In the Great Khan’s Tent

Welcome to a new series from In The Great Khan’s Tent! Fear not listeners! We will be continuing the One Thousand and One Nights shortly but wanted to take this podcast in a new direction under our directive to educate people. What better way to do that than to look at one of the overlooked areas of History than the Later Mughals. Thus, I present you with IN The Great Khan’s Tent: The Later Mughals! We begin this series with the death of the last great Mughal, Aurangzeb, and see the struggles that began for control of the Mughal empire. We also encounter the repercussions of Aurangzeb’s rise to power and how his suspicious nature shaped this coming conflict. We are introduced to in this episode by the three principal players, Aurangzeb’s surviving sons, Mohammad Muazzam, Azam Shah, and Muhammad Kam Bakhsh and their offspring. We are also introduced to the notables who will play an increasingly important role as we continue this series, and how they began to play kingmaker and competing for both eminence and power. We hope that you enjoy this series as much as you enjoy the One Thousand and One Nights and once again, I would like to reiterate that we will continue where we have left off shortly! Thank you for always listening to us!

In this episode, we continue “The Story of Nur-ud-din Ali and his Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter” with Nights XXI and XXII. In this part, unlike in other tales told, we see here believing Jinns directly facilitate the story by transporting Hasan Badr-ud-din, the son of Nur-ud-din to Cario to participate in the shenanigans that are occurring. We also get to see the appearance of the first known Jewish person directly interacting with the main character in a story. In this case it is a money lender named Ishaq, or unnamed in other versions, giving Hasan Badr-ud-din some much needed funds to continue his life after he ran away from being executed. Much of the poetry in this episode can be linked to a poet named al-Mutanabbi (915-965 CE) a court poet during the Abbasid Caliphate.

In this episode, we continue “The Story of Nur-ed-din Ali and His Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter”. We see here, for the first time, actual geographical destinations that do correspond in actuality to the location where Nur-ed-din begins his journey in Cario, going to Bilbais, Jerusalem, Aleppo, and finally ending in Basra. We also have mention of a town in Egypt, Qalyub or Kalyub as Nur-ed-din tries to throw off his scent as his brother might try to follow him. References here are also made on how people perceived travelers during this time, such as the interaction between the Vizier of Basra and Nur-ed-din, how they have to concoct a story in order to adopt those coming from outside of their known environs. Lastly, the special episode that was supposed to be out today will be delayed to our next upload due to some unforeseen circumstances.

In this episode, we end the story cycle of the “The Porter, the Three Ladies of Baghdad, and the three Dervishes” with Night XIX and begin another story cycle “The Story of the Three Apples” with Night XX. Within the “Three Apples” cycle we start “The Story of Nur-ed-din Ali and His Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter”. What is interesting about both the end of the first cycle and the start of the second is that there is a considerable change in the attitude that is displayed by Harun-al-Rashid. Instead of the calm, reasonable, Caliph Harun al-Rashid is seen continually threatening his vizier Jafar al-Barmaki with death of not only himself but that of his entire family, a fact which may reflect on his actual execution and of his entire family in 803 C.E. Furthermore, this may reflect that fact that these stories may have been created, written down, or modified soon after the first Abbasid Civil War of 811-813 C.E. This is particularly important view to consider, as the references to al-Amin may refer to the condition Baghdad was in under his reign. This aspect will be explored in the upcoming special episode.

In this episode, we end “The Story of the First of the Three Ladies of Baghdad” and move on to “The Story of the Second of the Three Ladies of Baghdad” with the continuation of Night XVII and Night XVIII. We once again encounter two Jinn, the main dealings are with the Jinniyah with the other being an anonymous enemy of her, and see the type of help they provide. It is interesting that her help was stipulated with a warning to continue the punishment of her sisters unless she wants to be turned into a black dog as well. The story of the second lady of Baghdad is also highly engaging with the mystical elements that are incorporated within it, especially regarding the sister and the old lady, who we are never really informed if they are Jinn, magicians, or just illusions meant to punish the second lady for an unspecified supposed crime.

In this episode, we finally end the story of “The Third Royal Dervish” and begin the final round of tales with the “The Story of the First of the Three Ladies of Baghdad” continuing with Night XVI and going into Night XVII. We again encounter the prospect of being lost at sea and winding up in an entirely new place setting a precedent with the orphan stories like Sindbad. We also encounter for the first time the presence of the Magians or commonly now known as the Magi the priests of the Zoroastrians. This is the first instance we have so far seen that the call to convert to Islam was not heeded. We also surprisingly encounter, for the first time, the tendencies to loot a city when the first lady and her sisters are confronted with a city where they are able to take what they want at will and this is shown by their willing to separate when going through the city.

In this episode, we begin the story of “The Third Royal Dervish” with Night XV and Night XVI. Note that the Third Royal Dervish is the first instance we encounter of a hero who enjoys sailing, owns ships, and is subsequently shipwrecked. This clearly shows that the fundamental ideas that were to be found in orphan stories like Sindbad do have some basis in the One Thousand and One Nights. We also encounter, for the first time, the mythological bird called Rukh or Roc, again a staple in the Sindbad and other stories as well. Keep in mind here, what the Third Royal Dervish is attempting to convey and how it differs from the First and Second Royal Dervishes stories.

In this series of special episodes, I hope to highlight the historical background for the One Thousand and One Nights, by examining the history of the work, where the text drew its inspiration from, the original manuscripts, translators and translations, and how it found a new iteration in Children's Literature. In this Second special episode, I look into the brief history of oral literature, providing example from Gilgamesh and the Great Flood story, go into a surface level discussion about why my scholarly opinion disregards the monocausal hypothesis, and look into the first two inspirations from the subcontinent, the Jataka and the Panchatantra.