THE KURTS¹.

We pass now to the Kurt dynasty which ruled over extensive territories in the N.E. of Persia and the adjacent countries with their capital at Herát. The most detailed account of them which I have met with is contained in a still unpublished history of Herát entitled Rawḍátu'l-Jannát fí ta'ríkhi madínati Herát (“Gardens of Paradise: on the history of the city of Herát”), composed by Mawláná Mu'ín of Isfizár. This history, which comes down to the year 875/ 1473-4 or thereabouts, is based on the older works of Abú Isḥaq Aḥmad b. Yá-Sín; Shaykh 'Abdu'r-Raḥmán Fámí; Sayfí of Herát; and the Kurt-náma of Rabí'í * of Búshanj; and is divided into 26 Rawḍas (“Gardens”), each containing two or more Chimans (“Parterres”). Of these, Rawḍas vii-x deal with the period and dynasty now under review. I am indebted to Mr A. G. Ellis, Assistant Librarian of the India Office, for the loan of an excellent MS. of this work, transcribed in 1073/1662-3 and superior in accuracy and legibility to either of the British Museum codices. * Another work which supplies some useful information about this dynasty is the very rare Mujmal of Faṣíḥí of Khwáf, * from which the poems of Rabí'í cited in the last chapter are taken. Some account of the dynasty is, of course, also contained in all general histories of Persia of a later date, such as the Rawḍatu'ṣ-Ṣafá, Ḥabíbu's-Siyar, Maṭla'u's-Sa'dayn, etc.

The ancestor of the Kurts was a certain Táju'd-Dín 'Uthmán-i-Marghiní, whose brother, 'Izzu'd-Dín 'Umar-i-Marghiní, was the powerful Wazír of Sulṭán Ghiyáthu'd-Dín Muḥammad-i-Ghúrí (d. 599/1202-3). Táju'd-Dín was made Warden of the Castle of Khaysár, and on his death his son, Malik Ruknu'd-Dín Abú Bakr, married the daughter of the Shamsu'd-Dín Kurt above-mentioned Sulṭán. Their son Shamsu'd-Dín succeeded his father in 643/1245-6, joined Sálí Noyan in an invasion of India in the following year, and met the great Shaykh Bahá'u'd-Dín Zakariyyá (the spiritual director of the poet 'Iráqí) at Multán in 645/1247-8. Later he visited the Mongol ruler Mangú Qá'án (646-655/1248-1257) who placed under his sway Herát, Jám, Búshanj, Ghúr, Khaysár, Fírúz-Kúh, Gharjistán, Murgháb, Merv, Fáryáb (up to the Oxus), Isfizár, Faráh, Sístán, Kábul, Tíráh, and Afghánistán up to the Indus. In 662/1263-4, after having subdued Sístán, he visited Húlágú, and three years later his successor Abáqá, whom he accompanied in his campaign against Darband and Bákú. He again visited Abáqá, accompanied by Shamsu'd-Dín the Ṣáḥib Díwán, in 675/1276-7, and this time the former good opinion of the Mongol sovereign in respect to him seems to have been changed to suspicion, which led to his death, for he was poisoned in Sha'bán, 676

Shamsu'd-Dín poisoned (January, 1278), by means of a water-melon given to him while he was in the bath at Tabríz. Abáqá even caused his body to be buried in chains at Jám in Khurásán. Mawláná Wajíhu'd-Dín Nasafí commemorated the date of his death in the following verses:

The allusion is to the verse in the Qur'án (súra lxxxi, 1) “When the sun is rolled up,” for the title of the deceased ruler, Shamsu'd-Dín, signifies the Sun of the Faith.

The title of Malik (which means King in Arabic, but in Persia at this period meant no more than Prince or Amír) seems to have been first taken by Ruknu'd-Dín, but already the Shaykh Thiqatu'd-Dín Fámí had given the higher title of Sháh to his uncle 'Izzu'd-Dín 'Umar in the following verse:

The title of Malik was, however, that borne by all the succeeding members of this house.

Shamsu'd-Dín was succeeded in 677/1278-9 by his son Ruknu'd-Dín, who thereupon assumed his father's title with

Ruknu'd-Dín succeeds his father under the title of Shamsu'd-Díni-Kihín the adjective Kihín (“the Younger”). He died at Khaysár on Ṣafar 12, 705 (Sept. 3, 1305), but seems at a much earlier date to have been practically set aside by his son Fakhru'd-Dín, who, having been imprisoned by his father for seven years, was released at the intercession of the Mongol He is superseded by his son Fakhru'd-Dín general Nawrúz, whom he ill requited by betraying him in 696/1296-7 to Gházán Khán, against whom Nawrúz had revolted. Three years later Fakhru'd-Dín himself fought against Gházán's brother Khudá-banda, who succeeded Gházán in 705/1305-6, and in the following year sent an army of 10,000 men under Dánishmand Bahádur against Herát, of which the fortifications had been greatly strengthened by Fakhru'd-Dín. Dánishmand was, however, killed by a treacherous stratagem after he had been allowed to occupy Herát, together with many of his men, and Fakhru'd-Dín then returned from Amán-Kúh, whither he had fled, and reoccupied the city. Soon afterwards he died on Sha'bán 22, 706 (Feb. 26, 1307). He was a great patron of literature. Sayfí says that forty poets of note were his panegyrists, and that he himself had composed eighty qaṣídas and one hundred and fifty muqaṭṭa'át in his praise. On the other hand his rule was austere: he forbade women to walk abroad, and sternly repressed wine-drinking and public mourning.

Fakhru'd-Dín was succeeded by his brother Ghiyáthu'd-Dín, who soon afterwards had a quarrel with his brother Ghiyáthu'd-Dín succeeds 'Alá'u'd-Dín, and went to lay his case before the Mongol sovereign Khudá-banda, who accorded him a gracious reception. On his return to Herát in 708/1308-9 he extended his power over Ghúr, Khaysár and Isfizár. 'Alá'u'd-Dín Hindú's intrigues against him compelled him again to visit Sháh Khudá-banda in 714/1314-15, and it took him some time, aided by the intercession of Shaykh Núru'd-Dín 'Abdu'r-Raḥmán of Isfará'in, to regain that monarch's confidence. On his return he was confronted first, in 718/1318-19, with an invasion of Khurásán by Prince Yasúr * the Nikúdarí and, in the following year, with the hostility of Quṭbu'd-Dín of Isfizár and the people of Sístán, on which latter war Púr-i-Bahá of Isfizár has the following verses:

“O King, do not again, supported [only] by the weak Sístánís,
Venture to give battle to the army of the Persians.
The people of Sístán are nothing more than beards and moustaches;
Beware lest thou place thy reliance on felt and cords!”

In 720/1320 Prince Yasúr was killed and the Nikúdarís dispersed, and in Rajab of that year (August, 1320) Ghiyáthu'd-Dín set out to perform the pilgrimage to Mecca, leaving his son Malik Shamsu'd-Dín Muḥammad to act as Viceroy. In 729/1329 Ghiyáthu'd-Dín died, leaving four sons, the above Shamsu'd-Dín who succeeded him; Ḥáfiẓ and Mu'izzu'd-Dín who successively ascended the throne; and Báqir.

On the date of Shamsu'd-Dín's accession the following Arabic chronogram was composed by Jamálu'd-Dín Mu-ḥammad ibn Ḥusám:

The words Khullida mulkuhu (“May his rule be eternalized!”) give, according to the abjad reckoning, the date 729; but unhappily so slight was their appropriateness that Shamsu'd-Dín died two months after his accession, and was succeeded by his brother Ḥáfiẓ, who in turn, after a brief and troubled reign of about two years, was succeeded by the third brother Abu'l-Ḥusayn Malik Mu'izzu'd-Dín.

The accession of Mu'izzu'd-Dín in 732/1331 almost Accession of Mu'izzu'd-Dín synchronized with three important events, the death of Abú Sa'íd (which practically marked the end of the Mongol dominion over Persia); the birth of Tímúr; and the rise of the Sarbadár Dynasty.