Barlas, Timur and the Timurids

Documented history Timur (also called Tamerlane) came from the Barlas, a group of Mongol origin that had become culturally and linguistically Turkic in Central Asia. He rose to power in Transoxiana in 1370 and made Samarkand his political centre. He married Saray Mulk Khanum, a Chinggisid princess, and used the title Gurkan/Gurkani, associated with being a son-in-law of the ruling house.

Timur's descendants formed the Timurid dynasty. Babur descended from Timur through his father and from Chinggis Khan through his mother. Babur captured Kabul in 1504, campaigned across the Indus frontier from 1519, and defeated Ibrahim Lodi at Panipat on 21 April 1526. That victory began Mughal rule in northern India; it does not prove a direct descent from Timur for any particular Kassar family.

Timur's birth year is reported differently in historical sources. Rather than presenting one disputed year as certain, this page uses his well-established rise to power in 1370 as the main timeline marker.