The Nāṣirī Generations 258.1.7

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.