The Nāṣirī Generations 248.5
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 248.5
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248.5.1
According to the Fanakati the name Mughul or Mughal is the appellative or generic name applied to those who came out of Irganah-Kun, and to the others of that I-mak who rejoined and continued to dwell with them, and that name commenced to be used respecting them from this period; but they had been known, centuries before, as Turks of the Mughal I-mak, by his own account. Some writers who approach this subject from the “Mongol” point of view, and who, unable to read the originals for themselves, imagine that every author who wrote in the Persian language must necessarily be a Persian, and, consequently, cannot know anything of Mughal or Mughul history, because such a word as “Mongol” is not to be found in their works, hug themselves with the idea that the History written by the “great Raschid” may contain something in support of their crude ideas. For the information of such I here append the headings of the first four Sections of Rashid-ud-Din’s History of the Mughuls, as he styles them, and which was compiled from the Altan Daftar, or Golden Record, and other authorities:— First Section.—Account of the tribes of Aghuz, who was the great grandson of Alminjah Khan, son of Turk, son of Yafis, son of Nuh, the Prophet, and of the tribes descended from his uncles, with an account of their genealogy and ramifications.
248.5.2
Second Section.—Account of the Turk tribes whom they designate by the name of Mughuls, but every one of which, in ancient times, bore distinct and particular surnames, and have had Sar-wars and Amirs over them. Third Section.—Account of the Turk tribes, every one of which have had Badshahs and Chiefs, but who bore no relationship to the tribes mentioned in the preceding Sections. [This is a paradox, even from his own words, because, being Turks, they naturally bore relationship to the Turks as descendants from a common ancestor.] Fourth Section.—Account of the tribes of Turks, whose surname from time immemorial was Mughul; and this Section is in two parts. 1. Account of the Dural-gin Mughuls. 2. Account of the Nairun Mughuls. [The author cannot be right, for has not Mr. H. H. Howorth, in the Geographical Magazine for November, 1876, declared that Mongols are not Turks? This is correct with regard to “Mongols,” but scarcely so with respect to Rashid-ud-Din’s Mughuls.] The next Section treats of the ancestors of the Chingiz Khan.
248.5.3
Every year, when the anniversary of that day comes round on which the Qaiat and Dural-gin came out of Irganah-Kun, the Mughals keep it as a great festival, and on the night thereof the Mughal sovereigns have the implements of the blacksmith brought in, place a piece of iron in the fire, and heat it, and, and in order that that which I myself witnessed, and what when hot, beat it on an anvil with a hammer, in commemoration of opening the way out, and this custom, imperfectly understood by Ibn Batutah, and others, led them probably to make the absurd statement that the Chingiz Khan, or Tamur-chi, was in his outset a blacksmith in the country of Siita ” ! Other authors say that all who can trace their descent to Kian or Naguz— Qaiats and Dural-gins — are considered true Mughals. On the death of Yal-duz or I-yal-duz his son succeeded to his authority. Ju-inah — and, by some few writers, Chubinah — and Khu-inah — and even but these two last forms are erroneous without doubt, particularly the last, succeeded his father, Yal-duz or I-yal-duz, in the chieftainship, but the Tarikh-i-Jahan-gir does not account him as a ruler, and makes Ju-inah’s daughter next in succession to Yal-duz or I-yal-duz. The Tarikh-i-Ghazani, which Abu-l-Ghazi also quotes, differs considerably from other writers. It states that Yal-duz or I-yal-duz had two sons named Bakjadi or Bagjadi — and Bilkadae or Bilgadae — [according to Rashid-ud-Din, in the Jami'-ut-Tawarikh.
248.5.4
Nush-Tigin-i-Gharjah, the founder of the Khwarazmi empire, claimed descent from Aghuz through this very Bilkadae or Bilgadae. See note to page 231, para. 4], but these names are somewhat doubtfully written and may not be quite correct. According to the same authority, both died before him, and he gave to the son of one of them, named Do-yun or Doi-un Byan — or Do-yun Bayan — which is also written Dubun — Diyun — and in other ways, the daughter of the other son, who was named Alan-Quwa, a damsel of great beauty and talent, in marriage. Abu-l-Ghazi however differs from the preceding this much that he says the husband of Alan-Quwa, who was Yal-duz's grandson, did not succeed to the sovereignty because he had not attained the age of thirty, and died soon after his father, leaving two sons — named as above — by Alan-Quwa ; and that she acted as regent only, while others say that her husband was chief over some few ulus, and that the Turks generally were under various independent chiefs. The Tarikh-i-Jahan-gir however says that Alan-Quwa was given in marriage by her father, Ju-inah, to her uncle’s son, as stated by the others, and that, by him, she had two sons named Bilkadi or Bilgadi and Bakjadi or Bagjadi, and after his death she assumed the sovereignty and occupied herself in the nurture of her two sons. At this time she dwelt near the upper sources of the Kalur-An river.
248.5.5
Alan-Quwa — which is also written Alan-Khu — and Alan-Kuwan — on the death of her father, her husband being dead, was entrusted with the direction of affairs until such time as her eldest son should become of age to succeed ; but, in the meantime, although she refused to marry again, whilst lying asleep upon her couch, on a certain occasion, a mysterious light entered through the hole in the top of the felt tent and enveloped her, and the light passed through her mouth, penetrated her, and she conceived. This mysterious light came more than once, such was her story ; and, as matters could no longer be concealed, it was made known unto her tribe, who reviled her, and refused to believe her story. Some writers state that she asked some of the chief persons of her tribe to keep watch, and satisfy themselves of the truth of what she had stated, and that some did so, and found her story correct, and the tribe were satisfied. This is not much like the “story of the incarnation of the Buddha Sakya- I became cognizant of from the accounts of trustworthy muni” as a recent writer asserts, considering that the husband of his mother [who had never consummated her marriage with her husband] was, according to Chinese belief, ruler of Kashmir, and that his birth took place 1222 years before the Christian era, while the Hindus, on the other hand, give a different account of his birth.
248.5.6
This story of Alan-Kuwa is related somewhat differently by nearly every author, including Abu-l-Fazl, but I have no space for the various versions here. Abu-l-Fazl, however, for the glorification of his master, according to his usual unctuous system of flattery, compares this circumstance to the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mother of our Blessed Saviour! In due time, Alan-Kuwa gave birth to three sons at one time, with one of whom, the youngest, a new dynasty, and a new era commences, and therefore it will be well to conclude this one here.