3

MEMOIRS OF TIMUR.

BOOK I. TEZUKĀT.

CHAPTER I.

Be it known to my victorious and fortunate Sons, to my noble and princely Grandsons and others, that,*

Turky.

I have written my Memoirs in the Turky language, in order that each and every one of my posterity, who, by the divine aid, and the protection of Muhammed, (upon whom and upon his descendants be the peace of God) shall ascend my Throne and succeed to my Sovereignty, which I obtained by much labour, toil, marches and wars, (having understood them) may put in practice those rules and regulations, by which their Sovereignty and Dominion may be preserved safe from ruin or decay.

N. B. Here follow Books 2d and 3d, being the Institutes and Designs translated by Major Davy and edited by Professor White, 4to. edition, Oxford, A. D. 1783; and which also appear in the French edition of the Institutes, by Monsieur Langlès, Paris, A. D. 1787. In some of the MSS. that I have examined, the Memoirs precede the Institutes, but in Col. Davy's copy they follow them.

* The following two lines are in the ancient Jagtay Türky, the words of which are not to be found in Meninski's Dictionary. The lines will be found in Appendix No. 2.

MEMOIRS OF TIMUR.

BOOK IV.-MULFUZĀT.

CHAPTER I.

Be it known to my fortunate Children, to my intelligent Ministers, to my faithful and zealous Nobles, that Almighty God, on account of the Twelve following Rules, which I have constantly practised, hath conferred greatness on me, and hath made me the Shepherd of his flock, and hath assisted me by his celestial aid so that I have attained the high pre-eminence of Sovereignty ;

1st. Having taken in hand the Scales of Justice, I have neither increased nor decreased (the portion of any one) but weighed equally to all;

2d. I have administered strict justice to mankind and endeavoured to discriminate between truth and falsehood;

3d. I paid obedience to the orders of God and respected his holy laws, and honoured those whom he had honoured;

4th. I had compassion on mankind and conferred benefits on all, and, by these qualities, I gained the affections of God's creatures, nor did I ever vex a single heart by injustice, I never turned away a supplicant from my court, but whoever took refuge with me I assisted;

5th. I ever gave the affairs of religion precedence over worldly affairs. I first performed my duty towards God and then attended to my worldly concerns;

6th. I always spoke the truth, and ever listened to the truth, and with sincerity performed my religious and secular duties, and avoided the paths of crookedness. For I have heard that, when God created Adam, the Angels said to each other, "a creature has been formed whose posterity will be liars, breakers of their promise, and guilty of wickedness." The Lord said to the Angels, I will send a Sword among them, which shall cut in pieces every perverse or unrighteous person it encounters, as I have heard that the Sword there meant is (the power of) Princes, it is therefore incumbent on every Monarch to speak and listen only to truth;

7th. I have always performed whatever I promised to any person, nor ever deviated from my agreement. I was never guilty of Tyranny nor Injustice, nor ever permitted myself to fall into vice or infamy, nor, on any occasion, did I cut the cord of affection due to my children, grand-children, relations, or connexions;

8th. I considered myself as the Treasurer of the property of God, and never expended any of his sacred property without the sanction of his deputies (the clergy). In collecting the revenues from his servants, I observed lenity and discretion, nor did I ever take the wealth or possessions of any person unjustly, neither did I employ myself in accumulating riches or substance, but ever looked to the welfare and happiness of my soldiers and subjects: thus I did not touch the accumulations of my Father's nobles, nor was I covetous of the property of any person; for it is known to me, by experience, that Amyr Hussyn having cast the eyes of covetousness upon the property of his soldiers and subjects, and seized upon the wealth of his Father's nobles, his prosperity was soon annihilated;

9th. I considered obedience to God as consisting in submission to his prophet, and therefore acted according to the Law of Muhammed, and did nothing contrary to that sacred code: I always considered the Descendants of Muhammed (on whom be the peace of God) and the companions of his Holiness as my friends, and performed to them the duties of affection;

10th. I gave currency to the faith of Islam through all my dominions, and supported religion, by which means I gave stability to my Government ;-for I had heard that Church and State are twins, and that every Sovereignty that is not supported by religion soon loses all authority, and its orders are not obeyed, but that every person, worthy or unworthy, presumes to meddle therewith; 11th. I gave free admission to the Syeds,* to the learned, and to the prelates of religion, and always treated them with great respect, and never turned any of them away from my court, so that they constantly attended my assemblies, and induced the people to pray for my prosperity; I constantly associated with the learned and religious, and heard from them many anecdotes, both of sacred and profane history;

Thus they related to me that the King of Constantinople, once invaded the dominions of the King of Ry, but having heard that his Court was attended by numbers of Syeds, and many learned and devout personages, he refrained from subduing his country, but wrote to the Ministers and Nobles, "I have read in the Heavenly books, that whatever Court is attended by learned, devout, and religious persons, that Government cannot be overturned, and having been

* Descendants of Muhammed.

informed that such is the case of your country, I am convinced it cannot be subdued." He also wrote to the King, "Whereas I have discovered that your disposition resembles that of our former just Monarchs, I have not injured your country, but having withdrawn my army, have ceased from attacking you. Farewell,"

12th. I asked the blessings of the Hermits, of the other inspired and holy persons, and besought their prayers; I also protected the Anchorets and the Dervishes, I never vexed them, but captivated their hearts; I exerted myself in arranging the affairs of the Musselmāns, and avoided killing any of their people; I paid particular respect to the descendants of the Prophet, and was cautious never to degrade or injure any of that noble race; I also shunned the discourse of the wicked and ungodly;

For I had heard that when God elects a person to the government of a country, and places in his hands the reins of authority over mankind, in order that he may rule them with justice, if he conducts himself with equity and propriety, his kingdom endures, but if on the contrary, he is guilty of injustice and tyranny, and commits unlawful actions, the Lord renders him childless, and takes away his Dominion and Sovereignty, to give them to another;

Wherefore in order to preserve my Sovereignty, I took Justice in one hand, and Equity in the other hand, and, by the light of these two lamps, I kept the palace of Royalty illuminated ;

As I had heard that just Kings are the Shadow of God, and that the best King is he who imitates the disposition of the Lord, in forgiving sinners, I followed the examples of those just Kings, and forgave my enemies.

CHAPTER II.

I appointed four righteous Ministers to govern my dominions, the first of these was the praiseworthy Mahmud, commonly called the Meteor of Khorasān, the next was Nasir Addeen; I gave them positive orders that they were never to advise me to do any thing that was unjust, that they themselves should never deviate from the path of rectitude, nor mis-represent evil for good, that they should always tell me the truth, and never deceive me by falsehood, and that they should not pry into the wealth and property of my subjects.

For I had been informed that whenever God Almighty exalts any person to the throne of Sovereignty, he confers on him special dignity and wisdom, by

means of which he renders mankind obedient to him, this virtue is a ray of the Grace of God which shines on the Monarch, and as long as he is grateful for that favour, his fortune and dominion continue to increase.

Thus when I reviewed my army in the plains of Anatolia, and found that it extended fifteen miles in length, I considered that this innumerable host were all obedient to me, and returned thanks to God, for having made so many of his creatures subservient to my will, although but a weak mortal like themselves.

When I mentioned this subject to the learned of my court, they said, the Grace of God has thrown on you a Divine ray, which is called "the Shadow of God," as the Prophet hath said, " a just King is the shadow of God," by means of which shadow a just Monarch keeps mankind in subjection, and from the dread of that shadow, the people are obedient, and his power and authority become current over the empire; wherefore as long I have been seated on the throne of Sovereignty, I have been ever grateful for that favour, and have constantly paid respect to the orders of God, by shewing kindness to his creatures, and have always conducted myself with equity and justice.

In consequence of this determination, when I had reached my twenty-first year, I resigned the guidance of my conscience into the hands of the Pole star of religion, Shaik Zyn Addeen Abu Beker, Tatyabady, upon which occasion he bound round my loins his own shawl-girdle, he then placed his own cap on my head, and put on my finger a ruby ring, on which was engraved, (Rasty va Rūsty) Righteousness and Salvation, and said, " the aurora of your good fortune will shortly dawn, for I have seen by inspiration, that in obedience to the orders of the chief of the descendants of the Prophet (Aly) a man of God will become your tutelar Saint, it is not convenient that you should now see him, but, the time will come, when he shall see you, and you shall see him." Thus when I was seventy years of age, and was returning in A. H. 806, from the conquest of Anatolia, I paid my respects to the Kutb al Aarifyn, (Pole star of Wisdom), Shaikh Sudder Addeen Ardebelly,* and having begged his blessing, requested that he would allow one of his disciples to accompany me, to be my spiritual guide; he replied, " in the Mountain of Salaran, there is a fountain, the water of which is sometimes cold, sometimes warm, go thither, and the first person that shall come there to perform his ablutions, and say his prayers, will be your guide:" in compliance with the commands of the Shaikh, I went up to the fountain, performed my ablutions, and having said my prayers, waited with anxiety to see who should come; to my great surprise, the first person who came to the fountain in the morning, made his ablutions and prayed, was my Head Groom, (Myr Akhūr);

* See Appendix IV.