Evening Star Newspaper, May 26, 1929, Page 108

THE SUNDAY WR, WASHINGTON, D. €., MAY 2, 1 929—PART 7. undering the World to Enrich a City damerlane’s Conguest of Persia and India, and the Challenge of Islam—The Glory of Samarkand and the Emperor’s Family—A Youth’s Love Affair That Upset an Empire—Miran Shah and the Cup Companions EDITOR’S NOTE—In previous articles, Mr. Lamb has told how Timur, the Lame, known to history as Tamerlane, rose to leadership of the Tatar tribe and founded a great Central Asian empire with Samarkand as its Capital. His un- wparalleled military feat, up to this point, was trailing the Golden Horde of Mon- gols to the steppes of Russia and van- quishing them there. By HAROLD LAMB. RAN—the Persia of today—was in Tamber- lane’s time a seat of grandeur, mostly in ruins. Witty and wine-loving princes sat upon the marble throne-stones of the dead who had been giants of Islam—jackals in the lair of lions. Mummers, rhapsodists, jugglers of words and praise, beggars in silk—these were the cup companions of princes. And among them a fellowship of inspired poets. These pleasure- Joving Persians gave homage to the forbidden Daughter of the Grape, and they loved betier to sing of chivalry than to put on armor. They could stone a mocker of their faith, and still dispute over the cup the futility of faith. They were the Greeks of Asia, the syb- arites and, in another moment, the fanatics. *The Tatars they hated, calling them heretics. Then in the year 1386, when the hazy sun of Winter dimmed the glare of the desert floor, down came Timur from the north. He was accompanied by 70 veteran divisions marching at ease, and the splendor of the first city, Isfahan, widened their eyes—a place of domes and arch-shaded streets, and bazaar-crowded bridgss. Out to greet him advanced the grandees of Isfahan. They were given presents and seated on the carpet of the Amir, while the fate of Isfahan was discussed. “Thy people are granted their lives,” Timur $aid, breaking through the fencing of courtesy, *“and thy city will be spared from plundering, if a ransom is paid.” TBE ransom was agreed upon, lm{ the next ¢ day Timur made a formal entry, riding in state through the main avenue, and out again to his camp, leaving detachments in command of the city gates. : All went well enough until that night. Sev- enty thousand soldiers had marched for two months or so without anything in particular jto divert them, and they looked longingly at the lights of Isfahan. Detachments that were sent in on duty 'lingered in the bazaars, and many of their comrades in the camps invented cause why they should visit the city. More and among the Persians assembled under the leader- ship of a blacksmith, A drum was beaten, and shouting was heard—the rallying cry of Islam: “Ho, Muslimin!” At this the people éame out of their houses, @nd mobs formed in the streets. Fighting be- gan at onge betwéen these throngs and the More than one of the minstrels of Iran went back with Timur to Samarkand. But he had veason to regret the cup companions of the Miran Shah, his third son, had always been headstrong, given to wine and skepticism =—brave enough upon occasion, but savagely cruel. Only when he joined the army under ‘rimur did he keep himself within bounds. RS later Timur gave the government of . the Caspian region to Miran Shah, only to hear when returning from a year’s campaign in India that his son was nearly insane. The Tatar officers reported mad deeds in the great cities—wealth scattered from windows to \ Mo nanan ‘ s e chamberlain of the palace in haste to Timur. “The King's daughter waits to greet thee,” they said, “alone.” It was Khan Zade who appeared in this manner to Timur—she who had been the bride 4L LR A SEE & ) She drew aside her veil and threw herself at his feet. that was always_carried behind him; but the lance bearer had been beset and had gone off, taking the weapon with him. Before he could draw his sword, Mansur rode against him. Twice the Persian prince slashed with his sword at the Tatar conqueror, Timur bent his head, and the sword's edge glasesed off the steel helmet, sliding harmlessly down his mailed arms. Timur kept motionless in the saddle, until one of his bodyguard thrust a shield over his head, and another lashed his horse be- tween the daring Mansur and his foe. Mansur turned at last to escape, but was hunted down. It was the end of resistance in Persia. The conqueror now turned his attention to the adornment of Samarkand. This city had I all Yebest | : i 3 ] g2 But this request Timur and had ordered Shadi Mulkh before him. _PFrightened, Khalil had hicYsn her, had gone off. girl, henna-stained, tears smearing the black kohl from her eyelids upon her cheeks—the impassive empress, stern in the traditions of the Tatar conquerors. Shadi Mulkh, a thing created for pleasure, maddened now by fear. And Sarai Khanum, at once the widow and wife, the mother and grandmother of reigning princes, about whom had centered the anxieties and stress of 50 years. She sent Shadi Mulkh to the care of her own eunuchs, forbidding her to see Khalil until her case was brought before Timur. 3% A slight affair, this love of & boy for an unknown girl, but upon it rested the future of an empire. Between Sarai Khanum and Khan Zade there was bitter antagonism—for Khan Zade’s influence was little less than the prestige of the elder princess. And Khan Zade was ambitious, and much more clever than Sarai Khanum. Men called them the Great Lady and the Little Lady. Then into Samarkand rode a courier who made no secret of his message, for he reined in a rearing horse to shout ab and saral and gate: €3 i “Victory! Our Lord has “'Others came with fuller stories, grime h. Before meeting the Sultan of Delhi the Tatars had massacred, they said, a hundred thousand captives. They had broken the army of India in battle, and had taken Delhi. So Timur made his eighth triumphal entry into Samarkand: He was now 64 years of age. Although his body seemed as vigorous as ever, he had been struck down at times by illness; his mind was as alert as in middle age, but he was given to long silences, and his temper had hardened. All his life he had been troubled by an inward conflict. The faith of his devout father, the law of Koran—these influences were in conflict with the heritage of his nomad an- cestors, the lust for battle and the reek of de< struction under his hand. And now it seemed as if he reverted to the code of the nomad. “A man’'s path is only one.” - Struggle and victory and the glory of possession. - The kings of the west were the pillars of Islam—the Kalif was in- Cairo, the Protector of the Faithful in Bagdad, the Sword Arm of the Faith in the person of the Emperor of the Turks. To them the Tatar was a barbarian and more than half a pagan. To march against them would be to divide the world of Islam, and to put a million men under arms. UT there was a third side to the old Tatar’s somber character. He was still the Timur who had gone alone to the gate of Urganj to fight a duel. He would never remain quiet if challenged. Now chieftains under ‘his protec- tion had been ousted from the threshold of and in September he set out at the head of the army. For three years Samarkand did see him. The situation confronting -the Tatar queror was peculiar. To reach his enemies necessary to move west, more i 4 EEiEEEE? g £ g advantage of a veteran army, himself mander, against a divided . country over which they maneuvered the same at all. f3ia¢ Esi%iig Ega?igg §§g 3 2gE¥% § [ i §§5593% ééhgfiéafié"’