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0241 Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1
Report of a Mission to Yarkund in 1873 : vol.1 / Page 241 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000196
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( 165 ) .

T.R.   Manstir during this period waged a succession of ghazdt or religious wars against

the Kalmak and Khitay. In one of these, the Khoja Tajûddin of Kfisân or Kûcha was killed. He was a descendant of the Maulana Arshaduddin, who converted Toghlûc Tymûr; and was the pupil of Maulana Ali Ghazzan of Ws= Mashhad. Tajûddin studied for some time under Khoja Nasirûddin Ubedulla, and was for fifty years in the service of Ahmad and Mansur. He traded and farmed largely, and, acquiring much wealth and influence, took a prominent part in the government of the country.

After his campaigns on the Khitâ border, Mansûr warred with the Kazzak and

Uzbak at Aris in Mogholistan, where his best General, Sûfi Mirza Begjik, was killed. After this he retired to Jalish and Turfan, and seldom again took the field. On the death of Said he made an attempt to recover Aksû, but was driven back, and died in 950 H. = 1542 A.D., aged sixty years, having reigned forty-three. He left two sons, Shah Khan and Muhammad Sultan, and a daughter, whom Said took for his son Rashid. During his later years Mansur resigned his government to his eldest son, and retired to private life for devotion to religious exercises. He is described as a pious Musalman, and a good governor, simple in ceremony, and attentive to the wants of his people. Yet as illustrative of the sentiments of morality in his time, it is related of him that he kept as private chaplain a Cari or " chaunter of the Kuran." He was a man with a perfect intonation, clear voice, and unfailing memory, but he was slovenly in dress, filthy in habits, and beastly in practices—qualities that gained him the opprobious nickname of Managasik. The courtiers were scandalized by his shameless depravities, and urged his dismissal on the grounds of his having been taken in an unnatural crime with a cow, but the pious King rejected their petition with the rebuke that he kept the -man to teach him to read the Kuran, not to rape cattle.

Mansûr's brother Said, who took Kashghar from Ababakar, has the following

history :—When fourteen years old, he and his brother, Babajac, accompanied their father to the aid of his brother Mahmûd when he was attacked at Tashkand by Shahibeg. In the fight at Akhsi, this Said was wounded in the hip by an arrow, and fell into the hands of Shekh Bayzid, the governor of the place, who imprisoned him. In the year following, Shahibeg invaded Farghana, killed Bayzid and his brother, Ahmad Tanbal, and all their family, and annexed the country. He liberated Said and took him to Samarcand, and thence with his army in the campaign against Khusro Shah, who had seized Hissar, Kundûz, and Badakhshin. On their return to Samarcand, and the departure of Shahibeg on his expedition against Khiva, Said escaped to Uzkand, and thence joined his uncle, Mahmûd, at Yatakand in Mogholistan. In the factions then dividing the tribes there, Said joined his brother, Khalil, who ruled the Kirghiz. During four years they warred against their elder brother, Manstir, and their uncle, Mahmûd, till, finally, the latter withdrew and returned to Tashkand where he was killed, as related.

On the departure of Mahmûd, Manstir again took the field against Said and

Khalil, and marching from Jalish and Turfan, met and fought them at Jarûn Jalak. Each army put forward a champion for single combat. Said's man, one Shekh Ali, was unhorsed in the first encounter by Cutlugh, the champion of Manstir. On this the Kirghiz rushed forward to rescue their fallen champion, and the Moghol, too,

advancing to support their hero, both sides joined in battle. Khalil and Said, unable to make head or stand against their superior numbers, both fled the field, and Manstir, securing the Kirghiz, carried them away bodily and settled them at Jalish.

The fugitives went to join Mahmûd, but, on arrival at Akhsi, learned of his execution, and were themselves made prisoners. Khalil was killed, and Said was taken before Janibeg, the uncle of Shahibeg, who, having recently fallen from his horse and injured his head and reason, gave him his liberty. He at once set out to join Babur at Kabul by way of Badakhshan, where he rested awhile with Mirza Khan in the Zafar fort. At this time the strong highlands on the east of Badakh-

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