899 AH.— OCT. 12TH. 1493 TO OCT. 2nd. 1494 33
ing to his circumstances, were settled and assigned district wilayat) or land (ylr) or office (mauja) or charge {jirga) or stipend (wajh).
When SI. Ahmad Mirza had gone two or three stages on his return-march, his health changed for the worse and high fever appeared. On his reaching the Aq Su near Aura-tipa, he bade farewell to this transitory world, in the middle of Shawwal of the date 899 (mid July 1494 ad.) being then 44 (lunar) years old.
m. SI. Ahmad Mirza's birth and descent.
He was born in 855 AH. (1451 AD.) the year in which his father took the throne {i.e. Samarkand). He was SI. Abu-sa'id Mirza's eldest son ; his mother was a daughter of Aurdu-bugha Tarkhan (Arghun), the elder sister of Darwesh Muhammad Tarkhan, and the most honoured of the Mirza's wives.
n. His appearance and habits.
He was a tall, stout, brown-bearded and red-faced man. He had beard on his chin but none on his cheeks. He had very Fol. 18*. pleasing manners. As was the fashion in those days, he wound his turban in four folds and brought the end forward over his brows.
0. His characteristics and manners.
He was a True Believer, pure in the Faith ; five times daily, without fail, he recited the Prayers, not omitting them even on drinking-days. He was a disciple of his Highness Khwaja 'Ubaidu'l-lah {Ahrari), his instructor in religion and the strengthener of his Faith. He was very ceremonious, particu- larly when sitting with the Khwaja. People say he never drew one knee over the other ^ at any entertainment of the Khwaja. On one occasion contrary to his custom, he sat with his feet together. When he had risen, the Khwaja ordered the place he had sat in to be searched ; there they found, it may have been, a bone.^ He had read nothing whatever and was ignorant
1 For fashions of sitting, see Tawarikh-i-guzida Nasrat-nama B.M. Or. 3222. Ahmad would appear to have maintained the deferential attitude by kneeling and sitting back upon his heels.
2 bir sunkak bar ikan dur. I understand that something defiling must have been there, perhaps a bone.
