The Nāṣirī Generations 269: THE FALL OF THE FORT OF ASJIYAR, OF GHARJISTAN, AND OTHER FORTRESSES.

Tabakat-i-Nasiri 269

Language: English

THE FALL OF THE FORT OF ASJIYAR, OF GHARJISTAN, AND OTHER FORTRESSES.

269.1878

Trustworthy persons have narrated, that, when the Chingiz Khan determined to advance from his camp at the Pushtah [hill] of Nu'man of Tal-kan of Khurasan towards Ghaznin, he left behind there his baggage and heavy materials, and his treasures, because it was impossible for wheeled carriages to be taken into the defiles and passes of Gharjistan, by reason of the very mountainous nature of that country, and the impracticability of the roads. When the Mughal army moved towards Ghaznin, only a small force was left behind for the protection of the heavy materials, baggage, and wheeled-carriages. The fortresses of Gharjistan of Khurasan were near by, namely, the fortresses of Rang, and Bindar [Pindar], Balarwan, Laghri, Siya-Khanah, Sabekji, and Ashiyar. The most of these fortresses are galleries on the faces of the mountains, in such wise that the rain falls upon the inhabitants of those strongholds, and springs of water flow forth in front of the galleries of [forming] these fortifications.
Within the fortress of Ashiyar was a Gharjah Amir of great determination and energy, and his name was Amir Muhammad, the Maraghani. As there was a vast amount of wealth, and also innumerable captives, and numerous horses, in the Mughal camp [at the Pushtah-i-Nu’man], Amir Muhammad-i-Maraghani, with a strong force, started from the fortress of Ashiyar, and seized upon as many wheeled carriages, laden with gold and other wealth, as he possibly could, from the Mughal camp, set a great number of captives free, and obtained possession of many horses. On one or two occasions Amir Muhammad performed such like feats of daring, and displayed similar determination.
When the Chingiz Khan set out from the territory of Gibari towards Turkistan, and despatched his son, Uktae, towards Ghur, Uktae, that winter, fixed his camp between Firuz-koh and Ghaznin, and sent out bodies of his forces in every direction, as has been previously recorded. The Nu-in Abkah, who was the Amir of 10,000 Manjanik-chis referred to above, and previously, says by what route it went, and no reference is made to it either under the reign of Kaba-jah or I-yal-timish. This army is said to have overrun the whole of the territories in question, and to have wintered [the winter of 619-20 H. — A.D. 1222-23], within the limits of a territory named Kalinjar—on the banks of the Sind river [but the name is also written Lanjar—Kanjar, and even Lanhar, the letter in the latter, however, is without points, and may be intended for r, z or zh]. The Rauzat-us-Safa calls it Kalanji—the ruler of which part of the country was the Salar, Ahmad; but who he was, and whether he was independent, or the feudatory of any sovereign, the chroniclers say not; and he is not known to the historians of Hind or Sind.
The Jami'-ut-Tawarikh says he passed the hot season on the confines or frontiers of but this name, being without points, is unintelligible, and that the ruler of this part was the Salar, Ahmad.
The fort in which Isra'il, the Saljuk, was imprisoned and died, referred to at page 117, and note is spelt like the first name mentioned, and with long a—and the word the Rauzat-us-Safa may have been originally. This fort lay, we are told, in the Multan province, and was subsequently called Talwarah, but the place where Chaghatae's army wintered is said to have been on the banks of the Sind.
Whoever this Salar Ahmad was, he is said to have done his utmost to supply the requirements of the Mughals, and the subsistence of that great army. It, however, became prostrated with sickness through the unhealthiness of the climate [in the Mongols Proper this sickness, by mistake, is transferred to his father's army!], and also impeded with a vast number of captives, in such wise that, in every tent [or dwelling, or hut—the word used is khanah] there were from ten to twenty, or twenty to forty, and they had the task of bringing and preparing the food of the army. In this sickly state of his troops, Chaghatae issued commands for each captive to clean 400 manns [of 4 sers or 8 lbs. each] of rice—and this shows they were in a rice-growing country—and the task was completed within the following week. His next command was to massacre the whole of these Hindus [sic in MSS.] and, by the next morning, they were all killed, and their bodies lay about in great heaps. How unjust to call those times the dark ages! The Mughals, barbarians and infidels as they were, carried on war as it was carried on by "Christians" in the years of grace 1877 and 1878.

269.1081

Whether the object of this massacre was to prevent an outbreak among the captives in the weak state of his army, who can tell? Another strange thing is that, throughout the year 619 H., and in the hot season of 620 H., Sultan Jalal-ud-Din was in the countries on the Indus which constitute the present Panjab, had defeated the Khokhars, and afterwards gained their alliance, and had overthrown Sultan Nasir-ud-Din, Kaba-jah, before Uchchah. Towards the latter part of 620 H., Sultan Jalal-ud-Din had come by way of Multan and Uchchah to Shiwstan, the modern Sihwan, and into Lower Sind, remained there several months, sent an expedition as far east as Nahrwalah in Guzarat, and only moved from Sind, by way of Mukran, in 621 H., on his way into 'Irak, on hearing of the movement of a numerous army of Mughals, which, if the accounts of these writers are correct, must have been this very army. See [catapult workers], he nominated to proceed [with his men] note page 293. It is therefore difficult to imagine whereabouts “Kalinjar” was, “near the banks of the Sind,” where Chaghatae and his army could have passed the winter of 620 H., and still more so that he could obtain no information respecting the Sultan, as will be mentioned presently; he could not have searched very diligently for him. It would have been a grand opportunity for the Sultan to have fallen upon the Mughals had he known the state they were in.
To return to the movements of Chaghatae. He, finding no trace of the Sultan or his whereabouts, as soon as his troops had somewhat recovered from their sickness, determined to return, and set out, accordingly, on his way back to Turan-Zamin. It is a long march from the territory of Mukran to the Hindu-Koh, and yet the Mughal historians say not one word respecting the route followed.
I find the author of the Mongols Proper” pages 90 and 91, quoting Wolff on this very subject, but, as Wolff often makes strange statements, one of which is contained in the passage referred to under, and as he gives no authorities, his statements are not very reliable. The passage is this: “While Jingis retired northwards his son Jagatai [this is the Mongol Proper” name for Chaghatae, probably] made a raid into Kerman in pursuit of Rokn-ud-din, a brother of Jalal-ud-din [!]. He advanced as far as Tez [according to Abu-Ishak, the Istakhri, Tiz is a seaport in Mukran], on the borders of the Indian Ocean, passed through Beloochistan [which, being an entirely modern name, will not be found in any early author], where he wintered, and where he also lost a large number of his soldiers, and returned by the mountain land of the Afghans [this last clause of the sentence must also be Wolffs own. The land of the Afghans in that day was very small], where he was joined by Bela Noyan,” etc., etc. See page 281, and note
I must now notice the proceedings of the army under Uktae, which are but slightly alluded to by the writers I take this from; but our author supplies some details not mentioned by them, as they, writing while in the employ of Mughal sovereigns, only cared to chronicle successes.
Uktae, having marched from the valley of the Sind river, reached Ghaznin, and all the offers of submission and obedience tendered by its inhabitants were of no avail [the writers appear to have forgotten that they previously stated that, on his advance to the Indus, the Chingiz Khan had “left Mahmud, Yalwaj, at Ghaznin as his Daroghah.” What had become of him in the mean-time?], because Sultan Jalal-ud-Din was still alive, and a source of anxiety to his foes, who feared he would make head again; so Ghaznin was sacked and totally destroyed, its inhabitants massacred, and the parts through which he passed were devastated, and all buildings utterly destroyed. Ghaznin never recovered this. Uktae, after this feat, when the season arrived, proceeded by way of the Garm-sir of Hirat, and set out for Mawara-un-Nahr. For the further movements of the Chingiz Khan and his sons on their return homeward, see page 1081.

269.p3

Surgeon-Major Bellew, in his Kashghar Mission History, referring to “Changiz” sending his son “Aoktay in mid-winter to Ghazni and Ghor, there to wipe out in the blood of the people the disaster his troops had suffered at the hands of Jalaluddin at Parwan,” which he is said to have done so effectually during a “campaign of two years,” that “the aboriginal Aryan stock” were annihilated, considers the Hazara “still pure Moghol in race type, and against the fortress of Ashiyar, and that body advanced to the foot of that stronghold, and the attack commenced; and, for a considerable time, they assailed it.
When they found that, through the vast strength of the fortress, and the brave men [within it], it was impossible to take it [by force], they sat down before it [and blockaded it] for a period of fifteen months — but God knows best — and, through scarcity of provisions, the people within the fortress became reduced to great straits. As long as there were provisions and flesh, they used to consume them; and, when food of that kind failed, affairs reached such a pitch that they were wont to eat the flesh of whoever was killed, or who died, to that degree, that every person used to keep his killed and dead for curing and eating. Some have related after this manner — the narrators are responsible for correctness — that there was a woman of the minstrel class in the fortress of Ashiyar. She had a mother and a female slave. Her mother died, and she dried her body; and her female slave likewise died, and she dried her body also. She sold the flesh of both of them, so that, from the two corpses, she acquired two hundred and fifty dinars of pure gold. At last she also died.
When a period of fifteen months and ten days had expired, about thirty men only remained alive within the fortress. They seized Amir Muhammad-i-Maragham, and martyred him, and threw his head near to the camp of the Mughal forces, in hopes of their own deliverance. When the Mughal troops beheld this occurrence, they at once assaulted the fortress and took it, and martyred the whole of those within it.
During this period [of the investment of Ashiyar] they [the Mughals] captured the other fortresses of Gharjistan likewise, so that, during the year 619 H., all the strongholds of Gharjistan were taken; and they sated the hearts of the Mughals with slaughter.
May the Most High God continue the gates of victory and success open unto the servants of the kingdom of the present sovereign, SULTAN Nasir-ud-Dunya wa ud-DIN, Abu-l-Muzaffar-i-Mahmud Shah, for the sake of His prophet and his race!