Page:The Tarikh-i-Rashidi - Mirza Muhammad Haidar, Dughlát - tr. Edward D. Ross (1895).djvu/34

Rh Museum, has described it in his official catalogue. It may be regarded as the history of that branch of the Moghul Khans who separated themselves, about the year 1321, from the main stem of the Chaghatai, which was then the ruling dynasty in Transoxiana; and it is the only history known to exist of this branch of the Moghuls. The original, or western line—that of Transoxiana—was at that time declining in power, and through internal dissensions and administrative decay, was rapidly approaching a final dissolution. The princes of the branch then thrown off, became masters of Moghulistan (or Jatah, as it was called at that period) and of all Eastern Turkistan, and continued as a ruling dynasty for more than two and a half centuries. The book is divided into two parts, called Daftar, the first of which is entirely historical, while the second contains reminiscences of the author's life and notices of Chaghatai, Uzbeg and other princes, with whom he was acquainted.

The first Part, or history proper, was written in Kashmir in 1544 and 1545, and was completed about February, 1546, or five years after his installation as regent of that country. It includes, however, a later addition, in which 953 of the Hajra (4th March, 1546, to 21st February, 1547) is mentioned as the current year. For the earlier periods it deals with, it is based on the traditions handed down to the author chiefly by his older relatives, combined with the statements of Sharaf-ud-Din,Yazdi in the prolegomena of the Zafar-Náma; and, for the later periods, on his personal recollections. It contains a record of two distinct and parallel dynasties: (1) that of the Khans of Moghulistan, beginning with Tughluk Timur, who reigned from 1347 to 1362, and whose father, Isán Bugha, was the first to separate from the main Chaghatai stem; and (2) of their vassals, the Dughlát Amirs of Eastern Turkistan, one of the earliest of whom, Amir Bulaji, the author's ancestor, had raised Tughluk Timur to the Khanship. In the second period the family of the Khans divided into two branches, one of which, superseding the Amirs of Kashghar (or Eastern Turkistan), continued to rule over Moghulistan proper and Eastern Turkistan, with their capital at Kashghar, while the other became rulers of the provinces eastward of Aksu (known as Uighuristan), and had their seat of government usually at