The Nāṣirī Generations 271.3
Tabakat-i-Nasiri 271.3
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271.3.1
Uktae and Tuli took leave of their father, and returned to their respective posts, while the Chingiz Khan, with a numerous army, marched towards the country of Tingnash— [which may even be more correctly Ningaish — It is written in various ways. The Rauzat-us-Safa has Tang- Chingiz Khan in battle. At the period that the Chingiz [Khan moved towards the territory of Tingnash—some copies have Tangnash, and Tinash, while others have Biktash—but the first mode of writing is contained in the majority of trustworthy writers], and Khurjah—when he reached them, the Badshahs of those countries were ready to become tributary, and to submit to him. On reaching a place named Liwak-shan which is on the frontier boundary between Khurjah, Tingnash, or Biktash, and Tingkut, the Badshah—also styled Wali—of Khurjah despatched envoys, with numerous and valuable presents for his acceptance, among which was a bowl of the finest pearls, and to tender their sovereign’s submission and obedience. The Chingiz Khan commanded that such among those present at that time in his assembly, as had their ears bored, should be presented with pearls, while those, whose ears were not already bored, had them bored very quickly, and received pearls also; and, notwithstanding this, a great number of pearls remained undistributed. The Chingiz Khan commanded, saying, “It is a day of largess: let the pearls be scattered that people may pick them up.” This was done;
271.3.2
and, in consequence, a number of pearls were lost in the ground, and for a long time after that pearls used to be found there. About this time Shidarku, Badshah of Kashin, who had shut himself up in his capital, Irtakia, Irikia, or Irikiah, sent an envoy to the Chingiz Khan to intimate that, if the Mughal Khan would enter into a covenant with him, stipulating for his safety and security, he would, within the period of one month, come in person to his presence and present pesh-kash, which is equivalent to doing homage. The Chingiz Khan gave the required guarantees, and confirmed them with most solemn oaths; and the envoy departed. After the envoy had gone, the Chingiz Khan was taken ill, and grew excessively weak; and, from an awful dream which he had, warning him of his approaching death, he was much disturbed. It was at this time, according to the authority I have named, that he sent for his sons, and appointed his successor: the remainder agrees with the statements of other writers. His death, as he desired, was kept a profound secret;
271.3.3
and, when Shidarku, Badshah of Tingkut or Kashin—he is styled so indiscriminately—according to the terms agreed upon, left his capital, the city of Irtakia, and drew near the Mughal camp, the Nu-yins and Amirs came forth to receive him, and escorted him and his train, as though about to lead him to the presence of the Chingiz Khan, but, on their arriving within a short distance of the Urdu, a body of Mughals, posted for the purpose, fell upon Shidarku and his followers, and butchered the whole of them. An army was then despatched to Irtakia, which the Mughals entered, plundered, and massacred its inhabitants, and then desolated the country round. Such is Alfi’s account.
271.3.4
[The death of] Chingiz Khan took place on the 4th of Ramazan, 624 H.: in the Turkish year of Tunguz or the Hog, which was the year of his birth, his ascending the throne, and of his decease, which last date is equivalent to the 16th of August, 1227 A.D. A few writers say 623 H. He had reigned [twenty-one years, and was aged] 73; but, as he was born on the 20th of Zi-Ka’dah, 549 H., he was exactly 75 years, 1 month, and 10 days old, whatever Abul-Ghazi, Bahadur Khan, or Father Gaubil have said to the contrary; and he was certainly too old to have Having carried out their father’s last instructions, the sons of the deceased Khan proceeded to perform the funeral ceremonies according to the custom of their people. There was no secrecy whatever after Shidarku had been put to death, and his capital secured; and there was no killing every one they met.
271.3.5
Bentinck censures Marco Polo for relating, that, “in his time, the Tartars were accustomed, at the funerals of their Kháns, to slay all those they met in the way, and that they slew all whom they met on the way to the place appointed for the sepulchre of Jenghtz Khán; and that, a little before [true: a little before] his arrival in Grand Tartary, there had been 20,000 persons massacred in that manner, at the interment of Mangu Khán, grandson of the conqueror.” Bentinck further remarks, and quite correctly too, that none of the Eastern authors, who have written on the Tartars [Mughals?], charge them with “such an abominable custom.” He adds, that “in Grand Tartary”—he means Mughalistan and the Mughals—the inhabitants live so dispersed in their kharg-ahs or huts, that one might travel several hundred leagues without meeting a thousand. Polo too kills the Chingiz Khán six years only after his defeat of the “Um” Khan, as he styles the Awang Khan, and asserts that he was shot in the knee by an arrow before the castle of Thaigin!
271.3.6
Petis de la Croix, who often quotes “the great Raschid,” very correctly says [page 382]: There is no likelihood that the barbarous custom, which has since been practised amongst the Tartars and Moguls, to kill those they meet in the way, when they are carrying to the grave the body of a Grand Can, was at this time observed; for the historians mention no such thing, and, besides, this custom is not countenanced by the law.” The custom of burial among the Mughals is given in detail by our author farther on.
271.3.7
After performing the funeral ceremonies—the preliminary mourning—the bier of the Great Khan was taken up, and his army set out on their return homeward, and the bier was in due time conveyed to his úrdús in the locality of his aṣl or aṣlī yūrat, which was “within the limits of,” not at, Kara-Kuram. The corpse was finally buried at the foot of a large and solitary tree, under which, one day, when following the chase—not when he was “ill”—he had rested, and at which time he remarked: “This place is suitable for my sepulchre.” The place in question is called Bulkan Kaldun, according to some authorities, and Burkan Kaldun by others, including Abu-ul-Ghazi, Bahadur Khan, which is merely the change of l for r. After the burial, the place was proscribed against intrusion from one generation to another, the word used to denote it is quruq or quruq an ’Arabic word signifying “confiscated,” “prohibited,” “embargo,” “ban,” etc., and it was called the —“the exclusive or especially prohibited place,” which words appear to be the translation of Burkan Kaldun. The Ta-ishi, Yasu Buqa, the Uhud Urmangqut of the race of Kaian, was the Korchi or guardian of the spot, which guardianship appertained exclusively to his tribe, who were, in consequence, exempted from all other duties and services.
271.3.8
It is likewise stated, as a wonderful fact, that, in that same year, that plain——thus showing that it was a plain, and neither “a mountain” nor “a cave”—became totally destitute of grass on account of the numerous trees of various kinds which grew up therein, and soon became such a dense forest of Islam, this Tingri Khan held counsel with his Maliks that one could not pass through it ; and, the place being alike inaccessible and interdicted from curiosity, the exact whereabouts of the burial-place of the Chingiz Khan became wholly unknown. Tuli his son, who died about four years after, was also buried there. The Habib-us-Siyar distinctly states that the Chingiz Khan’s body was taken back to Kara-Kuram and buried in that neighbourhood, and that no human being was permitted to invade the spot ; and this agrees with what other authors state, as given above, and the burial customs of the Mughals.
271.3.9
It is amusing to read, in the face of the statements of authors who wrote their histories in the territories of the Mughal sovereigns, with the best means of obtaining information on such a point, and about which there is absolutely nothing to conceal, the various theories of European writers. Petis de la Croix, after stating that the spot was proscribed from the visitation of any one, says : "They buried him there [under the tree] with all the pompous ceremonies of the Mogul religion, and afterwards erected a most noble monument in this Place upon his Grave " ! Where is the native historian who ever said so, or who ever once mentioned such things as "the pompous ceremonies of the Mogul religion " ? All this is purely imaginary. Again he says : "The people, who came to visit the Tomb, planted other Trees round it, which so artfully covered it, and in such beautiful Order, as rendered it in time one of the finest Monuments in the World." He, however, quotes no authorities for these highly-coloured statements, and, moreover, buries him in "Tangut," which is totally incorrect.