It is related, that, on a time, during the absence of Chungeez Khan from his capital, and when no persons remained in his encampment except a few of the relations of his chief wife, (Boorut Koocheen, the daughter of the king of Kunkurat and the mother of his eldest children;) the tribe of Mukreet taking advantage of his absence, suddenly attacked, and took the whole of his camp and people, killing those who resisted, and marching off the rest prisoners. At that time Boorut Koocheen was six months gone with child of Joje Khan. As the Mukreet, however, were carrying off this lady, their spoil and prisoners, Oong Khan, the chief of the Kirayut tribe, who had adopted Chungeez Khan as his son, waylaid them with a numerous body of troops, and rescued Boorut Koocheen and her dependants and followers, and sent them safe back to Chungeez Khan. On the road, returning, Boorut Koocheen was delivered of a son, who, after he was born, by the advice of experienced persons, was wrapped up in khumeer, or dough, to prevent his receiving injury from the journey. When he was brought in this fashion to Chungeez Khan, he gave the persons who brought him with such care, the title of nairoon bayureen, or faithful servants, and called his son Joje, which word signifies a guest or stranger. From these circumstances, Joje was always reproached by his brethren with illegitimacy, and many false stories were made up and reported to his disadvantage to Chungeez Khan; these are stated at length in the histories of the Chughtayan race, but the generality of impartial writers agree that Boorut Koocheen remained in the hands of the tribes of Mukreet and Kirayut from the time of her capture until she was returned to Chungeez Khan, not quite four months; but the falsehood of these imputations is best proved by the extreme love manifested towards Joje by Chungeez Khan, (which he never would have shown had he not been his own son,) particularly in affairs of state; and we are assured that Chungeez Khan loved him above all his children. From this circumstance, his other brothers Ooghtaie and Chughtaie hated him, and raised the reports to which we have alluded. Chungeez Khan, however, would never hear any thing that tended to the disparagement of Joje, and, when the intelligence of his death arrived, none of the ameers had the hardihood to inform Chungeez Khan of his loss; at length, however, they all assembled, and it was determined that Alugh Jirje, or Georgi, who was one of Chungeez Khan’s companions, and a chief of rank, should tell him while he was performing the duties of bejur,* and accordingly on that occasion, Georgi said to him in Turkish.*
The substance of what Jirje, or Georgi, said to Chungeez Khan, in the Turkish language, is thus translated:—* “Oh, king, the sea is defiled or troubled, and who can purify or compose it? Oh! my king, a great commander has fallen from his throne, and who has power to raise him up and restore him?”—In answer to this Chungeez Khan replied that, “If the sea was troubled, his son Joje was the only person who could still it; and that if a great commander had fallen from his throne, Joje alone could raise him up and re-establish him.” When, however, Alugh Georgi repeated what he had said, with tears flowing from his eyes, Chungeez Khan said, “Why are thy eyes filled with tears, art thou grieved, and what is the cause of thy sorrow? Thou makest me sorrowful with thee. Surely Joje is not dead?” As Chungeez Khan had issued orders that if any one spoke of the death of Joje he should be punished, Georgi replied, “I have no power to disclose the cause of my grief: thou hast said it; thy orders be with thyself, oh, king! thy penetration has disclosed my secret.” It is reported Chungeez Khan then said: “Like the wild ass pursued by hunters and separated from its young, so am I; and like a fool who seeks friendship among his enemies, and abandons his friends, so am I, separated from my brave and worthy children.” The ameers of Chungeez Khan, who were all assembled, as soon as this conversation ended, took each his station, and performed the mourning ceremonies for the death of Joje Khan; six months after receiving this melancholy intelligence, Chungeez himself departed this life.
In the most faithful histories it is related, that Joje, after the conquest of Khorezm, by the orders of his father, diverged to the desert of Kupchak, and that the countries of Khorezm, Kupchak, from the frontier of Kyalik to Sukseen, Jirj, or Juzur, Bulgharia, Alan, Bashkur, Aroos, and Circassia, with all the territories in that quarter covered by the hoofs of the Tartarian horse, were assigned to Joje Khan, and in those countries he fixed his abode, and reigned there in a manner independent.
Joje Khan, as has been related, died before his father: of his descendants thirty-nine reigned as sovereigns of the desert of Kupchak.
First, Batwi Khan (the son of Joje Khan, the son of Chungeez Khan), after the death of his father, assumed the sovereignty of Kupchak by the orders of Chungeez; the countries of Alan, Aroos, Roos, Bulgharia, Circassia, Korum, and Arwak, which were all in the possession of his father Joje, taking advantage of his demise, and that of Chungeez Khan, rebelled; but with the assistance of his uncle, Ooktaie Khan, Batwi reduced them all to obedience. An abstract of these events is as follows:—When Ooktaie Khan ascended the throne of Aligh Yoorut, he was informed that the people of Kupchak and the other dependencies of Batwi Khan had rebelled against him. Ooktaie therefore despatched his son, Kyook Khan, Mango, the son of Tooli Khan, and Boolka, Noori, and Paidar, the sons of Chughtaie Khan, with an immense army to reduce all the countries subject to Joje Khan, and place them under the authority of his son Batwi. After many desperate battles they were all again subdued, and as the city of Mugus* was surrounded by a forest so thick that the wind could scarcely penetrate it, the princes cut it down, and made a road round the city that would admit of four carriages abreast; they then closely besieged the city, and, on taking it, massacred the whole of the inhabitants; the right ears of the slain, amounting to seventy-two thousand, were cut off and sent to Ooktaie Khan. On the arrival of the spring, when the princes had finished their warfare with the people of Roos, Kupchak, and Alan, they proceeded to the conquest of Kulah and Bashkur; the people of these countries, from their vicinity to the cities of Frengistan or Europe, being all Christians. Batwi Khan with the princes and an immense army proceeded on this expedition. The people he was about to attack, however, proud of their institutions, and relying on their strength, as soon as they heard of the movement of Batwi Khan, prepared to receive him; and, it is said, assembled in all near four hundred thousand horse to arrest his progress.
Batwi Khan appointed his brother Shuknak, the son of Joje, to command the advanced guard, consisting of ten thousand horse, and sent him off in front to reconnoitre the number and situation of the enemy: Shuknak returned in seven days, and reported they were twice the number of the Moghool army. When the armies approached near each other, Batwi Khan ordered all the Mussulmans in his army to assemble and repeat their prayers, and he himself ascended a hillock, and remained there without speaking to any one, in deep meditation and prayer, a day and a night.
The battle between the Moghools and Christians was fought the next day. It is said that a great river flowed between the armies, and that the night before, Shuknak, the son of Joje Khan, was despatched with a considerable force to cross it and take a position on the opposite side. Next morning, as soon as it was day, Batwi in person led the first onset, and repeated his charges without intermission; the Christians, however, being brave and numerous, did not give way until the part of the army which had crossed the river attacked them in the rear, and Shuknak with his troops charged to their very tents, the cords of which they cut with their swords; this charge, being unforeseen by the Christians, defeated them, and Batwi Khan had nothing more left to do than to pursue and cut up the fugitives, which he did effectually. These countries, therefore, being subdued, Batwi, by the orders of Ooktaie Khan, marched to the desert of Kupchak, and was again seated on the throne of that country. Batwi, after this expedition, built the city of Seraie. It is said that Batwi was not of any religion, and that except the worship of one God, he followed no persuasion or sect; he was, however, a great friend to the Mussulmans, and he was moreover just and liberal; he died in the year 654 Hejri, or Looe eel Toorki.