The Nāṣirī Generations 261: ACCOUNT OF THE COMING OF SULTAN JALAL-UD-DIN, MANG-BARNI, SON OF SULTAN MUHAMMAD, KHWARAZM SHAH, TO GHAZNIN, AND THE EVENTS THAT BEFELL HIM THERE.
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 261
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ACCOUNT OF THE COMING OF SULTAN JALAL-UD-DIN, MANG-BARNI, SON OF SULTAN MUHAMMAD, KHWARAZM SHAH, TO GHAZNIN, AND THE EVENTS THAT BEFELL HIM THERE.
261.1.1
Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah, sent his commands to Malik Ikhtiyar-ud-Din, Muhammad, son of 'Ali-i-Khar-post [the ass-skinned], the Ghuri, a man of experience, a valiant warrior, and of considerable firmness, who, some time previously, for a period of ten [two ?] years, had held out the fortress of Nasir Koh of Talkan, against the forces of Khwarazm Shah, and who, in Ghur and Khurasan, had, consequently, become famed and renowned, and whose line was of the great Maliks of Ghur, to set out from Burshor [Purshor — Peshawar ?], which was his fief, and proceed to Ghaznin ; and, when he arrived there, the forces of Islam turned their faces towards him. In the capital city of Ghaznin, great numbers of troops assembled, in such wise, that about 130,000 horse, all brave soldiers and completely armed, were mustered with the intention of undertaking this important enterprise, that he should organize the army, and suddenly fall upon the forces of the Chingiz Khan who was then encamped at the Pushtah-i-Nu'man, and [endeavour to] overcome him.
261.1.2
He [Malik Ikhtiyar-ud-Din, Muhammad-i-Khar-post] was constantly occupied in organizing the army, and in the equipment of his train ; and those grandees and distinguished men of Khwarazm, who had become severed from the service of Sultan Muhammad, were coming to him at Ghaznin. Shihab-ud-Din-i-Alb, the Sarakhsi, who was the Wazir of the kingdoms of Ghaznin and Ghur on the part of the Khwarazm Shah, came to Ghaznin. There was [also] at Ghaznin a Kot-wal [Seneschal], whom they used to style Salah-ud-Din, who was of the kasbah [town] of Gird-gan, in conformity with the command of Sultan Muhammad, Khwarazm Shah. Malik Khan of Hirat, who, at the time of flying [from thence], had proceeded towards Sistan, when the hot season set in, turned his face towards Ghaznin, and news from Khurasan was received respecting Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, Mang-barni, that he was coming to Ghaznin. Shihab-ud-Din-i-Alb, the Wazir, in secret, had now devised a treacherous plot with Salah-ud-Din, the Kot-wal, and had prepared a banquet and invited Malik Muhammad-i-Khar-post to this convivial entertainment, and Salah-ud-Din, the Kot-wal, assassinated that Malik-i-Ghazi with a knife; and the army which he had gathered together became dispersed.
261.1.3
In the year 617 H., Malik Khan of Hirat, as above stated, Ghaznah were then collected together, encamped within half a farsang of the city ; and the Shams-ul-Mulk and Salah-ud-Din, who were among them, conspired against Muhammad, son of ’Ali-i-Khar-post. They invited him to a feast, at a garden near by, when Salah-ud-Din, seizing the opportunity, stabbed him with his dagger and slew him. After having killed the Khar-post, the Shams-ul-Mulk, and Salah-ud-Din, before the deed became known, succeeded in throwing themselves into the city, and secured the citadel ; and the Ghuris became disunited, and, after two or three days, Yamin Malik [the Yamin-ul-Mulk] arrived at Ghaznah and assumed authority. Soon after came news that the Chingiz Khan had reached Tal-ikan, and 2000 or 3000 Mughals— 20,000 or 30,000 more likely — came in search of Yamin Malik [the Yamin-ul-Mulk] by way of the Garm-sir. He sallied out with a body of troops to encounter them ; but they, finding him too strong for them, did not venture to stand against him, and made a hasty retreat. Yamin Malik [the Yamin-ul-Mulk] pursued them as far as Bust and Tigin-abad ; but the Mughals had gone off in the direction of Hirat, and he, by way of Kusdar, proceeded into the Shoristan-— the Salt Desert between Hirat, the Kuhistan, and Sijistan.
261.1.4
He had taken along with him the Wazir, the Shams-ul-Mulk, and imprisoned him in the fort of Kajuran of Bust and Tigin-abad, and had left Salah-ud-Din, the Seneschal, in charge of the citadel of Ghaznin ; but, after the departure of Yamin Malik [the Yamin-ul-Mulk], the people of Ghaznin rose against Salah-ud-Din, slew him, and gibbeted him. There were at Ghaznin, at this time, two brothers, natives of Tirmiz, the Razi-ul-Mulk, and the ’Umdat-ul-Mulk [these are, however, titles not patronyms], and they became the directors of affairs ; and, having gathered together a large following, acquired the whole power. The Khalj tribe, and Turkmans, in great numbers, coming from Mawara-un-Nahr and Khurasan, congregated at Parshawar, and their Sar-Khel, or Leader, was Saif-ud-Din, Aghrak, who, in the Jami’-ut-Tawarikh, is called a Turkman. The Razi-ul-Mulk was desirous of moving against them, so that he might acquire power in Hindustan. He accordingly assembled his forces, and marched against them ; but he was overthrown by the Khalj and Turkmans, and killed with most of his followers. His brother, the ’Umdat-ul-Mulk, was left in charge at Ghaznin during his absence.
261.1.5
The A'zam-ul-Mulk, also styled the A’zam Malik in the Jahan-Kushae, who was the son of ’Imad-ud-Din of Balkh, as mentioned above by our author, who was the Hakim of Nangrahar, and Malik Sher, the Hakim of Kabul, with the Ghuri troops of the Sultan, who had gathered around them, marched upon Ghaznin, and invested the ’Umdat-ul-Mulk in the fort, which is in the middle of the city. After they had placed catapults against it, and besieged it for forty days, they captured the fortress ; but, on the very same day, arrived the Shams-ul-Mulk, the Wazir, whom Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, flying towards Ghaznin by way of Khurasan, had released on reaching the fort of Kajuran, in which Yamin Malik [the Yamin-ul-Mulk] had confined him, and had sent on, in advance, to prepare for his reception at Ghaznin. A week after, the Sultan himself arrived ; and troops began to rally round him from all quarters, as already related under his reign, and as will be noticed farther on. had retired before the Mughal forces and come to Ghaznin, and, from thence, returned again towards the Garm-sir with the intention of proceeding to Sistan. On the way thither, he conferred the territory of Burshor [Purshor] upon Razi-ul-Mulk; and, when Razi-ul-Mulk came to Ghaznin for the purpose of proceeding to Burshor [Purshor], the people of Ghaznin kept him there.
261.1.6
Subsequently to that, however, Razi-ul-Mulk set out towards Burshor [Purshor], and the troops of the Ighrak [tribe] which were there [congregated] put Razi-ul-Mulk to flight. After he had withdrawn from thence the A’zam Malik, the Sipah-Salar [Leader of Troops], the son of ’Imad-ud-Din of Balkh, who was Amir of Nagrahar [Nangrahar], seized Razi-ul-Mulk, and detained him. Suddenly, Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, Mangbarni, arrived in the Ghaznin [territory], upon which they [’Imad-ud-Din and his partizans] slew Razi-ul-Mulk; and, shortly after, Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, Mangbarni, and Malik Khan of Hirat, reached Ghaznin. Numerous troops joined them, consisting of Turks, Ghuris, Tajziks, Khalj, and Ghuzz, and a great army collected. From Ghaznin, they pushed forward towards Tukharistan, and routed an army of Mughals which were before the walls of the fortress of Walishtan, and came back again [to Ghaznin]. When intimation of the coming of Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, Mang-barni, and Malik Khan of Hirat, and the gathering join his sovereign, and they now moved to relieve Candahar “before the citadel was taken,” and “surprised the Moguls, who had already taken and plundered the town,” and drove them off with great slaughter, “the town being full of dead bodies of Moguls and Tartars.” All the Mogul army at Candahar perished! The Sultan “repaired Candahar,” and “returned to Ghazna.”
261.1.7
I have no opportunity, at present, of examining the Nisawi’s History, but I feel certain that no such name as the city of Kandahar will be found in it unless the interpolation of some more modern writer or copyist; and further that it will not be found in any History of that period. Kandahar adjoins the tract called the Zamin-i-Dawar, which Baihaki so often refers to in connexion with Bust and Kusdar, and whose work, devoted to a single reign, is so full of detail; and he mentions Walisht in connexion with those places, but never mentions such a place as Kandahar. At page 319, our author too, in his account of the five great mountain ranges of Ghur, says, that “the fourth is the mountain tract of Warani, in the valleys and outskirts of which are the territories of Dawar [the Zamin-i-Dawar], Walisht, and the Kasr of Kajuran.” Is it possible that such a position as that of the city of Kandahar could then have been in existence, and lying in the easiest route between Ghaznin and Bust, without being once mentioned? It is also improbable that Walisht can be Walishtan, because we are distinctly told that the latter was in Tukharistan, which lies some five degrees farther north than Kandahar. The so-called “Saygill,” of some European writers, is merely an error for Sigiz, or Sijiz. The ancient name too of Kandahar is said to have been Waihind, and of the province Balyus.
261.1.8
Neither Baihaki nor our author, who constantly give names of places and routes, especially the former, as from Hirat to Balkh, and Ghaznin to Balkh, ever once mentions such a place as Walian, which, as I have already remarked, is a mistake of some copyist for Walishtan, but both of them mention Walwalij—The only places mentioned in the Masalik wa Mamalik and in Ibn-Haukal in any way approaching the words under discussion, in the parts indicated, are Zawalin—and Walin—with the—j—left out in the latter, and which places neither Baihaki nor our author mention, and they are undoubted errors for Walwalij. See note 3, page 288. There is a Walshian in Col. J. T. Walker’s last map, but no reliance can be placed on our maps for correctness of names—especially in Oriental names—names in the map of a country—which ninety, if not ninety-nine, times out of every hundred, are inserted on oral evidence alone, but, for historical accuracy, should be written first in the language of the country and people, and then inserted in the map. Walshian of Col. Walker is, however, just 90 miles N. of Bamian and 180 N. of Ghaznin, and is not mentioned in any oriental History or Geography, that I am aware of.
261.2.1
P. de la Croix then goes on to say, first quoting Abu-l-Faraj for “Candahar” [page 6], and then Fadlallah [i.e. Rashid-ud-Din, Fazl-ullah], that the Chingiz Khan determined, on hearing of this defeat, to despatch Tuli, his son, against the Sultan, and was about to send him off with 80,000 horse, when another courier arrived announcing the revolt of Hirat, and, instead, was despatched thither, and continues: “Just after despatching Tulican [Tuli Khan, however, had nothing whatever to do with the second attack upon Hirat. See page 1049, and note 2], and after an unsuccessful attack on of the troops of Islam, reached the Chingiz Khan, he Bamian news reached him of the movements of Coutoucou Noyan [the Kuyan, Fiku, previously sent into “India”], who had arrived within a day’s march of Gelaleddin, who advanced [quoting “Nisavi” and “Fadlallah”] to meet them, although one-fourth superior to his own force, and came upon them just beyond a town called Birouan, within a day’s journey of Ghazna.” This force of Mughals was overthrown as already related above, and at pages 289-90 of this Translation.
261.2.2
Then we have the astonishing statement [from “Nisavi” it is said] that, after this defeat at Birouan [Barwan], “There was, some days’ journey from thence, a party of Tartars [not Mughals] who were besieging a fortress called Ouala [the Walian of others], who, when they heard of the battle of Birouan, raised the siege and fled, and that “the defeat of the Moguls and Tartars was quickly known to the Emperor, who was still before Bamian.” Then follows the account of its capture and the massacre of every soul. The subsequent statements are generally correct.
261.2.3
As to some of the originals quoted, which I have examined in order to test the doubtful passages, I find that Rashid-ud-Din’s account is very different. He says that Amin Malik [Yamin-ul-Mulk—Malik Khan of Hirat] joined his sovereign with 50,000 men from the neighbourhood of Ghaznin, that the Sultan married his daughter, that the Sultan and his forces continued the whole winter at and during that time, on the news of his arrival having spread, was joined by Saif-ud-Din, Ighrak, with 40,000 men, and also by the Amirs of Ghur and their followers. He then goes on to say, that, early in the spring, hearing that the Mughals were attacking Walian [our author’s Walisthan], and its being hard pressed, he advanced to Barwan [it was near the sources of the Lohgar river], left all his heavy materials there, and moved to attack them, as related in the notice of Jalal-ud-Din, at page 288, note The Chingiz Khan heard of the first reverse within the limits of Tal-kan, not at Bamian, as De la Croix asserts, and not one word is mentioned about any siege of Bamian, and he, after hearing of the last defeat of his troops, moved at once towards Ghaznin from Tal-kan. The Fanakati mentions Tal-kan of Khurasan, and makes no mention of any siege of Bamian.
261.2.4
The Jahan-Kusha, the account in which I have detailed farther on, says Amin Malik was in the vicinity of Ghaznah when the Sultan arrived there, and agrees with Rashid-ud-Din’s statements in all things, brings the Chingiz Khan, at once, from the vicinity of Tal-kan of Khurasan to Ghaznin, and makes no mention whatever of any siege or capture of any place called Bamian. The Rauzat-us-Safa [De la Croix’s Mirconde, meant for Mir Khawind] does not mention at all; and the Chingiz Khan is made to advance from Tal-kan [the correct name is given], but, to show his geographical knowledge, probably, the author says he came by Andar-ab to Bamian, by which the Mughals must have gone only 7 degrees of Long.—some 480 miles—directly from W. to E. to reach Andar-ab, then come backwards some 120 or 130 miles more to the S.W. to reach Bamian through some of the most difficult ground in Asia, while between Tal-kan and Bamian the distance is only about 160 miles, and about equidistant from Marw-ar-Rud and Balkh. The Habib-us-Siyar, written by the son of the author of the Rauzat-us-Safa, agrees with that work.
261.2.5
The Tarikh-i-Jahan-gir agrees with Rashid-ud-Din, and the Fanakati, nominated the Nu-in, Fiku, who was his son-in-law, to advance from Hirat and Khurasan towards Ghaznin. When he [with his troops] arrived on the confines of Barwan, Sultan Jalal-ud-Din advanced against that army, and gave it battle, defeated it and put it to flight, and despatched great numbers of the Mughal infidels to hell. A second, and a third time, Mughal armies advanced, and were overthrown. In the army of Sultan Jalal-ud-Din were a great number of the Ighrak [tribe], all warlike men, and ruthless horsemen, and, between that body of the Ighrak, and the 'Ajamis and Khwarazmis, a quarrel arose respecting the booty, and hostility ensued; and that body of Ighrak troops separated from Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, and went off to another place, and the Sultan remained with the Turks [only].
261.2.6
When the Mughal Nu-in, Fiku, returned defeated to the Chingiz Khan, the latter moved [from his camp at] the service], and were defeated, and they retired to Tal-kan, before which the Chingiz Khan then was. The writer then hushes up the subsequent overthrows of the Mughals at the Sultan’s hands, and proceeds to narrate the defection of a great part of his troops, consequent on the quarrel between Yamin Malik, as he styles Malik Khan of Hirat [whose title was the Yamin-ul-Mulk. See page 287, and page 540, note, para. 2], and Saif-ud-Din, Ighrak. Malik Saif-ud-Din, Ighrak, together with other Khalj Amirs, and the A’zam Malik [the A’zam-ul-Mulk, son of 'Imad-ud-Din, the Balkhi], a Ghuri chief, with their troops, Khalj [there were Kankulis, and Ghuzz, among them too. See page 376], Turkmans, and Ghuris, went off in the direction of Parshawar, while the other Turks and Khwarazmis with the Sultan, retired towards Ghaznin. It must not be lost sight of, in connexion with this mention of Ghuzz, that they were once in possession of Ghaznin, Kabul, and Zabul. These Khalj Turks, under the name of Khilich, Dr. Bellew makes Ghilzi Afghans of, and Col. G. B. Malleson first turns them into “Abdalis” and afterwards into “Ghilzais!” These selfish and disloyal chiefs, however, very soon received their deserts.
261.2.7
They proceeded towards Nang-rahar [originally called Nek-anhar — the district immediately south of the Kabul river, and extending from Bhati-kot on the east to the Surkh-Ab Kotal on the west, and to Kaja on the south, which was the fief of the A’zam Malik, and then included in the jurisdiction of Burshor, or Parshawar]. Arrived there he entertained the other chiefs for a time, but, there being aversion between Nuh, the Jan-dar [in Elliot, incorrectly rendered from an imperfect MS., probably, Koh jdn-ddr, a strange name for a man. The office of Jan-dar has been previously described], who was head of a khel [clan] of about 5000 or 6000 families, and Malik Saif-ud-Din, Ighrak, he, in consequence, turned his face towards Parshawar with his 20,000 followers, while Nuh, the Jan-dar, stayed behind in the pasture-lands of Nangrahar [not “cantoned himself,” as in the work above quoted]. When Saif-ud-Din had proceeded one stage on his way, he sent a message to the A’zam Malik saying: — “We are as father and son towards each other: thou, the son, I the father. If thou desirest my good pleasure, send away Nuh, the Jan-dar, to his own place of dwelling, and his own locality, and do not allow him to remain in Nangrahar. [The Khalj tribe — or rather a portion of them — had been located in the neighbourhood of the Safed-koh, on the southern slopes, in Karman and Shaluzan for several centuries previous. See note 5, page 539, para.
261.2.8
2.] The A’zam Malik replied: “It is not well, at this time of warfare, that antagonism should exist among the soldiers of Islam.” Thus saying, he rode off with some fifty of his Khowas — or retainers — after Saif-ud-Din, Ighrak, to endeavour to bring about a reconciliation between him and Nuh, the Jan-dar. Saif-ud-Din went forth to receive the A’zam Malik, and brought him in, and seated him by his side at a convivial drinking party. The A’zam Malik began to refer to the matter of Nuh, the Jan-dar, and to interpose in his favour. Saif-ud-Din, Ighrak, inebriated as he was, suddenly got up, mounted his horse, and, attended by 100 horsemen, set out towards the encampment of Nuh, the Jan-dar. Nuh, under the impression that he was coming to him, consequent on the A’zam Malik’s intervention, with a friendly object, went forth, with Pushtah-i-Nu’man, with all the forces remaining there with him, and turned his face towards Ghaznin. He fought a battle with Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, Mang-barni, and Malik Khan of Hirat, and other Khwarazmi Maliks who stood by him, on the banks of the Sind river; and Sultan Jalal-ud-Din and the troops of Islam were defeated, and threw themselves into the Sind river. Of the Musalmans some were drowned, some attained martyrdom, some were made captive, and a few escaped in safety out of the river.