol is its eastern limit ; and the W. boundary is the territory of Turkistan and Tashkand [the Altan or Golden Mountains, the northern boundary of Tashkand]. The writer was himself well acquainted with its southern boundary, and, respecting the other three, obtained his information from persons who had visited, and were acquainted with them, and Mughulistan consists entirely of mountains and plains [steppes].” What he himself saw of it, he says, he cannot find words to praise sufficiently, and that, from the accounts of others, the other parts are equally delightful, but the winters are cold. “Mughulistan,” he says, “has several rivers, like unto the Jihun and Sihun in size and extent, such as the I-lah — I-mil — Irtish — Juilik — and the Narin — all of which, in respect of volume, are not less than the Jihun and Sihun. These waters mostly fall into the Kokjah-Tingiz, which is a Kol or Lake Bae-Kol [the Baikal Lake of our maps] between Mughulistan and Uzbakistan. Its length is eight months’ [weeks’?] journey, and its width, in some places, by computation, is thirty farsakhs, and, when it is frozen in the winter, the Uzbaks pass over it, and enter Mughulistan. The Issigh-Kol is also in Mughulistan.”
248.4.7
Babar however, who preceded Mirza Muhammad Haidar, a few years, says that Almaligh, Almatu, and Utrar, lay north of Farghanah, but that they had been laid waste by the Uzbaks. Abu-l-Ghazi says the true Mughal country contains two ranges of very lofty mountains [which are plainly shown on the best maps of Central Asia] extending from east to west, and between these two ranges, nearest to the west, is the true country of the Mughals. Still more west lay the country of the I-ghurs. This description agrees with that given by other authors in the account of Kara Khan [page 875], and those two great ranges of mountains have been already named. To return to the descendants of Kaian and Naguz. They, having determined to issue from Irganah-Kun, thought of doing so by the same route or defile by which their ancestors had entered it, but they found it impossible. The pass had been destroyed by an earthquake, and no trace of it remained. They searched about in all directions, and at last they found one spot which seemed easier than any other, but it was impeded by a hill in which was a mine of iron [iron-stone rock possibly], and to enable them to get out they split the rocks by means of fire [Hannibal used vinegar in the Alps], and succeeded in making a practicable route. The tribe of Kungkurat or Kunghurat, as it is also written, led the way out, and were in such haste to do so that they are said, in the tradition, to have burnt their feet.
248.4.8
The Majami’-ul-Khiyar distinctly states that this event took place some time after the 200th year of the Hijrah. This is improved upon by Petis de la Croix, in his “Life of Genghizcan the Great,” page 6, who says that the Cayat [Kaiat?] derived their name “from a certain people who lived in the remotest Northern Parts of Mogolistan which were called Cayat, because their Chief had heretofore erected a Foundry for Iron-work in a mountain called Arkenekom, which gained them a great Reputation, and made this Branch of the Moguls highly esteemed, by the great advantage all the Moguls Country received from this Invention ; they therefore called these people the Arkenekom-Smiths.” This is history with a vengeance ! the year 658 H., when this work was brought to a conclusion. Their former country had been in the meantime occupied by tribes of the Tattar I-mak, and other Turks, and the Mughals fought with them, and drove them out. The former, consequently, had to seek other tracts. Some went away to the eastward, while others went west, and south, and north; and, about this period, we find a great movement among the Saljuqs and the Ghuzz in a south-westerly direction.
248.4.9
Those tribes of the Mughal I-mak which left Ughuz Khan’s country, as previously related, and had gone towards the borders of Chin and sought the protection of the Tattars, now returned, and rejoined the tribes of Qaiat and Dural-gin, while some other small tribes, but of which I-mak is not mentioned, which submitted to Yal-duz or I-yal-duz Khan, were permitted to dwell in his newly acquired territory.