vocabulary attached to the history of the Yuen dynasty, translated
from the Chinese by Hyacinthe, _temudjin_ means the best iron or
steel. The name has been confounded with _temurdji_, which means a
smith, in Turkish. This accounts for the tradition related by
Pachymeres, Novairi, William of Ruysbrok, the Armenian Haiton, and
others, that Genghis Khan was originally a smith.
The Chinese historians and Ssanang Setzen place his birth in 1162;
Raschid and the Persians in 1155. The latter date is accommodated to
the fact that they make him seventy-two years old at his death in
1227, but the historian of the Yuen dynasty, the Kangmu, and Ssanang
Setzen are all agreed that he died at the age of sixty-six, and they
are much more likely to be right. Mailla says he had a piece of
clotted blood in his fist when born--no bad omen, if true, of his
future career. According to De Guignes, Karachar Nevian was named his
tutor.
Ssanang Setzen has a story that his father set out one day to find him
a partner among the relatives of his wife, the Olchonods, and that on
the way he was met by Dai Setzen, the chief of the Kunkurats, who thus
addressed him: "Descendant of the Kiyots and of the race of the
Bordshigs, whither hiest thou?"
"I am seeking a bride for my son," was his reply. Dai Setzen then said
that he recently had a dream, during which a white falcon had alighted
on his hand. "This," he said, "Bordshig, was your token. From ancient
days our daughters have been wedded to the Bordshigs, and I now have a
daughter named Burte who is nine years old. I will give her to thy
son."
"She is too young," he said; but Temudjin, who was present, urged that
she would suit him by and by. The bargain was thereupon closed, and,
having taken a draught of koumiss and presented his host with two
horses, Yissugei returned home.
On his father's death Temudjin was only thirteen years old, an age
that seldom carries authority in the desert, where the chief is
expected to command, and his mother acted as regent. This enabled
several of the tribes which had submitted to the strong hand of
Yissugei to reassert their independence. The Taidshuts, under their
leaders Terkutai, named Kiriltuk, _i.e._, the Spiteful, the
great-grandson of Hemukai, and his nephew Kurul Bahadur, were the
first to break away, and they were soon after joined by one of
Yissugei's generals with a considerable following. To the reproaches
of Temudjin the latter answered: "The deepest wells are sometimes dry,
and the hardest stones sometimes split; why should I cling to thee?"
Temudjin's mother, we are told, mounted her horse, and taking the
royal standard called Tuk (this was mounted with the tails of the yak
or mountain cow, or, in default, with that of a horse; it is the _tau_
or _tu_ of the Chinese, used as the imperial standard, and conferred
as a token of royalty upon their vassals, the Tartar princes) in her
hand, she led her people in pursuit of the fugitives, and brought a
good number of them back to their allegiance.
After the dispersion of the Jelairs, many of them became the slaves
and herdsmen of the Mongol royal family. They were encamped near
Sarikihar, the Saligol of Hyacinthe, in the district of Ulagai Bulak,
which D'Ohsson identifies with the Ulengai, a tributary of the Ingoda,
that rises in the watershed between that river and the Onon. One day
Tagudshar, a relative of Chamuka, the chief of the Jadjerats, was
hunting in this neighborhood, and tried to lift the cattle of a
Jelair, named Jusi Termele, who thereupon shot him. This led to a long
and bitter strife between Temudjin, who was the patron of the Jelairs,
and Chamuka. He was of the same stock as Temudjin, and now joined the
Taidshuts, with his tribe the Jadjerats. He also persuaded the Uduts
and Nujakins, the Kurulas and Inkirasses, to join them.
Temudjin struggled in vain against this confederacy, and one day he
was taken prisoner by the Taidshuts. Terkutai fastened on him a
_cangue_-- the instrument of torture used by the Chinese, consisting
of two boards which are fastened to the shoulders, and when joined
together round the neck form an effectual barrier to desertion. He one
day found means to escape while the Taidshuts were busy feasting. He
hid in a pond with his nostrils only out of water, but was detected by
a pursuer named Surghan Shireh. He belonged to the Sulduz clan; had
pity on him; took him to his house; hid him under some wool in a cart
so that his pursuers failed to find him, and then sent him to his own
people. This and other stories illustrate one phase of Mongol
character. We seldom hear among them of those domestic murders so
frequent in Turkish history; pretenders to the throne were reduced to
servitude, and generally made to perform menial offices, but seldom
murdered. They illustrate another fact: favors conferred in distress
were seldom forgotten, and the chroniclers frequently explain the rise
of some obscure individual by the recollection of a handsome thing
done to the ruler in his unfortunate days.
Another phase of Mongol character, namely, the treachery and craft
with which they attempt to overreach one another in war, may be
illustrated by a short _saga_ told by Ssanang Setzen, and probably
relating to this period of Temudjin's career. It is curious how
circumstantial many of these traditions are. "At that time," he says,
"Buke Chilger of the Taidshuts dug a pit-fall in his tent and covered
it with felts. He then, with his brothers, arranged a grand feast, to
which Temudjin was invited with fulsome phrases. 'Formerly we knew not
thine excellence,' he said, 'and lived in strife with thee. We have
now learnt that thou art not false, and that thou art a _Bogda_ of the
race of the gods. Our old hatred is stifled and dead; condescend to
enter our small house.'
"Temudjin accepted the invitation, but before going he was warned by
his mother: 'Rate not the crafty foe too lightly,' she said. 'We do
not dread a venomous viper the less because it is so small and weak.
Be cautious!'
"He replied: 'You are right, mother, therefore do you, Khassar, have
the bow ready: Belgutei, you also be on your guard: you, Chadshikin,
see to the horse; and you, Utsuken, remain by my side. My nine Orloks,
you go in with me; and you, my three hundred and nine bodyguards,
surround the _yurt_.'
"When he arrived he would have sat down in the middle of the
treacherous carpet, but Utsuken pulled him aside and seated him on the
edge of the felt. Meanwhile a woman was meddling with the horse and
cut off its left stirrup. Belgutei, who noticed it, drove her out, and
struck her on the leg with his hand, upon which one Buri Buke struck
Belgutei's horse with his sword. The nine Orloks now came round,
helped their master to mount the white mare of Toktanga Taishi of the
Kortshins; a fight began, which ended in the defeat and submission of
the enemy."
Once more free, Temudjin, who was now seventeen years old, married
Burte Judjin. He was not long in collecting a number of his men
together, and soon managed to increase their number to thirteen
thousand. These he divided into thirteen battalions of one thousand
men each, styled _gurans_, each guran under the command of a
_gurkhan_. The gurkhans were chosen from his immediate relatives and
dependents. The forces of the Taidshuts numbered thirty thousand. With
this much more powerful army Temudjin risked an encounter on the banks
of the Baldjuna, a tributary of the Ingoda, and gained a complete
victory. Abulghazi says the Taidshuts lost from five thousand to six
thousand men. The battle-field was close to a wood, and we are told
that Temudjin, after his victory, piled fagots together and boiled
many of his prisoners in seventy caldrons--a very problematical story.
Among his neighbors were the Jadjerats, or Juriats, the subjects of
Chamuka, who, according to De Guignes, fled after the battle with the
Taidshuts.
One day a body of the Jadjerats, who were hunting, encountered some of
Temudjin's followers, and they agreed to hunt together. The former ran
short of provisions, and he generously surrendered to them a large
part of the game his people had captured. This was favorably compared
by them with the harsh behavior of their suzerains, the Taidshut
princes, and two of their chiefs, named Ulugh Bahadur and Thugai Talu,
with many of the tribe went to join Temudjin. They were shortly after
attacked and dispersed by the Taidshuts. This alarmed or disgusted
several of the latter's allies, who went over to the party of
Temudjin. Among these were Chamuka, who contrived for a while to hide
his rancor; and the chiefs of the Suldus and Basiuts. Their example
was soon followed by the defection of the Barins and the Telenkuts, a
branch of the Jelairs.
Temudjin's repute was now considerable, and De Mailla tells us that
wishing to secure the friendship of Podu, chief of the Kieliei, or
Ykiliesse (_i.e._, the Kurulats), who lived on the river Ergone
(_i.e._, the Argun), and who was renowned for his skill in archery, he
offered him his sister Termulun in marriage. This was gladly accepted,
and the two became fast friends. As a sign of his good-will, Podu
wished to present Temudjin with fifteen horses out of thirty which he
possessed, but the latter replied: "To speak of giving and taking is
to do as merchants and traffickers, and not allies. Our elders tell us
it is difficult to have one heart and one soul in two bodies. It is
this difficult thing I wish to compass; I mean to extend my power over
my neighbors here; I only ask that the people of Kieliei shall aid
me."
Temudjin now gave a grand feast on the banks of the Onon, and
distributed decorations among his brothers. To this were invited
Sidsheh Bigi, chief of the Burgins or Barins, his own mother, and two
of his step-mothers. A skin of koumiss, or fermented milk, was sent to
each of the latter, but with this distinction: in the case of the
eldest, called Kakurshin Khatun, it was for herself and her family; in
that of the younger, for herself alone. This aroused the envy of the
former, who gave Sichir, the master of ceremonies, a considerable
blow. The undignified disturbance was winked at by Temudjin, but the
quarrel was soon after enlarged. One of Kakurshin's dependents had the
temerity to strike Belgutei, the half-brother of Temudjin, and wounded
him severely in the shoulder, but Belgutei pleaded for him. "The wound
has caused me no tears. It is not seemly that my quarrels should
inconvenience you," he said. Upon this Temudjin sent and counselled
them to live at peace with one another, but Sidsheh Bigi soon after
abandoned him with his Barins. He was apparently a son of Kakurshin
Khatun, and therefore a step-brother of Temudjin.
About 1194 Temudjin heard that one of the Taidshut chiefs, called
Mutchin Sultu, had revolted against Madagu, the Kin Emperor of China,
who had sent his _chinsang_ ("prime minister"), Wan-jan-siang, with an
army against him. He eagerly volunteered his services against the old
enemies of his people, and was successful. He killed the chief and
captured much booty; _inter alia_ was a silver cradle with a covering
of golden tissue, such as the Mongols had never before seen. As a
reward for his services he received from the Chinese officer the title
of _jaut-ikuri_--written "Tcha-u-tu-lu" in Hyacinthe, who says it
means "commander against the rebels." According to Raschid, on the
same occasion Tului, the chief of the Keraits, was invested with the
title of _wang_ ("king"). On his return from this expedition, desiring
to renew his intercourse with the Barins, he sent them a portion of
the Tartar booty. The bearers of this present were maltreated. Mailla,
who describes the event somewhat differently, says that ten of the
messengers were killed by Sidsheh Bigi to revenge the indignities that
had been put on his family. Temudjin now marched against the Barins,
and defeated them at Thulan Buldak. Their two chiefs escaped.
According to Mailla they were put to death.
In 1196 Temudjin received a visit from Wang Khan, the Kerait chief,
who was then in distress. His brother Ilkah Sengun, better known as
Jagampu Keraiti, had driven him from the throne. He first sought
assistance from the chief of Kara Khitai, and, when that failed him,
turned to Temudjin, the son of his old friend. Wang Khan was a chief
of great consequence, and this appeal must have been flattering to
him. He levied a contribution of cattle from his subjects to feast him
with, and promised him the devotion of a son in consideration of his
ancient friendship with Yissugei.
Temudjin was now, says Mailla, one of the most powerful princes of
these parts, and he determined to subjugate the Kieliei, the
inhabitants of the Argun, but he was defeated. During the action,
having been hit by twelve arrows, he fell from his horse unconscious,
when Bogordshi and Burgul, at some risk, took him out of the struggle.
While the former melted the snow with some hot stones and bathed him
with it, so as to free his throat from the blood, the latter, during
the long winter night, covered him with his own cloak from the falling
snow. He would, nevertheless, have fared badly if his mother had not
collected a band of his father's troops and come to his assistance
together with Tului, the Kerait chief, who remembered the favors he
had received from Temudjin's father. Mailla says that returning home
with a few followers, he was attacked by a band of robbers. He was
accompanied by a famous crossbowman, named Soo, to whom he had given
the name of Merghen. While the robbers were within earshot, Merghen
shouted: "There are two wild ducks, a male and a female; which shall I
bring down?"
"The male," said Temudjin.
He had scarcely said so when down it came. This was too much for the
robbers, who dared not measure themselves against such marksmanship.
The Merkits had recently made a raid upon his territory, and carried
off his favorite wife, Burte Judjin. It was after her return from her
captivity that she gave birth to her elder son, Juji, about whose
legitimacy there seems to have been some doubt in his father's mind.
It was to revenge this that he now (1197) marched against them, and
defeated them near the river Mundsheh (a river "Mandzin" is still to
be found in the canton Karas Muren). He abandoned all the booty to
Wang Khan. The latter, through the influence of Temudjin, once more
regained his throne, and the following year (1198) he headed an
expedition on his own account against the Merkits, and beat them at a
place named Buker Gehesh, but he did not reciprocate the generosity of
his ally.
In 1199 the two friends made a joint expedition against the Naimans.
This tribe was now divided between two brothers who had quarrelled
about their father's concubine. One of them, named Buyuruk, had
retired with a body of the people to the Kiziltash mountains. The
other, called Baibuka--but generally referred to by his Chinese title
of Taiwang, or Tayang--remained in his own proper country. It was the
latter who was now attacked by the two allies, and forced to escape to
the country of Kem Kemdjut--_i.e._, toward the sources of the
Yenissei. Chamuka, the chief of the Jadjerats, well named Satchan, or
"the Crafty," still retained his hatred for Temudjin. He now whispered
in the ear of Wang Khan that his ally was only a fair-weather friend.
Like the wild goose, he flew away in winter, while he himself, like
the snowbird, was constant under all circumstances. These and other
suggestions aroused the jealousy of Wang Khan, who suddenly withdrew
his forces, and left Temudjin in the enemy's country. The latter was
thereupon forced to retire also. He went to the river Sali or Sari.
Gugsu Seirak, the Naiman general, went in pursuit, defeated Wang Khan
in his own territory, and captured much booty. Wang Khan was hard
pressed, and was perhaps only saved by the timely succor sent by
Temudjin, which drove away the Naimans. Once more did the latter
abandon the captured booty to his treacherous ally. After the victory,
he held a Kuriltai, on the plains of Sari or Sali, to which Wang Khan
was invited, and at which it was resolved to renew the war against the
Taidshuts in the following year. The latter were in alliance with the
Merkits, whose chief, Tukta, had sent a contingent, commanded by his
brothers, to their help. The two friends attacked them on the banks of
the river Onon. Raschid says in the country of Onon, _i.e._, the great
desert of Mongolia. The confederates were beaten. Terkutai Kiriltuk
and Kuduhar, the two leaders of the Taidshuts, were pursued and
overtaken at Lengut Nuramen, where they were both killed. Another of
their leaders, with the two chiefs of the Merkits, fled to
Burghudshin, _i.e._, Burgusin on Lake Baikal, while the fourth found
refuge with the Naimans.
This victory aroused the jealousy of certain tribes which were as yet
independent of Temudjin, namely, the Kunkurats, Durbans, Jelairs,
Katakins, Saldjuts, and Taidshuts, and they formed a confederacy to
put him down. We are told that their chiefs met at a place called Aru
Bulak, and sacrificed a horse, a bull, a ram, a dog, and a stag, and
striking with their swords, swore thus: "Heaven and earth, hear our
oaths, we swear by the blood of these animals, which are the chiefs of
their kind, that we wish to die like them if we break our promises."
The plot was disclosed to Temudjin by his father-in-law, Dai Setzen, a
chief of the Kunkurats. He repaired to his ally, Wang Khan, and the
two marched against the confederates, and defeated them near the Lake
Buyur. He afterward attacked some confederate Taidshuts and Merkits on
the plain of Timurkin, _i.e._, of the river Timur or Temir, and
defeated them. Meanwhile the Kunkurats, afraid of resisting any
longer, marched to submit to him. His brother, Juji Kassar, not
knowing their errand, unfortunately attacked them, upon which they
turned aside and joined Chamuka.
That inveterate enemy of Temudjin had at an assembly of the tribes,
Inkirasses, Kurulasses, Taidshuts, Katakins, and Saldjuts, held in
1201, been elected gurkhan. They met near a river, called Kieiho by
Mailla; Kian, by Hyacinthe; and Kem, by Raschid, and then adjourned to
the Tula, where they made a solemn pact praying that "whichever of
them was unfaithful to the rest might be like the banks of that river
which the water ate away, and like the trees of a forest when they are
cut into fagots." This pact was disclosed to Temudjin by one of his
friends who was present, named Kuridai. He marched against them, and
defeated them at a place north of the Selinga, called Ede Kiurghan,
_i.e._, site of the grave mounds. Chamuka fled, and the Kunkurats
submitted.
In the spring of 1202, Temudjin set out to attack the tribes Antshi
and Tshagan. These were doubtless the subjects of Wangtshuk and
Tsaghan, mentioned by Ssanang Setzen. They were probably Tungusian
tribes. The western writers tell us that Temudjin gave orders to his
soldiers to follow up the beaten enemy, without caring about the
booty, which should be fairly divided among them. His relatives,
Kudsher, Daritai, and Altun, having disobeyed, were deprived of their
share, and became, in consequence, his secret enemies. Ssanang Setzen
has much more detail, and his narrative is interesting because, as
Schmidt suggests, it apparently contains the only account extant of
the conquest of the tribes of Manchuria. He says that while Temudjin
was hawking between the river Olcho and the Ula, Wangtshuk Khakan, of
the Dschurtschid (Niutchi Tartars of Manchuria), had retired from
there. Temudjin was angry, and went to assemble his army to attack the
enemy's capital. But as a passage was forbidden him across the river
Ula, and the road was blockaded, the son of Toktanga Baghatur Taidshi,
named Andun Ching Taidshi, coupled ten thousand horses together by
their bridles, and pressed into the river, forced a passage, and the
army then began to besiege the town.
Temudjin sent word to Wangtshuk, and said, "If you will send me ten
thousand swallows and one thousand cats then I will cease attacking
the town"; upon which the required number was procured. Temudjin
fastened some lighted wool to the tail of each and let them go; then
the swallows flew to their nests in the houses, and the cats climbed
and jumped on the roofs; the city was fired, by which means Temudjin
conquered Wangtshuk Khakan, and took his daughter Salichai for his
wife. He then marched farther eastward to the river Unegen, but he
found it had overflowed its banks, whereupon he did not cross it, but
sent envoys to Tsaghan Khakan of the Solongos, _i.e._, of the Solons.
"Bring me tribute, or we must fight," he said; upon which Tsaghan
Khakan was frightened, sent him a daughter of Dair Ussun, named Kulan
Goa, with a tent decorated with panther skins, and gave him the tribes
of Solongos and Bughas as a dowry, upon which he assisted Tsaghan
Khakan, so that he brought three provinces of the Solongos under his
authority.
Ssanang Setzen at this point introduces one of those quaint sagas,
which, however mythical in themselves, are true enough to the peculiar
mode of thought of the Mongols to make them very instructive. The saga
runs thus:
"During a three years' absence of her husband, Brute Judjin sent
Arghassun Churtshi, _i.e._, Arghassun the lute-player, to him. When
the latter was introduced, he spoke thus: 'Thy wife, Burte Judjin
Khatun, thy princely children, the elders and princes of thy kingdom,
all are well. The eagle builds his nest in a high tree; at times he
grows careless in the fancied security of his high-perched home; then
even a small bird will sometimes come and plunder it and eat the eggs
and young brood: so it is with the swan whose nest is in the sedges on
the lake. It, too, trusts too confidently in the dark thickets of
reeds, yet prowling water falcons will sometimes come and rob it of
eggs and young. This might happen to my revered lord himself!'
"These words aroused Temudjin from his confident air. 'Thou hast
spoken truly,' he said, and hied him on his way homeward. But when
some distance still from home he began to grow timid. 'Spouse of my
young days, chosen for me by my noble father, how dare I face thee,
home-tarrying Burte Judjin, after living with Chulan, whom I came
across in my journey? It would be shameful to seem unfriendly in the
assembly of the people. One of you nine Orloks his you to Burte Judjin
and speak for me.'
"Mukuli, of the Jelair tribe, volunteered, and when he came to her,
delivered this message: 'Besides protecting my own lands I have looked
around also elsewhere. I have not followed the counsel of the greater
and lesser lords. On the contrary, I have amused myself with the
variegated colors of a tent hung with panther skins. Distant people to
rule over, I have taken Chulan to be my wife: the Khan has sent me to
tell you this.'" His wife seems to have understood the enigmatical
phrases, for Setzen says: "The sensible (!) Burte Judjin thus replied:
'The wish of Burte Judjin and of the whole people is that the might of
our sovereign may be increased. It rests with him whom he shall
befriend or bind himself to. In the reedy lakes there are many swans
and geese. If it be his wish to shoot arrows at them until his finger
be weary, who shall complain? So also there are many girls and women
among our people. It is for him to say who the choicest and luckiest
are. I hope he will take to himself both a new wife and a new house.
That he will saddle the untractable horse. Health and prosperity are
not wearisome, nor are disease and pain desirable, says the proverb.
May the golden girth of his house be immortal.'"[38]