INTRODUCTORY NOTICES. 
K 
o 
RasMdi as having flourished in various regions of Central Asia, including 
Eastern Turkistan, during nearly two centuries before their rise to power 
as described in Muhammad Sadiq’s history. Yet, strangely enough, not 
one of the names given by this author, in the pedigree at the beginning 
of the book (see below), can be identified with certainty, with any Khoja 
mentioned in the Tdrikh-i-RasMdif It is possible that one cause for 
this may be that these professing saints went by several different names— 
or rather titles; and these titles seem to have been assumed, or given to 
them by their followers, at different times and perhaps in different places. 
However this may be, it can only be regretted that none of the later ones 
mentioned in Muhammad Sadiq’s pedigree are to be found in the history 
of Mirza Haidar, for he furnishes dates so abundantly, that had it been 
otherwise, the descent of the Khojas we have to do with in the Epitome, 
might have been fixed in point of time, and other events would have 
fallen into their right places. 
The extracts published by Dr. Bellew, from Khalu-d-Din’s Tazkira-i- 
Hidayat are brief and consist chiefly of anecdotes which have no particular 
interest. Such indications as it contains regarding the Mo gh ul Khans and 
the course of affairs in Eastern Turkistan during the 17th century, are so 
confused and so greatly at variance with all that can be gathered from 
other authorities, that I have been unable to make use of them. No useful 
purpose would be served by discussing the irreconcilable discrepancies 
here, but a few examples may be mentioned to show their nature. Thus 
in one place a certain Khan—named Akbash—is spoken of as the brother 
of one of the Khojas, which is impossible, seeing that he was a “ Khan.” 
In another place Khanam Padshah, the widow of Khoja Afash is described 
as the daughter of Abdu-r-Rashid : yet, as is well known, Abdu-r-Rashid 
died in 1565-66, while Khanam Padshah was not left a widow by Afaq 
till 1693, when she was still an active woman taking part in the intrigues 
and dissensions of the times. Further, the death of a great-grandson of 
Rashid, named Muhammad Amin, is recorded for 1633-34, after years 
of fighting and intriguing, while his elder brothers are known to have 
been alive at near the end of the 17th century. Again the invasions of 
1 It seems just possible that the Hazrat Makhdum-i-Azam of our present author may 
be identical with the Hazrat Makhdum-i-Kurn so often spoken of in the Tdrikh-i - 
Basjildl under various styles, such as Hazrat Khwaja Khavand Mahmud Shihabu-d- 
Din (which was his real name) and several other combinations of the same words. The 
last we hear of Makhdum-i-Nura is his escape from the Punjab to Mawarau-n-Nahr 
in the year 1540, while Mr. Vambery records the death of Makhdu.m-i .Azam as having 
taken place in that country in 1542. In the Epitome, below, it will be seen that his 
proper name is given as Ahmad Khwaja ; this is evidently taken from Mr. Shaw’s 
“other book,” foritisnot mentioned by Muhammad Sadiq. (S ee Tarikh-i-Rashidi, 
page 399, and Vambery’s History of Bukhara, page 299.) 
