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The Nāṣirī Generations 258: HISTORY OF THE EVENTS WHICH HAPPENED IN ISLAM.

Tabakat-i-Nasiri 258

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HISTORY OF THE EVENTS WHICH HAPPENED IN ISLAM.

258.1.1

Trustworthy persons have related on thiswise, that, when that fugitive [camel-driver] stated to the Chingiz Khan, the accursed, what had befallen his traders and emissaries, the Chingiz Khan issued commands so that the forces of Turkistan, Chin, and Tamghaj, assembled. Six hundred banners were brought out, and under each banner were one thousand horsemen, and six hundred thousand horses were assigned to the Bahadurs: they call a warrior, Bahadur. To every ten horsemen three head of tukli sheep were given, with orders to dry them; and they took, along with them, an iron cauldron, and a skin of water; and the host proceeded on its way. From the place where the Mughals then were, on the frontier of the Chingiz Khan's territory, to Utrar, was a three months' march, entirely through wild and uncultivated tracts; and it was commanded that it was necessary to perform that march of three months, and subsist upon this quantity of provision, and to eke it out with the milk of their mares; and, placing herds of horses in front of them, so numerous that their numbers cannot be computed, they turned their faces towards the land of Islam.

258.1.2

Towards the end of the year 616 H., they emerged on the frontier of Utrar, at which place the violence had been hatched; and, although they were jaded from their journey and destitute, yet such was the energy, constancy, and intrepidity, which Almighty God had implanted in the nature of the Chingiz Khan and the Mughal army, that, in a short time, they took Utrar and put both small and number were slain by the Mughals, and Umsut their chief — Unis Inial — bent his neck to the yoke. After this Juji returned and joined his father. great and old — to the sword, and left not a soul alive; they martyred the whole of them. defenders were reduced to great straits, at which time the Hajib, Karachah, who had been sent thither with 10,000 more troops to support the Gha-ir Khan, was for capitulating to the enemy, but the Gha-ir Khan, who was well aware that he could expect no mercy from the Mughals, scouted the very idea of surrender, and being guilty of such base ingratitude to his sovereign. Karachah, however, entered into secret understanding with the Mughals [how history has repeated itself within the past year or two!], and, one night, left the place with his contingent, by the Sufi-Sianah gate, and submitted to the enemy, who, without delay, rushed in by that same gate, and captured the city.

258.1.3

As soon as morning arrived, Karachah and his followers, after being reproached and reviled for their ingratitude to their sovereign, were all put to the sword, and the inhabitants of the place were removed outside into the plain and butchered — “the lives of the inhabitants were spared,” says Mr. H. H. Howorth in his “Mongols Proper.” The Gha-ir Khan threw himself into the citadel, with 20,000 men — some say 8000, and some, 6000 — all resolved to fight to the last, and held out for another month, during which they made several sallies, and slew a vast number of the Mughal army. At last, the Gha-ir Khan was left with but two of his followers; and no shelter remained to them but the flat roof of his dwelling. These two soldiers fell at his side, and then the Gha-ir Khan, whom the Mughals were expressly commanded to capture alive if possible, was made prisoner, and on the neck of Inal Juk they placed a yoke — a play on the word Juk, which signifies a yoke for oxen, a collar. The citadel of Utrar was levelled with the dust, and of the few people of the place, and master artificers, who had escaped the massacre, some were imprisoned, and some were driven along with the army to exercise their trades in the Mughal camp, together with the Gha-ir Khan in chains. As the Chingiz Khan was then before Samrkand, his sons set out to join him there, and to the Gha-ir Khan the cup of death was administered at Kiwak Sarae, a name near Samrkand.

258.1.4

This place is the Gheucserai of Petis de la Croix. I must now endeavour to give a short account of the different operations of the Mughal hordes, in order to bring up events to the siege of Samrkand. I have already mentioned in my previous notes, page 268, and page 964, how Juji fell in with the Khwarazmi army in the northern part of the present Kashghar territory, and, after a severe handling, his marching away, leaving his camp fires burning, so as to avoid pursuit. He subsequently, by command of his father, marched towards Jand, and, when he arrived near Sighnak on the way thither, he despatched the Haji, Hasan, who was a native of that place, and then with his army, as an envoy, to endeavour to induce the inhabitants to submit. The populace, however, put him to death for advising them to submit to infidels and Mughals, and Juji, filled with rage at the treatment of his emissary, attacked the place, and, in two days, captured it. The inhabitants were massacred and the place ruined [this is a mode of treating them “with tenderness,” certainly, after the Muskov fashion. Mongols Proper, page 76], and a son of the Haji, Hasan, who was dwelling there, was made its governor — the governor of a desolated place!

258.1.5

Juji then advanced to Yuzkand, also written Uzkand, and, to quote the expressive words of the History in verse which I have elsewhere referred to: “In one night he took it, and in one day demolished it.” After that he marched to Asanas [I think this is an error, although contained in so many works, for the ’Arab Ush-Shash the An astonishing relation [is here given] which was heard by the author from one of the merchants whom they were ancient name of Tag^and, but, if not, it is now unknown and its site also. Juji was sent against it, and no mention is made of it after. Abu-l-Ghazi Bahadur calls it Asnas, “a city full of vagabonds and rascals,” and, as they showed hostility, they were speedily annihilated. No particulars are given.

258.1.6

When the news reached Kutlugh—also written Kutlugh—Khan, the Hakim of Jand, he became fearful, evacuated the city, and fled by way of the steppe in order to reach Khwarazm. Juji on this despatched thither, as his agent, Jai-Timur—but who he was is not mentioned, save that he had been long in the Chingiz Khan’s service—to advise the inhabitants to submit. There was no leader or authority with sufficient power there, and the populace raised a tumult and sought to take the agent’s life, but he managed to escape by stratagem. On being made aware of the state of affairs, Juji pushed on, and came in sight of Jand; and the people had merely time to close the gates and mount the walls, but they showed no other opposition. The Mughals placed scaling ladders, mounted the walls, and the city was theirs. As no active opposition had been shown, the people, with the exception of a few evil doers, who had spoken fiercely to Jai-Timur, escaped from the Mughal talons; but they were all thrust out into the open country, and their dwellings were abandoned to be sacked for a period of two weeks, and the walls and defences were levelled with the dust. The Khwajah, ’Ali, who was one of the great men of Bukhara, was located there in charge of the city. A Mughal Amir likewise having been detached with one toman [10,000 men], the city or town of Maijin was taken possession of, and an intendant was left there. After this Juji set out to join the camp of his father.

258.1.7

The Nu-yins, Alak also written Alak, Saktur, and Buka, according to their orders proceeded towards Khujand and Fanakat, or Banakat—afterwards known as Shah-Rukhiyah—and, on reaching the latter place, the governor there, I-yal-taku or I-yal-tagu by name, shut himself up in the citadel with a body of Kankulis, and defended it vigorously for three days. On the fourth they called for quarter, and came out of the city, and “were overwhelmed in the wave of blood.” Destruction befell the people of Fanakat. Whether stranger, or friend, not one remained, and but few escaped with their lives, with the exception of the young men of Tajik race who were incorporated with the enemy’s forces, and compelled to serve against their own people. Alak then turned his face towards Khujand, the governor of which was Timur Malik, “to whom Rustam, were he alive, would have acted as groom, and Sam, were he living in his day, would, on his own body, have inscribed his name.” This Timur Malik had constructed a lofty fortress at the point, near the city, where the river separates into two branches [at the junction, probably, of the tributary of the Sihun which joins that river from the South just below the city], and, with 1000 men, took post therein, determined to hold out as long as he had the power and means of doing so.

258.1.8

The Mughal forces enclosed the city and fortress as in a ring, but, as the missiles from their catapults took no effect upon the fortress, the young men of the city [which, from this remark, must have fallen, although no further mention is made of it] were collected in crowds; and assistance was also brought from other places, near by, which had been subdued, until 50,000 men were assembled together to help the investing force consisting of 20,000 Mughals. The former were divided into gangs of tens wont to style Khwajah Ahmad, the Waki'i, a man of veracity, who related after this manner: “It is narrated by and hundreds, and one Mughal was placed over every ten Tajziks, and, from the hills three farsangs distant, they were compelled to convey stones on foot to the river side [in order to construct a causeway apparently, although this is not specified], and the Mughal horsemen cast them into the river. Timur Malik, who was fertile in expedients, had caused twelve vessels to be constructed, which were covered with felts plastered over with a mixture of fresh clay and vinegar, in such wise that arrows and fire [such things as “stink-pots” in the accounts of this affair are purely ideal: a composition of naptha is here referred to] took no effect upon them, but windows [lit. but loop or port-holes are meant] were left, so that arrows and other missiles could be discharged from them against the Mughals.

258.1.9

Every day, at daylight, Timur Malik used to despatch six of these vessels on either side, and keep up a desperate defence; but, when matters became serious, and he found his efforts unavailing, seventy boats which had been got ready to provide means of escape he, one night, loaded with his effects, placed his family therein, embarked with his warriors, and like lightning launched into the river. The Mughal forces, becoming aware of it, set out along both banks to oppose his progress; and, in every place where they could offer most opposition, he would draw near with his own vessel, and with his arrows, which like the arrow of destiny never missed their mark, would drive the Mughals off, and would push on again with his vessel. On reaching Fanakat, he found the Mughals had drawn a chain across the river, thinking to stop the little fleet, but, with one blow of an axe, Timur Malik made the chain two, and pushed on again. I find no mention, in any author, of a “bridge of boats built at Jend,” because Timur Malik did not proceed to Jand at all, but, some distance below Fanakat, where the mountains approach the river, he landed on the western bank, entered the steppe, and made for the city of Khwarazm, because Juji Khan, on being informed of his heroic conduct, had made preparations to bar his progress farther down the river, which he would have been enabled to do from his position in the vicinity of Tashkand or Ush-Shash.

258.1.10

The Mughals however followed in his track, and when they drew near he would face about and withstand them until his family and effects made some progress in advance, and then he would follow. After some days, when most of Timur Malik’s men had fallen, the baggage was captured, and, with a few men remaining, he pushed on with rapidity, giving the Mughals no opportunity of taking him, and keeping them at bay. At last his few remaining followers were killed, and Timur Malik was left alone—some say his family at this time had attained a distance which placed them out of danger—and with no means of defence left but three arrows, one of which was broken and its head gone. Three Mughals were still in pursuit of him, so he drew the broken and headless arrow—for he did not wish to have to use the others—and sent it through the eye of the foremost pursuer, and blinded him. He then said to the other two: “Two arrows still remain according to your number, and so it is advisable that ye return from whence ye came.” They did retire; and the Iron Malik—Timur signifies iron—proceeded on his way without further molestation to Khwarazm. There he again prepared for war, and with a small force surprised and captured the town of Kat on the Jihun, in the district of Hazar-asp, and from thence he proceeded to join Sultan Muhammad, not considering it advisable to remain in Khwarazm.

258.1.11

He pushed on until he came up with him, and told reliable persons that the Chingiz Khan, after that he had possessed himself of Tamghaj, and had brought it under his sway, and, for a period of four years, had caused great sedition and shedding of blood, saw one night, in a dream, that he was binding a turban of immense length about his head, so much so, that, from the vast length of the turban, and the labour of binding it, he began to grow fatigued after, in his interminable task, he had become like unto a great corn stack. When he awoke from his sleep, he was relating his dream to every one of his confidants, and the men of wisdom who were about him, but not one among them could interpret it in a manner to satisfy his mind, until one of his confidants said: ‘The turban is part of the costume of the merchants who are in the habit of coming into this part from different directions of the west, and a party of them has arrived from ’Arabia. It Is necessary to summon them in order that the interpretation may be obtained from these persons.’ In accordance with that advice, they were called in order to interpret it.

258.2.1

"Among the merchants they found a few persons from the west, 'Arabian Musalmans, turban-wearers, and they were sent for ; and to the person who was the chief, and the most intelligent among the party, the Chingiz Khan related his dream. The Tazi [’Arabic]-speaking merchant said : ‘ The turban is the crown and diadem of the Arab, for head dresses of that description are the tiaras of the Arab ; and the Prophet of the Musalmans — Muhammad, the chosen one — the blessing of God be upon him ! — was a turban-wearer, and the Khalifahs of Islam are turban-wearers. The interpretation is this, that the kingdoms of Islam will come into thy possession, and the countries in which the Muhammadan faith prevails thou wilt reduce under thy sway.’ This signification chimed in with the opinion of the Chingiz Khan ; and, for this reason, his design of appropriating the territory of Islam was resolved upon.’ We return to the subject of [this] history.

258.2.2

After capturing Utrar and martyring its inhabitants, they [the Mughals] marched, from thence, towards Bukhara; and, on the first of the month of Zi-Hijjah, 616 H., induced to open them and submit, while another statement is, that the city was surprised. However this may be, its walls were razed to the ground, to make it “the Fortunate City” perhaps. The Bahadur, Ta-ir, whose name will frequently appear in the text, farther on, was sent, in advance, to summon Nur. The place submitted, it and its dependencies were bestowed as an appanage upon the Bahadur, Sahudah or Swidae, as he is also called, the inhabitants paid a year’s tribute in advance, and received security for life and property, and were not further molested. At the end of the year 616 H. [February, 1220 A.D. — not the 19th of June, 1219 A.D., as we are told in “Mongols Proper” for the year, 617 H., began on the 7th March, 1220], the Mughal hosts appeared before Bukhara, and the felt tent of the Chingiz Khan was pitched facing the citadel. There was no “several days’ siege” whatever.

258.2.3

When night set in, the Amirs commanding the troops there, Kiwak Khan, son of Hamid-i-Bur [an elder brother of the Hajib, Burak, the Kara-Khita-i, who subsequently usurped the sovereignty of Kirman, subordinate to the Mughals, after that ingrate had compassed the murder of Ghiyas-ud-Din, the Sultan’s son, and ruler of that territory], Kiwak Khan, Sunj Khan, Bughrae Khan, and Kashlu [by some Kashli, which is merely another form of the title] Khan, with 20,000—but some writers of Mughal proclivities make the number 30,000, in the same manner as they always exaggerate the numbers of the Musalmans—came out, by one of the gates, in order to make a night attack upon the invaders, but, the enemy having got word of it, they were encountered and defeated by the Mughal advance. The great men of Bukhara, consisting of ecclesiastics, doctors of the law, and distinguished persons, issued forth from the city next day [the 10th of Zi-Hijjah], at dawn, and strove, by the manifestation of submission and eloquent appeals, to make terms whereby the inhabitants might be saved from the violent blast of the invader’s wrath. The Chingiz Khan entered the city in order to view it;

258.2.4

and, when he reached the Masjid-i-Jami’, or Friday’s Masjid, beheld a great and lofty building, towards which he urged forward his horse, and rode into it, with his son, even up to the most sacred place within it—the Safrah-i-Maksurah: the place where the Imam stands when officiating—and inquired: “Is this the Sultan’s palace?” They replied: “This is the house of God.” He then dismounted from his horse, certainly not out of respect, mounted two or three steps of the pulpit, and sat down [Alfi says, Tuli ascended to the pulpit] and [according to Sharaf-ud-Din, ’Ali,] commanded his troops, saying: “There is no forage in the plain by means of which they [the people] may satiate the horses, [see ye to it].” The Fanakati, Fasih, Alfi, and others, however, relate more circumstantially, that he said to those present: “The plain [or open country outside] is destitute of grass: it behoveth that ye fill the bellies of my horses,” and, on this, they opened the granaries [of the city], and brought forth grain. The Mughals then drew their horses into the Masjid, and made the chests, in which the sections of the Kur’an—which is generally in thirty sections of sixteen pages each—and other religious books were kept, troughs for their horses to feed out of, while the books were trodden under foot;

258.2.5

and they handed the head-stalls of their horses to the ’Ulama to hold, while they themselves betook themselves to the cup [neither the wine, nor the “loving cup,” but the fermented mares’ milk cup—kurniz] and began to sing their Mughali songs. pitched their camp before the gate of that city. Kashlu Khan, the Amir-i-Akhur of Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, whose prowess was notorious, with several other leaders of renown, made a sally from the city upon the infidels with a large force of horse and foot; but, the very first day, the Mughals completely defeated them, and a vast number of Musalmans were slain. The remainder, who were able to effect it, withdrew again within the city, but their hearts failed them, and their fortitude forsook them, and they resolved to evacuate it. Taking advantage of the darkness of the next night, and their knowledge of the country, along with their families, they fled towards the Jihun. When the day broke the Chingiz Khan, having become aware of it, despatched a large force of cavalry in pursuit, which came up with them on the banks of that river, and put the whole of them to the sword, with the exception of a very few who succeeded in crossing, and their women and children were made captive.

258.2.6

The following day the inhabitants came forth from the city, and prayed for quarter. The great men and ecclesiastics went to the camp of the Chingiz Khan, who, accompanied by his troops, immediately entered the city. He rode into the Jami’ Masjid, and, riding up to the Mihrab, alighted, and the horses of his followers were picketed within the sacred place. The chests in which the copies of the Kur-an were kept, were converted into mangers, and the holy volumes were trodden under foot by the infidels. He then ordered wine to be brought, and the singers of the city to be summoned; and, while he drank, the Mughals, both men and women, began to dance and sing, and turned the Masjid into a scene of riot and debauchery. The principal ecclesiastics and learned men of the place were compelled to act as grooms, and to attend to the horses of the infidels.

258.2.7

From the Jami’ Masjid mounting again, the Chingiz Khan rode to the Musalla-e-’Id—the place of Prayer, where the prayers appointed for Festivals are said—and, mounting the pulpit, having first caused the people to be assembled, harangued them about the killing of his envoys, and, telling them that he had been sent against them as the instrument of the Divine wrath, on account of their sovereign’s and their own misdeeds—he too was a “divine figure” also “from the north,” and, after holding forth in a similar blasphemous strain, which address was interpreted from the Mughal language into Persian by an interpreter who stood by his side, he continued: “Such property as is visible in this city need not be referred to—he had an eye to plunder notwithstanding his divine mission—but all that is concealed it behoveth ye to give up.” Much wealth was given up in consequence. As commands had been already issued that the adherents of the Khwarazmi Sultan should be expelled the city, and none should be sheltered or concealed therein, on finding that several of them had been sheltered by the people of Bukhara, he—merely desiring an excuse—gave orders for a general massacre of the inhabitants, and to set fire to the city, which was mostly built of wood; and, in the space of one day, the whole, with the exception of the great Masjid, and a few brick buildings, was consumed, in such wise that the city became the haunt of wild beasts.

258.2.8

The suburbs were then given to the flames, and the ditch of the citadel was filled up with whatever could be obtained—dead bodies of men and beasts, stones, timber, rubbish, and the like—and, in a few days, the Mughals captured it. Its governor, Kiwak Khan, with all found within the place, were put to the sword—more than 30,000 in all—including grandees and great men, the servants of the Sultan, who were treated in the most contemptuous manner, and their females and children were carried away into slavery, but babes were not spitted on lances as in these days of civilization and Christianity. After this the citadel was levelled with the ground, and not a vestige of gate, wall, or rampart, of either city or citadel remained. Kiwak Mazar, or the Tomb of Kiwak, lies a few miles to the N.E. of the present city.

258.3.1

The young men of Bukhara, who had been spared for another purpose, were driven off with the troops towards Samrkand and Dabusah [also called Dabus and Dabust. It was a fortified town about midway between Bukhara and Samrkand], and from Bukhara the Chingiz Khan turned his face towards Samrkand. Having heard accounts of the great strength of Samrkand, which had lately been added to, the Chingiz Khan had been led to despatch bodies of troops under Juji and the Nu-yan, Alak, to subdue other places in Turkistan razm Shah, was there, on the part of that monarch, with a force of 12,000 horse; and the Mughals invested the city. On the day of the festival of the kurbān [10th of Zī-Ḥijjah — 15th February, 1220] of that same year, they took the city and fortress of Bukhārā, and expelled the whole of the inhabitants — gentle and simple, the learned and the noble, both male and female — and martyred them, and burnt and destroyed the whole of the city, and all the libraries of books; and a few persons [only] were made captive. They then turned their faces towards Samrḳand. The leader of the van of the Chingiz Khān's army, which issued from the wilds, and captured Utrār, and advanced to the gate of Bukhara and took it likewise, was a Turk whose name was Tamur-chi, the Jazbi, a man of great energy ; and, in the Mughal dialect, signifies a Hajib [Chamberlain]. On first reaching the gate of Samrkand, the Mughal forces laid an ambuscade;

258.3.2

and the troops in Samrkand, and the people, moved out to give battle. On the ambuscade being drawn, defeat befell the troops of Islam and the people of Samrkand, and nearly 50,000 Musalmans became martyrs. Subsequently to that, for a period of ten days or a little over, the Mughals took up a position round about Samrkand. Within the walls of that city, on the part of Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, was a force of 60,000 horse, consisting of Turks, Ghuris, Tajziks, Khalj, and Karlughs, and all the Maliks of Ghur, such as Khar-zor Malik [Malik ?], and Zangi-i-Khar-Jam [Cham ?], and other Maliks of Ghur, were there. On the day of ’Ashura, the 10th of the month of Muharram, 617 H., the Mughals took Samrkand, and burnt that city and destroyed it, and made captives of some [of the inhabitants, and put the rest to the sword]. Bodies of troops were nominated to various parts of Mawara-un-Nahr, Farghanah, and Bilasa-ghun, and destroyed all the cities, and martyred all their inhabitants. Mughal armies were also despatched to take possession of different parts of the dominions [of the Khwarazmi Sultan], and forces were sent from Upper Turkistan to pursue Kashlu Khan, the Tatar, who was a king, and the son of a king, of the Tatar tribes, who had seized and brought [away] the Gur Khan of Kara-Khita; and they captured him [Kashlu Khan] on the boundaries of Jab and Kikrab which is Ghuzzistan, and the hill tracts of Samrkand; and they slew him.

258.3.3

When the news of the taking of Samrkand, and of the or Lukah, soon after found that the Makrits were again preparing for war. There is considerable discrepancy with regard to these events, and some oriental writers have, through the carelessness of copyists, apparently, turned two events into one, with respect to Kodu and the sons of the late Bigi Tukta, and his nephews, and Tuk-Tughan, the Makrit. At the period in question, Kodu and his nephews were residing in the Naeman country, and were regaining strength, which they were using in support of Koshluk, the Naeman sovereign, who, at this time, had seized the last of the Gur Khans, and his dominions. The Makrits had likewise incited other tribes of Mughals, who were quite ready to do so, to throw off the yoke of the Chingiz Khan, under which they had fallen. Among the tribes instigated to war by them were the Tum-at or Tum-ad Mughals [turned into “Comat,” in the Kashghar Mission History, a different tribe from the Burghuts or Burkuts], who were dwelling in the tracts towards the south-east from Kashghar—now part of the great sandy desert—towards the frontier of Khita, about the Kok Nawar, incorrectly written Kokonor in our maps.

258.3.4

In the year 612 H., therefore, the Chingiz Khan despatched the Nu-yin, Sahudah, or Swidae, the Uriangkhut Kungkur-at, with a considerable army against the Makrits, and he was provided with carts or waggons, specially made and strengthened with iron, so that they might not easily break down, as the Makrits had taken shelter in a very mountainous tract of country. This tract was called Kum-Kunjak—which, through the careless copying of some scribe, or an imperfect MS., has been mistaken for Kibchak by many oriental authors with ridiculous results, and European writers generally have followed them. Sahudah set out in the beginning of 612 H. [it commenced on the 1st May, 1215 A.D.], and was joined, on the way, by the Bahadur, Taghachar, with another force [this leader, probably, is Guzidah’s Tutmar-i-Chubin, but Abu-l-Ghazi, Bahadur Khan, calls him Toshajar]. The two leaders, after great exertions, reached the whereabouts of the Makrits, brought them to action near the banks of the river Jam—the Jam Muran; but, in some Histories, the letter has a dot over it instead of under, which makes it Kham, while in others again it is not pointed, and therefore stands for—with which no Turkish word begins [Chinese, and Europeans, however, vitiate kh and turn it into 'Arabic h as in Hatun for Khatun, Tophanah, for Top-khanah, Hatti-Humayun for Khatt-i-Humayun, Hodjah for Khwajah, Halji for Khalji, Han for Khan, Hamil for Khamil, and the like].

258.3.5

Bentinck says the Jam Muran rises in the mountains crossing the Gobi—the Altan, not Altyn mountains—of which but little had been previously known, if the existence of such a range has not been altogether ignored until the recent discoveries by the Russians, and that the river runs S.S.W., and falls into the Kara-Muran or Hoang-ho, on the borders of Tibbat. See the map to Col. Prejevalsky's explorations in the Geographical Magazine for May, 1878, which confirm the existence of this range, which has been distinctly mentioned by Oriental writers and old travellers, and which is clearly laid down, although not quite exactly, in the maps of the Jesuits. A Chinese envoy told Gerbillon that he had crossed a river of Kok Nawar, “called in the Mongol [Turki?] tongue Altan Kol, or Golden River,” which falls into the Lakes of Tsing-hai, and has abundance of gold mixed with its sands. The Makrits stood their ground against the Mughals, and the consequence was they were defeated with immense loss. Some say the tribe was almost massacre and captivity of its inhabitants, and of the troops destroyed, together with Kodu and all his nephews but one, a mere child, who was taken to the presence of the Chingiz Khan, who ordered him “to be sent to join his brothers and uncle,” notwithstanding Juji Khan would have taken charge of him, and have brought him up.

258.3.6

It has been asserted that the Makrits were entirely annihilated on this occasion, but such is not correct, as I shall presently show, and Kodu, brother of the late Bigi, Tutta, and Tuk-Tughan, who is also called the brother of the same chief, have been mistaken for one and the same person, of which there is no probability, for Tuk-Tughan, and the remnant of the Makrit tribe were encountered by Juji Khan, in the northern part of the present territory of Kashghar in 615 H., after the death of Koshluk, and when the Chingiz Khan was on his way westward to invade the territory of Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, and when Juji, against his will, sustained the attack of the Sultan’s army in which his own was roughly handled. To demonstrate this clearly, it is necessary to go back a little, and refer to what is said about it elsewhere. When Koshluk, the Naeman, left the presence of the Gur Khan, his father-in-law, to call around him his dispersed Naemans, and proceeded towards Bhalik, when he reached its confines and that of I-mil, Tuk-Tughan, the Amir of the Makrits, who had fled—from whence is not mentioned on hearing the rumour of the Chingiz Khan’s fury, joined him, together with many of the Gur Khan’s chiefs. During the time that Koshluk exercised dominion over the state of the Gur Khan, however, after the latter’s seizure by him, Tuk-Tughan, with the remainder of the tribe of Makrit, had separated from Koshluk, and returned to Kum-Kunjak again.

258.3.7

The next information we obtain is, that the Chingiz Khan, having determined to invade the dominions of the Khwarazmi Sultan, when making his preparations for the march, considered it advisable, before setting out, to leave no enemies in his rear; and, as Koshluk, the Naeman, and Tuk-Tughan, the Makrit, still remained, and their whereabouts was in the vicinity of his route towards the west, he deemed it necessary to reduce them first, and so the Nu-yin, Jabah [Yamah], was sent with a large army against Koshluk and Juji Ughlan, the Chingiz Khan’s son, at the head of another army, against the Makrits under Tuk-Tughan.

258.4.1

It would seem, therefore, that Tuk-Tughan, hearing of the movements of the two Mughal armies, and finding Juji was coming upon him, moved from Kum-Kunjak, with the remains of the Makrit tribe, and endeavoured to reach Kara-Kum [which, in some imperfectly or carelessly copied MSS., has been turned into Kara-Kuram], which was the dasht or steppe inhabited by the Kanguli Turks, and which tribe had been assigned, by the Sultan of Khwarazm, to his mother, Turkan Khatun, as part of her appanage. At page 267, it is stated that, in 615 H., the Sultan had moved from Samrkand to Jand because a body of those remaining of the supporters of Kadr Khan [Kadir Khan of others], respecting whom more will be found in the account of Juji Khan farther on, had broken out into revolt on the confines of Jand, for the purpose of suppressing it, and, that, after he had annihilated that faction, he returned towards Samrkand again. Some other writers, however, say that this took place earlier, before the total downfall of the last Gur Khan, and that, after quelling this revolt, the Sultan heard that an army of the Gur Khan had appeared before Samrkand, of Islam which were there stationed, reached Sultan and was preparing to march to its relief, when the Kara-Khitae army was withdrawn to operate against Koshluk, but our author twice distinctly states that this revolt, or its suppression, happened in 615 H., and immediately after says that "the calamity of the infidels of Chin — i. e.

258.4.2

the Mughals — arose." The Sultan being at Samrkhand, whither he had returned from Jand, hearing of the movements of Tuk-Tughan and the Mughals in the direction of Kara-Kum, moved towards Jand to guard his own territory, and to seize or stop Tuk-Tughan, if practicable, and marched beyond it as far as the frontier of the Turks. In the meantime Tuk-Tughan and his people, marching westward towards the Kankuli steppe, had been intercepted by Juji Khan near the great mountain range forming the northern boundary of the present Kashghar state, as previously related. I think I have here shown that Kodu, brother of the Bigi, Tukta, the Makrit, and Tuk-Tughan, the Makrit, are different persons, and that the Makrits were not wholly destroyed when defeated by Sahudah.

258.4.3

The author of the "Mongols Proper," on the authority of M. Wolff, states at page 73, that the destruction of the "Merkits" took place "near Lake Kossagol, between the Selinga and the Upper Jennessei" [sic], but I notice that he had some doubts about it, and, at page 712, he places "the Merkits," as "living probably in the valley of the Chu, and perhaps at Balasaghun," after stating that, according to Erdmann, the "Merkit chiefs" were "met and defeated on the banks of the river Jem (not the Kem or Yenissei [sic], as Wolff seems to read it)," but without perceiving that, at page 73, he had given, from the same writer, apparently, a much more correct version of the affair, and had even named some of the places tolerably correctly, but under vitiated orthography! I must, as briefly as possible, give some account of Koshluk's subsequent acts, after his seizure of the Gur Khan, his father-in-law, and benefactor, and his own fate, which immediately preceded the irruption of the Mughal barbarians into the countries of Islam.

258.4.4

After the seizure of the last Kara-Khita-i ruler, his dominions east of the Sihun devolved upon Koshluk, but he did not thereby become himself "Gur Khan," as we are informed in the "Mongols Proper." Had Koshluk known how to have managed the Gur Khan, after he became his son-in-law, he might have got up a formidable, and, perhaps, successful, combination against the Mughal ruler, to whom also he was related on the mother's side. Koshluk was an idol-worshipper — but-parast — a Buddhist, and his wife [or one of his wives?] was a follower of 'I-sa — Jesus Christ; hence they were both intolerant to the Musalmans, continually exhorting them to turn idolaters — the Rauzat-us-Safa says, to embrace Christianity — and those who would not were massacred. The Tarikh-i-Alfi, however, says that Koshluk, "for the sake of an idol-worshipping damsel, became himself an idol-worshipper too," but without mentioning what faith he previously followed, which we must presume was the Christian. Koshluk, for a period of four years, from 610 to 614 H. [May, 1213, to April, 1217, A.D.], continued to send forces against Kashghar, and they used to commit great ravages, and burn the crops, in such wise, that famine began to show itself in that tract of country. The inhabitants could do no other than give up the city of Kashghar and its defences to him, and the fort surrendered. Koshluk's troops took up their quarters in the peoples' houses.

258.4.5

Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, who was then [encamped leaving them to shift for themselves, and violence, wickedness, and sedition, reigned supreme. Petis de la Croix, who quotes “Mirconde,” that is to say, Mirkhawind, the author of the Rauzat-us-Safa, makes the astonishing statement in his “Genghizcan the Great,” that the Gur Khan used to reside in Kashghar, which was the capital of their Turkistan possessions, and sometimes called Urdu-kand. That the Musalman religion prevailed there is, undoubtedly, correct—and had prevailed for centuries, it may be added—and the Nestorians had churches there, but that, “at this time the capital is Hyarcan, which is the same place as Caschgar was,” shows that De la Croix’s geography was a little at fault. Yarkand is just 100 miles S.E. of Kashghar. He moreover states, quoting, apparently, the same work, that the people of Caschgar refused to acknowledge any other sovereign than the Gur Khan’s son, and that “the siege lasted long,” and “the city was at last taken.” In the last para. of the account of the Gur Khans, I have noticed what has been said respecting the survivors of that family, but, although it is very probable that the last Gur and the former ones too, may have had descendants, they are not specified, nor is a son mentioned in any author that I am aware of. The statement as to “Gushluk” having killed “the sovereign” of “Kashgar,” contained in the Mongols Proper, is without any real authority, I fancy, and would be difficult to verify.

258.4.6

After obtaining possession of Kashghar, Koshluk moved towards Khutan, which ’Abu-l-Fida and some others say was of the I-ghurs, or “I-ghuria,” lying in the 42° of Lat., while Kashghar is said to be in the 44°, but correctly, according to the most recent observations, 39° 24' 26", and 37° 6' 58", respectively, which shows the correct direction of the I-ghur country at the period in question, and which extended much farther to the S. W. than shown in the map in “Mongols Proper,” and as the events mentioned clearly show. Koshluk took possession of Khutan, and acted towards its people in the same tyrannical manner, as at Kashghar, to compel Musalmans to recant. He commanded that all the learned men of the place should come out and hold a disputation with him on the subject, and more than 3000 ’Ulama and men of learning appeared. One of them was the Shaikh ’Ala-ud-Din, Muhammad, the Khutani, and he got the best of the argument, by the Musalman account, upon which Koshluk began to mock him, and the Shaikh, losing all patience, cried out, “Dust on thy mouth, O Koshluk! thou accursed enemy of the faith!” For this the Shaikh was seized and nailed up before the gate of the college he had founded. He lingered for several days, during which he continued to exhort the people to be staunch in the faith; and, at length, he was put to death, and thus attained the felicity of martyrdom.

258.4.7

After this, Musalmans were forbidden to exercise their religion, and the call to prayer and public worship were prohibited. At that period, there was a person dwelling on the confines of Almaligh, of great valour and intrepidity, and a champion—a pahlawan, but not “a herald with red arrows” [see Mongols Proper, page 130], and his name was Ozar also belonged to the or Kanghuli tribe. He was a freebooter, and did nothing better than steal horses from all parts, and carry on other wickedness, until vagabonds and bold spirits like himself gathered round him, and he began to acquire strength, and to ravage the parts around Almaligh, until, at last, he obtained possession of that place and parts around. before] Balkh, as has been already related, he became filled with despondency, and retired precipitately towards Igil—the "Turkish Prince" of which is said, by Abu-l-Fida, to have been absent at this time, and which city is said by him to lie in the same degree of Lat. as Kashghar—he set out for Fulad-Sum, which was one of the greater cities in that part [afterwards buried in the sands, like several other cities], and gained possession of it likewise. Koshluk used continually to lead troops against him, defeat him, and ravage and lay waste his recently acquired territory. When Uzar’s position became dangerous, he despatched an agent to the Chingiz Khan, and complained of Koshluk’s tyranny.

258.4.8

The Chingiz Khan sent him a friendly answer—his being hostile to Koshluk was enough to ensure that—and Uzar proceeded to his presence and was well received, a dress of honour and other favours were bestowed upon him, and Juji sought his daughter in marriage. The Chingiz Khan advised him to abstain from hunting excursions [the mode of hunting of the Mughals and other peoples of Asia, often referred to in our author’s, as in other histories, is very different from our ideas of hunting, but I have not space to describe it here], lest he might fall a prey into the hands of a hunter foe, referring to Koshluk, and presented him with a thousand sheep in order that he might not have occasion to go forth in search of game. However, when Uzar returned to Almaligh, he again went out, when suddenly and unexpectedly the forces of Koshluk came upon him in a hunting-ground, captured him, and brought him before the gate of Almaligh. The inhabitants, however, shut the gates of the city, and resolved to defend it. Fighting commenced, when, at this crisis, news arrived of the coming of the hosts of the Chingiz Khan, for he began to grow alarmed at Koshluk’s continued success. On this Koshluk’s troops retired from before Almaligh, and, on the way back to their own territory, put Uzar, the Kankuli, to death.

258.4.9

The Chingiz Khan showed favour to his son, Saghnak-Tigin [In the account of those who presented themselves to the Chingiz Khan on his way to Utrar, which occurred very shortly after, the chief of Almaligh is styled Tukta-Tigin. See note, page 969] gave him one of Juji’s daughters to wife, and sent him back to Almaligh [from this it would seem that he had been kept in the Mughal camp as security for his father’s behaviour], where he took up his residence; and Arsalan Khan, the Karlugh, who, at this period, was a vassal of the Mughal ruler, who had betrothed one of his daughters to him, was, by him, permitted to go back to Kaialigh or Kaialik.

258.5.1

In the meantime the Chingiz Khan’s envoys and the merchants had been put to death and plundered through the perfidy of Inal-Juk, the Kankuli, whose title was Gha-ir Khan, and whose title, in the MSS. of our author’s work, by mistake, is written Kadr Khan. The Chingiz Khan, before undertaking the war against the Sultan of Khwarazm to avenge that outrage, determined not to leave behind him any one likely to contemplate sedition in his territories during his absence; and, as his chief enemies, Koshluk, the Naeman, and Tuk-Tughan, the Makrit, were committing disturbances and sedition in the vicinity of his line of route, he determined to finish Koshluk first, and, accordingly, the Nu-yin, Jabah, was sent to the westward against him, with a large army of several tomans, from the frontier of Kara-Khitae, as already stated.

258.5.2

Koshluk, having committed violence and tyranny beyond measure in Khutan and Kashghar, and endeavoured to extinguish Islam therein, had nothing to expect but hostility from its people, and therefore, on hearing of the approach of a Mughal army to that frontier, he fled from Kashghar, and Jabah was allowed to take possession of it. He at once issued a proclamation that every one might follow his own faith unmolested. Every Naeman that Nishapur. On the Chingiz Khan receiving information of the Sultan's departure from the environs of Balkh, and of the sedition in, and dispersion of, the army which was along with him, he ordered 60,000 Mughal horse, from his own camp, to cross the Jihun, and despatched this army, under the standard of two notable Mughals, one of whom was the Bahadur, Sahudah by name, and the other the Nu-in, Yamah, in pursuit of the Sultan.

258.5.3

That host, in the month of Rabi'-ul-Awwal, 617 H., such a small number been sent they would have been liable to be cut off when separated, in a country too where there were men who only wanted leaders to make them fight. Even a force of 60,000, as our author states, allowing for those killed, disabled, or carried off by disease, was small enough; but, it is certain, that the Mughals, as was their custom, compelled men of the places they captured or passed through to join them, and incorporated them in their armies; and, by this means, they managed to save their own men at the cost of their recruits. We must also remember that they had to depend on the parts they overran for supplies. That they could be resisted in far greater numbers than 30,000 or even 60,000 by resolute men, the defence of Utrar, Khujand, Tirmid, Sistan, and Khwarazm, abundantly shows, as well as the determined resistance of other places mentioned by our author farther on but which no other writers have even named, much less described. When the Chingiz Khan had reached Samrkand, in Zi-Hijjah, 616 H., [end of February, A.D. 1220], and had completely invested that place, news, it is said reached him that the Sultan had crossed the Jihun by the Tirmid ferry, that the greater part of his troops were stationed in different fortresses, and the remainder dispersed in various parts.

258.5.4

The Chingiz Khan consequently held counsel with his Nu-yans, saying, that, as but very few troops remained with the Sultan, and his son, Jalal-ud-Din's advice to concentrate his forces was not complied with, it was now possible to complete his downfall before his nobles and great men, and the armies of the different parts of his empire, should have time to rally round him. It was therefore determined that three Mughal Amirs of tomans, who were among the greatest of the Mughal leaders, namely, the Nu-yan, Jabah, of the tribe of Baisut the Yamah of our author, Yafa-i, Fasiti-i and some others, with one toman [10,000 horse] as the van division, and the Bahadur, Swidae—the Sahudah of our author and others—of the Mughal tribe of Kungkurat, and the Nu-yan [the Bahadur?], Tukchar, also written Tukachar and Taghachar, with their respective tomans, should be directed to follow Jabah [Yamah] in succession in pursuit of the Sultan. They were to pursue him throughout his empire, and not to rest until they had captured him. If they came up with, and found themselves not strong enough to cope with him, they were to make it known to him, the Chingiz Khan, and not to turn aside; to Intendants with them, but hostility. They were likewise to understand that three years were sufficient to accomplish this task, and turn the Sultan's empire upside down; that he himself did not intend to remain in the countries west of the Sihun more than three years;

258.5.5

and that they were to rejoin him in his native yurat or encamping ground, in Mughalistan, by way of the Dasht or Steppe of Kibchak [along the north side of the Caspian]. They were further instructed to acquaint him in case of their being in danger, that his son, Tuli, would be at once sent after them, at the head of an army, into Khurasan, and another army against Khwarazm, under his other sons. and Jabah [Yamah], with his toman formed the van, while the others were directed to follow him in succession [at an interval of some few days probably]. They crossed the Amuyah, or Jihun, by the Panj-ab ford, at the end of Rabi'-ul-Akhir—some say in the previous crossed the river Jihun; and, in conformity with the month — 617 H. [about the latter part of June, A.D. 1220], and pushed on to Balkh, where they arrived together. They were waited on by a deputation of the chief men, received supplies, left an Intendant there, and then, according to their instructions, proceeded towards Hirat.

258.5.6

On the arrival of Jabah [Yamah] and Swfdae [Sahudah] at Hirat, they did not molest it because, when they entered that territory, the Malik of Hirat [Amin Malik, according to the Habib-us-Siyar, whose title was Yamin-ul-Mulk] sent an emissary to meet them, and to signify his submission and obedience, he, from their unexpected arrival, being in no condition to resist them; but such proceedings, on that Malik’s part, are contrary to the statements of our author and the tenour of that Malik’s life. See the account of Sultan Jalal-ud-Din’s coming to Ghaznin farther on. They were allowed to receive supplies, but were not admitted within the walls. The two leaders continued to follow each other towards Zawah; and, when Tukachar reached Hirat, he must needs refuse to believe the statement of the Malik’s submission to Jabah [Yamah] and Swidae [Sahudah], and commence hostilities. The Malik therefore, of necessity, had to defend himself [See note page 1014], and, in a conflict which ensued between the Mughals and Hiratis, Tukajar was killed, along with a great many of his force. This is a totally different person from the son-in-law of the Chingiz Khan killed before Nishabur.

258.5.7

In the meantime, the Malik of Hirat having sent messengers to the two Nu-yans in advance, complaining of Tukachar's conduct, agents from them to the Malik arrived merely in time to conduct his defeated troops to join the other two leaders. From this, it will be perceived, that it was only want of spirit, or rather want of union and concerted action, that prevented the Musalmans from exterminating this Mughal force entirely. From what has been already narrated by our author above, it will have been seen that he knew more of the actual facts of this affair than the pro-Mughal writers I have taken this from. Tukachar was killed near Fushanj, a dependency of Hirat, and not at or before Hirat itself. These forces under these three leaders were not the only troops despatched from the Chingiz Khan’s camp into Khurasan in 617 H. Arsalan Khan of Kaialik, and the Juzbi, Tulan, the Talangut [?] [see note page 1061], were despatched across the Jihun, about the same time, to invest Walwalij of Tukharistan, which was bravely defended, and defied all the efforts of the invaders for eight months. See pages 1004 — 1006.

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