THIS year Abdal Kadūs Beg came to me as ambassador
from Sultan Mahmūd Mirza, on the occasion of the marriage
of his eldest son Sultan Masaūd Mirza to Ak-Begum, the
second daughter of his elder brother Sultan Ahmed Mirza,
and brought me a marriage present, consisting of almonds
and pistachios of gold and silver. This ambassador, on his
arrival, while he openly claimed kindred to Hassan Yākūb,*
Treason-
able views
of Hassan
Yākūb;
yet secretly pursued the object for which he had come,
that of diverting him from his duty,*
and of gaining him over
to his master’s interest, by tempting offers and flattering
promises. Hassan Yākūb returned him a conciliatory
answer, and in reality was gained over. When the ceremonial
of the congratulations on the marriage was over, the ambassador
took leave. In the course of five or six months the
manners of Hassan Yākūb were visibly changed; he began
to conduct himself with great impropriety to those who
were about me; and it was evident that his ultimate
object was to depose me, and to make Jehāngīr Mirza king
in my place. His deportment towards the whole of the Begs
and soldiers was so highly reprehensible, that nobody could
remain ignorant of the design which he had formed. In
consequence of this, Khwājeh Kazi, Kāsim Kuchīn, Ali
Dost Taghāi, Uzūn Hassan, and several others who were
attached to my interests, having met at my grandmother
Isān Doulet Begum’s, came to the resolution of dismissing
Hassan Yākūb, and in that way of putting an end to his
treasonable views.
There were few of her sex who equalled my grandmother
Isān Doulet Begum*
in sense and sagacity. She was
uncommonly far-sighted and judicious; many affairs and
enterprises of importance were conducted by her advice.
Hassan Yākūb was at this time in the citadel, and my
mother and grandmother in the stone fort.*
I proceeded
straight to the citadel, in execution of the plan which had
been concerted. Hassan Yākūb, who had mounted and
gone a-hunting, on receiving intelligence of what was going
who is
forced to
flee.
forward, posted off for Samarkand. The Begs and others
in his interest were taken prisoners. These were Muhammed
Bākir Beg, Sultan Mahmūd Duldai, the father of Sultan
Muhammed Duldāi, and some others. The greater part of
them I allowed to proceed to Samarkand. Kāsim Kuchīn
was appointed Master of the Household,*
and received the
government of Andejān.
Hassan Yākūb, after having proceeded as far as Kandbādām on his way to Samarkand, a few days after, in pursuance of his treacherous intentions, resolved to make an attempt on Akhsi; and, with that view, entered the territory of Khokān.* On receiving information of this, I dispatched several Begs with a body of troops to fall upon him without loss of time. The Begs having sent on some troops in advance, Hassan Yākūb, who received intelligence of the circumstance, fell by night on this advanced guard, which was separated from the main body, surrounded the quarters they had taken up for the night, and attacked them by Is slain. discharges of arrows; but, having been wounded in the dark in his hinder parts, by an arrow shot by one of his own men, he was unable to retreat, and fell a sacrifice to his own misdeeds:—(Persian verse)
When thou hast done wrong, hope not to be secure against calamity;
For its appropriate retribution awaits every deed.*
This same year I began to abstain from forbidden or dubious meats;* and extended my caution to the knife, the spoon, and the table-cloth: I also seldom omitted my midnight prayers.
Jan. 1495. In the month of the latter Rabīa, Sultan Mahmūd Mirza
Death of
Sultan
Mahmūd
Mirza.
was seized with a violent disorder, and, after an illness of
six days, departed this life, in the forty-third year of
his age.
He was born in the year 857, and was the third son of
Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza by the same mother as Sultan Ahmed
His person
and
features.
Mirza. He was of short stature, with little beard, corpulent,
and a very rough-hewn man in his appearance.
As for his manners and habits,* he never neglected his prayers, and his arrangements and regulations were excellent; he was well versed in calculation, and not a single dirhem or dinār* of his revenues was expended without his knowledge. He was regular in paying the allowances of his servants; and his banquets, his donatives, the ceremonial of his court, and his entertainment of his dependants, were all excellent in their kind, and were conducted by a fixed rule and method. His dress was elegant, and according to the fashion of the day.* He never permitted either the soldiery or people to deviate in the slightest degree from the orders or regulations which he prescribed. In the earlier part of his life he was much devoted to falconry, and kept a number of hawks; and latterly was very fond of hunting the nihilam.* He carried his violence and debauchery to a frantic excess; and was constantly drinking wine. He kept a number of catamites; and over the whole extent of his dominions, wherever there was a handsome boy or youth, he used every means to carry him off, in order to gratify his passion. The very sons of his Begs, nay his own foster-brothers,* and the children of his foster-brothers, he made catamites and employed in this way. And such currency did this vile practice gain in his time, that every man had his boy; insomuch, that to keep a catamite was thought to be a creditable thing, and not to have one was regarded as rather an imputation on a man’s spirit. As a judgement upon him for his tyranny and depravity, all his sons were cut off in their youth.
His genius.He had a turn for versifying, and composed a diwān; but his poetry is flat and insipid: and it is surely better not to write at all than to write in that style. He was of an unbelieving disposition, and treated Khwājeh Obeidullah very ill. He was, in short, a man equally devoid of courage and of modesty. He kept about him a number of buffoons and scoundrels, who acted their vile and disgraceful tricks in the face of the court, and even at public audiences. He spoke ill, and his enunciation was often* quite unintelligible.
His wars.He fought two battles, both of them with Sultan Hussain Mirza;* the first at Asterābād,* in which he was defeated; the second in the territory of Andekhūd,* at a place named Chekmān,* in which likewise he was defeated. He went twice on a religious war against Kaferistān* on the south of Badakhshān; on which account he used in the tughra* of his Firmāns the style of Sultan Mahmūd Ghāzi.*
His do-Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza bestowed on him Asterābād, and, after the unfortunate business of Irāk,* he repaired to Khorasān. At that crisis Kamber Ali Beg, the Hākim of Hissār, who, according to orders which he had received from Sultan Abūsaīd Mirza, was conducting the army of Hindustān* towards Irāk to the assistance of that prince, had got as far as Khorasān, where he joined Sultan Mahmūd Mirza. The people of Khorasān, immediately on hearing the report of Sultan Hussain Mirza’s approach, rose in revolt, and drove Sultan Mahmūd Mirza out of Khorasān; whereupon he repaired to Sultan Ahmed Mirza at Samarkand. A few months after, Syed Beder, Khosrou Shah, and some other officers, under the direction of Ahmed Mushtāk, carried off Sultan Mahmūd Mirza, and fled with him to Hissār, to Kamber Ali Beg. From that time downward, Kolugha, with all the countries to the south of the hill of Kotin,** such as Termez, Cheghāniān, Hissār, Khutlān, Kunduz, Badakhshān, and the districts as far as the mountain of Hindū-kūsh, remained in the possession of Sultan Mahmūd Mirza. On the death of his elder brother Sultan Ahmed Mirza, that prince’s territories also fell into his hands.
His family.