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PRESTOR JOHN, THE KALABHRAS AND MAHABALI ; WHAT IS ONAM ALL ABOUT? M. M. NINAN<br />
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Muslim in the mid-10th century. There indeed was a real battle occurring in<br />
September 1141 near Samarkand in present-day Uzbekistan in which<br />
Yeliutashi, ruler of the empire of Kara-Khitai, defeated Sultan Sanjar, and the<br />
Seljuk Turk ruler of Persia. Seljuk/Selchuk’s period is actually given as (? –<br />
1009 AD). After his conquest of Eastern and Western Turkestan, he became<br />
known by the title of Gur Khan, and had his capital at Bala<br />
Sagun. The last of the princes who took this title of Prester<br />
John was named Kushlub, who reigned 1213 to 1218, and was<br />
defeated and slain by Chengiz Khan. Rumors soon reached<br />
Europe that Yeliutashi was a Christian. This turned out to be<br />
not true. They were Muslims.<br />
The Keraits<br />
Depiction of the Kerait ruler Ong Khan as "Prester John" in "Le Livre des<br />
Merveilles", 15th century<br />
However, Kerait - a Christian tribe of Turko-Eurasian ethnicity existed in the<br />
Mongolian territory. Bar Hebraeus a Jacobite Syrian Bishop mentions<br />
that in 1006 Nestorian missions converted the Keraits, along with the<br />
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