The Secret History of the Mongol Queens - Jack Weatherford [148]
“If a piece of food is given” Giovanni DiPlano Carpini, The Story of the Mongols Whom We Call the Tartars, translated by Erik Hildinger (Boston: Branden, 1996).
CHAPTER 13
“Why is the ground shaking?” Most of the material in this chapter is taken from Charles Bawden, trans., The Mongol Chronicle Altan Tobŭi (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1955), §§ 107–88.
incense holders Erdeni-yin Tobci, as compiled by Isaac Jacob Schmidt in Geschichte der Ost-Mongolen und ihres Fürstenhauses, verfasst von Ssanang Ssetsen Chungtaidschi der Ordus, (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 1829).
“It is necessary to accept hard and inconvenient advice” Walther Heissig, “A Contribution to the Knowledge of Eastmongolian Folkpoetry,” Folklore Studies 9 (1950): 158.
she died soon thereafter Siker died at Seremeger on the Sira Mören. Altan Tobŭi, § 109.
“the government was rectified and humanity was united” Altan Tobŭi, §123.
“peace, unity and prosperity spread throughout all the people.” Erdeni-yin Tobci.
“give us gold, silver, and silk” Talat Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic, Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 69 (Bloomington: Indiana University Publications, 1968).
Tonyukuk Talat Tekin, Ibid.
“He has come saying he will rule our country” Altan Tobŭi, §113.
“May you heaven” Altan Tobŭi, §114.
EPILOGUE
The Squire’s Tale Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, edited by Alfred W. Pollard (London: Macmillan, 1899).
“She united with her ravishing beauty” François Pétis de la Croix, The Thousand and One Days: Persian Tales, translated by Justin Huntly McCarthy (London: Chatto & Windus, 1892).
“tigerish woman” Carlo Gozzi, Turandotte, Act I, scene i.
“in that cruel night” Puccini, Turandot, Act II, scene ii.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE GLORY OF MONGOLIA IS BEST APPRECIATED THROUGH the three treasures that bring the Mongols the greatest joy and pride: the splendor of their landscape, the magnificence of their history, and the grandeur of their music. While writing this book, I spent as much time as possible in the Mongolian countryside with my wife, Walker Pearce. When we could not be there, I relied upon the music to re-create the landscape and to summon the images of the past.
Throughout the writing of this book, I repeatedly found inspiration in the songs written about Manduhai and, most important, in the symphony written in her honor by N. Jantsannorov, one of the greatest composers of our time. In researching this project, I realized how much the Mongolian people have preserved their history through song, despite the historical censorship of documents. Sometimes, they were not allowed to publicly perform the songs, as in the case of a beautiful song written in tribute to Manduhai Khatun by composer and musician D. Jargalsaikhan in the 1970s. Like many musicians working under censorship, he had to leave out her name and change the words slightly to disguise the song’s subject matter.
I received great inspiration from the voices of Shurankhai: B. Nomin-Erden, D. Uriintuya, and G. Erdenchimeg, and I benefited greatly from the performances of D. Odsuren and T. Batbayasgalan.
The portrait of Queen Manduhai on the cover of the book was made by Kikutake Yuji. Throughout the writing of this book I used it as the screensaver on my computer because it represents the dynamic nature of Manduhai while also reminding me that, like the artist, I too am a foreigner trying to interpret Mongolian culture.
It is not surprising that with so much censorship of the written history of the Mongol queens, no portraits of them are known to exist from their lifetimes. For Mongols, however, the essence of a person persists not so much in the physical features of the body as in the sound of the spoken name and the appearance of the written name. They summon this fundamental nature through calligraphic drawings that simultaneously record the name and the general form of the person. The artist N. Bat-Erdene made the name drawings that illustrate this book. Borte