حبیب السیر 5: Account of the hostility shown by Khalaf bin Ahmad to Sultán Mahmúd.
Habíbu-s Siyar of Khondamír (extracts) 5
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Account of the hostility shown by Khalaf bin Ahmad to Sultán Mahmúd.
5.1
When Yamínu-d daula Mahmúd mounted the thrones of Khurásán and Ghaznín, he delivered over the governorship of Hirát and Fúshanj to his uncle Baghrájik, and whilst he held this government of the Sultán, Khalaf bin Ahmad sent his son Táhir to Kohistán, who, after he had taken possession of that country, hastened towards Fúshanj, and made himself master of that city. Baghrájik received intelligence of this, and having asked permission of Sultán Mahmúd, he moved towards the place where honour required his presence. When he arrived in the vicinity of Fúshanj, Táhir hastened out of the city, and the brave men of both armies contended with daggers and spears.
5.2
The army of Tahir was first broken. Baghrájik having drunk several cups of wine, the vapour of pride entered into the hall of his brain, and without any reflection, he pursued the Sístánian, and was engaged in seizing the spoil when Táhir, having turned the reins of his horse, approached Baghrájik, and with one blow of his sword threw him from the saddle on to the ground, and then dismounting, cut off his head, and rode off towards Kohistán. Yaminu-d daula, having received this intelligence, was overcome with grief for his uncle, and during the year 390 H. (1000 A.D.), he marched towards Sistan. Khalaf retired into the fort of Asfahíd, which was stronger than the wall of Alexander. Sultán Mahmúd besieged it, and Khalaf was driven to the extremity of despair by his difficult position in the fort. He sent letters and intercessors, and placed the hand of self-humiliation and supplication on the skirt of the kindness and mercy of Mahmúd. He sent also 100,000 dínárs, with valuable presents and benedictions without number, to the Sultán, and, having testified his obedience and submission, he promised to pay tribute. On account of this, Yaminu-d daula forgave him his misdeeds, and loosened the reins of mercy. He then went to Hind.
5.3
In the Tarjuma-i Yamíní it is written, that when the Sultán led his army from Sístán to Hindústán, and having, as usual, waged war with the infidels, returned triumphant, Khalaf bin Ahmad placed his son Táhir on the throne, and having delivered over the keys of the treasuries to him, and chosen a life of retirement, he entered into the courtyard of devotion, and sought relinquishment from affairs both civil and criminal. When, after some little time, Táhir had become absolute in the affairs of government, Khalaf, repenting of what he had done, feigned sickness. Having placed some of the nobles in the ambush of perfidy, he sent for Táhir, under the pretence of making his last will and testament; and while Táhir stood at the pillow of his father, those perfidious men entered and tied firmly both his hands and his neck. They then incarcerated him, and after a few days brought him dead out of prison, saying that "Tahir had killed himself from excess of grief." Tahir bin Rust, and some of the chief amirs of Sistan, who had been witnesses of this base conduct on the part of Khalaf, withdrew their attachment, and sent petitions to Yaminu-d daula, praying him to turn his standard, which abounded in victory, towards that quarter. Sultan Mahmud consented to their request, and in the year 394 H. (1003-4 A.D.) marched towards Sistan.
5.4
Khalaf retired into the fort of Tak, which, in strength and inaccessibility, was the envy of the arch of the turquoise-coloured sky. The Sultan having fixed his standard of victory outside the fort, his troops in one day cut down so many trees that they filled up the ditch of the fort, and made it level with the ground. Picked troops of the Sultan had tied up their girdles for the demolition of the fort, when Khalaf, reduced to the extremity of despair, craved quarter, and Yaminu-d daula having put back the sword of vengeance into its scabbard, Khalaf ran out of the fort, and threw himself on the ground before the horse of Mahmud, and rubbing his white beard on the horse's hoof, he called him by the title of Sultan. Yaminu-d daula was so excessively pleased with this appellation, that he spared Khalaf's life, and insisted always on the word Sultan forming part of his title. Yaminu-d daula having brought into the court of confiscation all the treasures and hidden valuables of Khalaf, sent him to one of the forts of Juzjan, and the life of Khalaf terminated, as has been before delineated, in the prison assigned to him by Mahmud.