Shah Mahmud Churas's chronicle of Kashgaria
The main native narrative of the Moghul khans of Kashgaria, about 1546 to 1676.
Full title Chronicle: history of the Moghul khans of Kashgaria continuing the Tarikh-i Rashidi, critical Persian text, Russian translation and commentary by O. F. Akimushkin (Moscow 1976; second edition St Petersburg 2010)
تاریخ (انیس الطالبین)
Shah Mahmud Churas (fl. 1670s)
Shah Mahmud Churas wrote this Persian chronicle in the late 1670s as a continuation of Mirza Haidar's Tarikh-i Rashidi. For the sixteenth century he copies earlier sources, and for the mid-seventeenth he speaks from service to Abdallah Khan and Ismail Khan. It tells of Kashgar, Yarkand, Aksu, Turfan and the Ladakh campaigns. The atlas does not hold the text: the corpus knows a 2010 reissue of Akimushkin's Persian text with Russian translation, and it keeps full text only for works published before 1929 or openly licensed.
- How they knew
- Part eyewitness
- Who “Tartar” means here
- Not recorded. The card ties the polity to what Europeans called Little Bukharia, and lists Moghuls, Khojas, Kirghiz, Kazakhs, Qalmaqs and Uzbeks.
- Why read it
- The only detailed native story of Kashgaria between Mirza Haidar and the Dzungar conquest.
- Watch out
- Its early part copies Mirza Haidar, and the scan on offer is a modern copyrighted reissue uploaded by a third party. The atlas quotes nothing from this work.
What it says
No quotes from this one yet. Its text is out of reach for now, or the scan could not be read.
The fine print
How we know
mixed Part firsthand observation, part drawn from other sources.
mixed: continuation of Mirza Haidar for the sixteenth century from earlier sources; firsthand for the mid-seventeenth century (author served Abdallah Khan and Ismail Khan)
Research notes
- Continues and copies Mirza Haidar for the earlier part; the IA scan is a modern copyrighted reissue uploaded by a third party.
Why it matters
Only detailed native narrative for Kashgaria between Mirza Haidar and the Dzungar conquest; central for the Khoja polity of 'Little Bukharia'.
Places named
Kashgar; Yarkand; Aksu; Turfan; Moghulistan; Tibet (Ladakh campaigns)
Peoples named
Moghul khans; Khojas; Kirghiz; Kazakhs; Qalmaqs; Uzbeks