The Successors of Genghis Khan - Robert Bedrosian's Armenian ...

BEGINNING OF THE HISTORY OF OGETEI QA AN
of what use are kinsmen and emirs, and a countless army?" All
present approved these perfect words and made them their model
and guide; and the august mind of Qa'an resolved that of the princes,
Batu, Mongke Qa'an, and Giiyiik Khan, together with others of the
princes and a great army, should set out for the countries of the
Qjpchaq, Orus,20« Bular,210 Majar,211 Bashghiird,212 Sudaq,21' and
[all] that region and subjugate them all.
In the same year in the plain of Asichang,214 Ogetei Qa'an dispatched
his own son, Kochu, and Prince Qutuqu, the son of Jochi-Qasar, into
Machm, which they call Nangiyas. They set out and captured the
towns of Sangyambu and Kerimbu,215 laying waste the country of
Tibet upon their way.
In the same year Hoqatur2'6 was sent with an army toward Kashmir
and India. They captured and pillaged several provinces.
In the same year qubchur211 on animals was fixed at the rate of one
beast for every hundred. Also Qa'an commanded that a taghdr21* of
grain should be levied for every ten taghdrs to be distributed among the
poor. And as there was [much] coming and going of ambassadors
both from the princes [to the Court of Qa'an] and from the Court to
the princes upon important and necessary business, yams were set up
in all the lands which were called toy an yams219 and for the setting up of
those yams ambassadors were designated and appointed on behalf of
the princes as follows:
On behalf of Qa'an, Bitikchi Qoridai.
On behalf of Chaghatai, Emegelchin Tayichi'utai.
209 The Mongol name for the Russians.
210 The Bulgars, whether of the Volga or of the Danube. See Horde d'Or, pp. 124-39.
211 The Magyars or Hungarians.
212 The Uralian Bashkirs, now citizens of the Bashkir A. S. S. R.
213 On the southeast coast of the Crimea, Polo's Soldaia.
2I« Unidentified.
215 Hsiang-yang fu (Siangyang) and Chiang-ling fu (Kiangling) in Hupeh.
216 The Oqotur of SH. He was in command of forces in the Baghlan-Qunduz-
Badakhshan area. See Boyle 1963, pp. 242 and 247, note 68. On the invasion of
Kashmir see Jahn 1956, p. 177.
217 On qubchur, originally as here a tax in kind (usually cattle), see Doerfer, I,
No. 266 (pp. 387-91).
218 A well-known dry-measure equivalent to 83.4 kilograms. See Hinz, p. 52.
219 On jam (Mo. jam), "post station," and tayan yam, see below, p. 62 and note
270.
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