Sunday, February 24, 2019

Jafar Khan Tekeli (Abul Fazl Allami, [1599] 1873)


Jafar Khan Tekeli




114. Jafar Khan, son of Qazaq Khan.
He is generally called in the histories Jafar Khan Taklu, Taklu being the name of a Qizilbash tribe.
His grandfather, Muhammad Khan Sharafuddin Oghlu Taklu, was at the time of Humayun’s flight governor of Harat and lallah1 to Sultan Muhammad Mirza, eldest son of Shah Tahmasp i Çafawi. At the Shah’s order, he entertained Humayun in the most hospitable manner. When he died, he was succeeded in office by his son Qazaq Khan. But Qazaq shewed so little loyalty, that Tahmasp, in 972, sent Maçum Beg i Çafawi against him. Qazaq fell ill, and when the Persians came to Harat, he died. Maçum seized all his property.
Jafar thinking himself no longer safe in Persia, emigrated to India, and was well received by Akbar. He distinguished himself in the war with Khan Zaman, and was made a Khan and a commander of One Thousand. From Badaoni (II, p. 161,) we see that he had a jagir in the Panjab, and served under Husain Quli Khan (No. 24) in the expedition to Nagarkot.
According to the Tabaqat, Jafar’s father did not die a natural death, but was killed by the Persians.
Jafar had been dead for some time in 1001.


1 The word lallah is not in our dictionaries, though it occurs frequently in Persian Historians, as the Memoirs of Tahmasp, the ‘Alamara, &c. I have never seen it used by Indian Historians. From the passages where it occurs, it is plain that it has the same meaning as ataliq, which so often occurs in Indian Histories. Vide p. 357, note.



The Ain-i Akbari by Abul Fazl ’Allami, translated from the original Persian, by H. Blochmann, M.A. Vol. I. ― Calcutta: Baptist Mission Press, 1873, p. 426.

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