THE COMPOSITION OF THE HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS BY RASHĪD AL-DĪN

Author(s): A. ZEKI VELIDI TOGAN

Source: Central Asiatic Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1 (March 1962), pp. 60-72
Published by: Harrassowitz Verlag
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 THE COMPOSITION OF THE HISTORY OF THE
MONGOLS BY RASHÏD AL-DlN *

by
A. ZEKI VELIDI TOGAN
Istanbul

Rashîd al-din is allegedlyan Iranian authorwho, at the commandof

Ghäzän Khän, and withtheaid of a Mongol informant, Pulad Jinksank,
wrotea generalhistoryof theMongolsand Turks. But thefactsare not
quite so. Alreadyin 1941and 1946,1 had dealtwiththesourcematerial
pertainingto the complex Rashîd al-dïn problem. These publications
werein Turkishand therefore could not be read by all scholarsdealing
withRashîd al-dîn'speriod.
It is knownthatRashîdal-dïnwas notonlya secretary ofstatebutalso
a historian.He hailed froma JewishfamilyfromHamadän. Perhaps
hisfatherhad alreadybecomea Muslim,buthis adversariesnevermissed
the opportunity to call him a Jewand to questionhis Muslimbeliefs,
especiallyin frontof his rulers. It is conceivablethat Rashîd al-dïnin
orderto provehimselfhad keptwriting,withan innercompulsion,on
Islamictheologyand philosophy,and, in thetraditionof his epoch,had
even writtena commentary on the Koran (Miftãhal-tafãslr). He had
publishedamongotherworkshis conversationwiththellkhan,Üljäytü,
concerningreligiousand philosophicalquestions (Favďid-i sulßniya),
his correspondencewith various scholarsin Iran and othercountries
'
('As' ila u agviba), the commentsof several scholars concerninghis
theologicalworks (Tauçlïhât-iRashïdiand Lafďif al- haqďiq)9 and his
correspondence withhis sons and otherdignitaries concerningaffairsof
stateand economicproblems(Mektübät-iRashïdi). Rashîd al-dînhad
the Persian and Arabic versionsof all his works, mentionedabove,
duplicatedand had themsentto variouscountries.That is whyRashîd
al-dîn'sworkshave been foundin variouslibrariesof theMuslimworld.
Quatremèrehas alreadypublishedthelistof theseworks;howeverup to
now,nobodyhas studiedthemin sufficient detailand no one has published
of '
anything greatconsequenceconcerningthem,althoughthe Ãthãru
* A paperdelivered
in theFarEastern
Institute
oftheUniversity
ofWashington.

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 THECOMPOSITION
OFTHEHISTORY
OFTHEMONGOLS 61

ihyãand the Vaqfnãma-iRabc-iRashïdïare the unique sourcesforthe

studyoftheauthor'stime. W. Barthold,whenhe was lecturing in Istanbul
in 1926,was asked about theseworks. However,at thattimehe stated
thatthey,beingtheologicalin nature,wereofno greatinterest to him. As
formyself, I was alreadyat thattimeoccupiedwithRashïdal-dïn'sworks,
and I had exchangedseverallettersconcerningthemwithBarthold.
Numerousmanuscriptsof these works,now in Turkey,have come
fromothercountries;forexample,theAyasofyaMS. No. 2181, 'Asila u
'
agviba, includesa noticeof a formerownerfromSaray of the Golden
Horde, in the year 744 h/1344A.D. at the timeof the Tenibek Khän.
Many of the copies have come fromTurkistanand Khvärizm. I have
seen some copies of theseworksin Teheranand Kabul; one copy of the
Lafi'ifal-haqďiqis in thepossessionoftheUzbek Academyin Tashkent.
These workswerescatteredin thisway throughoutthe countriesof the
Mongol Empire. Manuscriptsof the correspondenceof Rashïd al-din
withhis sons and withthe governorsof the variousprovincesand with
friendsoutsidetheIlkhanidEmpirehave beenfoundin Turkeyand Iran;
thesignificance oftheseworksfortheculturaland especiallytheeconomic
history of the Muslim countriesbecameapparentonly aftertheirpub-
lication in 1947 by Muhammad Shafi (at Lahore). Only fromthese
letterscan we deduce thatthefrontier-country (Ujät) of Osman and his
son Orkhan at the time of Rashïd al-dïn was a part of the Ilkhan's
Empire. We can understand, fromthesesameletters,thatWestAnatolia
withitscenter,Denizli,formeda specialUyãlat(province)of theMongol
EmpirewhereMajd al-dïn,one ofthesonsofRashïdal-dïn,was governor.
This explainswhyOsman himselfwas in theserviceof the Mongol Emir
Sülämish(Sunït).1Fromthelettersof Rashïdal-dïnhimself we learnthat
Qarasï, westof Bursa, Eflân (= Eflanpazarf)in Paphlagonia belonged
to theEmpireof theIlkhans. Rashïd al-dïnhimselfhad therehis private
properties (20 feddãnsofland in Qarasi and 10 feddänsin Eflân.)2Osman
himselftook partin thebattleagainstMongol generalsof GhäzänKhän,
Buchuqurand Bayïnjarin the armyof the rebelgeneralSülämishnear
Heracleia(Eregli)of Konya.3 Thereforethesons of Osman werenamed
by theirenemies"Sons of an ordinaryMongol".4
1 Forthesources s. Z. V. Togan,Umümi TürkTarihine Giri(Istanbul, 1946),p.
319-320, 469.
1 Quotations fromtheMaktübät-i Rashïdïin myarticle "Reçideddinin mektupla-
rindaAnadoluya ait kayïtlar", dessciences
Revuede la Faculté économiques , t.XV,
Istanbul, p. 37.
8 Thesources analyzed in Umümi Türktarihine
Giris
, p. 318-321,469.
4 'AzizAstarãbãdl, Bazmu razm(Istanbul,1928),p. 383.

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62 A. ZEKIVELIDITOGAN
Bartholdalso feltthat Rashïd al-dïn's works concerninggeography
'
(Suvar al-aqâlïm)9 botany,agricultureand architecture (9Ãthãru ihyã)
were planned but not completed. In the above mentionedSuvar al-
aqâlïmreferences are made to thecityof Bailaqãn at thetimeof Hülägü
and to thepostal and road networkof Iran at thetimeof the Mongols.
These references we findin the work of a later Daulatshäh and Amin
AhmedRâzï, thepostalnetworkofthellkhansin theworkof Hamdulläh
' '
Qazvïnï.5 Therewas a copy of Ãthãru ihyãin one of the librariesin
Teheran,of whichseveralchaptershave been republishedin a book of
Najm al-daula about agriculture.6It is ratherobvious that copies of
Suvar aVaqâlïmand 'Athãru 'ihyãwerenot as widespreadas copies of
Rashidal-dïn'sworksmentionedearlier.
Rashïd al-dïn's work 'Ascila u 'agviba (Questions and Answers)on
theologyis also of great importance. In it are containedimportant
historicalreferences and thecorrespondence of theauthorwithscholars
of theIlkhanianEmpireas wellas withforeignscholars.At theCongress
of Byzantologists in Istanbulin 1954 a paper of mine reportedon the
of
exchange correspondence betweensome Byzantinephilosophersand
Rashïd al-dïn concerningphilosophy.7This is to be connectedwith
accountsconcerningthe Greektranslations of some worksof astronomy
writtenin Marãgha forMongol rulers.8
The Favâ'id-i$ulfiniya,mentionedabove, is also of greatimportance.
It is a theologicalbook, butto be precise,it represents thetheologyof the
periodof Üljäytü,who was whole-heartedly engagedin varioustheolog-
ical discussions. Rashïd al-dïn's book deals withvarious problemsin
whichthisKhän was interested.This book also containsmanyhistorical
references.Amongthemthereis a remarkabout thecompilationand the
presentation to Üljäytüofthebooks mentionedabove,and oftheHistory
of theMongols.
6 Hamdulläh Qazvïniutilized thebook(which in Nuzhatal-qulüb, ed.Le Strange,
Pers.text, p. 257henamed"Muçannafât-i Rashïdï)inthepartsofhisbookaboutthe
stateroutesin Iranandin China.The quotation from"§uvaral-'aqälim"about
BaylaqangivesDaulatshäh in his Tadhkira (Bombay edition,1914)p. 38. Earlier
in myarticle "IslamandtheScience ofGeography" (inIslamic Culture, Hyderabad,
October, p. 515,525)I hadmentioned thequotation ofAminAhmadRaa. Also
Vaççâf hasutilizedthebook,which henamed "Ta'rif-iaqälim-isab'a"(Tãrix-iVa$çãf9
edition Bombay, 534.
6 Magmiïa-i , zirďatu falãhatu bãgbãni
ilm-iirãni u gayrihicompiled by'Abdal-
gaffär Najmal-daula(Teheran 13232, 1905).
7 Z. V. Togan,"Documents oncultural relations
between theIlkhanids andByzan-
tines", ActesduX. Congress ď Etudes
International Byzantines(Istanbul, 1957),p. 255.
8 Comp.Krumbacher, Geschichtederbyzantinischen Literatur,622,andH. Suter,
Gesch. derMathematiker derAraber (Leipzig,1900),p. 29,161.

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 THECOMPOSITION OF THEMONGOLS
OFTHEHISTORY 63
The Favďid-i sultãniya , like many otherbooks of Rashïd al-dïn,is
availablein its Persianand Arabic versions.The references of Favďid-i
sultãniyamentionedabove can be found in its Persian version,in a
manuscriptof the Nûr-i Osmãniyeno. 3415 f. 144b and in its Arabic
versionin the manuscriptof the Hadija TurkhanLibrary,no. 325, fol.
26s. The Persiantextof the Nür-i OsmãniyeMs. is as following:"Az
jumla-i kamalät-i(Sultan Üljäytü) xallada Allähu mulkahudar cilmu
hunarparvarî u nâmnîkandùzïän ki: In banda-idacïfchünkitäb-iJãmic
al-tavârïxu Kutub-itaudlhätu Miftähal-tafâsïru Favä'id-i sultãniyau
chand kitãb-i dïgar dar mugül! banãm-i mubãrakash tamãm kard
chandänsuyurgâlïu marhamatu tavqïru ihtirämu tartlb-icavätifdar
haqq-i ïn banda farmůdki az ibtidä-idaur-iÃdam tä aknůn hïchpädi-
shãhi dar haqq-i hïch kasï nafarmůdau dar hïch târïx naämadah".
May God maketherule(of SultänÜljäytü)eternal.In protecting science
he has shownmanyfavoursto his servantas thislatterhas completedhis
books, Jãmical-tavãrlx9 the books of Taucjïhât(books whichare known
otherwiseunderthename Majmïfa-iRashldlya ), thebook of Miftähal-
the
tafasïr, exegesis of the Koran, and finally FavãHd-isultãniyaand
the
someotherbooks in Mongolian, all of which are dedicatedto his blessed
name. He has givenme so manypresents,so manybenefits,so many
honours,and so muchmercyand gracethatnone of therulerssincethe
creationof thefirstman,Adam, up to our timehas evershownto one of
his servants.This neverbeforeoccurredin history.In themanuscript of
Favďid-isultãniyaof theInstituteof OrientalStudiesin Leningrad(No.
N.C. 375,f. 63b) theprepositiondar is omittedand thewordmugüll(i.e.
"Mongolian") came as adjectiveto the word "chand kitãb-idïgar".
Rashïdal-dïn,priorto theabove mentionedfourbooks,had presentedto
Üljäytüsome otherMongolianbooks writtenby him.9
In the Arabic versionof the work,in variousmanuscripts, the same
passage is writtendifferently, "dannaftu kitäb-a Jãmical-tavârïx... va
kutubänuxrã bi lisãn al-mugûlïva katabtujamPa-hä bi ismihial-mu-
bärak i.e. "I have composed the book Jämi' al tavârïx. . . and other
books in theMongolianlanguageand have writtenall of themunto the
blessedname of His Majesty".
In the manuscriptof Hadije Turkhanthe word "sannaftu"is written
once morebeforetheword "kutubanuxrä".
The Nür-iOsmãniyemanuscriptof thePersianversionshowsthepas-
sage sage as follows: "chün ïn banda-i dacïfkitäb-iJämic-altavârïx,
• A. Muginov hadgiven thephotograph ofthequotedsentencesin Učeniye
Zapiski
Instituía , v. XVI,p. 359.
Vostokovedenya

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64 A. ZEKIVELIDITOGAN

Taudihät,Miftähal-tafasïr u Favä'id-i sultânïyau chandkitäb-idïgardar

Mugüll ba-näm-i mubärakash tamäm kard". Also here the adjective
relationof the word "dar Mugûlï" can concernall the books and the
word"chand kitäb-idlgar"is not excluded . We shallin thefollowingsee
that the Jãmical-tavârïxhave had firsta Mongolian original,thus the
worddar Mugüllcan referto thewhole sentence.
On thegroundof thestudyof Turkicand Mongolianwordswithnon-
Persiansuffixes and thenon-Persianshortstyleofthechapterscontaining
the historyand apotheosesof Chingiz Khän, ögedei Khän and Güytik
Khän, we can safelyassume that the firstdraftof Jämi'al-tavârïxwas
originallynot writtenin Persian. These chaptersapparentlygo back to
a Mongolian version,most probablycompiledby Pulad Jinksankand
otherMongol genealogists.In my opinion,Rashïd al-dïnincorporated
that firstMongolian version in a larger Persian versionof Jämi'al-
tavärixin a literaltranslationwithhis own remarks.It was afterwards
abbreviatedhereand there,but, on the otherhand, supplemented with
thecommentaries of Rashïdal-dïnhimselfand withversesin bothArabic
and Persian. Consequentlythat monumentalhistorybecame a multi-
lingualaffair,whichwas editedin Persian,Arabic and perhapsalso in
Mongolianand East-Turkic.
We have good reasons to make such an assumption. The Arabic
versionof the book containsall versesin Persian,whichare identical
withthe ones of the Persianversion. It also shows some tracesof the
original"largerPersianversion"or of a "largerMongolianversion",or
of both. Those tracesare Mongolianpropernamesplustheirequivalents
in Persian. Here are some examples:Hügeteiand ögedei, Chagataiand
Chaadai, Hükürand öküz. The name of the"Forest Urianqit"appears
in the Arabic versionin its Persian form"Urianqit-ibïshe." On the
otherhand,theArabicversioncontainssomepassageswhichare missing
in the abbreviatedPersianversion.
The theologicalworks of Rashïd al-dïn,presentedto the Ilkhan in
Mongolian,wereoriginallywrittenin Persian; theywerethentranslated
into Mongolian in the formwhichis knownto us. These theological
worksquote Koran verses,perhapsin Arabic scriptsandwichedbetween
thetextin Uigurscript,just like theUigurreligiousbooks writtenat the
time of Shãhrukh. "Muslim Mongolian Literature"of the Ilkhanids
apparentlybeganto developin a mannersimilarto thatof the"Muslim-
Uigur Literature"of the Temurids.10
10 Comp.Uigur-Mss. ofAyasofya Library, N. 4012and4757in theedition
ofR.
•
Arat,Atabetiil-hakayik
(Istanbul,
1951).

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 THECOMPOSITION
OFTHEHISTORY
OFTHEMONGOLS 65
Thereare someindicationswhichpermittheassumptionthattheJämic
al-tavârïxhad also an Uigur-Turkic version. A part of thiseditionhad
been seen by the Osman historianShukrullähin thecourtlibraryof the
QaraqoyunluJihänshäh.The same version,probablyin Arabic script,
was used in Tabriz duringthe Qachar period. This has been mentioned
by Nãdir Mïrzâ in his Historyof Tabriz.11Rashid al-dïnhad quoted in
his commentary on the Koran, also in the Arabic versionof Favä'id-i
sultãnlya,a versein EasternTurkic: Er oglanga qazganmaq äsän turur
va-lïkenkiidenmekdin hayränturur.12Since mostof his countryestates
weresituatedin areas withpredominantly Turkicpopulation,it is con-
ceivablethatforthebenefitof theTurkishbranchof theso-calledMon-
golo-Turkicchieftainsof the IlkhanidsRashïd al-dïn had the Jämi*al-
tavârïxeditedin Turkictoo. ProfessorN. Poppe has informed me thata
copy of thisEastern Turkic version of the historyof Rashïd al-dïn was
discoveredrecently in Turkistan in a manuscriptcompleted at the time
ofTimurids.The copy made one hundredyearsaftertheauthor'sdeath
has beenpreservedin thePublicLibraryof Samarkandand describedby
Gazi Alim Yunus in the reviewMcfãrifve Oqutguchiabout 1929. I
could notfindthereviewof thatyearin our libraries.
Rashïd al-dïnis theonlyone who mentionedthathis books werepre-
sentedto theemperorin Mongolian. In theJurabekmanuscript of Jämic
al-tavârïxin Tashkent,we findthe Uigur transcription of the various
propernames.13These names probablygo back to the Mongolian or
East-Turkicversionsof thebook.
The second chapterof the firstvolume of Jãmi' al-tavãrixcontains
Mongolian formsof names of tribeswhich,accordingto RaSïd al-dïn,
had not been Mongols originally,such as the Tartars,Sunit,Yakuts
(Qûrï and Quriqãn),Tôlós, Telengit,Urânqït,Qirqïzand Saqait. Rashïd
al-dïnmentionsa Mongolianphrasefromthetonguesof theTatarsthat
live on thelowercourse of theYeniseyRiver. This veryphrasereads in
the Topkapï Sarayï Manuscript,no. 1518, p. 41, as follows: Usútü
Mankün alaqchin adütän; mangü bilavurnãn . The same passage also
11 Shukrulläh's bookis stiUnotpublished, quotedthepassagebyFuadKöprülü,
TürkEdebiyatinda ilkMiitasavvifler
(Istanbul,1918),p. 278. AlsoYazïgïogluAlihas
utilized"theOguzname in Uigurscript"(comp.FuadKöprülü,op. cit.). Nadir
Mirza'swords inhisTârïxugografyã-i Tebrïz
, (Teheran,1323),p. 142aboutthecopy
of"Rashïdal-dïn's tarïxin Chagatay-Turkic" : "Xoèa RaSïdal-dïn Hama-
Façllallâh
dãnlrätarïxïstba zabän-iturki
Çagatõyi kiarüme-i Čengiz-xánnihäde, manankitäb
badïdam agläqibä kamäldašt".
12 Miftäh Ms.ofShehidali
al-tafäsir, Pasha,f. 122b.
18 Djurabek's Ms.described byBarthold inZapiskiVostochnago OtdelenyaRusskago
Arkheologicheskago , XV,232.
Obshchestva

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 66 A. ZEKIVELIDITOGAN
occursin theArabic version(Manuscriptof Ayasofya,no. 3130 f. 46a).
The late ProfessorRamstedthas translatedthis passage: "The people
with dappled horses and silverybridles".14ProfessorN. Poppe also
translatedit thus. Furthermore thispassage deals extensivelywiththe
speckled horses of those tribes and talks about the greatquantitiesof
silverfoundin theirterritory (now Krasnoyarsky kray)and about their
silverutensilsand harnesses. From wheredid this Mongoliansentence
come? Did those Tatars speak Mongolian, as I thoughtin my books
publishedin 1941and 1946,15or did thisMongoliansentencecomemerely
froma "Mongolian source" withoutgivinga hintto thelocal language
(thatmay be indeedMongolian). The sentencecan come also fromthe
"Mongolian firstedition"of Jâmical-tavârïxcompletedby Pulad Jink-
sank and his assistants. His "Mongolian sources" designatesRashld
al-dïnin his Jämi<al-tavârïx(in thepassage about theTaijiuts)as "Altan
debter",preservedin thetreasuryof theKhãns underthesupervisionof
greatemirs,drawingout notesabout thetribes,16 and in theintroduction
to his "Shu'b-i panggäne" as "the Mongolian book" (kitäb-imugûlï)
speakingabout thetechniqueofthecompositionofthegenealogies,using
various colours and lines for various branchesof dynasties.17A com-
parisonofthenotesofRashïdal-dinand thesourcesutilizedbyK'o-shao-
min (in his Sin-Yüan-shi)about the tribesshows us the identityof the
sourcesutilizedbythem,thatwas perhapstheAltan-debter.For Qûbïlây
Qa'än itwas composedbya Mongolin Uigurianscriptand Qübfläyhad it
printedin theyear1282. Chineseauthorsnameit "Tung-kien"18. Wheth-
er thisbook containstheAltan-debter, we do notknow.We do notknow
eitherifthisbook "written in Uiguriccharacter"19 was Mongolianor Tur-
kic. We possess a fragment of a Turkichistoricalbook writtenin Uigur
charactersconcerningQübfläyQaãn.20 It is howeverevidentthatduring
the compositionof the parts of Jämical-tavârïxconcerningthe Uigurs

14 ThepassageabouttheYenisey-Tatars is to seein Rashïdal-dïn's Topkapïsarayï

Ms.N. 1518,f.151b. Ramstedťs translationinhisprivate letter
tome.
15 Z. V. Togan,Cengiz, Mogollar veTiirkliik(Istanbul, 1941),p. 38; Umümi Türk
tarihine , vol.I (Istanbul,
Giri? 1946),p. 64-65.
1#To Altan-debter in thegami'al-tavârïx,comp.Barthold, Turkestandownto the
Mongol Invasion
, 45; E. Blochet,Introductionà Vhistoire desMongols (Leiden,1910),
p. 120; Vladimirtsov, Obščestv.stroyMongolov , p. 6; P. Pelliotand L. Hambis,
Histoiredescampagnes deGengis Khan, (Leiden,1951),p. XV.
17 Shu£b-ipan&gäne, f.4b: az èihatïkemuväfiq-i kitäb-iMuèûl(ï).
18 OttoFranke, Geschichtedeschinesischen Reiches, Bd.V (Berlin, 1952),p. 9.
19 Thistoseeinthemanner ofwritings oftheplacenames oftheUigurs, Keraitsand
someothers.
90 Sin-Yiian-shihI utilized
withthehelpofJaläleddm Wang-zin-shan.

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 THECOMPOSITION
OFTHEHISTORY
OFTHEMONGOLS 67
and othernon-Mongolpeoples an Uiguriansource was utilizedtoo.21
The "Mongolian original" of Jãmi<al-tavârïx,the predecessorof its
"Persianedition",was composedbyPulad Jinksank, perhapswiththeas-
sistanceof otherTatar (Mongolian and East-Turkish)connoisseursof
ethnography and genealogyat Tabriz. In the introductionto Shucb-i
panjgâne Rashld al-dïn designatesit as "Mongolian book" - in my
opinion- eventhisMongolianoriginalof Jãmi'al-tavärlx.
K'o-shao-minlargelyutilizedRashïd al-dïn (La-shi-te)in his monu-
mentalwork. The quotationsfromAltan-debter in Jâmical-tavârïx,and
detailed notesabout the tribesutilizedin Sin-Yiian-shi(chapter28), the
of 20 tribesof Nirün,9 of Durlegïn,as "Black Tatars", 15
classification
tribesof "WhiteTatars" (in theJãmical-tavârïxwithoutcommonname,
designedonly as "mongolizedindependentnon-Mongoltribes")and 4
"Wild Tatars" and thedescriptionof thesetribesseparately,showsthat
the sourcesof K'o-shao-minhad takenthisknowledgefromMongolian
sourcescommonto themand Rashïd al-dïn. We have a rightto suppose
that this source was the Altan-debter,and that this was quite large
and detailed. Pulad Jinksankand his Tatar assistantsat Tabrïz had
added to theabridgedexcerptsfromAltan-debter theirown notesabout
the new branchesof the Tatar (i.e. Mongolian and Eastern Turkic)
tribes,and thecontinuationof thegenealogyof the Chengizidsin Iran,
in Ulus Jôchïand Jagatay.In thecompositionofthis"Mongolianbook"
(kitäb-imugulï)Rashld al-dïn- in myopinion- had takenno part.As a
greatvizierand thepossessorof incredibly largepropertiesin all partsof
Iran,Arabia,India,22hehad no timeforscientific work(thishas beenascer-
tainedevenby E. Blochet)23and also even no timeforthesmoothingof
visibleinconsistencesin theworksoftheauthorsor translators ofvarious
partsof the generalhistoryof the Altaic peoples and theworldhistory,
whichhe had onlyedited.24Mr E. Blochetdescribed,afterpure poetic
expressionsof Shamsal-dïnQäshäni,Pulad Jinksank as a narrator of oral

21 ThisUigurian fragment is to seein Albumofcalligraphyandminiatures in the

UniversityLibraryofIstanbul N. 1423,f.60a,together witha sampleofQübfläy's
Mongolian Thefragment
square-script. (nowpublished byProf.Sliheyl
Ünver, Fatih
devri, , Istanbul,
saraynakiçhanesi thespeechofthisGreatKaan
1958,p. 58)contains
to Çunqar Bulurt.
22 I. Petrushevski,
"Feodal'noye xoziyaystvoRashïdeddïna",
Voprosy , 1951,
Istoriyi
N. 4.
28 E. Blochet,op.cit.,p. 120.
24 To thisquestion comp,nowMujtabäMinoví, Rashïdal-dïn
öämic'al-tavârïx-/
Fa4lAllãh-iHamadãni vizir, Pamïma(supplement) toDãnishkede-i Tahrãn,
Adabiyãí-i
VU,N. 4, 1960.

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68 A. ZEKIVELIDITOGAN
traditionsand Rashïd al-dînas an authorof thebook;26in realityPulad,
the ambassador of QübfläyQa'än, enjoyed beforeGhãzãn at Tabriz
as a Mongol historian,thesame respectas Ho-li-huo-sun beforeQübfläy
at Khanbaliq;26certainlyhe was the genuineauthorof the "Mongolian
book". Rashïd al-dînhad composedon thegroundof this"Mongolian
book" his own Jãmical-tavãr!x,adding to the Mongolian originalthe
Westerndetails of the epic about Oguz Khan, the Oguz tribes,the
Qalach, Qarliq, Qangli, Qipchaq, narratedalso in the Easternversion
of the Oguz-Stories,knownto the Uiggursand to theNestorianKeraits
even in the 12th century.27Rashïd al-dïn added to the Mongolian
originalfurthermore his own considerationsabout variousproblemsof
history,decoratingthetextwithPersianand Arabianverses. Perhapshe
had his "Persian"Jämical-tavârïxtranslatedonce more into Mongolian
forpresentation to the Mongolianrulers.
Rashïdal-Dïn has mentionedthe"Shu'b-ipanjgãne"amonghisworks.
The book was supposedto adumbratethegenealogiesof therulersof the
fivenations: the Turko-Mongols,the Muslims (Arabs), the Jews,the
Franksand theChinese. Bartholdsaid, in 1926,about thisbook thatit
was, accordingto his opinion,onlyplannedbut not completed. How-
ever,one yearlaterI founda manuscript in theTopkapï SarayïMuseum
underthenumber2932 and undera wrongname 'Ansãb-imulükin the
catalogue. The book is writtenin Persian. Aftercomparingthismanu-
scriptwiththe manuscriptof the anonymousgenealogyof "Mucizz al-
'ansäb" (London, or. 156 and Paris anc. fundPersian67), we foundout
thatthislatteris a supplement versionof theShu'b-ipanjgãnewhichwas
writtenforShährukhin theyear 1427. The Shucb-ipanjgãnehas a long
introductionwrittenby Rashïd al-dïn which was shortenedby the
authoroftheTimuridianversion.The manuscript was,at thebeginningof
the16thcentury, in thepossessionoftherulerofAstarkhan,Qasim Khãn
(1502-1532),the son of SeyyidAhmed Khãn, the son of Ahmed Khãn,
the son of Küchük MuhammedKhãn. Judgingby the peculiarscript
and by thepaper thatwas used, themanuscriptmusthave been written
eitherat thebeginningof thesixteenth centuryor duringthesecondhalf
of thefifteenthcentury, withoutdoubt in Mäveräünnehir (Transoxania)
or Khorasan. It is possiblethatShïybanKhãn özbek, who was a friend

*5 Blochet,op.cit.,94-5.
88 O. Franke, op.cit.,p. 9-10.
27 I treatthisquestion in mystillunpublished
bookInnerAsianEthnic in
Relations
10-12Centuries.

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 OFTHEHISTORY
THECOMPOSITION OF THEMONGOLS 69
of Qasim Khan, had sentthemanuscript, aftertheconquestof Bukhara
and Samarkand,to Qasim Khän as a present.
This genealogypresentsthenamesof the princesand princesseswith
thenames in Uigur scriptwithshorttextsor wordsin Mongolian,and
belowthisthereare thePersiantextsin Arabicscript.In thisbook, space
was providedfortheincorporationof portraitsof rulersand important
predecessors.The portraitsare missing,butthetitlesexist,e.g. "Qübfläy
Khän and thedivisionof his sons", or "Hülägü Khan and thedivisionof
his descendants",in Mongolian and in Persian. I had sent copies of
thistitleto theProfessorsLigetiand Ramstedtand broughtthemhereto
showto Prof.N. Poppe.
On thefol.96b thegenealogybeginswiththetitlein Persian: "§ürat-i
Alanquä u Shucba-ifarzändän-iů ki az nür dar vugùd ämadand" and
below in Mongolian: "Alan yoo-a naran-u qilidača töregseduruy-
ud-luy(a)ban".
When Rashïd al-dïn's Shifb-ipanjgãne was supplementedwith the
genealogiesof Temur,Temuridsand Chingizidsof the 14thcenturyfor
the use of Shährukh,it was renamedMuHzz al-ansãb and the partson
China,India,theFranksand theArabswereomitted.Bigcircleswithcol-
oured miniaturesof the rulerswereprovided.Temur'shistoriographer,
HäfizÄbrü,had transformed theJãmical-tavãrix intotheZubdatal-tavârïx
and added to it his own worksconcerning thelast and past Ilkhanid-time
and thetimeofTemurand Temurids.In theTopkapï SarayïManuscript
(No. 2553) of his book he incorporatedRashïd al-dïn'sJãmical-tavârïx
in that verycopy whichwas writtenat the time of Üljäytü with the
miniatures made bycontemporary artists.It is possiblethattheauthorof
thesupplements concerningthe last Ilkhanidand theTemuridianperiod,
who had transformed the Shucb-ipanjgãne into the MuHzz al-ansãb,
was the verysame Häfiz Äbrü. One copy of thisbook was elaborated
at colossalexpenseon thepartoftheTemuridswho had added embellish-
ingminiatures.Fromthisbig and excellentcopy24 folioswerepreserved
in the"BaysungurAlbum" oftheTopkapï SarayïMuseum(no. 2152,fol.
32a-33b, 36a-39b, 42a-43b). I have broughtwithme microfilms of the
introductionand the chapterconcerningthe Mongol dynasties,of the
Shifb-ipanjgãnetogetherwitha partof theTemuridianversionwiththe
above mentionedminiatures.In thoseTemuridianfoliosof the Shtťb-i
panjgãne= MuHzz al-ansãb we find,nextto theTemuridianminiatures,
the big circleswiththe portraitsof the forefathers ofChingiz-Khan,his
sons, and those of Hülägü and his descendants. All these miniatures
bear thesame titlesin Arabic (Persian),and in Uigurscript,and in this

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70 A. ZEKIVELIDITOGAN

copy not in Mongolian language,but in Eastern Turkic. The above

quoted noteto thepictureof Alan-qua in Shu'b-ipanjgãnewritten in its
Temuridversion(Baysungur- Albumno. 2152,f.42a) as follows:above in
Persian: Alän Quä u shucba-ifarzandän-iù; below in Uigur characters
and in Eastern Turkic: Alan-quva-ningoglan-lar-i-ning shu'be-sibuu
yosun birl-e.28
AlthoughTemurhas used the Mongolian "öge menü" insteadof the
usual Turkicintroductory form" sözürri
" foundon
imperialrecordsin
Mongolian, Ibn Khaldün has mentionedthat Temur possessed his
reportsabout the geographyof Westerncountries,but onlyin its Mon-
goliantranslation.It is knownthatmanytribesin theneighbourhood of
Temur,as e.g. the Doglat in East Turkistan,the JuvanGurbarì s in the
provinceMerv, the Dulan Javunnear Khulus and Balkh,29stillspoke
Mongolian. The Mongolian glossary,Muqaddimatal-adab, goes back
to a time not later than the Temuridianperiod. The Ms. of Shu'b-i
panjgãneof theTopkapï SarayïMuseum containsMongoliansentences,
also madein theTemuridianperiod.It was notnecessaryfortheTemurids
to translatethe Mongoliansentencesof theShu'b-ipanjgãneintoTurkic;
nevertheless theyhave made theadditionto themin TurkicwithUigur-
script(in the folios in "BaysungurAlbum") as in Persian (in Muťizz
al-'ansäb). Furthermoreit should be added that the genealogyin
question( Shtťb-ipanjgãne) containsmanydetailsconcerningthe cour-
tiers,the staffof the governments and armiesof Chingiz-Khan,his an-
cestorsand successors,whichare not to be foundin theJãmical-tavârïx.
Thereforewe can safelyassume thatRashïd al-dïnwrotethisgenealogy
not only on the basis of his own Jãmi*al-tavârïxbut on the basis of
a most extensiveMongolian source. A comparisonof the genealogies
writtenin Khanbaliq and at Tabriz shows us that theycompleteeach
other. We can rathersafelyassume that the genealogy,as we see it
88 I giveherethetexts
ofShucb-ipanggäne:
• * - - fc-

mJ-'} fj) y) À*>J* ß ly

29 AboutDulancavunsaysNi?àmal-dïnShäml, ed.F. Tauer,p.23(andHäfi?Abrü,
Zubdat, Ms.Topkap!Sarayl, N. 1659,f.100b):Dulanjavunil u mujavur-io (Timur)
büd.ThesewereMongols;buttheBarlasspokeat thetimeof Timurandbefore
TimurdoubtlessTurc; comp,thenames TuglaxojaBarias
,IngfrčaqBarlas
, Tutanbashlîg
Barlas;thecontemporary Uzbektribe«TürkBarlas»(intheprovince Samarkand)
existed
perhapsatthetimeofTimur. TheBarlaswerebilingual,onepartspokeTurkic,
he otherMongolian. To Iuvangurban comp.Häfi?Abrü,ed.Tauer49,76,where
thenamesoftheir chieftains:
HajiBeksonofölmes.

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Pictureof Alan-quain theShuťb-i
panjgãnein itsTemurid version(Baysungur-
Album,TopkapïSarayïMuseum,no. 2152,fol.42a).

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 THECOMPOSITION OFTHEMONGOLS
OFTHEHISTORY 71
n Shiťb-ipanjgãneand in Yiian-shih,chaptersCVII and CVI1I published
by Hambis30were taken froma single Mongolian source, i.e. in mij
opinion- Alter-debter, and thelaterdetailsin Shu'b-ipanjgãneperhaps
fromthe "Mongolian book" of Pulad Jinksankand his collaborators.
From the "Mongolian book", the Mongolian originalof Jami'al-
tavârïx,therehave been preserveduntilnow onlythe Uigurparallelsto
the propernames in the above mentionedJurabekMs. of the Jämi'al-
tavärixin the Libraryof the Uzbek Academyof Sciencesin Tashkent
and theMongoliantitlesand parallelsto thepropernamesin theShucb-i
panjgãnein Topkapï Sarayï.
In short,the JãmVal-tavãríx is not entirelya work of Persianorigin.
Its Mongolianoriginwas perhapscomposednot onlyby Pulad Jinksank
but also by a group of Mongol and Turk genealogists(like the parts
about China,India,theFranksand others)and decoratedwithminiatures
byartistsundertheguidanceofRashïdal-dïnand underthesupervision of
two nkhans(Ghäzän and Üljäytü)over a periodof years.31The minia-
turesare preservedin thePersianelaborationof Rashïd al-dïnand in the
addition of the Temuridsin the "BaysungurAlbum"; in the Shuťb-i
panjgãne thereare only round spaces for the pictureswith remarks
"pictureof . . ." referring
to themissingpictures.
On the basis of the "Vaqfnäme-iRabc-i Rashïdï" we learn that not
onlytherulersbutalso Rashïdal-dïnpossessedaroundtwenty familiesof
Mongolianand Turkicartistsas serfs who had to hand down theart of
paintingand architecture fromgenerationto generation.The names of
these familiesof artists,(such as Buylun Buqa, Mogoltay,Toqtemur,
Ayaz,Tuylun-gur, Altín-Buqa,Tugay-Temir)are mentionedin the Vaqf-
nãme, and they indicatethatamongthoseTurkicartiststherewas also a
Chineseartist(Sulï KhitäyBavurchi). These artistsreceivedmoresalary
than the othercourtserfswho did gardeningand were not Mongols.32
We can safelyassume, therefore, that the miniaturesof the Jãmical-
tavârïxweremade by those Mongolianartistsmentionedabove.
At the timeof Temurand his sons, the compilationof the historyof
the Turks and the Mongols, and above all, the historyof the Dynasty
was an importantaffairof state with which the rulerspassionately

80 L. Hambis, Les ChaptersCVIIetCVIIIdu Yuanshi(Leiden,1945),1954.

81 ThissaysRashidal-dinhimself.
82 See myarticle in IslamAaraçtïrmalarl
Enstitüsú IH (1961),p. 158-159,
vergisi,
where alsothequotation ofthePersian
text.Comp.Sharafal-din'AliYazdi,Muqad-
dimat-iZafarnãme, ms.ofBayezidUmümi N. 4425,f.8b; E. Blochet,
Kütüphanesi,
op.cit.,81-82andalsomyTürkiii tarihi p. 192.
1942-7),
(Istanbul,

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72 A. ZEKIVELIDITOGAN
concernedthemselves.Sharafal-dïn cAliYazdï refersto thisfactin the
prefaceto his Historyof Temur and his sons quite extensively.He
reportsthatTemurand hisgrandson,IbrählmMirza,readand controlled
and correctedthePersianhistoricalannals composedon thebasis of of-
ficial records writtenin Uigur.33 We can assume that Ghäzän and
Üljäytüdid the same withtheJãmfal-tavãrlx.In regardto theproblem
of the compositionof the historyof the Mongols by Rashïd al-dïn,the
Arabicversionwillplay an importantrole in thefuture.
I have broughtwithme a microfilm of thisversionfromtheonlycopy
of AyasofyaMuseum,in thehope thatyou herein Americahave better
possibilities,with your Mongolists,Turkologues and Sinologists,to
studythe cultureof the Mongol and the CentralAsiaticTurksthanwe
have in Istanbul,wherewe have excellentmaterialbut no Mongolists.
In closingI would like to mentionthatthe new Russian editionof the
firstvolumeof theJãmical-tavãríxdoes notconsiderthepossibility
of the
influenceof the Mongolianoriginalupon thePersiancontext.Nor was
the Shucb-ipanjgãneconsidered.For thisreasonthenew Russian trans-
lation of the partsabout the Mongol and Tatar tribesand the history
of Chingiz-Khänis verypoor in comparisonwiththetranslationof the
part of the same book concerningGhäzän Khän and his organization.
The translationof thefirstvolumehas to be redone,withreference
to the
Arabic versionof Jämi'al-tavärix and to the Shin-Yüan-Shihof K'o-
shao-min.

38 Comp.Sharafal-dïn'AlïYazdï,Muqaddimat-i%afarnãme Umùmï
, ms.ofBayezid
N. 4425,f. 8b; E. Blochet,
Kütüphanesi, op. cit.,81-82andalso myTürkiiitarihi
p. 192.
1942-7),
(Istanbul,

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