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Djagfar Tarihi Contents · Djagfar Tarihi Preface · Chapters 1-5 · Chapters 6-10 · Chapters 11-15 · Chapters 16-20 · Chapters 21-25 and Ghazi-Baradj · Appendix |
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Bakhshi Iman
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Translator's Notes |
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The offered copy of the printed edition has not been properly proofread, and may contain typos and misspellings. Page numbers, where shown, indicate pages in the book publication. The “mouse over“ explanations basically follow the definitions found in the Annals and represent the views of its writers, which may be different from the known or accepted conditions of the present time. They are the best guess and some of them may be incorrect because of incorrect interpretation of the text by the translator. The translator of the Annals to Russian left a multitude of the Türkisms in his translation, and they are preserved in the English translation, with the “mouse over“ explanations where available. The dates in the chapter headings are added during translation and are imprecise indicators of the period covered. |
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GHAZI-BARADJ TARIHI |
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70 Chapter 11. About Horys-yuly and about robberies on that road (1110 - 1117 AD) And after the Boryn-Inesh, the Horys-yuly stops were in the Saryk-Kun, where the fairs were held and fine sheep and sheep furs were sold, Sygyr at the ferry across the Shir, Chyrshy and Balyn on the river Saz-Idel. After Balyn, were already stationed Anchian patrols from the former Kara-Bulgarian city of Hursa . The station Balyn was built by the Karadjar djura and he named it in the memory of his birthplace... And in significance the Horys-yuly was the third Bulgarian road after the Nukrat and Bukhara roads, therefore the Bulgarian Kans reacted quickly and in with full power to the violations of its safety... The caravan-sarais in the Bolgar, Nur-Suvar and Kermek belonged to the state, in the Arbuga, Soyam-Ak and Rabat belonged to Arbuga, in the Sharyk, Burtas, Razi-Sub, Khorysdan or Kubar, Burtas-Simbir, Yozek, Yyshna, Lubat and Yauchy belonged to the Mardan-Burtas, and were served by our Bulgars. But the stations Saryk-Kun, Sygyr, Chyrshy and Balyn were maintained by the Burtases who were paying for it a tenth part of their income to the Bellakian treasury. At the same time the Shirian Burtases knew perfectly their relation with the Mardanian Bulgars of the Burtas extraction, and also were getting along quite nicely with their Balynian and Rus relatives, the Murdasian Ulchians and the Anchians... That part of the Horys-yuly was considered the most dangerous and vulnerable for the attacks by the Turks and Balyns, however few of them dared for the open robbery. The worst robberies were during the time of the Boryn sugyshy, in the 1110 - 1111... In the 1107 Sharykhan, the son of Kur-Batyr, was slow with an attack on the Balyn and he was declared to be the reason for the failure of the Balynian campaign and a rebel... Kur-Batyr headed for Baluk the Kumanian mercenary army, Ashraf in the Saksin, and then was the katavyl (head of the garrison) of the Mardanian city Sharyk. Here in 1041 was born his son Sharykhan who, per one tale, received the name of the city, and per another, the name of the Kan Sharaf. He inherited a tall stature, fearlessness and the extraordinary power of his father... In the 1040, when a new crowd of the Turkmen came to the Kan, he ordered them, together with Rahman, the brother of Gali Kurmysh, and with Kur-Batyr, to subordinate the Burdjan. Within one year they, without special difficulties, subordinated the Djurash, Saklan, Kashek and Tamiya-Tarkhan, kicking the Rumian viceroys out from the Tamiya-Tarkhan. The Urus Bek Ar-Aslap recognized these areas as Bulgarian, but after his death in the 1054 his son Bat-Aslap, together with the Rumians attacked the Tamiya-Tarkhan and kicked Rahman, who was not expecting an attack.out from the city. The angry Kan transferred Rahman from the Khin-Kala to be a guard's chief in Yauchy, and his descendants received this nickname. Enbraved by the defeat by the Burdjan Tarkhan, the Turkmens suddenly raised a mutiny and attacked Khin-Kala. For some months ours were besieged in it, lost Kur-Batyr, and only the son of Gilas, Balus, managed to defeat them. The Turkmens fled and hid in the Urus city Buri-Aslap occupied by the Balynians. Balus wanted to erase this fortress from the face of the earth, but the brother of Bat-Aslap Syp-Bulat softened his heart with a payment of a huge tribute, combined with the news about the flight of the Turkmen to Djalda, and the promise to finish them off in case they return. In the 1060 the Turkmens came back, but were defeated by Syp-Bulat and in the majority returned to the Bulgarian service in the Saksin. However soon it turned out that Syp-Bulat secretly hired a part of the Turkmen for the service, and for it Balus and the young Sharykhan ruined his district. But in the same year the Kumans themselves decided to occupy the former Turkmenian area and, installing over themselves as a Khan the former slave of Sharykhan, Asan, left the Saksin. Sharykhan had to leave with them, for otherwise the Kumans threatened him with a decimation of his relatives. But soon Sharykhan fell a prisoner to the Anchians, was ransomed from them by Akhad and again began to serve the State. The disfavor of Adam forced him to become a türk again, but not for long. In the 1107 the Anchians, Balynians led by Áàò-Balyk and Ayubai, the son of Asan, defeated Bunek, to whom for a moment joined Sharykhan, and the Khan fled to the Shir. The Uruses pursued him and in the 1109, near Sygyr, took away the last camels, arbas and the yurts with families. Only Sharykhan with his troops barely had time to be hide at the station Sygyr. The Balynians suggested to take menzel by an attack, but the Anchians, who treated Horys-yuly carefully, refused and by that rescued the Khan. After the departure of the Uruses Sharykhan came with his troops and with the message that
Balyns are ready for robberies, to Avar, the son of Rahman, who
then was in Yauchy. Indignant of the behavior of the
Balyns, Avar Yauchy at his own risk accepted Sharykhan into the service. The
Bek did not lose. In the 1110
the son of Syp-Bulat, Bulymer, with his
Balynians and the Turkmens and Ayubai
shamelessly attacked the Yauchy after the refusal of Avar to turn over Sharykhan.
The ours were warned about the attack by Sarychin, one of the sons of Sharykhan,
who was forced to subordinate to Ayubai, and they preventively strengthened the
station and placed archers there. When the Turkmens and Kumans went in the
attack, covering their way with corpses of the people and the horses, the
Mardanian cavalry attacked the enemy from two sides of the ”Nose” and showered them with a rain of arrows. The
Balynians found themselves in the center of this
hell and did not know how to escape from it. At last, the Kumans and Turkmens,
overcoming the horror for the sake of the salvation of their lives, rushed
toward the rider archers. As the enemy came nearer, the archers gave way to the the placed behind them
Burtasian and Arbuganian
djuras, and they stopped them
with a powerful spear counterattack. And when our knights pulled out cavalry
sabers and axes, and the infidels turned into a chaotic panicky flight. The
Balynians fled even earlier, and from that time Bulymer all his life was afraid
to fight with the Bulgars... Sharykhan with his troops threw a hot pursuit and covered the space from the Boryn-Inesh to the Shir with enemy’s corpses. In the Yauchy battle our 6 thousand troops laid down 10 thousand enemies, losing 50 infantrymen and 450 horsemen. For his eager service Adam forgave the Khan, and gave him for lifelong possession a tax from one aul in the Baytüba ulus of the Tiganak province. As the old Sharykhan called himself ”Kur’s son”, that aul also began to be called Kurnali, still during his lifetime. His son Sarychin with people lagged behind Ayubai in hope for a quiet life on the Shir. But the next year humiliated Bulymer forced the son of Myshdauly to attack the Uchel and to lay at it on the slippery slopes of the Bogyltau almost all 7-thousand Galidjian army, and he himself together with Ayubai burned the Sygyr and defeated Sarychin. The Khan retreated to Yal-Inesh, the right tributary of the Shir running into it up the river, but Bulymer and Ayubai with the Balynians, Turkmens and Kumans went there too. When they fell on Sarychin, his brother Atrak separated from Ayubai and fell upon infidels. In the end they were defeated, but they hired into the service to the State and due to this preserved a quarter of their people. The others, mostly the old men and children, perished in the field behind the Yal-Inesh, which after that began to be called Khelek-kyry (“Disastrous“). However this war did not calm down, for Bulymer refused to indemnify the State from his attacks on Horys-yuly. In the 1113 both sons of Sharykhan revenged Ayubai with an attack on his settlements along the Kichi-Shir, but the infidel Khan fled to Bulymer and escaped under his protection. In the same year Bulymer captured in the Rus the Bashtu throne and for it, under a contract with the Anchian merchants, indemnified the State. But in the 1116 the young Balynian Beks burned the stations Balyn, Chyrshy and Sygyr, and Ayubai together with Bunek took the Khin and drove to Rus a multitude of captured Bulgarian Turkmen and Badjinaks. They were resettled near the Baryns, who expressed to Bulymer their discontent with his robberies on the roads. The Balynian Bek made excuses by that the young Beks made those evil deeds without his knowledge, and the Türkic Khans do not submit to him at all. Actually he did not go for a campaign only from the fear of the Bulgars. But stealthily the noxious Balynian, nicknamed by ours Karak, supported the heists. Right after capture by Ayubai of the Khin, he built on the Kichi-Shir, halfway from Khursa to Kharka, the fortress Chally-Kala to support the communications with the Khin and Islamic countries bypassing the Bulgar. It caused a big worry for the Kan, and the response was given immediately. In the 1117 a detachment from Bellakê, led by Avar, demolished Chally-Kala down to the base. The Anchians there surrendered without a fight and were let go. And the taken in the fortress Balyns were forced to build a fortress in the Kashan province, and it also was called Chally. In memory of it Avar took a nickname Chally-bey. In the same year the horde of Ayubai was finished also, and the Anchian Turkmens, Badjanaks and Kumans from Khin fled in a panic to Rus. Adam pronounced himself the Kan of the Desht-i-Kypchak and re-settled the sons of Sharykhan to the Khin, but in the 1120 Atrak with a part of his people suddenly left to the Gurgjans . Then Emir Kolyn came to power and immediately demanded from Bulymer a return of the Saksin Turkmen and Badjinaks, but the Balynian refused the request of our ambassadors. When the Hins learned about it, they rose and fortified, together with a part of the Baryns, in their city Baryndiu. And the detachment of Avar on the stand-by duty in the menzel Balyn occupied with the help of the Anchians the Khursa and threatened Bulymer with a raid to Bashtu together with the Anchian Bek and Syp-Bulat. The envoy of Avar passed to Bulymer-Karak the derisive words of the Bek: ”If you confess before the Kan of Bulgar, I will sponsor that he presented to you your gold helmet which you lost during the flight from Boryn-Inesh , and the oar which your son Djurgi lost during a hasty sail from the Bolgar”. Knowing that all the Anchians of the Rus sympathize with the Bulgars and are ready for an opportunity to finish with Balynians together with them, Bulymer surrendered to Chally-bey all Saksins and the Baryns who joined them, and also paid the threefold price for the damage to the Horys-yuly and renewed the interrupted payment of the Djirian tribute. After that a half of his own Turkmen, Badjinaks and Kumans also fled from the Rus to the Djalda. So ended this biggest robbery on the Horys-yuly, and so Bulymer was punished for it... Chapter 12. About the death of Kan Almysh Djafar and reign of his sons (925-943AD) Larceny, however, was also happening on the other roads, but especially
frequently on the Artan-yuly or Gerebe-yul, from the Bulgar to Artan through
Djir and Galidj... In 925 AD
Ugyr Lachyni himself went for the
robbery, and took
Djir with a sudden attack. This robbery was so scandalous that Almysh
personally, despite of a winter cold, went to the
Djir to restore an order there. With the approach of the
Kan,
Ugyr fled, leaving
a strong force in the city. The
governor of
Djir, Salman, a son of Karadjar, atoning
for his fault of carelessness or, better, trustfulness, did not burden the Djafar
djuras of, and recovered
Djir himself. The remains of the garrison escaped from the fortress to the mountain located near the city, and decided to fight. However we did not trouble ourselves with a senseless assault and only surrounded the mountain. The next day they quietly rose to the top and found there the bodies of the frozen Balyns and Galidjians... On the return way through a dense forest, a huge bear suddenly barged at the Kan, and inflicted to Djafar deep wounds before the guards killed it. Despite the efforts of tabib, Almysh severely bled and died. He was buried in Bulgar in the balik Gülistan, which he himself named in the memory of his favorite daughter... The ulans raised to the throne Gazan, who was also called Hasan and Kazan (925-930). The reign of this Kan was, as asserted Mohammed-Gali in his ”Hon Kitaby”, ”a real disaster for the country”. Yakub called Gazan holy, though, but more likely that was out of pity for him... First of all, Gazan began distributing the lands of Serbiy’s and Ar’s Kara-Chirmyshes into a hereditary possession to his djuras. These igenchies began to be called kurmyshes, and their feudatories, in the memory of Gazan, began to be called kazanchies or ulans. When the demands of the ulans grew, the Kan began to distribute to them the Kara-Chirmysh and Chirmysh auls in the Echke Bulgar or Bulyar Yorty, which population still remained heathen (non-Moslem - Translator's Note). And he did it with a blessing of Seid Ahmed Bakir (son of Ahmed ibn Fadlan? - Translator's Note), who became a first adviser and friend of Gazan. Yakub-kazy asserted that Ahmed pedigree was from the house of Barmaki, and that in the 737 AD the Burdjans accepted Islam from the hands of Hammad Barmaki, who was heading a Sultan embassy to the Khazar Khakan (Bardjil - Translator's Note). A son of Hammad was Yakhiay, his sons were Djafar and Fadlan. Djafar was a Visier of the Sultan Harun ar-Rashid (763-809; the dates are conflicting - Translator's Note), but he was slandered by envious people and executed. After his death, his brother Fadlan became an instructor and tutor of the Djafar's offsprings, and thus the father of Seid Bakir received his name. And the son of Djafar was Hammad, his son was Rashid, his son was Abbas, the father of Fadlan and grandfather of seid Ahmed... With their cruelty, Gazan and Bakir strongly agitated people. Many igenchies then fled to Bellak. Kan wanted to have them returned, but Balus firmly stated a determination to follow the law against extradition of the Bellakians to anybody, and Gazan pulled back. True, at first he tried to displace the Emir of with the help of the Mardanian biys harmed by the immigrants, but Balus called Badjanaks to his aid, and eventually quenched indignation with a transfer to the biys of a part of the subash tax from the newcomer igenchies. Some biys, however, fled to Gazan, and the Kan satisfied the petitioners with a transfer to Nur-Suvar from Mardan of the Simbirsk district. Balus, in his turn, had to swallow that... The discontent of the remaining in the Echke Bulgar igenchies grew into a mutiny by Byrak and his son Bel-Subash or Bul. Being a katavyl of the Shepshe, Byrak could not tolerate the persecutions of his former Chirmyshes and together with his son revolted in the summer of the 925 AD. Their request was a return to the laws of Almysh and a removal of Bakir. Byrak himself fortified in Shepshe, and Bel in the Bulyar menzel whose defender he was. However the Nur-Suvar Ulugbek Askal and the son of Djulut Tatra-Ahmed remained loyal to Gazan. The last was married to the daughter of tebir Abdallah, but could not hold back from the loyal pressure of the Tamtai biys to whom the Kan allowed collection from the run-away igenchis the Kara-Chirmysh tax. Djakyn, also the son-in-law of the tebir, avoided the temptation to join Byrak completely by an accident: the fleet of Khum which came from Djir managed to occupy, luckily, the founded by him and subjected to him Tukhchi. It was rumored that the Kan charged the salchibashy to finish off in any case with the dangerous pretender to the throne, but Khum spared Djakyn as the relative of Abdallah. The matter was that the Djirian biy was full of gratitude to the tebir who saved him, after the raid of Ugyr to Djir, from the anger of Almysh... Squeezed from two sides by the Nur-Suvarian kazanchis and Tamtain biys, the insurgents surrendered without a fight, not counting a small skirmish at Bulyar. The initiator of this clash was Bel-Subash. His mother was the daughter of Bat-Ugyr Khadicha, from whom he inherited the bogatyr power of Mumin. Bat-Ugyr was not tall, but wide in the shoulders and steel bodied, and precisely the same was Bul. But from the good-natured and constrained Mumin, Bel Subash differed by the unbelievable and almost unstoppable obstinacy and impatience. His father dreamed that he engaged in the trade or craft, but Bul certainly did not have the patience to be engaged in this most glorious but, at the same time, formidable occupation, and he preferred the service. The inclination to the service was also influenced by his mother, who loved military games and was fearlessly jumping into the bloody duels during the military gatherings. But the rumor about her heavy spear quickly spread all over the country, and those willing to compete with her force and military art were few. It was rumored that Mumin dreamed all his life of a son, but Allah did not grant one to him, and his dreams came true in his daughter Khadicha, and made her in character similar to men. Byrak won her heart only by overcoming her in a fight... Bel-Subash refused to surrender to Askal and demanded that his surrender was
accepted by Tatra-Mohammed. Unfortunately, Askal refused him even in such a
minor matter and, and then Bul alone broke through the lines of the Nur-Suvars
to the Shepshe, where he surrendered to Tatra. Kan would have liked to finish off the obstinate biy, but he and his father were saved by the Tatra-Mohammed’s intercession. Nevertheless the biys, and their people were punished by a prescription to the construction of the Bulyar. In the same year they built the citadel, but Gazan ordered them to build a new bulwark and to build up the space between it and the citadel... The “punishment“ also reached Michael. Seeing in each plot the intrigues of Yalkau, the Kan sent him as an ambassador to the Bagdad to the Emir of all Moslems and suggested to make a hadj. Tebir Abdaldah reckoned for the better to leave together with Michael... The 930 AD, as writes Mohammed-Gali, was a famine year, and by the winter the position of the people became completely intolerable. The tax collectors of the Kan ransacked everywhere and took away the last supplies from the people. The Chirmyshes were completely exhausted on the never-ending construction of the Bulyar, and even the always restrained Byrak reached the last degree of despair and exclaimed: “Oh, Tangra! If you will punish the Kan-torturer, you will show me that the Islamic faith is true, and I shall accept it!” Someone snitched about it, and the biy together with his son, afraid of the execution, fled to the Mountain Side. Here they heard a news about the rising against the Kan of Khadash or Khaddad, the son of Mardan, and immediately supported him by the annihilation of the bilemchis in the district... Mardan was the son of Djilki and a Murdasian, and the mother of Khaddad was a Burtasian Bika Leklek, therefore he enjoyed the love and trust of our Burtasian Bulgars, and also of the Ulchian Murdases, called Batyshes. And this word came from the Sabanian word meaning “west“, for after the flight from Bulyar the Murdases resettled west of the Sabans... Khaddad was very proud, and when after the death of Mardan the Bellakian biys asked him to head them, he refused and said: ”If I ever rise to a throne, that would only be the Kan’s throne”. In the autumn of the 930 AD, when the indignation of the people with the reign of Gazan reached a limit, he reckoned it as an opportunity to capture the throne, and set out from his station Kubar or Khorysdan to Bolgar. However he could not cross Idel at the Arbuga because of the actions of the Khum’s fleet, and retreated to the Burtas. In the winter Gazan in turn moved against him, but Khaddad with his nearest djuras went to Batyshes. Those, impressed with the magnificence of the clothes and the weapons of the Emir and his soldiers, elected Khaddad the Bek. In the memory of the flight Khaddad called himself Kachkyn, and his clan began to be called Kachkyn or Khaddad. His capital, built by the sample of the Burtas cities, he called by the name of his last Bulgarian haven, the menzel Khorysdan. And Khaddad Kachkym himself, and his descendants were dangerous to the rulers of the Bulgar and the Rus as the princes of the house of Dulo and, consequently, the pretenders for both thrones, therefore both these and those did not spare any efforts for a complete annihilation of this Bulgarian dynasty. The inaccessibility of the Batyshes was saving the house of Kachkyn for a long time. However in the 964 AD the Kan took away Barys from them, and in 1088 Kan’s Batyshes also took away from Batysh the Kisan area. At last, in 1112 Bulymer-Karak took Khorysdan by the storm in retaliation for the shelter given by the Kachkyns to the Kumans of Sharykhan, and left to the last descendant of Mardan, to Khaddad-Shamgun only a small part of the Kortdjak. Even earlier, in the 1088, Akhad Mosha erected in this district, with a sanction of Batysh-Shamgun, the fortress Moskha... the Then the son of Khaddad-Shamgun, Kuchak, decided to flee to Bulgar... and also gained a nickname Kachkyn. Kuchak had sons Yakham and Aslan from a Saklanian Bika, and the daughter Banat from a Batyshian girl. The Balynian Bek Khan-Türyay married her and had from her son Kinzyaslap. Yakham remained in the service in the Balyn, and Aslan rode off to Bulgar to his uncle, the Saklanian biy Batyru. Here he organized the a business engaging in mining and processong of stone. Aslan chiseled the stone, like the wood, cutting the inscriptions, patterns, plants, animals and people, produced balbals, and they were like alive. When from the wounds, received in the Bolgar during the war of 1164, died the senior son of the Bek Khan-Türyay Kinzyaslap, Khan-Türyay begged Aslan to come and decorate with carved stone the memorial temple of Kinzyaslap near Balyn. Aslan agreed unwillingly, and only because Kinzyaslap was his nephew... Then he went also to the Bulymer to decorate the main city temple with a stone carving. And his son Jaham, called so in honor of his uncle Jaham, decorated a temple in the Balynian small town Djurgi and in... And his son Abraham, a member of an order “El-Khum“, who was giving big sums for the support of this brotherhood, was killed by ulans near the Bulyar church “Nishan“... Afraid of a desecration of the tomb of his father, As, the son of Abraham, allowed me to transfer his remains to Bulymer, from which Aslan once left to the Bulgar... And the descendants of the two more sons of Khaddad Shamgun, Islam-Batysh and
Baytugan lived in the Bulgar. They moved to Bulgar, not tolerating humiliation, and there engaged in trade in the northern lands of the
State. In the beginning
Batysh traded east from Biysu, on the river Shegor. And that river in the beginning was
called Ursu. But when he was going there, the other merchants, Shimalchies or Chulmans,
began to grin jeeringly to express their doubt in the success of his enterprise. Then
offended Batysh made a bet with them, and in rebuke pledged to bring to Ursu not only
himself, but also a live cow. And in the
Hons’ language he called the cow “shegor”. Islam
generally liked to include in his speech the
Hons’ words, purposely demonstrating his
erudition, which endeared mullahs for his distinguishing himself from the
commoners who were drilling in the medresé the already unclear to the people
Hons’ words. And this custom of the Burdjan mullahs sanctioned seid Bakir, who had the conceit of the Persian grandees for all his life. Kan Yalkau tried to stop this, and has moved from the Bolgar all “Burdjanian” speaking mullahs, but they moved over to the Nur-Suvarand continued to teach in the old fashion. And between the people the expression “ Burdjan tele” began to mean a distorted speech and therefore the Bulyarians called “ Burdjans“ the Tamtaian or Bashkortian Bulgars who were speaking with the Badjanak accent... But, due to Islam, one Hons’ word, “shegor“, survived in the North, for he did take the live cow to the Ursu river, and from that time it began to be called Shegor-su... And his son Gusman traded beyond Biysu and therefore received a nickname Shegor, but later for him it became too constricting there, and he, right after the annexation of the Tubdjak to the State, went further away. Then, in his first trip, Shegor reached the river Idjim (or Ishim) and called his son by its name. And this river Oymekian received the name of the well-known Seberian or Modjarian Khakan Idjim, the father of Bashkort by whose name the Sebers began to be called Bashkorts. On this river was a favorite encampment of the Oymekian khans, and the legend goes also of Idjim himself, the Kyzyl Yar. The location here is really very picturesque, I saw it with my own eyes when I went to Bug in 1232. And I passed then through Dim, Agidel, which I crossed at the mouth of the Sterlé, Miyas, lake Chubar-kül, fortress Chilyabé, where the iron was mined and where was collected all mined in Urals that was sent to Bandja and Bulyar, through the river Tub which was also called Sob, Sobol and Tubyl... In the second trip Gusman even reached the Chulym-su or Chulymash, passing after
the Ishim the Artysh by the Sürhot crossing, Oym-su or Yam, by which name began
to be called the northern Kyrgyzes, the
Baygul above the mouth of the Chulym. We
began to call all this way as the Chulym or Chulmysh-yuly, and also the Hon-yuly
and Khot-yuly. Idjim in honor of it called his son Chulmysh... And there the merchant found out that from the Chulym by the
Baygul-su the Chulmyshes reach to the Seberian people
Bayguls, and he went there. On
the way named the rivers and marked them on the birch bark. After the mouth of the Chulym-su Gusman passed
the mouth of a small river which he called Katy. He called the following small
river by the name of his uncle Bajtugan, the following by the name of the
Tamtaian small river Dim, the following Bag for near it he saw a garden in a dream, the following he called Akhan... Soon after that they met with Baytugan and the Ulugbek of the Bulgarian province Baygul, the Tarkhan Bulüm. Bulüm told him that he already agreed with the Ulugbek Kurgan of the Bulgarian province Tubdjak about the common border of both provinces. It passed from the river Baytugan to the place on the Tubyl between the mouth of the Ishim and the river Tamyan-su, and further it went to the upper flow of the river Asad, called so in memory of the merchant Asad who died here during the reign of Yalkau. And the descendants of Asad, who even had accompanied Michael on his trips to the East, owned the mining and transportation of the most of the metals and jewels prodiced in Urals. The Asads owned houses in Bulyar, Bolgar and Nur-Suvar, but their main house was menzel Sterlé at the mouth of this river. From here went the roads in all directions... And the border between the Bulgarian provinces of Ur and Baygul went by the Sobol or Baygul, and then, not reaching the mouth of the Tubyl, also went to the upper flow of the Asad. The eastern border of the Baygul encircled the lower reaches of the river Eni-su and the encampments of the peoples Toyma and Düdi, from here went to the river to which Taz-Umar, the son of Baytugan, gave the moniker Taz, and in which mouth he founded the fortress Menkhaz, from its upper flow it wnt to the lower reaches of the Katy-su, from them to the Baygul-su... The place of the meeting was very convenient, and Baytugan instructed to erect a fortress here. As to the meeting place came 50 people of Baytugan and as many of Gusman, it was decided to be called Sürhot (“Hundred Huns”)... And all the road from the Bolgar to Chulym-su takes about three months, but it, though we name it jokingly “Eber-Djeber“, is not so bad, as may seem, for the Oymekian Kyrgyzes, probably, are the most hospitable people in the world, and the stays in their encampments are quite pleasant. And all way, from the Bolgar to Chulym-su, from the Chulym-su to Sürhot and from
the Sürhot to the Bolgar is called a “Far road“.. If they wanted to drive from
Sürhot to Bolgar, they would set off from that fortress by Baygul-su
to the mouth of the river Honta. The way from it was protected by
Sebers-Honchis, and therefore it was so called
- Honta. From Honta they went
to the menzel Bulym located at the confluence of rivers Bulym and Taud, from there
to the menzel Ladj-su at the mouth of river Ladj-Uba. On that river once
got lost a merchant Ladj-bay, a father of a trader Asad, and he almost went
by it to the river Kuk-Suzbay, instead of going by the river Suzbay. And both
rivers received the names of Kush father, a first
biy of Honchies, who brought the Hon’s areas
Bershud and Ur under
control of the Bulgarian
Kan Djilki. The
Hon’s guides misunderstood Ladj and did not take him to the correct Suzbay. In memory of that incident the Honchis
biy Mal named the river after Ladj. And
from the menzel Ladj they went to the menzel Suzbay on the river Suzbay, from it to the
menzel Tura on the river Tura, from it to the menzel Tagyl on the river Tagyl, founded by Mal's
son biy Tagay. From Tagyl they went to Chilbya-su where was menzel Kungur,
which in the
Hons’ language meant ”Lodging Court”. And from
there they finally went to Bolgar by Chulman and
Agidel... From Sürhot they also went to the Mankhaz, and from there to the river Eni-su where live peoples Düdi and Toyma. And the biys of the Düdi and Toyma Kasan and Kulyan visited Gabdulla Chelbir and even fought against Syp-Bulat. They told that behind their land there is a huge forest territory Dingez. It received this name because behind it there is a boundless sea on which banks live the kin tribesmen of the Hons, the Imens. The Biys said that for them to go to this sea is closer than to the Bolgar, but that way is incredibly difficult and to go that way risk only the few and seldom. Besides that, their people do not aspire to go there because Imens after the departure of the Hons were enslaved by the severe people Menkul and therefore are in the most pettiest condition. This tribe earlier worshipped a kind multi-armed deity “Menkul“, and therefore was pious and received its name. But then they accepted Christianity and became spiteful. And they also said that it was a big luck that they submit to the Bulgar or, in their language, Var, for the Menkuls are afraid of the Bulgars and consequently do not cross the Dingez forest... And when I read and heard all this, alongside with the stories about the fights for the throne, I was always amazed by how a small skirmish in Echke-Bulgar has reflected on the condition of all of the our enormous State from the Kumyk to the Düdi. And in the winter of the 930 AD the destiny of the Kaganate was decided in a miniscule collision of a handful of the subashes and kazanchis... in the district of Ulem where came Gazan from the Burtas to punish Byrak and his son. The seizures and violence of the Khan’s ulans agitated all against them without any exceptions. The last straw was the permission by the Kan to the majority of his ulans to ravage the rebellious district. It was heedless and caused a general indignation. Learning that Gazan with a few djuras settled down in an aul nearby of the insurgents’ camp, Bul left his sanctuary and attacked the Kan at night. Visiting that The insurgents were extraordinary loyal to their leader because he declared them to be subashes. They ruthlessly hacked down the ulans, taken by surprise, and decapitated Gazan himself before Bel could stop them. From that time this aul, and then also the city began to be called Shongyt... Receiving news about it, Michael, who was already in the Bandja, went to the Bolgar and was immediately raised to the throne. Abdallah took the post of the Vizier, and suggested to the Kan to return to the legislation of Almysh and to avoid collisions with the Bulgars-igenchies. Yalkau took this advice, but also preferred to not quarrel with the kazanchis. Under his order all ingichis of the Inner Bulgaria were proclaimed the subashes, from whom some had to pay taxes to the state, and others for the support of the 20 thousand djuras of the three Bulyar provinces. With that, the occupied by the Serbiy and Arian heathen ingichis in the Nur-Suvarian and Bulgarian lands on the Mountain Side were transferred to the kazanchis in a hereditary possession. Only some parts of the Mountain Bulgaria, seized by the Bulgarian ingichis, were proclaimed the subashes’ and Chirmysh’s areas. To the indignant kazanchis of the Echke Bulgar the Kan announced that in case of their resistance to the reform he would leave them one to one with ingichis, and they had to subordinate. Yalkau forgave Bul and appointed him a katavyl of the Bulyar fortress, which he built together with his father, as Byrak soon died after accepting Islam and a name Amir. Out of respect for the father Bel-Subash also accepted Islam and a name Nuretdin. He quickly finished the task and in the old age mislead his children with the story about the origin of the name “Bulyar“ from his name... So wrote Mohammed-Gali from the words of the Bek Gazan, a descendant of Bul... Abdallah, pleased with the reforms, devoted to the
Kan his
dastan “Kisekbash“
which began to be also called ”Kisekbash Kitaby”. And Bakir, as wrote the tebir,
treated Michael with undisguised animosity and consequently from everywhere to
the seid flowed kazanchis with complaints. In spite of the fact that the
Kan
ordered all Bulgars-alpars (knights) to cut off their hairbraides in punishment
for the death of Gazan and severely suppressed the Serbiyan and
Arian insurgents
who joined Bel and pronounced as guilty of Hasan’s death, nevertheless Ahmed ibn
Fadlan declared him the ”Khan of the pagans” and at a secret assembly called the
kazanchis to install as the head of the state a more worthy person. Rumors went
that he would not mind to sit on the throne his own son Nasyr or himself, and
even ordered to mint coins with the name of his clan Barmak. The son of Askal,
Kermek, informed on it to Michael, and that immediately came to the
Nur-Suvar
together with the troops of the
Bek Amir. Running into on the bridge with one of
the kazanchis, the son of Djulut, Ahmed, who did not want to yield the way,
Bel-Subash ttrew him in to the moat and instilled a horror in the hearts of all
grandees. The ulan bacame lame after that incident and became to be called Aksak-Ahmed.
Michael entered the mosque “Nur“ mounted on his horse. The seid exclaimed that
the
Kan should immediately leave the mosque and when he
refused, struck his horse with a whip. Bul, with the Bulyar’s
djuras who were hating the kazanchis,
immediately tied the seid and, under an order of Yalkau, threw him in zindan, in
a horse harness, in punishment for the insult of the horse. There the ill-fated
Bakir was contemptuously fed with hay, and he died soon. The
Kan exiled to the
Razi-Suba a part of the Nur-Suvarian merchants who supported the seid, and the
Mardanians began to call mockingly this city a Suvar...
Internal affairs did not allow Michael to be attentive to external affairs, and (Khazar Khakan) Modjar managed to install Mal, a son of Almysh, as a Bek of Kara-Bulgar instead of Ryshtau, who was loyal to Bulgaria. However, after that a son of Abdallah Mamli visited Khorysdan, and swayed Mal to the side of the Kan. Threatening to surround Khazaria on two sides, the old Abdallah extracted from (Khazar Khakan) Modjar a consent to pay tribute to the Bulgar, and to accept his son Mamli as an ambassador of the Kan. This disturbed the Khorasan emirs, who were aspiring to bring the Khazaria into their hands. To annoy the Samanids, the Baltavar demanded from them a termination of the collection of custom duties from the Bulgarian merchants, and when the request was refused, ordered to collect the same from the Khwarezmians... In 943 AD Michael sent the Djirian Ulugbek Khum with a fleet against the Gurgjans , and in this campaign we ravaged the Itil and Alaberde. But the Kan did not wait long enough for the return of the fleet, falling a gull to his love for the feasts. Mamli, who has continued the ”Khazar Tarihi” of his father Abdallah, noted that Yalkau participated in all falk games and recreations. In November he was coming to see the plucking of the geese. In December he with the guys stormed the ice ”Maiden city” in which on the defense were forty girls led by their “Khanness“, and even fought in the duels. In the nauruz he celebrated kargatuy, in the April sabantuy, after the sowing chillek. In djien he jumped into the water and played with girls as a teenager. In the August yangyr botkasy he lead the sacrifice of a white bull, was the first to eat the white fish and again finished in the poured water with the girls. In the autumn after the reaping of the crop, were paid the main taxes, the Kan organized the kyzlar echkene near the Bolgar in honor of the tributes brought him by the organizers of the weddings. And in 943 AD, slightly drunk on such a kyzlar echkene, Yalkau decided to participate in a race. In a full gallop his horse stumbled, and the Kan fell and smashed to death. Why it happened were different opinions. Some said it was because the Kan rode a white sacrificial horse which he did not sacrifice in djien because of the pity to it. The others said it was because Michael ordered to torture to death the seid Bakir in a horse harness... Chapter 13. Reign of Kan Mohammed (943-976) After the death of Baltavar Yalkau Michael, who also liked to call himself Arslan, his son Mohammed was raised to the throne. The new Kan hated the ruling affairs, and preferred various joys, hunting, harem pleasures, and feasts. He turned djiens into pleasure trips, during which he was taking to bed most beautiful women and girls. Because the Bakir's son Nasyr, who became a Seid and Vizier, opposed displays of the Kan’s lust in the Muslim settlements, Mohammed preferred visits to the heathen settlements. Kazanchis encouraged a self-gratification of the Kan, and very soon constitutes his entire surrounding. In gratitude for their support, Mohammed removed their taxes, and re-assigned them to Subashes and Ars. But the treasury was not replenishing, for its means were devoured by the Kan’s initiatives and his surrounding, inexhaustible in invention of new amusements, and a whole army of officials. The state affairs quickly declined, for the Kan did not engage in them at all, and Nasyr, who received the reins of the government, was only anxious about supporting his allies and the Kan’s court. Insatiable officials spread excesses all over the country, and there was nobody to resist their extortions going beyond already high taxes and tributes, for honest managers fled anywhere they could to, and the others also began ravaging. Meanwhile, soon after Khum campaign, Yusuf with a help of the Mal's Kara-Bulgar army seized the Khazar throne, and Khakan Alan with his Moslem son Daud fled to Bulgar. With a Kan's sanction, they selected Bandja (“Murom Fortress“ in Russian archeological lingo, on Samara Bend - Translator's Note) for residence, there lived many Khazar refugees and even was a Khazar balik. And there also were baliks Kura, Burtas, Arbuga, Badjanak, Samar, Yar, Saban, Khut... and the towers that adjoined them had their names. And it was a huge city where already during Baluk’s time were up to 80 thousands inhabitants. And Hadji-Omar in his book ”Bulgar tarihi” wrote that Bandja, along with Bolgar and Bulyar, belonged to the three most famous cities in the Bulgarian state (Àê Bulgar Yorty)... And he (Hadji-Omar - Translator's Note) added that in the Bandja dominates the Bulgarian dialect with a strong admixture of the Turkmen (Oguz - Translator's Note) words, typical for the Badjinaks and Khazars. And Allah knows, that I did everything to save the inhabitants of that city. A most part of those saved now lives safely in Kinel (near modern Samara - Translator's Note), in the cities of the Yana Samar (modern Samara - Translator's Note) and Kamysh (modern Kamyshin - Translator's Note), and are tirelessly finding any opportunity to express to me their gratitude... Now, there are people who blame me for cowardice, for a dislike of motherland, for cruelty, and they assert that all my acts
were accomplished to save my own life, or to grab power. But I
shall answer these accusations in the other, in the everlasting world, at the
court of the Allmighty; for in fact only I of all the Bulgarian rulers went by
the Hon yuly to the encampments of Batu and Ugyatai to stop the war that was pernicious for the
Menkhols and for the our
State. Yes, the termination of the
war ended up costing life for 400 thousand innocent Bulyars and for 100
thousand Mardans, but they were lost by a fault of the people who desired full
destruction of the both states in a senseless war with each other. Yes, I transferred to our Menkhol ally Saksin, completely devastated by the war, and Tubdjak or Seber, but in return the Great Kan transferred to our State Kortdjak with Kan, Bulymer, Djune-Kala, Balyn and Djir, and also Shud with its lakes, Djuketun, and the roads, due to which we became owners of the best half of Balyn and eastern provinces of the Galidj... In the Almanian campaign with Baydar and Urda (apparently Mongol generals in the Hungarian campaign - Translator's Note) through Bailak, Almania, and Maruba to the Modjar, at my own risk, I saved from the anger of these khans several Kyrgyzes, by changing their dresses to the clothing of the fallen soldiers. In the campaign, being up in front almost all the time, in skirmishes with adversaries, I tried not to have hand-to hand-to hand combats and pursuit, limiting ourselves only to barraging the enemy that was advancing toward me, and ceased that immediately if they retreated. I warned inhabitants of the Bailak's capital Misha-Koryk, through one of the captives, about tomorrow's attack, and allowed them to leave the city at night, before approach of Baydar and Urda Menkhols. It was not my fault that the khans still found out and mowed down 35 thousand fugitives who recklessly stayed too long near Misha-Koryk, and the same night the city burned down from a fire left by someone... I also fairly warned the inhabitants of Almanian city Ber-Aslap about our compelled attack to get the needed supplies for the later campaign. The majority of inhabitants went to the citadel, and my soldiers took everything without a much bloodletting, with the loss of only 11 people, and only in two or three places they fired at the resisting guards with 10 sheredjirs and accidentally ignited their rabat... In fight with Misha-Koryk Malik at a small town Iglan I was in the second line of my detachment when Menkhols fled, and left my 5 thousand Bulgars and 6 thousand Kara-Bulgars to face 50 thousand infidel Frants, Almans, Bailaks, and Marubays. 1,500 infidels, almost exclusively Almans and Frants, had arms of eastern Maliks, 5 thousand Beks, 10 thousand ulans, and the others were djuras. When my archers found out that at usual shooting distance arrows do not injure the enemy, I ordered ulans to retreat behind our camp, which was protected by several lines of wagons, and after only one successful volley by archers at close range, I ordered into a spear strike my line of medium-armed Bashkorts, Baytübas, Kara-Bulgars. The strike slowed the infidels, but in the following after that hand-to hand combat we began a step-by-step retreat. I was in the thick of the fight, and Ablas-Khin with Naryk at the last moment snached me, already wounded, out from under the swords of seven Bailak knights, and brought me to the camp. Seeing that containing infidels with the middle line would not be possible, I withdrew it behind the camp, and sent fresh ulans and Turkmen and Kyrgyzes to both sides of Menkhols coming to our help. Clumsily, in the very heavy armor, the infidels stumbled at our wagons, and we began to shoot them easily at close range by common bows from the second and third lines of the wagons, and the ”iron archers” prevented any attempts of the enemy to bypass the camp. When the corpses of the enemies piled above the wagons, I ordered ulans to strike with spears, and this strike of the gazis, at last, overturned the infidels. I observed with delight how, from the impact of the attached to the horses heavy Bulgarian lances, their horses overrun infidels. I also heard shouts of the enemies, split in two by the bakhadir axes... My people took in that fight, where no prisoners were taken from both sides, 820 Khan’s armors, 3 thousand Bek’s armors, and 6 thousand ulan armors, not even counting djur armors. Only when infidels fled, Baydar with Urda returned to the battlefield to rob and finish the fleeting enemies... When Menkhols in need of supplies stopped near one of Maruba cities, as always, I remained separate from them at a decent distance from the city, and saved my whole army from destruction. In a night sortie, Marubays and Almans finished off with 10 thousand Menkhols and Baydar, Urda with 5 thousand of escaped Menkhols was shivering from fear for his mistake, and I stripped them of their armor and put them in the center of my army for his own safety. I moved Turkmen and Kyrgyzes to join my bakhadirs. When two Maruba sardars, Yusuf and Yakub, the murderers of Bajdar, thought of pursuing us, they fell into my ambush near the city taken by me without a fight... and parted with their heads, together with 12 thousand of their soldiers. After that, gazis had only to show the heads of infidel sardars to the inhabitants of the Maruba cities, and without many words they would drive to us all supplies necessary for our advance. Only on the right bank of Sula 7 thousand Almans waited for us in ambush, but I had a premonition about that, and ordered Ablas-Khin to organize a false crossing, and crossed with my whole army at a different place. Ablas-Khin and 200 of his Hins perished, but he knew that that may happen, and went himself for it. I revenged his death, taking by surprise and annihilating all those Almans. Into the Batu headquarter at the lake Balatun all my soldiers drove with spears drawn, each with an impaled head of an infidel... I returned to Bulgar with half of my soldiers, and Batu returned with a tenth of his troops... And how could it be a craving for power if in 1242 I voluntary
turned over the throne to my son (Khisam, 1242-1262 -
Translator's Note), and went to build Sarai (palace,
royal residence - Translator's Note) for the Kypchak
Khan
Batu? I was appointed an ambassador of the
Great Kan in Kypchak, and did
everything so that that area would became in due course a part of the
State, like
the Khazaria. Still at the time of my return from the
Alman campaign, under my suggestion, in Kypchak
was initiated a launch of Cossack armies, composed of
Anchians
and Kara-Bulgars, and it was me who gave them their name, for they refused to
take the name “Tatars“, which the
Menkhols liked for their mercenaries. In the
future they had become our base. I resettled in the Djalda the Turkmen and Kyrgyzes who surrendered to me at Bashtu and went with me for the Alman campaign, and created from them and from the Djalda Bulgars, who left the Rum service, a Korym army, also loyal to me. I was resettling our people in the Saksinian cities, and in every possible way obstructed a resettlement there of the Khwarezmians, so that that part of the Kypchak would also remain ours. In all important posts within the Kypchak, I tried to install our people, including Saksins and Tubdjaks... In 1240 I saved Bolgar from a destruction by the Menkhols, who came to my aid, and pardoned the rebels. Why all this is slighted by my accusers? And only those who do not want to see all that can not see it... The Alan's family in Bandja was in complete safety, which can’t be said about those who were remaining in Khazaria. The Cumans of Yusuf were ransacking across Khazaria, and were killing on the spot any all possible pretender to the (Khazarian) Khakan throne. Then, among the others, was killed in his (i.e. to the Khazarian Khakan) subject city the Moslem Mukhtasar, a son of Modjar and a blood brother (a sworn brother; Blutsbruder, hermano carnal, fratello di sangue, frère de sang etc., all these terms ascend to the brotherhood rutual ingrained in the Türkic history and literature, an oath of brotherhood between two individuals that make them allied bothers - in contrast with first brothers who may be bitter enemies - the oath ritual includes drinking a mix of their own blood and exchange of names. Unlike the regular Türkic names, which are temporary and change in time and status, the blood brotherhood names remain permanent names - Translator's Note) of Alan. This evil deed raised indignation of the Khazarian Burtases and Burdjans. Then the Samanids, afraid that Khazaria would be joined to Bulgar, installed as Khakan their protégé Ugez-Bek, or Uzbek, a son of Modjar. A mother of Uzbek was a daughter of the Turkmen Khan Kuruk, who served for the Samanids. A son of this Kuruk, Gali, having received an order from the Khurasan to install Uzbek in the Itil (Khazar capital), first of all lured Alpamysh, a loyal servant of the Bulgar state, from the banks of the river Djam or Umbet. Alpamysh gave in to the Gali persuasions to serve for a time for the Samanids, for because of increase in the number of Turkmens, his possession could not support all of them any more. With half of his people and with his senior son Yunus Bahta he went to Khoresm, leaving with his son Michael another half of the people. Once in the Khurasan, Gali deceitfully seized Alpamysh and did not free from him of the chains till his very death. And he ordered Yunus, together with Michael, to fight with Bulgar. And in the Bulgar Yunus and Michael accepted Islam. It was soon after the enthronement of Yalkau near the the river Vakhta, as the Kan ordered to call the river Shepshe because of the abundance of wild fruit trees there. Therefore, Yunus adopted a nickname Bakhta. Being a zealous Moslem, in response to the Gali offer Yunus tried to hit him with a club, but the Khan's servants stymied him. Gali did not dare to kill Yunus, for the Samanid Emir decided to save him his life to counteract the excessive power of Gali. But in exchange for his life and the life of his father, both Yunus and Michael were forced to agree to participate in a Khazaria campaign under a command of Kubar, a son of Gali. In 944 AD they seized Itil and installed Uzbek as a (Khazarian) Khakan, and Kubar became his Bek. Yusuf with Mal fled to the Kara-Bulgar, but the sly Kubar decided to finish with them with the help of Ugyr Lachyni. His ambassadors relayed to Ugyr, that the Khakan would not counteract a seizure of the Kara-Bulgar by Ugyr, if the Urus Ulubiy decides to do it. And the Kara-Bulgar then had many cities: Khorysdan, Khursa, Seber, Kharka, Saltay, Chally, and others, and Ugyr was quite delighted with an opportunity to seize a rich territory. To provoke a war with Khorysdan, he demanded payments of a tribute from Mal. Mal agreed and gave the required. Then Ugyr again demanded from him a tribute, this time for his wife Uldjai. Mal delivered that also. But Ugyr with the Balynian army of Shamlyns came to the Khorysdan in a third time, and demanded a tribute, this rime for his son Barys, whom he installed in the Galidj. This time Mal refused. Started a war, in which Ugyr was taken a captive. A Mal’s wife, who was earlier a wife of Ugyr, and who fled from him because of Uldjai intrigues, ordered to tear the Ulubuy into pieces, and hang them up on a tree. The widowed Uldjai went to the Khorysdan with a new Balynian army of Galidjians, for the Anchis refused to fight with Bulgars. The Kara-Bulgars split up: the Baryns decided to continue the war with the Balynians, but unhappy with the reign of Mal Kaubuys, headed by the Ryshtau clan, on that occasion switched to the side of Uldjai, after she promised to retain the Kaubuyian reign in case if they recognize a supremacy of the Bashtu. With the help of the Kaubuys, the Balynians seized Khorysdan and captured Mal and Yusuf. When Balynians put them in chains, Mal bitterly complained to Yusuf: ”Really, Almighty can change everything in one day! Several months ago I was preparing to occupy the Bulgar throne, and now I have lost the Kara-Bulgarian koshma (rug, in this case princely rug, simbolizing the princely power - Translator's Note) and I am in Ulak captivity!” Uldjai, having installed in the Khorysdan (which she ordered to only call it “Batavyl“) the Ryshtau clan, returned to Bashtu with captured Beks and Baryns. Yusuf was put in a dungeon, Mal with Baryns were placed in the Almysh Court, and Emir (Mal) was ordered to be a stoker in the Uldjai bath. When the Bika (Helga, Slav. Olga) came to the bathhouse together with a servant, Emir kicked out the girl, and like a wild stallion raped Uldjai. After that, Uldjai made Mal a first Urus Bek and held him, together with his Baryns, near herself, and with a greatest honor. Later our folks were derisively saying that the Emir from the very beginning should battle with Uldjai using ..., instead of a saber... Soon,
Batysh ambassadors came to
Uldjai from Khaddad, a son of Mardan,
and asked her to marry their Bek. Mal, feeling a threat to his position,
interrupted ambassadors and persuaded
Uldjai to begin a war with the
Batyshes using the troops of
Galidjians and
Shamlyns whom he hated. The
Galidjians and
Shamlynians with much difficulty took
from Khaddad one of his cities, and
refused a further fight. Then Mal, with his Baryns, defeated the rebels, and
settled those who gave up in a captured city which he named Ulak. But an unexpected event led to a Mal's fall. Uldjai, afraid that her connection with the Emir would become known and cause indignation, ordered Mal to kill the maid, a witness to her sin. Mal, however, despoiled the girl and let her off. Meanwhile, she was a daughter of an Ulchi biy, to whom she told it all. The biy raised in a mutiny, demanding that Mal married his daughter. And Uldjai decided to take advantage of that, and remove Emir from the Bashtu, for his and her own passion, coupled with the behavior of the Mal's Baryns and Anchis, soon began to torment her. On the one hand, she had to frequently interrupt even the boyar councils and ambassadorial receptions to copulate with her lover right on the throne, on the other hand, Baryns and Anchis started almost daily fights with the Balyns, and plundered Galidj and Shamlyn merchants. Therefore, Uldjai ordered Mal to become a Bek of that area, and he, easily defeating the ( Ulchi) biy, took his throne. The ( Ulchi) biy, however, was pleased, for Mal had preferred to marry his daughter. In the place of the ( Ulchi) biy’s court, Emir built a city he named Khorysdan, and established a custom whereas his Baryns and Anchians could take for wifes any Ulchian girl they liked. Nevertheless, Mal remained a favorite (of Kyiv rulers). The son of Ugyr, Barys, married his daughter, and the son of Mal, the Emir Diu-Baryn became the first Urus boyar... The capture of the Khorysdan for the Bek Kubar was a signal for the beginning of the advance on the Bulgar, which the Samanids also wished to control. Still, Khurasan also achieved another purpose, distancing from their borders the most restless khans of these proliferating people. But Kubar himself also was not a flop: he conceived to subordinate the Bulgars of the Khazaria using the sabers of the Samanid Turkmen, and then to climb the Itil throne. The war started with the Kubar two brothers, Arslan and Shonkar, setting a siege of the Bellakian fortress Samar on the river Samar. Long unaccustomed to such impudence, the Mardanians, sure in an easy victory, quickly moved to Samar, under a leadership of Balus. At the fortress they joined a severe fight, but were suddenly attacked from the rear and defeated. It should be noted that among the reasons of the defeat were also a large number of the enemy, and the timidness and infirmness of the Kyr-Badjinaks. Balus fell in the fight, and his surviving soldiers either dissipated or retreated in great disorder and returned to Bandja in the pettiest state. After that followed a siege, which ended with the exhausted Samarians, all to the last men, including the men, women, old men, and children, mounted the horses and went to the Kinel, where they founded a new city Samar. They left before a dawn, when the Turkmens collapsed into a deep sleep, and almost all broke through. But the loss of this fortress opened a gate for Oguzes to start intrusions into the Bulgar. The aksakals, suvarchis and biys raised to the Mardanian throne the son of Balus Bulan. The new Bellakian Emir asked the Nasyr to resend the Kan’s decree about the double increase in the size of the tribute from the Mardan, to re-direct the means for the increase of the salaries of the servient bakhadirs and to lift their fighting spirit. But the Vizier, in the name of the Kan, refused, and then Bulan told the seid with the greatest irritation: ”If the tribute for the Kan’s whores is more important for you than the security of the State, then take the money and do not ask anything more from me”. After that he ordered Badjanaks to open not populated roads through the Mardan to the Inner Bulgaria, and the Turkmens surge in it, like a locust. This began the ”Turkmen flood” which lasted for 15 years. Most tough it was for the subashes of the Baytüba province, and they had to take to the arms. However the Vizier did not give them any break in taxes, and then the Bulyars began to meet the officials as they meet Turkmens. The officials, having lost the opportunity to plunder the boundary areas, turned with triple energy to the other areas, despite of the desperate cries of the unfortunate igenchis. A lot of subashes fled from the Bulyar, led by Bul, who arbitrarily left his post and occupied by force the house of the Kashanian governor. The former Ulugbek (governor), the old Djakyn-Michael, quietly abided there, gave the province to the plunder of the officials and listened with an utter indifference to the moaning of the igenchis. Certainly, the subashes, chirmyshes and kara-chirmyshes met Bul with pleasure, and wanted to cleave all of the Djakyn’s family, but the new Ulugbek mercifully allowed them to leave. Nasyr settled them in the Bulyar, where his sons , Abdallah first, and then Vakhta were the governors. At the same time the third son of Djakyn, Balak, was a vali in the Tukhchi. Abdallah in 947 AD successfully beat off the raid of the Turkmens on the Baytüba, and Mohammed, afraid of being seized by the enemies in his own capital, made him the Ulugbek of the Bolgar and gave him a personal title of Emir. It was against the will of Nasyr, but the seid kept mum. But the Ulugbek of the Nur-Suvar was his favorite, the son of Hasan and adopted son of Mohammed, Talib. When Gabdulla, as the ruler of the capital and an Emir, began to mint coins with his name, the jealous seid immediately ordered his pupil to also mint coins. And the coins... And the state sign and the seal on the goods was called djogen... The Vizier ordered Bel to get out, but he brazenly refused and offered to Nasyr a double tribute from the Kashan in exchange for his approval. To this Nuretdin added that otherwise he will chop down everyone who dares to cross to his side of the Agidel. The seid, not finding anyone who would risk to go to the Kashan after the Nuretdin’s threats, reluctantly agreed. Bel coped easily with the payment as the population of Kashan tripled due to the arrival of the Bulyars, and he was left alone. More than that... In the end Nasyr also gave the Bek a right to appoint envoy-deputies in the northern Bulgarian provinces Biysu, Ur and Baygul, watch for the trustworthiness of the local Ulugbeks-Tarkhans and the collection of the tribute. The brother of Nuretdin, Djilki, so called because he was born in the year of the Horse, himself went on the rounds in these provinces to check the work of the Kashanian tudjuns. And the northern Tarkhans, per their requests and different from the southern, or the Innner, were called Ügur-Tarkhans. Ügur-Tarkhans explained it that they so called since the times of the old Bulyar Kaganate of Hons. Under the Nuretdin’s order were built the main fortresses of the province.:. Kankura and Kargadan, which was the center of the Ur where and where the northern biys gathered for the reception of the appointments, the reporting and delivery of the “Gift Tribute”. And the biysfrom the Moskha and Undja gathered in the Gusman-Katau on the river Djuk-su... As for the Sadimians, who were coming to Bulgar through the Chulman dingeze for the sanction to trade, Nuretdin was receiving them in the Kashan. And they called Bulgars in Ar and Modjar languages “Berme“, which in their languages means “Bulgarian Land”. And Sadimians got used to this because after their arrival to the Bulgar, before the Bulgars themselves, they met our northerners and acquired their acronym for the State. There were good people among them, but also happened dishonest, therefore before the return of ours and the Sadumian merchants from the trips, both Sadimians and us were leaving hostages with each other. However, it never came to the punishment of the hostages. But the assaults on ours Sadums- Galidjians and the Balynian Sadimians were happening. So, once an Arian biy, whose district was north from the Moskha-su, betrayed the State and called for Galidjians. At the same time the son of Khalmi-Dulo, suspecting nothing, was moving to the lake Koba-kül that belonged to the Bulgar. It was still Nuretdin who gave Khalmi the permit to trade in the Biysu, and all his descendants were engaged in it and distinguished with honesty and fearlessness. We called Khalmi “Tash“, for the khalmi in the Sadumian meant “tash“ (“hill“), and eventually he began to be called himself Khalmi-Tash. When Dulo already approached the river Koba-su, running into the lake, he was attacked from behind by the Galidjians and their Sadimians numbered up to 300 people. We had about 50 people, but they completely smashed the attackers, laying down 150 enemies and losing only two. And were captured 20 Galidjians with two boyars. Dulo was received by the Kan Timar himself, and the Kan told him: ”I want that such brave men as you were alvays tied to our land, and consequently I give you and your descendants a parcel of land”. In this allodial near the confluence of the Kara-Idel to Agidel, Dulo built a small fortress and called it, in honor of the father, Khalmi-Kerman. We called the fortress Tash-Kerman. In addition to it Dulo received from the Kan an honorable name Baluan. As to the biy-traitor, the Kan said: ”Do not hold the local Ars by force, for our State is strong only by the kind consent and trust, and the use of force in relation to some will undermine this trust and cause a fear and a desire for betrayal in the others”. Therefore we began to call the area above the Moskha-su “Not Held“, from which came its Ar’s name Totma. But then the Ars themselves expelled the biy-traitor and as a token of the fidelity to the State first built the fortresses Shud (Khan’s), and then, during the Kan Baluk time, Balukta. In 1111 AD the Galidjians with the help of another biy-traitor captured these two our fortresses, and began to christen the local Ars, and when those began to protest, simply slaughtered them together with the family of the biy. Such was the award to the traitor... After the transfer of Abdallah to the Bolgar city, it became really grave in the Bulyar. Nasyr was hiding the loss of the control over the Baytüba in every possible way, while Vakhta had no any real power and did not get out of the Bulyar citadel, the Martuan or Nardugan. This citadel, as some tell, was called so in memory of being finished in a nardugan... The second part of the city was called Men Bulyar or Undurt Kala, because it was surrounded with a wall with 14 big towers. The third part of was called Bulyar carried a name Hinuba (Hynuba). Here the continuous wall built only after the Syb-Bulat sugyshy, and it was called so in memory of the first settlers from the city of Khin... To compensate for the loss of taxes from Baytüba or Chirmyshan, as sometimes was called this il, Nasyr allowed the descendant of Burdjan-Mar the merchant Mar to head the province created of the western lands of the Bulgarian Il, since this trader promised to collect a double tribute from this territory. Therefore the new province began to be called Martüba. Mar settled in the built by Bul fortress Züya-Deber and organized the tax collection. The Bulgars of the Modjar area, or the Mishars, and also the old and new coming subashes he left as chirmyshes and subashes, and all the non-Moslems he turned into kara-chirmyshes and began to take from them a threefold a kara-chirmysh tax. The unfortunate heathens, especially Ars and Serbiys, tried to flee, sometimes with the whole families, but the Batlik, Kukdjak and Modjar chirmyshes were ruthlessly catching them and turning over to the Ulugbek. Some people were returned back, but the most defiant were sold to kazanchis and merchants... In the east the situation was catastrophic. Tamta was half devastated, and in
the Baytüba only a fourth part of the land escaped a devastation. The raids of
the Turkmens and the unreasonable and unlawful seizures impoverished subashes,
chirmyshes, medium and small merchants and artisans. The Vizier barely supported
the luxury life of the Kan’s court and their people by the introduction of still
newer taxes and levies. So, was introduced the ”Payout Tax” for the non-attendance
of the districts by the Kan. And in addition Mohammed, famous for his whimsical
character, frequently did not listen to the advice of Nasyr and would set out to
the already paid-off district. And who there could refuse to the
Kan or complain
about a robbery? The petitioners were simply disappearing... The people were
saying that the only thing that people ate in the Mohammed's reign were the
jokes about the adventures of the Kan. Here is one of such stories. Sometime Mohammed, traveling in Martüba with a bunch of two-thousand kazanchis,
sensed ill and wanted to return. The kazanchis, however, got lost and, going by
the deserted military road from the Archamysh to the Khazarian border, came to
the Khazarian city Mukhtasar. To be mistaken was no wonder: on the both sides of
the border lived related groups, there were identical customs and even the
rulers were called the same: ”Khakan”. In charge of the accommodations for the
Kan’s caravan was Aksak-Ahmed, a fighter and a brawler about whom went around
even more jokes than about the Kan. It was told that he, learning about the
appointment to Kashan of Bul, his personal offender, came with a complaint to
the Kan. But Mohammed, pleased with the tribute received by the
Bek from the
northern provinces, hollered at him, that if the kazanchi can extract the same,
he would immediately send him to the Kashan. The frightened aristocrat, for whom
even the governorship in the Kashan would be an arduous exile in comparison with his luxurious life in the
Nur-Suvar allodial, melted away unhurriedly... Right after the entrance to Mukhtasar this Ahmed broke to the Türe of the city with an announcement of the arrival of “Khakan Mohammed“ and the request to prepare everything necessary. ”What, we already have a new Khakan?” silently wondered the commander, but immediately, without superfluous talk, rushed to execute the order about the delivery from city to the tent camp of Khan of the food, drinks and the best girls and women, including his own wife. Having feasted, the Kan ordered to show women to him. Seeing them, he came to a full fury. ”Whom did you bring to me?” shouted he at commander, generously whipping him and pointing at the Türe’s wife, “Are these women?..” -Why did not you bring your daughter who I saw at your place?- Ahmed bellowed at the commander also, alternating his words with blows of his fist. -Take from me what you want, only do not touch her!, begged Türe, falling to his knees and kissing the boots of the Khan. But the Kan, hearing about an extraordinary beautiful gray-eyed dark-skinned girl, was relentless. The daughter of the commander was brought in, Mohammed was introduced to her as the ”faithful Khakan”, and the Khan, shocked by her charms, asked her: -“Where from you, such a beauty, appeared in this garbage dump (Mohammed called so Mukhtasar)?” -“I am not at all from here”, grinned the dark-skinned girl. “I am the daughter of the Khazarian Khakan, Aisylu! -“What! You are Jewish?!”, exclaimed the shocked Mohammed, recollecting the Bakir’s ban on affairs with Jewesses. -“No, I am a Moslem”, the beauty calmed the Khan. “My Moslim father Khakan Mukhtasar brought me up as a zealous Moslem. The malicious Yusuf killed my father in this city, took in his harem my mother by force and began to solicit me also, telling that his adopting me as a daughter does not mean anything, for for the Khakan all women of the country, even his wives are like his daughters. When I repelled his harassments, I was thrown into a tower and began to be tormented by the hunger and thirst... And then I fled to here with a help of a guard, to whom gave my golden belt. I ordered Türe, entirely obliged to my father, to present me as the daughter, and decided to better die in the boondocks and obscurity, than to be a concubine of Yusuf and a Jewess!”… The Khan... decided to celebrate a wedding immediately, afraid of chicaning by Nasyr in the capital .”Where nearby here lives an imam?”, he asked the beauty. ”Our mullah is far, in Itil, since we are in Khazaria”, answered Aisylu. The shocked Mohammed whacked Ahmed with a whip again, for his foolishness and immediately rode to the nearest Bellakian city of Burtas, where the imam of the mosque “Mardan“ made no... But the history did not end there. Yusuf, learning about the theft of Aisylu, began threatening Mohammed with a war. And the Khan did not have an effective army. Only Ahmed still could somehow hold a sword in his hand, but, then in Mukhtasar, the Kan battered his this hand with the whip, and after that all he could do was only to bring a shar (bowl) with bal to his mouth. Khan summoned Nasyr and asked him: ”What shall we do?” -“What?”, the seid was amazed, learning about the threat of Yusuf. “Is it that Yusuf and not Alan rules in the Khazaria for the last year? And all this time I was sending the gifts to Alan and wished him a long life on the throne!” His hands drooped, he began to shake and became absolutely puzzled. He wanted to
send to the campaign his officials, but their bashchy in a panic fell from a
horse, and they themselves, as it turned out, grossly engorged three days ago
and suffered from diarrhea since then. -“This night I had a dream that pigs burrrrowed the support of the Kan’s tent, and it fell”, uttered Nasyr at last. “Apparently, the dream was prophetic, the end came to all of us for our sins!” But here Aisylu came to the help of the Kan: ”Yusuf likes to play chess more than his live. Propose to him to play chess and make me a prize!” -“But I shall lose, since I, except for the nardy (backgammon - Translator’s Note), do not play anything!”, noted Mohammed with an alarm. -“Never mind!”, Khanum said confidently. Your adopted son Talib will quickly teach you, he plays best of all!” And that was done. They sat to play in a small Bellakian tavern Suz-Uryny, for Yusuf trusted only the Mardanian word of honor, and because the Bellakians refused to give players a larger city out of fear of the lootings by the Kan’s retinue. The Khakan waged the city of Mukhtasar against the daughter of Mukhtasar and lost, for Talib gave to the Kan a right plan for the game. So Aisylu remained in the Bulgar, and Talib, the younger son of Gazan, became a Vizier. Chapter 14. Time of Talib Mumin (976-981) About the reasons for the rise of Talib, in addition to this joke told by
Mohammed-Gali, I found only the following from Yakub. When once Bakhta could not
collect taxes from Baytüba at all, Nasyr ordered the kazanchi Aksak-Ahmed to
take his place in the Bulyar.
The offended Bakhta returned to his fortress Shepshe, and Ahmed assembled a gang of the Tamtazayan horse thieves and began to raid the subashes. He left the most of the spoils to himself, and a smaller part he sent to the Bolgar, but Nasyr was glad even to these crumbs. The furious ingichis tried to finish off the ulan not once, but their attempts to take the citadel of Bulyar by storm came to naut in invariant failures. But a boasting busted Ahmed. Sometime he conceived to invite to the Bulyar the Kan himself. But when the Kan’s caravan came nearer to the city, it was suddenly attacked by a detachment of the Turkmens. Mohammed was barely saved due to the bravery of Talib at his side, and in anger he appointed the son of Gazan to the Ahmed's place. Emir Talib immediately took measures to the improvement of the situation in the province. So, he persuaded the son of Bul, Kukcha, to lend to him money in exchange for the support of the Amirs’ rights to the Kashan, which was threatened by Nasyr with his new charges. On this money he formed a 6-thousand strong army, with full time soldiers. In the army enlisted mainly subashes and chirmyshes, whose households were ruined by the war. To soldiers the Talib set a high salary, and they hoped to save money to renew the torn down estates or help their relatives. Besides that, 3/4 of the spoils was left to the soldiers, and it induced them to be eager for the war. However, in the spring of each year any bakhadir could leave the service, but almost nobody did it , as in this case he was facing a full poverty. The selection into the army was strict, for there were 100 and 200 people, starved to death, pretending for one place. The training was no less severe, and the death of warriors during the training was counted for nothing. Each fighter of an army received medium knightly arms, that is arms of the djuras, and therefore was equated with a medium knight. The hundreds in this army were headed by kortbashy, the thousands by kartamans, and the commander of this army was the sardar. And the whole army received the name “Kursybai“, as its first soldiers became the ingichis of the aul Kursybai, completely burned down by the Turkmens. The unbashes of the kursybai were equated with üzbashis of the usual army, a commander of a hundred to the menbashy, a kartaman to the sardar, and the sardar to the Emir. Later, being already the Kan, Talib gave sardars of the kursybai the right to come to the Kan without a prior announcement... The third line of the kursybai, which in the usual army is manned by the djuldashis of the Türkic mercenaries, was composed of the young soldiers or the “puppies“. There were 3 thousand of them. The second (middle) line was composed of the 2 thousand experienced warriors called “Bashkorts“, and the first line was composed of the one thousand of the best soldiers called “Baryndjars“ (“Baryn-yars“). The salary of the Bashkorts was double, and the salary of the Baryndjars exceeded four times the salary of the “kücheks“, and the kusyrbays did not spare any effort in the battle to transit to the higher category... Kukcha Amir became the first sardar of the kursybai... Always ready to fight, the kusyrbays managed to intercept and destroy a few of
the small Turkmenian corps, and in the 959 AD at the new Bulyar fortress Kylgan
they finished with the army of Shonkar and his brother Lachyn. The captured
khans had their both arms chopped off, and then they were let off to Arslan. He,
seeing his brothers in such a sorrow condition, forgotten about all in the
world, and rushed with the entire remaining horde to the Bulyar. But one
Badjanak, specially sent to Arslan under as a deserter,
led the Turkmens to the unfinished Baytüba fortress, directly under a strike of the kursybai . A 60
thousand Uzes rushed, in a heat, to plunder the tents, purposely planted by
Kukcha in the fortress and nearby, and came about only after the first volleys
of the “puppies“. Those who had gotten in the fortress were locked up and
burned, and the others threw themselves to the steppe in a horror. However, only
two - three thousand of them managed to break free. Arslan was caught with an
arkan (lasso - Translator’s Note) and was dragged by it to Kukcha. With his
bloody mouth the
Khan began asking for the mercy, promising a rich ransom for
the freedom. Kukcha coolly heard Arslan out and responded to him: ”You and your
younger brothers completely burnt 80 auls, not considering the hundreds which
suffered partially, and I am glad that for each of them a thousand of your
robbers paid with their lives. And for Kurdjun-Samar and for Balus killed in it
I am paying off with your head”. With these words the
sardar dismounted from the
horse and swiped the khan’s head off. The fortress, restored later, after that
began to be called Arslanbash in memory of the events... Learning about that terrible defeat, Uzbek wanted to flee to the Samanids, but Kubar held him by force and ordered Bakhta-Yunus and Michael to make a new raid on the Bulyar. The brothers again categorically refused to fight against coreligionists and relatives, and the furious Bek confiscated a half of their property and exiled them to Khoresm. It was the son of Bakhta-Yunus Seldjuk who revenged for this humiliation by ravaging the possession of Gali... Thus so ended this lengthy Turkmenian war. Pleased with an unexpected victory, Mohammed found within a strength to return for an instant to the state affairs, and in the 960 AD he appointed Talib as the Visier. The full power was in the hands of the Emir, who since that time began to also call himself Mumin. Talib immediately returned to the legislation of Almysh, shortened the noses of the thieving officials, and the country instantly came back to life... But Talib decided to not stop there and carry out the aspiration of Djafar for the destruction of the Khazarian rule and annexation of the indigenous Bulgarian territory to the Bulgar. Suddenly in this path appeared a strong obstacle in the person of Barys, the immensely conceited Urusian Ulubiy, the son of Ugyr Lachyni. This ruler collected under his banner a 20 thousand Sadumians and 50 thousand Balyns, inspired by his intention to take and completely plunder the Bulgar and Khazaria, and in the 964 AD he captured Djir. The viceroy of the Djir, the son of Hum Syp-Gusman fled to the Bolgar. After him in the capital also arrived the Kan’s Ulugbek Sain, also expelled by Barys. He told that Khaddad suggested to Barys a help in seizing the Kan, and Ulubiy immediately took the Kan for the Batyshians. Both Ulugbeks expected to be executed, but, is surprisingly for them, Talib received the guilty very mercifully, and ordered them to return to Barys with an offer of a joint conquest of the Khazaria in exchange for the Djir, Kan and the western part of the Kortdjak. Barys, hearing this from them, did not believe his ears and personally came to the Bolgar for a confirmation of this offer. The Uruses appeared in front of the Bolgar during a moment when Mohammed feasted in the Khaldj. Seeing the Sadimians, the Kan in a panic fled with all his retinue. They stopped for a breath only in the Nur-Suvar, and the Uruses found the field caldrons abandoned by them on the fire, and with a pleasure had a snack on the road. In the middle of the banquet appeared Talib and agreed with Barys about negotiations on the Idel “Bee’s“ island opposite the Bolgar. From one bank this island was accessible by the horse in the shallow waters, , and from another by the ship... Emir said that in exchange for the participation of Barys in the war against Khazaria, Bulgar will concede to the Rus the Djir, Kan and the western Kortdjak, for an annual tribute equal in size to the tribute from the Djir. And that is a huge territory between the Kara-Idel and Sain-Idel (Àêà), not including its eastern part, the province Lokyr between the river Lokyr, flowing into the Gül-Asma, Àêà and the Kara-Idel, which remained in the Bulgar. Talib suggested to discuss the division of the Khazaria after its defeat. Barys agreed with pleasure, and promised to begin the war by an attack on the Khin... With the transfer of the Kan to Barys, Talib wanted additionaly to create a rift between the excessively thriving son of Ugyr and the Batyshes. And Emir was quite successful at that. On the return way Barys kicked out the son of Khaddad, Alyp, from the Kan. In response he sent him a letter that said: ”Batyshians are believed to be a people formed by the mixture of the Ulchians and Murdases. Actually the Batyshes are the descendants of the Murdases and the Sadumian tribe of the Khuds, who once owned the Rus. Therefore he, Alyp, has more rights to be the Ulubiy of the Rus than Barys, and will try to garner the them”... But unexpectedly in the Bulgar itself rose an obstacle to the war with the Khazaria, in Mardan. The Bellakian aksakals were concerned that the annexation of the Khazaria to the Bulgar would excessively strengthens the Kans and would create a threat to the liberties of Mardan. Therefore the Emir Bulan supported a secret alliance with Khaddad and Alyp-biy, so that in a case of troubles jointly repulse the enemies. Mohammed, frightened by Barys, approved the transfer to
him of the two
ils in
exchange for a union with him. It was necessary to only overcome the resistance
of the Mardanians, and Talib achieved their consent to the war with the Khazars
in exchange for a promise to transfer to the Bellak of the whole territory of
the Khazaria, except for the Khin. But Talib did not plan to share with Barys
what would be taken from the Khazars. ”Khazaria is not the marsh hillocks of the Kortdjak,
Djir and
Kan. The capture of the Khazaria would make the Bulgar the mightiest power, for it will put under our power all the roads from the
countries of the infidels to the countries of the East. And to share this power
with anybody would be a real madness”, Talib told to Kukcha before the war with
the Khazaria. To ensure that Barys would not rip from Bulgar the Khazar spoils, Talib sent Masgut, a son of Mamli, to Turkmens, and that without much efforts persuaded Khan Michael with his ready for anything 12 thousand djigits to switch to the Bulgarian service... In the winter of the 965 AD Michael on the run attacked the Itil and forced Kubar to transfer to the capital almost all of his forces. After that Kukcha with Daud came to Khin and told its inhabitants that they are threatened with a raid of the Balyns and that the Kan of Bulgar would shelter them with pleasure. The Khinians, having already heard about the slaughter of the Batyshians by the Uruses in the Kan, went with all belongings, without long deliberations, to the Bulgar, and were there settled, mainly, in the Bandja, Bulyar and Yana Samar on the Kinel. Learning about it, Kubar personally rushed to the Khin with a purpose to prevent the resettlement, but the brother of Kukcha batyr Sal-Sal blocked his way and in the fierce battle beat him away. In the process he received a few of heavy wounds and died soon after his return to the Kashan. Only after the departure from the Khin of the last inhabitant, Kukcha left the Khazaria with his kursybai and Kubar could again seize the untouched city. Understanding that the Khin is the main obstacle on the way to Itil, the Bek strengthened it with a strong garrison and decided to defend it to the last. In the summer of the 965 AD Barys attacked the Khin, having sailed to it from the Bashtu by the Buri-chai, Saklanian sea and the Shir. Hardly would he manage to take this strong city if not for the Rums who helped him with the soldiers and the wall ram equipment. When the walls of the Khin were broken in two or three places, the Sadimians and Galidjians raced into the city and made there a usual for them slaughter. Barys, pleased with the victory, ordered his envoys to tell Talib that he will conquer the Khazaria himself, and Talib promised not to hinder him. Kubar, learningabout it, immediately raced to the Khin from the Itil. While he tried to beat Uruses, Kukcha with Daud and Michael turned to flight the Turkmens of the Khazarian Bek and besieged the Itil. The appeal of the Bulgarian Kan to the Itilians about a resettlement in the Bulgar to save themselves from the inevitable Balynian incursion was again met favorably by the majority of the Itilians. Without delay, the best proprietors of the Khazarian capital went to the Bulgar under a protection of the kursybai. The remaining in the Itil Uzbek and the affiliated with him Khazars and Turkmens did not dare to prevent the resettlement, and in an horror of Kukcha locked up in the citadel of the city. The Itilians also settled in the Bandja and Bulyar, and one of the Bulyar baliks even received the name Itil... Kubar did not succeed in retaking the Khin. Barys was joined by the Kasheks and Saklans, and with their help the Uruses repelled Kubar and broke through to the Bekhtash, where the vessels are transport from the Shir to the Idel. But suddenly the Burdjans attacked Khin and took it, forcing Barys to return and take the city again. After a second capture of Khin he wintered in this city, supplied by the Rumians from the Dima-Tarkhan. In the summer of the 966 AD Barys again went from the Khin to the Itil and this time broke through to the Khazarian capital. At his approach the few remaining there inhabitants fled by ships, together with Uzbek and Kubar, to the Khurasan through the Menkyshlak, and in the end settled in the Bukhara. From them came the so-called Bukharian Jews, who also soon began to prosper in the new place, and established tight trading relations with the Bulgarian Khazars-Moslems. Barys found in the Itil only the Kubar’s garrison which thoughtlessly surrendered. Ulubiy, not finding in the city any spoils, became undescribably furious, and hacked all captured. Then Barys decided to revenge the Burdjans for the attack, and went by the ships to the Samandar with 20 thousand people, and he sent 30 thousand against the Khazarian Burtases and Batyshians. The Samandar was demolished by the Balynians to its foundations, after which they went in a return way by foot, and with the help of the Saklans and Kasheks they ravaged six more Burdjanian cities. After that in the Djurash and Kara-Saklan began to dominate the Saklans, Kasheks and Djurashes. Barys concluded a union with them and transferred to them the cities taken away from the Burdjanian Bulgars (Kumyks, Karachais and Burdjans). At that same time the Burdjan traiders and artizans, who escaped the slaughter, fled to the Bulgar, and the rest switched to the cattle breeding... Without the Bulgarian population, engaged in the trade and crafts, these cities came to a full decline. The
Saklans,
Kasheks and
Djurashes were very pleased
with the acquisitions, but when the 50-thousand army of the Uruses went from the Bekh-tash to Mukhtasar,
declared that they expect an attack against the Khazaria by the Turkmens, and
remained in place. Mukhtasar was the center of the Khazarian Burtasia, and all the Khazarian
Burtases gathered here to battle the Uruses. There were 10
thousand of them all, and they bravely met the enemy in the hope for the help
promised to them by the Batyshians... However the help was late, and the numerical superiority of the
Balyns resolved the battle in their favor... Not
leaving in the Mukhtasar any one alive, the commander of
Barys, Saban-Kul, moved against the Batyshians, who hastened to take the
Kan away from the
Balyns. But Alsh with his Batyshes and the
Burtases who have fled to him, set up an ambush at
Khorysdan for the Uruses, and hacked down almost all of the
Barys’ army. Saban-Kul returned to the
Bashtu in a pitful condition and with two thousand
soldiers at all. At the same time the kursybai, tired from idliness, took the
Djir, and Kukcha took from there to the Bulgars all the
proprietors. When
Barys began to accuse the envoys of Talib for it, they said
that the
Emir had to do it because of the
non-payment by the Ulubiy of the ”
Djir Tribute”. Only then
Barys recolled, that in a temper, in the hope
of rich spoils in the Khazaria, he promised to pay this tribute, and was horrified: there was nothing to pay with. In the Khazaria Uruses got almost nothing, and Burdjan spoils went for the payment for the Rum's help. But that did not pay even one hundredth's part of the Barys Rum debt. The Rum, hearing about the difficulties of the Ulubiy, and not hoping for the return of their money, decided to receive from the Uruses at least a military help, and offered Barys additional money in exchange for a joint attack against the Ulak-Bulgar, and he, receiving from the Rum the necessary money, immediately paid them off to Talib, and again received the Kan. The Ulubiy expected finish quickly with the Ulak-Bulgar, but got stuck in this war. In the 969 AD, when it became clear that Barys lost it all in the Ulak-Bulgar, Talib entered the Bulgarian armies into Khazaria, the kursybai and the Turkmens of Michael. The occupation of Khazaria went without any obstacles, not counting the unexpected skirmish in the Itil. The originator of it was the irrepressible Kubar, who had time to sail from the Menkyshlak with a group of Khwarezmians and to occupy the Itil. Right it the beginning of the skirmish the people of Kubar shot Michael, who was quietly entering the city. The angry Turkmens hacked all Khwaresmians, and Kubar was cut into parts.. At the approach of ours the Saklans retreated from the Idel and Shir without a fight, and for that Talib mercifully left to them the southern lands of the Khazaria bordering to the mountains. The border between the Bulgar and the Saklan went by the rivers Sal and Êóì. In the west the Bulgarian border passed by the Shir and Kubar, and from the Kubar it went to the Boryn-Inesh ... The district of the Khin, as was determined earlier, remained under the control of a Vali, appointed by the capital, and the other part of the Khazaria from the Saratay to the mouthes of the Idel, Djaik and Umbet was included in the Mardan under the name Saksin. The center of the Saksin became the erected under an order of Talib city of Sakchy or Saksin-Bolgar, where settled the Burdjan merchants and artizans, and also some of the Itil fugitives, who agreed to accept the Islam. The other returning Itilians were re-settled in the Itil itself, but it was renamed into the city of Kaytuba... With the connexion of the Khazaria the Bulgarian state turned into a real power, and our rulers began to call themselves the sovereigns of the Great Bulgaria... From that time we began to call the Kara-Saklan the steppes between the Sula and Buri-chai, and the Ak-Saklan the steppes Buri-chai and the Bulgarian border... At that time the
Badjanaks of the Kara-Saklan, whom
Barys
began to oppress, and being in a close union with the Ulak-Bulgar, had to unite under the leadership of
Khan Kura to repulse the encroaching efforts of the
Balyns. In the 969 AD
Kura-raided
Bashtu and plundered its suburbs, and in 972 AD trapped
Barys, who
was coming back from the Ulak-Bulgar, and finished with him. However after that the
Badjanakian
biys, hating the one-man rule, dispersed again to their hordes
and deprived Kur-Khan of the Khan’s powers. Not bearing such humiliation, Kur-Khan with his 9 thousand
Badjinaks left the Kara-Saklan and joined the service of the
Bulgar. Talib gave him the pastures of the Khinian district, since the most part of the
Saksin steppes were even
earlier given for pastures to the late Michael’s Turkmen
biys, who also did not like autocratic rule and did not even think at
all to select a new
Khan after the death of Michael... Kur-Khan told the tebir
Masgut, and he, in turn, told to the father of Mamli that captured by the
Badjanaks
Barys began asking for a
mercy. In response Kur-Khan told him: ”Your head, even with the Khin’s braid, will not add to my riches, and I would
willingly spare your life, if you really valued it. But you yourself valued it
below the [several measures] of honey, the payment for the safe passage through
my possessions, so let your head serve as a bowl for this drink, for the
edification of all too haughty and heedless”. From the skull of the ill-fated Barys the
Khan in fact ordered to make a bowl and drunk bal from it. His
daughter became the wife of Timar nicknamed Badjanak, the son of Mohammed from the
Badjanakian Bika. It was this
Emir who very soon began to threaten more the
autocratic rule of Talib than any other foe of the
State. However Talib was not
a simpleton in the mysteries of the palace intrigues. Thus, he publicly deplored
the policy of his ally Timar Bulat, who during the Turkmen War did not allow
Mardanians to fight with Khazaria, and gamed only with attacks by the
Badjanaks
on the the Turkmens with spoils coming back from the Baytüba. The aksakals and
proprietors were shamed into electing during a djien a new
Ulugbek of the Mardan,
the loyal to Talib Ibragim, the son of Mohammed. In the 970 AD the
Kan Mohammed at the request of Timar momentarily appointed him the
Ulugbek of the Bolgar, but
he immediately began to call himself Mumin, and in a few weeks Aysylu at the request of Talib hinted to the
Kan about the molestations of his son, and
Mohammed immediately handed the destiny of his son into the hands of the Vizier.
Talib sent the incarnated Mumin as a governor of the Bulyar, under an eye of the
grievous and muffled Kukcha. Talib appointed the governor of the
Nur-Suvar the third son of the
Kan Mohammed, Masgut, who was admiring the Vizier for his
generosity and the tolerance to his debauched way of life. Timar, who in the
same year plotted against Talib and sent to Masgut an invitation to participate,
made a grave error with his brother. Masgut immediately delivered the Timar’s
note to the Vizier, and he forced the participants of the plot, the sons of Djakyn Balak and Vakhta, and also the
Badjanak
biy Hasan, to leave the limits of the Bulgar. They went to the
Modjar Khanate and then for a long time
corresponded with Timar from there, until, at last, the Badjanak War did not stop the regular communications of the Bulgar with the
Avaria... Only one year prior to his death, in 975 AD, the Kan Mohammed began to be tormented by a persecution paranoia and transferred his disfavored senior son Timar from the Bulyar again to the Bolgar. Talib could not stand it and left to the Bulyar, to quietly sit out for the outcome of the family drama. In the 976 AD Mohammed died, but as Timar even barely tried to proclaim himself the Kan as he was seized by the people of the Vizier and, to save his own life, had together with Kukcha, Abdallah and Masgut to raise Talib Mumin to the Kan’s throne. After that the Kan Talib removed Timar to the Nur-Suvar, and gave the Bulyar to Masgut. And it should be said that Talib gave the Baytüba’s Ulugbeks the right to appoint the Ulugbeks of the Tamta, which made the Bulyar governor a rather influential figure. Talib, soon after the transfer of the Djir to Barys and acquisition of the Khazaria, forbade the overseas merchants the passage through the territory of the Bulgar and the trading with each other within the limits of the State. With that he forced the foreigners to sell all their goods to the Bulgarian merchants and to buy the trucked in goods they needed from our merchants, and at higher prices. After a raw of accidents with the foreigners in the North, Talib completely closed the northern provinces for the foreigners. Only the Sadimians, who were coming to the Biysu by the Chulman Sea and had on hand our permits, could pass through these areas. It brought such benefits to our merchants that they were saying: ”Our trade was founded by Talib”. Talib himself bequeathed to his successors: ”The main thing that you should do is to not change the traditions of the ils, not to deplete people with new taxes, and to maintain the control of the Bulgar over all the roads from the infidel countries to the states of Islam”... At the same time Talib tried to avoid wars without a dire need, and, for example, to secure that the Urus Beks did not delay the payment of the Djir Tribute, he began to take from them their children as hostages... Thus he transformed Bulgar into a truly great and prospering
State known in all the ends of the educated world... Chapter 15. Reign of Timar (981-1004) After the death of Talib in the 981 AD Timar Mumin Badjanak was raised to the throne, with the help of the kazanchis and Badjanaks. This Kan broke the Talib’s decree according to which all Bulgarian ingichis could be only subashes or chirmyshes, and ordered to reassign all heathen Bulgars to the category of the kara-chirmyshes. This caused a strongest discontent in the number of the provinces, especially in the Kashan where the majority of the Bulgarian igenchis were still heathens. In response Timar ordered the dangerous for the kazanchis kursybai to fight together with the Saklanian Badjanaks against the Rus, for the refusal of the Bashtu to render the tribute for the Djir, and declared the Kashan an internal province and transferred Kukcha from the governor's place to the saddle of the sardar of the kursybai. After this he also for a while declared the Mardan an internal il and separated from it an external province of Saksin. Ibragim was displaced and replaced with Masgut who pretended to be quiet and loyal. Timar had never learnt that it was precisely Masgut who informed on him to Talib, for the Visier presented his letter as intercepted. The kazanchis devoted to the Kan began to be appointed Ulugbeks, and Ibragim was only given the post of Vali in the Aktüba district of the Saksin. It reinforced discontent even more, because the kazanchi governors simply extorted the people. Many Kashan subashes, not wishing to become kara-chirmyshes, fled to the Arsu, where they settled as subashes with the sanction of the kind old Mar. Certainly, with his kindness Mar did not neglect himself and and avidly traded the Ars, captured by the subashes when they seized new lands. Timar, reluctantly, tolerated the Deber Ulugbek in order to not quarrel with the merchant guild of the Bolgar and Nur-Suvar... In the atmosphere of the strong discontent with the reign, Ibragim decided to capture the throne, and concluded a secret alliance with the kursybai and Bulymer, the son of Barys. The Bashtu Bek agreed to help because of the promise by the Emir to stop the galling for the Rus Badjanak War. Our tool in the First Badjanak War was Barysh, a servant of the son of Barys, Yarsub. Barys gave Yarsub as a hostage to the Bulgar, and then with our help he became a Bashtu Bek. When he ( Yarsub - Translator’s Note) was treacherously killed by Bulymer, Barysh fled to the Bulgar and received an estate by the river Sura-su. The river, which flowed through his possessions, began to be called Barysh... Ibragim with Turkmens and kursybai Kukcha passed through the Burtas and occupied Bulyar without meeting any resistance from the Mardanians. From there he went to the Bolgar, where also sailed Bulymer with his commander, the son of Mal Dyau-Baryn and his 24-thousand army. However Kukcha, learning of the landing of the hostile to him Balyns, and their plunder of the lower urams of the capital, abruptly altered his plans. Suggesting that Emir satisfied only with a governorship in Baytüba, he attacked Bulymer and drove him to the ship. In the process, 10 thousand Shamlyns and Galidjians fell at the site, and 8 thousand, together with Dyau-Baryn, were taken prisoners. Taking advantage of it, Timar entered negotiations with Kukcha and Bulymer. Kukcha demanded the Bulyar for Ibragim, and for himself the Kashan, in exchange for the captured Balyns and a termination of the mutiny... Bulymer in his turn asked Timar for the return to him of the captives in exchange for a tripling of the “ Djir Tribute” and an opening of a duty-free Amber way to Artan. In order not to unite his opponents again, Timar agreed to accept the conditions of Kukcha and returned to Bulymer his captives in exchange for his promises. Besides, Timar took from Bulymer a written obligation to not accept Christianity and not to interfere with the spread of the true faith in the Rus. To tie Bulymer stronger to the
State (Àê Yort), Timar also gave him his daughter
Bozok to marry (traditional Türkic manifestation of vassalage
relationship with father-in-law - Translator's Note). After the wedding, which took place here in the Bolgar, Bulymer sailed back to Rus on the
Kara-Idel, and the next year
seven Bulgarian jurists went to the
Bashtu by the
Khorysdan way. They were headed by the son of Nasyr,
Kul-Mohammed. They converted to Islam the Barynian and
Kaubuyian Beks, and also the
biys of the
Saklanian Badjinaks, and built mosques in the Bashtu, Karadjar,
Batavyl, Khursa and the Baryn-Diu... But in few years Bulymer was completely exhausted under the burden of the new Djir Tribute and decided to buttress the situation with a robbery of the Rumian lands. In 988 AD he suddenly invaded Djalda and seized a local Rumian city. The frightened Rumian Kan then offered to Bulymer, in exchange for the Djalda and an acceptance of Christianity by him, a lot of gold and silver, and the Dima-Tarkhan in addition. These conditions were so favorable, that Bulymer could not refuse and accepted the Rums’ conditions... When Timar learned about the acceptance by Bulymer of the Christianity, he sent to him envoys with rebukes... Bulymer justified it saying that it was made for the sake of the Djir Tribute, and treacherously refused to hold the promise he gave earlier. The negotiations went for a few years until, at last, in 991 AD a commander of Bulymer, together with Rumians, attacked the Khin. The kursybai headed by Sal-Sal, the son of Kukcha from the Badjanakian Bika, mowed 5 thousand Balyns and 3 thousand Rums headed by the commander Ber, and turned the remaining enemies into a panic flight. Despite of it, Bulymer, hoping for the Rumian help, refused to pay the Djir Tribute, and in 992 AD Sal-Sal with the kursybai and Badjanaks set a siege to the city Ber just erected by Bulymer. A new commander of the Ulubiy, Aslan, from clan Tauk, arrived with reinforcements, but Sal-Sal in an one-to-one combat crushed him with his hands, like a chicken, and after this turned Ber into dust. The frightened Bulymer renewed the payment of the Djir Tribute, and decided to steal the money in a war against the Ulak-Bulgar. Taking there really big spoils, he in 995 AD, with the help of the Rumian masters, restored Ber and in memory of Aslan began to call it Ber-Aslan. Learning about it and suspecting Bulymer in an attempt to arrange a road from here to the countries of Islam through the Dima-Tarkhan, and around the Bulgar, Timar immediately sent the same Sal-Sal to the Rus. Bulymer foolhardily set out towards us, but at the city Vasyl all his army was quickly crushed by the kursybai, and he escaped only by cowardly hiding under the bridge. From that time this Ulubiy never dared to go for a fight with the Bulgars. Sal-Sal saw how Ulubiy hid under the bridge, but, pleased with a victory, spared him and pretended that he did not notice it. The sardar spared also the inhabitants of the Vasyl, and allowed them to leave freely, for they were the Anchians, but after they left the city, he reduced it to ashes, and he called his son Vasyl in memory of it... Coming back from this battle, which he called “Bridge“, the sardar spent the night in the menzel Kubar on the river Kubar. He liked his rest here, and asked the Mardanian Ulugbek to give it a second name, “Kuper“, in honor of a victory of the kursybai... In the 996 AD Sal-Sal demolished all Balynian fortresses south of Bashtu, mowing down all Balyns found there, and let off all the... In the 997 AD Sal-Sal besieged in the Chally-Kalé the last Balynian forces. Taking advantage of it, the Anchians, led by their head Asmar, came to the Bashtu and demanded from Bulymer the termination of the hated by them war and the removal from the Bashtu and Karadjar of all Balyns. Bulymer promised to satisfy all the requirements of the Anchians, but after that secretly fled to the Galidj for a new reliable army. But when Sal-Sal prepared to finish with the Chally-Kalé, in dream to him came Aydar and said: ”You cannot desecrate with fire and blood this place, for here there are tombs of the Kara-Bulgarian Baltavars”. In the morning, shocked by the dream, Sal-Sal allowed the Balynians to leave the city alive, and simply disassembled the fortress... Then Bulymer moved the war to the north, where for several years of the troops of the
Galidjians and
Balyns were erecting the fortresses around the Koba-Kül,
and our forces were destroying them. Finally, in the 1006, the whole
Balynian
army of 40-thousand men, sleeping serenly at the station Tangra-Maydan on the
crossroads of the Artan and Koba-Kül roads, was surrounded by Sal-Sal and
finished its existence. Then we took the
Balynian fortress Balyk on the
Kara-Idel.
Here the captives, who received a nickname “fishermen“, were loaded on the ships
and rafts and transported to the Bulgar. In memory of it this menzel received
the name Yoklama, and its old name was given to the fortresses in the Baytüba,
built by the 30 thousand of the captured
Balyns. In addition to the
Tangra-Maydan they also built in the Baytüba the Akkerman, Aydar..., and by the
Agidel in the Kashan, Balykly... And in
the Talib time the captured
Balynians, ransomed from the
Burtases and Batyshes, built the Sal-Sal, Shonkar, Arslan, Lachyn. And the captured
Rumian built the mosques “
Rum“, “Alamir“, “Djalda“, a new Kan’s palace and the
caravan-sarai ”Òàø Yort” in the Bulyar... After the Tangra-Maydan battle the Second Badjanak War has ended, for Bulymer promised not to establish a road to the Dima-Tarkhan, renewed the payment of the Djir Tribute, opened the Artan road, allowed the Bulgarian merchants a duty-free trade in the Djir and Galidj, and gave the son of Yauchy as a hostage. Negotiations took place in the Bashtu and in menzel Yauchy, and from the Urus side there was their ambassador, the Frang Boryn. Some say that the station in memory of it received his name, but it seems to me it is a mistake... Left by us to their fate, the Badjanaks of the Kashan had to accept Christianity of the Frang type from the hands of Boryn. Then Yauchy, who also accepted Christianity from the hands of Boryn, relied on them in the struggle for the Urus throne, and after his defeat left with them to the Modjar state. And Boryn also sent his preacher to the Bulgar under a pretext of keeping Yauchy inclined to the wicked faith of the Frants. The Kaubuyian Bek Boyan Ryshtauly came with him to the Bulyar and gave money for the construction of the mosque “Boyan“… And the wicked preacher was called Autun. He persuaded Yauchy to give money for the construction of the caravan-sarai ”Bukhar Yorty” and to set up the balik “Bata-balik“ for the Christians, for which he received a permission to erect a wooden church for the Christians of the Bulyar. It began to be called “Bura-Kala“, and in it Autun was saying that time will come for the acceptance by the great eastern people of the Christianity, and for the punishment of all sinners worldwide... And when Yauchy was sent home with honor, and went to the Bashtu by the Horys-yuly, Autun did not go with him, and remained in the Bulyar to serve in the church, which suffered strongly during the time of the Syb-Bulat’s siege in the 1183 AD... When the Badjanak War began, Timar had to return the Kashan to Kukcha, for
otherwise the kursybai refused to battle. But in the 1004 AD, when Kukcha died
and Sal-Sal was fighting in the North, Timar conceded to the demands of the
kazanchis to transfer the Kashan to the ulanian governor. The son of Sal-Sal, the Kashan
Ulugbek Vasyl, was summoned to the Bolgar and put
in chains, after which a group of the kazanchis moved to the Kashan. However Shukriya, the
daughter of Sal-Sal, blocked together with subashes all approaches to the city.
Then Sal-Sal arrived here in time, after receiving the news about the death of
his father... The kazanchis at the approach of the kursybai hasty melted back,
but unexpectedly Sal-Sal got under a barrage by a unit of his own daughter. It
turned out that the father and the daughter did not see each other for a long
time, and Shukriya did not recognize her own father, and took him for the leader
of the kazanchis. Fortunately, one of the chirmyshes of Shukriya recognised the
Bek and had time to prevent a bloodshed. Pleased with the arrival of the kursybai, the
Kashans immediately lifted Sal-Sal to the throne of the
Ulugbeks.
Timar did not recognize, in vain, the legality of this act, which caused an indignation of the
Kashans. They immediately supported by the whole
dissatisfied country: the subashes and chirmyshes indignant for the extreme military obligations, the Mardanians that hated the
Kan for the violations of their
liberties, Baytübaes afraid of the transfers of the Bulyar lands into the hands
of the kazanchis. The quiet Masgut immediately took advantage of widespread
indignation and went with a unit of Mardans onto the capital. The kazanchi
militia was sent, prior to it, to fight with the Bulyars, who expelled the ulanian
Ulugbek, and Timar remained in the Bolgar with only a small militia unit. Masgut surrounded the citadel “Mumin“ and offered the
Kan to surrender the
throne peacefully and to leave to the Nur-Suvar. Timar had to submit, but he
barely left the gate when an arrow of one of the Bellak’s archers killed him on the spot. |
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Djagfar Tarihi Contents · Djagfar Tarihi Preface · Chapters 1-5 · Chapters 6-10 · Chapters 11-15 · Chapters 16-20 · Chapters 21-25 and Ghazi-Baradj · Appendix |
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