380 
HAZRET ISHAN. 
some Turcoman hostages, whose escape he had seconded, and reached 
their obahs in safety. The hospitality of the Turcomans is notorious, 
particularly to devotees. Mahomed Chini, by his address, his appear¬ 
ance of sanctity, and his arts, soon gained a great ascendancy over 
them. He pretended to work miracles; and imposed upon them a cup 
that would never empty, and a tobrah or horse-bag which, however a 
horse might eat, would always keep its full measure of corn. In the 
course of a short time he found himself at the head of a large body of 
murids, or disciples, whose minds took whatever impulse he chose to 
give them; and he lost no time in directing them towards his private 
views. He headed them in inroads against the Persians, and made 
great ravages about Asterabad. He possessed himself of Meyamey, 
Ketoul, Fenderis, Tajerm, and other places in the vicinities of Kalpoush 
and Asterabad, and gave himself the airs of royalty. He issued fir¬ 
mans, and even addressed them to the King of Persia, in a style of 
boldness that did not fail to have a certain degree of effect. He routed 
the Persians several times, and was daily increasing in power, when he 
was killed in a rencontre near Asterabad. The Turcomans revere his 
memory as a saint, and make the ziaret, or pilgrimage, at his tomb. 
Mahomed Chini was the disciple of a man still more extraordinary 
than himself, who seven years before had great sway in the eastern parts 
of Persia, and who was adored at Herat as a prophet. He went by the 
name of Hazret Ishan, and was so skilful an impostor that many of his 
disciples, of whom he had great numbers, were so bigotted as to offer 
themselves as sacrifices to evince their faith in him. His great miracle 
was a digue, or cauldron, which would feed five hundred poor with rice. 
He placed it in a corner of his room, made a communication with 
another apartment, through which he poured in fresh rice, and then 
collecting a great multitude together he appeared to feed them all 
from this cauldron. He also waged war with the Khorassanees, going 
to battle in a litter, carried on the heads of his murids, who constantly 
relieved each other. But he fell in a battle with the Persians, having 
been pierced through litter and all with a spear, when his disciples 
fled, and quiet was restored. 
