[94] Wieger 1643: Chav. Doc. 284 f.
[95] Chav. Doc. 168.
[96] As Jūzjān is distinguished from Shubūrqān in Tab. 1608. 17, it is probable that this was the town Kundurm or Qurzumān mentioned in Yaʿqūbī’s Geog. 287.
[97] Tab. 1613: Chav. Doc. 83 f., 122 n. As regards the adjective Kharlukhī applied to the Jabghu in 1612. 16, the most satisfactory explanation is that given by Marquart, Hist. Glossen 183 f.
[98] The frequent references in the Chinese annals to the association of Se-kin-tʾi, king of Kish, with the Türgesh raise an interesting problem. There can be no doubt that he is the same prince as Al-Ishkand, ruler of Nasaf, in the Arabic records. The name is Iranian and personal, not dynastic. (See Justi’s Iranisches Namenbuch.) Al-Ishkand is first mentioned in the account of the Battle of the Pass, (Tab. 1542. 8) where he appears in command of a cavalry force on the side of the Khāqān, though Kish and Nasaf were both in the hands of the Arabs (1545. 1). The forces which he commanded were therefore not the ordinary local troops. During Hārith’s siege of Tirmidh he received reinforcements from Al-Ishkand, but no statement is made on the composition of his forces. He is mentioned again as accompanying the Khāqān and the Sughdians in the attack on Asad before the “Battle of the Baggage” (1597. 17-18,) where the reading ‘Ispahbadh of Nasā’ is probably an error in the tradition. Again there can be no question here of local troops from Nasaf or Kish. In the Chinese records Se-kin-tʾi appears as the commander of an independent force, not merely a detachment of Turks or levies from Shāsh or Farghāna. The most reasonable conclusion is that Al-Ishkand was the commander of the corps of Sughdian refugees. This would explain the title “King of the Warriors” by which he is sometimes mentioned in the Chinese records (Chav. Doc. 147 n. 1 and 313). The actual term (Chākar) from which the title was derived does not appear in the Arabic histories in this connection, but it is perhaps possible that a variant of the name (derived from razm) is to be read in Tab. 1614. 2 for the meaningless “razābin al-Kissī.” In 1609. 15 a force of “Bābīya” is mentioned along with the Sughdians, and the name, though unrecognisable, probably refers to some forces connected with Sughd. Wellhausen’s conclusion that the Sughdians and “Bābīya” formed part of the personal following of Hārith b. Surayj seems to force the connection in the text too far (hamala ʾl-hārithu waman maʿahu min ahliʾs-sughdi wal-bābīyati). On the other hand, since al-Ishkand appears as the ally of Hārith, we may conclude that some understanding existed between the latter and the Sughdians (and therefore the Turks) at the time of his revolt. It is probable that the Sughdian corps assisted in the recovery of Samarqand from the Arabs.
V. THE RECONQUEST OF TRANSOXANIA.
The reaction produced by the downfall of the Türgesh power was manifested in Transoxania in the first place by an increased regard for China. The princes had found the Türgesh yoke no less galling in the end than that of the Arabs[99]; the country was as wasted and impoverished by their continual raids as it had been under the latter. The profitable native and transit trade, the source of the entire wealth of the cities, must have shrunk to negligible proportions if it had not wholly ceased. All classes of the people therefore were weary of war and sought only a peace consonant with their self-respect. For the attainment of these aims it was vain to look to China; the granting of bombastic titles to a few princes brought neither comfort nor aid. A final opportunity was thus offered to wise statesmanship to swing the whole country round to the Arabs almost without a blow. For two years, however, the situation seemed to remain much as it was, except for an expedition into Khuttal, probably on the pretext of assisting the ruling house against a usurper from Bamiyān. Nevertheless some progress had been made by the administration in regaining the prestige it had lost. This was due not merely to the effect of the victories over Hārith and the Türgesh, but even more to Asad’s personal relations with the dihqāns. He had, as we have seen, gratified the national pride of the people of Tukhāristān by transferring the seat of power from Merv, the capital of the foreigners, to Balkh, the centre of their national life. As had been the case even in his first term of office, he was able to attract to his side many of the more influential elements in Lower Tukhāristān and the Ephthalite lands—to this, in fact, was largely due his success in the struggle with the Turks. More striking evidence still is afforded by the conversion of the dihqāns at this period, amongst them the minor chief Sāmān-Khudāh and probably also the Barmak. By this means Asad laid the foundations for a true reconciliation and Narshakhī’s work amply attests the honour which later generations attached to his name. His work was of course incomplete in that it was practically confined to the ruling classes and naturally did not extend to the now independent dihqāns of Sughd.