It is related, that during the first years of the reign of Aboo Saeed Bahadoor, from his youth, and the ascendancy of Ameer Choban Suldooz, the latter in effect was sultan. In the year 721, Ameer Choban Suldooz married the Princess Saki Beg, the daughter of Ooljaitoo Khan, and the sister of the sultan, and great rejoicing was made on that occasion. In 722 Hejri, Ameer Timoor Tash, the son of Ameer Choban, who was governor of Room, rebelled, and ordered the khotba to be read in his name. Ameer Choban immediately, although it was the depth of winter, marched to reduce him. Timoor Tash, however, not being prepared to oppose his father in arms, advanced to pay his duty to him, and was placed in confinement by him, and sent a prisoner to Sultan Aboo Saeed. The sultan, on his arrival, for the sake of his father, pardoned his offences, and again appointed him to take charge of the government of Room. In the year 723 Hejri, Khwajeh Ali Shah Chulan died at the town of Oojan, and Khwajeh Rokn-ud-din Sain, who was the naib or agent of Ameer Suldooz, was appointed to his office, the vuzarut. In this year Ameer Choban Suldooz gave his daughter, Baghdad Khatoon, a very beautiful woman, in marriage to Ameer Shaikh Hussun, otherwise Shaikh Hussun Eelkani (the son of Ameer Hussain Goorkan), who was the cousin of Sultan Aboo Saeed, and the nephew of Ooljaitoo Sultan.
In the year 725, Ameer Choban Suldooz marched, with a large army, by Georgia to Kupchak, and plundered the country of Sultan Mahummud Ourung; he, however, soon retreated thence.
In this year also, Sultan Aboo Saeed fell desperately in love with Baghdad Khatoon, and his passion became so violent he could take no rest, as it is a rule among the children of Chungeez Khan, that if the khan or sultan falls in love with any married woman, her husband must divorce her, and send her to his harem, Sultan Aboo Saeed sent a private message to Choban Suldooz to inform him of his love, and desire to possess Baghdad Khatoon. Ameer Suldooz was, however, offended at the proposition, and returned an uncivil answer, and the sultan said no more on the subject, however he ever after nourished a great hatred to him. As Ameer Choban Suldooz was aware that distance extinguishes love, he despatched Shaikh Hussun Elkani and his wife to Karabaugh, and compelled Aboo Saeed to accompany him to the Kushlak of Baghdad, where his love for Baghdad Khatoon continually increased. At this period, Rokn-ud-din Sain, the vuzeer, who was entitled Nusrut-ud-din Adil, used every opportunity to impress the sultan with a bad opinion of the conduct and actions of Ameer Suldooz and his family, the sultan’s mind being but too ready to receive and retain such impressions. Dumishk Khwajeh, the son of Ameer Suldooz, however, who was one of the vakeels or ministers of government, and near the person of the sultan, was partially informed of the change in the disposition of the sultan, and the machinations of the vuzeer, and apprized his father of them. Ameer Choban Suldooz, in these circumstances, thought the best counsel was to retire from court to some distant station, and taking Rokn-ud-din Sain with him punish him for his ingratitude at leisure. As soon, therefore, as the spring returned, and Sultan Aboo Saeed moved from Baghdad to Sultania, Ameer Suldooz, leaving his son Dumishk Khwajeh with the sultan, marched to Khorasan, under pretence of making some arrangements there. When he arrived at Khorasan he despatched his eldest son, Ameer Hussun, with a large army to Ghizni, which country he plundered and devastated; but as he was guilty of some improper acts in the tomb of Sultan Mahmood Ghazi, the son of Subuktugeen, he was punished for them, as will be hereafter related. When Ameer Suldooz left Dumishk Khwajeh with the sultan, and departed to Khorasan, the Khwajeh assumed the whole authority of the empire, and left Aboo Saeed nothing but the name of sultan. The sultan, therefore, taking this much to heart, complained in secret, of the Khwajeh’s conduct, to his friends. At this time one of his servants informed him that Dumishk Khwajeh intrigued with one of the widows of Ooljaitoo Sultan, who lived in the castle of Sultania; and the sultan gave orders that he should be informed whenever he visited her. On the night of Wednesday, in the month of Showal 727 Hejri, Dumishk Khwajeh having proceeded to the house of his mistress, the sultan was informed of the circumstance, and immediately ordered he should be put to death; he could, however, find no one bold enough to execute his order. It happened that night, that the heads of some Kurdish robbers were brought in, and by the advice of Ameers Toghan and Tash Timoor, the sultan gave orders that a report should be spread, that one of these heads was that of Ameer Choban Suldooz, and that he and his adherents had been executed in Khorasan, and their heads brought to the presence of the sultan. Ameer Dumishk Khwajeh, on receiving this information, was much distressed, and, accompanied by ten men, let himself down from the walls of the fort, or castle, and, on his arrival at his own house, found it surrounded by armed men; he therefore fled, and Sultan Aboo Saeed despatched Ameer Misr Khwajeh and Ogha Looloo in tukamishi, or pursuit of him; and on their overtaking him, Misr Khwajeh cut off his head. The sultan, after this, despatched secret orders to the ameers of Khorasan, that they should seize and put to death Ameer Choban Suldooz and his adherents; he also despatched similar orders to other parts of his dominions, that none of those connected with the Chobans might escape; he also ordered that the head of Dumishk Khwajeh, should be fixed to the gate of the city of Sultania. When the order of the sultan arrived at Khorasan it was sent to Ameer Choban, and some of the ameers united with him. Hussun, the eldest son of Ameer Choban, also had formed a plan of put<-?>ting to death all the ameers of the sultan in Khorasan and sending their heads to the sultan, and afterwards taking possession of that province and joining the princes of the Chughtayan family, that they might assist him and his father in subduing the territories of Iran, that thus by degrees they might establish themselves as sovereigns in that country. Ameer Choban, however, would give no attention to the projects of his son, being inflated with a high opinion of his power and authority, and in conjunction with other ameers assembled a large force and marched towards Irak. At that time, also, Sultan Aboo Saeed had quitted Sultania, and abode at Kazvin, and Khwajeh Ghiaus-ud-deen Mahummud, the son of Khwajeh Rusheed-ud-deen (to whom the Mutuni Mowakif, the Sharah Shumsia, the Tarikh Gozideh, and the Kusideh of Saliman, are dedicated), was made vuzeer. But to return to our history:—when the orders of the sultan arrived in Khorasan, the ameers, who had no power to carry them into effect, immediately communicated them to Ameer Suldooz, who, when he heard of the death of his son was excessively afflicted, and in revenge put to death the Vuzeer Rokn-ud-deen Sain, and marched with seventy thousand horse towards Irak, as has been before stated. When Ameer Suldooz arrived at Sumnan, he visited the celebrated saint Shaikh Rukn-ud-deen Sumnani, and caused his ameers to take an oath in the saint’s presence that they would not forsake him, and afterwards he requested the shaikh to proceed to the camp of the sultan, and demand the murderers of Dumishk Khwajeh. The shaikh having accorded his request proceeded to the sultan, who received him with every demonstration of respect but declined acceding to his proposition: and after the return of the shaikh, Ameer Choban Suldooz, with great pride, marched towards the camp of Aboo Saeed. When he arrived at the village of Kooha, which was only one day’s march from the sultan’s camp, Ameers Mahummud Khuchuk, Noyaun Awirat, Neikroze, and others, placing the record of their oath to Ameer Choban Suldooz on the niche of oblivion, fled with thirty thousand horse and joined the sultan; and Ameer Choban Suldooz after this, not placing any confidence in the rest of his chiefs, retreated by the Desert towards Khorasan, and most of his troops dispersed. Ameer Choban, in his retreat, did not halt until he arrived at the river of Murghab in Toorkistan, and there repenting of his conduct, he sought refuge with Mullik Ghiaus-ud-deen Koort, who was his particular friend. About the period of the arrival of Suldooz at Herat, the orders of Sultan Aboo Saeed also arrived, directing Mullik Ghiaus-ud-deen to put him to death wherever he might find him, and promising that on the receipt of his head and the seizure of his wealth, he should be appointed Atabek, or Prime Minister of Persia. Mullik Ghiaus-ud-deen Koort, on receiving these orders, forgetting his old friendship, and the recollection of all the patronage and support he had derived from Ameer Suldooz, despatched an executioner to put a period to his existence, and although Ameer Choban requested he might see and speak to him before he died, the ungrateful man refused to permit him. Ameer Choban before his death, preferred three requests to the Mullik by a messenger therefore:—first, that he should cut off his head; second, that he should send his body to Medina, to be interred in a tomb built there for that purpose; third, that he should not murder his son Julad Khan, born of Saki Beg, the sister of Sultan Aboo Saeed, but send him to the camp of the sultan. The Mullik agreed to perform these requests, and the executioner then strangled Ameer Choban Suldooz, and two of his fingers were cut off and sent to the camp of Sultan Aboo Saeed, where they arrived on the month of Mohurrum 728 Hejri, and were hung up on the gate of the bazar by his orders.
In the winter of the same year Mullik Ghiaus-ud-deen Koort proceeded to pay a visit to the sultan, and hearing on the road that Ameer Shaikh Hussun had been compelled to divorce his wife, Baghdad Khatoon, the daughter of Ameer Choban Suldooz; and that she had been received into the harem of the sultan, and had become a great favourite there, the villainous Mullik despatched messengers to Khorasan with orders to put to death Julad Khan, the son of Ameer Choban, and the poor child, who is said to have been unequalled in beauty and sweetness of temper, was barbarously murdered. The Mullik, after this, visited the sultan at Karabaugh, but was coldly received from the influence of Baghdad Khatoon, and, in fact, kept under restraint, until persons sent to Khorasan for the bodies of Ameer Choban Suldooz, and his son Julad Khan, returned thence, when Sultan Aboo Saeed expended forty thousand dinars in causing the bodies to be carried by pilgrims to Mecca, and lastly to Medina, where they were buried.
After the death of Ameer Suldooz, some of his children and relations were put to death, and some escaped to other countries; of the latter was Ameer Timoor Tash, the son of Ameer Suldooz, and governor of Room, who fled to Egypt, where he was ultimately put to death: the circumstance and manner of his fate are related in the Tarikh Mubsoot.
It is said that Ameer Choban Suldooz was a righteous and just man, and that he was a great supporter of the religion of Islam. May God forgive his sins!