I HAVE heard from trustworthy Moghul sources (and my father and my uncle used also to relate) that Isán Bughá Khán,* the father of Tughluk Timur Khán, had for his favourite wife a certain Sátilmish Khátun; while he had also another wife whose name was Manlik. Now the Khán had no children, and Sátilmish Khátun was barren. The Khán, on a certain occasion, went on an expedition with his army. According to an old Moghul custom, the favourite wife has the allotment and disposal of a man's wives, keeping back or giving him whichever of them she pleases. Sátilmish Khátun learnt that Manlik was with child by the Khán, and, being envious, gave her in marriage to Dukhtui Sharáwal, who was one of the great Amirs. When the Khán returned from his expedition he asked after Manlik. Sátilmish Khátun replied: “I have given her away to some one.” The Khán then said: “But she was with child by me,” and he was very wroth; but as this was a usual practice among the Moghuls, he said nothing.
Soon after this, Isán Bughá Khán died, and there was no Khán left of the tribe of Moghul. Every man acted for himself, and ruin and disorder began to creep in among the people. Amir Buláji Dughlát,* an ancestor of the humble narrator, determined on discovering a Khán, and restoring order to the State; so he sent a certain Tásh Timur to find Dukhtui Sharáwal, and to obtain what information he could, concerning Manlik and her child; telling Tásh Timur that if it were a boy, he was to steal the child away and bring it back with him. Tásh Timur replied: “It is a very long and tedious expedition, and fitting preparations for the journey must be made. I beg of you to supply me with six hundred goats, that we may first drink their milk and then kill and eat them, one by one.”
Amir Buláji complied with his wishes and supplied him with all that was necessary. Tásh Timur then set out. He journeyed for a long while in Moghulistan, and by the time he came upon the party of Dukhtui Sharáwal, there was but one goat remaining, and that was a brown one [kabud]. On his inquiring after Manlik* and her child, they replied that she had borne a son, and that she had a second son by Dukhtui Sharáwal:* the name of the Khán's son was Tughluk Timur, and the name of the son of Sharáwal was Inchumalik.* Finally Tásh Timur succeeded in carrying off Tughluk Timur, and returned to the Amir with him.
Buláji belonged to Aksu. When Chaghatái Khán apportioned his kingdom, he gave Mangalái Suyah to Urtubu, who was the grandfather of Amir Buláji. Mangalái Suyah is the equivalent of Aftáb Ru, or “sun-faced.” It is bounded on the east by Kusan and Tárbugur; on the west by Sám, Gaz and Jakishmán, which are situated on the confines of Farghána; on the north by Issigh Kul, and on the south by Jorján and Sárigh-Uighur. This territory is called Mangalái Suyah, and it was subject to Amir Buláji. In his time it contained many large towns, the most important of which were Káshghar, Khotan, Yárkand, Kásán, Akhsiket, Andiján, Aksu, At-Bashi and Kusan.* and Hiuen Tsang tells us: “From the town of the Su-Yeh river as far [west] as the Ki Shwang Na country, the land is called Su-li, and the people are called by the same name” (Beal's Si Yu Ki). Ki Shwang Na is usually identified with Kesh, in Mávara-un-Nahr, and if that be correct it would mean that most of Western Turkistan and a great part of Mávara-un-Nahr went, in the seventh century, by the same name as the city (and perhaps district) of Kashghar, though the latter place stood altogether apart from the tract of country between the Chu and Kesh. Thus, whether it is in any way possible, that Hiuen Tsang's Su-Yeh, Su-Sa, or Su-li can be connected with Mirza Haidar's Suyah must remain extremely doubtful. If Mr. Watters' reading of Su-Sa instead of Su-Yeh is the right one, such a suggestion could not hold good. (See China Rev., as below.)
A curious passage, it may be noted here, occurs in the Geographical Dictionary of the Arab author Yakut, as translated by Thonnelier. He writes: “Farghanah … confinant avec le Turkestan du coté du district de Haïtal, lequel fait face au soleil levant, à droite du voyageur qui se rend au pays des Turks.” This passage would be too obscure, in any case, to throw light on the question at issue. It is remarkable only as an instance, in this particular region, of regarding a certain tract, or province, as “facing the sun.”
With regard to the limits given for Mangalai Suyah, the only boundary that
the author defines by names that appear to be unknown at the present day, is
the western one. Sám, Gaz (or the two may be read together as Sámgaz) and
Jákishmán are indeed subject to some variants, but however read, I can find no
place to answer to any of them on the western confines of Farghána, unless it be
a small town, or village, marked on Ritter and Oetzel's map of 1841, as Sam
Seirak, and placed on the Angren, tributary of the Syr, about midway between
Khojand and Tashkend. The exact situation of these places is of little importance,
as the author sufficiently indicates that all Farghána was included, when
he mentions the names of Akhsiket and Kásán. The first of these two does not
exist nowadays, but it is known to have stood near the site of the present
Námangán, while Kásán is again somewhat farther westward, and consequently
not far from the western confines of the province. Among the other limits, none
leave any doubt except in detail. Kasan and Tárbugur on the east, are both
well-known towns on the main road leading from Kashghar towards Karashahr
and China, though called nowadays Kuchar and Bugur respectively. The
position of Jorján is also readily recognised, under the modern spelling of
Chárchán, or Chárchand; while the country of the Sárigh Uighur (or Yellow
Uighur), though long forgotten, may be placed with moderate certainty to the
eastward of Chárchán, or south and somewhat west of Lake Lob. Farther on in
his history (pp. 348-9), Mirza Haidar alludes to this country again, as lying
very much in this position. Dr. Bretschneider has some interesting notes on the
subject of the Sárigh Uighur taken from Chinese sources, and places their country
“somewhere north of Zaidam, on the southern verge of the stony desert.” They
would in any case have dwelt on, or beyond, the south-eastern confines of
Eastern Turkistan. (For Hiuen Tsang, see Beal's Si Yu Ki, i., p. 26; Thon-
From all these towns, Amir Buláji selected Aksu as a residence, and it was in Aksu that Tásh Timur found him. As he still had with him the one brown [kabud] goat, he received the surname [lakab] of Kuk Uchgu, which is now borne by all his descendants.
As they neared Aksu, they fell in with a party of merchants, and while they were crossing a pass, the Khán [Tughluk Timur] fell down a fissure in the ice. Tásh Timur, at this, raised a loud cry for help, but he could make no one hear him, for the caravan had crossed the pass and had arrived at a halting ground. Tásh Timur went to one of the merchants, whose name was Begjik, and told him what had befallen the Khán; the merchant communicated this to some of his companions, and several of them set out with Tásh Timur to the place where the Khán had disappeared. Begjik descended into the chasm and found the Khán uninjured, and then and there formed a friendly agreement with him. After that, by way of precaution, he said apologetically to the Khán: “If you go up first they will not pull me up at all; let me go first and they must perforce pull you up after.” Again, proffering many apologies, he called out to them to throw down the rope, which they did, and he went up first, and afterwards they pulled up the Khán. All then went on to Aksu. Amir Buláji raised Tughluk Timur to the rank of Khákán, and in course of time he ruled not only the whole of Moghulistán, but also much of the country of Chaghatái, as shall be related hereafter.