Timur, Tarmashirin Khan, Emir Timur ( 9 April 1336 – 18 February 1405), historically known as Tamerlane(Timur the Lame), was a Turko-Mongol ruler of Barlas lineage.He conquered West, South and Central Asia and founded the Timurid dynasty. He was the grandfather of Ulugh Beg, who ruled Central Asia from 1411 to 1449,and the great-great-great-grandfather of Babur Beg, founder of the Mughal Empire, which ruled parts of South Asia for around four centuries, from 1526 until 1857. Timur is regarded as a military genius and a tactician, with an uncanny ability to work within a highly fluid political structure to win and maintain a loyal following of nomads during his rule in Central Asia. He was also considered extraordinarily intelligent- not only intuitively but also intellectually.[35] In Samarkand and his many travels, Timur, under the guidance of distinguished scholars was able to learn Persian, Mongolian, and Turkic languages.[36] More importantly, Timur was characterized as an opportunist. Taking advantage of his Turco-Mongolian heritage, Timur frequently used either the Islamic religion or the law and traditions of the Mongol Empire to achieve his military goals or domestic political aims. timurs Turco-Mongolian heritage provided opportunities and challenges as he sought to rule the Mongol Empire and the Muslim world. According to the Mongol traditions, Timur could not claim the title of khan or rule the Mongol Empire because he was not a descendant of Genghis Khan. Therefore, Timur set up a puppet Chaghatay khan, Suyurghatmish, as the nominal ruler of Balkh as he pretended to act as a protector of the member of a Chinggisid line, that of Chinggis Khans eldest son, Jochi.[45] As a result, Timur never used the title of khan because the name khan could only be used by those who come from the same lineage as Genghis Khan himself. Timur instead used the title of amir meaning general, and acting in the name of the Chagatai ruler of Transoxania.[46] To reinforce his position in the Mongol Empire, Timur managed to acquire the royal title of son-in-law when he married a princess of Chinggisid descent.[47] Likewise, Tamerlane could not claim the supreme title of the Islamic world, caliph, because the “office was limited to the Quraysh, the tribe of the Prophet Muhammad.”[48] Therefore, Tamerlane reacted to the challenge by creating a myth and image of himself as a “supernatural personal power””[48] ordained by God. Since Tamerlane had a successful career as a conqueror, it was easy to justify his rule as ordained and favored by God since no ordinary man could be a possessor of such good fortune that resistance would be seen as opposing the will of Allah. Moreover, the Islamic notion that military and political success was the result of Allah’s favor had long been successfully exploited by earlier rulers. Therefore, Tamerlane’s assertions would not have seemed unbelievable to his fellow Islamic people.He justified his campaign towards Delhi as a religious war against the Hindu religion practiced in the city and also as a chance for to gain more riches in a city that was lacking control.[57] By all accounts, Timurs campaigns in India were marked by systematic slaughter and other atrocities on a truly massive scale inflicted mainly on the subcontinents Hindu population. Timurs generally recognised biographers are Ali Yazdi, commonly called Sharaf ud-Din, author of the Zafarnāmeh translated by Petis de la Croix in 1722, and from French into English by J. Darby in the following year; and Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abdallah, al-Dimashiqi, al-Ajami (commonly called Ahmad Ibn Arabshah) translated by the Dutch Orientalist Colitis in 1636. In the work of the former, as Sir William Jones remarks, the Tatarian conqueror is represented as a liberal, benevolent and illustrious prince, in that of the latter he is deformed and impious, of a low birth and detestable principles. But the favourable account was written under the personal supervision of Timurs grandson, Ibrahim, while the other was the production of his direst enemy. Timurs body was exhumed from his tomb in 1941 by the Soviet anthropologist Mikhail M. Gerasimov. From his bones it was clear that Timur was a tall and broad chested man with strong cheek bones. Timurs body was exhumed from his tomb in 1941 by the Soviet anthropologist Mikhail M. Gerasimov. From his bones it was clear that Timur was a tall and broad chested man with strong cheek bones. Gerasimov reconstructed the likeness of Timur from his skull. At 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 meters), Timur was tall for his era.[citation needed] Gerasimov also confirmed Timurs lameness due to a hip injury. Gerasimov also found that Timurs facial characteristics conformed to that of fairly Mongoloid features with somewhat Caucasoid admixture.In the study of Anthropological composition of the population of Central Asia shows the cranium of Timur predominate the characters of the South Siberian Mongoloid type.Timur is classified as being closer to the Mongoloid race with some admixture. It is alleged that Timurs tomb was inscribed with the words, When I rise from the dead, the world shall tremble. It is also said that when Gerasimov exhumed the body, an additional inscription inside the casket was found reading, Who ever opens my tomb, shall unleash an invader more terrible than I.In any case, two days after Gerasimov had begun the exhumation, Adolf Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest military invasion of all time, upon the U.S.S.R. Timur was re-buried with full Islamic ritual in November 1942 just before the Soviet victory at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 04:48:05 +0000
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