The Nāṣirī Generations 258.1
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 258.1
- Language
- English
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.