Ulugh Beg II

Ulugh Beg II also known as Ulugh Beg Kabuli[2] (d.1502) was the Timurid ruler of Kabul and Ghazni from 1461 to 1502.[3]

Ulugh Beg Mirza
Ruler of Kabul and Ghazni
Reign1461–1502
SuccessorAbdur Razaq Mirza
Died1502
Burial
Abdur Razaq Mausoleum, Ghazni
IssueAbdur Razaq Mirza
Miran Shah Mirza
Biki Begum
Bibi Zarif
Full name
Mughith-ud-din Ulugh Beg Mirza II[1]
DynastyHouse of Timur
FatherAbu Sa'id Mirza

Reign

Born the fourth son of the Timurid Sultan Abu Sa'id Mirza, Ulugh Beg was given the cities of Kabul and Ghazni by his father, governing first as a prince and then, after Abu Sa'id's death, as an independent monarch.[4][5] His elder brothers, Ahmad Mirza and Mahmud Mirza, were given the rule of Samarqand and Badakhshan respectively, while another brother, Umar Shaikh Mirza, received Farghana. The latter became the father of Babur, who later founded the Mughal Empire.[4]

Ulugh Beg had a long and stable reign,[6] during which Kabul became a cultural centre. The discovery of a number of books from his library, including a copy of the Shahnameh, confirms the activity of a royal scriptorium during his reign. The elaborate frontispiece of one manuscript suggests that illuminators, calligraphers, and possibly painters were attached to Ulugh Beg's court. He also had a love of gardens, which was noted by his nephew Babur who had inherited this trait. The names of some of those he had commissioned have been recorded, such as the Bagh-e Behesht (Garden of Paradise) and the Bostan-Sara (Home of Orchards).[7]

During his reign, the Pashtun Yusufzai tribe first arrived in Kabul. Some traditions state that the group had lent their support to Ulugh Beg, who in turn highly favoured them. However, during the last quarter of the 15th century, relations between the tribe and the ruler became strained. Eventually, with the assistance of the Gugyani tribe, Ulugh Beg allegedly had many of the tribal leaders assassinated.[8] Orientalist Annette Beveridge records the following story regarding Ulugh Beg and the head of the Yusufzai, Malik Sulaiman:[9]

One day a wise man of the tribe, Shaikh Usman saw Sulaiman sitting with the young Mirza (Ulugh Beg) on his knee and warned him that the boy had the eyes of Yazid and would destroy him and his family as Yazid had destroyed that of the Prophet. Sulaiman paid him no attention and gave the Mirza his daughter in marriage. Subsequently, the Mirza, having invited the Yusufzai to Kabul, treacherously killed Sulaiman and 700 of his followers. They were killed at the place called Siyah-sang near Kabul; it is still known as the Grave of the Martyrs. Their tombs are revered and that of Shaikh Usman in particular.

Alternatively, another account states that after the Yusufzais migrated to Kabul, they resorted to banditry alongside a number of other tribes. This reached such an extent that Ulugh Beg subsequently had the group expelled from the region.[10]

Death and succession
Abdur Razaq Mausoleum, circa 1924

Ulugh Beg died in 1502 and was likely buried in the Abdur Razaq Mausoleum in Ghazni. Though the tomb is named for his son, Abdur Razaq's short reign of only a year makes it unlikely that he had the opportunity to order its construction. It is instead more probable that the tomb was originally built by Ulugh Beg for his own use, with Abdur Razaq being interred in it later.[6][11]

Abdur Razaq, who was still in his minority at the time of his father's death, was quickly usurped by one of his ministers. A tumultuous period followed, which only ended with Muhammad Mukim Arghun, Ulugh Beg's son-in-law, taking control of Kabul.[12][13] Finally, Ulugh Beg's nephew Babur, seeing Muqim as a usurper, drove out the latter and captured the city for himself in 1504, pensioning off his cousin Abdur Razaq with an estate. It was from here that Babur later launched his invasion of the Indian subcontinent.[14][15]

Issue

[18]

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References
  1. Khan, Ansar Zahid (1982). Babur's relations with the tribes in Kabul and the Punjab. Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. 30–31. Pakistan Historical Society. p. 171.
  2. Dale, Stephen F.; Payind, Alam (1999). "The Ahrārī Waqf in Kābul in the Year 1546 and the Mughūl Naqshbandiyyah". Journal of the American Oriental Society. 119 (2). American Oriental Society: 218–233. JSTOR 606107. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. Gibb, Hamilton Alexander Rosskeen; Lewis, Bernard; Pellat, Charles; Schacht, Joseph (1973). The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Brill. p. 357.
  4. Rapson, Edward James; Haig, Wolseley; Burn, Richard (1971). The Cambridge History of India. IV The Mughul Period. University Press. p. 3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  5. Williams, Laurence Frederic Rushbrook (1918). An Empire Builder of the Sixteenth Century: A Summary Account of the Political Career of Zahir-ud-din Muhammad, Surnamed Babur. S. Chand & Co. p. 78.
  6. Golombek, Lisa; Wilber, Donald Newton (1988). The Timurid Architecture of Iran and Turan. I. Princeton University Press. p. 299. ISBN 978-0-691-03587-1.
  7. Alam, Muzaffar; Nalini, Françoise Delvoye; Gaborieau, Marc (1988). The Making of Indo-Persian Culture: Indian and French Studies. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 168. ISBN 978-81-7304-210-2.
  8. Kazimi, Muhammad Reza (2002). Indian Reappraisals of Pakistan's Founder. Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. 50. Pakistan Historical Society. p. 45.
  9. Babur (1922). The Babur-nama In English (Memoirs of Babur). II. Translated by Annette Beveridge. Luzac & Co. p. XXXVI.
  10. Bellew, Henry Walter (1891). An Inquiry Into the Ethnography of Afghanistan. Indus Publications. p. 72.
  11. Hoag, John D. (1968). "The Tomb of Ulugh Beg and Abdu Razzaq at Ghazni, A Model for the Taj Mahal". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 27 (4). University of California Press: 234–248. JSTOR 988486. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  12. Babur (1826). Memoirs of Zehir-Ed-Din Muhammed Baber: Emperor of Hindustan. Translated by John Leyden; William Erskine. Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, & Green. p. 126.
  13. Hasan, Mohibbul (1985). Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire in India. Manohar. p. 31.
  14. Srivastava, Ashirbadi Lal (1964). The History of India, 1000 A.D.-1707 A.D. Shiva Lal Agarwala. p. 315.
  15. Rapson, Haig & Burn (1971, p. 5)
  16. Babur (1922). The Babur-nama In English (Memoirs of Babur). I. Translated by Annette Beveridge. Luzac & Co. pp. 327–28.
  17. Balabanlilar, Lisa (2012). Imperial Identity in Mughal Empire: Memory and Dynastic politics in Early Modern Central Asia. I. B. Tauris. p. 24. ISBN 978-1-848-85726-1.
  18. Woods, John E. (1990). The Timurid dynasty. Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies. p. 39.
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