November 05, 2006

Genghis Khan was succeeded in his homeland, Mongolia, by his youngest son Tooli, who died in 1231 during a campaign in Northern China. This brought into limelight his wife Sorkaktani, who was appointed by her brother-in-law to look after the interests of the Empire until the sons became responsible for their own country. Sorkaktani had four sons. She brought them up well, educated them and groomed them according to traditional Mongol laws called Toora-i-Changaizi. When Ogdai died in 1241, an assembly of Mongol lords called Qurultai was held to select a new Khan. At this time the heirs to the throne were far away and content with their huge kingdoms, and nobody turned up for the Qurultai except for the four sons of Sorkaktani. Thus, the eldest of the four brothers, Mangu, was selected as the Khan, according to the Toora.

The brothers fortunately had a great bond between them; this was the training they had received from their mother. Mangu dispatched his second brother, Kublai, to the east to look after China and third brother, Halaku, to the west to control Persia, play havoc with Baghdad and conquer more territory — the dream left unfulfilled by Genghis. In 1259, Mangu died suddenly after a spell of cholera, leaving the three brothers to compete for “Khanship”. Halaku was far away, engaged in war with a cousin and not interested in becoming the Khan. Kublai and Ariq, the youngest, both declared themselves Khan. Thus there were two Khans: Khan Ariq in Mongolia and Khan Kublai in North China. Within two years Ariq died in mysterious circumstances and, according to the historian Rashiduddin, Kublai had a part to play in his death. Kublai was then left as the only Khan of the dynasty.

Kublai soon learnt that ruling China as a Mongol would prove to be very difficult; he would have to change certain things about himself. He had astounding managerial skills and was a superb judge of character. He included the Chinese people in his establishments and administration. He hired Chinese advisors who gradually managed to talk sense into his naturally violent Mongol soul. He wisely chose to adopt this new environment and make the necessary changes to himself. Kublai also looked at other nationalities in and around China and was particularly impressed by the highly qualified Muslims and their trading and administrative skills. He brought many Muslim administrators into his government, like Ikhteyaruddin as a minister and Syed Ajil as a governor. In fact, there were 66 Uighur Muslim Turks in his employment. There were other minorities in the administration as well, all hand picked by him on merit. He reorganised the administration of the provinces and named them prefectures. He brought security and stability to China.

Meanwhile his dream to dominate the world had not died. He continued to extend his empire; next in line were Korea, Tibet and the main rival, the Empire of Song, in southern China. He used modern technology in warfare against Song by using trebuchets and counter-weight trebuchets, imported from the Muslim world. He also organised a fleet of 700 ships to invade Japan, the biggest fleet ever collected until the Normandy invasion of Europe by Allied forces in 1945. Kublai Khan acquired a huge kingdom, ruling from the Pacific to Southern Russia. His empire was larger than present day China. In 1274, he commanded more wealth than any other monarch in history. He held a nominal sway over one-fifth of the world’s populated land mass and about half of humanity.

China has contributed greatly to the development of the modern world; they have given us tea, porcelain, the compass, civil service, paper money, block printing of books, a new legal system, the “hundi” system and gunpowder. Many of these commodities were transferred to other parts of the world during the days of Kublai Khan.

The news of his wealth and grandeur spread all over the world. In his days, one could travel from Afghanistan to Beijing, over land, in six weeks. Day and night travel was possible. This opened the way for tourists and traders, the most famous of which were the Polos who travelled from Europe to China. The two brothers, Nicolo and Maffeo, and Nicolo’s son Marco travelled with Kublai in 1275. When Marco came back, he told his story to a fiction writer, Rustichello, who penned the story of the famous travels. It is certain that Rustichello exaggerated the numbers, dimensions, extent and magnificence of the empire and Man discusses this.

But Rustichello and Marco Polo missed many common observations, forgetting to mention things like the great tea drinking, the Great Wall of China and the practice of restricting the growth of female feet for beauty purposes. There are doubts as to whether Marco Polo really ever visited China at all. In spite of these objections, the book awoke Europe to the wonders of China to such an extent that even 200 years after Kublai’s death, Columbus wanted to visit China. He took the sea route on the west to reach the east and inadvertently found America. By this time, Europe’s land route to the east was blocked by the growth of Osmania Turkey.

Man is an experienced writer on the Mongol world and has previously written a book on Genghis Khan. He tells the story well but is not free of prejudices against Muslims. There should have been some mention of the causes of the Mongols’ phenomenally successful wars under Kublai Khan. Man has selected as the cover picture a Mongol riding his horse but has not discussed the technique depicted in that illustration; how Mongols were able to shoot arrows turning to face backwards on a galloping animal, a great technique of warfare in those days praised even by Babar, the first Mughal emperor of India. Another reason for the success of the Mongols has been mentioned by Ibn Batuta in his travels: the Mongols used to travel light and fast. He mentions observations of a spy who went to a Mongol camp and found that the Mongol soldier did not have many personal belongings, not even cooking utensils. At dinner time he took out an intestine from his pocket, moistened it in water, cut open a vein of his horse, filled it up with blood, tied two knots on each end, grilled it on the fire and ate it.

This is not an academic book; there are no specific and classified references. It targets the general reader. Man has tried to incorporate some fictional touches to make it attractive and palatable. There are many photographs in the book although the choice of dark borders and backgrounds has further dimmed the originally not so clear paintings and line drawings from China. There are two maps which illustrate the conquests of Kublai and show the position of the empire of the brothers of the clan. On the whole this book is recommended for people who wish to know more about 13th century China and its greatest ever leader, Kublai Khan.