31 Facts About Yunus Khan

Yunus Khan is identified by many historians with Hajji `Ali, of the contemporary Chinese records.

Yunus Khan was the maternal grandfather of Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire.

Yunus Khan was a direct male-line descendant of Genghis Khan, through his son Chagatai Khan.

When Vais Khan was killed in 1428 AD, the Moghuls were split as to who should succeed him.

Ulugh Beg's father, Shah Rukh, took charge of the young Yunus Khan and treated him well.

Yunus Khan sent Yunus to Yazd in Iran to study under Maulana Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi.

Yunus Khan spent several years studying under the Maulana in Yazd, in the process becoming one of the most educated Moghuls of his time.

Yunus Khan knew that Esen Buqa had dispossessed Yunus, and that the latter would welcome the chance for a comeback; further, Yunus had both a claim on his brother's throne and kinship ties within the community.

Yunus Khan quickly gained the support of several amirs and married the daughter one of them, Mir Pir Haji Kunji.

Yunus Khan's name was Isan Daulat Begum, and she is believed to have been his first wife, although Yunus was already about 40 years old by this time.

When Yunus Khan moved to take the town of Kashgar, he was faced by the joined armies of Amir Sayyid Ali of Kashgar and Esen Buqa, and in the ensuing battle, he was defeated.

Yunus Khan entrusted his fourth daughter, Shah Begum, to Sayyid Zia-ud-Din, who brought her back with him to Kashgar and delivered her over to Yunus Khan, and the wedding was celebrated with due ceremony.

Yunus Khan was blessed with progeny by both wives and became the father of a numerous family.

Yunus Khan begat two sons and two daughters by Shah Begum:.

The dughlat amir of Kashgar, Muhammad Haidar Mirza, supported Dost Muhammad, but his brother Saniz Mirza, the amir of Yarkand supported Yunus Khan, and expelled Dost Mohammad from Kashgar.

Yunus Khan became the ruler of that region and took up residence in the town of Aksu, thus abandoning the nomadic style of life.

Shortly aftwewards however, in 1468 or 1469, Dost Muhammad died and Yunus Khan found it possible to seize Aksu.

Since Yunus Khan had spent much of his early life in the towns of Yazd and Shiraz as a student, he had developed a taste for settled life in towns and a certain discomfort with the nomadic lifestyle of his community, the Mughals.

However, the amirs soon had cause to regret the choice they had made, for Shaikh Jamal Yunus Khan was not a wise and moderate man; he was given to over-reach and excess.

Yunus Khan demonstrated these qualities strikingly when he gave Yunus Khan's first wife, Isan Daulat Begum, maternal grandmother of Babur, as a present to his officer Khoja Kalan.

Khoja Kalan lost his life, and Shaikh Jamal Yunus Khan who lost his honour in the eyes of the amirs for having been so cavalier and insensitive in handing over a married woman to someone as booty of war.

Some time after this event, Shaikh Jamal himself was killed by Moghul amirs and Yunus Khan was restored, after promising not to live in towns but follow the nomadic way of life.

Shortly afterwards, after learning that Kebek Sultan had been killed by his followers, Yunus Khan to take control of Eastern Moghulistan.

Yunus Khan forged ties of kinship with most of the prominent Timurids; three of Yunus Khan's daughters were given in marriage to three sons of his former mentor Abu Sa'id.

Yunus Khan often intervened to iron out the issues between his two sons-in-law.

Yunus Khan was almost seventy years old by this time, and was yearning to give up the nomadic lifestyle for a settled life in some town.

Yunus Khan's decided to live in the city for at least a prolonged period, a decision which upset the other Moghuls, and many of them left for Moghulistan under the leadership of Yunus' own son Ahmad Alaq.

Yunus Khan was unable to prevent the rise of the Dughlat Mirza Abu Bakr, who had earlier taken Yarkand, Khotan and Kashgar from other members of his family, and defeated Yunus Khan's attempts to quell him.

Yunus Khan died in Taskhent in 1487 after a long illness.

Yunus Khan was succeeded in Tashkent by his eldest son, Sultan Mahmud Khan, while the Moghuls in the east followed Ahmad Alaq.

Yunus Khan was the son of Vais Khan, son of Shir Ali Oghlan, son of Muhammad Khan, son of Khizir Khwaja Khan, son of Tughluk Timur Khan.