As for the rationale of the thread, c'mon, no one loses sleep anywhere in the world over the collective historic memory of what the Mongols did to the vanquished. If anything you might think it was the Indians losing sleep over Tamarlane and then the Raj.
My 'memory' of the Mongols from history class (though I admit the idea of Asiatics on horses kicking butt all over was the initial attraction)? Formed the largest empire ever seen in the history of the world. Were racially mixed, but ethnically and linguistically their cultures would appear to be ancestors or at least relatives of many cultures in Asia, from Europe to the Far East. Put Europe, the ME and E. Asia in touch with each other, in a big way (culture, religion, material culture, art of warfare, horse and cattle raising, trade routes, spread of Altaic languages, etc.). Were (usually) religiously diverse and tolerant. Set precedents for Turks and Persians to make Islam a world religion away from the Arab centre. Helped propagate Buddhism. Provided refuge to Jews, some Mongols even likely converted to Judaism (no, don't read the Koestler book, just go to real sources on the subject, o.k.?). Other things? Couldn't sail for shit (knew little about typhoons apparently), however good they were with horses and cavalry. Had an interesting material culture that is still very much evident in the empire's four quarters. Etc. etc. Next I'll be hearing how American kiddies lose sleep fearing 'redskin injuns' will scalp them at night (or is that OBL and Zarqawi?). F
http://www.alinaam.addr.com/library/tabligh-mongols.htm
>>Unbelievable and of far-reaching significance, although the conversion of the Mongols to Islam had been, it is also not less surprising that extremely few and scanty records of this glorious achievement are to be found in the annals of the time. The names of only a few dedicated saviours of Islam who won proselytes from the savage hordes are known to the world, but their venture was no less daring nor their achievement less significant than the accomplishment of the warriors of the faith. Their memory shall always be enriched by the gratitude of Muslims for they had, in reality, performed a great service to the humanity in general and to the Muslims in particular, by diffusing the knowledge of faith among those barbarians, winning them over to the service of one God and making them the standard-bearers of the Apostle of Peace.
After the death of Chenghiz Khan the great heritage of that Mongol conqueror was divided into four dominions headed by the offsprings of his sons. The message of Islam had begun to spread among all these four sections of the Mongols who were rapidly converted to the faith. In regard to the conversion of the ruling princes in the lineage of Batu, the son of Chenghiz Khan's first born Juji, who ruled the western portion as Khan of the Golden Horde, writes Arnold:>>
http://www.iad.org/Islam/monogal.html
>>The Mongols devastated the eastern lands of Islam and ruled from the Sinai Desert to India for a century. But they soon converted to Islam and became known as the I-Khanids. They were in turn succeeded by Timur and his descendants who made Samarqand their capital and ruled from 1369 to 1500. The sudden rise of Timur delayed the formation and expansion of the Ottoman empire but soon the Ottomans became the dominant power in the Islamic world.
>>Despite the devastation that the Mongols inflicted upon the lands that they conquered, they unleashed a cultural renaissance that affected these lands for centuries to come. Religious tolerance and the promotion of free trade certainly much contributed to this cultural renaissance but, more importantly, it was the interaction between the two extreme poles of the empire, namely China and Iran, that generated new art forms and standards. While merchants from the Persian lands helped to reorient the production of the Chinese kilns to the Persian markets,1 the courtly customs and activities of Peking, much influenced those of the ?l-Kh?nids of Iran. A point in case is how a history project of the Han-lin Academy in China sparked a similar activity in Tabriz, which ultimately led to the institutionalization of illustrated-manuscript production as one of the most important of Iranian princely activities.>>
http://www.unesco.org/culture/asia/html_eng/chapitre4216/chapitre12.htm
Mongol art: architecture and painting
>>The Mongols, like the other peoples of Central Asia, used large tents and yurts. According to thirteenth-century reports, there was a gigantic yurt in Mongolia, built on a cart, to which 22 bulls were harnessed. Traces of many towns and settlements have also survived, however, the most striking example being the old Mongol capital of Karakorum. This was a large city boasting 12 temples of different religions (including Buddhism), the palace of Ögedey Khan and residential quarters around the central trading area; we have a description of it from the only known European traveller who visited it, William of Rubruck.(3)
A striking example of the frescoes in ancient Mongol cities is provided by the paintings discovered during excavations beneath the palace of Ögedey. Built in 1235, the palace stood on a high mound composed of alternating layers of sand and clay beneath which were found the remains of a Buddhist temple with fragments of twelfth- and early thirteenth-century frescoes. They were painted on a layer of white plaster applied to a coat of yellow clay covering the wall. The paintings are on religious subjects. The larger figures of the Buddha are shown surrounded by small figures and three types of representation have been identified: Tibetan, Uighur and Chinese. Among the Tibetan-style pictures is a Buddha depicted with a topknot and a halo against a red background. His right shoulder is bare, his left is covered by a red cloak. Such representations of the Buddha teaching are known from Karakhoto. Images of him wearing a tall headdress, clothed in red and ebestowing a blessingf, corresponding to Tibetan canons, also form part of the same cycle of paintings. A fragment depicting a figure with hands clasped and wearing a red garment with broad sleeves also belongs to the Tibetan tradition. The craft products found include jewellery made of ivory, copper earrings, a filigree silver bracelet, bronze plates and finely worked clasps, and many other items. Chinese influence and, at times, workmanship are evident in the splendid vases, the ceramic dishes and the enormous number of shards of various forms of pottery which have been found.
The sculpture of the Mongol empire differed substantially from all the known sculpture of earlier periods, and this is particularly true of the stone sculptures found in eastern Mongolia. One striking example is the sculpture in the somon (district) of Dariganga in SEbaatar aymak (province), which differs from the Turkic sculptures of western Mongolia in the pose depicted, the workmanship, and the clothing, headgear and ornamentation. For many years, this work was erroneously dated by scholars to the ancient TEk period (i.e. not later than the eighth century), but L. L. Victorova, who first dated the stone sculptures of eastern Mongolia to the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, has demonstrated that this monumental work depicts members of the Chinggisid dynasty. One of the statues represents the youngest son of Chinggis Khan, Tolui. The statuesf hats have small brims and long ribbons hanging down the wearersf backs. Kaftans with long flaps and narrow sleeves are worn, fastening from left to right. Such belts as are visible are decorated with small plates in the form of eight-petalled rosettes or half-moon shapes. Unlike the ancient TEk sculptures, on which the legs are not shown, the sculptures from eastern Mongolia are presented in soft boots with thick soles and turned-up toes. Many figures carry purses or prayer beads. One sculpture shows an armchair with elbow-rests, something which was never produced in the west of the country.(4)
Architectural ornament also has its place in the sculpture of the Mongol period, examples being the heads or foreparts of dragons, stretching forward like animals about to leap. Figurines of women and, occasionally, of animals have been found in temples. Another distinctive decorative feature consisted of stone stelae bearing inscriptions and mounted on stone bases in the form of tortoises; one of these last still stands by the wall of Erdeni-zu.>>
http://www.hostkingdom.net/mongols.html
>>Perhaps the best-known of the Central Asian nomads, they are certainly among the best documented. The Mongols arose as a complex group of closely related tribes dwelling in the steppes and semi-arid regions south of the Yakut taiga, adjacent to the Gobi Desert. Ethnographically, their origins are obscure; the best scholarship tends to the view that they are a composite of remnants of the Hsiung-Nu (Huns) combined with proto-Turks -- there are certainly some strains of early Manchu and Tungus as well. They emerge into history from the 12th century onward, and in the 13th century they established what is perhaps the largest single Empire the world has yet seen (both the Mongol Empire at it's greatest extent, c. 1245, and the British Empire together with the Commonwealth at it's greatest extent c. 1920, covered about 14, 000, 000 sq. miles (33,400,000 sq. km.) -- about 25 % of the world's land surface - and interestingly enough, there is very little overlap between the two). >>
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