The Nāṣirī Generations 256.3
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 256.3
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256.3.1
When the insurrection of the Ghuzz [tribe] of Khandan broke out and continued, and the dominion of Sanjar declined, as has been recorded, the Karah Khita-is acquired vast strength, and the Maliks of Turkistan, with their assistance, used to subdue each other, and were wont to send them riches, valuable gifts, and presents, in hope of their aid and help. Those Maliks continued to use their utmost endeavours in the subjection and destruction of each other for so long a time, that the Karah Khita-is became rulers over the whole of them; and, for a period of near eighty years and over, their power continued. At first, when they became supreme, the chief men among them, in succession to each other, were several persons; and those who lived near unto my own time, and of whom I have heard from narrators, were I-ma, Sunkam, Arbaz, Tuma, and Baniko [of Taraz], and their sovereign was a woman, and, at last, after that female, there was a man, and his title was “the Gur Khan,” and they were wont to style him “the Khan-i-Khanan.” Some have related that this Gur Khan had, secretly, become a Musalman, but God knows the truth in this matter. It is agreed, however, that the first among them [the Karah Khita-i rulers] were just sovereigns, and were adorned with equity, and ability, and used to treat Muhammadans with great reverence, show respect unto ecclesiastics, and used not to consider tyranny and violence allowable towards any created being.
256.3.2
Upon several occasions the armies of these rulers had less civilized people. The same may be remarked with respect to the term, surkh-ru — red-faced, that is to say, honourable, of good fame, and siyah-ru — black-faced, meaning disgraced or dishonoured. “The dwelling-places or lands of the Jidan tribe adjoin the plains, wilds, or steppes of Mughalistan; and, on one occasion, a person of the Jidan tribe rebelled, seized the sovereign of Khita, and became Badshah himself. For several generations his descendants reigned. They were afterwards ousted by another person, and the Altan Khans, who were finally overthrown by the Chingiz Khan, and his son, Uktae Ka'an, were his descendants.”
256.3.3
The family of the person who afterwards rose to sovereignty with the title of the Gur Khan [“Gorkhan,” “Kawar” and “Gawer,” and “Kur, a form of Gur Khan,” and the like, of European authors, and some European translators, are entirely wrong] was named Kumkin or Komkin Tae-ghu or Taya-gu, also written Kushtin or Koshtin Tae-tu, or Taya-ku [the Yeilu Taishi probably of D’Ohsson], which names might vary a little more according to the vowel points, but not the consonants, except that o and u in the middle or end of a word are interchangeable, and that Turks, Tattars, and Mughals, change p and t into b and d occasionally. I have read the above words according to the usages of the Persian language. Kumkin Tae-ghu's family was one of distinction in those parts, and, long before the time of the Chingiz Khan, and antecedent to the rise of the sovereigns of the Kiurjah or Khorjah dynasty [Corea of Europeans is here referred to], forced, through the vicissitudes of destiny, he left his native country along with 80 persons of different tribes or families, and took up his dwelling — pitched his tents — within the borders of Kirghiz or Karkiz, respecting which see the account of the Turks at page 876. This tract is generally mentioned along with Tingkut by most of the authors I have quoted in my note on the descent of the Turks, Tattars, and Mughals.
256.3.4
Some again say that these 80 persons were his own family and kin, and that they were accompanied by their dependents and followers, who made up a considerable number, and, from their proceedings, this last statement appears the more correct of the two. The Kara-Khita-i fugitives assailed the people of those parts — Kirghiz or Karkiz — and were themselves attacked in return, and hard pressed. On this account the Kara-Khita-is moved away from those tracts, and entered the territory of I-mil — or the territory on the river of that name, and there founded “a city,” in, and about which, the Gur Khan being an exceedingly just and efficient ruler, some 40,000 families, Turks, and numbers of others, soon gathered around him. The remains of that city, the name of which is not given, were still to be traced at the time the Histories I take this account from were written, but, in the time of Mirza Muhammad Haidar, the author of the Tarikh-i-Rashidi, who wrote subsequently — whose work I have partly translated, and of which more hereafter — neither traces of this place nor of the city of Bilasa-ghun were known.
256.3.5
Subsequently, the Kara-Khita-is moved from the territory of I-mil, because it could not contain them, they had multiplied so greatly, and advanced towards the boundary of the Bilasa-ghun territory. This city — Bilasa-ghun — the Mughals, subsequently, but long previous to the days of Amir Timur, styled Ku or Ghu and Aku or Aghu — Baligh, that is to say, according to the Habib-us-Siyar, and some other works, the pleasant, good, or crossed the river Jihun, and had made raids upon the fron-beautiful city. The ruler of that tract of country was a person who claimed descent from Afrasiyab, but whose name is never once mentioned, and he possessed neither power nor grandeur; and the Turk tribes of Karlugh or Karlugh—whose immigration thither has been recorded in the account of Arsalan Khan—and Kankuli, who were dwelling in those parts [and also the Khifchak tribes, according to another writer, only Khifchak or Kibchak is not the actual name of any tribe, but a tract of country], having withdrawn their allegiance from him, used to resist his officers, harry his people and followers, carry off their flocks and herds, “and were wont to act as wolf and fox.”
256.3.6
This Amir of Bilasa-ghun, as previously shown, was a totally different person from either of the rulers mentioned in the account of the Afrasiyabi dynasty of kings just recorded, for all the accounts given by different writers, and what has been stated respecting the IXth and Xth sovereign of that dynasty, tend to show that, besides that dynasty, there were several other Khans, who appear to have been, in some way, subject to them; and our author, in several places, as well as other writers, confirms this, as in the following examples. At page 51, our author mentions “the rulers of the Afrasiyabi dynasty of kings,” and one as “the Great Khan,” thus showing that there were lesser Khans. At page 84 he mentions, “Kadr Khan,” and “the Khans of the Turks,” and “the Khakans of Turkistan.” Saljuk also is said to have descended from Afrasiyab. Again, at page 118, our author says “all the Maliks of Turkistan and the Afrasiyabi rulers” were afraid of the son of Saljuk; and, at page 121, “’Ali Tigin, the late ruler of Bukhara, who was one of the Afrasiyabi Khans,” is referred to. At page 133, he informs us that Sultan Alb-Arsalan “led an army into Turkistan and Turan, and the Maliks of Turkistan, and the Afrasiyabi Amirs, submitted to his authority,” and, on the next page, that he had reached the frontiers of Kashghar and Bilasa-ghun, in 453 or 454 H., when he had to hasten to the Khalifah’s succour.
256.3.7
At page 137 he says Malik Shah brought under his sway “the whole of the countries of Turkistan.” At page 260 also, our author states that “the Sultan [Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah] set out towards Mawara-un-Nahr and Turkistan; and the whole of the Maliks and Sultans of the Afrasiyabi dynasty, who held territory in the countries of Mawara-un-Nahr and Farghanah, presented themselves before him,” and this was immediately before the total downfall of the Gur Khan and his dynasty. All this, and what has been already related, certainly does not show that “the Afrasiab dynasty is a mistake,” as a recent writer, merely because he has not found anything about them in the foreign translations to which he alone has access, supposes. The Amir of Bilasa-ghun, unable to coerce these Turks—the Karlughs and Kankulis—hearing of the arrival in his vicinity of the Gur Khan, the plenitude of his power, and the number of his dependents and followers, despatched envoys to him to state his own weakness, and inability to keep the Karlughs and Kankulis in subjection, and to invite him to move towards his capital, that he might cede unto him his territories, and release himself from the troubles and sorrows of his present state, and his people be protected.
256.3.8
Before I proceed farther it may be well to say something on the geography of these parts, as described by Oriental authors, and also to refer to some tiers of Khurasan, and had ravaged Upper Khurasan lying on the bank of the Jihun, and the confines of Balkh.
256.3.9
I-lak Khan of the Turks, entered Mawara-un-Nahr, as already stated in the account of them. In no history is Bilasa-ghun mentioned as their capital, but Kashghar is constantly referred to as such. Ahmad, the first of the Samanis, who died in 261 H., held Farghanah, Shash, and Isfanjab—most of the people of which were Ghuzz, and Khalj Turks, who had embraced the Musalman faith—together with Kashghar and Turkistan to the frontier of Chin, and this shows where some of the Turk tribes were located at that period. In 280 H., Isma’il, Samani, made a raid upon the country of the Turks, took their chief town, the name of which, unfortunately, is not mentioned, and carried off great booty and a vast number of captives; but it appears that, the more the Samanis turned their attention to Khurasan, the stronger grew the Turks beyond the Sihun. On disturbances arising in the Samani empire, from the time of Amir Nuh, the IXth of that dynasty, the Afrasiyabi Maliks began to meditate conquests in Mawara-un-Nahr, and in 383 H., the son and successor of the I-lak Khan—Abu-Musa-i-Harun, the Bughra Khan—determined to attack Bukhara, but he did not retain possession of it. Three sovereigns of the Samani dynasty reigned after 387 H. The former date was about seven years after the widow, Alan-Kuwa, gave birth to the “sons of light.”