The Nāṣirī Generations 253.8

253.8

Whilst Mahmud-i-Sabuk-Tigin was at Multan, after taking it in 396 H., intimation reached him that the Turks had broken the treaty, crossed the Amuiah in great numbers under Subashi-Tigin, and had penetrated as far even as Hirat and Nishapur, but, that they had been driven back, and all Madunlands; and, being few in point of numbers, they there un-Nahr cleared of them. In the following year, Sultan Mahmud marched to Balkh, in order to avenge this attack; and the I-lak Khan assembled 40,000 horse in Mawara-un-Nahr, and crossed the river to encounter him. A battle took place in the plain a few miles from Balkh, and a charge of elephants decided the fate of the battle, and the I-lak Khan and his ally, Kadr Khan—his brother, probably—ruler of Khutan, were completely routed, on Sunday, the 22nd of Rabi'-ul-Akhir, 398 H., many prisoners were taken, and, in crossing the Amuiah, the I-lak Khan lost a great number of his followers who were carried away by the current and drowned. The Khan nourished the hope of revenge, but Time did not permit him to gratify it, and he died in 403 H.