Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat

Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat Beg (Persian: میرزا محمد حیدر دولت بیگ; c. 1499/1500 – 1551) was a Chagatai Turco-Mongol military general, governor of Kashmir, and a historian. He was a Mughal Dughlat prince who wrote in both Chaghatai and Persian languages.^[1] Haidar and Babur were cousins on their mother's side, through the line of Genghis Khan. Unlike Babur, Haidar considered himself more of an ethnic Mongol of Moghulistan.^[2]

Mirza Muhammad Haider Dughlat
Dughlat Prince Mirza Beg
Subahdar of Kashmir
Reign	c. 1540 – 1551
Predecessor	Position established
Successor	Position abolished
Sultan	Ismail Shah Nazuk Shah
Born	c. 1499/1500 Tashkent, Moghulistan
Died	c. 1551 (aged 50–52) Srinagar, Maraj, Kashmir Sultanate (Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India)
Burial	1551 Srinagar, Maraj, Kashmir Sultanate (Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India)
Names Mirza Muhammad Haider Dughlat Ibn Muhammad Hussain Mirza Kurkan (Persian: میرزا محمد حیدر دغلت بن محمد حسین میرزا کرکان)
House	Chagatai
Dynasty	Dughlat (through paternal lineage) Borjigin (through maternal lineage)
Father	Muhammad Hussain Mirza Kurkan
Mother	Khub Nigar Khanim
Religion	Sunni Islam
Occupation	Military General Politician
Military career
Allegiance	Yarkent Khanate (Borjigin dynasty) in (1530s) Mughal Empire (Mughal dynasty) (1540–1551)
Service / branch	Chagatai Army Mughal Army
Rank	Military General
Battles / wars	Campaign on Kashmir (1533) Invasion of Tibet (after 1533) Battle of Kannauj (1540) Campaign on Kashmir (1540)

Background

Mirza Haidar Dughlat Beg in the Tarikh-i Rashidi constantly alludes to a distinct tribe or community of Moghuls in Mughalistan, however reduced in numbers, who had preserved Mongol customs, and from the incidental references to Mongolian phrases and terms, likely retained elements of the original Mongolian language, despite the growth of Islam and the growing use of the Turki language, the latter which Haider naturally spoke.^[3] According to the Tarikh-i Rashidi, Haider Dughlat considered his "Moghul Ulus" to be a separate people from the settled Turks of Transoxiania, from the fifteenth century and the first half of the sixteenth century.^[4] According to Vasily Bartold, there are “some indications that the language of the Moghuls was Mongolian until the 16th century".^[5] For the sedentary Mongols in Transoxiana, the nomadic Mongols to their east in Xinjiang and Kashgar represented a bastion of true Mongol culture, hence the name "Moghulistan".^[6]

Campaigns

Silver sasnu issued in 1533 in Kashmir by Haidar Dughlat, in the name of Said Khan. The obverse legend reads al-sultan al-a'zam mir sa'id khan.

Silver sasnu issued during 1546–50 in Kashmir by Haidar Dughlat, in the name of the Mughal emperor Humayun. The obverse legend reads al-sultan al-a'zam Muhammad humayun ghazi. The reverse reads dharb-i kashmir

However, he did not stay long in Kashmir, leaving after making a treaty with the local sultan and striking coins in the name of Said Khan. He had also attacked Tibet through Ladakh but failed to conquer Lhasa.^[7]

He returned in 1540, fighting for the Mughal Emperor Humayun.^[8] Arriving in Kashmir, Haidar installed as sultan the head of the Sayyid faction, Nazuk. In 1546, after Humayun recovered Kabul, Haidar removed Nazuk Shah and struck coins in the name of the Mughal emperor.^[9]

His mother was Khub Nigar Khanim, third daughter of Yunus Khan by Isan Daulat Begum, and a younger sister of Kutluk Nigar Khanim, mother of Babur. Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat Beg governed Kashmir from 1540 to 1551,^[10] when he was killed in battle.