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

BEGINNING OF THE HISTORY OF OGETEI QA AN
slowly form themselves into a ring and drive the animals into the
jihik, [at which point] the soldiers would stand shoulder to shoulder in
a circle. Then, first of all, Ogetei Qa'an would enter the circle with his
personal retinue and amuse himself for awhile killing game. When he
grew tired he would ride up on to high ground in the middle of the
ring, and the princes would enter in due order; then the common
people and soldiers would do their killing; then some [of the animals]
would be released for breeding and the rest of the game would be
distributed by the biike'uls2*7 to all the various princes and emirs of
the army, so that no one went without his share. All that company
would perform the ceremony of tikishmishi,2^ and then after 9 days
of feasting each tribe would return to its ownjiurt and home.289
Account of QO1 arts illness and death
Qa'an was extremely fond of wine, and [he] drank continuously
and to excess. Day by day he grew weaker, and though his intimates
and well-wishers sought to prevent him, it was not possible, and he
drank more in spite of them. Chaghatai appointed an emir as shahna290
to watch over him and not allow him to drink more than a
specified number of cups. As he could not disobey his brother's command,
he used to drink from a large cup instead of a small one, so that
the number remained the same. And that emir-supervisor also used
to give him wine and act as a drinking companion in order to make
himself one of his confidants; and so his attendance brought no
benefit to Qa'an.
Ibaqa Beki, the sister of Sorqoqtani Beki, whom Chingiz-Khan
had given to Kehetei Noyan,291 had a son who was a ba'urchi.292 This
28' See Glossary.
288 See Glossary.
289 On the Mongol battues, see HWC, pp. 27-29; also Doerfer, I, No. 286 (pp.
411-14).
290 Used here in the sense of "supervisor," the word was normally at this period a
synonym of basqaq, that is, the representative of the conqueror in conquered territory,
responsible in particular for the collection of tribute.
291 Genghis Khan had first taken Ibaqa Beki as his own wife and had then bestowed
her on Jiirchedei of the Urut (not his son Kehetei). See Campagnes, p. 236, and Conquerant,
p. 181.
292 See Glossary.
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