Being Savage # 51 - RN&S - Ibn Fadhlan and The Khazars

[Anonymous]

http://www.megaone.com/nbulgaria/bulgaria/risala.htm

Risala: Ibn Fadlan's embassy to the King of Volga Bulgaria

Ibn Fadlan was an Arab chronicler. In 921 C.E., the Caliph of Baghdad sent Ibn Fadlan with an embassy to the King of the Bulgars of the Middle Volga. Ibn Fadlan wrote an account of his journeys with the embassy, called a Risala.
Ibn Fadlan's account of the caliphal embassy from Baghdad to the King of the Volga Bulgars in the early tenth century is one of our principal, textual sources for the history, ethnogenesis and polity formation of a number of tribes and peoples who populated Inner Asia; it is of great value as a history, although it is clear in some places that inaccuracies and Ibn Fadlan's own prejudices have slanted the account to some extent.

Ibn Fadlan's account of his participation in the deputation sent by the Caliph al-Muqtadir in the year 921 A.D. to the King of the Bulgars of the Volga, in response to his request for help, has proved to be an invaluable source of information for scholars interested in, among other subjects, the birth and formation of the powerfull and flurishing Bulgarian state in the Middle Volga region, in the Russian state, in the Viking involvement in northern and eastern Europe, in the Slavs and the Khazars.

http://www.ub.uio.no/uhs/bokskatter/mid ... adlan.html



http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/de ... icleID=911

[Anonymous]

http://www.archive.org/details/relation ... 00thomuoft

The relations between ancient Russia and Scandinavia and the origin of the Russian state. Three lectures delivered at the Taylor Institution, Oxford, in May, 1876, in accordance with the terms of Lord Ilchester's bequest to the University (1877)

[Anonymous]

MS 5229 is a 13th century (7th century Hijra) manuscript, 210 folia (420 pages), kept in Astane Quds Museum ( [http://www.aqm.ir/default.asp?la=1 موزهٔ آستان قدس رضوی] ), Mashhad. It was discovered in 1923 in Mashhad by Turkic scholar Ahmed Zeki Validi Togan. It contains a collection of medieval Arab geographical treatises, most notably the 10th century account of Ibn Fadlan of his embassy to the Volga Bulgars.

http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/424181

[Anonymous]

http://idrisi.narod.ru/montgo1.htm

TRANSLATION

 


I saw the Rўusiyyah when they had arrived on their trading expedition [10] and had disembarked at the River ЈAtil. [11] I have never seen more perfect physiques than theirs - they are like palm trees, [12] are fair and reddish, [13] and do not wear the qurзtaq or the caftan. The man wears a cloak with which he covers one half of his body, leaving one of his arms uncovered. [14] Every one of [6] them carries an axe, [15] a sword and a dagger [16] and is never without all of that which we have mentioned. Their swords are of the Frankish variety, with broad, ridged blades. [17] Each man, from the tip of his toes to his neck, is covered in dark-green lines, [18] pictures and such like. Each woman has, on her breast, a small disc, tied <around her neck>, made of either iron, silver, copper or gold, in relation to her husband's financial and social worth. Each disc has a ring to which a dagger is attached, also lying on her breast. [19] Around [7] their necks they wear bands of gold and silver. [20] Whenever a man's wealth reaches ten thousand dirhams, he has a band made for his wife; if it reaches twenty thousand dirhams, he has two bands made for her - for every ten thousand more, he gives another band to his wife. Sometimes one woman may wear many bands around her neck. The jewellery which they prize the most is the dark-green ceramic beads which they have aboard their boats [21] and which they value very highly: they purchase beads for a dirham a piece and string them together as necklaces for their wives. [22]

They are the filthiest of all Allўah's creatures: they do not clean themselves after excreting or urinating or wash themselves when in a state of ritual impurity (i.e., after coitus) and do not <even> wash their hands after food. [23] [8] Indeed they are like asses that roam <in the fields>.

They arrive from their territory (min baladi-him) and moor their boats by the ЈAtil (a large river), building on its banks large wooden houses. [24] They [9] gather in the one house in their tens and twenties, sometimes more, sometimes less. Each of them has a couch on which he sits. They are accompanied by beautiful slave girls for trading. One man will have intercourse with his slave-girl while his companion looks on. Sometimes a group of them comes together to do this, each in front of the other. Sometimes indeed the merchant will come in to buy a slave-girl from one of them and he will chance upon him having intercourse with her, but <the Rўus> will not leave her alone until he has satisfied his urge. They cannot, of course, avoid washing their faces and their heads each day, which they do with the filthiest and most polluted water imaginable. I shall explain. Every day the slave-girl arrives in the morning with a large basin containing water, which she hands to her owner. He washes his hands and his face and his hair in the water, then he dips his comb in the water and brushes his hair, blows his nose and spits in the basin. There is no filthy impurity which he will not do in this water. When he no longer requires it, the slave-girl takes the basin to the man beside him and he goes through the same routine as his friend. She continues to carry it from one man to the next until she has gone round everyone in the house, with each of them blowing his nose and spitting, washing his face and hair in the basin. [25]

The moment their boats reach this dock [26] every one of them disembarks, carrying bread, meat, onions, milk and alcohol (nabіdh), [27] and goes to a tall piece of wood set up <in the ground>. This piece of wood has a face like the face of a man and is surrounded by small figurines behind which are long [10] pieces of wood set up in the ground. [28] <When> he reaches the large figure, he prostrates himself before it and says, "Lord, I have come from a distant land, bringing so many slave-girls <priced at> such and such per head and so many sables <priced at> such and such per pelt." [29] He continues until he has mentioned all of the merchandise he has brought with him, then says, "And I have brought this offering," leaving what he has brought with him in front of the piece of wood, saying, "I wish you to provide me with a merchant who has many dіnўars and dirhams [30] and who will buy from me whatever I want <to sell> without haggling over the price I fix." [31] Then he departs. If he has difficulty in selling <his goods> and he has to remain too many days, he returns with a second and third offering. If his wishes prove to be impossible he brings an offering to every single one of those figurines and seeks its intercession, saying, "These are the wives, daughters and sons of our Lord." [32] He goes up to each figurine in turn and questions it, begging its [11] intercession and grovelling before it. Sometimes business is good and he makes a quick sell, at which point he will say, "My Lord has satisfied my request, so I am required to recompense him." He procures a number of sheep or cows and slaughters them, donating a portion of the meat to charity [33] and taking the rest and casting it before the large piece of wood and the small ones around it. He ties the heads of the cows or the sheep to that piece of wood set up in the ground. [34] At night, the dogs come and eat it all, but the man who has done all this will say, "My Lord is pleased with me and has eaten my offering." [35]

When one of them falls ill, they erect a tent away from them and cast him into it, giving him some bread and water. They do not come near him or speak to him, indeed they have no contact with him for the duration of his illness, especially if he is socially inferior or is a slave. If he recovers and gets back to his feet, he rejoins them. If he dies, they bury him, though if he was a slave they leave him there as food for the dogs and the birds. [36] [12]

If they catch a thief or a bandit, they bring him to a large tree and tie a strong rope around his neck. They tie it to the tree and leave him hanging there until <the rope> [37] breaks, <rotted away> by exposure to the rain and the wind. [38]

I was told that when their chieftains die, the least they do is to cremate them. [39] I was very keen to verify this, when I learned of the death of one of [13] their great men. They placed him in his grave (qabr) and erected a canopy [40] over it for ten days, until they had finished making and sewing his <funeral garments>. [41] [14]

In the case of a poor man [42] they build a small boat, place him inside and burn it. In the case of a rich man, they gather together his possessions and divide them into three, one third for his family, one third to use for <his funeral> garments, [43] and one third with which they purchase [44] alcohol which they drink on the day when his slave-girl kills herself [45] and is cremated together with her master. [46] (They are addicted to alcohol, which they drink night and day. Sometimes one of them dies with the cup still in his hand.) [47]

When their chieftain dies, his family ask his slave-girls and slave-boys, "Who among you will die with him?" and some of them reply, "I shall." Having said this, it becomes incumbent upon the person and it is impossible ever to turn back. Should that person try to, he is not permitted to do so. It is usually slave-girls who make this offer.

When that man whom I mentioned earlier died, they said to his slave-girls, "Who will die with him?" and one of them said, "I shall." So they placed [15] two slave-girls [48] in charge of her to take care of her and accompany her wherever she went, even to the point of occasionally washing her feet with their own hands. They set about attending to the dead man, preparing his clothes for him and setting right all he needed. Every day the slave-girl would drink <alcohol> and would sing merrily and cheerfully. [49]

On the day when he and the slave-girl were to be burned I arrived at the river where his ship was. To my surprise I discovered that it had been beached and that four planks of birch (khadank) and other types of wood had been erected for it. Around them wood had been placed in such a way as to resemble scaffolding (anўabіr). [50] Then the ship was hauled and placed on top of this wood. [51] They advanced, going to and fro <around the boat> uttering words which I did not understand, while he was still in his grave and had not been exhumed.

Then they produced a couch and placed it on the ship, covering it with quilts <made of> Byzantine silk brocade and cushions <made of> Byzantine silk brocade. Then a crone arrived whom they called the "Angel of Death" and she spread on the couch the coverings we have mentioned. She is responsible for having his <garments> sewn up and putting him in order [52] and it is she who kills the slave-girls. I myself saw her: a gloomy, corpulent woman, neither young nor old. [53]

When they came to his grave, they removed the soil from the wood and then removed the wood, exhuming him <still dressed> in the izўar in which [16] he had died. I could see that he had turned black because of the coldness of the ground. They had also placed alcohol, fruit and a pandora (зtunbўur) [54] beside him in the grave, all of which they took out. Surprisingly, he had not begun to stink and only his colour had deteriorated. They clothed him in trousers, leggings (rўan), boots, a qurзtaq, and a silk caftan with golden buttons, [55] and placed a silk qalansuwwah <fringed> with sable on his head. They carried him inside the pavilion [56] on the ship and laid him to rest on the quilt, propping him with cushions. Then they brought alcohol, fruit and herbs (rayhўan) [57] and placed them beside him. Next they brought bread, meat and onions, which they cast in front of him, a dog, which they cut in two and which they threw onto the ship, and all of his weaponry, which they placed beside him. They then brought two mounts, made them gallop until they began to sweat, cut them up into pieces and threw the flesh onto the ship. [58] They next fetched two cows, which they also cut up into pieces and threw on board, and a cock and a hen, which they slaughtered and cast onto it. [59] [17]

Meanwhile, the slave-girl who wished to be killed was coming and going, entering one pavilion after another. The owner of the pavilion would have intercourse with her and say to her, "Tell your master that I have done this purely out of love for you."

At the time of the evening prayer on Friday they brought the slave-girl to a thing that they had constructed, like a door-frame. She placed her feet on the hands of the men and was raised above that door-frame. She said something and they brought her down. Then they lifted her up a second time and she did what she had done the first time. They brought her down and then lifted her up a third time and she did what she had done on the first two occasions. They next handed her a hen. She cut off its head and threw it away. They took the hen and threw it on board the ship. [60] [18]

I quizzed the interpreter about her actions and he said, "The first time they lifted her, she said, 'Behold, I see my father and my mother.' The second time she said, 'Behold, I see all of my dead kindred, seated.' The third time she said, 'Behold, I see my master, seated in Paradise. Paradise is beautiful and verdant. He is accompanied by his men and his male-slaves. He summons me, so bring me to him.'" [61] So they brought her to the ship and she removed two bracelets that she was wearing, handing them to the woman called the "Angel of Death," the one who was to kill her. She also removed two anklets that she was wearing, handing them to the two slave-girls who had waited upon her: they were the daughters of the crone known as the "Angel of Death." Then they lifted her onto the ship but did not bring her into the pavilion. The men came with their shields and sticks and handed her a cup of alcohol over which she chanted and then drank. The interpreter said to me, "Thereby she bids her female companions farewell." She was handed another cup, which she [19] took and chanted for a long time, while the crone urged her to drink it and to enter the pavilion in which her master lay. [62] I saw that she was befuddled and wanted to enter the pavilion but she had <only> put her head into the pavilion <while her body remained outside it>. [63] The crone grabbed hold of her head and dragged her into the pavilion, entering it at the same time. The men began to bang their shields with the sticks so that her screams could not be heard and so terrify the other slave-girls, who would not, then, seek to die with their masters. [64]

Six men entered the pavilion and all had intercourse with the slave-girl. [65] They laid her down beside her master and two of them took hold of her feet, two her hands. The crone called the "Angel of Death" placed a rope around her neck in such a way that the ends crossed one another (mukhўalafan) and handed it to two <of the men> to pull on it. She advanced with a broad-bladed dagger and began to thrust it in and out between her ribs, now here, now there, while the two men throttled her with the rope until she died. [66] [20]

Then the deceased's next of kin approached and took hold of a piece of wood and set fire to it. He walked backwards, with the back of his neck to the ship, his face to the people, with the lighted piece of wood in one hand and the other hand on his anus, being completely naked. [67] He ignited the wood that had been set up under the ship after they had placed the slave-girl whom they had killed beside her master. Then the people came forward with sticks and firewood. Each one carried a stick the end of which he had set fire to and which he threw on top of the wood. The wood caught fire, and then the ship, the pavilion, the man, the slave-girl and all it contained. A dreadful wind arose and the flames leapt higher and blazed fiercely.

One of the Rўusiyyah stood beside me and I heard him speaking to my interpreter. I quizzed him about what he had said, and he replied, "He said, 'You Arabs are a foolish lot!'" So I said, "Why is that?" and he replied, "Because you purposely take those who are dearest to you and whom you hold in highest esteem and throw them under the earth, where they are eaten by the earth, by vermin and by worms, whereas we burn them in the fire there and then, so that they enter Paradise immediately." Then he laughed loud and long. I quizzed him about that <i.e., the entry into Paradise> and he said, "Because of the love which my Lord feels for him. He has sent the wind to take him away within an hour." [68] Actually, [21] it took scarcely an hour for the ship, the firewood, the slave-girl and her master to be burnt to a fine ash.

They built something like a round hillock over the ship, which they had pulled out of the water, and placed in the middle of it a large piece of birch (khadank) on which they wrote the name of the man and the name of the King of the Rўus. Then they left. [69]

He (Ibn Fadlўan) said: One of the customs of the King of the Rўus is that in his palace he keeps company with four hundred of his bravest and most trusted companions; they die when he dies and they offer their lives to protect him. [70] Each of them has a slave-girl who waits on him, washes his head and prepares his food and drink, and another with whom he has coitus. These four hundred <men> sit below his throne, which is huge and is studded with precious stones. On his throne there sit forty slave-girls who belong to his bed. Sometimes he has coitus with one of them in the presence of those companions whom we have mentioned. He does not come down from his throne. When he wants to satisfy an urge, he satisfies it in a salver. When he wants to ride, they bring his beast up to the [22] throne, whence he mounts it, and when he wants to dismount, he brings his beast <up to the throne> so that he can dismount there. He has a vicegerent who leads the army, fights against the enemy and stands in for him among his subjects. [71]

[Anonymous]

for german readers only - mind you that at this point in time [1823] we are told only fragments of the original exist, but in 1923 a complete supposedly 13th century copy is found.

Ibn Fadlan's first translated into german 1823

[Anonymous]

related post

http://www.theinfounderground.com/forum ... ee0#p12928

[Anonymous]

If anyone can find a complete translation of Ibn Fadlan's work, I would be greatful. I can't seem to find one with regards to the Khazars.

there is a french version

M. Canard, "La Relation du Voyage d'Ibn Fadlan chez les Bulgares de la Volga"

but I can't seem to find a copy


The first Manuscript seems to be missing the last section and it isn't until 1923 that Yakut's account of what Ibn Falan Says is found. which contains the final section.

i did find a strange thing

Kazan Khanate - but these people were from the 15th century

http://www.kcn.ru/tat_en/history/h_hordee.html

1997, N12 Tatar Islam in the World: History and Modernity

[Anonymous]

This sums up the reliability of Ibn FadLan as a source