Rybatzki-2009-Preface to the Festschrift for Igor de Rachewiltz

2010

Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century. Volume 3: Supplement. IGOR DE RACHEWILTZ. (Brill's Inner Asian Library 7/3, with separate pagination) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013. xxiv + 226, including 7 plates. ISBN 9789004250567 (hardback), 978-9004258587 (online E-book version). €101, $131.

Mongolica Pragensia, Ethnolinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Religion and Culture, Publication of Charles University, Faculty of Arts, Department of South and Central Asia, Seminar of Mongolian and Tibetan Studies, 2016

The true history of the Great Chinggis Khan known as The Secret History of the Mongols is one of mankind’s most important written monuments: translated into over 20 languages, it has inspired a scholarly literature as high as a mountain. The translations of and studies concerning this monument, however—whether by translators, scholars, journalists, or even politicians—has been based on faulty translations of The Secret History, a fact disclosed by Professor Luvsandorj. The culmination of his work is the published monograph, which provides us with the key to the correct reading and translation of the Mongolian original.

2012

MONGOLO-TIBETICA PRAGENSIA ’11 . Ethnolinguistics, Sociolinguistics, Religion and Culture, Volume 4, No. 1, pp. 7-33. Publication of Charles University in Prague Philosophical Faculty, Institute of South and Central Asia Seminar of Mongolian Studies, Prague 2011. ISSN 1803 – 5647, 2011

In the study of the SHM there is a conception of the language of the original of the SHM, to which its Chinese interlinear translation and the Chinese abridged translation belong. In this paper this conception is questioned, and it is demonstrated from concrete examples that it results in erroneous translations. We may mention several examples: Temujin seized a mare from the Merkit ruler and presented it to his brotherly friend Jamuqa (§117); an important riding horse of Chingis Khan's commander Boorči had an arched back (§95); Mongolian Khans killed people by cooking them all in a kettle (§129); and the like. The author of the paper discloses and corrects a number of such errors and proposes new possibilities for translations, which would correctly reflect the facts described in the SHM.

The present study examines in detail a letter sent from Galdantseren Khan (r. 1727-1745), the third ruler of the Dzungar Empire (1671-1755), to a Khalkha nobleman Lamajab in 1731, which was included in the Manchu source Jun gar-i ba be necihiyeme toktobuha bodogon-i bithe 'Strategy Book for the Pacification of the Dzungarian Territory' (in 1770), the official historical source of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). This narrative provides a rare glance into the interrelationships between the Mongols, namely the Khalkha Mongols, Oirat Mongols, Kalmyks, Inner Mongols, and Qinghai Mongols, during the eighteenth-century Qing Dynasty conquest of the Mongols. It sheds light on the Qing government's response in this correspondence, the distinctions between the primary letter and its variant in the Jun gar-i bodogon-i bithe, and the intention of why the Qing Dynasty included the letter in its official historical source.

Iranian Studies, 2012

2007

The Secret History of the Mongols (SHM) is without question the most important textual legacy left by the Mongols during the century and a half of their world empire. No fuller record exists of how the Mongols themselves viewed their great ruler Chinggis Qan, his successor Ogedei Qa'an, and the empire's champions, institutions, and divine mandate. Accurate dating of this key text is thus vital to study of the Mongol empires history. In an effort to develop a clearer understanding of the historical context of the SHM,I propose to review the debates on its dating and compilation and re-examine the evidence to provide a fresh assessment of when it was written. As is well known, the SHM concludes with a colophon which gives the date of its composition only in the animal cycle system: the year of the mouse. Given the works vivid,seemingly contemporary character, the solution would appear to be simple: find the first year of the mouse that comes after the last event mentioned in t...

Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (Third Series), 2011