The Nāṣirī Generations 261.1
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 261.1
- Language
- English
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.