The Nāṣirī Generations 299: SECOND STATEMENT.
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 299
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SECOND STATEMENT.
299.1
This same Sayyid, Ashraf-ud-Din, related, that, when Batu Khan departed from this world, a son survived him, Surtak [by name]. He determined to proceed to the presence of Mangu Khan, from the country of Khifchak and Saksin, that, through the means of Mangu Khan, he might succeed to his father, Batu's, position. On reaching the presence of Mangu Khan in the country of Tamghaj, he [after receiving him] sent him back with honour. As Surtak shunned coming to the presence of his uncle, Barka Khan, and altered his route, and did not come near his uncle, Barka Khan despatched persons unto him, saying : “I am unto thee in the place of a father : why dost thou pass by like a stranger, and not come near me ?” When the persons despatched delivered the message of Barka Khan, Surtak, the accursed, gave answer, saying : Thou art a Musalman, and I follow the Christian faith ; to look upon the face of a Musalman is unlucky — The Almighty’s curse be upon the whole of them [the Christians] !
299.2
When this unworthy remark reached that sovereign of Musalmans, Barka Khan, he entered into his khargah alone, fixed a rope round his own neck, firmly secured the door of the khargah with a chain, and stood up ; and with the most entire humility, and most perfect submission, he began to weep and groan, and say : O God ! if the Muhammadan faith and the laws of Islam are true, do me justice against Surtak.” For the space of three nights and days, after having performed his religious duties, he continued, in this manner, to groan and lament, and to supplicate, until, on the fourth day, when Surtak, the accursed, arrived at that place of encampment, the hour of his death came. The Most High God afflicted him with bowel complaint ; and he went to hell. Some [persons] related on this wise, that, on Mangu Khan perceiving signs of sedition upon the brow of Surtak, he despatched confidential persons, secretly, so that they administered poison to the accursed Surtak, and he departed to hell.
299.3
Barka Khan took the wife [wives ?] of Batu Khan to wife ; and there were fifteen sons and grandsons of the generation of Tusi Khan, all of whom departed to hell. The possessions of the whole of them passed under the sway of Barka Khan ; and, through the auspiciousness [attendant on his embracing] the Muhammadan faith, the whole of the territory of Khifchak, Saksin, Bulghar, SaWab, and Rus, as far as the north-east [boundary] of Rum, and Jund, and Khwarazm, came into his possession. In the year 658 H., which is that of the conclusion of this Tabakat, parties of persons coming from the territory of Khurasan state that Mangu Khan has departed to hell, and that, in all the cities of the east and west, and in the countries of ’Ajam, Mawara-un-Nahr, and Khurasan, the Khutbah is read for Barka Khan and that they have assigned to that Sultan the title of Jamal-ud-Din, Ibrahim; but God knows the reality. In this same year, likewise, one of the great men among the ’Arabs, whom they style the Imam, Shams-ud-Din, the Maghrabi, has been despatched from the presence of his Lord, on a mission to the presence of the Asylum of the Universe, the Sultan of Sultans, Nasir-ud-Dunya wa ud-Din, Mahmud Shah — God perpetuate his sovereignty! — and, having dedicated services, which will be worthy of this Court, has caused himself to be strung upon the thread of the servants of this sovereign, the Asylum of the World, which felicity is, to him, the most excellent of all happiness.
299.4
May the Most High God prolong the happiness and felicity of the Monarch of the Universe to the extreme limit of possibility, and may He keep it uninterrupted and increasing; and grant that this Tabakat may be deemed worthy of acceptance in the Sublime Audience-Hall, and that this author, in the garment of prayer, may, thereon, pronounce its conclusion with this verse: — Be Khizr, with the bowl of immortality, the Shah’s cup-bearer! Be the portico of his gate like unto the nine-vaulted sphere! May it continue in the world as long as the world continues — The name of the Tabakat of Mahmud Shah-i-Nasir-ud-Din.”