CHAPTER III.

In the year 771, A. H. (A. D. 1378), when I had driven the Jetes* out of Turan, and mounted the throne (of Tartary), and had directed the royal proclamation (Khutbeh) to be read from all the pulpits, the Syeds, the learned, the prelates, the rich, and the poor, all raised their hands (to heaven) in prayer for my prosperity; but Khuajē Abyd, who was the most celebrated prelate of that time, forbade them to pray for me, saying, " do not pray for this murderer and blood-thirsty Tūrk, who has put to death an innumerable number of Musselmāns, nor repeat blessings on him." On that very night the Khuaje dreamt that he saw me standing in the presence of his Holiness the Prophet, that he entered, and several times made his obedience to Muhammed, without his salutation being returned, at length he called out, " O Messenger of God, do you permit this wretch Timūr, who has murdered hundreds of thousands of your followers, and who has destroyed the habitations of so many Musselmāns, to stand near you, whilst you do not return the salutation of me who am the zealous supporter of your religion, and the establisher of your law?" his Holiness replied to him in an angry manner, although Timur has shed much of the blood of my followers, as he has been the friend, the supporter, and respecter of my posterity and descendants, why dost thou forbid the people to pray for and bless him?" The Khuajē having awoke, came even during the night to me, and asked pardon: when this intelligence reached the people, they all raised their hands in prayer for my prosperity, and, considering me as supported by the Divine favour, bore witness to my right: in gratitude for this favour, I day by day shewed more respect, attention, and affection to the descendants of Muhammed, and esteemed myself as the elect of God.

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Another circumstance which confirmed me in my opinion, that I had the Divine support, occurred in the year 804, when I invaded the country of Anatolia with four hundred thousand cavalry, and Bayazid had drawn out his army to oppose me; whilst I was reviewing my forces, a party of three hundred of the Arabs of Irac, and Syeds of Kerbela and Nejef, commanded by Syed Muhammed Miftah, came to my assistance, I ordered them to be admitted, considering their coming as an auspicious omen, and a proof of the Divine aid. Syed Muhammed, who was also the standard bearer, advanced and said, " the fourth Khalif (Aly) appeared to me in a dream, and said to me, carry my white standard to the young Tūrk:” having consulted the principal persons of Nejef, they agreed that, *The Translator has sometimes made use of the name Uzbek, by anticipation.

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you the Prince Timur, who have just invaded this country, are the person meant." I returned thanks to God for this special favour, and commanded that the history of the white standard should be recorded in the Royal Journals. Soon after this, Ayke-Timur having come near me, called out, 66 may the victory be propitious;" I took the word Victory as an omen, and gave him charge of the white standard, with orders to go and commence hostilities: on seeing the white standard, he was much affected, and set out to comply with my commands.

Another of the omens which afforded me much pleasure was this, when Tugleck Timur Khān, the descendant of Jengyz Khan, the first time he invaded Maveralnaher, and had crossed the Sihun (Jaxartes), summoned all the chiefs to meet him. Hajy Berlas was afraid, and preferred emigration to remaining, therefore set out for Khorasan. I was also divided in my opinion what I should do, I therefore wrote to my Counsellor (Peer) for his advice, whether I should go and meet Tugleck Timur, or, having collected all my horde and tribe, proceed to Khorasan. He wrote me this answer:

"It was asked of the fourth Khalif Aly, if the heavens were bows, and the "earths the strings of those bows, and calamities were the arrows, and mankind "the butt of those arrows, and the archer should be God, to whom ought man"kind to flee for succour, the Khalif replied, that they should flee to God.' It is "therefore your business to advance towards Tugleck Timur, to embrace him, " and to pluck the bow and arrow from his arms. Farewell." *

From this letter I received much consolation, and I went and met Tugleck Timur on the banks of the Khojend river; he was much rejoiced at my coming; he made me one of his counsellors, employed me and consulted me on all occasions, until he received intelligence that his chiefs had raised the standard of rebellion in the Desht Kipchak,† on this subject he consulted me, whether he should go himself to quell them, or should send another army to do so; I said to him," in your going there is only one danger, but in sending, there are two, the wise man is he who chooses the lesser danger;" hereon he praised me exceedingly again he consulted me respecting the government of Maveralnaher, I said to him, " your government resembles a tent, let the poles thereof be made of the wood of equity, and let the rope pins be firmly fixed in the ground of justice, so that every person, who enters the tent, may pass out in safety."

"Act kindly to the Syeds, the learned, and the prelates of that country, and preserve the people under the shadow of your justice, do good to the good, and

* See first Design, page 15, Davy's Institutes and Sequel.

† An extensive region situated to the north of the Caspian Sea, bounded on the west by the Volga.

use policy with the bad, so that you may restrain the soldiers in the bonds of kindness."

But he disgusted his chiefs by confiscating the property they had collected from the people of Maveralnaher, and compelling them to pay it into his treasury; he consulted me again on this occasion, I told him " that the minds of the Turks were narrow like their eyes, that it was requisite to satiate them in order to gain their attachment, and to tie up their tongues."

As he much approved of my advice, he set out for the Desht Kipchak, in order to quell the rebels, and left me in charge of Maveralnaher: he further wrote an agreement, stating that he had divided the kingdom with me in a brotherly manner, but this was a mere pretence to keep me quiet while he was engaged with the rebels.*

CHAPTER IV.

Another of the auspicious omens predicting my future greatness, was this: in a dream I saw the Prophet Muhammed, " on whom be the Grace of God," who congratulated me and said, " in consequence of the support you have given to my descendants, the Almighty has decreed that seventy-two of your posterity shall sit on the throne of Sovereignty." When I awoke, I wrote all the particulars of this dream to my Peer, he replied by letter, "I congratulate you on this "dream, your having seen the Prophet, (on whom be the grace of God) proves "that you will certainly obtain numerous victories, and that many happy consequences will arise from this dream." As the Emperor Subuktageen, in "consequence of his pity to a doe, (whose fawn he had caught and released) " was honoured by a vision of the Prophet, who said to him, in recompense of "the pity that you this day shewed to the animal, the Almighty will bestow "sovereignty on your posterity for many generations;' how much more so will " he bestow on you, who through compassion to the Syeds and other inhabi"tants of Maveralnaher, have delivered them from the cruel hands and slavery "of the Jetes; doubtless your descendants shall reign for seventy-two gene"rations." To elucidate the circumstance, it becomes requisite to mention, that, when Tugleck Timur Khān invaded Maveralnaher a second time, he sent me a friendly invitation, I therefore went to meet him, but he broke his promise (of confirming me as Governor of the province), and gave the country to his son Alyas Khuajē, and made me his Commander in Chief (Sepah Salar); but when he saw that I was dissatisfied, he produced the agreement engraven

* See first Design, Institutes.

on steel, between my ancestor Kajuly Behader and Kubyl Khān, wherein it was stipulated that the dignity of Khan should for ever continue in the posterity of Kubyl Khān, and that of Sepah Salar with the descendants of Kajuly Behader, and that they should never oppose each other;* when this agreement was read to me, in order to comply with its contents, I accepted the appointment of Commander in Chief; but as Alyas Khuajē had no talents for governing, and permitted his soldiers to extend the hand of rapine, the inhabitants of Maveralnaher came to me, and complained that the Jetes had carried off nearly one thousand of their virgin daughters from Samerkand and its neighbourhood, and that the orders of Alyas Khuaje were not listened to by his followers; again a number of the Syeds of Termuz came and complained to me, that the Turkish soldiers had carried into captivity seventy of their brethren and children, all descendants of the Prophet (on whom be the grace of God): on hearing of this my honour was roused, I pursued the plunderers, defeated them, and recovered the captives; on this account the Jetes bound up the loins of animosity against me, and carried their complaints to Tugleck Timūr Khān, and wrote to him that I had raised the standard of rebellion, in consequence of which he issued an edict for putting me to death, which edict fell into my hands; it was at this time that I had the dream above mentioned.

Another happy omen was this, my Peer wrote to me, he had seen in a vision, that the Almighty had appointed me his treasurer, and that the keys of the treasury would be consigned to me by his Vizier Mustafa; this good news exalted my ideas, and induced me to expect success from fate.

Another time when I was very much annoyed by the oppressions of the Jetes, and knew not what to do, I received the following letter from my Peer.

"The supported of the Lord, may God continue to protect him; I have seen " in a vision, the messenger of the Lord of all worlds, who has promised to make "you his vicegerent, and support you, and therefore be not afraid, nor despond, "for he is with you."

I was much rejoiced by this letter, and became strong of heart, although I was in daily expectation of the arrival of Tugleck Timur's edict to put me to death; and when the edict did arrive, (the Saint) Amyr Kelan, sent me this verse of the traditions of the Prophet," Flight is proper for him who has not the power to oppose." I therefore fled to Khuarizm, with sixty horsemen, and wrote a description of my situation to my Peer, and received the following answer to my letter; "may God protect Abul Munsur Timur; let him lay down these four † See Note to page 9. See Zyn Addeen (ornament of religion), page 7.

*See second Design, Institutes, page 25.

"rules for his conduct, that with the arm of magnanimity he may be successful "and prosperous through life, as is recorded in the traditions.

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"1st. Be determined in whatever you undertake, place your undertakings on faith in God, and do not relax your exertions.

"2nd. Invest yourself with the robe of honour, and permit not fornication or adultery to be committed in your dominion: It is related that a Crane once saw " in her nest, a young Raven associating with her young ones, and for several days and nights she permitted it to remain, at length a number of Cranes col"lected and tore the owner of the nest to pieces with their beaks and claws: the "honour of a man should far exceed that of birds, especially that of Princes, "which should ever protect the respectability and reputation of their subjects.

"3rd. Do not neglect consultation, prudence, and caution, for every dominion " which is void of these is soon overturned.

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"4th. It is a tradition of the illustrious Khalifs, that stability is better than perturbation, therefore endue yourself with bravery and magnanimity ;-grace "be with him who follows the true direction."*

Another presage of my good fortune was this, a celebrated Astrologer waited on me, and delivered a plan of my Horoscope, stating that at the time of my birth, the planets were in so favourable and auspicious conjunction as certainly to predict the stability and duration of my good fortune and Sovereignty; that I should be superior to all the Monarchs of the age; that whoever were my enemies should be subdued, and whoever were my friends should be prosperous; that I should be the protector of religion, the destroyer of idols, the father of my people; that my descendants should reign for many generations, and that they should be prosperous as long as they continued to support the Muhamme dan religion, but if they should deviate therefrom, their dominion would soon be annihilated.

CHAPTER V.

About this time I also had an extraordinary dream, I thought I was seated on the sea-shore, and that I had in my hands a large net, which I dexterously threw, and caught a number of crocodiles and other large fish; this dream I interpreted thus, that the net was my dominion, which shall spread over the face of the globe, and that all mankind will become subject to me.

* Here he relates another instance of his good fortune, in escaping from Aly Beg, which appears in the History. See page 37 of the Institutes, therefore omitted here.

↑ Two other Anecdotes have been passed over, as they will again occur in the History.