He fought three great battles; the first with Yunis Khan, to the north of Andejān, on the banks of the Seihun, at a place called Tīka-Sakaratkū,* which derives its name from this circumstance, that the river, in flowing past the skirt of a hill, becomes so much contracted in breadth, that it is said that, on one occasion, a mountain-goat leaped from the one bank to the other. Here he was defeated, and fell into the hands of Yunis Khan, who treated him with great generosity, and sent him back to his own country. This is termed the battle of Tīka-Sakaratkū, because it was fought at that spot; and it is still used as an era in that country. Another battle he fought in Tūrkestān, on the banks of the river Aras,* with the Uzbeks, who, having plundered the territory of Samarkand, were on their return back. The Aras being frozen over, he passed it on the ice, gave them a severe defeat, and recovered the prisoners and effects which they had carried off, all of which he restored to their families and owners, retaining nothing to himself. The third battle was fought with Sultan Ahmed Mirza, between Shahrokhīa and Uratippa, at the place named Khawās, where he was defeated.
His domi-His father gave him the country of Ferghāna. He held for a short period Tāshkend and Seirām,* which his eldest brother Sultan Ahmed Mirza had given him. He was also, at one time, in possession of Shahrokhīa, which he gained by a stratagem. Finally, however, he lost both Tāshkend and Shahrokhīa, and only retained Ferghāna, Khojend, and Uratippa, the original name of which is Usrūshta,* and which is also called Austerūsh. Many do not reckon Khojend to be included in Ferghāna. When Sultan Ahmed Mirza went to Tāshkend against the Moghuls, whom he engaged, but was defeated on the banks of the river Chir,* Hāfiz Beg Duldāi, who was in Uratippa, delivered it up to Omer-Sheikh Mirza, from which period it continued in his possession.
His chil- He had three sons and five daughters. Of the sons I,
Zehīr-ed-dīn Muhammed Bābur, was the eldest. My mother
was Kūtluk Nigār Khānum. The second son was Jehāngīr
Mirza, who was two years younger than myself. His
mother was sprung of one of the chiefs of the race of the
Moghul Tumāns,*
and was named Fātima Sultan. The third
Nāsir.
was Nāsir Mirza, whose mother was of the country of
Andejān, and a concubine, by name Umeid. He was four
years younger than I. Of all the daughters, the eldest was
Khanzādeh
Begum.
Khanzādeh Begum, who was born of the same mother as
myself, and was five years older than I. The second time
that I took Samarkand,*
although my army was defeated
at Sir-e-pul, I threw myself into the town, and sustained
a siege of five months; when, no succour or assistance
coming from any of the neighbouring kings or Begs, in
despair, I abandoned the place. During the confusion that
ensued, Khanzādeh Begum fell into the hands of Muhammed
Sheibāni Khan, and had by him a son named Khurram
Shah, a fine young man, who had the country of Balkh
assigned to him; but, a year or two after his father’s death,
he was received into the mercy of God.*
When Shah Ismael
defeated the Uzbeks at Merv,*
Khanzādeh Begum was in
that town; out of regard for me, he paid her every attention,
and caused her to be conducted in the most honourable
manner to join me at Kunduz.—We had been separated for
ten years, when I and Muhammed Gokultāsh went out to
meet her; the Begum and her attendants did not know us,
not even after I had spoken; but in a short while they
Meherbānu
Begum.
Sheherbā-
nu Begum.
recognized me. The second daughter was Meherbānu
Begum, who was born of the same mother as Nāsir Mirza,
and was two years older than I. The third daughter was
Sheherbānu Begum, who was likewise born of the same
mother with Nāsir Mirza, and was eight years younger than
Yādgār Sultan
Begum.
I. The fourth daughter was Yādgār Sultan Begum, whose
mother, Agha Sultan, was a concubine. The youngest
Rokhīa
Sultan
Begum.
daughter was Rokhīa Sultan Begum, whose mother, Sultan
Makhdūm Begum, went by the name of Karagūz Begum
(the black-eyed princess). These two last were born after
the Mirza’s death. Yādgār Sultan Begum was brought up by
A. D. 1503.
my grandmother Isān Doulet Begum. When Muhammed
Sheibāni Khan took Andejān and Akhsi, Yādgār Sultan
Begum fell into the hands of Abdallatīf Sultan, the son of
A. D. 1511.
Hamzeh Sultan. When I defeated Hamzeh Sultan and
the other Sultans in Khutlān, and took Hissār, Yādgār
Sultan Begum came and joined me. During those same
troubles, Rokhīa Sultan Begum had fallen into the hands of
Jāni Beg Sultan, by whom she had one or two sons, who died
young. I have just received information that she has gone
to the mercy of God.
The principal wife of Omer-Sheikh Mirza was Kūtluk
Nigār Khānum, who was the second daughter of Yunis
Khan, and the elder sister of Sultan Mahmūd Khan and
Descent
of Yunis
Khan.
Sultan Ahmed Khan by the same mother. Yunis Khan
was of the race of Chaghatāi Khan, the second son of
Chingiz Khan, and his genealogy runs thus: Yunis Khan,
the son of Weis Khan, the son of Sher Ali Oghlān, the son of
Muhammed Khan, the son of Khizer Khwājeh Khan, the
son of Tughluk Taimūr Khan, the son of Aishbugha Khan,
the son of Dawa Khan, the son of Burāk Khan, the son of
Isān-bugha, the son of Mutukān, the son of Chaghatāi Khan,
the son of Chingiz Khan.*
Since the opportunity thus presents itself, I shall now
briefly state a few particulars regarding the history of the
Khans. Yunis Khan and Isān-bugha Khan were the sons
of Weis Khan. The mother of Yunis Khan was of Turkestān,
and was either the daughter or grand-daughter of
Sheikh Nūr-ed-dīn Beg, who was one of the Amīrs of
Kipchāk, and had been brought forward by Taimūr Beg.
On the death of Weis Khan, the Ulūs (or Horde) of the
Moghuls divided into two parties, one of which adhered to
Yunis
Khan
Yunis Khan, while the majority sided with Isān-bugha
Khan. This occasioned a separation of the tribe. Before
this time the elder sister of Yunis Khan had been engaged
by Ulugh Beg Mirza to be married to his son Abdal-azīz
Mirza. This connexion induced Airzīn, who was a Beg of the
Tumān of Nārin, and Mīrak Turkman, who was a Beg of the
Tumān of Khirās, to carry Yunis Khan, attended by three
leaves Mo-
ghulistān.
or four thousand families*
of the tribe of Moghuls, to Ulugh
Beg Mirza; in the expectation that, with the assistance
which he could afford them, they might reduce the whole
of the Moghul tribe under the authority of the Khan. The
Mirza did not give them a favourable reception, but with
great unkindness,*
imprisoned some, and dispersed the rest
in all directions over the face of the country; so that ‘the
Dispersion of Airzīn’ has become an era among the Moghuls.
The Khan he sent into Irāk. Yunis Khan accordingly
remained in Tabrīz for upwards of a year, at the time when
Jehān-Shah Barani Kara-koilūk*
(of the black sheep) was
sovereign of Tabrīz. Thence he proceeded to Shirāz, where
Shahrokh Mirza’s second son, Ibrahīm Sultan Mirza, then
reigned. Five or six months after his arrival, this prince
died, and was succeeded by his son Abdallah Mirza. The
Khan engaged in the service of Abdallah Mirza, and remained
in Shirāz and that country for seventeen or eighteen years.
When the disturbances between Ulugh Beg Mirza and his
sons broke out, Isān-bugha Khan, seizing the opportunity,
came and plundered the country of Ferghāna, as far as
Kandbādām, took Andejān, and made all the inhabitants
prisoners. Sultan Abūsaīd had no sooner mounted the
throne than he collected an army, advanced beyond Yāngi,*
and gave Isān-bugha Khan a severe defeat, at a town in
Moghulistān, named Ashpera. In order still more effectually
to secure himself from such inroads, he was induced by his
connexion with Yunis Khan, to invite him back from Irāk
and Khorasān, Yunis Khan’s elder sister having been
married to Abdal-azīz Mirza. On the Khan’s arrival he made
a great feast, received him in the most friendly manner, acknowledged
him as Khan of the tribe of Moghuls, and sent
him into their country to assert his rights. At that time
it happened that all the Begs of the Tumān of Sagharichi
had come to Moghulistān, highly displeased with Isānbugha
Khan. Yunis Khan went among them. The greatest
of the Begs of the Sagharichi was then Sher Hāji Beg, whose
Marries
Isān Doulet
Begum.
daughter Isān Doulet Begum, Yunis Khan married. Sher
Hāji Beg having seated the Khan and Isān Doulet Begum on
a white felt,*
according to the Tūreh, or ancient Institutions
of the Moghuls, they proclaimed him Khan.