"Table Of Content"
Acknowledgement
Genghis Khan or Genghis Khan was the first Great Mongolian tribal chief who conquered northern China, Central Asia (including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan), and Afghanistan and invaded parts of India (modern-day Pakistan). Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia and large swathes of Russian lands were also integrated into the Mongol Empire. Even Europe was afraid of him. Genghis Khan established the 2nd largest empire in the world after the British Empire. His empire was also the largest contiguous empire in the world. He was the founder of modern-day Mongolia, He also captured Beijing, Samarkand, Balkh, Bukhara, Bamyan, and Herat. His grandson Kublai Khan ruled over entire China and captured the Sung dynasty.
Part 4
“Last Days of Khan and Jalaluddin Khawarzim.”
So where were we?
Genghis Khan had killed his closest childhood friend Jamuka. The largest state in China had conquered the Chen Empire. And now it was about to clash with the Islamic world.
He said that my greatest joy is to tear my enemies to pieces, see the tears of their loved ones and take possession of their wives and daughters. Yes, he did the same. He created countless tales of cruelty from Central Asia to Russia. But then a Muslim general gave him such a challenge that Genghis Khan's empire reached the brink of destruction.
Who was this commander and how did he face Genghis Khan?
No one knows the sign of Genghis Khan's grave. But why?
In the last Chapter of mini story 'who was Genghis Khan, you will know all this. When Genghis Khan was invading China, a new power was emerging in its west. The founder of this powerful state was a Turkish Sultan Muhammad II or Alauddin Khwarizm Shah. He established the largest empire in the Islamic world at that time.
This kingdom, which was called the Khwarizmi kingdom, extended from Kazakhstan to the territories of Iran and present-day Pakistan.
He liked to call himself Alexander II. He also dreamed of conquering China and Baghdad. But then he made a historic mistake. And this mistake brought him into competition with Genghis Khan.
It so happened that now Genghis Khan had become the ruler of a large empire.
Silk and other riches of China were also in his possession. With skilled artists, traders, economists and many other experts, he wanted to develop his empire now. For this he started making trade agreements with the surrounding countries.
He sent a message to Muhammad Sani. He said, I don't want to expand my empire by occupying your kingdom. Rather, I want peaceful trade. Genghis Khan addressed the Sultan and said that I am the ruler of the land of the rising sun, and you are the ruler of the land of the setting sun.
Sultan Khwarazm Shah responded positively to the letter meaning he was ready to trade with Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan immediately dispatched a trade convoy to Khwarizm.
Apart from an ambassador of Genghis Khan, there were 450 Muslim traders and about a hundred Mongol guards in the caravan. This convoy reached the city of Ortarar in Kazakhstan, which was located on the border of the Khwarazmi Empire.
Here was the event that led to the destruction of the Khwarazmi Empire. Qair Khan, the governor of the city, accused Genghis Khan's caravan of espionage and killed all the merchants and guards. Only one person from the caravan survived and reached Mongolia and narrated the whole incident to Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan was obviously very angry. But he sent a three-member delegation headed by a Muslim to Sultan Khwarazm to investigate the matter. The delegation demanded from the Sultan that the governor of Urtarar be handed over to the Mongols.
But what happened was that instead of fulfilling this demand, the Sultan killed the Muslim ambassador of Genghis Khan. And the heads and beards of the remaining two Mongols were shaved and sent back. When Genghis Khan learned of the treatment of his ambassadors, he was furious. Once again, he turned to the holy mountain Burqan Qaldun.He raised his hands to the sky and called out to his god.
He said, "Give me strength, I have to take revenge."
Then Genghis Khan sent a final message to Alauddin.
He said you have killed my men and traders and looted my merchandise.
So the trade is over.
Now prepare for battle because I am about to attack you with an army that you will not be able to stop.
Genghis Khan rushed to Khwarazm with one hundred and twenty thousand troops in May twelve hundred and nineteen.
Apart from ten thousand Uighur soldiers, Turkish Muslims and Chinese engineers were also present in large numbers in his army.
The Sultan's army was more than twice that of Genghis Khan.
But Sultan made a mistake.
That is, instead of directly confronting the Mongols, he divided his army and sent it to protect separate cities. The result was disastrous as the Mongols began to surround and destroy the city one by one. Thus the Muslims could not take advantage of their greater numbers.
The Mongols conquered Ortarar in five months.
Then he massacred most of the city's population, including its governor Qair Khan. After Utrar, great cities like Bukhara and Samarkand also suffered the same fate. Genghis Khan had destroyed this city so badly that even after a period of time, if someone would pass by there, seeing the desolation would make his heart ache. Think about it as a century later, when the famous travellers Ibn Battuta passed through here, he too saw this city as a deserted settlement.
After destroying Bukhara and Samarkand, Genghis Khan did not return but continued to advance. Whoever came in his way went on to destroy him. But he did not destroy the famous city of Nurata in Uzbekistan. It is said that the reason why this city was not destroyed was because there were holy tombs.
Some historians believe that during the invasion of the Khwarazm Empire, some religious leaders met Genghis Khan in disguise. Therefore, in order to keep them together, Genghis Khan left the places that could offend their religious sentiments.
Within a year, Genghis Khan's army had conquered the whole of Khorezm. The reason for this rapid success was speed. The Mongol army used to cover hundreds of kilometers in a single day.
Therefore, it was not long before they spread to Central Asia, Iran and Afghanistan and occupied these areas. Genghis Khan had captured the kingdom of Khwarazm Shah, but Khwarazm Shah himself had disappeared somewhere.
He was not falling into the hands of Genghis Khan. Genghis Khan ordered his army to find Sultan Muhammad II even if he ascended to the sky and do not show me his form until success.
So a large Mongol army started chasing the Sultan like hunters.
Sultan Muhammad II kept hiding from one city to another to avoid the Mongols. He hid the women and children of his harem in a fort. But the Mongols found the fort and captured the women and children.
Now the Sultan had no one but his one son, Jalal Uddin Khwarazm Shah, and a handful of loyalists. The sultan was in such bad condition that he had rags on his body and not even a penny in his pocket. There were only a few loyalists who were supporting him till now. With his followers he fled to the shores of the Caspian Sea.
Mongol soldiers followed behind him.
He sat in a boat and began to escape when the Mongol soldiers came upon him. They showered arrows on the boat. But by chance the boat and the boatmen got off safely. Earlier, the Sultan of Khwarazm was hiding from one city to another.
Now, escaping from the soldiers of Genghis Khan, he was moving from one island to another island. The Mongols were not ready to leave it at any place.It was a merciless battle of muscles, nerves and time. This war had driven the Sultan almost mad.
He started to talk in a seductive way. It was becoming a difficult task for his son Jalal Uddin and a few loyalists to handle it. In the same way, while saving his life, running and hiding, one day Sultan Khwarazm got pneumonia. Sultan left the world on January 10, 1221. And that too in such a way that even shroud cloth was not available for burial. So he was buried in the rags on his body.
But was that all there was to it?
No, Genghis Khan's soldiers still had to fight.
When he failed to fulfil his master's order, i.e., Genghis Khan's soldiers could not reach the Sultan alive to his master, he found the Sultan's grave. The body was taken out and set on fire.
The sultan's mother and the women of the harem were paraded and forced to mourn the destruction of the Khwarazmi Empire. Then the women of the harem were divided among Genghis Khan's sons and generals. But in all this it happened that the Sultan's son Jalal Uddin Khwarazm Shah escaped with his life. He did not fall into the hands of Genghis Khan's soldiers.
Therefore, it became the symbol of the freedom struggle of the Muslims against the Mongols. Jalal-ud-Din, who could not be captured by the Mongols after the death of his father, was also anxious to reach Afghanistan. Because there were thousands of his supporters gathering in Ghazni. Ghazni was by then independent and not yet controlled by the Mongols.
So Jalal Uddin left the Caspian Sea region with a handful of his companions and reached Turkmenistan. He had to reach Afghanistan from Turkmenistan. But there were many forts conquered by the Mongols along the way. Their groups were also present. So in such a way he went on defeating them too.
He killed seven hundred Mongols occupying the fort of Nisa. Defeating the small Mongol forces and clearing his way, he reached Ghazni in the same year i.e., 1221. Here fifty thousand soldiers of the Khwarazmi Empire swore their allegiance to him. A general Timur Malik was also with him in the war against the Mongols. Timur Malik was the governor of Khujand, a region of Ferghana during the reign of Sultan Muhammad II.
This area is the second largest city in Tajikistan today. He also fought against the Mongols by closing his front on an island with a thousand soldiers. After that he escaped to Afghanistan by breaking the siege of the Mongols. And when Jalal Uddin reached Ghazni, after some time Timur Malik also arrived with thirty thousand soldiers.
These soldiers were recruited by him on the way. With his arrival Jalal Uddin 's power increased. Thus, an army of about 80,000 men was ready to fight against the Mongols in Ghazni. Before Genghis Khan was confronted by Jalal al-Din Khwarizm, the horrors of war began to reach Genghis Khan's home.
One of his sons-in-law 'Toquchar' was killed in the siege of the Iranian city of Nishapur. This news was a tragic accident for Genghis Khan. He sent his son Tuli Khan to Nishapur to take revenge. Tuli Khan surrounded Nishapur and installed hundreds of catapults around it. Then they showered stones on the city and blew up the protective walls. The Mongol army then entered the city.
Accompanying the Mongol army was Genghis Khan's widowed daughter with the blood of revenge in her eyes and the words of revenge, revenge, revenge on her lips. She was energizing the army and the army was energizing. Genghis Khan's son-in-law was avenged by first killing the city's human population.
Then even the dogs, cats and rats of the city were killed.
Just as Genghis Khan's army was taking revenge for his son-in-law, another incident happened. Genghis Khan's favourite grandson 'Moghitogin' was also killed by an arrow outside the fort of Bamiyan in Afghanistan. This was the second major emotional shock for Genghis Khan after the death of his son-in-law.
Enraged, Genghis Khan himself reached Bamiyan with his army and just like Nishapur, Bamiyan was destroyed brick by brick. Genghis Khan ordered that nothing should be left in Bamiyan that could breathe. After killing a hundred of human beings, all animals, even insects and spiders, were hunted down and exterminated. Pregnant women's bellies were slashed, and the babies were cut open. Bamiyan was so ruined that people remembered it as the haunted city for years.
After raising the flags of success and fear at Nishapur and Bamiyan, the Mongols now faced Jalal Uddin Khwarazm Shah. Genghis Khan sent one of his generals with an army of over forty thousand in pursuit of Jalal Uddin. Jalal-ud-Din encountered this army near Parwan, an Afghan region. But here he suffered such a crushing defeat that the Mongol army fled from the battlefield. This was the first defeat of any of Genghis Khan's armies by the Muslims. Many Mongol soldiers were also taken prisoner in this battle. These prisoners were exchanged by Jalal Uddin’s army. Many Mongols had nails driven into their ears. Many were handed over to mobs of angry citizens.
The citizens blew up Mongol prisoners, dragged some to death and beat others to death. Jalal Uddin Khwarazm, who had seen the end of his empire, his father and his women at the hands of the Mongols, was.
Now smiling at them dying a helpless death. He even beheaded several prisoners with his own hands.
Now the tables had turned. Mongol soldiers were being blessed with the death they gave to others.
The defeat of the Mongols and the massacre of their prisoners also shattered the illusion of their invincibility. And the whole Islamic world was filled with a new zeal and hope of victory against them. From Afghanistan to Iran and Central Asia, Muslims took up arms against the Mongols.
In the cities where the Mongol governors and soldiers were stationed, revolts broke out against them, and they were killed in many places.
Therefore, the War of Independence started against Genghis Khan in the Khwarazmi Empire. On top of that, news of a rebellion had also started coming from Genghis Khan's own territory, Mongolia. Now it was time for Genghis Khan to lead directly.
He decided to take immediate revenge instead of wasting time.
In a few days he set off with an army to fight Jalal Uddin Khwarizm Shah. The pursuit was so rapid that the Mongol army was allowed to stop for food only once in forty-eight hours.
Thus, Genghis Khan came close to Jalal Uddin in a few days. But Jalal Uddin’s army was already weakened before the battle. After Parwan's victory, two of his generals, Timur Malik and another chief, had a dispute over the distribution of booty. When Jalal-ud-Din supported Timur Malik in this conflict, the second general Sardar left his side with thirty thousand of his companions.
Now Jalal Uddin had less army than before. He entered the present Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa via Afghanistan to escape the Mongols. He soon reached the place of Kala Bagh. Here his army was preparing to cross the river standing on the west bank of the river Indus. That Genghis Khan with his Lao army came to him.
Now Jalal Uddin had no choice but to compete. He immediately burned his boats so that his soldiers would not try to escape.Then he also threw the gold, silver and diamond gems he had in the river Indus. After that, he himself took the sword and jumped into the field.
By noon, the two armies were in a frenzy.
Jalal Uddin’s companions were sacrificed one by one. Even his loyal General Timur Malik also lost his life. When Jalal Uddin saw his army defeated and there was no way to save. So he climbed a rock on the banks of the river Indus with his horse. Then he jumped into the river from a height of sixty feet, sixty feet. The rapid flow of the river began to sweep Jalal Uddin away with it. Jalal Uddin was struggling badly to get out.
Genghis Khan was standing on the high bank of the river watching this scene. His archers were targeting Jalal Uddin to put him to death. They had drawn arrows in their bows. But Genghis Khan raised his hand and stopped them.
He looked at Jalal Uddin and said that such a brave son had the right to have a more wonderful father. The archers bent their bows and Jalal Uddin crossed the river with his horse. Coming out of the river, he contacted the Sultan of Delhi. And sought help against Genghis Khan. But Genghis Khan was so afraid of Al-Tatmish that he refused to help Jalal Uddin. On the other hand, Genghis Khan himself did not cross the Indus River but sent his army forward to search for Jalal Uddin.
From Punjab to Sindh, the Mongols heated up the market for murder. The Mongols also besieged Multan, but this is the heat of Multan. Having to cope with all kinds of weather, the Mongols were terrified of the heat of Multan. They raised the siege and returned.
Genghis Khan wanted to pass through India and go to China. But due to a rebellion in Khwarazm, he abandoned his intention and returned to Central Asia. Jalal-ud-Din, during the presence of the Mongol army in Punjab and Sindh, hid in various places and had fights with several local tribes and once even got his arm injured. It is also said that he married the daughter of a Khokhar chief.
Despite the return of Genghis Khan, Jalal Uddin remained hidden in Lahore for two years. When he was fully convinced that Genghis Khan was not returning to India, he reached Sindh and boarded a ship to Iran. He fought till his death against the Mongols but could not succeed. Apart from the Mongols, the Caliph of Baghdad and many other Muslim rulers were also turning against Jalal Uddin. Because Jalal Uddin Khwarazm Shah was fighting the Mongols to regain his father's lost kingdom. And the rest of the Muslim rulers began to consider this process as a threat to themselves.
In 1231, this unsung hero of the Muslims was defeated by the Mongols near the Turkish region of Diyarbakir. After this defeat, he once again began to wander. Even at one place Kurdish bandits attacked his camp and killed him. A great enemy of Genghis Khan was gone. Genghis Khan had withdrawn his army from India much earlier. But he made the rebellious cities of the Khwarazmi Empire a lesson.
These cities included the famous cities of Afghanistan, Ghazni, Balkh, Ghor and Herat. Genghis Khan was now more than sixty years old. He wanted to live longer. In this effort, he called Chen Chung, a Taoist leader from China, and asked him the secret of eternal life. Ch'in Chung said”
If you are careful in your marital affairs, abstain from hunting and alcohol, you can live a long time." Genghis Khan was disappointed by this answer because he meant long life, not eternal life. Wanted immortality.
He decided to go back to Mongolia and left for his homeland in 1225, six years later.
By this time, he had become the ruler of a large part of the world, but he still lived in tents and lived a simple life like the common Mongols. He did not spend any part of his life in luxury. This is what he used to advise those who came after him. He once said, "After us, the people of our generation will wear golden clothes, eat delicious food, travel on decorated horses, have beautiful wives, and forget what rights we have over them." Genghis Khan loved Juchi Khan the most among his sons, although he was not his real son, but a descendant of the Merkad clan.
Genghis Khan wanted Juchi to be his successor. But his second son Chaghatai Khan objected and said, "We cannot accept the descendants of the Merkad tribe as your successor." On this, Jochi and Chaghatai even got beaten up. Genghis Khan was forced to appoint his third son Oghdai as his successor.
But then you know what happened?
It was many years after the succession incident that Juchi Khan and Genghis Khan had serious differences.
These differences escalated to such an extent that Genghis Khan allegedly poisoned Juchi Khan, Alijidli. Within a year of his return home, in 1226, Genghis Khan was old and in very poor health. Yet he set out to crush a rebellion within China.
He crushed this rebellion within a year, but it is said that during the battle an arrow stuck in his leg. It is also said that he was injured by a fall from his horse during a hunt. He had deep internal injuries. He didn't want to die yet, but the wound got infected. And this poison spread and spread in his veins. It was on the last day of August twelve hundred and twenty-seven that Genghis Khan breathed his last. Sixty-five-year-old Genghis Khan had crushed a rebellion far from his homeland.
But life was lost. His son Oghdai Khan also sacrificed forty virgin girls to appease his father's spirit. His body was brought back to the banks of the same Onan River in Mongolia where he had once opened his eyes in Yesugai's tent. And here he was buried.
The Mongols had a custom of keeping graves secret. But to hide the grave of Genghis Khan, the limit was made. Legend has it that everyone who witnessed Genghis Khan's funeral was killed. Then, the ground where he was buried, 800 horsemen ran and trampled so that even the mark of the grave was erased. When this was done, these eight hundred horsemen were also killed.
After that, those who killed him were also killed. Even the animals around the grave were killed. It is also said that a river was diverted and passed over the grave.
Perhaps this is the reason why, despite the efforts of experts, the trace of Genghis Khan's grave could not be found till date.
Genghis Khan is believed to have been buried somewhere on the sacred mountain Burqan Khaldun in Mongolia itself.
According to some historians, he may have been buried somewhere in the part of Mongolia that is now part of China.
Because Genghis Khan died in summer. The Mongols could not have taken the body so far to the Onan River. They did not even know how to preserve the dead bodies.
Therefore, Genghis Khan's body is probably buried in an unknown place in China itself. But no one knows about the tombs of the most important Mongol chieftains, including Genghis Khan, his son, grandson 'Mongke' Khan and Kublai Khan.
However, he was undoubtedly one of the unforgettable characters of history. Today, Genghis Khan is considered the founder and national hero of modern Mongolia. A sketch of Genghis Khan is also printed on Mongolian currency.
Genghis Khan died, but his descendants continued to multiply. Even a single gene study conducted in 2003 revealed the astonishing fact that a point five percent of men in the world are descendants of Genghis Khan.
It is about one crore six lacs. When Genghis Khan died, his empire spread over 1.2 million square kilo meters of land from Mongolia to Russia.
This empire was bigger than today's United States. For the establishment of this empire, four million people, which were eleven percent of the total population of that time, were killed.
So, Who the Genghis Khan was Story ends here.
But the Mongol Empire did not end with the death of Genghis Khan, but rather expanded. But for your interest we are bringing you the story of the two great rulers of the Mongol Empire.
Stay Tune with us for more.
No comments:
Post a Comment