A literary history of Persia

USTADHS/3places, believing that they could fly, and were dashed to pieces.They were certainly, as Dinawari says (p. 380), connectedwith Abu Muslim, whose death it was one of their objects toavenge. The perilin which for a short while the life of theCaliph al-Mansur was placed for lack of a good horse led tothe institution of the farasun-nawba (Persian,e rannfw b asu " asp-i-nawbati) or "sentry-horse," a good horse,saddled, bridled, and equipped, which was henceforthalways in readiness at the Caliph's palace in case ofemergency. The same institution prevailedtill much latertimes at the Courts of local rulers e.g.,with the Sdmdnidkings in the tenth 1century of our era.In the years A.D. 766-768, still in the reign of al-Mansur,another Persian pseudo-prophet named Ustadhsis, rose in revoltin the districts of Herdt, Badghis, and 3 Sistdn,C- Jfccol^cted a *jS5^* following of 300,000 men, and causedmuch trouble to the Government ere he wasfinally defeated by Khazim b. Khuzayma. Seventy thousandof his followers were slain,and fourteen thousand more, takencaptive, were beheaded immediately after the battle. Ustddhsisshortly afterwards surrendered, was sent in chains to Baghdad,and was there put to death. Thirty thousand of his followerswho surrendered with him were set at liberty. Al-Khayzurdn,the wife of al-Mahdi and mother of al-Hadi and Harunu'r-Rashid, was, according to Sir William Muir (who, however,does not give his authority),the daughter of Ustadhsis. 3 Sheis mentioned by ath-Tha'alibi in his Lataiful-Mcf&rif (ed. deJong, p.54) as one of the three women who gave birth to twoCaliphs. One of the two others was likewise a Persian,namely, Shah-Parand, the grand-daughter of Yazdigird thelast Sasanian king, who was married to Walid b. 'Abdu'l-'C/. my translation of the Chahdr Mdqdla of Nidhami-i-'Arudi-i-Samarqandiin the J. R. A. S. for 1899, p. 55 of the tirage-b-part.'Taban, iii, 354-8 ; al-Ya'qubi, ii, 457-8. The latter writer distinctlystates that he claimed to be a Prophet.3 Op, cit., p. 459.