He was strictly attached to the Hanīfah sect, and was a true and orthodox believer. He unfailingly observed the five stated daily prayers, and did not neglect them even when engaged in drinking parties. He was attached to Khwājeh Obeidullah, who was his religious instructor and guide. He was polite and ceremonious at all times, but particularly in his intercourse with the Khwājeh; insomuch that they say, that, while in company with him, however long they sat, he never changed the position of his knees, by shifting the one over the other, except in one instance, when, contrary to his usual practice, he rested the one knee on the other. After the Mirza rose, the Khwājeh desired them to examine what there was particular in the place in which the Mirza had been seated, when they found a bone lying there.*
HisHe had never read any, and, though brought up in the city, was illiterate and unrefined. He was a plain honest Tūrk, but not favoured by genius. He was, however, a just man; and as he always consulted the reverend Khwājeh in affairs of importance, he generally acted in conformity to the law. He was true to his promises, and faithful to his compacts or treaties, from which he never swerved. He was brave; and though he never happened to be engaged hand to hand in close combat, yet they say that in several actions he showed proofs of courage. He excelled in archery. He was a good marksman. With his arrows and forked arrows he generally hit the mark;* and in riding from one side of the exercise ground to the other, he used to hit the brazen basin several times.* Latterly, when he became very corpulent, he took to bringing down pheasants and quails with the goshawks, and seldom failed. He was fond of hawking, and was particularly skilled in flying the hawk, an amusement which he frequently practised. If you except Ulugh Beg Mirza, there was no other king who equalled him in field sports. He was singularly observant of decorum, insomuch that it is said, that even in private, before his own people and nearest relations, he never uncovered his feet.* Whenever he took to drinking wine, he would drink without intermission for twenty or thirty days at a stretch, and then he would not taste wine for the next twenty or thirty days. In his social parties he would sometimes sit day and night, and drink profusely; on the days when he did not drink, he ate pungent substances.* He was naturally of a penurious disposition, was a simple man, of few words, and entirely guided by his Begs.
His wars.He fought four battles: the first with Sheikh Jemāl Arghūn, the younger brother of Niāmet Arghūn, in the territory of Zamīn,* at Akār-tūzi, in which he was victorious; the second with Omer-Sheikh Mirza, at Khawās,* in which likewise he was victorious; the third affair was with Sultan Mahmūd Khan, in the vicinity of Tāshkend, on the river Chir, in which there was in truth no battle, for as soon as a few scattered plundering Moghuls came up with the army, and seized some baggage, a whole mighty host, without fighting, without resistance, and no man having engaged another, or even seen an enemy, was completely panic-struck and broken up, and numbers of them drowned in their disorderly flight across the Chir.* His fourth battle was with Haider Gokaltāsh, in the confines of Yār-ailāk,* in which he was victorious.
His do-He possessed the countries of Samarkand and Bokhāra, which his father had given him; and, after the death of Sheikh Jemāl, who was slain by Abdal Kadūs,* he got possession of Tāshkend, Shahrokhīa, and Seirām. He afterwards gave Tāshkend and Seirām to his younger brother, Omer-Sheikh Mirza; and also, for some time, occupied Khojend and Uratippa.
His He had two sons, who died young, and five daughters,
four of whom were by Kātak Begum. The eldest of them
1. Rābia
Sultan
Begum.
all was Rābia Sultan Begum, whom they called Karagūz
(or the Black-eyed) Begum. He gave her in his lifetime to
Sultan Mahmūd Khan, by whom she had a son, named
Baba Khan, a very promising boy. When the Uzbeks slew
the Khan in Khojend, they put to death him and many
others like him of tender years.*
After the death of Sultan
Mahmūd Khan, Jāni Beg Sultan married her. The second
2. Sāliheh
Sultan
Begum.
daughter was Sāliheh Sultan Begum, who was called Ak
Begum (or the Fair Lady). After Sultan Ahmed Mirza’s
death, Sultan Mahmūd Mirza celebrated her marriage with
his own eldest son, Sultan Masaūd Mirza, with great festivity.
She afterwards fell into the hands of the Kāshgharian at the
same time with Shah Begum and Meher Nigār Khanum.
3. Āisha
Sultan
Begum.
The third daughter was Āisha Sultan Begum. When
I visited Samarkand, at the age of five years, she was
betrothed to me. She afterwards came to Khojend during
the troubles, when I married her;*
and, about the time
when I took Samarkand the second time, I had one daughter
by her, who lived only a few days. She left my family before
the overthrow of Tāshkend, induced by the machinations
4. Sultā-
nim
Begum.
of her elder sister. The fourther daughter was Sultānim
Begum, who was married first to Sultan Ali Mirza, afterwards
to Taimūr Sultan, and lastly to Mahdi Sultan. The
5. Maasū-
meh Sultan
Begum.
youngest of all his daughters was Maasūmeh Sultan Begum,
whose mother, Habībeh Sultan Begum, was of the tribe
of Arghūn, and the daughter of one of Sultan Arghūn’s
brothers. I saw her when I went to Khorasān, and,
being pleased with her, asked her in marriage and carried
her to Kābul, where I married her. I had by her one
daughter, at the time of whose birth she was taken ill in
childbed, and was united to the mercy of God. The
daughter whom she bore received her mother’s name.
Of his wives and ladies, the principal was Meher Nigār Khanum, the eldest daughter of Yunis Khan, who was betrothed to him by his father, Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza. She was my mother’s eldest sister of the full blood.
TerkhānAnother of his wives was of the family of Terkhāns, and named Terkhān Begum.
KātakAnother was Kātak Begum, who was the foster-sister of this same Terkhān Begum. Sultan Ahmed Mirza married her for love. He was prodigiously attached to her, and she governed him with absolute sway. She drank wine. During her life, the Sultan durst not venture to frequent any other of his ladies. At last, however, he put her to death, and delivered himself from his reproach.
KhanzādehAnother of his wives was Khanzādeh Begum, who was sprung of the Khans of Termez. When I went to Samarkand, at the age of five years, to visit Sultan Ahmed Mirza, he had newly married her, and she still kept her face covered with a veil, according to the custom of the Tūrks.* He directed me, and I took off her veil.
LatīfAnother of them was the daughter of the daughter of Ahmed Hāji Beg, named Latīf Begum, who, after the Mirza’s death, was married to Hamzah Sultan, by whom she had three sons. When I defeated the Sultans under the command of Hamzeh Sultan and Taimūr Sultan, and took Hissār,* these princes, as well as the children of the other Sultans, fell into my hands, and I set all of them at liberty.
HabībehThere was another, named Habībeh Sultan Begum, the brother’s daughter of Sultan Arghūn.
His Amirs.Of his Amirs, one was Jāni Beg Duldāi, the younger brother of Sultan Malik of Kāshghar. Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza conferred on him the government of Samarkand, with the prime direction of Sultan Ahmed Mirza’s court. He was a man of singular habits and manners, and many strange stories are related of him. Among these it is said, that, when he held the government of Samarkand, an ambassador came from the Uzbeks, who was famous among them for his strength. The Uzbeks call a very stout champion būkeh. Jāni Beg asked him, ‘Why do they call you būkeh? If you are a būkeh, come let us have a set-to.’ The ambassador, do what he would, was unable to get off. The Hākim grappled with the Uzbek, who was thrown. Jāni Beg was a man of perfect courage.
Ahmed