CHAPTER XXV.
HOW THE OLD MAN CAME BY HIS END.
Now it came to pass, in the year of Christ’s Incarnation, 1252, that
Alaü, Lord of the Tartars of the Levant, heard tell of these great
crimes of the Old Man, and resolved to make an end of him. So he took
and sent one of his Barons with a great Army to that Castle, and they
besieged it for three years, but they could not take it, so strong was
it. And indeed if they had had food within it never would have been
taken. But after being besieged those three years they ran short of
victual, and were taken. The Old Man was put to death with all his men
[and the Castle with its Garden of Paradise was levelled with the
ground]. And since that time he has had no successor; and there was an
end to all his villainies.{1}
Now let us go back to our journey.
NOTE 1.—The date in Pauthier is 1242; in the G. T. and in Ramusio
1262. Neither is right, nor certainly could Polo have meant the
former.
When Mangku Kaan, after his enthronement (1251), determined at a
great _Kurultai_ or Diet, on perfecting the Mongol conquests, he
entrusted his brother Kúblái with the completion of the subjugation
of China and the adjacent countries, whilst his brother Hulaku
received the command of the army destined for Persia and Syria. The
complaints that came from the Mongol officers already in Persia
determined him to commence with the reduction of the Ismailites,
and Hulaku set out from Karakorum in February, 1254. He proceeded
with great deliberation, and the Oxus was not crossed till January,
1256. But an army had been sent long in advance under “one of
his Barons,” Kitubuka Noyan, and in 1253 it was already actively
engaged in besieging the Ismailite fortresses. In 1255, during the
progress of the war, ALA’UDDIN MAHOMED, the reigning Prince of
the Assassins (mentioned by Polo as Alaodin), was murdered at the
instigation of his son Ruknuddin Khurshah, who succeeded to the
authority. A year later (November, 1256) Ruknuddin surrendered to
Hulaku. [Bretschneider (_Med. Res._ II. p. 109) says that Alamút
was taken by Hulaku, 20th December, 1256.—H. C.] The fortresses
given up, all well furnished with provisions and artillery engines,
were 100 in number. Two of them, however, Lembeser and Girdkuh,
refused to surrender. The former fell after a year; the latter
is stated to have held out for _twenty years_—actually, as it
would seem, about fourteen, or till December, 1270. Ruknuddin was
well treated by Hulaku, and despatched to the Court of the Kaan.
The accounts of his death differ, but that most commonly alleged,
according to Rashiduddin, is that Mangku Kaan was irritated at
hearing of his approach, asking why his post-horses should be
fagged to no purpose, and sent executioners to put Ruknuddin
to death on the road. Alamút had been surrendered without any
substantial resistance. Some survivors of the sect got hold of
it again in 1275–1276, and held out for a time. The dominion was
extinguished, but the sect remained, though scattered indeed and
obscure. A very strange case that came before Sir Joseph Arnould
in the High Court at Bombay in 1866 threw much new light on the
survival of the Ismailis.
Some centuries ago a _Dai_ or Missionary of the Ismailis, named
Sadruddín, made converts from the Hindu trading classes in Upper
Sind. Under the name of _Khojas_ the sect multiplied considerably
in Sind, Kach’h, and Guzerat, whence they spread to Bombay and
to Zanzibar. Their numbers in Western India are now probably not
less than 50,000 to 60,000. Their doctrine, or at least the books
which they revere, appear to embrace a strange jumble of Hindu
notions with Mahomedan practices and Shiah mysticism, but the main
characteristic endures of deep reverence, if not worship, of the
person of their hereditary Imám. To his presence, when he resided
in Persia, numbers of pilgrims used to betake themselves, and large
remittances of what we may call _Ismail’s Pence_ were made to him.
Abul Hassan, the last Imám but one of admitted lineal descent from
the later Shaikhs of Alamút, and claiming (as they did) descent
from the Imám Ismail and his great ancestor ’Ali Abu Tálib, had
considerable estates at Meheláti, between Kúm and Hamadán, and at
one time held the Government of Kermán. His son and successor,
Shah Khalilullah, was killed in a brawl at Yezd in 1818. Fatteh
’Ali Sháh, fearing Ismailite vengeance, caused the homicide to be
severely punished, and conferred gifts and honours on the young
Imám, Agha Khan, including the hand of one of his own daughters. In
1840 Agha Khan, who had raised a revolt at Kermán, had to escape
from Persia. He took refuge in Sind, and eventually rendered good
service both to General Nott at Kandahár and to Sir C. Napier in
Sind, for which he receives a pension from our Government.
For many years this genuine Heir and successor of the _Viex de la
Montaingne_ has had his headquarters at Bombay, where he devotes,
or for a long time did devote, the large income that he receives
from the faithful to the maintenance of a racing stable, being the
chief patron and promoter of the Bombay Turf!
A schism among the Khojas, owing apparently to the desire of part
of the well-to-do Bombay community to sever themselves from the
peculiarities of the sect and to set up as respectable Sunnis, led
in 1866 to an action in the High Court, the object of which was to
exclude Agha Khan from all rights over the Khojas, and to transfer
the property of the community to the charge of Orthodox Mahomedans.
To the elaborate addresses of Mr. Howard and Sir Joseph Arnould,
on this most singular process before an English Court, I owe the
preceding particulars. The judgment was entirely in favour of the
Old Man of the Mountain.
[Illustration: H. H. Agha Khán Meheláti, late Representative of the
Old Man of the Mountain.
“=Le Seigneur Viel, que je vous ai dit si tient sa court ... et
fait à croire à cele simple gent qui li est entour que il est un
grant prophete.=”]
[Sir Bartle Frere writes of Agha Khan in 1875: “Like his ancestor,
the Old One of Marco Polo’s time, he keeps his court in grand and
noble style. His sons, popularly known as ‘The Persian Princes,’
are active sportsmen, and age has not dulled the Agha’s enjoyment
of horse-racing. Some of the best blood of Arabia is always to be
found in his stables. He spares no expense on his racers, and no
prejudice of religion or race prevents his availing himself of
the science and skill of an English trainer or jockey when the
races come round. If tidings of war or threatened disturbance
should arise from Central Asia or Persia, the Agha is always one
of the first to hear of it, and seldom fails to pay a visit to the
Governor or to some old friend high in office to hear the news and
offer the services of a tried sword and an experienced leader to
the Government which has so long secured him a quiet refuge for
his old age.” Agha Khan died in April, 1881, at the age of 81. He
was succeeded by his son Agha Ali Sháh, one of the members of the
Legislative Council. (See _The Homeward Mail, Overland Times of
India_, of 14th April, 1881.)]
The _Bohras_ of Western India are identified with the
Imámí-Ismáilís in some books, and were so spoken of in the first
edition of this work. This is, however, an error, originally
due, it would seem, to Sir John Malcolm. The nature of their
doctrine, indeed, seems to be very much alike, and the Bohras,
like the Ismáilís, attach a divine character to their _Mullah_
or chief pontiff, and make a pilgrimage to his presence once in
life. But the _persons_ so reverenced are quite different; and the
Bohras recognise all the 12 Imáms of ordinary Shiahs. Their first
appearance in India was early, the date which they assign being
A.H. 532 (A.D. 1137–1138). Their chief seat was in Yemen, from
which a large emigration to India took place on its conquest by the
Turks in 1538. Ibn Batuta seems to have met with Bohras at Gandár,
near Baroch, in 1342. (_Voyages_, IV. 58.)
A Chinese account of the expedition of Hulaku will be found in
Rémusat’s _Nouveaux Mélanges_ (I.), and in Pauthier’s Introduction.
(_Q. R._ 115–219, esp. 213; _Ilch._ vol. i.; _J. A. S. B._ VI. 842
_seqq._) [A new and complete translation has been given by Dr. E.
Bretschneider, _Med. Res._ I. 112 _seqq._—H. C.]
There is some account of the rock of Alamút and its exceedingly
slender traces of occupancy, by Colonel Monteith, in _J. R. G.
S._ III. 15, and again by Sir Justin Sheil in vol. viii. p. 431.
There does not seem to be any specific authority for assigning the
Paradise of the Shaikh to Alamút; and it is at least worthy of note
that another of the castles of the Muláhidah, destroyed by Hulaku,
was called _Firdús_, _i.e._ Paradise. In any case, I see no reason
to suppose that Polo visited Alamút, which would have been quite
out of the road that he is following.
It is possible that “the Castle,” to which he alludes at the
beginning of next chapter, and which set him off upon this
digression, was _Girdkuh_.[1] It has not, as far as I know, been
identified by modern travellers, but it stood within 10 or 12
miles of Damghan (to the west or north-west). It is probably the
_Tigado_ of Hayton, of which he thus speaks: “The Assassins had
an impregnable castle called Tigado, which was furnished with all
necessaries, and was so strong that it had no fear of attack on any
side. Howbeit, Haloön commanded a certain captain of his that he
should take 10,000 Tartars who had been left in garrison in Persia,
and with them lay siege to the said castle, and not leave it till
he had taken it. Wherefore the said Tartars continued besieging
it for seven whole years, winter and summer, without being able
to take it. At last the Assassins surrendered, from sheer want of
clothing, but not of victuals or other necessaries.” So Ramusio;
other copies read “27 years.” In any case it corroborates the
fact that Girdkuh was said to have held out for an extraordinary
length of time. If Rashiduddin is right in naming 1270 as the date
of surrender, this would be quite a recent event when the Polo
party passed, and draw special attention to the spot. (_J. As._
sér. IV. tom. xiii. 48; _Ilch._ I. 93, 104, 274; _Q. R._ p. 278;
_Ritter_, VIII. 336.) A note which I have from _Djihan Numa_ (I.
259) connects Girdkuh with a district called _Chinar_. This may be
a clue to the term _Arbre Sec_; but there are difficulties.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] [Ghirdkuh means “round mountain”; it was in the district of Kumis,
three parasangs west of Damghan. Under the year 1257, the _Yüan
shi_ mentions the taking of the fortress of _Ghi-rh-du-kie_ by
_K’ie-di-bu-hua_. (_Bretschneider, Med. Res._ I. p. 122; II.
110.)—H. C.]