1886.] Ghaznavis in Mdward-un-Nahr and 'part of Khurdsdn. 93 
took place (275 H.) in wliich Nasr was entirely defeated and taken prison¬ 
er. The victorious Isma’il showed the greatest generosity and respect to 
his brother as head of the Samani house, forgave him, and induced him 
to return at once to Samarkand, remaining his lieutenant in Bukhara. 
For the next few years Nasr remained quietly at Samarkand where he died 
on the 22nd of Jumadi-ul-awwal, 279 H. 
Isma’il 279—295 H. 
Isma’il assumed the government of Mawara-un-Nahr, as of all the 
territory which his brother had held, making Nasr’s son governor of 
Samarkand, and choosing Bukhara for his own residence, receiving the 
usual diploma of investure from the Khalifah. Such recognition had by 
this time become practically a matter of indifference, the Khalifate having 
ceased to be respected as a civil power and the Court of Ba gh dad only 
maintaining itself by a series of small intrigues. In fact at the very 
time A1 Mu’tazid-b’illah was accreditingc Isma’il the “ Defender of the 
Faith and of the Klialifate against all enemies ” he was sending secret 
orders to ’Amrii bin Lais, the Saffari, to attack and overthrow him. The 
result was a war lasting some seven years, which only terminated by the 
total defeat of ’Amru under the walls of Balkh, who was taken prisoner 
287 H. and sent by Isma’il to the Khalifah to dispose of as he deemed 
fit. The Khalifah rewarded want of success by causing ’Amrii to be 
paraded on a camel through the Ba gh dad streets and thrown into prison, 
where he was either starved to death or beheaded about 290 ; while to 
Isma’il he sent costly gifts and a further diploma investing him with the 
sovereignty of Khurasan from Bastam (the modern Shahrud) eastwards 
as far as Balkh. and northwards from Kain, by Sijistan, ’Irak, and 
Mazandaran to the Oxus. It is from this date, 287 H. that Isma’il 
is by many writers spoken of as the first of his dynasty entitled to be 
called a sovereign Prince. At the beginning of his reign he had defeat¬ 
ed the ’Alawi Muhammad bin Zaid* in Tabaristan, had disposed of the 
remaining claimants of the Tahiris, defeated and reduced to subordinate 
governors the Saffarisf in Sijistan and Balkh. and in a series of cam¬ 
paigns defeated the Turks on his northern border. Bukhara was now 
the virtual capital of the Central Asian States. “ The power of the ruler 
on the Zarafshan,” (Scatterer of gold) ; says Professor Vambery “ extend¬ 
ing northwards to the confines of the Great Desert, eastwards to the 
Thien-Shan mountains, southwards to the Persian Gulf and the northern 
frontier of India, and westwards beyond ’Irak to within a few days’ 
* Muhammad bin Zaid nl ’Alawi, a descendant of the Khalifah. ’All. 
t Some particulars of the Saffaris are given subsequently. 
