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90 CHAPTER FOUR The Poetics, Rituals and Language of Being Mongol, Buddhist and Qing The British had entered the country’s bloodstream like a malady which proves so resistant that the host organism adapts itself to accommodate it. —Michelle de Kretser, The Hamilton Case In the early nineteenth century an anonymous Mongol author wrote a brief history entitled How It Came About That the Mongol Royal Family Descended from the Indian Kings.1 The genealogical connection between the Mongol and Indian royalty had been a part of the Mongol historiographical imaginaire since the seventeenth century, and thus the author of this particular work paid it little heed. Rather, after summarizing the lineage from India’s ¤rst king, Mahâsammata, to Chinggis Khan in two short pages, the author begins with the main part of his narrative—a history of the Manchus. The occasion of the ¤rst appearance of the Manchu Khan. Long ago there lived a blessed nation called the Niu Ching at the place called the Mukden River. At that place there was a Great Mountain called Ki yi ya where wild animals and beasts roamed. It was surrounded by a sky like leather skin bags that rumbled, and there were also clouds and fog. It was there, on the top of one Tangsug Mountain at a cool, pure, and beautiful lake that the Eight Banners were established. Into that lake the Son of Heaven descended and bathed himself and played games. Then on one occasion, one of the God’s ýâkinîs came and while she was bathing herself a white goose ¶ew by and dropped on her breast a fruit he had taken from the ocean’s shore. The ýâkinî took it, ate it and became pregnant. She stayed there until the pregnancy was complete and one son was born, which she covered in the leaves of the Ebsu tree and then abandoned it, returning to her realm. The Lord of the Nâgas protected the child, and all the animals helped in raising him. When he descended from the mountain and found one person of the Niu Ching ulus, they said to one another, “We all need a Ruler.” Thus he was bestowed with the title Boshugtu Khan. That Khan stayed on the The Poetics, Rituals and Language / 91 Mukden throne for eleven years, ruling the Niu Ching community until the Tenth Rabjung cycle’s female black pig year [1623]. At the time, in that place no trees grew, and one fortune-teller pronounced the prophecy: “Because it seems as if there are too few trees to shade 10,000 people, the Khan has said [to wait] till the lineage has multiplied to 100,000. Then when the Mukden River ¶oods, in your lineage a great Khan will rise up and rule many nations!” That [Boshughtu] Khan had great faith in the Buddhist religion and invited one great Lama from the Buddhist direction. That Lama was given the title Ba Erdeni Lama. That Erdeni Lama asked the Dalai Lama for a title for the Khan, who bestowed on him the title Mañjušrî Khan. By the sound of this name the Ching nation was given the name Manchu. The Khan and the Lama were in agreement, and taking the Mongol and Tangut scripts and stories the Manchu script was created. That Khan’s son Gegen Sechen Khan sat on the Mukden Throne for ten years until the Eleventh Rabjung’s blue dog year [1634]. At that time our Mongols, the forty-nine separate titled nobility of their own banners, aimags and ulus were living together suffering under the taxes of Ligdan Khan. Because of Ligdan Khan’s violence, great requisitions upon the people and his lack of love and compassion, the Mongols broke away [from Ligdan] for the great mercy and great peace of that [Gegen Sechen] Khan. They joined Gegen Sechen Khan and presented their requisitions [to the Qing]. When Gegen Sechen Khan was a seven-year-old child, the Mukden River ¶ooded and all the soldiers and farmers who witnessed it knew it was a wonderful and auspicious sign. At the time Wu Sangui of the inner lands was thinking to join [with the Manchus] in order to seize the state of Li Zicheng Khan, and requested troops from the Manchu Khan. Upon this request he gave one thousand cavalry troops, saying, “You will succeed if to the tail of each horse you tie a broom.” Li Zicheng Khan’s fortune-teller saw...

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