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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
CHAP. XVIII. THE CARAUNA ROBBERS
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feature to this day, and it is very probable that they or some part of them are the descendants of the Karáunahs or the Nigudaris, or of both, and that the origination of
the bands so called, from the scum of the Mongol inundation, is thus in degree confirmed. The Hazáras generally are said to speak an old dialect of Persian. But one tribe in Western Afghanistan retains both the name of Mongols and a language of which six-sevenths (judging from a vocabulary published by Major Leech) appear to be Mongol. Leech says, too, that the Hazáras generally are termed 117oghals by the Ghilzais. It is worthy of notice that Abu'l Fázl, who also mentions the Nukdaris among the nomad tribes of Kabul, says the Hazáras were the remains of the Chaghataian army which 1Iangu Kaan sent to the aid of Hulaku, under the command of Nigudar Oghlan. (Not. et Ext. XIV. 284 ; Ilch. I. 284, 309, etc, ; Baber, 134, 136, 140
J. As. sér. IV. torn. iv. 98 ; Ayeen Akbey, I I. 192-193.)
So far, excepting as to the doubtful point of the relation between Karáunahs and Nigudaris, and as to the origin of the former, we have a general accordance with Polo's representations. But it is not very easy to identify with certainty the inroad on India to which he alludes, or the person intended by Nogodar, nephew of Chaghatai. It seems as if two persons of that name had each contributed something to Marco's history.
We find in Hammer and D'Ohsson that one of the causes which led to the war between Barka Khan and Hulaku in 1262 (see above, Prologue, ch. ii.) was the violent end that had befallen three princes of the House of Juji, who had accompanied Hulaku to Persia in command of the contingent of that House. When war actually broke out, the contingent made their escape from Persia. One party gained Kipchak by way of Derbend ; another, in greater force, led by NIGuDAI and Onguja, escaped to Khorasan, pursued by the troops of Hulaku, and thence eastward, where they seized upon Ghazni and other districts bordering on India.
But again : Nigudar Aghul, or Oghlan, son of (the younger) Juji, son of Ciashatai, was the leader of the Chaghataian contingent in Hulaku's expedition, and was still attached to the Mongol-Persian army in 1269, when Borrak Khan, of the House of Chaghatai, was meditating war against his kinsman, Abaka of Persia. Borrak sent to the latter an ambassador, NN ho was the bearer of a secret message to Prince Nigudar, begging him not to serve against the head of his own House. Nigudar, upon this, made a pretext of retiring to his own headquarters in Georgia, hoping to reach Borrak's camp by way of Derbend. He was, however, intercepted, and lost many of his people. With woo horse he took refuge in Georgia, but was refused an asylum, and was eventually captured by Abaka's commander on that frontier. His officers were executed, his troops dispersed among Abaka's army, and his own life spared under surveillance. I find no more about him. In 1278 Hammer speaks of him as dead, and of the Nigudarian bands as having been formed out of his troops. But authority is not given.
The second Nigudar is evidently the one to whom Abu'l Fázl alludes. Khanikoff assumes that the Nigudar who went off towards India about 1260 (he puts the date earlier) was Nigudar, the grandson of Chaghatai, but he takes no notice of the second story just quoted.
In the former story we have bands under Nigudar going off by Ghazni, and conquering country on the Indian frontier. In the latter we have Nigudar, a descendant of Chaghatai, trying to escape from his camp on the frontier of Great Armenia. Supposing the Persian historians to be correct, it looks as if Marco had rolled two stories into one.
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Some other passages may he cited before quitting this part of the subject. A chronicle of Herat, translated by Barbier de Meynard, says, under 1298 : " The King
Fakhruddin (of Herat) had the imprudence to authorise the Amir Nigudar to establish
himself in a quarter of the city, with 300 adventurers from 'Irak. This little troop
made frequent raids in Kuhistan, Sijistan, Farrah, etc., spreading terror. Khoda-
~~ banda, at the request of his brother Ghazan Khan, came from Mazanderan to demand
the immediate surrender of these brigands," etc. And in the account of the
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