Editing Shah Rukh (section)

==Early life==
[[File:The Birth of Shah Rukh in Samarkand on 20 August 1377. Zafarnama of 1436, folio 148r.jpg|thumb|upright|left|The Birth of Shah Rukh in Samarkand on 20 August 1377. Zafarnama of 1436, folio 148r.]]
Shah Rukh was born on 20 August 1377, the youngest of [[Timur]]'s four sons.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Yazdī|first1=Sharaf al-Dīn ʻAlī|author-link1=Sharaf ad-Din Ali Yazdi|translator=K̲h̲ān Muḥammad ʻĀt̤if|title=Amir Timur Beg (1336-1396): English rendering of Molana Sharf-ud-din Ali Yezdi's Persian Zafarnamah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YT8MAQAAMAAJ|volume=1|year=2008|publisher=New Royal Book Co.|isbn=978-81-89267-61-2|page=93}}</ref> In [[Persian language|Persian]], his name's elements have multiple meanings: شاه ''shah'' means "a king, a sovereign. [specifically], [[shah]], title of the ruler of [[Persia]]", "the [[king (chess)|king]]" in [[chess]], "used as a prefix meaning 'the best, greatest, main', etc. Ex. شاهکار ''shahkar'', masterpiece" or "a bridegroom" (synonymous with داماد ''dâmâd'');<ref>''New Persian-English dictionary'' [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/hayyim_query.py?page=1242 p. V2-0164]</ref> رخ ''rokh'' means "the face or figure; also, the cheek; the countenance", "the castle or [[rook (chess)|rook]]" in chess; and the [[roc (mythology)|roc]],"a fabulous bird; perhaps the condor".<ref>''New Persian-English dictionary'' [https://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/app/hayyim_query.py?page=926 p. V1-0926]</ref> This is also the Persian term for the [[chess]] move "[[castling]]". According to [[Ahmad ibn Arabshah|Ibn 'Arabshah]], Timur, who was a talented chess player, was involved in a match when he received the news of Shah Rukh's birth, using this chess move as a name for the newborn child.<ref>{{cite book|translator=J.H. Sanders|last=ibn Arabshah|first=Ahmad|author-link=Ahmad ibn Arabshah|title=Tamerlane or Timur: The Great Amir|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.77320/page/n69|year=1936|publisher=Luzac & Co.|location=London|page=47}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=William|last1=McNeill|first2=Jerry|last2=Bentley|first3=David|last3=Christian|first4=Ralph|last4=Croizier|first5=J.|last5=McNeill|title=Berkshire Encyclopedia of World History|edition=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rP5lDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA2514|date=2010|publisher=Berkshire Publishing Group|page=2514}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Some sources suggest that his mother was the Empress [[Saray Mulk Khanum]], formerly a [[Chagatai Khanate|Chaghatai]] princess and Timur's chief consort; she had been captured by Timur from the harem of [[Amir Husayn]] Qara'unas several years prior to Shah Rukh's birth. However, it was stated by the 15th-century historian [[Khvandamir|Khwandamir]] that Shah Rukh's mother was a certain Taghay Tarkhan Agha of the [[Qara Khitai]].<ref>{{cite book|first=John E.|last=Woods|author-link=John E. Woods (historian)|title=The Timurid dynasty|page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0XcMAQAAMAAJ|year=1990|publisher=Indiana University, Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies}}</ref> Khwandamir used a genealogical record written during Shah Rukh's reign as his source for this assertion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Barthold|first=Vasilii Vladimirovitch |author-link=Vasily Bartold|title=Four Studies on the History of Central Asia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-twUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA24|volume=2|year=1963|publisher=Brill Archive|page=24}}</ref> Regardless of his maternal origins, the prince was personally raised by Saray Mulk, alongside Timur's grandson [[Khalil Sultan]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Syed|last=Jamaluddin|title=The state under Timur: a study in empire building|page=78|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARgXAQAAIAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Har-Anand|isbn=9788124102589}}</ref>