The Nāṣirī Generations 287.1
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 287.1
- Language
- English
287.1.1
The reason for despatching forces into the territory and against the fortresses of Mulhidistan was this. At the outset of the career and time of Hasan-i-Sabbah—God's curse upon him!—who instituted the rules of the Mulahidah sect, and founded the canons of that heresy, he restored and strengthened the fortresses of Alamut which he purchased, along with the fortress of Lanbah-Sar, which was [afterwards became, and was at this time] the capital of the chief Mulahid [heretic], whom that sect used to style "The Maulana" — God curse them all! — from the Dailamis for a large sum of money. Having brought there a pregnant female slave of his own, he represented to people, saying : “ She is pregnant by Mustansir, the Misri, [the Ismaili Khalifah of Egypt], and, flying from enemies, I have brought her to this place, for, from the lineage of this burden [which she bears] will spring the Imam-i-Akhir-i-Zaman and Mahdi-i-Awan," accompanied with vain and impotent words, the like of which no sensible person would allow to pass in his imagination, or enter his heart. God curse him !
287.1.2
After he purchased those fortresses, he repaired the fortress of Alamut, and expended incalculable wealth in the restoration of, and providing that stronghold with stores and provisions. It is situated on a mountain in the vicinity of the city of Kazwin. The inhabitants of that city are all orthodox Sunnis, of pure faith, and unsullied belief ; and, through the Batiniah and Mulahidah heresy, continual fighting and contention used to go on between them [and those heretics]. Trustworthy persons have narrated that all the people and inhabitants of the city of Kazwin had entire sets of arms ready, and implements of warfare in preparation, to such degree, that all the bazar people were used to come completely armed to their shops ; and conflicts used to take place daily between the Kazwinis and the Mulahidahs of Alamut, up to the period when the outbreak of the Chingiz Khan took place, and the domination of the Mughals over Irak and the Jibal. Kazi Shams-ud-Din, the Kazwini, who was a sincere Imam and truly learned man, upon several occasions, travelled from Kazwin towards Khita, and suffered the distress of separation from country and home, until this time, during the sovereignty of Mangu Khan, when he again set out, and proceeded to his presence. In such manner as was feasible he endeavoured to obtain aid, and gave an account of the wickedness of the Mulahidah and their sedition in the Muhammadan states. They [the trustworthy persons] also related in this wise,
287.1.3
To return to Mangu and the He related to the Ka'an—or manufactured for him—such atrocities on the part of the heretics—as might be expected from one so orthodox as himself—that Mangu was amazed; and he resolved in his mind that he would utterly destroy that sect. Having observed indications of capacity and fitness for sovereignty on the brow of his brother, Hulaku, he determined to nominate him to carry out his intention, and at the same time to take possession of, and secure, the territories to the west of Iran-Zamin—the real object in view, of course—namely, Sham, Rum, and Arman. Hulaku having been nominated, he was informed that the forces along with the Nu-yin, Tanju, and those lately under Jurmaghun, which had been previously despatched into Iran Zamin, all appertained to him; and likewise, in the same way, those which had been sent into Hindustan under the Bahadur, Ta-ir, after his death, came under the command of the Tattar Nu-yin, Sali. Sali, according to the Pro-Mughal writers, had subdued the country of Kashmir, and several thousand Kashmiri captives had been sent by him to the Ka'an’s urdu. There is still a Sali ki Sarae on the route from Rawal Pindi to Khanpur, an old place, and formerly of some importance. See page 844, where Sali is mentioned, and page 1135 Ta-ir’s death.
287.1.4
Vast preparations were made for Hulaku’s movement, and, besides the armies already in the countries of Iran-Zamin, Mangu commanded that, out of all the forces of the Chingiz Khan, that is, the various hazarahs already mentioned at page 1093, which he had assigned to and divided among his brothers, his sons, and brothers’ sons, out of every ten persons two should be selected [they had vastly increased, too, since the time of the Chingiz Khan] and sent to serve under Hulaku. The numbers are variously mentioned at from 120,000 to 180,000 horse. Besides these, a thousand families of Khita-i Manjanik-shis [catapult workers], Naft-Andaz [naphtha-throwers], and Charkh-Andaz [shooters of fiery arrows worked by a wheel] were to accompany him, and they brought along with them such a vast amount of missiles and stores appertaining to their peculiar branch of the forces as cannot be enumerated. They had with them also Charkhi Kamans [wheeled arbalists], worked by a wheel in such wise that one bow-string would pull three bows, each of which would discharge an arrow of three or four ells in length. These arrows or bolts, from the notch for the bow-string to near the head, were covered with feathers of the vulture and eagle, and the bolts were short and strong. These machines would also throw naphtha. The bolts of the catapults were made of ash, very tough and strong, and covered with the hides of horses and bullocks [to prevent their being burnt], like as a dagger in its sheath;
287.1.5
and each catapult was so constructed as to be capable of being separated into five or seven parts, and easily put together again. These catapults and mangonels were brought from Khita-e on carts into Turkistan, under the direction of skilful engineers and mechanists, but there is no evidence whatever to show that they had any knowledge of gunpowder, but quite the contrary.
287.1.6
As soon as the expedition had been determined on, agents were despatched in order that wheresoever the passage of the great host should be, from Karaguram to the Amuiah, all the available pasture-lands and grazing tracts should be laid under embargo [the word used is kuruk, the same that is used with reference to the site of the subterranean chamber in which the Chingiz Khan was buried, but signifies enclosed as well as prohibited. The word is quite common in our district Law Courts in India] for the use of the forces. Strong bridges were also constructed over the different rivers by the way to enable the great host to cross with ease and facility. Throughout the whole empire [east of the Sihun probably] orders were sent so that, for the use of the army, at the ratio of a taghār [an earthen vessel of capacity; also a saddle-bag for holding corn or meal, which is probably meant here, and, of course, filled. Some authors state that a taghār is equivalent to 100 manns of Tabriz, others to 10 manns of Tabriz, equal to one kharwār] of meal, and a khīg [a skin or leather bottle of liquor] for each man, should be collected. The Nu-yīn, Tanju, and his army, together with the troops which had previously been sent into I-rān-Zamīn under Jurmāghūn, now received orders to move towards the frontiers of Rūm.
287.1.7
All things being prepared, and the different Shāh-zādahs and Nu-yīns, and the Hazārahs, and Sadahs [leaders of thousands, and hundreds], having been nominated, the Nu-yīn, Kaibūḳā, the Nāeman, was sent at the head of 12,000 horse, as the advance or van of Hulākū's forces, in Jamādī-ul-Ākhir, 650 H. Kaibūḳā—Kitubuka is not correct—crossed the Āmūīah in the beginning of Muharram, 651 H. [early in March, 1253 A.D.], entered Khurāsān, which he reached in Rabī'-ul-Awwal, and occupied himself in the reduction of the Ḳuhistān. His first attempt, with 5000 horse and 5000 foot [Tājzīk levies from the conquered states], was against the strong fortress of Gird-Koh, already referred to, but he found it a much more difficult matter than he expected. He surrounded it with a wall, furnished with a ditch inside, towards the fortress, and raised another wall, with a ditch outside, and between these two walls placed his forces, more like one besieged than a besieger, to guard his force from the sallies of the Fidā-īs. All his efforts were useless, so he left a force there under Būrī, to watch that fortress, and moved himself towards Mihrīn-dujz—another stronghold of the sect.
287.1.8
He invested that likewise, placed catapults in position against it, left several Amīrs with troops to carry on the siege, and proceeded himself, with the rest of his forces, which, no doubt, had been greatly increased in point of numbers by the levies and contingents of those places in Khurāsān under the Mughal yoke, against the fort of Shāh-dujz, which he reached on the 8th of Jamādī-ul-Awwal, and slew a number of people outside, and then made towards the districts of Tāram and Rūd-bār, between Gīlān and Ḳazwīn. He then appeared with his forces before the fortresses of Manṣūriah and Alah-Bashīn, and for eighteen days tried his utmost to take them, but all his efforts were of no effect. He then faced about and moved into the Ḳuhistān again, drove off the flocks and herds of the people of Tūn, Turshīz, and Zar-Koh, slaughtered a vast number of people, and carried away a great number of captives. On the 10th of Jamādī-ul-Ākhir, he gained possession of Tūn and Turshīz, these being the first places that fell into his hands. On the 1st of Sha'bān he took Mihrīn-dujz, and, on the 27th of Ramazān, the Dujz-i-Kamālī also fell.