The Nāṣirī Generations 257.4
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 257.4
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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.