The Nāṣirī Generations 43: THE DYNASTY OF THE YAMINIAH, AL-MAHMUDIAH SOVEREIGNS OF THE RACE OF SABUK-TIGIN.

43

The pages of this section are devoted to the mention of the Maliks and Sultans of the dynasty of Nasir-ud-Din, Sabuk-Tigin, and of Sultan Yamin-ud-Daulah, Nizam-ud-Din, Abu-l-Kasim, Mahmud, the Conqueror, and to the description of the events in their lives; to an account of their lineage; to the record of their justice and equity, and the incidents in their reigns; to the vicissitudes and changes in the fortunes, and the dominion of the sovereigns of that family of exalted power and might, from the outset of the career of the Amir-i-Ghazi Sabuk-Tigin, to the end of the reign of Khusrau Malik, the last of that dynasty of kings, in an abridged and concise form, in order that this Tabakat of kings and nobles may be illumined by the mention of their lineage and their titles, and the pages of this history be adorned and ennobled by the relation of the deeds of those sovereigns of Islam, whom may the light of Almighty God illumine!
Imam Abu-l-Fazl, Al-Hasan-i-Baihaki in his chronicle entitled “Tarikh-i-Nasiri,” relates the following tradition told him by the august Sultan Mahmud himself, which the latter had heard from his father, the Amir Sabuk-Tigin, [namely] that his [Sabuk-Tigin’s] father used to be called by the name of Kara Bah-kam; and that his [proper] name was Juk; and that Ghar-ghau in the Turkish language is called Bah-kam; and that the meaning of Kara Bah-kam would be ‘the Black Tatar Bull,’ and every where that the Turks, in Turkistan, heard his name mentioned, they fled before him on account of his energy and valour.
Imam Muhammad ’Ali, Abu-l-Kasim, ’Imadi, in his work, the “Tarikh-i-Majdul,” states, that Amir Sabuk- Tigin was a descendant of Yazdijurd-i-Shahryar — the last of the sovereigns of Persia — and, that, at the time that Yazdijurd was murdered in the mill in the territory of Marw, which was during the Khilafat of the Lord of the Faithful, ’Usman, the family and dependents of Yazdijurd fled before the troops of Islam into Turkistan, and reached the frontier district of Nakhistan in that territory, and there took up their residence, and intermarried with the people. After two or three generations had passed away, they became Turks; and their palaces are still standing in that country.
The pedigree of Sabuk-Tigin is given in the above history after the manner in which it is here entered, in order that it may come under the notice of the king of the world — May the Almighty perpetuate his sovereignty! — and of such others as may peruse this work, viz.: — Sabuk-Tigin, son of Juk-i-Kara Bah-kam, son of Karah [Kara?] Arsalan, son of Karah [Kara?] Mallat [or Millat], son of Kara Na’man, son of Firuz-i-Bam-sinjan [.?], or Barsinjan [?], son of Yazdijurd-i-Shahryar, or Yazdijurd, the king.