founded an independent principality in Khwārazm ;1 Ilbars, son of a chief named Bereghe, being the first Khan of the new line. 1 Khwārazm had never properly belonged to Chaghatay's territories in Transoxiana, and accordingly it is a common mint name on coinage of the Golden Horde (Cat. Orient. Coins Brit. Mus. vii. p. 26). CHAPTER XXVII THE HOUSE OF ASTRAKHAN AMONG the Mongol chiefs who struggled for mastery in Eastern Russia at the epoch of Timur's intervention 1 was a descendant of Chingiz, named Kutluk, who rose to fame by defeating Tīmūr's great rival, Tokhtamish Khān, near Kiev in 1399.2 His offspring vegetated in obscurity for nearly two centuries in the Khanate of Astrakhan, on the lower reaches of the Volga, and were then driven eastwards by the growing power of the Russian princes. Thus, towards the close of the sixteenth century, the head of this ancient line, Yar Mahammad Khan, sought refuge in Transoxiana, and was received with honour by the Shaybānides, whose pride in their descent from Timur was flattered by the exile's recognition of their claims to kinship. Iskandar Khan gave his daughter, the sister of 'Abdullah, greatest of the Shaybanide line, in marriage to the Astrakhan chief's son, Jāni Khān. The new-comer soon showed that he possessed the warrior's instincts, and took a prominent part in his brother-in-law 'Abdullah's campaigns. And so it came to pass that when the last of the Shaybanides, 'Abd ul 1 Vide ante, p. 169. 2 His genealogy is very doubtful; but, according to the best authorities, his ancestor was Jūji Khān, one of the mighty conqueror's sons, who had predeceased him (note at p. 304 of Vambéry's History of Bokhara). Cf. Howorth's Mongols, part ii. p. 744. He Mu'min, was slain, the nobles of Transoxiana offered the crown to Jāni Khān. He, being well stricken in years, declined it in favour of his son Din Mahammad, who united the blood of Chingiz and of the fallen dynasty. He did not long survive to enjoy his fortune; perishing in battle with the Persians, who attempted to drive the Uzbegs from Khorāsān. His successor, A.H. 1007 (1598) was his brother Baki Mohammad, while Vāli Mohammad, another of old Jāni's sons, took possession of Balkh and the country west of the Oxus. A third brother was murdered in A.H. 1011 (1602) by the Kara Turkomans who dwelt at Kunduz, and from them Bāki Mahammad exacted a terrible vengeance. Kunduz was taken by storm, and the entire garrison was put to the sword. This punishment brought Shah 'Abbas of Persia into the field, determined to guard his north-eastern frontier from foes who threatened the existence of his authority. met with a crushing defeat near Balkh, and escaped with the greatest difficulty from capture. The remainder of Bāki Mohammad's reign was disturbed only by those insurrections, fomented by kinsmen, from which few Eastern princes were free. He died in A.H. 1014 (1605), and was succeeded by his brother Vāli Mohammad, the erstwhile lord of Balkh. Vāli Mohammad's rule was brief and inglorious. He wallowed in debauchery, and surrendered all power to an unscrupulous vezir, whose fiendish cruelties aroused fierce resentment, and led to his master's defeat and death at the hands of a kinsman, Imām Kulī Khān (1611). The new ruler was of sterner and purer mould. He courted the society of the learned and pious, and laboured to secure his country's prosperity. And so, under his wise and just régime, Bokhārā regained a share of her ancient glory. She grew rapidly in wealth, and again became a beacon-light in the darkness of Central Asia. At length, after a reign of thirty-eight |