The Nāṣirī Generations 274.1

274.1

Trustworthy persons have related that Chaghatae used to regard Musalmans with hostility, and his mind constantly contemplated the shedding of Musalman blood, and not leaving one of that faith alive. Now the Chingiz Khan had instituted certain ordinances, the punishment for the infringement of some of which laws used to be death. For example: adultery and crimes of lust in general, theft, lying, and embezzlement, and the act of seizing a morsel from another’s mouth, were punishable with death; and whosoever should enter a piece of water, whether large or small, they were to kill him also, and likewise any one who should wash his face at the edge of any water, so that the water from the washed face of such person should enter that water. The punishment of any one who might be guilty of an offence less than one of all these was to be three or five, or ten, or more, stripes with a rod, but with the stipulation that, while punishment was being administered, the offender should be entirely stripped, and that the rod should be wielded with force and severity. To these ordinances they have applied the name of Yasah, in the Mughali language, that is to say, command, mandate, decree.