Sunday, May 18, 2003		Books

He was “cruel & just, magnanimous & mean”
Manisha Gangahar

Genghis Khan: Ever the greatest emperor in history.
by Capt. Ravi Thapar. Navdeep Publications, New Delhi. Pages 247.

THE book introduces the Mongol emperor Genghis Khan to the readers by comparing him with other great conquerors of the world — Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon and Hitler. "As we flip across pages of recorded history, it is intriguing to find that one country, Mongolia produced for the first and perhaps last time the most outstanding world conqueror, Genghis Khan, who carved out the biggest empire... which was to remain unparalleled in history." With time the justifications of the conquests also change; from self-defense to civilising to liberating, so on and so forth. However, what does not change is the desire for absolute power: political, military and monetary.

Machiavelli argued that societies are made up of individuals who are such self-seeking and fraudulent beings that only unconditional sovereignty can sustain governance. Furthermore, the Machiavellian theory finds no correlation between politics and morality and, in fact, justifies brutality if it serves political ends. Genghis Khan, too, seemed to be of a similar belief. He began with gathering his clan and other small tribes and then moving on to the invasion of Russia and battles with China. He changed his original name Temuchin to Genghis Khan, meaning "Lord of Earth".

Interestingly, his was the single empire that did not languish for years after his death but unlike many other civilisations there is no Mongolian heritage of value. The objective account of the author not only brings to light the stateliness and greatness of the Mongolian hero but also his ruthlessness as a warrior. He demanded absolute loyalty and respect for himself. Contrary to what he expected of his subjects he was known to have an eye for beautiful women but no matter how many women he had in his life, he regarded only his wife Berta and her four sons as his legitimate family. The administrative abilities of this Mongol leader cannot be denied as the book tells us that Genghis Khan was "a gifted strategist who improvised on the spot, how to correct imbalances of awkward situations, and disadvantaged positions". The author also enlightens the reader by mentioning the fact that even though Genghis Khan was illiterate, "he came up with an appropriate code of laws, Yassak, in tune with the psyche of nomads". Adding to his many remarkable attributes, he is also proclaimed as "the forerunner of the present postal system".

Divided into more than 30 chapters, the book in fact, unfolds the being and existence of a monarch who, for the author and most of us, "is a curious paradox... both cruel and just, magnanimous and mean". The biography provides information not only on Genghis Khan but also on the lands and kingdoms that were seized by or allied to his empire. It also touches upon the religious and social life of Mongolian tribes and their way of living.

It has rightly been pointed out that history repeats itself and even more so that history is a wise teacher. Telling of history in the form of a biographical narrative results in the construction of not only culture-specific but also a human-oriented experience.