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0372 Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1
Notes on Marco Polo : vol.1 / Page 372 (Color Image)

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doi: 10.20676/00000246
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356   158. CINGHIS

ß. (33, 9 b) : «The second year t'ien-li ... , in the twelfth month, ... on the day kêng-yin (December 27, 1329), a purifying sacrifice was offered at the tent (61 xt wu-tien, lit. « tent-hall ») of T'ai-tsu (= Chinghiz-khan). »

y. (35, 1 b) : «The second year chih-shun ... , in the first month, ... on the day kêng-yin (February 27, 1331) ... According to state regulations, guards (fir j- wei-shih) were established

at the ordos   hsing-chang) of the various reigns (i. e. of all the late Emperors), to serve there
as at the time when [the Emperors] were on the throne. Recently, the numbers [of the guards] which were excessive have been reduced. For each of the Emperors Wu-tsung (1307-1311) and Jên-tsung (1311-1320), [guards] have been fixed at eight hundred, and for Ying-tsung (1320 1323) at seven hundred. The members of the Grand Secretariat (chung-shu-shêng) have reported that [, as a consequence,] men who were old servants [of the late Emperors] had lost their office. An edict prescribed to restore to the office [of guards] one hundred men.» Although the text is not clear on the point, it may be that the purpose of the edict was to bring the guards at the ordo of Ying-tsung to the same number of eight hundred which had been adopted for Wu-tsung and Jên-tsung.

aS (35, 1 b) : «The second year chih-shun, in the first month, ... on the day hsin-mao

(February 28, 1337), the Imperial Heir-Apparent (huang-t'ai tza)    IJ   Ri  *IJ A-la-t'ê-na-
ta-ra (*Ratnadhara; Wên-tsung's son; on him cf. T'u Chi, 77, 34) died. On the day jên-ch'ên

(March 1, 1331), the official of the Heir-Apparent's Household   Fa-ii (*Fakhri?, in which
case he would be a Mussulman) and fifty-eight men who were in the service [of the Heir-Apparent]

were ordered to accompany (lit. to protect) the funerary hearse or   ling-yü) to the north, to be

buried by the side of [the other Emperors and princes] (   fu-tsang) at the mountain tumuli

( ß shan-ling, i.e. at the « great yoriq »; cf. p. 338). Moreover, Fa-li and the others were ordered to keep guard at the [tomb]. » The procedure adopted for *Ratnadhara's funeral was in fact that in use for an Emperor. In the same way, his woven portrait was installed and sacrificed to in the Ancestral Hall, and his household maintained at full strength as when he was alive. All this was done because of Wên-tsung's deep grief for the death of his son. The account gives us, at the same time, an interesting glimpse on the practice followed at the death of the Emperors themselves. It is not certain, however, that Fa-ii, ordered to « keep guard at the [tomb] », had to remain there for the rest of his life. He was expressly detailed to accompany the hearse and to attend to the funeral. When an Emperor has been buried, the old Mongol ritual was ( YS, 77, 8 b) that « three officials who had escorted [the hearse] and buried [the late Emperor] settled at beyond five li

[from the tomb] ; every day they ' burnt food ' (   shao-fan; on this ancient Altaic rite, cf.
WANG Kuo-wei, Kuan-t'ang chi-lin, 16, 18-19; the corresponding technical term in Mongolian, tüläsoilä-, occurs in the Secret History, §§ 161, 177) and offered sacrifice for three years, after which they went back ». Fa-li was such an official, and there is little likelihood that an Heir-Apparent should have been granted a longer official attendance at his tomb than a regnant Emperor.

IV. — I have given above reasons, which seem to me conclusive, for locating the tomb of Chinghiz-khan at the Burqan-qaldun, towards the source of the Onon. There is, however, an early text which runs counter to my argument; it is that of Hsü T'ing which I have already