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 332 A HISTORY OF PERSIA. that he especially selected the moment of the Shah's return from an unsuccessful campaign for attempting to set up his own dominion in opposition to that of the king ; for his pretensions were to spiritual authority more than to temporal, and in the East, religious enthusiasts have generally been guided in their appeals to men more by the fancied promptings of some invisible power than by the suggestions of common sense. Agha Khan had for some time dwelt in the region of Mahalat, near Hama- dan ; and, fearful lest the movement of a portion of the Shah's troops which marched to that quarter should be directed against him, he recommended his followers to disperse, and took the opportunity of sending his family to perform the pilgrimage to Kerbela. Being then unincumbered, he crossed by bypaths the country lying between the plain of Hamadan and the remote cities of Yezd and Kerman. At Kerman he produced forged letters by which he was appointed governor of that place : a position which he was soon called upon to maintain by force of arms, for the real governor returned from Ispahan, and hastened to meet the usurper in the field. Numbers of the sect of Ismail had by this time flocked round their leader ; who, nevertheless, declined to abide the issue of a contest with the troops of the Shah, and decamped during the night preced- ing the .day on which the battle was to have been fought. Agha Khan betook himself to the fortress of Lar, and, on being chased thence by the troops sent in pursuit of him, he found a refuge during the heats of the coming summer in the mountains of that district. In the spring of the next year the chief of the Ismailites once more appeared in the field. He had con-