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SUMMARY:From Shadow to Light: Transition of Chinggisid Kingship under Ilkh
 anid Ruler Ghazan Khan and its Revival under Mughal Emperor Akbar - Resear
 ch Fellew\, King's College\, Cambridge 
DTSTART:20241018T130000Z
DTEND:20241018T140000Z
UID:TALK223183@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Said Reza Huseini
DESCRIPTION:In the autumn of 1295\, at the grasslands of Qarabagh in Arran
  (modern Azerbaijan)\, Ghazan Khan ascended the Ilkhanid throne as a Mongo
 l Khan (r. 1295–1304). Though he was converted to Islam\, his coronation
  ceremony was arranged based on the Chinggisid tradition. As a Chinggisid 
 ruler\, Ghazan Khan married his father’s wife\, Bulghan Khatun\, who was
  a non-Muslim and once his grandfather’s wife and raised Ghazan Khan in 
 childhood. His marriage was justified as legal (sharʿan) based on the Isl
 amic ritual (nikāḥ). Ghazan Khan’s coronation and marriage ceremonies
  reflected his embracement of two different traditions. On the one hand\, 
 he was the Khan of the Mongols who should perform the Chinggisid commands 
 (yāsā)\, and on the other hand\, he was a Muslim king expected to be loy
 al to the Islamic laws (shariʿa). Moving between these two different trad
 itions raises a fundamental question. How could he represent himself as a 
 Chinggisid Khan and a Muslim king? \n\nKnowing the contradictions between 
 the two traditions\, Ghazan Khan initiated an intellectual project to sacr
 alise himself as a divine king connected to the cosmos. The outcomes of hi
 s intellectual experiments are mainly reflected in Rashid al-Din’s Jami
 ʿ al-Tawarikh and Shams al-Din Kashani’s Shahnama-yi Chinggisi\, two si
 gnificant works conducted under his direct supervision. This project provi
 ded a space for the mythic complex of the Chinggisids\, which was Islamici
 sed and Persianised but retained many potent features\, especially Chinggi
 sid sacred kingship. The project used an Islamic framework but directly ch
 allenged the Islamic erasure of cosmic kingship by adding the Chinggisid i
 dea of the Khan’s Heavenly supernatural origin and his sun worship. The 
 chapter further argues that the Ghazanid sacred kingship project later all
 owed Muslim rulers\, namely the Mughal emperor Akbar (r. 1556-1605)\, to f
 ollow him and engage the cosmos to sacralise himself.  \n
LOCATION:Keynes Lecture Theatre\, King’s College (and online) 
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