SULTÁN AHMAD KHÁN had eighteen sons. The eldest was Mansur Khán, of whom I have just spoken. Next to him came Iskandar Sultán, who died a natural death, after his father. Then came Sultán Said Khan, who was fourteen years of age when Sultán Ahmad Khán went to [the assistance of] his elder brother, Sultán Mahmud Khán. He had taken with him, on this occasion, two of his sons: namely Sultán Said Khán and Bábáják Sultán.

While the two Kháns were together, Sultán Said Khán passed his days in the cell of instruction of my father, and under the kindly protection of my uncle. [This lasted] up to the time of the battle at Akhsi, between the two Kháns and Sháhi Beg Khán (which has been mentioned). In the flight which ensued, Sultán Said Khán was struck by an arrow in the thigh, and the bone was broken: so he threw himself onto a side path.* After the flight and rout had subsided, some of the people of that district found him, but as his leg was broken, they did not remove him from where he lay. After a few days had passed, and he was almost recovered, they took him before Shaikh Báyazid, Governor of Akhsi. An account of Shaikh Báyazid and of his brother, Sultán Ahmad Tambal, will be found in Part II. Shaikh Báyazid kept Sultán Said Khán in prison.

In the year following, when the corn was high, Sháhi Beg Khan again came against Farghána and Sultán Ahmad Tambal. Sultán Ahmad Tambal and Shaikh Báyazid, together with all their brothers, were put to death by Sháhi Beg Khán, who then pos­sessed himself of Farghána. Sultán Said Khán, who was in prison, by the order of Shaikh Báyazid, was now released and conducted before Sháhi Beg Khán, who treated him as his own son, and being moved to pity at his sad condition, took him to Samarkand. From there he took him on his campaign against Hisár and Kunduz, at the time when Khusrau Sháh had just subjugated the provinces of Hisár, Kunduz, and Badakhshán. When he had brought this enter­prise to a close, he again returned to Samarkand. He next invaded Khwárizm. But on the occasion of this expedition, the Khán fled from him and came into Moghulistán. He journeyed by way of Uzun Ahmad as far as Yatikand.* His uncle, Sultán Mahmud Khán, was at that time in Yatikand; with him he passed a few days, but finally, being wearied with the careless way in which his uncle conducted the affairs of the State, he departed and went into Moghulistán to visit his brother, Sultán Khalil Sultán, who was governor of the Kirghiz.

He remained four years with his brother, among the Kirghiz in Moghulistán. During this period many transactions took place between Sultán Mahmud Khan, Mansur Khán, and these two brothers. The result of these proceedings was that Sultán Mahmud Khán found, on account [of the opposition] of his nephews, that he could no longer remain in Moghulistán. So he went to seek Sháhi Beg Khán, in hopes of kind treatment. But Sháhi Beg Khán, as has been related, put him to death on the river of Khojand. When Sultán Mahmud Khán went abroad [to viláyat] to visit Sháhi Beg Khán, these two brothers remained in Moghul-istán and the Kirghiz country. In the meanwhile, news of the approach of Mansur Khán's army reached them. For Mansur Khán had led out an army from Chálish and Turfán against his brothers, in order to seize the land of the Khirghiz and Moghulistán. So Sultán Said Khán and Sultán Khalil, having collected all the [fighting] men of the Kirghiz and the Moghuls, took up a strong position at a place called Charun Chák,* ready to receive the enemy. On the arrival of Mansur with his army, the signal for battle was given, and finally Sultán Said Khán and Sultán Khalil Sultán were defeated. Mansur Khán made the Kirghiz march into Chálish, as has been mentioned in the account of Mansur Khán. Sultán Khalil Sultán escaped from the fight with a considerable number of men, and came to Farghána, [hoping] to fall in with his uncle Sultán Mahmud Khán, and to be kindly treated by Sháhi Beg Khán. But when he reached Akhsi he was put to death by Jáni Beg Khán, a cousin of Sháhi Beg Khán, and governor of the country of Farghána.

Sultán Said Khán, for some time after the battle, took to robbery, but events soon came about which rendered impossible for him further sojourn in Moghulistán. (These events are described in Part II. To avoid repetition they have only been given in epitome here.) In this state of hopelessness Sultán Said Khán went to Andiján, and thence to Kábul, to visit his (paternal) cousin Bábar Pádisháh, the son of Omar Shaikh Mirzá, who received him with honour and kindness, and with whom he stayed for three years at Kábul.

When Sháh Ismáil [defeated and] slew Sháhi Beg Khán in Marv, Bábar Pádisháh moved from Kábul to Kunduz, taking Sultán Said Khán with him. At this same time Sayyid Muhammad Mirzá, son of Muhammad Haidar Mirzá, and uncle of the author of this history, invaded Andiján and, driving Jáni Beg Sultán out, became himself master of the country. He then sent messengers to inform Bábar Pádisháh of what he had achieved. Bábar Pádisháh thereupon sent Sultán Said Khán and what Moghul Amirs he had in his service, to Andiján. On his arrival there, Sultán Said Khán was received with ceremony by his uncle Sayyid Muhammad Mirzá, who also delivered over to him the whole of the territory which he had just subjugated. The Khán showed my uncle every mark of honour, and according to the ancient Moghul custom, conferred upon him the title of Ulusbegi,* which became his hereditary office.

Meanwhile Mirzá Abá Bakr, having set his heart upon the kingdom of Farghána, had collected an army in Káshghar, and was on the road to Andiján. The Khán marched out to meet him with an army of 1500 men. The two forces came into contact at a place called Tut-lugh,* about two farsákhs from Andiján. By the help of God [that small body] of 1500 men overcame an army 20,000 strong, after a very fierce struggle, and in consequence of this victory the fame of Sultán Said Khán was established among the surrounding Sultáns. The Uzbeg Sultáns from Farghána then began to assemble on the borders of Samarkand and Táshkand. Afterwards, Bábar Pádisháh engaged these Sultáns in a battle at Hisár Shádmán, and was victorious. By this victory he was enabled to rid Mávará-un-Nahr of all the Uzbeg, and he himself mounted the throne of Samarkand. In the month of Rajab of the year 917,* the Khán was again firmly established in Andiján. In the early spring [avval bahár] of the same year, the Uzbeg again entered Táshkand. Ubaid Ullah Khán advanced in the direction of Bokhárá, in the neighbourhood of which place he fought a battle with Bábar Pádisháh, who had come out to oppose him. Ubaid Ullah Khán was victorious, and Bábar Pádisháh retired defeated to Samarkand, whence, with­drawing his family and all his belongings, he fled to Hisár. Thus the Uzbeg recovered their ascendency. The Khán remained in Andiján.

Bábar Pádisháh, meanwhile, appealed to Sháh Ismáil for assist­ance. The latter sent Mir Najm, one of his Amirs, with 60,000 men, to the Pádisháh, who having joined his own troops to these, marched on Samarkand. The Khán, in the meantime, having harassed the Uzbeg in the neighbourhood of Andiján, also marched towards Samarkand, and encountered Suyunj Khwája Khán near Táshkand. All the other Kháns and Sultáns had assembled in Samarkand and Bokhárá to oppose Bábar Pádisháh. But in the battle near Táshkand, between the Khán and Suyunj Khwája Khán, the former had 5000 men and the latter 7000; after a hard fight, the Khán was defeated and fled to Andiján.*

Your servant, the author of the present history, having taken leave of Bábar Pádisháh, at the time when he went to join Mir Najm, entered the service of the Khán, who was in Andiján, and had just sustained a defeat at the hands of Suyunj Khwája Khán. In the spring, the Khán went to the court of Kásim Khán, who was ruler of the Dasht-i-Kipchák. At that time his army numbered 300,000 men. Kásim Khán received him with so much respect and honour that the Khán remembered it for years after. On his return from that visit, he distinguished me from among my equals with the connection [musaharat] of Kurkáni. All this is related in Part II.

In the early spring of the year 920 all the great Uzbeg Sultáns, with a very numerous army of warriors, advanced against Andiján. The Khán, not deeming it wise to offer fight, retired into Moghulistán before the foreign army reached Farghána. When he arrived at Yatikand they held a council of war, and acting on the timely advice and persuasion of my uncle Sayyid Muhammad Mirzá (who was brother to Mirzá Abá Bakr), they marched towards Káshghar, where a terrible battle was fought, in which the army of that place was routed and obliged to retire within the fort of Káshghar. The Khán then marched on Yángi Hisár, which he besieged for three months. At length the inhabitants entered into a capitulation with my uncle, and delivered up the fort.

On this news reaching Káshghar, the army that was in that town abandoned it. When the fugitives joined Mirzá Abá Bakr in Yárkand, he too resolved on flight, and took the road to Khotan. The Khán pursued him to Yárkand, and then sent on troops after him, as far as the mountains of Tibet. Much booty in the shape of cloths, goods, cattle and horses fell into the hands of the Moghul army (as is described in the Second Part).

The accession of the Khán to the kingdom of Káshghar was in Rajab of the year 920.* At the end of that winter Aiman Khwája Sultán, who was brother to the Khán, by the same father and mother, came from Turfán, as has been stated above. He instigated and encourged his Amirs in the matter of the exter­mination of Mansur Khán, explaining to them the decline of the Khán's power, and dwelling on the enmity that had existed in Moghulistán, in times past, towards the Khán. But the Khán said: “He is the elder brother; in former times I did not pay him due respect, and consequently he punished me. I ought on this account to bear him no enmity. The most fitting thing for me to do, is to apologise to him for my shortcomings, and offer him reparation for the past.” He then sent ambassadors bearing words of peace and submission. At this message, Mansur Khán, whose soul had come to his lips, from fear and foreboding, now received new life and joy without bounds. He came in fear and trembling to the conference [mulákát], which was held between Aksu and Kusan. The Khán showed him great honour, and agreed to read the Khutba and strike coins in his name. And all the ill-feeling that he had formerly borne Mansur Khán, he now changed to brotherly affection and obedience. From this peace and reconciliation between the two brothers, resulted such security and prosperity for the people, that any one might travel alone between Kámul or Khitái and the country of Farghána, without provision for the journey and without fear of molestation. Some ingenious person, to commemorate this peace, invented the following chronogram, “Du lashkar ba nishát”—that is, 922. [“Two armies in happiness.”]

The next year, when Muhammad Kirghiz had made raids into Turkistán and Farghána, and had plundered the Musulmáns, the Khán, in his desire to protect Islám, looked upon this action as an insult. He therefore set forth to attack Muhammad Kirghiz, whom he seized and threw into prison, where he remained for fifteen years.

In 928 [1522] the Khán took his son Rashid Sultán into Moghul-istán. He subdued the whole of Moghulistán and the Kirghiz, and a number of the people of Moghulistán supported Rashid Sultán. Finally, on account of the superiority of the Mangit,* the Uzbeg Kazák, being no longer able to remain in the Dasht-i-Kipchák, came over into Moghulistán, to the number of 200,000 persons. It was impossible to resist them, so Rashid Sultán retired with his men to Káshghar.

Meanwhile the Khán invaded Badakhshán, and conquered half of it, which is, to this day, subject to the government of Káshghar. This is a long story. The disputes that arose out of the claims to its inheritance made by Sháh Begum (who has been mentioned) are related in Part. II. of this History.

The Khán twice invaded Badakhshán, once in the year 925 and again in 936 [1519 and 1529-30]. In the year 934 the Khán sent me, with Rashid Sultán, to Balur, which is a country of infidels [Káfiristán], between Badakhshán and Kashmir,* where we conducted successfully a holy war [ghazát], and returned victo­rious, loaded with booty and covered with glory.

A short time after this, it came about that some malicious and impure devils set up Aiman Khwája Sultán in Aksu. This town, which from the date of the conquest of Mirzá Abá Bakr (909), to the year 913, had been in a state of ruin, was now rebuilt by Aiman Khwája Sultán.

The Khán sent me, together with Rashid Sultán, to Aksu, whence we drove out Aiman Khwája Sultán, and sent him to Káshghar. Then, having set in order his military and civil affairs, I left Rashid Sultán in Aksu and re-entered the service of the Khán. Aiman Sultán was despatched to Hindustán, where he died a natural death. At the end of the year 938 [1532] the Khán made a holy war on the infidel country [Káfiristán] of Tibet,* sending me forward in advance of himself. I had taken several of the forts and subdued most of the country of Tibet, by the time the Khán came up with me. The two armies together formed a body of 5000 men, which was a larger number of people than all Tibet could support in winter time. So the Khán saw fit to send me, in company with Iskandar Sultán, to Kashmir, with 4000 men, while he himself proceeded to Balti, which is a province between Tibet and Balur. He spent the winter there, engaged in a holy war, and in the spring returned to Tibet.

I entered Kashmir that winter, and at the end of the season* fought a pitched battle with the kings [malik] of the country. Thanks to the Most High God, I came off victorious, and exter­minated the whole army of Kashmir and the kings. I might also have subdued the whole of the country, had it not been for some of those malignant persons who, by their words and actions, throw things into disorder, and who rendered the further reduction of the country impossible.* Peace was made with the kings of Kashmir, and the daughter of Muhammad Sháh, the Pádisháh of Kashmir, was given in marriage to Iskandar Sultán, while the Khutba was read and the coins struck in the Khán's name. All the wealth of Kashmir, that it was possible to collect, was brought, in the spring following that winter, to the Khán in Tibet. The Khán, on my return, honoured me with every mark of royal bene­volence and favour, and sent me to Ursáng, which is the Kibla of Khitái and Tibet,* while he himself set out for Káshghar.

At the time of his arrival [in Tibet] he had become very weak and much reduced, from dam-giri,* and during the whole period of his sojourn in Tibet he never quite recovered. Nevertheless, he was obliged, under any circumstances, to make the [return] journey. When he reached a spot where dam-giri was prevalent, his pious soul took flight to the regions of the blessed. This was at the close of the year 939.* All this is fully related in Part II. of this History.