The Nāṣirī Generations 256.2
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 256.2
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256.2.1
Sultan Sanjar entered Samrkand, and remained there a short time. It was at this period that, while occupied in the chase, the Sultan perceived a band of armed men lying in ambush in the Shikar-gah, or preserve. These were seized; and, they having confessed that Arsalan Khan had sent them thither, the Sultan proceeded to invest the ingrate within the walls of Samrkand, captured him, and sent him away to Balkh, where he died. Some say his death was natural, but others, that the Sultan had something administered to him. During this reign, in the year 522 H., Aghuz the Chini, with a host more numerous than ants or locusts, invaded the territory of Kashghar. The Wali of Kashghar, Ahmad, son of Hasan, collected his forces to repel the invaders. The two armies met within the frontiers of Kashghar, and an obstinate battle ensued, which ended in favour of Ahmad. Who Ahmad was is not mentioned, but he was, doubtless, one of the Afrasiyabi family, subordinate to Arsalan as head of the house, and, has, evidently, from the discrepancies above noticed, been taken for one of the sovereigns of this dynasty. Aghuz, the Chini, after the slaughter of great part of his army, took to flight; and, after he had reached his capital, the name of which is not given, died of grief and chagrin. "The Gur Khan," according to the same authority, "became his successor over the country of Chin," as will be presently mentioned.
256.2.2
XIX. Hasan-Tigin, son of 'Ali, son of 'Abd-ul-Mumin [Alfi has, son of 'Abd-ul-Mumin, son of 'Ali], famous under the name of Abu-l-Ma'ali, Kulij-i-Tamghaj, who likewise was of the same family, was, by command of Sultan Sanjar, raised to the sovereignty, but he died very shortly after. XX. Rukn-ud-Din, Mahmud Khan, Arsalan’s son, and great nephew of Sanjar, who is mentioned in the Jami'-ut-Tawarikh and in Alfi as the rous, they began to act in a refractory manner. The Khakan, Rukn-ud-Din, Mas'ud, son of Muhammad, son of the Bughra Khan [No. X. Yafa-i says he was his great grandson], with the support of Sultan Sanjar was raised to the throne in 526 H., and, in Ramadan 531 H., he encountered the Gur Khan of the Kara Khita-i in battle, within the limits of Khujand, but was defeated, and compelled to retire to Samrkand. Sultan Sanjar advanced soon after to his assistance with his forces, but he also was overthrown [in 534 H., A.D. 1134. Guzidah and others say in 535 H. Jami'-ut-Tawarikh says in 536 H.] by the Khita-is under At Khan and Baniko, as has been already stated under Sanjar's reign, at page 154, but, since that portion of this work was translated, some further particulars, tending to throw light on this subject, will be found in the notice of the Gur Khans farther on.
256.2.3
Rashid-ud-Din, in the Jami'-ut-Tawarikh, further states, that Sultan Itsiz [our author's Utsuz], Khwarazm Shah, in 547 H., marched against Sa-gh-nak—also written Sagh-nak, which lies north of Utrar, and other tracts, and also against Kamal-ud-Din, Arsalan Shan, son of Mahmud, the Wali or ruler of Jund, who fled to Rudbar. Who he was is not said, but he is evidently one of the Afrasiyab family. He was induced to return, but was put to death; and Sultan Itsiz annexed Jund, which he gave to his own son, I-yal-Arsalan. The year above-mentioned is that in which the Ghuzz acquired such predominance, but, according to some writers, and more correctly, the year previous to Sanjar's falling into their hands. Mahmud Khan, forsaking country and possessions, after the victory of the Kara-Khita-is, in 534 H., came into Khurasan along with Sultan Sanjar, and continued at his Court; and, subsequently, after the Sultan was taken captive by the Ghuzz, he was raised to the sovereignty of Khurasan, as a temporary measure. After his uncle's escape out of their hands, and his death soon after, Mahmud, in 552 H., for a time, again obtained the nominal sovereignty over Khurasan, but, after a stormy reign of five years and a half, in 557 H., he was deprived of his sight by Sanjar's slave—Mu'ayyid-ud-Din, the A-inah-dar [See page 180], and died in 558 H.
256.2.4
XXI. Tamghaj Khan, son of Muhammad Khan [but whether this is the same Muhammad, who is called Ahmad, and dethroned and again restored to sovereignty by Sultan Sanjar, is not stated], became Wali of Mawara-un-Nahr after Sultan Sanjar's imprisonment by the Ghuzz, but he did not possess much grandeur or power, and his reign was a very stormy and agitated one. He was tributary to the Khita-is, who continued to hold sway in those parts, after Sanjar's captivity, until finally driven out and expelled by Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah. Tamghaj Khan was at length slain and his corpse cast into the desert by the Karluks or Karlughs. This happened in 551 H., some say, in 550 H. One author refers to a Tamghaj or Taghmaj Khan, named Ibrahim, son of Al-Husain [Al-Hasan ?], as one of the Khans of Turkistan, who, when he became absolute, came to Samrkand, and dwelt there many years. He was a great patron of 'Ulama and other learned men, and wrote Kur'ans which were sold, and the prices realized therefrom he subsisted on. He must be one and the same with the above, from the mention of Samrkand, although there [is a discrepancy with] respect to his father's name, and he too had a son, Khizr Khan, who is said to have been a Sultan of great pomp. Probably, Nos. X. and XI. are referred to. period of the Sanjari empire had nearly reached its termi-
256.2.5
I may also add that Tamgaj, the name of which often appears in this Section, is a territory of Turkistan, as well as a name given to rulers, and that some writers state that it is the name — dynastic name, probably — of the sovereigns of Tibbat and Yughma, which last word is also the name of an old city and territory in Turkistan. XXII. Jalal-ud-Din, ’Ali, son of Hasan-Tigin [Rashid-ud-Din calls him Husain merely], son of ’Ali, son of ’Abd-ul-Mumin, who bore the title of Khizr Khan — some say Jaghar Khan — with the support of the Gur Khan of the Kara-Khita-is, after Sultan Sanjar’s defeat at Katwan, succeeded to the sovereignty of Mawara-un-Nahr. Khizr Khan, subsequently [in 553 H.] slew, in Khita it is said, Beghu or Beghun Khan, the chief of the Karluks or Karlughs, and other chiefs of that tribe, then located in Mawara-un-Nahr, such as La-chin Beg, and, the sons of the slain Beghu, fled to the Khwarazm territory, and connecting themselves with Sultan I-yal-Arsalan, Khwarazm Shah, instigated him to attack Khizr Khan, the Khakan, as he is also styled — another title by which this dynasty is also called — of Samrkand, that is to say, Mawara-un-Nahr. This is a sufficient proof that the rulers were not Karlughs, and that they were I-ghurs is utterly out of the question. I-yal-Arsalan, Khwarazm Shah, accordingly, in the same year [553 H. — A.D. 1158], in Jamadi-ul-Akhir, marched an army into Mawara-un-Nahr, arrived at Bukhara, and, from thence, moved towards Samrkand.
256.2.6
On the news of his movements reaching Khizr Khan, he at once summoned to his standard all the Tarakamah nomads of those parts, from the Kara Kol or Black Lake, as far as Jund, and brought them to Samrkand. He mustered his forces on the bank of the Bagh-dad river in the Sughd, near the capital, and within the walls of the city. He likewise sought aid from the Kara-Khita-is, who despatched to his aid the I-lak of the Turkan, but the Jami’-ut-Tawarikh, and Rauzat-us-Safa, both style him the I-lak of the Tarakamah [plural of Turkman, which, since they also consider them Turks, or belonging to the Turk tribes, is much the same in signification], who, soon after arrived, with a force of 10,000 gallant men to the aid of Khizr Khan, and, through the I-lak’s endeavours, an accommodation was entered into, and the Khwarazm Shah retired into his own territory again. These were one portion only of the Karlugh Turks, for Ibn-Dastah, in his account of the Jihun, says, several rivers flow into the Jihun, among which is the considerable river called the Wakhsh river, which issues from the tract of country above the land of the Karlugh Turks. The Beghu are often referred to by our author, after this period, in several places in this work, as being located in Wakhsh and Badakhshan, and they are the tribe of this same Beghu, the Karluk or Karlugh. The Ghuzz are also styled Beghu, as previously stated in the account of the Turks, but these Beghu Karlughs are totally distinct from the Ghuzz.
256.2.7
There are no such people, I beg leave to say, as "Ghozzes," or "Ghoz" or "Gusses," nor do we know that the Osmanli claim descent from "the Ghozz," any more than they do from the "Kankulis," but we know quite the contrary. Khizr Khan, and his predecessor also, were tributaries of the Gur Khans, as was likewise ’Usman, Khizr’s successor; but the mention here, by different historians, of the I-lak of the Tarakamah or Turkan being sent by the Gur Khan himself to the assistance of Khizr Khan is very important, proving, as it does, what I was quite cognizant of before, how crude and erroneous are nation, and they broke out into rebellion. Sultan Sanjar marched to coerce them; and Baniko of Taraz, from the side of Khita [the Kara-Khita-i territory — from Taraz] with a numerous army, advanced to encounter the Sultan, and a battle took place between that host of infidels and Sultan Sanjar. The army of Islam was defeated, and Turkan Khatun, who was the Sultan’s consort, became a captive [in the hands of the Khita-is]. After the Sultan retired, they [!] sought for peace, and sent back Turkan Khatun, and they obtained immunity.