ed-Din, who claimed descent from Ali by Hussein his second son, whose branch, according to the Persians, is that of the Imams. Haidar’s mother was the daughter of Hasan Beg, the first of the Turkman dynasty called Bayanduit, who furnished his son-in-law with an army to avenge the death of his father Juneid, who had been killed in battle with Ferukhzad king of Shirwan but Haidar lost his life in the attempt, his two sons Ismail and ‘Ali Mirza were made prisoners, and most of his adherents destroyed. Haidar’s two sons were afterwards set at liberty by Rustam Beg, the grandson of Hasan Beg, who succeeded his uncle Ya’acub. The subsequent portion of 'Ismai'il's career illustrative of our narrative, I translate from D'Herbelot : —
"At this period there were among the Mussulmans scat- tered throughout Asia an infinite number of people who professed publicly the sect of 'Ali, and especially the dis- tinctive form of it ascribed to Haider, which Sheik Sufi one of his illustrious ancestors had raised into high repute. Isma'il Sufi, hearing that there were a great many of these in Caramania, which is the ancient Cilicia, repaired thither,
lvi INTRODUCTION.
and raised a levy of seven thousand men attached to the sect, and more particularly devoted to his family, because either they or their fathers had been delivered out of the hands of Tamerlane through the intercession of Sheik Sufi.
"Young Isma'il, who was then only fourteen years old, undertook with this handful of men to wage war with Ferukhzad, king of Shir wan, a province of Media, whom he regarded as the murderer of his father. This enterprise was so successful, that he challenged and slew his enemy, seized his kingdom, and thereby gained a position which opened Asia to his ambition.
"This first essay in arms took place A.H. 906, corresponding exactly with A.D. 1500, and the following year Isma'il attacked and took the city of Tabriz, obliging Alvend, the grandson of Usuncassan [Hasan Beg] who reigned there, to flee and shut himself up in Baghdad; but that sultan was forced to leave that city also and take refuge in Diarbekir, where he died, A.H. 910, and Baghdad fell into the hands of Isma'il.
"In A.H. 908, [A.D. 1052,] Isma'il Shah, after making himself master of Tabriz, Media, and Chaldea, turned his arms against Persia, where another grandson of Usun- cassan reigned, named Murad Beg, or 'Amrath son of Ya'acub Beg. This prince, finding himself vigorously at- tacked by his adversary, wished to decide the contest by a general engagement. Leaving Shiraz with that object, he marched towards Hamadan, where the battle took place, wherein he was overcome and obliged to flee to Baghdad, as his cousin Alvend had done before him.
" In A.H. 909, [A.D. 1503,] Isma'il having besieged Murad in Baghdad, the latter took to flight, and running from one province to another was ultimately slain by the soldiers of Isma'il." 1
1 Bibliothèque Orientate, sub voce ISMAEL.
INTRODUCTION. lvii
The disturbed state of the country consequent on these intestine politi- co-reli-gious contests may reason- ably be inferred, and as they were at their height during Varthema’s sojourn in Persia, his incidental notice of them, as interrupting his journey to Samar- cand is entitled to be regarded as a strong internal proof of the truthfulness of his narrative.
The Persian merchant became so much attached to our traveler during the abortive attempt to reach Samarcand, that on their return to Shiraz he inti- mated to the latter his intention of giving him the hand of his niece, who was called “Samis, that is, the Sun,” and so far transgressed Mussulman etiquette in his favor as to present him personally to the damsel, with whom Varthema “pretended to be much pleased, although his mind was intent on other things.” He tells us, however, that his destined bride was “extremely beautiful, and had a name which suited her” and lest the designation should be considered a misnomer, it must be remembered that the Sun takes the feminine gender in most of the oriental languages.
Starting afresh from Shiraz, the two travelers reached Hormuz, where they embarked for India, and in due course anchored “at a port which is called Cheo, near to a very large river called the Indus, which Indus is near a city called Combeia.” Faulty as Varthema’s geography is of that part of the coast, there is no difficulty in identifying his “ Cheo” with Joah, or Kow, a village on one of the estuaries of the Indus about four miles from the sea, which is still frequented by native boats trading with
lviii INTRODUCTION.
Scind. His account of Cambay, however, which is the next port gained,—of the city; its situation near another river (the Myhee) the produce of the district, comprising abundance of grain, “an immense quantity of cotton” and manufactured silk stuffs, with which between forty and fifty vessels were laden every year and the cornelians and chalcedonies for which Cambay is still famous—in all these particulars his description is as applicable now as it was then. Moreover, the extraordinary tides called the Bore, which prevail in the Gulf of Cambay, are recognizable in his remarks on that subject, although he erroneously makes the waters “rise in the reverse of ours,” that is, “when the moon is on the wane.”
Before accompanying our author any farther, it may serve to illustrate his subsequent progress, and obviate needless repetition, if we take a gen-eral view of the political state of Western India at this period.
Till the end of the fourteenth century, Guzerat was a dependency of the Afghan or Ghori empire of Hindustan, and in A.D. 1391 Nasir-ed-Din Mu- hammed Shah bin Firuz Shah, the ruling emperor, appointed Dhafir Khan viceroy over that province but the disorders which subsequently ensued among the successors of Firuz Shah induced Dhafir Khan to throw off his allegiance to the court of Delhi, and in 1408 he declared himself independent under the title of Muzaffir Shah. Three years later, he was poisoned by his grandson Ahmed Shah, who succeeded him on the throne of Guzerat, and the sovereignty continued
INTRODUCTION. lix
in the same family till the acces- sion of Mahmud Shah, surnamed Bigarrah, who was the reigning sultan when Varthema reached Cambay.
The next native state with which our narrative brings us in contact is the Mussulman kingdom of the Deccan, comprising several dependencies in the Concan, of which the principal appear to have been Dabul and Goa, ruled by tributary governors, and extending as far south on the coast as the vicinity of Varthema’s “Bathacala.” Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the different principalities forming this kingdom were still subject to the Bahmani sultans of Kalberga, or Ahsunabad, a dynasty founded by Ala- ed-Din Bahmani, a servant at the court of Muhammed Shah Toghlak, the Ghori Emperor of Hindustan, who about A.D. 1347 conquered all the Dec- can and established his capital at Kalberga. But during the reign of Mah- mud Shah II, (A.D. 1482—1518,) the fourteenth of the Bahmani dynasty, the territories of this state were divided by the revolt of several of its subor- dinate governors: Fath-Allah Tmad Khan, of Berar, appropriated that province; Ahmed Nizam Shah, of Ahmednagar, followed his example; Kasim Berid, the Shah’s minister, made himself master of Bidar, or Ahmedabad and Yusuf Adil Khan seized upon Bijapur. The latter personage was the reputed son of Murad II of Anatolia, who on the accession of his elder brother Muhammed, and while yet a child, was sent secretly into Persia by his mother to escape the law which ordained that only one son of the reigning family should be suffered
lx INTRODUCTION.
to live. Brought up until sixteen years old among the disciples of the famous Sheikh Sufi, he subsequently determined to try his fortune in Hindustan, became one of the bodyguard in the royal house- hold at Kalberga, and eventually governor of Bijapur. Taking advantage of the dissensions which arose at that period in the Bahmani empire and sup- ported by a strong party in the state, he assumed independence with the title of Adil Shah. This event occurred in A.D. 1501,
