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| Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
123. CASCAR 207
Chinese re-conquest in 1877. This view may be too radical, but the capital certainly was at Yârkänd at the time of Goes's visit in 1604.
Two of the earliest monuments of the Turkish language are connected with Kâsyar : the Qutar u bilig, or « The Lore of the Royal Fortune » was written at Kas ar in 1069, and the first great dictionary of the Turkish language, the Divan lughat at-Turk, completed in 1076, is the work of a man from Kâsyar, Kâg) ari.
The Secret History, compiled in 1240, gives the name of Kâsyar in the form « Kisyar » (§ 263) ; but is probably a misreading of the transcribers of the second half of the 14th cent. They did not recognize or did not know the name, and Mongolian writing does not distinguish between -s- and -§-; on the other hand, no distinction was then made in transcription between -y- and -q-. As to the -i- of the first syllable, it might be considered as an easy misreading -i-for -a-, but in such a case we ought to assume the same misreading in one of the forms occurring in YS. It is not surprising, since in Mongolian ki- is « neutral » and can occur in words containing -y- or -q-, whereas ka- is excluded. The form really given in the original text of 124.0 must have been either Kisyar, or more probably Kâsyar.
The transcriptions in YS are many (cf. Br, it, 45-47), but resolve themselves to two original.
forms : •i!f * K'o-shih-ha-êrh (YS, 15, 5 a), TIT rut Jr. K'o-shih-ha-êrh (YS, 63, 15 b
and map of c. 1330), ct r n K'o-shih-ha-êrh (YS, 120, 7 a), E 6 iJ;; Chia-shih-ha (YS,
122, 1 a-b) and riJ N;; ~. K'o-shih-ha-li ( YS, 180, 2 a; Br, t, 162) render Kâsyar; û 2`);.-
Â
Ha-shih-ha-êrh ( YS, 8, 4 a) represents Qâsyar, altered according to the requirements of Mongol
euphony. The abnormal aû Ch'i-shih-ha-li, apparently Kisyar, of YS, 123, 2 a, is pro-
bably due to a misreading of an original Kâsyar in Mongolian writing.
Polo says that Kâsyar was subject to the Great Khan, as he does in the case of Khotan, but states that Yârkänd was subject to a nephew of the Great Khan who must be Qaidu (see « Cotan », « Yarcan », « Caidu »). Surprise has been expressed at Polo's statement, for the reason that the boundary between Qaidu's territory and the Great Khan's lay between Qara-sahr and Qomul, so that the whole of the western part of Chinese Turkestan must have belonged to Qaidu (Y, 1, 183; Br, it, 47). This is not quite a true representation of the situation which obtained in Polo's days. It is true that Rasidu-'d-Din speaks of Qarâ-hôjo (to the east of Turfan) as keeping somehow neutral between Qubilai and Qaidu, and also that, on the map of c. 1330, Kâsyar and Khotan are listed among the possessions of Düräi-Tämür, the then head of the house of Cayatai. But it is no less certain that, to the north of the T'ien-shan, Qubilai's forces held Almalïq in Ili, and that the Great Khan had established postal relays on the whole route from Tun-huang to Kâsyar via the Lop-Nar (see « Ciarcian », « Lop ») ; he could even send men to work for him in the mines of Badahsân (see « Badascian »). Under such conditions, the surprise should not be so great to be told that Kâsyar and Khotan belonged to the Great Khan as to hear of a different regime for Yarkänd. Prince Hoqu's rebellion, which for a time wrenched the region of Khotan from the rule of Qubilai, must have taken place shortly after the passage of the Polos (see « Cotan » and « Badascian »), and, moreover, would not affect the respective status of Yârkänd and Khotan. Perhaps Yârkänd, while included within the dominions under the direct administration of the Great Khan, had been given as an appanage, at least for
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