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| Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
336 158. CINGHIS
because of their duties at the tomb). Tului-khan and his descendants — excepting Qubilaiqa'an — (the text is here in contradiction with the one translated above; I shall discuss the point later), Mänggii-qa'an (= Mongka-qa'an) and their (sic) descendants (uruq), were all buried in that ' forbidden precinct '. The ' forbidden precinct ' of the rest of the descent of Chinghizkhan is in other places. »
In the section of the Uryânggât proper, Raid repeats that they are not the same as the «Uryânggât of the Woods », and nevertheless speaks again of the latter (Ber, I, 144145) : « In the time of Chinghiz-khan, there was, belonging to the tribe of the Uryânggât of the Woods, a chiliarch who was a leader (emir) of the left hand, called Odâ& (*Udäci). After the death of Chinghiz-khan, his children [decided] that [*ÜdäM, with his chiliarchy, should guard the forbidden precinct ' of the great yösûn (})); ~1.,j, 65?) of Chinghiz-khan, which is at a place called Bnrgan-gâldûn. These [men] do not have to join the army (5erik). Until now, [their office] has been perpetuated [by edicts] and they are attached to that same yösûn. Among the children of Chinghiz-khan, the great yösûn of Tului-khan, of Mänggü-ga'an (= Mongka-qa'an), and of the children of Qubilai-ga'an and his descendants (uruq) have all been deposited in the said place. People maintain that Chinghiz-khan once arrived at that place. An exceptionally verdant tree had grown on the steppe. He was extremely pleased by the fresh and flourishing appearance of the tree. He sat for an hour under that tree, and felt moved within himself; in that condition he said to the leaders and to the 'great : ' It must be that this will be my last [resting] place '. After he died, since they had heard such words from him, his great forbidden precinct ' (yorûq-i buzurg) was fixed at that place, [and] under that tree. It is said that, in the same year, this steppe, on account of the numerous trees that grew up [there], became a great wood, so that it became impossible to recognize the original tree, and nobody [now] knows which it is. The great yösûn of the other children [of Chinghiz-khan] are in another place. The descent (uruq) of this *Uda i continues through hereditary slaves (I read
,fy91 *otügü boyol, or *öttigü boyol, instead of BEREZIN'S « utalu boyol » [cf. also Ber, I, 276; ERDMANN, Temudschin, 193] ; whatever the correct form may be, it is certainly the same term as the one read öngü-boyol in Ber, I, 33 [and 227], 58, and II, 11), since they do not give away girls [to other tribes] nor do they take any [from them].»
In the account of the Mongol army, there is again the following text (Ber, III, 141) :
« Chiliarchy (hazard) of Odâ& (*(rdVi). He was from the tribe of the u<ill),1 Hain-
Uryânggât. This tribe and the children of this *Uda j, according to the yäsâ and the yösûn, keep guard at the great ' forbidden precinct ' (yorûq-i buzurg) which is at the place BûrgànQàldùn. They do not [have to] join the army. »
The yâsâ is the code laid down by Chinghiz-khan, and the yösûn (Mong. yosun) is the
Mongol customary law (on the word yosun in Persian texts, cf. QUATREMÉRE, Hist. des Mongols, 35). The use of yosun in the third text is quite regular. So it may be too in the second text when Raid says that the descendants of *Udgi went on keeping guard at the tomb, if we translate this passage as « according to that same rule » (yosun). But then the « forbidden precinct of the great yösûn » makes no sense, nor do the « great yösûn » of Tului and the «great yösûn » of the other children. I have no certain solution to suggest. It may be that yosun
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