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The Nāṣirī Generations 257: ACCOUNT OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE CHINGIZ KHAN THE MUGHAL— ON WHOM BE GOD’S CURSE !

Tabakat-i-Nasiri 257

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English

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ACCOUNT OF THE OUTBREAK OF THE CHINGIZ KHAN THE MUGHAL— ON WHOM BE GOD’S CURSE !

257.1.1

[The author begins here by mentioning the sayings of the Prophet, Muhammad, with respect to the portents betokening the end of the world, that they would be observed about the year 610 H. ; but, as the world has not yet terminated, I need merely refer to them with respect to the Ghuri Sultan Mu’izz-ud-Din, Muhammad, son of Baha-ud-Din, Sam, whose assassination is considered by the author to be the first of those signs.] The martyrdom of the Sultan-i-Ghazi, Mu’izz-ud-Din, Muhammad-i-Sam — may he rest in peace ! — happened in the year 602 H. ; and he was the monarch who became the last of the just Sultans, and the last of the conquering Badshahs. His sovereignty was a barrier against the troubles of the end of the world, and the appearance of the portents of the judgment-day. According to the indication of these sayings [of the Prophet, Muhammad], in the same year in which that victorious Badshah was martyred, the gates of sedition, war, and tumult, were opened, and, in this same year, the Chingiz Khan, the Mughal, rose up in the kingdoms of Chin and Tamghaj, and commenced to rebel ; and in all books it is written that the first signs of the end of time are the outbreak of the Turks. A number of trustworthy persons, on whose statements reliance may be placed, have related on this wise, that the name of the father of this Chingiz Khan, the accursed, was the Tattar, Tamur-chi, and that he was the Mihtar [Chief] of the Mughal tribes, and ruler over his people.

257.1.2

On one occasion, whilst following the chase, a bird, the name of which is Tughril, fell into his hands and his surname [thereby] became Tughrul-Tigin. No one, at any time previous, has shown that that bird has fallen into the hands of a sovereign ; and they held him in veneration, in consequence. Among the tribes of Mughal was another Turk of importance, a ruler and leader, and greatly venerated ; and the whole of the tribes of Mughals were under the rule of these two persons. They, and all that people were subject to the family of the Altun Khan of Tamghaj, and paid tribute to that dynasty ; but among them [the Mughals] depravity, robbery, and adultery, greatly prevailed ; and, both in their words and deeds, save lying, iniquity, robbery, and adultery, naught went on. All the tracts of [inhabited by] the Turk tribes, at the hand of their iniquity and sedition, were reduced to misery ; and, for these reasons and acts, they [the Mughals] were wont to be treated with great contempt by the Court of the Altun Khan, and much money and a great number of horses used to be demanded of them [as tribute]. When the father of the Chingiz Khan went to hell, and the chieftainship devolved on the Chingiz Khan he began to act contumaciously and disobediently, and broke out into rebellion. An army from the forces of the Altun Khan was nominated to lay waste and exterminate the Mughal tribes ; and the greater number of them were put to the sword, in such wise, that but a few of them remained.

257.1.3

The remnant of them that escaped the sword gathered together and left their own territory, and proceeded towards the north of Turkistan, and sought shelter in a situation so strong that, from any direction, it had no road leading into it with the exception of a single Pass. The whole of that tract was girt about with massive mountains, and that place and pasture-land they call Kalur-an. They also say that in the midst of those pastures there is a spring of considerable size, the name of which is Balik-Chak ; and, in these pastures, they took up their abode, and dwelt there for a long period. In the course of time, their offspring and progeny multiplied greatly : and among that body a great number of men reached manhood. They all assembled and took counsel together, saying: “What was the cause of our downfall and of our being plundered and ravaged, and from whence arose our being made captive and being slain ? ” All made admission [saying]: “ These calamities and misfortunes have arisen through our great misconduct ; and it is necessary that we abstain from thus acting, in order that Almighty God may grant us assistance, and that we may take our revenge upon the forces of the Altun Khan.”

257.1.4

Certainly, to carry out this intention, a firm ruler is necessary and I-ghur Turks, and the escape of the two fugitives into the fastnesses of Irganah-Kun, with the affairs of the Chingiz Khan at the time when he assumed sovereignty, and the title just mentioned was assigned to him. I will therefore now give a brief account of Tamur-chi from the death of his father up to this period, in order to make our author’s account intelligible. I brought my account of the Mughal I-mak to a close with the death of the Bahadur Yassuka, in 562 H. [A.D. 1166-67], who usually resided at a place styled Dilun-Yilduk, at which period the different tribes composing the I-maks of Tatar and Mughal were ruled by no less a number than seventy-one different chiefs, independent of each other. Every two or three families had separate localities, and feuds and conflicts went on continually among them.

257.1.5

Tamur-chi, or Tamur-chin — the n being nasal — was thirteen years old at the time of his father’s death, having been born on the 20th of Zi-Ka’dah, 549 H. [27th January, old style, A.D. 1154], about which some recent writers appear to be in great doubt [neither the Persian “Raschid” nor any other of the “Persians” says he was born in 1155] and uncertainty; and his brothers were still younger. About the same time, the hereditary lieutenant or deputy, Sughu-Jijan, whose care and counsel would have been so useful to young Tamur-chi, also died, and Sughu-Jijan’s son, the Nu-yan, Karachar — the great ancestor of Amir Timur — was young and inexperienced. This is the “tutor” appointed for him according to Des Guignes! Of the 40,000 families of the Nairun sept of the Mughals over whom his father ruled, and his own kinsmen and dependents, numbers now began to desert him and go over to the Tanjiuts, until not more than a third remained under his chieftainship.

257.1.6

He endured many hardships and dangers until he reached the age of thirty, when fortune began again to smile upon him for a time, when, in 579 H. [A.D. 1183], the Nairuns began to return to their allegiance, and Tamur-chi succeeded in bringing some other Mughal tribes under his sway. In 584 H. [A.D. 1187-88] he became a captive in the hands of Turkutae or Turghutae Kariltuk, the Badshah, as he is styled, [great grandson of Hamanjca, see note, page 895] of the Tanjiut Mughals, who was descended, in the fifth degree, from Kaidu Khan, the fourth chief of the Bu-zanjar dynasty, which see, and to whom the other Nairuns attached themselves when they deserted Tamur-chi, and against a confederacy headed by whom the latter was struggling.

257.1.7

It was not customary in those days among the tribes of Turkish descent to put captives at once to death, and so Tamur-chi had a do-shakhah [a sort of portable pillory, described as a block of wood with two horns, hence the term. It may, in those days, have been formed out of two pieces of crooked wood, but what was used in after-years, and continues to be used still, consists of two flat boards with a hollow for the neck, a drawing of which may be seen in Astley’s and other Collections] fastened round his neck, and thus was he detained in captivity. The Fanakati, Abu-Suliman-i-Da’ud, who finished his History, and dedicated it to the ninth of the Mughal sovereigns of Iran [what would he have said had he been styled a “Mongol”?], 287 years before the “saga-loving” writer who has been much quoted lately, Ssanang Setzen, was born, gives the following particulars of Tamur-chi’s escape, which several other historians also relate. Finding an opportunity, Tamur-chi made his escape from the Tanjiuts, taking his do-shakhah along with him, and concealed himself in a lake in the neighbourhood of their camp, in such wise, that, of his person, nothing save his nose could be seen. A party of Tanjiuts was sent in search of him, and among them there chanced to be a Suldus [also written Sulduz], named Surghan or Surghan Shirah, the tents of whose family happened to be pitched near that part, when, suddenly, his eye fell upon the fugitive’s nose.

257.1.8

He made a sign to him secretly — but how Tamur-chi managed to see, and notice this sign, with his head under water, the chronicler sayeth not — that he should conceal his head, still more — but this must have been as difficult to do as to see, considering that only his nose was out of the water. He then said to the party, '‘Do you make search in some other directions : I will take care of this part myself,” and thus he managed to disperse them. As soon as night set in, Surghan Shirah took Tamur-shi out of the water, removed the doshdhlah from round his neck, and brought him to his tent, and concealed him in a cart, under a load of pashm — the fine wool or hair with which goats and several other animals are provided by nature in the cold regions of Central Asia ; but, as the party had discovered some trace of Tamur-chi thereabout, and as Surghan Shirah’s dwelling was near by, they began to suspect that Tamur-chi must be hidden somewhere by him. They accordingly made search, and even tried the load of pashm by piercing it with spits in various directions, and wounded him slightly in several places, but did not discover him. After they had departed, disappointed in their search, Surghan Shirah mounted Tamur-shi on his own bay mare with a black mane, supplied him with a little flesh, a roasting-spit, a bow and arrows, and everything required for a journey, but some say he did not give him any tinder-box or means of obtaining fire.

257.1.9

The mother of Tamur-chi, and his wives, had given him up for dead, when he arrived in his yurat on the bay mare with the black mane, from which time the Mughals held such an animal in great veneration. His son, Tuli, was a child at the time, and, for some days before, had been continually saying that his father was coming mounted on a certain coloured mare. This event happened in 587 H. [a.d. 1191]. The descendants of this Surghan Shirah subsequently rose to high rank in the service of the Chingiz Khan and his sons, and, from him, the famous Amir Chaupan was descended.

257.2.1

Tamur-chi had fought with the Juri-ats, also styled Jajar-ats, a sept of the Nairuns, the tribe of Jamukah, the Sajan, or the double-tongued [Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur, styles him Jajan and Jachan, which, he says, signifies possessed of sagacity], and other Mughal tribes — the Tanjiuts, Kunghur-ats or Kungkur-ats, as it is also written, Jalairs, and Durmans [“Durbens” and “Durbans” are out of the question] ; and the Bigi, Suji, and the tribe of Barlas, of the progeny of Iridam-ghi, were in alliance with his enemies, but Karachar, head of the Barlas, remained faithful to him. In the year 589 H. [a.d. 1193], when in the fortieth year of his age, finding his enemies had entered into a confederacy to annihilate him, and that they were too numerous and too powerful to cope with, Tamur-chi determined on taking refuge with the Awang Khan, Tughrul-Tigin, and throwing himself on his protection, considering the friendship which had previously existed between his father, Yassuka, and that sovereign ; and Karachar accompanied him. This is contrary to the statement contained in a recent work on the Mongols Proper the authority for which appears to be Wolff or Erdmann, and, considering what follows, on undoubted authority, must be diametrically opposed to the fact. gressors, and the violence of the seditious, to retaliate on

257.2.2

The Awang Khan was the ruler of the Karayat tribes, a sept of the Duralgin Mughals, and one of the most considerable of the Turkish nation, and he was a monarch [Badshah] of great dignity and magnificence, and was in alliance with the Altan Khan, the sovereign of Khitae. It was this personage who, before he was styled by the title of "the Awang Khan," bore the name of Tughrul-Tigin, from his having captured one of those rare birds called a Tughrul. Tamur-chi was well received by the Karayat ruler, and his affairs began to prosper. The Khan was wont to consult him on the affairs of his state; and, at length, Tamur-chi rose so high in the monarch's esteem, that he styled him son, and assigned him a position of great dignity. Surgeon-Major Bellew, in his Kashghar Mission History, previously referred to, quoting some other writer, informs us that "This Aong Khan or Unc Cham [!], the Chief of the Karait of Karakoram, is the Tuli [!] of the Chinese writers, and the Toghrul of the Persian. He got the title Unc [uncle perhaps], or Aong, or Wang, as it appears in different authors [!], and which is equivalent to Khan = "Chief," "Lord," from Kin [!], the sovereign of North China." This is History truly!

257.2.3

For a period of eight years Tamur-chi remained with the Awang Khan, during which time he did good service for him, and gained him several victories. Among these was his victory over Irkah Kara, or irkah Kara [also called tikah-Kara], the brother of the Awang Khan, who was in rebellion, and resisted his brother's authority, and Yorkin [it is written by Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur, Portakin, Bortakin, and Bortikin], and the Bigi, Tukta, the Peshwa, or leader of the Makrit tribe [also written Markit, but the first appears to be preferred] of the Kaiat sept, descended from Kaian; but some call them Nairuns. After these events, the tribes of Tanjtut, Saljiut, Kunghur-at, Durman, Jajar-at, Jalair, Ufr-at, also written Iur-at, Yorkin, and Katghin, or Katkin, and Tamur-chi's former opponents, the Makrits, and some of the Tartar I-maks entered into a confederacy against the Awang Khan and Tamur-chi. They came to a compact, and took oath according to the most stringent tenets of their religion, by sacrificing a horse, a bullock, a ram, and a dog, to be faithful to each other; and, among them, there is no other engagement more solemn. This was in 596 H.

257.2.4

On becoming aware of this, the Awang Khan and Tamur-chi got ready their forces; and, at a place near the Biyur Nawar—the Lake of Biyur—the hostile forces came to an engagement, and the Awang Khan and Tamur-chi completely overthrew the confederates, and brought their necks within the yoke of subjection. Hafiz Abru states, however, that Tamur-chi fought a battle with the Bigi, Tukta, the chief of the Makrits, in 593 H., at a place near the Karas Muran [i. e. river] before Kalur-an, and near the river Salingah; another, in concert with the Awang Khan, in 594 H., at Tuku Kahrah; and, again, in 596 H., after the Bigi, Tukta, had escaped from the bonds of the Awang Khan, which is the battle near the lake Biyur already mentioned above. Several other affairs in 597 and 598 H. are mentioned by the same author, which are too long for insertion here, but I may mention that Jamukah—who had been set up as Badshah by several of the tribes, such as Angiras and Kurlas, Kunghur-at, Durman, Katghin, Saljiut, and some Tatar tribes, with the title of Gur Khan—was overthrown at Sadi-Kurgan in the former year, and the Kunghur-ats submitted to his authority.

257.2.5

After this, Buy-Ruk, brother of the Tayanak Khan, ruler of the Naeman our enemies, and render the wreaking of vengeance upon tribe, in concert with the Badshah of the Makrits, the Bigi Tukta, being hostile to the Awang Khan and Tamur-chi, assembled a large army against them, and the hostile forces having met at a place named Kizil-Tash, in 595 H., but in 598 H. according to the Tarikh-i-Alfi, Bue-Ruk directed a Jijan, or Sorcerer, to have recourse to his art, which they term yadah and bde, which he effected by means of the sang-i-yadah, the jade or rain-stone, mentioned in the account of the descent of the Turks, which, on being thrown into water, forthwith brought on snow, mist, and wind; but these magical acts recoiled upon his own army, which was nearly destroyed by the cold. The few followers who remained with him were overthrown, a number were slain, and the remnant sought safety in flight. A curious anecdote respecting the Turks and their magical acts in this respect is related by Amir Isma’il, son of Ahmad, the third Samani monarch, but I have not space for it here. After Tamur-chi had passed eight years in the service of the Awang Khan in various offices and duties, and had, through his intercourse and intimacy with him, acquired his confidence and esteem, and had been styled son by the monarch, the chiefs and kinsmen of the Awang Khan became envious of Tamur-chi, and plotted together to bring about his downfall.

257.2.6

Jamukah, the Sa-shlik of the Jajar-ats, bore him great enmity of old, and he maligned Tamur-chi to Sangun, the son of the Awang Khan, and convinced him that Tamur-chi sought to supplant him in his father’s favour, and in the succession to his kingdom. Guzidah, the Habib-us-Siyar, Tarikh-i-Hafiz Abru, and some other works, however, state that the wrath of the Awang Khan was raised against him through his asking of him a brother’s daughter in marriage for his son Juji, but some say it was on account of Tamur-chi not giving his own daughter, Kuchin Bigi, to the Awang Khan’s son, Sangun, that the negotiation broke down, and hostility arose. Juji did subsequently marry the damsel, and Tuli married another sister, and Tamur-chi, their father, married a third. Endeavours were now made to instigate the Awang Khan against Tamur-chi, but without effect at first. By repeated importunity on the part of the son, for even the dropping water at last wears the rock away, the conspirators succeeded in alienating the old ruler’s regard for Tamur-chi, and he entered into the design to seize him. These events are said to have taken place in 599 H.

257.2.7

One of the Awang Khan’s chiefs, Jadan, by name, who could keep nothing from his wife, was mentioning the design to her, in his Margah, or felt tent, only the day before it was intended to carry it into execution, when two boys, named Batae, or Badae, and Kashlik, came into the camp with the milk from the flocks, and, by chance, sat down near the tent, and heard the conversation. They at once made known his danger to Tamur-chi. He consulted with his kinsman, the Nu-yan, Karachi; and it was determined, as soon as night set in, to make for the skirt of the mountain (range) of Kalashin with their followers and dependents, and to leave their tents standing; and this they did, after having first despatched the women and children to a place of safety, called Baljunah Bulak. That same night the Awang Khan came to the tents with some of his forces, and, seeing the fires lighted as usual, ordered volleys of arrows to be poured into them, and then, finding all was silent within, entered the tents, but found them empty. He then determined to set out in pursuit of Tamur-chi; but how the Awang Khan knew whither he had fled is not stated: the Karayats probably tracked him. The Awang Khan succeeded in coming up with him during the next day, when halted for rest, and a picket.

257.2.8

the Altun Khan attainable.” As the Chingiz Khan had posted for the purpose, gave Tamur-chi timely warning of their drawing near the mountain (range) of Mu-awand or Mu-awandur, at a spot called Holani Nukat, that is, the place where red canes or reeds grow. Notwithstanding the disparity of numbers, being sheltered by the hill skirt, he resolved to make a stand; and at last succeeded in beating off his pursuers. A great number of Karayats were slain and disabled, and Sangun—who is styled Shangun by some, but the three dots over the — seem over zeal on the part of the copyists—was wounded in the face by an arrow discharged at his father, whose person he shielded with his own.

257.3.1

This is the place where Mr. H. H. Howorth, in his Mongols Proper page 59, on the authority of some foreign translation says: “He now collected an army and marched against the Keraits. His army was very inferior in numbers, but attacked the enemy with ardour,” &c. His “flight from the Awang Khan” is not alluded to in the least, and he must have been exceedingly clever to collect an army, but, at page 552 of the same book, the story is told from another translation in a totally different manner. Tamur-chi thought it advisable however to withdraw quietly during the night towards the source of the Balijunah—some say, the Lake Baljiunah—Baljunah Nawar—and others, Baljunah Bulak, Bulagh, or Balik, signifying a spring in Turkish, whither the women and children had been previously despatched. This lake was salt, and contained but little water, scarcely sufficient for his people to drink. If we consider that Kara-Kuram was the chief encampment or dwelling-place of the Awang Khan, the retreat of Tamur-chi towards this lake of Baljunah, in which there was scarcely enough muddy water to quench the thirst of man and beast, and his subsequent movements, are sufficiently clear.

257.3.2

The people of those parts, of his own Nairun tribes, who had remained faithful, and had become dispersed when he took shelter with the Awang Khan, were dwelling in the tracts adjacent to Baljunah Bulagh, under his uncle U-tigin, also called Utichkin, and, when he reached them, on this occasion, they began to gather around him, as well as many others from the Awang Khan’s territory. At this time, at the suggestion of the Nu-yan, Karachar, Tamur-chi had a register made of the names of all those who had accompanied him in his flight from the presence of the Awang Khan, and assigned certain ranks and offices to each of them. The two youths, Batae or Badae, and Kashlik, who had warned him of his danger, were made Tarkhans. He was not “abandoned by most of his troops,” nor did he “fly to the desert of Baldjuna,” as Mr. Howorth states (p. 59); nor was he “a hopeless fugitive at Baljuna,” as the same writer states in another place (p. 553).

257.3.3

The meaning of Tarkhan is thus explained: “The person so called is secure and safe from all trouble and annoyance; in every place in which he serves, whatever booty he may take is his own, and he is not deprived of it; he can enter the place of audience of his sovereign without being summoned, and without first asking permission; and he can commit or be guilty of nine offences—nine is a number, as I have already noticed, held in great veneration by the Mughals—without being questioned; and Tamur-chi decreed that, for nine generations, the offspring of these Tarkhans should be exempt from all burdens and imposts.”

257.3.4

In the “General Description of Kashghar,” contained in the “Report” of the Yarkand Mission, previously referred to, we are told [p. 100], as to the Ancient punishments before the 10th century (Moghul): “Under the Moghuls, a noble was entitled to forgiveness nine times, but for the tenth was The descendants of the two persons above referred to were the progenitors of two tribes, styled respectively Badae Tarkhans, and Kashlik Tarkhans. The Tarkhans of the Dasht-i-Kibchak and Khwarazm are the descendants of Badae, while those of Turkistan are the descendants of Kishlik. Several great Amirs arose from these tribes, among whom was the Tarkhan, Haji, who was the founder of a city on the Atil, to which he gave his name. It was known as Haji Tarkhan, which, in after-years, was styled Hashtar Khan, but which European writers have “twisted” into Astrakhan, and not Orientals, as the author of the “Mongols Proper” imagines. In the battle with the Awang Khan, among other booty captured, was the bargah of that sovereign, which was of cloth of gold. This Tamur-chi bestowed, with other things, upon Badae and Kashlik, and, in after-times, the distinguishing mark of a Tarkhan was a piece of the golden cloth tent of the Awang Khan, which they used to wear hanging from their turbans.

257.3.5

Tamur-chi now marched from the head of the Baljunah, and pitched his tents at a pleasant place on the bank of a river named the Ur or Aor Muran [Ur Muran ?], at the foot of a mountain range on the frontier of Kalangae Kada, or Kad, which is the boundary of Khitae on that side, and there he mustered his followers, and they amounted to 4600 men. Leaving that spot after a time, he moved onwards, and reached a place where was a piece of water—the river Kalar—[Kailar of our maps]. Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur, calls it the Kula Sue or River Kula—and, there being plenty of grass thereabout, he determined to make some stay. On the way thither, with his forces divided into two bodies, one with the women and followers, and moving on either bank, he fell in with an Amir, Turk-Ili, by name, who had a considerable following, and, on inquiry being made of him as to who he was, and his intentions and objects, he turned out to be a Angiras, a Kunghur-at Mughal, with a considerable body of that tribe, and he agreed to submit to Tamur-chi, and was treated with great distinction. Whilst encamped at this spot, Tamur-chi was joined by other smaller bodies of his other tribes, until, at length, his force grew formidable. Having marched from thence, Tamur-chi despatched from the banks of the river Kurkan [some say from the Kala Nawar.

257.3.6

Abu-l-Ghazi says the Kolgha Nawar] an emissary named Urkae, or Urakae Ghun, the Bahadur, to the Awang Khan’s presence soliciting an accommodation, and several times emissaries passed to and fro between them, but terms of peace did not result therefrom; and his brother, Juji Kasar, who had been taken prisoner, and carried away with his family to the Awang Khan’s presence, now joined him, having made his escape. On the last occasion, Tamur-chi despatched an agent of his own along with the Awang Khan’s envoy, to throw him off his guard, apparently, since he followed himself with all his forces, made raids upon that monarch’s territory, reduced flourishing spots to desolation, slew great numbers of his people, and made others captive. After some time, wherein the Awang Khan’s people had suffered such misery, a battle ensued between Tamur-chi and his forces, and the Karayats—who were vastly superior in numbers—towards manhood, vigour, valour, and intrepidity, all concurred in the close of which Karachar encountered the Awang Khan, struck his horse with an arrow, and brought it head foremost to the ground. The Awang Khan then succeeded in mounting another horse, and took to flight along with his son, Sangun, leaving his wives and daughters captives in the hands of the victor; and such of the Karayat tribe as saved their lives did so by submitting to Tamur-chi’s yoke.

257.3.7

The Awang Khan had fled towards the territory of the Naeman tribe to seek shelter with their ruler, Tuluku or Taibuku, the Tayanak Khan, but, when he reached the Tayanak Khan’s country, some of the latter’s chiefs, without communicating with their sovereign, and on account of an old feud, put the Awang Khan to death. Sangun however managed to escape out of their clutches, and succeeded in reaching the territory of Kirkiz and Tibbat, and from thence got to Kashghar—another writer states that he proceeded towards Khutan and Kashghar, thus indicating the whereabouts of Kirkiz—but he was subsequently put to a cruel death, in the Kashghar territory, by the chief of a branch of the Khilj tribe, of Kulij Kara, called Kara Ma, who sent his family captives to Tamur-chi. The brother of the Awang Khan, whose three daughters were wives to Tamur-chi and his sons Jiiji and Tuli, escaped into Tingkut. Of this person more anon. As the whole of the Karayat tribe, and the forces of the Awang Khan, had submitted to him, the mind of Tamur-chi being now at rest from anxiety, he resolved on taking some recreation after his fatigues. He accordingly passed some time pleasantly in the part, near which the battle took place, in pleasure, and in enjoying the diversion of the chase, after which he set out for his native yurat, or encampment. These events happened in the year 599 H. [A.D. 1202-3], when Tamur-chi was 49 years old, but some say he was 50.

257.3.8

After having gained this important victory, and as the greater number of other tribes of the Mughal i-mak had bent the neck of subjection to him, Tamur-chi assumed the seat of Khan-ship, at the camp or station named Saman-Kaharah, which is also written Saman-Karah [Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur, has Naman Karah] which probably was near Dilun-Yuldak, in Ramazan of that same year, and the sovereignty exercised by the Awang Khan passed to Tamur-chi; but, as soon as the Tayanak Khan, also written Tayan, and Tayanak, son of Balikto Inanaj, sovereign of the Naemans [a Turkish tribe, but its direct descent is not certain], became aware of his predominance, he set about organizing an army against him, and the tribes of Durman, Makrit, and Saljiut, the Badshah of the Uir-at, Alin Taighi, and some other Bashliks of the Karayat, the Jajar-at of Jamukah, the Sajan, and some of the Tattar tribes, it is said, entered into a confederacy with the Tayanak Khan for the purpose of making war upon Tamur-chi.

257.4.1

The Tayanak Khan also despatched an agent to Ula-Kush-Tigin, the Badshah of the Ungkuts, a Turkish tribe who had charge of the Great Wall, asking him to join the confederacy, and aid in putting down the new claimant to sovereignty, which could be easily effected, if he joined him, as two kings in one country could not exist, nor two swords in one scabbard, and not to refuse his alliance, as he would naming him for the chieftainship [saying] : — For, save remedy matters with the sword himself, even if he should reject his offers. Ola-Kush-Tigin, also written Alakush, Tigin Kiirin, however, was a sagacious man, and an experienced one. He consequently despatched one of his Amirs named Nuridash, but, in one work, he is styled Burandash, and Kuri-dash, in Alfi, which is probably the most correct, to Tamur-chi, and made him acquainted with the message he had received, and assembled his Unguts for the purpose of joining Tamur-chi, as he was much annoyed at the Tayanak Khan’s message. Tamur-chi held counsel with his sons and Amirs, and one of the Nu-yins, some say it was Karachar, but others, that it was Tamur-chi’s paternal uncle, Daritae Unchuki, the Ulkunut Kunghur-at, advised that if Tamur-chi took the initiative and attacked the Naemans he would be successful. That advice was approved of; and, in the middle of Jamadi-us-Sani, 600 H., [in March, A.D. 1204], he commenced his march, and set out to attack the Tayanak Khan.

257.4.2

He moved onwards until he reached the verdant tract of Kalangae, previously mentioned, but, on this occasion, no fight took place. Subsequently, in the same year, Tamur-chi again set out to seek the Naeman Badshah, despatching a force in advance, under the Nu-yins, Kuildar Sajan, chief of the Mangkut Nairuns, and Jabah. He then reached the banks of the river Altae — [now Siba ?] in the territory of Kangaktae — Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur, calls it Altae Soning — in the neighbourhood of which was the Tayanak Khan, who had been joined by the Bigi Tukta, chief of the Markits, and one of the chiefs of the late Awang Khan, the Karayat. At this juncture a stray horse from Tamur-chi’s camp, with its saddle turned under its belly, entered the camp of the Tayanak Khan, who, when he beheld it, it being very lean, held counsel with his Amirs, saying ; “The horses of the Mughals are miserably lean while ours are fat and in fine condition. It is advisable that we should fall back so that the enemy may be induced to follow us, whereby their horses will get into a worse plight still. Then we will make a stand and engage them.” Most of the chiefs approved of this counsel, but the Tayanak Khan had an Amir, Kuri Subaju, by name, who, from childhood, had grown up with him ; and he said to him on this occasion : “Thy father, Balikto Inanaj, was not at rest a day without battle, and never showed his back nor the crupper of his horse to a foe.

257.4.3

Thy heart is enthralled with thy Khatun, Kur-basu, and from thee the perfume of manhood emanateth not.” Stung to the quick at these taunts, the Tayanak Khan, filled with rage, “grew hungry for the fight, like a roaring lion for his prey.” When the two armies came near each other, and drew out their lines, Tamur-chi entrusted the centre to his son Juji [some say Juji commanded the left wing, and Tamur-chi’s brother, Juji Kasar, the centre], and the two armies, having sounded their cows’ horns and kettle-drums, engaged in battle, and Jamukah, the Jajar-at, with his followers, having deserted the Tayanak Khan before the battle began, marched away to his own yurat. In the obstinate struggle which ensued, and which continued until evening closed in, the Tayanak Khan was wounded, and his body was so weakened from the effect of his wound as to be almost without a soul ; and with a few Amirs he retreated towards the top of a hill. His Amirs complained of this, and urged upon him the necessity, for his own sake, of returning to the field, and renewing the conflict, but he was now too badly wounded to be affected with their taunts and entreaties.

257.4.4

Then Subaju said to the other chiefs : “Since the Badshah dies thus deplorably in him, no one will be capable to undertake the carrying out adversity, better let us show our fidelity, and turn our faces again against the enemy, since we have given the Tayanak Khan to be slain,” and, with one accord, like lions, they descended, and rushed upon the enemy, and fought valiantly while life remained, in such wise as to gain the encomiums even of their foes. They all perished, but not before they had made great havoc among the Mughals, who lost great numbers. The Tayanak Khan having died of his wound received in that battle, his son, Koshluk or Koshlak, or Kojlak, as he is also styled, fled to his uncle, Bue-Ruk. The Habib-us-Siyar however says that the Tayanak Khan, after the battle, was conveyed to a place of safety, but that he died from the effects of his wound before the end of that same year 600 H. The females of the family of the Tayanak Khan fell into the hands of the victors, and, subsequently, his favourite Khatun, Kor-basu, was brought to Tamur-chi, who, in accordance with the custom of the Mughals, married her. A daughter of the Tayanak Khan’s son, Koshluk, named Likum Khatun, was given in marriage to Tuli, Tamur-chi’s youngest son. The Naeman and Ungkut females are said to have been remarkable for their beauty, above all the other tribes of Turk descent.

257.4.5

After Tamur-chi had been thus successful over the Tayanak Khan, in this battle, the tribes and families in confederacy with the Naeman sovereign, being without a head, for the most part submitted to Tamur-chi’s sway, but the Naemans became dispersed, and the Bigi, Tukta, the Wali or sovereign of the Makrits, was still hostile. Tamur-chi marched against him, and speedily overthrew him, and reduced the whole tribe of Makrit to subjection; but the Bigi, Tukta, with Koshluk, the Tayanak Khan’s son, sought an asylum with Bue-Ruk, the Naeman, elder brother of the latter, as detailed farther on. Most of the accounts of Tamur-chi’s proceedings, after the overthrow of the Tayanak Khan, are somewhat obscure and confused, but the authorities quoted in the Tarikh-i-Alfi throw considerable light upon these events. I must refer to them briefly, leaving numerous details of the life of the Chingiz Khan, both here, as well as elsewhere, in these notes, for some future day, when I hope to give them in proper order, and detail.

257.4.6

About this time Jamukah, the Sajan, the Jajar-at, was seized by his own people, bound hand and foot, and brought to Tamur-chi, his mortal foe. He, considering that, as the Jajar-ats had not been faithful to their own chief, they would scarcely prove faithful to him, commanded that the greater part of them should be massacred; and this, as will subsequently appear, was the treatment traitors generally received at Mughal hands. Jamukah was made over to a nephew of Tamur-chi, with orders to put him to death by dividing him limb from limb, because this was the treatment he had reserved for his rival, in case he had fallen into his power. He bore it without flinching, merely observing that he would have treated Tamur-chi after the same fashion, and telling the executioners how to proceed; and thus he met his end. Tamur-chi, after this success, returned to his own yurat, and despatched agents to various tribes of the Mughals, and exhorted them to submit. Such as did so were cherished, and such as refused were reduced and punished. In the following year—601 H.—Tamur-chi moved against the Makrit tribe, which, through their determined hostility, he sought to root out entirely. The Rauzat-us-Safa mentions these events as taking place a year later. The Bigi, Tukta, the Makrit chief, having fled from the forces of Tamur-chi, took shelter with of these matters, and this affair will not be accomplished, nor succeed at the hands of any other except him.”

257.4.7

another division of the Makrit tribe — the Urhar Makrit — the chief of which was named Da-ir or Ta-ir [the Turks, and the people of the different aymāḳs, use d for t and ṭ, and vice versâ] Asun, who, with his division of the tribe, was then encamped on the Taz Mūran, or River Taz, hoping to obtain support from them. When the Bīgī, Tūktā, and his followers arrived there, Tā-īr Asun told them that he had not the power to cope with Tamur-chī, and so, taking along with him his daughter, Kūlān Khātūn, he sought the presence of Tamur-chī, who received him honourably. He then represented that, for want of cattle, the whole of his people were unable to come and join his camp; but Tamur-chī, being somewhat suspicious of them, would not allow him and his followers to dwell in his own yūrat, but placed an intendant over them, and, soon after, Tamur-chī set out for his own yūrat, as before stated. After his departure, the Makrīts, with Tā-īr Asun, took to plundering the Mughals still remaining behind, but were resisted, and the plunder recaptured from them. After this, the Makrīts went away. Tamur-chī, on becoming aware of their proceedings, resolved to uproot them. He invested one sept of them, the Ūdūkūt, who were in the stronghold of Bījanad, which they call Wāekāl Ḳurbān, took it, overcame several other septs of the same tribe, and then retired.

257.4.8

The Bīgī, Tūḳtā, with his sons and a few of his people, fled to Būe-Ruḳ the Nāemān, the elder brother of the Tāyānak Khān, while his own sept, with the rest of the Makrīt tribe, along with Tā-īr Asun, retired to the banks of the river Salīngah, near the fortress of Ḳūrḳah Khūnhān, or Ḳipjān [?] and there took up their quarters. Tamur-chī on this despatched a force under two of his Nū-yīns, against them. The Makrīts were mostly destroyed, and the remainder of them were conducted to Tamur-chī’s presence.

257.5.1

In the month of Jamādī-ul-Āk̲h̲ir of this same year 601 H., Tamur-chī, having ordered his forces to be mustered, resolved to move into the country of Tingḳūt — also written Tinghūt — and Tingūt — which is described as a mountain country called Anḳsāe or Anḳāsāe, of great elevation, adjoining the country of K̲h̲itā-e. The Mughals style the country, which contained cities, fortresses, and fine buildings, Kāshīn [this is the country about which Mr. H. H. Howorth, in his “Mongols Proper,” quoting D'Ohsson probably, says, “Tangut, the Hia of the ‘Chinese,’ had been previously known as Ho and had been corrupted by the Mongols into Kaschin”! Who is the authority that they or any one else corrupted it? On the very next page of the same work we find that “Tangut” is “Kansuh,” and, further on, that “Kan-su” is “dependent on the kingdom of Hia!”], and, on the way thither, Tā-īr Asun, the Ūrhār Makrīt chief was seized and brought to Tamur-chī. Having reached Tingḳūt, otherwise Kāshīn, the chief place, which appears to have given name to the country — but an Ūzbak writer says the country was called Anḳāsāe — the fortress of Lānkāī was taken by storm and levelled with the ground, and the territory of Kāshīn was plundered and devastated. From thence Tamur-chī advanced towards Ḳalangūsh — or Ḳalankūsh, which was a vast city, and very strong. It was taken, and the greater part of the territory of Tingḳūt was also plundered and devastated.

257.5.2

From thence Tamur-chī returned, in triumph, to his own yūrat again. Ḳarā-Ḳuram, I may mention, is never once named in the histories I have been quoting from, up to this period. Every tribe, however, which submitted, Tamur-chī ceased from oppressing and treating with severity, incorporated it with his people, and showed it The Chingiz Khan bound the whole of the people of the favour and kindness, but those which manifested contumacy, and refused to submit, he brought under the sword, both chiefs and tribes, so that, in this manner, he succeeded in bringing most of the Mughal tribes under his sway. Those among them who were with him in his first encounter with the Awang Khan, whom he cherished, and to whom he had assigned certain ranks and degrees, and given certain exemptions, as previously narrated, he now directed should be formed into Tomāns—ten thousands—Hazārahs [there never was, nor is there, a “famous tribe” so named]—Thousands—Sadahs—Hundreds—and Dahahs or Dah-bashis—Tens: these words it must be remembered, are not the Mughal terms, but the Persian translation of Un Ming, Ming, Yuz, and Un respectively; and these degrees have continued to be observed among them down to modern times.

257.5.3

In the month of Rajab [the seventh] 602 H., corresponding to the Mughal year of the Leopard—but the Mughal, Abul-Ghāzī, Bahādur Khān, says, the year of the Hog—and to the month of February, 1206 A.D., when Tamur-chī was, it is said, by several historians, in the 49th year of his age, but he was really just 52 years and 7 months old, dating from the day of his birth, he commanded that a kurīltāe, or general assembly, of all the Mughal tribes in subjection to him should meet at a certain place, the name of which is not recorded. It was very probably Samān or Samān Kaharah, where he, three years before, assumed the Khān-ship, and this may have been the cause why so many authors confuse these two different events, and make one of them. There, accordingly, his sons, all his Nū-yīns and Amīrs, from the parts around, of the Tomāns, Hazārahs, Sadahs, and Dahahs, assembled together, and a great feast was made. He then set up a white Tūgh or Tugh—standard—consisting of nine degrees, or tails, indicated by as many tails of the ghaz gau, or bos grunniens, mentioned at page 68, and he was seated on a high throne with a diadem on his head.

257.5.4

Some authors, including the Fanākatī and the author of the Tārīkh-i-Jahān-gīr, with slight variation, state, that the causer of his setting up this standard was a Mughal, held in veneration by the people, clothed in the guise of a recluse, who used to pass his time in devotion, and whom, from exposure to the elements in a state of nudity, in his wanderings, neither heat nor cold affected. He pretended to the knowledge of the secrets of futurity, and asserted that he was sometimes taken up into heaven; and the simple-minded Mughals believed him. On this account he was styled by them Tab or Tub Tingri. The first word has been altered into or mistaken for But and translated by several European writers, but not by the original authors, “The Image of God.” Tingri certainly is the Turkish for God, but signifying an idol, object of adoration, or image, is a purely Īrānī, not a Turkī word; and it would be strange indeed if purely Īrānī words, in combination with Turkī, were in common use among Turks, Tattārs, and Mughals, at the period in question. For these reasons I think we are not at all certain of the true meaning of Tab or Tub [This, very probably, is the proper name of Malik Saif-ud-Dīn, the Khitā-ī, the XVI.

257.5.5

of the Dihlī Maliks, mentioned at page 757, whose name is written in precisely the same doubtful way, and without vowel points.] Tingri, though, I should suppose, the Devotee of, or Devoted to, or Chosen of-God, or something similar, is much more likely to be the correct signification. His correct name was Kūkjū, or Kūkchū [turned into “Gueukdja” and “Gukju” in the 'Mongols Proper'], though some write it Kūkchah, tribes by pledges and oaths to obey him in all things, and Kukjah, and Kukzu, and he was the son of Minglik Ichakah, the Kunakkumar—also written Kunakumar—who married Tamurchi’s mother. He stepped forward and said: “Last night a person of a red colour, seated on a grey horse, appeared unto me, and said: ‘Go thou to the son of Yassuka and say: ‘After this they shall not style thee Tamur-chi any more; for, in future, thy title shall be “the Chingiz Khan’ and likewise say thou to the Chingiz Khan, ‘Almighty God hath bestowed upon thee and thy posterity, the greater part of the universe.’” All present repeated it, and with acclamation hailed Tamur-chi by that title, because its meaning, in the Turki language, signifies in the Irani, Shah-an-Shah, King of Kings, or Emperor. The signification, however, is somewhat differently interpreted by authors into the Great King or Emperor, Khan-i-Khanam or the Chief of Khans, and the like. From that time this was his title.

257.5.6

Knowing how cunning Tamur-chi was, several writers have stated that the appearance of Kukju or Kukchu upon the scene was preconcerted between him and Tamur-chi. It will be noticed from the foregoing that his proper title is THE Chingiz Khan, as in the case of the Great King, the Great Napoleon, etc., and not simply “Chingiz.” Another writer well informed as to the Turks, Tatars, and Mughals, says that Ching signifies in the Mughali dialect, firm, confirmed, established, and the like, the plural form of which is Chingiz. The impostor was so puffed up with his own importance, after the success of his pretended revelation, that he began to entertain ambitious views for himself, until, one day, he entered into an angry dispute with Tamur-chi’s brother, Juji Kasar, when he took him by the throat and dashed him to the ground with such violence that Kukju never rose again. After this kuriltac, those who were in the secret of this pretended revelation began to spread the report all over the countries round, and among the peoples who had submitted to him, so that they began to believe that the Almighty had really given the world to the Chingiz Khan, and future war and conquest were chiefly considered.

257.5.7

The first victim of these pretended predictions was Bue-Ruk, brother of the Tayanak Khan, to whom Koshluk, the latter’s son, and the Makrit chief, the Bigi, Tukta, had fled for shelter. Bue-Ruk, after he had made such preparations as he was able for resistance, aided by the Makrits, was surprised by a body of Mughals whilst engaged in the chase, in the neighbourhood of Awaj Tak or Tagh [Habib-us-Siyar has Ulugh Tagh] at a place called Suja—Suja river?—like the quarry in the net of the fowler, and carried off to the camp of the Chingiz Khan, and was forthwith put to death. Some say he was killed in the shikar-gah, or hunting-ground. Rashid-ud-Din says he was surprised “after making a slight resistance,” which is rather improbable. His tribe on this dispersed, and Koshluk, and the Bigi, Tukta, after directing their followers to disperse and rejoin them, with as many others as possible, at a certain rendezvous in Ardish, fled also to a place on the frontier of the Naiman country.

257.5.8

The ruler of Tingkut, Shidarku, also called Shidasku, now began to manifest hostility again, upon which the Chingiz Khan, being then near to that country, determined to invade it. He entered it with a portion of his immense forces in 603 H. [A.D. 1206-7]. The capital named Kashin—the Akashin of Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur Khan—which formerly, it is said, gave name submit to his command; and, in conformity with the usual customs in force among that people, these important matters indicated, and sent an agent of their own to the Yiddi-Kut, whose capital was Bish-Baligh, and asked for shelter. He slew the agent, and cast his body into the Kham — in some MSS. the point has been left out altogether, and in others put under instead of over — whence it has been incorrectly styled the Jam Muran. This river is said to rise in the hills crossing the Gobi or Shamo desert, to run S.S.W., and to fall into the Hoang-ho — the Kara Muran — on the borders of Tibbat, and I believe, from the context, that this is correct. I shall refer to it again farther on. This desert of sand has destroyed many landmarks, and overwhelmed many cities, hence writers are led to look farther north, east, and west for places, and to make rash guesses respecting them, while they lie buried under the sands of the Gobi. The explorations of the Russian Colonel, Prejevalsky, throw considerable light on the parts about Lob Nawar, and the mountains to the south.

257.6.930

The Yiddi-Kut, having slain the agent, turned out with his people to expel them, and the fugitives, tired and worn out from the hardships they had endured in their flight, after a slight skirmish, being unable to cope with the I-ghurs, went off, and the Yiddi-Kut sent the news of their repulse and flight to the Chingiz Khan. Koshluk retired, by way of Bish-Baligh, into the territory of the Gur Khan of the Kara-Khita-i, while the Makrits retired to Kam-Kunchak [written in the Rauzat-us-Safa], which has, by the carelessness of copyists been turned into Kibshak and Kibchak, and, consequently, the most absurd errors have arisen, and no wonder “the country to which he went is not known.” This must not be mistaken for Kam-Kamjiut about which I shall have more to say farther on, but as the tract east of Lob Nawar.
Koshluk was well received by the Gur Khan, who gave him his daughter in marriage, the details respecting which, and his subsequent ingratitude, have been given in a previous note, on the Kara Khita-i dynasty, page 930.

257.6.p2

After the overthrow and death of the Bigi, Tukta, the Chingiz Khan despatched two agents to the Kirghiz tribe, calling upon them to submit. The Badshah, as he is styled, Urus I-nal, by name, finding himself unable to offer any opposition, sent back with them an agent of his own with presents, including a rare bird — the Ak-Shunkar — probably a white eagle, or some bird of the same species, and made his submission. This event is said to have happened in 603 H., but, as it certainly happened after the overthrow of the Makrit chief, which, as already mentioned, some say took place in 604 H., the submission of the Kirghiz may have happened in that year also, for, in consequence of the Bigi, Tukta's finding shelter in that part, the Chingiz Khan called upon them to submit to his yoke.
The next accession of strength gained by the Mughal sovereign was the homage, in 605 H., but some say in 604 H., of Baurchik — a ruler of other tribes of I-ghurs, which belong to the Mughal although they are neither Kaiats, Naguz, nor Dural-gins. They consisted of over one hundred and twenty different septs, and were descended in a direct line from Mughal Khan, brother of Tattar Khan, which former was grandfather of Aghuz Khan; and the I-ghurs were the first to join him against Kara Khan, his father, as already related. In religion, the I-ghurs were Lamaists, and, in times previous to those here referred to, the Baghighs, or Chiefs of the Un I-ghurs, used to be styled Il-Iltar, and those of the Tuguz I-ghurs, Kol-Irkin, or Il-Irkin, were caused to be ratified. He said: If you will be obe-and, in after-times, when about a century of their sovereignty had passed, those titles fell into disuse, and the title given to their ruler was Yiddi-Kut——which, as regards the first word, in some MSS. is written in such a manner that the two points of the first letter i—y—are run into one, and made to appear as b—which alters it altogether. The proper mode of writing it is evidently the above, with the d doubled, which I have taken from a work written by an Uzbak Mughal. In writing words of this kind beginning with i an alif—1—is sometimes substituted, thus Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur Khan, writes it—Idi. It signifies “the Lord of Sovereignty,” but some writers say, “the Reigning Prince,” and his territory lay in Turkistan. At the time in question, he was a tributary to the Gur Khan [The “Aydy Cut,” of “Balasaghun,” as Surgeon-Major Bellew styles him at p. 140 of the Kashghar Mission History, had nothing whatever to do with Bilasa-ghun: that was the Gur Khan’s capital. The Yiddi-Kut’s chief town was Bish-Baligh], whose shahnah or Intendant, named Shau-kam, dwelt at his court. Having occasion to complain to this Intendant about his illegal and oppressive acts towards the I-ghur people, and receiving naught but insolence and threats in return, the Yiddi-Kut, having heard the noise of the Chingiz Khan’s invincibility, and being himself, with his tribe, descended from the same I-mak, slew the Intendant of the Gur Khan at Kara Khwajah,—a place still well known in I-ghuristan—and flung the body into the Kham Muran, saying, at the same time, that no one was safe who was the enemy of the Chingiz Khan, and he determined to despatch an agent to him. The latter, who was, by no means, friendly inclined towards the Gur Khan for giving shelter to Koshluk, the Naeman chief, on hearing what had happened, despatched an agent named Durbae, with a friendly message to the Yiddi-Kut, and invited him to come to him, for the I-ghur ruler is said to have previously informed the Chingiz Khan that he had driven Koshluk, and the Bigi, Tukta’s brother and sons out of his territory. A few writers say the I-ghur was the first to negotiate. Be this as it may, according to the majority of the most trustworthy historians, the Yiddi-Kut, dreading the resentment of the Gur Khan, was well pleased to seek the protection of the Mughals. He accordingly set out from the I-ghur territory bearing rich presents—for he was a very wealthy prince—consisting of gold, silken garments, cattle, and horses, among which were 1000 of high breed, and slaves both male and female. This was in 605 H. [A.D. 1208-9]. When these negotiations began, the Chingiz Khan was in the territory of Tingkut, whither he had gone, in that same year, to chastise the ruler of that country, Shidarhu, who, with some other chiefs, had revolted, and among whom was the Khan of Kirkiz whose country was utterly ruined. The Mughals then appeared before the city of Irihi [Polo’s Egrigaia?, but, in a work written by an Uzbak, it is Arkey], the ruler of Tinkut, thereupon made his submission, and is said to have sent his daughter to be espoused by the Chingiz Khan. These events took place in 606 H.
On his way back the Yiddi-Kut reached his presence with befitting offerings. He was well received by the Chingiz Khan, and a liberal appanage was assigned him. He solicited that he might be considered as the Great Khan’s fifth son, being himself the son of a Khan. This was consented to, and one of the Chingiz Khan’s daughters was given him to wife, and he became his fifth son—his son-in-law. dient to my mandates, it behoveth that, if I should command the sons to slay the fathers, you should all obey,” and they entered into a solemn promise accordingly; and the first command he gave was that they should slay the sons of the great Amir Baisu, who had been the associate [in the chieftainship] with the Chingiz Khan's father.
He [the Chingiz Khan] brought the whole of the tribes under his own sway and set about making preparations for hostilities, and employed himself in getting ready war material and arms. As the numbers of the Mughals had largely increased and become very great, and an account of this determination of the Chingiz Khan had reached the hearing of the Altun Khan, he nominated [a force of] 300,000 horse in order to guard the route against the Mughals, and hold the pass [leading out of the tract then occupied by them].
The Chingiz Khan despatched a Musalman, named Ja'far, who was among that people [the Mughals], among the forces of the Altun Khan under semblance of traffic; and the Altun Khan commanded that he should be imprisoned; and he detained him for a considerable time. The prisoner [in question], by some good contrivance that became practicable, fled from that confinement; and, by a secret route, made for the presence of the Chingiz Khan, and related the matter to him, and informed him respecting the road by which he had come. The Chingiz Khan determined upon the design of rebelling, got his forces ready, and first directed so that the whole of the Mughal families assembled together at the base of a mountain. He enjoined that all the men should be separated from the women, and the children from their mothers: and, for three whole days and nights, all of them remained bare-headed; and for three days no one tasted food, and no animal was allowed to give milk to its young. The Chingiz Khan himself entered a khargah [a felt tent], and placed a tent-rope about his neck, and came not forth from it for three nights and days; and, during this period, the whole of the people [there assembled] were crying out, Tingri! Tingri! After three days, at dawn, on the fourth day, the Chingiz Khan issued from the tent, and exclaimed, “Tingri hath given me victory. Now we will get ready that we may wreak our vengeance upon the Altun Khan!” For the space of another three days, in that same place likewise, a feast was held. At the end of those three days, he led forth his troops; and, following the route by which that fugitive, Ja’far, had come through the mountains, they issued forth, and assailed the country of Tamghaj, carried their inroads into it, and put the people to the sword.

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