Excerpts from Professor Igor De
RachewiltzÕs translation of:
ÒThe Secret History of the MongolsÓ; A
Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth Century.
Translated with a historical and philological commentary.
Published by Brill Inner Asian
Library 2004 www.brill.nl
Leiden: E.J. Brill, 2004, 2
Vols, 1,347 pp, ISBN 90-04-13159,
http://www.brill.nl/product.asp?ID=11381
Excerpted by The Indo-Mongolian
Society of New York
Main website: www.Mongolianculture.com
The
Secret History of the Mongols is the only genuine Mongolian account of Chinggis
Khan (Genghis Khan) and his familyÕs history and was most likely assembled a
few decades after his death in 1227. The original text of the Secret History of
the Mongols was written in the vertical Uighur script which the Mongols had
adopted from the Turkic Uighurs at about the turn of the 13th
century. The only extant copies of this work are in Chinese titled YŸan pi-shih
or Secret History of the YŸan Dynasty from the archives of the Ming government.
However, regardless of its Turkic component, the Secret History of the Mongols
remains a truly original Mongol product, unique of its kind, for no other
nomadic or semi-nomadic people has ever created a literary masterpiece like it,
in which epic poetry and narrative are so skillfully and indeed artistically
blended with fictional and historical accounts. The Secret History of the Mongols
is above all a source of the first magnitude for the social history of the
Mongols before the establishment of their world empire.
This
excerpt from Professor Igor de RachewiltzÕs translation of the famous
thirteenth century epic chronicle known as the Secret History of the Mongols is
the product of thirty yearsÕ continuous investigation of this difficult text.
It presents a more accurate translation of The Secret History of the Mongols
than previous efforts by other translators of this important work. Over 1,300
primary and secondary sources, as well as monographs and essays in many
languages have been consulted by the author who is a specialist in
Sino-Mongolian Studies at the Australian National University, Canberra. Its
chief value lies in the historical and philological commentary accompanying the
translation, by far the most extensive of its kind. The translation itself,
while close to the original, is at the same time eminently readable. The
lengthy introduction provides a valuable and original insight into the history
of the text and its importance as a historical sources and literary monument.
The three comprehensive indices (of names, subjects, grammar and lexis) also
make this book a useful reference work for research on a variety of subjects
related to Central Asia and China in the 12th and 13th
centuries.
Excerpts from Professor Igor De RachewiltzÕs translation of
ÒThe Secret History of the MongolsÓ; A Mongolian Epic Chronicle of the Thirteenth
Century. Translated with a historical
and philological commentary.
Published by Brill Inner Asian Library, 2004. www.brill.nl