, wife of Yunus Khan, giving advice to her grandson
Babur In 1462, Yunus's brother Esen Buqa died. The Moghuls were divided over whether to support his son,
Dost Muhammad, or his elder brother, namely Yunus himself, as his successor. The dughlat amir of Kashgar, Muhammad Haidar Mirza, supported Dost Muhammad, but his brother
Saniz Mirza, the amir of
Yarkand (who, it will be recollected, had taken Yunus Khan's help and invited him into Kashgar in 1457) supported Yunus Khan, and expelled Dost Mohammad from Kashgar. Dost Mohammad however consolidated his hold on all settled lands in Eastern Moghulistan, known at the time as
Uyghurstan. He became the ruler of that region and took up residence in the town of
Aksu, thus abandoning the nomadic style of life. Saniz Mirza died after only a few years, in 1464, and Dost Muhammad plundered Kashgar to avenge his previous expulsion. Shortly aftwewards however, in 1468 or 1469, Dost Muhammad died and Yunus Khan found it possible to seize
Aksu. Dost Muhammad's son,
Kebek Sultan, who was only a child, was whisked away by his supporters to
Turpan (
Uyghurstan), where he ruled nominally for a few years before being killed by the same supporters. Ruling from Aksu as Khan, Yunus Khan maintained good relations with the Timurids and with
Janybek Khan and Karai Khan, the founders of the
Kazakh Horde (in 1465-1466). As a consequence of his alliance with the Kazakhs, he made an enemy out of the rival
Uzbeks. In 1468, the Uzbeks under Shaikh Haidar came into conflict with the Moghuls; they were defeated and Shaikh Haidar was killed, breaking Uzbek power until the rise of
Muhammad Shaibani by the end of the century. Yunus' dealings with the Timurids were far more complex. The Timurid ruler
Abu Sa'id had been Yunus Khan's great mentor in life, who had called him from obscurity and exile in Iran and bestowed lands and an army upon him. After
Abu Sa'id Mirza was killed by the
White Sheep Turkmen in 1468, his realm was split between his sons. The eldest son,
Sultan Ahmad Mirza, ruled over
Samarkand &
Bukhara, the third son,
Sultan Mahmud Mirza took
Balkh and
Badakhshan, and the fourth son,
Umar Shaikh Mirza II, became the ruler of
Ferghana. All three of these princes were to eventually marry three daughters of Yunus Khan, but his relationship with them began on a discordant note. By the time
Abu Sa'id Mirza was killed in 1468, Yunus Khan had been overlord of the Mughals for about six years. During this time, his support among his principal
amirs (noblemen) had eroded. The amirs were apparently upset over Yunus Khan's desire to reside in towns and abandon the traditional nomadic way of life. 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. This was a major issue in that milieu, and the
amirs invited Sultan Ahmad's governor of
Tashkent, Shaikh Jamal Khan, to displace Yunus Khan and usurp power. This duly happened; the Moghuls submitted to Shaikh Jamal Khan, who took over power and also imprisoned Yunus Khan for a year. However, the
amirs soon had cause to regret the choice they had made, for Shaikh Jamal Khan was not a wise and moderate man; he was given to over-reach and excess. He demonstrated these qualities strikingly when he gave Yunus Khan's first wife, Isan Daulat Begum, maternal grandmother of
Babur, as a present (or booty of war) to his officer Khoja Kalan. When Khoja Kalan entered Isan Daulat Begum's apartments to claim her for himself, he was trapped inside and killed there by female attendants of Isan Daulat Begum, and thus the lady managed to preserve her honour. Khoja Kalan lost his life, and Shaikh Jamal 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. This happened in 1472. Shortly afterwards, after learning that
Kebek Sultan (the young son of Dost Mohammad) had been killed by his followers, Yunus Khan to take control of Eastern Moghulistan (Uyghurstan). This happened in the same year, 1472. , son of Yunus Khan and uncle of
Babur After Shaikh Jamal was killed, Yunus Khan began actively participating (or intervening) in the affairs of the Timurids. He 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. Mihr Nigar Khanim was married to Sultan Ahmad Mirza;
Qutlugh Nigar Khanum was married to
Umar Shaikh Mirza II in 1475 (their son was
Babur, founder of the Great
Moghul Empire in
India), and finally, Sultan Nigar Khanum was given in marriage to Sultan Mahmud Mirza (their son, Sultan Vais Mirza, better known as
Mirza Khan, would become king of Badakhshan). Yunus Khan kept on especially friendly terms with his second son-in-law,
Umar Shaikh Mirza II, and it was Umar Shaikh who usually gave his father-in-law territory to reside in during the winters (the Timurids were settled in towns and ruled the attached provinces; Yunus Khan, after having promised his
amirs to maintain the nomadic lifestyle, kept his word). Being of a rather unworldly and poetic temperament, Umar Shaikh II often needed the help of his father-in-law to deal with his own elder brother, Ahmad Mirza, with whom his relations had been bad since childhood for no particular reason. Yunus Khan often intervened to iron out the issues between his two sons-in-law. ==Later years==