SULTAN SANJAR AND THE KARA-KHITĀYS
The country of Khwārazm[300] was one of the first conquests of the
Seljūks. On becoming masters of Khorāsān, the `Irāks, Persia, and
Syria, they chose men from among their Turkish slaves whom they placed
in charge of the various provinces. The governor thus set over Khwārazm
was named Balkategin, who was _Tasht-dār_, or Grand Ewer-bearer,[301]
to Sultan Melik Shāh, who exercised paramount authority in that
country. He had under him a Turkish slave whom he had purchased, named
Nūshtegin, who by his conduct at his master’s court was in such esteem
that on the death of Balkategin[302] he succeeded to the government of
Khwārazm. He became even more powerful than his lord, but, though he
is regarded as the first of the dynasty of Khwārazm-Shāhs, he remained
loyal to the Seljūks. He bestowed great care in the education of his
son Kutb ed-Dīn Mohammad, who succeeded him in A.H. 490 (1097) with the
additional title of _Khwārazm-Shāh_, or emperor of Khwārazm. He was
a great patron of letters, and made himself generally beloved in his
province.
It was during his tenure of office that the Kara-Khitāys began to make
their inroads westwards.
The empire of the Kara-Khitāys had been founded by the last prince of
the Kitan or Liao dynasty,[303] whose name was Ye-liu Ta-shi.[304] On
the destruction of that line by the Kin dynasty[305] in A.D. 1123,
Ye-liu Ta-shi, with a following of some two hundred men, passed into
the country lying to the north-west of Shen-si,[306] where he was
joined by numbers of Turks. He now set out in a westerly direction
and carried all before him. He conquered Kāshghar, Yarkand, Khotan,
and Turkestān, and at the beginning of A.D. 1124 or 1125 he reached
Ki-rh-man.[307] Here all his officers assembled and proclaimed him
emperor, whereupon he assumed the title of _Gūr-Khān_, or “Universal
Lord.”
Mahmūd, the Uïghūr Khān mentioned above,[308] was driven into
Transoxiana, which shortly after became tributary to the Kara-Khitāys.
Ye-liu Ta-shi, whose dominions reached from the Gobi to the Oxus, and
from the mountains of Tibet to Siberia, now fixed his residence at
Balāsāghūn.
Towards the end of Kutb ed-Dīn’s rule they advanced so far into
Transoxiana that the Grand Ewer-bearer sent an army of 100,000 men to
oppose them.[309] He, however, suffered a crushing defeat, and the
prince of the Kara-Khitāys, after imposing tribute on his vanquished
enemies, returned to Kāshghar, which now became his capital.[310]
Soon after his deliverance from these barbarians Kutb ed-Dīn died,[311]
and was succeeded by his son Atsiz. For many years the latter remained
at the court of Merv, fulfilling the office of Grand Ewer-bearer to
Sultan Sanjar; and so great was his influence with the Seljūk prince
that he made himself many enemies at court, and on this account he
asked permission to proceed to Khwārazm, which was then suffering from
anarchy. In spite of the warnings of his ministers, Sanjar allowed
Atsiz to depart. As soon as the governor reached his province he
rose in open revolt against his master, who was compelled to march
against his too powerful vassal.[312] But the rebels were no match for
the troops of Sanjar, who utterly defeated them.[313] The province
was restored to obedience, and Sulaymān Shāh, Sanjar’s nephew, was
appointed as its governor.[314] No sooner had Sanjar reached his
capital than Atsiz, collecting the scattered remnants of his army,
proceeded to attack Sulaymān Shāh. This latter, with whom Sultan Sanjar
had left but a few troops, deeming resistance useless, fled to his
uncle, and thus the whole of Khwārazm again fell into the hands of
Atsiz.
[Illustration: MAUSOLEUM OF SULTAN SANJAR, OLD MERV]
In the year A.H. 536 (1141) Ye-liu Ta-shi died without male
issue, and the empire of the Kara-Khitāys fell to two princesses in
succession,[315] the daughter and the sister of the late ruler. It was
in this year that Atsiz invited, or rather encouraged, the Kara-Khitāys
to push their conquests farther west into Transoxiana. Sanjar, hearing
of their advance, crossed the Oxus at the head of 100,000 men to meet
them.[316] In the battle which ensued, in the valley of Dirgham, Sanjar
met with the most crushing defeat which the Moslems had yet endured in
their struggles against the infidels in the East.[317] Sanjar himself,
who had hitherto been invincible, fled to Khorāsān by way of Tirmiz,
accompanied by the remnants of his huge army. Transoxiana was now in
the entire possession of the Kara-Khitāys, and for the first time a
Mohammedan community became subject to the enemies of their faith.[318]
The Kara-Khitāys, in the same year,[319] pushed on as far as Sarakhs,
Merv, and Nīshāpūr, but they appear to have retired satisfied with
the Oxus as their western boundary. Meanwhile Atsiz took advantage of
Sanjar’s fallen fortunes, and began to ravage Khorāsān. The Sultan,
however, had mustered forces sufficient to reassert his authority.
He marched on the town of Khwārazm and invested it, whereon Atsiz
bought him off with rich presents and assurances of good conduct in the
future, A.H. 538 (1143).[320] This truce was of short duration.
In the year A.H. 541 (1147) Sanjar again attacked Atsiz, but a
permanent reconciliation was soon attained.[321]
In A.H. 551 (1156)[322] Atsiz died at the age of sixty-one, and was
succeeded by his son Il-Arslān, with whom the independent dynasty of
Khwārazm-Shāhs properly begins. Meanwhile the affairs of Sultan Sanjar
were going from bad to worse, and the end of the last great Seljūk
was as ignoble as his career had been glorious. Strange to say, his
ultimate ruin was caused by a Turkish tribe who came of the same stock
as the Seljūks themselves.
The domination of the Kara-Khitāys in Transoxiana does not appear to
have affected the condition of the dwellers in towns, the peaceful
Tājiks, who were even allowed to appoint their own tax-collectors and
other officials.[323] The only classes who suffered at the hands of the
invaders were the Ghuz Turks, who were nomads like the Kara-Khitāys
themselves, and occupied all the best pasture-grounds. They now found
themselves forced to seek fresh fields. Crossing the Oxus, they
obtained permission from Sanjar to settle in Khatlān, Chaghāniyān,
and the environs of Balkh.[324] They numbered, we are told, 40,000
families, and the tribute imposed upon them was an annual contribution
to the royal kitchen of 24,000 sheep. These supplies were carried
off as occasion required by an officer of the Household.[325] On one
occasion the man sent to fetch the sheep was so scrupulous in his
choice that the Ghuz took offence and put him to death. The chief
butler was thus obliged to supply the royal kitchen from his own
flocks. The official complained of this outrage to Kamāj, the governor
of Balkh, who immediately reported it to Sultan Sanjar, offering to
bring the Ghuz to obedience, and further to extract from them 30,000
sheep for the royal kitchen. With the Sultan’s permission he returned
to Balkh and demanded of the Ghuz the sheep that had been withheld;
but the herdsmen refused to comply, adding that the Sultan of Merv
was their master, not the governor of Balkh. Kamāj, much incensed
at the slight put upon his authority, attacked the nomads, but in
the first engagement he was utterly put to rout.[326] On hearing of
this disaster, Sultan Sanjar marched on Balkh at the head of 100,000
men.[327] In spite of his vast numerical superiority he suffered
a crushing defeat, A.H. 548 (1153), and was taken prisoner.[328]
Intoxicated by this unlooked-for success, the Ghuz attacked the
capital itself. They found the Merv oasis in a state of brilliant
prosperity;[329] for since the days of Chakir Beg it had never been
molested, and, as the author of the _Rawzat-us-Safā_ says,[330] “it
had slumbered in peace and tranquillity.” The greedy nomads, spurred
to madness by the sight of so much wealth, seized all that met their
eyes, and then tortured the inhabitants till they revealed their
hidden treasures.[331] The fallen Sultan, meanwhile, was kept in close
confinement,[332] but was treated with the respect due to his rank.
Having ransacked Merv, the Ghuz laid waste the whole of Khorāsān, so
that, says Mīrkhwānd, “not a single spot in that province escaped their
destructive hands.” Sanjar remained for about four years in captivity;
and while his consort, Turkān Khātūn, who acted as queen-regent, lived,
he made no attempt to escape, lest harm should befall her. On her
death, in A.H. 551 (1156), he took advantage of a hunting expedition to
evade his captors. Gathering a few devoted followers on the other side
of the Oxus, he set out for his capital, but on reaching Merv he was so
heartbroken at the desolation that met his eyes that he sickened and
died.[333] The ruins of his splendid mausoleum are the chief glory of
ancient Merv. It was built by him during his lifetime; and so great
was its solidity that he gave it the name of _Dār ul-Ākhirat_, “the
Abode of Eternity.” Sixty years after his death it was destroyed by
Chingiz Khān.