Communism -- Soviet Union; Mongolia -- Description and travel
It is a deep satisfaction for me to carry out the request of this
influential Mongol, Hubilgan, and to urge his appeal to the American
people. Will you not save this honest, uncorrupted but dark, deceived
and oppressed people? They should not be allowed to perish, for within
their souls they carry a great store of strong moral forces. Make of
them a cultured people, believing in the verity of humankind; teach them
to use the wealth of their land; and the ancient people of Jenghiz Khan
will ever be your faithful friends.
When I had sufficiently recovered, the Hutuktu invited me to travel with
him to Erdeni Dzu, to which I willingly agreed. On the following morning
a light and comfortable carriage was brought for me. Our trip lasted
five days, during which we visited Erdeni Dzu, Karakorum, Hoto-Zaidam
and Hara-Balgasun. All these are the ruins of monasteries and cities
erected by Jenghiz Khan and his successors, Ugadai Khan and Kublai
in the thirteenth century. Now only the remnants of walls and towers
remain, some large tombs and whole books of legends and stories.
“Look at these tombs!” said the Hutuktu to me. “Here the son of Khan
Uyuk was buried. This young prince was bribed by the Chinese to kill his
father but was frustrated in his attempt by his own sister, who killed
him in her watchful care of her old father, the Emperor and Khan. There
is the tomb of Tsinilla, the beloved spouse of Khan Mangu. She left the
capital of China to go to Khara Bolgasun, where she fell in love with
the brave shepherd Damcharen, who overtook the wind on his steed and
who captured wild yaks and horses with his bare hands. The enraged Khan
ordered his unfaithful wife strangled but afterwards buried her with
imperial honors and frequently came to her tomb to weep for his lost
love.”
“And what happened to Damcharen?” I inquired.
The Hutuktu himself did not know; but his old servant, the real archive
of legends, answered:
“With the aid of ferocious Chahar brigands he fought with China for a
long time. It is, however, unknown how he died.”
Among the ruins the monks pray at certain fixed times and they also
search for sacred books and objects concealed or buried in the debris.
Recently they found here two Chinese rifles and two gold rings and big
bundles of old manuscripts tied with leather thongs.
“Why did this region attract the powerful emperors and Khans who ruled
from the Pacific to the Adriatic?” I asked myself. Certainly not these
mountains and valleys covered with larch and birch, not these vast
sands, receding lakes and barren rocks. It seems that I found the
answer.
The great emperors, remembering the vision of Jenghiz Khan, sought here
new revelations and predictions of his miraculous, majestic destiny,
surrounded by the divine honors, obeisance and hate. Where could they
come into touch with the gods, the good and bad spirits? Only there
where they abode. All the district of Zain with these ancient ruins is
just such a place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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