XXVI.
KHASI-MOLLAH.
Among the murids of Mahomet-Mollah the foremost was Khasi-Mahomet, better known as Khasi-Mollah. After having spent much time sitting at the feet of the patriotic and fanatical murschid, he returned to his native aoul of Himri, and began his career as leader of the popular movement against Russia by sending to the neighboring tribes missives full of such reproof and exhortation as he had been in the habit of hearing at Jarach. This he continued to do until it became manifest that the time for decisive action had arrived, when accompanied by a considerable body of disciples, among whom was Schamyl, he sallied forth on an expedition of proselytism, and made his way first to the powerful aoul of Tcherkei, situated lower down on the Koissu, and in the territory of the Tchetchenians.
Assembling the warriors in a council ring, Khasi-Mollah said sharply to them, "Ye men of Tcherkei, ye are too much inclined to evil doing. Ye are guilty of idleness, of lying, of deceit, even as are others. The Christians have their gospel, the Jews their talmud, and we the koran; but in what are we better than others while we keep not the holy scharyat? There is but one path for us to paradise—it is the war path. Death to the Muscovites, and to all who are with them! Hate and war against the red-haired dogs, the unbelievers!"
Thereupon rose up an aged man of Tcherkei and said in reply, "Preach to us the scharyat; and we will obey it. We will cease from hating and robbing, and from all the sins you truly lay to our charge. But the Russians hold our chief men as hostages in Andrejewa; our herds are pastured in valleys subject to them; we are hemmed in on all sides by their strong places; every attempt we make to shake off their yoke only brings down on our heads retribution; and we cannot fight."
"Bide your time," rejoined Khasi-Mollah; "only be ready when I call; the day of your deliverance is at hand."
Then having received from the people a solemn promise that they would observe the scharyat, confirmed by a pouring out upon the ground of all the wine laid by in the aoul, as well as by the breaking of the wine vessels, he continued on his journey. Aoul after aoul was visited. Where persuasion failed, threats of fire and sword were resorted to; and in many instances promises of adherence were guaranteed by hostages sent to Himri. And so by dint of argument, intimidation, and force, the new doctrine of political Sufism was in the course of a few months diffused over the greater part of the Lesghian highlands.
Here and there, however, the more aged ulema[1] rejected the teaching that the taking up of arms against the infidels was the best fulfilment of the law of the scharyat, as for example in Chunsach, the principal aoul of Avaria, where, owing to strong Russian influence, the view prevailed that it was not expedient to run the risk of losing what of liberty was left by vainly attempting to regain that which had been lost. Accordingly Pachu Biké, who here bore rule under the title of Khaness, prayed Khasi-Mollah not to enter the Avarian territory; but he persisting, she called together her warriors to resist him. They, however, fearing at first to face the determined band of murids, she seized a sword and cried out, "Go home, ye men of Chunsach, and gird on your wives the swords ye are unworthy to bear yourselves!" Thereupon the warriors, stung with shame, followed the amazon who immediately put herself at their head and drove back Khasi-Mollah, though supported by a force of eight thousand men.
This repulse turned the hearts of many of the recently converted away from the new prophet; so that when in the summer of 1830, General Von Rosen, who had taken the command of the army after the brief and inefficient career in the Caucasus of Paskievitch, the successor of Jermoloff, marched on Himri to crush the germ of war which was preparing to unfold itself in this part of the mountains, the chief men of the neighboring aouls hastened in great numbers to give in their adhesion to the supremacy of the Russians. So general in fact was the appearance of submission that Von Rosen, staying his advance, let Himri go unpunished.
"The enemy are smitten by Allah with blindness!" exclaimed Khasi-Mollah as he heard that the Russians were retracing their footsteps without penetrating further into the mountains. "They could not see their advantage. As is written in the book of the prophet, 'With blindness will I smite them!'"
This interpretation of the turning back of Von Rosen, struck the heated imaginations of the mountaineers with such force that they all regarded it as a miraculous interposition of Allah in behalf of the new prophet; and when Khasi-Mollah, taking advantage of this sudden turn of men's minds towards him, defeated a detachment sent under Prince Bekovitsch to disperse a gathering of murids in the woods of Tchunkeskan, his fame increased in the land, and a large number of warriors flocked around his standard.
The next year, therefore, he was enabled to perform the great feat of capturing Tarku, an important place on the Caspian, and of laying siege to the fortress of Burnaja which overlooks it. The reinforcements of the enemy compelled him indeed to retire; but not until after several days of desperate fighting, and when he had literally strewn the streets of Tarku with his dead. Then devastating the unfriendly aouls on the Sulak, beating General Emanuel in a pitched battle, converting by fire and sword the district of Tabasseran which had held with the Russians, blockading the strong town of Derbend until it was relieved by superior numbers, and storming Kisliar on the Terek whence he carried away captives and much treasure, he terminated the conquests of the season by captivating the heart of a daughter of Mahomet-Mollah, whom he took to wife, and then retired into winter quarters in Himri.
Shortly before he had issued the following call, written in Arabic, to the tribes of Daghestan:—
"Hear all ye men of Daghestan! Our next breaking into the territory of the unfriendly tribes will be like the rising red of the morning. Blood will mark our track; fire and desolation will be left behind us; and what words cannot describe shall be executed in deeds. But accept the new doctrine and your lives shall be spared, and your property left in your possession. The song of the nightingale in the spring will be the sign of our coming. So soon as the snow melts on the mountains, and the new year puts on its green, we shall sweep over the hostile aouls, taking by force what is denied to forbearance. We are the terror of the unbelieving, but the strength and refuge of the faithful; and he who follows us shall have peace and eternal life. Amen."
But in Himri was destined to terminate the brief career of glory run by Khasi-Mollah. With the first singing of birds he did indeed go forth, carrying devastation beyond the Russian lines, even from Kisliar to Wladikaukas, from the Caspian to the central Caucasus; but the Russian commander-in-chief, accompanied by General Williaminoff, Prince Dadian, and the valiant Austrian Kluke Von Klugenau, forced the prophet to retire and take refuge behind the triple walls of Himri. Thereupon, during the retreat, the warriors who had been compelled to join his standard contrary to their inclination, gradually fell off; one by one the chieftains deserted him as they saw the superiority of the forces of the enemy; even the principal murid, Hamsad Bey, deceived, it is said, by forged proclamations issued in the name of the prophet, separated himself from a leader whose fortunes were so evidently on the wane; and when October's unfallen leaves were still covering the hills of Himri, the Russian bayonets arrived to add their gleam to the gorgeousness of the autumnal decay of nature.
There was now no escape for the faithful few who still adhered to the cause of Khasi-Mollah, among whom was Schamyl. The artillery under the direction of General Williaminoff soon brought down the towers of loose stones over the devoted heads of the murids in Himri. But they met their fate chanting verses from the Koran. No man had a thought of surrender, though the paths into the mountains were all in the possession of the enemy. From street to street and from house to house fought the men of Himri. Their granite rocks were as red with blood as the leaves of the trees with the glory of the autumn. Khasi-Mollah, though from his priestly character he did not himself bear arms, fell surrounded by the dead bodies of sixty of his disciples. Schamyl also lay at his feet bored through by two balls, and was left there by the enemy for dead. When the Russians found the corpse of Khasi-Mollah, the right hand still pointed to heaven, the left grasped the beard, and over the face was spread the placid expression of a dream instead of the last agony.
Khasi-Mollah was of a short stature, with small eyes, a thin, long beard, and a countenance somewhat marked by smallpox.
[1] Plural of alim.