Kaidu had assumed the title Grand Khan, thus claiming the headship of the Mongols, which belonged to him by the will of Jinghis, and the solemn oath of the earliest Kurultai. Could he have lived some years longer he might have obtained the great primacy, since after Timur the Mongol sovereigns of China deteriorated and became not merely paltry but pitiful and wretched, while Kaidu was a genius and also a hero. He was loved in the West very greatly, and his veterans were renowned even among Mongols. Kaidu was exalted by his people for magnanimity and kindness. His boundless bravery and strength of body roused admiration and wonder. He had forty sons and one daughter, named Aiyaruk (Shining Moon), whom Marco Polo states was famous for beauty and still more famous for the strength of her body; she surpassed every warrior of that day, not only among Mongols, but all surrounding nations. This young princess declared that she would marry no man save him who could conquer her in wrestling. When the time came notice was given to every one that Kaidu’s only daughter would marry the man who could throw her in wrestling, but if he were thrown by the princess he would lose a hundred horses. Man after man came till the princess had thrown a hundred suitors and won ten thousand horses. After this hundred came the best man of all, a young hero from a rich remote kingdom, a man who had never met an equal in any land. He felt sure of victory, and brought with him a forfeit of not one hundred, but one thousand horses. Kaidu and the young lady’s mother were charmed with [[381]]this suitor when they saw him, and, being the son of a great and famous sovereign, begged their daughter to yield in case she were winning in the struggle, but she answered: “I will not yield unless he can throw me. If he throws me, I will marry him.” A day was appointed for the meeting, and an immense audience came to witness the trial. When all the great company was ready the strong maid and the young man came into the courtyard and closed in the struggle. They wrestled with great skill and energy and it seemed for a long time that neither could conquer the other, but at last the damsel threw the young hero. Immense was the suitor’s confusion as he lay in the courtyard, but he rose and hurried off with all his attendants, leaving the one thousand horses behind him as forfeit.
Kaidu’s warriors mourned the death of their ruler with loud intense wailing. Dua, to whom he had told his last wishes, proposed to the princes who stood round the bier of the sovereign to choose as successor the eldest among the dead man’s forty sons, namely, Chabar, who was then absent. Dua on his part owed much to Chabar. When, after the death of Borak, the members of his family repaired to the court of Kaidu, as custom commanded, Dua, though not the eldest of Jagatai’s descendants, obtained his succession through the influence of Chabar. All present agreed with Dua, and each of the princes sent officers to attend Kaidu’s body to its resting-place.
Chabar arrived very soon, and the princes, with Dua at the head of them, rendered him homage as Kaidu’s successor. When Chabar was installed in Ogotai’s dominion, Dua proposed to acknowledge overlordship of Timur, grandson of Kubilai, and thus end the strife which had raged for three decades in Jinghis Khan’s family. This advice was accepted by Chabar and all other princes, and they sent envoys immediately to offer submission. This pledge of peace was received with great gladness by Timur, who now saw his authority recognized by every member of his family.
But this agreement was short-lived. In the year following, disputes burst forth between Chabar and Dua which involved the two sides of Jinghis Khan’s family. In 1306, at Dua’s persuasion, Timur, who was watchful, of course, and suspicious, attacked Chabar, the son of Kaidu his recent opponent. Chabar was [[382]]deserted immediately by most of his adherents. He turned in distress then to Dua to support him. Dua treated his guest with distinction, but took that guest’s states from him, and joined Turkistan to Transoxiana. He thus reëstablished well-nigh in completeness the dominions of Jagatai, which Kaidu had dismembered.
So Chabar, the successor of Kaidu of Kuyuk and of Ogotai, was the last real sovereign descended from Ogotai, son of Jinghis; that Ogotai to whom the great conqueror had given supreme rule in the world of the Mongols; Ogotai, whose descendants, despoiled by Batu, son of Juchi, had won for themselves immense regions through the fruitful activity and genius of Kaidu.
Dua, son of Borak, died in 1306; his son, Gundjuk, who succeeded him, held power one year and a half only. After Gundjuk’s death supreme power was next captured by Taliku, who through Moatagan was descended from Jagatai. Taliku had grown old in combats; a Mohammedan by religion, he strove to spread his belief among Mongols.
Meanwhile two princes, descended from Jagatai, insisted, weapons in hand, that the throne belonged by right to a son of Dua; these two were vanquished. Many others were preparing to avenge the defeat which these men had suffered when Taliku was killed at a banquet by officers who wished to raise a son of their former sovereign, Dua, to dominion. The conspirators then proclaimed Dua’s youngest son, Gebek (1308). This prince was barely installed when Chabar, leagued with other princes descended from Kaidu, attacked him. Chabar being vanquished in this struggle, crossed the Ili. Only a few followers went with him, and he and they found a refuge in the lands of the Emperor. After this victory over Chabar, which destroyed every hope among Ogotai’s descendants, the Jagatai branch held a Kurultai at which they chose Issen Buga, a brother of Gebek, as their ruler. This prince, who was then in the territory of the Grand Khan, came for the sovereignty, which Gebek gave him with willingness. After Issen Buga’s death,—we know not when it happened,—Gebek received power and used it.
Bloody quarrels of this kind brought ruin to Turkistan regions and to Transoxiana. Prosperity could not exist long with such sovereigns. When the fruit of any labor grew evident it was [[383]]pounced upon straightway. The whole life of that land was passed in confusion, bloodshed and anarchy.
Timur, the Grand Khan at Ta tu, was forty-two years of age when he died in 1307, after a reign of thirteen years. During his last illness a decree was issued forbidding the killing of any animal for forty-two days; still he died. He was a sovereign well liked by the Chinese, who praised his humanity and prudence. Humane he seems to have been to some extent. Princes and princesses of the Jinghis Khan line had held boundless power over vassals and people who served them till Timur declared that no prince whatever should put to death any one without his confirmation. He founded an Imperial College at Ta tu and built a magnificent palace in honor of Confucius.
Before he mounted the throne Timur, like so many men of his family and race, had been an unrestrained, boundless drinker; his grandfather, Kubilai, reprimanded him frequently and bastinadoed him thrice for his conduct. At last physicians were sent to see that he ate and drank within reason, but an alchemist, whose duty it was to attend him in the bathing house, filled his bath tub with wine or other liquor instead of water. Kubilai heard of this trick, and when Timur clung to his favorite, Kubilai had the man exiled and then killed on the journey. But Timur, when made Emperor, forsook his intemperance and became as abstemious as he had been irrestrainable aforetime. [[384]]