The Nāṣirī Generations 287.2
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 287.2
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287.2.1
On the 9th of Shawwāl, the Fidā-īs of Gird-Koh made a sally at night upon the Mughals, destroyed their circumvallation, and slew the greater number of them, including their leader, Būrī. At this time a pestilence had broken out within Gird-Koh, and, as soon as 'Alā-ud-Dīn, Muḥammad, the Maulānā of the Mulāḥidah, had intimation of it, he at once despatched Mubāriz-ud-Dīn, 'Alī, Sarābānī, and Shujā'-ud-Dīn, Ḥasan, Tūrānī, with 110 picked men, to to the practice of Musalman dignity and religion, used Gird-Koh, with directions that each man should carry with him one mann of hinna and two manns of salt [in all, about 21 or 24 lbs.] — the Jami’-ut-Tawarikh says two of hinna and three of salt — because hinna had lately been discovered, accidentally, to be the antidote for the pestilence. The author of the “Mongols Proper” has, or his authorities, perhaps, have, made a very amusing story out of the above — for the source is evidently the same. He says, p. 194 : “One of the garrison [of Girdkuh — i. e., “the Round Mountain” — so kuh is a mountain, perhaps — the same which Von Hammer turns into “Kirdkuh”] escaped, and sent to Alaeddin, the Grand Vizier to ask for help. He sent two leaders, each with 110 troopers ; one to escort three mens of salt, the other three mens of henna,” etc. — equal to about one ounce of salt and hinna each, even if only 400 people were within the walls.
287.2.2
At this place, in Alfi, an anecdote is related respecting the discovery of hinna as a remedy for the disease which affected the defenders of several great fortresses, as our author relates, and which, from his account at page 1124, appears to have been scurvy or something very much like it. It is that the daughter of the Amir of that fortress was going to be married, and, on the night of the consummation of the marriage, the custom was to dye the bride's hands and feet with hinna. This was done ; and, those who applied the dye having afterwards washed their hands, some of the pestilence-stricken people, on account of the scarcity of water, drank that water, and recovered in a wonderfully short time. This seems but another version of our author’s account of the cure wrought by hinna in his description of the investment of Uk of Sistan, at the page above mentioned. I must now return to the movements of Hulaku. Before setting out for Iran-Zamin, he took leave of his brother Mangu, and his nephews, in order to return to his own urdus, where his wives and children were. Mangu Ka’an, before parting with him, gave him much wise counsel for his guidance. He enjoined him to observe the laws and ordinances of the Chingiz Khan ;
287.2.3
and, from the Jihun of Amuiah, to the extreme frontier of Misr, and Maghrib, to protect and cherish all who submitted to him, but to exterminate all those who did not, and to trample them into the dust of destruction, women, children, and all [“in the true Circassian style”], and to commence with the fortresses of the Mulahidahs in the Kuhistan. He was then to march into ’Iraq, and remove off the face of the earth the Lurs — a tribe of nomads so-called — and the Kurds, whose misdeeds [in not submitting to the ameliorating Mughals, and which hardy race have, in these days, given offence, in the same way, to another “ameliorator,” and are to be exterminated as early as practicable] never ceased ; then to call upon the Khalifah of Baghdad to submit ; and, if he should do so, not to molest him in the least ; but, if he showed arrogance, and refused, to send him to join the others. He was further advised to make judgment and sense his guide and model ; to be prudent and watchful ; to be mindful of the deceit and treachery of enemies ; to give tranquility to the people generally, and make them happy [by killing them !] ; to cause ruined places to be restored ; to subdue the contumacious, so that he might have plenty of places wherein to make his summer and his winter quarters ; and always, in all things, to consult and advise with Dukuz Khatun. This name is also written Tukuz, d and t being interchangeable.
287.2.4
She was a Karayat and a Christian, the daughter of Aighu or Aiku — written A-yaghu — in Alfi — a son of the Awang Khan. Hulaku greatly favoured the Christians on her stem language, in such manner that the wrath of sovereign vanished, and he came to terms, on condition of his demolishing his fortresses, and coming himself to do homage. Mangu Ka’an assumed that his brother Hulaku would take up his residence, permanently, in I-ran-Zamin; nevertheless, he told him that, after he had accomplished all these things, he should return to his urdu. Mangu now dismissed him, along with two of his wives, his sons, and Amirs; and sent along with him their brother, Tursutae Aghul, and some of their nephews to serve under him. Mangu, it is said, was greatly affected at parting with Hulaku, for he considered him the jewel in the diadem of the empire, and that both shed copious tears. He reached his own Urdus at the end of the year 650 H. The Tarikh-i-Jahan-gir and the Rauzat-us-Safa say that he returned to his urdus in the third month of 651 H., to make his preparations, but the Jami’-ut-Tawarikh says in Zi-Hijjah, 650 H.
287.2.5
He set out from his urdus for I-ran-Zamin on the 24th of Sha’ban, 651 H.—the Rauzat-us-Safa says he began his march in Ramazan, while the Jami’-ut-Tawarikh says it was in Zi-Hijjah, 651 H.—having made his son, Balgha Aghul, his representative there during his absence, as that son’s mother was the greatest in rank among his wives, two of whom, and two sons, went with him. The Jami’-ut-Tawarikh, in one place, says Jumghur was left in charge, and, in another place, that it was Ajae who was left. A vast army accompanied him; and in due time he reached Almaligh, where the Khatun Urghanah, one of Chaghatae’s widows, received and entertained him. Having moved from thence, on the frontier of Turkistan and Mawara-un-Nahr, the Sahib, Mas’ud Bak, and several other Amirs, received him. He passed some months of 652 H. in those parts; and, in Sha’ban, 653 H.—about October, 1253 A.D.—reached Samrkand, having been just two years on the road. He encamped in the mead of Kand-Gul, where Mas’ud Bak had a great tent pitched for him of nasich—a species of silken fabric woven with gold—and passed forty days there, happily, but for the death of his brother, Tursutae Aghul, who had been long ailing, and who was there buried.
287.2.6
Hulaku, after this stay, marched to Kash, afterwards known as Shahr-i-Sabz, at which place he remained a month; and there the Amir, Arghun Aka, the administrator of I-ran-Zamin, from Tus [in the previous year, when Rubruquis returned to Europe, the Amir, Arghun Aka was at Tauris, who, as he remarks, collected the tribute], as in duty bound, waited on him to give up charge of that region, after which he was to return to the presence of the Ka’an, and there, also, came Malik Shams-ud-Din, Muhammad, the Kurat from Hirat—some say he presented himself to Hulaku at Samrkand.
287.2.7
Whilst at Kash, Hulaku issued a farman to the Sultans and Rulers of I-ran-Zamin, pretending that the object of his coming was to destroy the strongholds of the Mulahidahs for the sake of the people of those parts, “who,” he said, “have sought the protection of the Ka'an, and made complaint unto him;” “the people,” in this case, being our Kazi! The object stated was as specious and illusive as an invasion of the same nature in these days—it was to appropriate the territories of the weak. “If ye present yourselves in person,” he said, “and render assistance, your services will be reignty overcame Mangu Khan; for the Kazi applied the words feebleness and infirmity to his government and power. Mangu Khan said: "What weakness hath the Kazi observed in our kingdom that he gives utterance to such like alarming words as these?" Kazi Shams-ud-Din replied: "What greater feebleness can there be than that the sect of Mulahidah has made several forts its asylum, notwithstanding that the creed of that sect is contrary to the Musalman faith, and also to the Christian and Mughal belief? They parade their riches and they wait in expectation of this, that, if your power should sustain any decline or reverse, the sect will rise in the midst of those mountains and in those fortresses, and overthrow the remainder of the people of Islam, and not leave the trace of a Musalman."
287.2.8
This reality influenced and roused the mind of Mangu Khan to the reduction of the fortresses and territories of Mulhidistan, and the Kuhistan of Alamut. A mandate was accordingly issued so that the forces which were in the countries of I-ran and 'Ajam, from Khurasan and 'Irak, turned their faces to the territory of the Kuhistan and the tract of Alamut; and, during a period of ten years or more, they took the whole of the cities and fortresses, and put the whole of the Mulahidah to the sword, with the exception of the women and children, all the remainder being sent to hell ; and the potency of the verse — " Thus do we cause one oppressor to overcome another” — was made manifest.