Khansha Terken closed her eyes: what to say to her young granddaughters about their fate? Their fate was the same — to become Genghis Khan’s captives.
After all, a woman must always belong to a man, so what difference does it make which one of them? Only her eldest granddaughter Khan-Sultan understood her. She already knew her husband, and the loss of her sons…. if she was lucky, she could have new ones, from a new husband or lord.
-You must try to survive,» Terken said tiredly. But the words were addressed to her, to Han-Sultan. — You will be handed out or given away, be wise. A woman’s wisdom is to submit to a man. If she submits to her husband, she will submit to him, which means she will be at least calm, if not free.
The young granddaughters howled. Only Khan-Sultan pressed her lips tightly together: she understood everything. Her grandmother was right, life was not over, she would try to survive at any cost.
When the eldest daughter was born in the family of Khorezmshah Ala ad-Din Muhammad remained a mystery. In the last years of the last decade of the 12th century, the name of the mother also history has not left us, the Shah had many women. The little girl, named Khan-Sultan, was especially loved by her grandmother, the wise and powerful khansha Terken-Khatun.
In 1210 Khan-Sultan was married to Osman (Usman). The husband was the ruler of the Karakhnid state, and in fact the father made his son-in-law a hostage at the price of marriage of his daughter. The husband was younger than Khan-Sultan, the fact that in 1212, during the uprising in Samarkand, Khan-Sultan’s husband joined the rebels and besieged the fortress where his wife had taken refuge speaks volumes about the relationship between the couple.
«I am a woman, and killing one like me is a shameful thing. There was nothing on my part by which I deserved this from you. The most honorable thing would have been to let me live,» the wife sent a message to her spouse.
It is not known whether her husband would have heeded this letter, but her father came to his daughter’s aid, defeated the rebels and punished the rioters so that for many years his name was spoken in a whisper in Samarkand. His son-in-law and his relatives shared the fate of the others. Khan-Sultan became a widow.
Without awe, only with contempt she looked at what was left of her husband, remaining calm: the daughter of a khan should carry her head high.
It’s good that you don’t have children,» Terken smiled affectionately at her favorite. — You are a tasty morsel for any dynasty, and we will find a husband for you. And you will be happy.
Khan-Sultan wanted only one thing: to be free. For seven years no one forced her to marry again, and then it was not up to it: Khorezm was facing such a threat, before which all previous wars with neighbors paled into insignificance: the Mongols.
-They say Genghis Khan is terrible, he is cruel and knows no pity, his warriors are tireless, his horses are fast. He does not leave alive anyone from the conquered dynasty, — the concubines of Khan-Sultan’s father passed to each other. — Our children, our boys, what will happen to them? What will happen to us?
Ala ad-Din Muhammad still tried to fight, but where the Great Mongol had passed, there remained only a scorched steppe: thousands laid down their heads, thousands were taken captive. Terken-Khatun tried to hide her son’s harem in Urgench: children, concubines, treasury. But then she had to flee even further. Through the Karakum Desert, where the sun almost burned those who fled.
Defeated Ala ad-Din Muhammad
The fortress of Ilal, where the family members of the already defeated Ala ad-Din took refuge, was surrounded by Mongols and after 4 months of siege Genghis Khan captured it too. Moaning and howling rose to the merciless heavens: the Mongols tore sons from their mothers’ hands, all boys, even infants, were deprived of life by the merciless conqueror.
Terken-Khatun and the rest of the harem women, daughters, wives, concubines and maids of the defeated enemy Temujin became prisoners. Some were to become concubines of noble warriors, some would be traded or sold as cattle.
-You will bear a son,» Grandmother Khan-Sultan whispered fervently. — You are young, beautiful, the daughter of the greatest ruler of Khorezm, you must survive. And bring up your son so that he accepts your faith! Let him not pray to the Great Heaven, let his God be the great Allah. Look bravely, my dear, your glory lies ahead.
When they were brought to the square in front of the Mongols’ tents, there was already a distribution of goods. Genghis Khan was rewarding his retinue: his sons, his commanders. The looted gold was lying in heaps, girls from the harem of the defeated Ala ad-Din were thrown to the gold, grabbed by their braids. The girls cried, smearing tears on their cheeks, the Mongols laughed: it is a tradition to humiliate the enemy by taking his woman.
-A Mongol woman is a treasure, she will keep your tent, increase your wealth, she will be in the wagon when you go on a campaign, she will stand beside you with a bow and arrow when things get tight, she will bring up your sons as warriors,” it was said in the army of the lord. — But foreign women are pampered, they cannot do without water, they do not know how to take care of horses and make tasty koumiss. Foreign women are good only for pleasure.
Khan-Sultan tried not to look at anyone, not to see and not to know who would get her as a trophy, who would throw her on the bed in the evening and then kick her, having satiated with her body.
-I give you the eldest daughter of my enemy, my eldest son,” came the calm voice of the lord of the universe.
Dzhuchi, Borte’s first-born son, conceived when his mother was a prisoner in the Merkits’ camp, grasped Khan-Sultan by the base of her scythe, and she looked at her new lord with the eyes of a trembling chamois, so much so that the hand of the lord’s son weakened. It seemed to Khan-Sultan that somewhere in the crowd of captives there was a quiet whisper from her grandmother, “Good girl, granddaughter.” Khan-Sultan smiled at her thoughts and Juchi’s hand trembled again.
Juchi had many wives and about forty sons alone. All his official wives were noble daughters of chieftains, khans and kings. No one counted concubines. The names of his two sons are well known to us. One of them is Batyi, son of Uki Ujin, the conqueror of Russian princedoms, who remained a pagan until his death.
Another well-known son of Djuchi was born to Khan-Sultan. The woman had three children from Djuchi: a daughter and two sons. The name of the senior — Berke, it was he who inherited to Batu power in Russian ulus. Berke was the Muslim. Grandmother Terken could be proud of her favorite granddaughter.