[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Delhi Sultanate (1206–1526)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate) › [Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri) › [Tabakat-i-Nasiri](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty) › 256.5.3 # The Nāṣirī Generations 256.5.3 Tabakat-i-Nasiri 256.5.3 - **Language:** English ### [256.5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.256.5.3) YARKAND, in former times, was a great city, but it had greatly decayed, and was becoming desolate, when Mirza Abu-Bikr made it his capital. It soon after had 12,000 gardens in and around the city, which was surrounded by a wall thirty cubits high. The people of this part of the territory are \[when the author wrote\] divided into four classes, the Tuman, cultivators or peasantry, the Kufshin, or soldiery, the I-makhs, or nomads, and the officials. Khutan was one of the most celebrated of cities and territories, “but of that rose, naught but the thorn remains at present.” ’Abu-l-Fida says it was a city of the I-ghurs. In former times, before the desert just mentioned approached so near it, Chin could be reached in fourteen days, the whole way was inhabited and cultivated, and one or two persons could pass to and fro with safety, without being obliged to join kafilahs, but now \[when the author wrote\], on account of the Kalimaks—Europeanized “Kalmuks”—the route is closed, and that which is now followed is 100 stages. Vast quantities of yashab or yashm, also called bejadah—jade or jasper—is found in the rivers of Kashghar and Khutan, and in those territories also the camel of the desert, which may be tamed, and the kutas, katas, or gao-kattas \[the Bos Grunniens\]. - [Previous: 256.5.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.256.5.2) - [Next: 256.5.4](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.256.5.4) - [Up: 256.5](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.256.5) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.256.5.3](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.sultanate.tabaqat-i-nasiri~en-raverty.256.5.3) · Pramāṇa