Timur

TIMUR (Timur i Leng, the lame TimUr), commonly known as TAMERLANE, the renowned Oriental conqueror, was born in 1336 at Kesh, better known as Shahr-i-Sabz, "the green city," 5o m. south of Samarkand in Transoxiana. His father Teragai was head of the tribe of Berlas. Great-grandson of Karachar Nevian (minister of Jagatai, son of Jenghiz Khan, and com mander-in-chief of his forces), and distinguished among his fel low-clansmen as the first convert to Islamism, Teragai might have assumed the high military rank which fell to him by right of inheritance; but like his father Burkul he preferred a life of retirement and study. At the age of twenty Tim& had not only become an adept in manly outdoor exercises but had earned the reputation of being an attentive reader of the Koran.

About

1358, however, he came before the world as a leader of armies. His career for the next ten or eleven years may be thus briefly summarized from the Memoirs. Allying himself both in cause and by family connection with Kurgan, the dethrones and destroyer of Kazan, chief of the western Jagatai, he was deputed to invade Khurasan at the head of a thousand horse. This was the second warlike expedition in which he was the chief actor, and the accomplishment of its objects led to further operations, among them the subjection of Khwarizm and Urganj. After the murder of Kurgan the contentions which arose among the many claimants to sovereign power were arrested by the invasion of Toghluk Timar of Kashgar, a descendant of Jenghiz. Tim& was despatched on a mission to the invader's camp, which led to his appointment to the government of Maward-Inahr (Transoxiana).

By the death of his father Tim& was also left hereditary head of the Berlas. The exigencies of his quasi-sovereign position com pelled him to have recourse to his formidable patron, whose re appearance on the banks of the Sihon created a consternation not easily allayed. Mawaralnahr was taken from Tim& and entrusted to a son of Toghluk; but he was defeated in battle by the bold warrior he had replaced at the head of a numerically far inferior force. Toghluk's death facilitated the work of reconquest, and a few years of perseverance and energy sufficed for its accomplish ment, as well as for the addition of a vast extent of territory.

During this period Tim& and his brother-in-law, Hosain—at first fellow-fugitives and wanderers in joint adventures full of interest and romance—became rivals and antagonists. At the close of 1369 Hosain was assassinated and Tim& proclaimed sovereign at Balkh, mounted the throne at Samarkand.

The next thirty years or so were spent in various wars and expeditions. Timar not only consolidated his rule at home by the subjection of intestine foes, but sought extension of territory by encroachments upon the lands of foreign potentates. His conquests to the west and north-west led him among the Mongols of the Caspian and to the banks of the Ural and the Volga; those to the south and south-west comprehended almost every province in Persia, including Baghdad, Kerbela and Kurdistan. One of the most formidable of his opponents was Toktamish, who after hav ing been a refugee at the court of Tim& became ruler both of the eastern Kipchak and the Golden Horde, and quarrelled with Tim& over the possession of Khwarizm. It was not until 1395 that the power of Toktamish was finally broken. (See GOLDEN HORDE.) In 1398, when Tim& was more than sixty years of age, Farishta tells us that, "informed of the commotions and civil wars of India," he "began his expedition into that country," and on Sept. 12, "arrived on the banks of the Indus." His passage of the river and upward march along the left bank, the reinforce ment he provided for his grandson Pir Mahommed (who was invested in Multan), the capture of towns or villages accom panied, it might be, with destruction of the houses and the mas sacre of the inhabitants, the battle before Delhi and the easy victory, the triumphal entry into the doomed city, with its out come of horrors—all these circumstances belong to the annals of India. In April 1399, some three months after quitting the capital of Mahmad Toghluk, Tim& was back in his own capital beyond the Oxus. It need scarcely be added that an immense quantity of spoil was conveyed away. According to Clavijo, ninety cap tured elephants were employed to carry stones from certain quar ries for Tim& to erect a mosque at Samarkand.