vades Kho. Sheibâni he is be Without losing a moment, or giving the enemy time to prepare for meeting him, Ismael Shah Ismael put his army in motion, and advanced through Khorasân as far as Mesh- Shah inhid. The detachments of the Uzbek army all fell back and retired to Herât. Shei- rasán. bâni Khan, who had just returned from an expedition into the country of the Hazâras, retires to on hearing of Shah Ismâel's arrival at Meshhid, perceiving that he was too weak to meet Merv, his enemy in the field, left Jân Vafa Mirza in Herât, and set off with such of his troops as he could collect, to Merv Shahjehân, a station where he could receive reinforcements from his northern dominions; or from which, if necessary, he could retire across the Amu. Jân Vafa was not long able to maintain himself in Herât. He found it necessary, very speedily, to follow Sheibâni Khan. Shah Ismâel himself now advanced towards Merv, and sent on Daneh Muhammed with a large force to clear the way. That officer was met by Jân Vafa Mirza near Takerâbâd of Merv : a desperate action ensued, in which the Persian general fell, but Jân Vafa was defeated. Sheibâni Khan, unable to oppose the Persians in the field, retired into the fort of Merv. He sent messengers in which to call all his generals and chieftans from beyond the Amu, most of them having re- sieged. tired with their troops to their various governments, after the conquest of Khorasân. Many desperate actions took place under the walls of Merv Shahjehân. Shah Ismâel, seeing that the siege was likely to extend to great length, which would have exposed him to an attack from the whole force of Turkistân and Mâweralnaher, pretended to be under the necessity of raising it. He sent to tell Sheibâni Khan that he had been rather more punctual to his engagements than that prince had been; that he had performed the pilgrimage of Meshhid as he had promised, while Sheibâni Khan had failed to keep his appointment: that he was now under the necessity of returning home to his own dominions, but would still be extremely happy to meet him on the road, whenever he set out on his intended pilgrimage to Mekka. He then retired with all his forces from before Merv, and appeared to be measuring back his way to Irâk. The feint succeeded. Sheibâni Khan followed him with twenty-five thousand1 men, but Decisive had scarcely passed a river about ten miles from Merv, when Shah Ismâel, who threw a body of horse into his rear, broke down the bridge, and fell upon him with seventeen thousand cavalry. The regulated valour of the Kezzelbashes, or red-bonnets, the name given to the Persian soldiers, speedily prevailed. Sheibâni Khan was defeated, Sheibáni and his retreat cut off. He was forced to fly, attended by about five hundred men, defeated, chiefly the sons of Sultans, the heads of tribes, and men of rank, into an inclosure which had been erected for accommodating the cattle of travellers, and of the neighbouring peasants. They were closely pursued, and hard pressed. The inclosure had only one issue, which was that attacked by the pursuers. The Khan leaped his horse over the wall of the inclosure, towards the river, but fell, and was soon overlaid, and and slain. smothered by the numbers who followed him. After the battle his dead body was sought for, and was disentangled from the heap of slain by which it was covered. His head was cut off, and presented to Shah Ismâel, who ordered his body to be dismembered, and his limbs to be sent to different kingdoms. The skin of the head was strip 1 The author of the Alim-arâi Abassi, says thirty thousand. battle. Shah Is mâel occupies Khorasan. Subsequent events. Baber marches against Hissår. ped off, stuffed with hay, and sent to Sultan Bayezîd,1 the son of Sultan Muhammed Ghazi, the Turkish Emperor of Constantinople. His skull, set in gold, the king used as a drinking-cup, and was proud of displaying it at great entertainments. An anecdote illustrative of the barbarous manners of the Persians, is recorded by Mirza Sekander. The Prince of Mazenderân, who still held out against Shah Ismâel, had been accustomed often to repeat, that he was wholly in the interests of Sheibâni Khan, and, using an idiomatic expression, that his hand was on the skirts of the Khan's garment; meaning, that he clung to him for assistance and protection. A messenger from Shah Ismâel, advancing into the presence of the prince while sitting in state in his court, addressed him, and said, that he never had been so fortunate as literally to have placed his hand on the hem of Sheibâni Khan's garment, but that now Sheibâni's hand was indeed on his; and, with these words, dashed the rigid hand of Sheibâni Khan on the hem of the prince's robe, and rushing through the midst of the astonished courtiers, mounted and escaped uninjured. About a thousand2 Uzbeks, with a number of women of rank, and children, fell into the hands of the Persians. Shah Ismâel, immediately after the battle, marched to Herât, the gates of which were opened to him. He commanded the divine service in the Mosques to be celebrated according to the Shîa rites, which he had introduced into Persia, but met with great opposition from the principal men of the place. Enraged at this, he put to death the chief preacher of the Great Mosque, the Sheikh-ul-Islam, who was the chief Musulman doctor and judge, with several of the most eminent divines, as a punishment for the obstinacy and contumacy with which they adhered to the old doctrines and ceremonies; and in the end found, that it was a far easier matter to conquer a kingdom, than to change the most insignificant religious opinions or usages of its inhabitants. The transactions of the Uzbeks for some time after the death of Sheibâni Khan, are not very distinctly detailed. Jâni Beg appears to have succeeded to the immediate command of the Uzbek army, and, with him, Shah Ismâel soon after concluded an agreement, by which it was stipulated, that the Uzbeks should all retire beyond the Amu, which was to form the boundary between them and the Persians. Abdalla Khan appears to have held Bokhâra, while Taimur Khan,3 the son of Sheibâni Khan, reigned in Samarkand. The defeat and death of Baber's most inveterate foe, from whom all his misfortunes had originated, and by whom he had been driven from the dominions of his forefathers, now opened to him the fairest hopes of recovering the kingdoms of his father and uncles. Khan Mirza, his cousin, immediately on hearing of the death of Sheibâni Khan, wrote to congratulate him on the event, and invited him into Badakhshan; and 1 Called Bajazet by European writers. 2 In the account of the transactions of Sheibâni Khan, and Shah Ismâel, in Khorasân, and of the subsequent battle, I follow Mirza Sekander as the most intelligent guide. Some circumstances are borrowed from Khâfi Khan, who follows Mirza Haider, the author of the Tarîkh-e-Reshîdi, a contemporary and well-informed historian. Ferishta, whose information is here very defective, gives Sheibâni Khan an army of a hundred thousand men in the battle. 3 See the Alim-arâi Abassi. Khâfi Khan speaks of him as descended of the great Taimur Beg. A. H. 916. 1511. Baber having, without delay, crossed the mountains from Kâbul, united his forces Shawal, with those of the Mirza. He was in hopes that he might have carried the important Jan. A. D. fort of Hissar by a sudden attack, and for that purpose, advanced across the Amu up to the walls of the place. But the Uzbeks had already had leisure to recover from the first effects of the consternation into which they had been thrown by their defeat; and the Governor of Hissâr, aware that it was likely to be one of the first objects of attack, had collected a body of men, and put the town in a posture of defence. Though the loss of the Uzbeks in the battle had been great, their power was by no means broken. There was no force left in Mâweralnaher from which they had anything to apprehend. It is probable that they were speedily joined by numbers of volunteers, and by some wandering tribes1 from the deserts beyond the Sirr. The provinces between that river and the Amu were too rich a prey to be easily abandoned by brave and needy Tartars; But fails so that Baber, after advancing into the vicinity of Hissâr, finding that his strength was terprize. not adequate to the attempt, was compelled to abandon the enterprize, to re-cross the Amu, and retire towards Kundez. in the en måel sends About this time Shah Ismâel, who appears to have been disposed to cultivate the Shah Isfriendship of Baber, sent back, with an honourable retinue, that prince's sister, Khan- back Bazâdeh Begum, who had fallen into his hands along with the other prisoners, after the ber's sister. defeat of Sheibâni Khan at Merv. The Begum had been left behind in Samarkand, when Baber, about ten years before, had been forced to abandon the town, after defending it for five months. She had been conveyed into the Haram2 of Sheibâni Khan, who had by her one son, to whom he gave the kingdom of Badakhshân, but who died young, two years after this time. Sheibâni Khan afterwards gave her in marriage to a man of no family, and much below her station. She was now sent back by Shah Ismâel with a conciliatory message, and Baber, who had been preparing to send an embassy of congratulation to that prince, embraced this opportunity of dispatching Khan Mirza with rich presents, to thank him for this proof of his friendship, to congratulate him on his victory, and, at the same time, to dispose him to lend him some support in recovering his former dominions.3 4 again at Baber soon after made a second march towards Hissâr, but, on hearing that the Baber Uzbeks had collected a large army, he prudently retreated, his force not being ade- tacks Hisquate to meet them in the field, or to attempt the siege of Hissâr. For some time he sâr. withdrew with his force into the rugged and mountainous parts of the surrounding country, whence, having watched the favourable moment of attack, he at length issued forth, defeated a body of the enemy with great slaughter, and released Sultan Mirza, and Mehdi Mirza Sultan, his maternal cousins," who had fallen into their hands. 1 The Khanship of Kipchâk had terminated, the country falling under the power of Russia in 1506, only four years before, and several of the tribes had probably shifted their ground in consequence of the change. 2 He is not said by Baber to have married her; but Khâfi Khan affirms, on the authority of the Tarikh-e-Reshîdi, that he did, and that he afterwards divorced her. 3 Ferishta, Khâfi Khan, and Baber himself, in his Memoirs. * Ferishta says towards Khozar, but that he retired on finding the Uzbeks strongly posted at Nakhsheb or Karshi. 5 Tarîkh-e-Khâfi Khan; but the transactions of this period are very uncertain; and, from Baber's Memoirs, it is rather probable that he defeated Mehdi Sultan. Baber re The embassy of Khan Mirza to Shah Ismael had been so successful, that he now returned accompanied by a detachment of Persian auxiliaries, sent by the King to the from Shah assistance of Baber, under the command of Ahmed Sultan Sûfi, a relation of the Per ceives assistance Ismâel. sian monarch, of Ali Khan Istiljo, and of Shahrokh Sultan, his sealbearer, an Afshâr,1 by whose co-operation Baber defeated and slew Jemshîd Sultan, and Mahmûd Sultan, who had the chief authority in the country of Hissâr, and gained possession of Hissâr as well as of Kundez, Khutlân, and Khozâr; and so rapidly did his situation improve, that, if we may believe Ferishta, whose authority is supported by that of Khozar, &c. Khafi Khan, he now saw himself at the head of an army of sixty thousand horse. Reduces Bokhara 2 Encouraged by this prosperous state of his affairs, he resolved to attempt the conquest of Bokhara, which, since the death of Sheibâni Khan, had been held by Abdalla and Samar- Khan and his Uzbeks. On his approach, they abandoned the country and retired to kand. Turkistân. Baber advanced up the river from Bokhâra, and was soon in possession Middle of of Samarkand, as well as of the districts dependent on it; he entered it about the beRajeb, A.H. 917. ginning of October 1511, as a conqueror, and the Khutbeh3 or prayer for the sovereign was read, and the coin struck in his name. Bokhara in. vaded by 1511, to the beginning of June 1512. Having thus, for the third time, taken possession of Samarkand, he committed the government of Kâbul to Nâsir Mirza, and dismissed the generals of Shah Ismâel, after having amply rewarded them for their services. Baber had now spent eight months of the succeeding winter and spring in all the the Uzbeks, enjoyments of Samarkand, when he was alarmed by the unwelcome news that an army A.H. 917- of Uzbeks, more in number, says the historian, than ants or locusts, had collected, 18, from October and were on their march for Bokhâra, under the command of Muhammed Taimur Sultan, the son of Sheibâni Khan, who, as has been already mentioned, after his father's death, had been raised by the Uzbeks to the rank of Sultan of Samarkand. Baber, without delay, and with very inferior force, sought them out, and falling in with them near Bokhâra, engaged them in a bloody battle, in which, from the inferiority of his numbers, he met with a complete defeat, and was obliged to fly back to Samarfeated. kand. He soon discovered, however, that he had no chance of being able to defend 918. April himself in that capital. He therefore withdrew to Hissar, whither he was followed by the Uzbek chiefs and closely blockaded. In this exigency he retired into the town and Abandons suburbs, blocked up the entrance of the streets, and threw up strong defences. He at Samarkand. the same time dispatched messengers to Balkh, to Biram Khan Karamanlu, who was Is besieged in Hissar. then in that neighbourhood with an army of Persians. Biram Khan instantly sent detachment to his relief, and at their approach the Uzbeks raised the siege and reA. D. 1512. Siege raised. treated. Baber de Sefer A.H. or May 1512. 1 The Afshârs are a Tûrki tribe celebrated in the History of Persia. 2 Turkistan, in its extensive sense, is applied to the whole country inhabited by the Tûrki tribes. It is, in a more limited sense, applied to the countries north of the Sirr below Tâshkend, where there is also a town of the name of Turkistan. In the details of the events of this period, the author of the Alimarâi Abâssi is more consistent than Ferishta or Khafi Khan. 3 See Ferishta and Khâfi Khan, the Indian authorities. Mirza Sekander, the Persian authority, says, that the Khutbeh was read in the name of Shah Ismâel; and some circumstances render this not impro bable, but it is difficult to disentangle the truths of history from the maze of Persian and Indian flattery. 4 Khâfi Khan. wards Bok. Kârshi. Shah Ismael, on hearing of these events, being probably apprehensive of a new Uz- Baber joined by Nijim bek invasion, sent Nijim Sani Isfahâni, one of his principal officers, with a large force, Sani; adfor the protection of Khorasân. This general, without orders from his sovereign, was vances towrought upon to march to the assistance of Baber; with whom having formed a junc- hâra. tion, he enabled him to reduce first Khozar and next Kârshi, which last place was carried by storm, and Sheikhem Mirza Uzbek, with fifteen thousand men, including Uzbeks and inhabitants, put to the sword. The circumstances of this massacre dis- Massacre of gusted Baber, who found that he was condemned to play a subordinate part in the A. D. 1513, army that was professedly acting under his authority. He had ardently desired to or beginning of save the inhabitants of the place, who were Jaghatâi Tûrks of his own race, and ur- 1514. gently besought Amîr Nijim to comply with his entreaties; but the unrelenting Persian was deaf to his wishes. Moulâņa Binâi the poet, one of the most eminent men of his time, who happened to be in the town, was slain during the confusion and tumult, with many Syeds and holy men; "And from this time," says Mirza Sekander, “Amîr Nijim prospered in none of his undertakings." tle. After these successes, the army advanced to subdue the other countries still occupied Siege of by the Uzbeks, and laid siege to Ghajdewân, which lies not far west of Bokhâra, on the Ghajdewân. borders of the desert. This fort was bravely defended, for four months, by Muhammed Taimur Sultan and Abusaîd Sultan, who had thrown themselves into it. The Uzbeks well saw that Baber's farther progress would be fatal to their hopes of retaining possession of Mâweralnaher, and their other rich conquests. The whole Princes and Chieftains in their alliance were therefore summoned, collected their forces, formed a junction, and marched from Bokhâra, under the command of Abdalla Khan and Jâni Beg Sultan, against the invaders. Muhammed Taimur Sultan having issued from Ghajdewân, joined them in the field. The battle, which was fought on Sunday the 22d of Octo- Great batber 1514,1 was long and desperate; but it was perfectly decisive. The Uzbeks gained 3 Ramzân. a great victory. Biram Khan, who was the ablest general of the Kezzelbashes, being wounded with an arrow and unhorsed, his fall occasioned the route of the army. The Uzbeks by a resolute charge broke their centre. The Persian Chiefs, disgusted with the haughty deportment and harsh inflexibility of Amîr Nijim, are said not to have afforded him proper support. He fell into the hands of the Uzbeks, who put him to death. Many of the Persian officers, flying from the field of battle, escaped across the Defeat of Amu by the passage of Kirki, and returned into Khorasan. Shah Ismael, who was much dissatisfied with their conduct, commanded some of them to be seized and put to death. Baber is represented as having had little share in the action, and he was probably not much consulted by the haughty Persian general. He saw himself once again compelled to retire to Hissâr-Shadman as a fugitive, and with scarce a hope left of recovering his hereditary dominions. Baber. the Moghuls But his misfortunes did not terminate here. Some Moghul tribes had long pos- Revolt of sessed considerable power in the country about Hissâr, and they had joined his party, in Hissar. and supported him during the former siege. Whether Baber had given them any cause of disgust, or whether the ruin of his fortunes alone had inspired their leaders with am No year is mentioned, but the date, Sunday the 3d of Ramzân, can only correspond with the year 920. |