The Nāṣirī Generations 271.1
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 271.1
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271.1.1073
In the year 618 H., the writer of this Tabakat, Minhaj-i-Saraj, returned from Timran towards Ghur. In the fortress of Sangah, which they style Akhul Mani, he saw Malik Husam-ud-Din, Husain-i-'Abd-ul-Malik, Sar-i-Zarrad. Suddenly, his brother, Malik Taj-ud-Din, [Hasan], Habashi-i-'Abd-ul-Malik, Sar-i-Zarrad, to whom they [the Mughals] had given the title of Khusrau of Ghur — mention of whom has been previously recorded — with the permission of the Chingiz Khan, returned to Ghur from Talkan ; and from him this anecdote was heard.
He stated : “ On a certain occasion we came forth from the presence of the Chingiz Khan and sat down in a tent. Uklan, the Juzbi, along with whom I had come, together with some other Nu-ins, were also seated there; and the greatest in rank among them all was the Juzbi, Uklan. Some persons brought thither two Mughals who, the previous night, when on guard around about the camp, had gone to sleep [upon their post]. Uklan, the Juzbi, asked: ‘What Mughal has brought them?’ The Mughal who had done so bent the knee, and replied: ‘I have brought them.’ The former inquired; ‘What offence have they been guilty of? State it.’ He replied: ‘These two men were mounted on horseback, and I was going my rounds and examining the guards. I came up to them, and found them both asleep. I struck their horses over their heads with a whip to let them [the riders] know they were culprits for being asleep; and I passed on. This day I have brought them up.’ Uklan, turning his face towards those two Mughals, said: ‘Were ye asleep?’ They both acknowledged it, saying: ‘We were.’ He commanded, saying: ‘Put one of them to death, and fasten his head to the locks of the other, and parade the latter round the whole camp, and then put him to death also.’ They [accusers and accused] all made their obeisance, and, at once, [the former] carried out the command. I was riveted in astonishment, and said to Uklan, the Juzbi: ‘There was no evidence or proof on the part of that Mughal [the accuser], and, when they [the accused] were well aware that, the punishment would be death, why did they confess? for, if they had denied [the charge], they would have escaped being killed.’ Uklan, the Juzbi, said: ‘Why are you astonished? You, Tajziks, do such things, and tell lies. A Mughal, were a thousand lives at stake, would choose being killed, but would not speak false; but false speaking is your occupation; and, on account of such things, it is that Almighty God hath sent a calamity like us upon you [Tajziks].”
I have again returned to the relation of this history. When the Chingiz Khan, after Sultan Jalal-ud-Din, Mangbarni, Khwarazm Shah, was defeated, set out in pursuit of the Ighrakis, for Gibari, for a period of three months he halted among those mountains. He used to go out hunting, and for the purpose of coming towards Hindustan, used, continually, to burn shoulder-blades [of sheep], but used not to obtain permission [from the prognostications], and used not to perceive therefrom omens of victory. His purpose in entering Hindustan was that, mayhap, he might return back into Chin by way of Lakhanawati and Kamrud; and, as he used not, from the portents of the shoulder-blades, to obtain dispensation to do so, he used to delay.
Unexpectedly, swift messengers reached him from Tamghaznin, Alfi says he moved from the vicinity of Parshawar, by way of the mountains of Namfan in MSS., but Bamian must be meant], and that the Ughruk was ordered to march from Buklan to join him on the way to Samrkand. At page 1074, our author plainly states where his Ughruk was left, and that he conversed with a person who had but recently left it [page 1079], and his statement with regard to it cannot be doubted in the least. It was left at the Pushtah-i-Nu'man between Tal-kan and Balkh. The pro-Mughal writers, having made the great blunder of mistaking Tae-kan of Kunduz for Tal-kan of Khurasan, make all other places agree with it, as in the case of Andarab, previously referred to. The Chingiz Khan may have had his heavy baggage, waggons, and war materials removed from the Pushtah-i-Nu’man to Buklan subsequently, after he had determined to return by the same route by which he had come, and most probably after the attacks made upon them by the Khalj chief, as related at page 1073.
271.1.p2
To return, however, to the pro-Mughal accounts. The whole of his forces being concentrated there [at Buklan], the Chingiz Khan continued encamped in the pleasant pasture-lands thereabout during the summer [of 620 H. — 1223 A.D.] ; and, when autumn came round, having appointed Daroghahs to the different cities of Iran-Zamin, despatched them [!]. Troops, too, would have been required, but none are mentioned, and the subsequent proceedings, after his death, prove that no Mughal troops were left behind in Iran-Zamin, i.e., west of the Jihun, and it is very doubtful whether any Daroghahs were. In the beginning of autumn he crossed the Jihun, and marched towards Samrkand, in the vicinity of which he encamped, and there passed the winter [620-621 H. = A.D. 1223 — 1224]. From Samrkand, Juji, who, since the investment of the capital, of Khwarazm, was ill-inclined towards his brother Chaghatae — our author, however, tells the tale differently from the pro-Mughal historians, as will be seen farther on — and had continued to remain in the Dasht-i-Kibchak, which had been assigned to his charge, was directed to move, with a portion of his forces, and to keep along the skirts of the mountains to drive the game before him, as a grand hunt was proposed farther in advance.
Chaghatae and Uktae took up their quarters during that winter near Bukhara, and devoted themselves to fowling and hunting, and sent weekly to their father 50 khar-wars of game. When the spring of 621 H. set in, the Chingiz Khan moved towards Turkistan ; and now he showed his fiendish nature in its true colours. He compelled the unfortunate Turkan Khatun, the aged mother of the late Sultan, and the ladies of his family — his wives and daughters, and to whom had been also added the females of Sultan Jalal-ud-Din's family captured after the battle on the Sind — to wend their way on foot [some authors say bare-footed] and bare-headed, in front of his troops on the line of march, and to raise lamentation, as they went along, on the downfall and humiliation of their empire, and the death of those Sultans ; and this they were compelled to do until they reached Kasyurat, in order, as he affirmed, that people might take warning therefrom. This again was partly the innate hostility of Mughals against the other Turks. Turkan Khatun lived on in this miserable state until 630 H., when death relieved her.
Advancing by regular marches, the Chingiz Khan reached the Sihun, after Chaghatae also joined him from their expeditions ; and, when he reached a place named Kiulan — but this name is gliaj and Tingit, and gave intelligence that the whole written Kulan Bazi, and Kulan Tazi, in as many different authors—supposed to be situated in the vicinity of Fanakat, but, apparently, farther N.E., Juji, from the direction of the Dasht-i-Kibchak, drew near, driving the game on his side before him. The Chingiz Khan now moved towards him, the two half-circles of troops dispersed for the purpose, drawing gradually closer together, and reached a place named Akabar or Akabir or Akair and styled Uka in the Rauzat-us-Safa [and Oukieir—Akiir? by Petis de la Croix, but on what authority does not appear, as, in this particular part of his History of Genghizcan the Great he gives none, and makes it out to be “the city of Toncat,” where subsequently the kuriltae or diet was held, but in no history with which I am acquainted, and such as I have named, is any reference made to any city, and such a city as Tonkat or Toncat is never referred to]. The Chingiz Khan now mounted and entered the circle to enjoy the sport, and after he was satisfied his sons were permitted to do the same, and subsequently the great chiefs. The sport over, the remainder of the animals received a brand on one of the thighs, and were allowed to escape. After this Juji presented himself on bended knee, with offerings for his father’s acceptance, among which were 100,000 horses, every 20,000 of which were of different colours—dappled grey, white, piebald, bay, and black, his father’s troops being in want of horses.
The Chingiz Khan continued encamped in this place during the summer of this year [621 H.], and, all his sons and Amirs having joined him from all parts, including Jabah [Yamah] and Swidae [Sahudah], he now held a great kuriltae or assembly. He distributed honours and rewards, and put to death a number of the I-ghur chiefs; why is not said, but it no doubt had reference, in some way, to the dismissal of the ulus of the I-di-Kut, mentioned in note, page 1101, and evidently refers to what the Tarikh-i-Jahan-gir mentions in a few words, that, on his arrival in this part, he received the submission of the petty rulers around, but that some, who, at the outset, were the first to submit to him, now showed symptoms of hostility, and a body of troops had to be sent to coerce them. Their names are not given. Juji was now allowed to return to his government of the Dasht-i-Kibchak, and, in the last month of the year 621 H. [Dec.-Jan., 1225 A.D.], after an absence of seven years, the Chingiz Khan reached his native yurat in Mughalistan—the Chinese say, on the banks of the Tula river—and again enjoyed the society of his wives and children.