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0192 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 192 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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Musalmans with the whole of his force, and routed them with immense slaughter. T.B.K. Ali Arslan was killed and beheaded, and the victors, pursuing the vanquished, chased them into Kashghar, under the walls of which they paraded the head of their victim, the renowned hero and favourite champion of the Musaimans, and then cast it to the dogs.

This hero martyr has, consequently, two shrines erected to his memory. One at Ordam Padshah, called also Krim Shahida'n = " Martyrs' Sands," about fifty-six miles east of Yângi Hissar, over his body where he was killed, and the other at Daulat Bâgh, close to Kâshghar city, where his head is supposed to have been buried.

The Khutan and Machin army invested Kâshghar for several days and thoroughly devastated the suburbs. In one of the skirmishes during this time Ala, Nnr Khanim was killed. The account given in the book from which the preceding history is taken runs much to this effect :—Ala Nûr Khanim, called also Bibi Miryam from the circumstances attending the birth of All Arslan, in the anguish of sorrow at the death of her son resolved to avenge his loss, and, accompanied by a body of her maids, rushed into the fray against the infidels. She slew twenty-five of them, and then, being overpowered, took to flight. The ground miraculously opened in her course, and disclosed some caverns, and she and her maids sought shelter in their recesses. Their pursuers, however, presently discovered them in their retreat, and put them all to death.

The shrine of Bibi Miryam, it may be here noted, stands near a deep ravine about ten miles north by east from the city of Kashghar. It has been recently restored by the present ruler, Amir Muhammad Yaknb Khan, who has enclosed its sacred precincts, and built a substantial mosque and commodious college on its grounds, and appointed a suitable establishment of custodians, priests, and teachers for their respective services.

After this disaster Hasan and his brothers, Husen and Yusuf Kadir, performed the funeral ceremonies of the slain with solemnity and magnificence. Camels, horses, oxen, and sheep were slaughtered without stint, and the whole of Kashghar, great and small, rich and poor, were feasted. A fresh army of sixty thousand men was raised, and Hasan again took the field, and, after a succession of victorious engagements, drove the enemy into the hills at Kokyar. From this he returned by way of Yarkand. The city submitted to him without resistance, and the people, coming out with their arms suspended from their necks in token of subjection, presented a rich array of gifts as peace-offering. Hasan halted here some time to settle the district and levy a contribution for his army. He then appointed Abdussamad of Kashghar his Governor over the city, and returned to his capital to enjoy a season of peace and plenty, now ushered in by this successful campaign. The country during this period of rest became so prosperous and productive that one chdrak = twenty pounds weight of corn, did not cost a single 0/ = a penny.

Hasan Bughra Khan had reigned twelve years when Khoja Abdulla from Turkistan and Khoja Ababakar from Tashkand arrived over the Tirik Dawan, as envoys, to seek the aid of Hasan in restoring order in their country. He forthwith assembled his army, committed Kashghar to the charge of Husyûn Fyzulla Khoja and Abiul Kasim, Kashghari, as his Minister, and with his brothers, Hasan and Yusuf Kaffir, and a great host set out for Turkistan. He spent the summer and winter there in subjugating the country, and in the spring celebrated his nuptials with Bibi Chah Miryam, a noble lady and noted beauty of the place, the jayn=niece, of Khoja Ahmad Yasavi, whose tomb there is the most sacred shrine in the country. He then set out on a campaign over the whole country to the westward, and penetrated to Madayn in Persia. From this, after a prolonged stay, he returned by the Culzum Darya or Caspian Sea, and converting the infidels, re-established Islam, city by city and tribe by tribe, up to Kashghar, where he arrived after an absence of several years. Here he found his progress checked, for in his absence the city had passed into the hands of the Khutan infidels, and the people had relapsed into their old idolatry.