The world-conquering Jangiz Khan, at the time of his wasting away, said to his sons: “Never deviate from your faith, nor lend your powerful support to other religions; because, as long as you remain firmly rooted in your faith, your people and companions will acknowledge you as the chiefs of their faith, and count you as the leaders of worship; but he who changes his religion for that of others, being a chief of the faith, may be still considered as a chief by the people of the new religion; but in the eyes of his own people will lose that dignity: because he who passes over with you to another faith will esteem as chiefs those of the new faith; besides, he who remains attached to my faith will also be displeased with you for not having continued in the religion of his fathers.” To sum up all, as long as they conformed themselves to the last will of the Khan, they were powerful; but when they deviated from his counsel, they sunk into distress and abjection. The stars were favorable to them in every thing.[99]
It is related: Kík Khan, who was of the family of Chaghaty Khan, was one day walking with noblemen of his suit in the plain, travelling about in the desert. At once, his looks fell upon bones; at the same moment he became thoughtful, and then asked: “Do you know what this handful of bones says to me?” They replied: “The King knows best.” He resumed: “They demand justice from me as being oppressed.” He demanded information about the history of these bones from Amír Hazárah, who held this country under his dependence. This governor inquired of Amir Sadah, who administered this district under him; and after reiterated investigations, it became clear that, nine years before, a caravan had been attacked at this place by a band of highwaymen, and plundered of their property, a part of which remained still in the hands of the guilty. At last it was recovered from the murderers, and restored to the heirs of the slain who were in Khorásán.
It is said that, when an army of the Moghuls was occupied with the siege of the fort of Imbál, in which were the mother and several women of the king of Khárarem, nobody had ever given information that the garrison was distressed for want of water. Although a quantity of rain-water was collected in the reservoirs, so that during years they had no need of spring-water, yet at the time when the Moghuls were encamped before the place to reduce it, no rain had fallen, and one day not a drop of water remained in the reservoirs; the next day the women of the Turks and Naśer eddin, with thirsty lips, compelled by necessity came down to surrender; but at the very moment that they arrived at the foot of the fort, and the army of the Moghuls entered it, a heavy rain began to pour down, so that the water ran out from the ditches of the fort. When this intelligence was brought to the Sultan Muhammed, sovereign of Khárazem, he become insensible, and when he recovered his senses, he died without being able to utter a word.
Upon the whole: as long as the Sultans of the Moghuls preserved the worship of the stars, they conquered the inhabitants of the world; but, as soon as they abandoned it, they lost many countries, and those which they kept were without value and strength.[100]
[88] According to Sheristání, there is a sect called Hernânites, or Herranites, disciples of a certain Hernán, a branch of the Sabeans, of whom hereafter; these sectaries designate, as authors of their scientific treatises, four prophets, among whom are Agatho démon and Hermes.
Agatho démon, that is to say, “the good genius,” was an Egyptian god. According to general belief, this denomination is the approximative translation of Knef, or “the good principle,” and in that acceptation it was applied to other deities, as for instance, to the Nile, and typified as the emblem of wisdom, prudence, life, health, youth, eternity, and infinitude, in the inoffensive serpent; now and then this form is combined with that of other animals. According to some authors, Agatho demon was the Egyptian Chetnuph; and to him are attributed a number of works, a list of which is given by Fabricius in his “Bibliotheca græca.”
[89] The first Hermes of the Orientals lived one thousand years after Adam, in the beginning of their second solar millenium, and was no other but Idris, or Enoch; the second in the third solar millenium, was the Trismegist of the Greeks. According to Abu ’l farage, the second was the third; and between these two intervened a Chaldean or Babylonian Hermes, who lived a few centuries after the deluge, and to whom the principal notions of astronomy are referred. A disciple of the first Hermes, or of Idris, was Esculapius, of whom hereafter.
[90] Muhammed used to say: “I like of your world but women and perfumes, and God has placed the refreshment of my eyes in prayers.”—(Baron Hammer.)
[91] This word, not in the Dictionary, means perhaps “assembly of the nobles.”
[92] Yudisht’hira, according to the Vichnu-purena (Wilson’s transl., pp. 437-459), was the son of Kuntí, also called Prithá, and of the deities Dharma, Vayu, and Indra. He was the half-brother of Karna, whom his mother conceived by Aditya, “the sun.”