The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 06: (From Barbarossa to Dante) — Dante Alighieri — John Shaqi
The Great Events by Famous Historians, Volume 06: (From Barbarossa to Dante)
Dante Alighieri · en
their leaders, with the two chiefs of the Merkits, fled to
Burghudshin, _i.e._, Burgusin on Lake Baikal, while the fourth found
refuge with the Naimans.
This victory aroused the jealousy of certain tribes which were as yet
independent of Temudjin, namely, the Kunkurats, Durbans, Jelairs,
Katakins, Saldjuts, and Taidshuts, and they formed a confederacy to
put him down. We are told that their chiefs met at a place called Aru
Bulak, and sacrificed a horse, a bull, a ram, a dog, and a stag, and
striking with their swords, swore thus: "Heaven and earth, hear our
oaths, we swear by the blood of these animals, which are the chiefs of
their kind, that we wish to die like them if we break our promises."
The plot was disclosed to Temudjin by his father-in-law, Dai Setzen, a
chief of the Kunkurats. He repaired to his ally, Wang Khan, and the
two marched against the confederates, and defeated them near the Lake
Buyur. He afterward attacked some confederate Taidshuts and Merkits on
the plain of Timurkin, _i.e._, of the river Timur or Temir, and
defeated them. Meanwhile the Kunkurats, afraid of resisting any
longer, marched to submit to him. His brother, Juji Kassar, not
knowing their errand, unfortunately attacked them, upon which they
turned aside and joined Chamuka.
That inveterate enemy of Temudjin had at an assembly of the tribes,
Inkirasses, Kurulasses, Taidshuts, Katakins, and Saldjuts, held in
1201, been elected gurkhan. They met near a river, called Kieiho by
Mailla; Kian, by Hyacinthe; and Kem, by Raschid, and then adjourned to
the Tula, where they made a solemn pact praying that "whichever of
them was unfaithful to the rest might be like the banks of that river
which the water ate away, and like the trees of a forest when they are
cut into fagots." This pact was disclosed to Temudjin by one of his
friends who was present, named Kuridai. He marched against them, and
defeated them at a place north of the Selinga, called Ede Kiurghan,
_i.e._, site of the grave mounds. Chamuka fled, and the Kunkurats
submitted.