Another of his nobles was Ahmed Hāji Beg, who was the son of Sultan Malik of Kāshghar. Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza gave him the government of Heri, which he retained for some time. After the death of his paternal uncle, Jāni Beg, he was appointed to succeed him in his rank and dignity, and sent to Samarkand. He was of an ingenious* and manly character, and in his poetical compositions assumed the name of Wafāi. He was the author of a diwān,* and was no mean poet. The following is his:
Let me alone to-day, my good judge, for I am tipsy;
Call me to account some other time, when you catch me sober.
Mīr Ali Sher Nawāi accompanied him when he came from Heri to Samarkand; but when Sultan Hussein Mirza became King, he went to Heri, where he was received with most extraordinary favour. Ahmed Hāji Beg kept excellent horses of the breed termed Tipchāk.* He was an admirable horseman, and most of his Tipchāks were of his own breeding. Though a brave man, his generalship was not equal to his courage. He was careless, and left the conduct of his affairs and enterprises to his servants and dependants. When Baiesanghar Mirza attacked Sultan Ali Mirza in Bokhāra,* and was defeated, Ahmed Hāji Beg was taken prisoner and shamefully put to death, on the charge of the blood of Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān.*
DerwīshAnother of his officers was Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān, the son of Urda Bugha Terkhān,* and full maternal uncle of Sultan Ahmed Mirza and Sultan Mahmūd Mirza. He stood higher in rank and estimation with the Mirza than any other of the Begs. He was a good Moslem, of religious habits, and simple manners, and was constantly reading the Korān. He was very fond of chess, and played much and well. He was extremely skilful in falconry, and excelled in flying his hawks. In the troubles between Sultan Ali Mirza and Baiesanghar Mirza he died, in bad repute, in the height of his greatness.
Abdal AliAnother was Abdal Ali Terkhān, a near relation of Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān; he married Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān’s younger sister, who was the mother of Bāki Terkhān. Though Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān was his superior, not only according to the customs and rules of the tribe, but in rank and estimation; yet this haughty Pharaoh pretended to look down upon him. For some years he possessed the government of Bokhāra, when his servants amounted to three thousand. He maintained them well and handsomely. His information and intelligence,* his forms of judicial investigation, his court, his suite, his entertainments* and levees, were all quite princely. He was a strict disciplinarian, tyrannical, lascivious, and haughty. Sheibāni Khan, though he did not take service with him, lived with him for some time. Many of the smaller and more inconsiderable Sultans were in his service. This Abdal Ali Terkhān was the prime cause of the rise and progress of Sheibāni Khan’s fortune, as well as of the downfall and destruction of the family of the ancient Khans.
Syed YūsefSyed Yūsef Oghlākchi was another. His grandfather was from the horde of Moghuls. Ulugh Beg Mirza had promoted and patronized his father. He was a man of profound reflection and counsel, was brave, and excelled in the exercise of throwing the jerīd.* He was one of those who were with me when I first went to Kābul. I showed him great attention, and indeed he was deserving of it. The [A.D. 1505.] first time that I led my army against Hindustān, I left Syed Yūsef Beg behind in Kābul, and he departed into the mercy of God that same year.
DerwīshThere was another named Derwīsh Beg, of the race of Aiko Taimūr Beg, who was a favourite of Taimūr Beg’s. He was extremely attached to the reverend Khwājeh Obeidullah, was skilled in the science of music, and a good performer. He had a genius for poetry. When Sultan Ahmed Mirza was routed on the banks of the Chir, he perished in the river.*
MuhammedAnother was Muhammed Mazīd Terkhān, who was the brother of the full blood to Derwīsh Muhammed Terkhān, but younger. He was for some years Hākim or Governor of Turkestān. Sheibāni Khan took Turkestān from him. He had an excellent judgement and understanding, but was impudent and voluptuous.* The second and third time that I took Samarkand he came to me, and I gave him a favourable reception. He fell in the battle of Kūl-Malik.*
BākiBāki Terkhān was another, the son of Abdal Ali Terkhān, and maternal cousin of Sultan Ahmed Mirza. After his father’s death he had the government of Bokhāra. In the time of Sultan Ali Mirza he rose to great consequence, and his retainers amounted to five or six thousand. He was far from being in a proper state of subjection or obedience to Sultan Ali Mirza. He engaged Sheibāni Khan and was defeated at the fort of Dabūsi,* when Sheibāni Khan, pursuing his advantage, took Bokhāra. He was very fond of hawking, and is said to have had seven hundred falcons at one time. His manners and habits were such as cannot well be described; he was educated and grew up in the midst of magnificence and state. As his father had conferred benefits on Sheibāni Khan, he went over and joined him; but that ungenerous and ungrateful man showed not the least return of favour or kindness for the good which he had received; and Bāki Terkhān departed this life in great wretchedness and misery, in the country of Akhsi.
SultanAnother was Sultan Hussain Arghūn. As he for some time held the government of Karakūl, he was thence known by the name of Sultan Hussain Karakūli. He was a man of reflection and sound judgement, and was much with me.
Kūl Mu-Another was Kūl Muhammed Baghdād Kuchīn, a man of courage.
Abdal Kerīm Ashret was another; he was an Yūighūr*
Abdal Ke-
rīm Ashret.
and chamberlain to Sultan Ahmed Mirza. He was a man
of generosity and courage.
After the death of Sultan Ahmed Mirza, the Begs, having held a consultation, dispatched a messenger over the hills* to Sultan Mahmūd Mirza to invite him to join them. Meanwhile Malik Muhammed Mirza, who was the son of Manucheher Mirza, Sultan Abusaīd Mirza’s elder brother, having separated from the camp, set out, attended by some low desperadoes and adventurers, and repaired to Samarkand for the purpose of asserting his pretensions to the sovereignty; Unsuccessful. but he could accomplish nothing, and was only the cause of his own destruction, and of the death of several innocent princes.
Sultan Sultan Mahmūd Mirza, as soon as he received intelligence
of these events, lost no time in repairing to Samarkand, and
mounted the throne without any kind of difficulty. He
soon, however, by some of his proceedings, disgusted both
high and low, soldiery and subjects, who began to fall off
from him. The first of these offensive acts regarded the
Malik Muhammed Mirza, who has been mentioned, who
was his uncle’s son, and his own son-in-law: he sent to the
Guk-serai*
four Mirzas, two of whom he suffered to live,
but murdered Malik Muhammed Mirza, and another Mirza.*
Though Malik Muhammed Mirza was certainly not free
from blame, the other prince had been guilty of no kind of
Causes of
his un-
popularity.
fault or crime whatever. Another circumstance which
added to his unpopularity was, that though his plan of
government and general arrangements were laudable, and
though he was naturally just, and qualified to direct the
concerns of the revenue, being well versed in the science of
arithmetic, yet his temper had something in it tyrannical
and profligate. Immediately on his arrival at Samarkand,
he began arranging, on a new system, the whole of the
regulations of government, including the expenditure and
taxes. The dependants of Khwājeh Obeidullah, who, by
their influence, had formerly protected many poor defenceless
persons from oppression, and delivered them from
difficulties, now on the contrary suffered great hardship
themselves, and were exposed to much severity and oppression;
nay, this severity and harsh treatment were extended
even to the family of the Khwājeh himself. What added
to these evils was, that, as the Prince himself was tyrannical
and debauched, his Begs and servants all faithfully imitated
his example. The men of Hissār, and particularly the body
of troops that followed Khosrou Shah, were constantly
engaged in debauchery and drinking; and to such a length
did matters go, that when one of Khosrou Shah’s retainers
had seized and carried off another man’s wife by force, on
the husband’s coming with a complaint to Khosrou Shah,
he received for answer—‘You have had her for a great
many years; it is certainly but fair that he should now
have her for a few days.’ Another circumstance which
disgusted these inhabitants was, that none of the townsmen
or shop-keepers, and not even the Tūrks and soldiers, could
leave their houses, from a dread lest their children should
be carried off for catamites. The people of Samarkand,
who, for twenty-five years, during the reign of Sultan
Ahmed Mirza, had lived in ease and tranquillity, and had
seen affairs in general managed according to justice and
law, in consequence of the influence enjoyed by the reverend
Khwājeh, were stung to the soul at the prevalence of such
unbridled licentiousness and tyranny; and great and small,
rich and poor, lifted up their hands to heaven in supplications
for redress, and burst out into curses and imprecations
on the Mirza’s head.
| (Persian) | Beware of the smoke of internal wounds; For a wound, though hidden, will at last break out. Afflict not, if you can, even one heart, For a single groan is sufficient to confound a world.* |