Most interesting. The script on the paiza looks more like Pali or Tibetan so it must be from the late Mongol period when the Tibetan Buddhist monks had become influential in the declining Mongol court. The early Mongols (Chengiz Khan and his sons and grandsons) - the ferocious types - had adopted the Syriac script which looks and reads much like Arabic and from right to left. They followed Shaman rituals; Buddhism came much later, around the 15th or 16th century. Thank you, Subbaiah, for this interesting posting. Travel in that great Mongol empire was safe from Hungary and the Balkans to China and Korea!

Yes I agree with Asad that travel was safe in that time over a large tract of land as Genghis Khan's empire was measured in latitudes and longitudes rather than in miles. And he was a fantastic man, who, though did not invent any thing, was responsible for transferring technology from 1 place to another in his empire and vice verse.

The two most important contributions of the Mongols are: (1) Introduction of paper currency (until then Europeans and others used to carry bags full of money), and (2) Separation of church and state. The Great Khan said that religion has nothing to do with governance. They appointed all kinds of people at high positions. The Governor of Khan Balik (modern Beijing), the capital of Kublai Khan, was a man named Ahmed. Apparently quite an evil man!

What does the passport say? The letters look absolutely clear and legible.

Shekhar: It says (copied from above): " By the strength of Eternal Heaven, an edict of the Emperor [Khan]. He who has no respect shall be guilty."

Ghengis Khan is said to have died in 1227 and the monk Phagspa to who the script is attributed lived between 1230-1280. Assad, the Geat Khan you are refering to is Ghengis Khan while this metal passport is of later period.

Yes, the metal passport definitely belongs to a later period. The early Mongols (Chengiz Khan and his immediate successors) had adopted the Syriac script. I have examined those documents and the script is very similar to Arabic. That was done under the influence of Syrian monks and perhaps the Muslim subjects in Central Asia. The Pali script is associated with Buddhist monks and they entered the Mongol corridors of power directly from Tibet in the later stages when the Mongols were in the process of being destroyed by the Chinese. This is also the basis of the present day antagonism between the Chinese and Tibetans. Even in contemporary postage stamps from Mongolia, I have noticed scribbling in the Syriac script. The reason that the original Mongol script has virtually disappeared was on account of the Soviet occupation. The Poles preferred to be occupied by the Germans rather than the Russians - "the Germans will treat us only as slaves, but the Russians will change our soul".

I had read my first book on Genghis Khan which was written by Harold Lamb in 1937. No authoritative work on Genghis ever came out after that, primarily because it was hard to research the Mongols as they did not keep any records. To research them, one had to go through the records of their enemies e.g. the Chinese, the Shah of Khawrzim and so on. And then in 2004 I came across a most wonderful account on Genghis, "Genghis Khan & the making of the modern world" written by Prof Jack Weatherford from University of Minnesota. It is a must read for any student of Political Science.

Pulin: Actually the early Mongols kept immaculate records of their government. The Office of State Chronicler was the only office in the land where the ruling Khan was not allowed entry according to the law "the Yassaq" laid down by the Great Khan. It was only in the later stages that the defeated Khans forced their entry into the office of the Chronicle, altered them, and destroyed themselves shortly afterwards. A book on the Yassaq and State Chronicles was published by some scholar at Harvard about 20 years ago but the prose was not interesting, so I did'nt finish it. Happy New Year!

Thanks Asad for the info. Where can I get the info re Mongol records? Any suggestions? Would like to read up on it.

I saw this new book on Mongol chronicles translated and compiled by a Harvard Professor several years ago. These documents were discovered in Inner Mongolia. So I was excited about them, but was disappointed when I read them as they were fragmentary and very dry reading. The Mongols are not known exactly for their literary achievements. The most lucid and hair-raising description of the early Mongols (Chengiz Khan etc) is given by a contemporary author Minhaj Siraj in his "Tabakaat-i-Nasiri" written as the Chief Justice (Qazi) in Delhi around 1260. One book ('Tareekh-i- Rashidi' is the title I think) written in the Court of Ghazan Khan in Tabriz is total baloney - it glosses over their tyranny and was clearly intended to please the latter-day Khan. I think Rashid, the author, was hanged by the Khan afterwards.

Pulin: As always, I mixed up two authors of Mongol history. Sorry. The history of Mongols written in the Court of Ghazan Khan in 1300's was 'Jamai al-Tavarikh' by Rashid ud Din, a converted Jew who became his Prime Minister, and was later executed. The 'Tarikh-i-Rashidi' was written by Mirza Haider Dughlat and deals with Central Asian and Kashmir history. He was related to Babur and Humayun. This book is not great reading. In a copy of the Jamai al Tavarikh, published from a Vienna Museum, in which the photos of individual pages are beautifully reproduced, I made the interesting observation that the name of the Sultan of Delhi, Shamsuddin Al-Tamash may have been "Als-Tamash". The third dot in the Arabic letter "say" could be missed easilly and read like the letter "tay". So, the British historians (to whom we owe so much) started calling him "Al-Titmush". Hence history books in India address him as Al-Tamash or Al-Titmush - the correct title may have been neither, but 'Als-Tamash'.

You are absolutely right Asad uncle. The governor of Badayun's correct name is Als Tamash but the misnomer Iltutmish is what has endured.

The gene pool of Genghis Khan is awesome.People of very diverse descent and race carry his genes today from Tartars, Cossacks, Caucasions, Central Asians and peoples of the Caspian sea and those inhabiting the Urals in Russia. I read an article to that effect in Nat Geo Magazine few years ago.

Digvijay: Where did you see the designation "Als-Tamash"? Please let me know. All these millions have the Y chromosome from the Great Khan. This is the only chromosome in human genome that does not recombine (or crossover). Hence it remains in tact in all male progeny. So it is easy to follow. Almost everyone who has the name Khan has it; many others too. The Mongols were accomplished fornicators too.

Who were not accomplished fornicators, Asad? Look at the Chinese, look at even Dhritrashtra in Mahabharat, or even Kunti on the other side. It was the demand of the time to increase one's tribe/clan to become powerful. Even Lallu Prasad Yadav. :)

Laloo seems like a harmless, jovial character; he could'nt do a thing. But Narain Das Tewari seems good at it. His DNA is being tested for a paternity claim. Maybe he too has a Mongol Y chromosome.

Thank you, Sushil, for the correcting Mr N.D. Tiwari's name. People generally tell new lies in order to hide older ones. Thus, lies keep on piling up like compound interest. While testing his DNA, they might also check if he is related to the Great Khan.

"Samrath ko nahin dosh gosaee" may not apply in the age of the internet!

Sushil: Your list has some important omissions like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sukh Ram - or are they relatively clean? And you did'nt mention the shortage of onions. I am glad that I already drink black coffee. We have astrayed too far from the Mongol Paiza!

Sushiilji..talking of N.D. Tewari , I still remember a historian called Rudrangshu Mukherji visiting us at our flat in Calcutta , and regaling us with tales of all these political characters . This was circa Nov 1964 just before the General Elections . I am completely in agreement with you about the 'let then eat cake ' attitude of our political elite ..esp. our worthy 'Cricket' Minister Pawar .

Sushil: We can laugh at all this, but how do we stop it? Especially when I see so much of poverty around. That hurts.

Sushil: I am very pleased to read all this. We need more people who are sensitive to human suffering and poverty, and to the plight of children raised in poverty. The thing that hurts me most while travelling in India is to notice the cold insensitivity (i.e., total indifference) of the rich towards the poor. My two favorite Ministers in India are Dr Man Mohan Singh and Mr Kapil Sibal. Note that both are highly educated and hold foreign degrees. That does make people more sensitive to the gross inequalities in India. One more question I have is: Are these corrupt officials (like the champs named above) ever charged under the so-called "Assets disproportionate to the source of income" law?

Sushil: I like the Sanskrit shloka. I know about Pramod Mahajan, but did Harshad Mehta die in jail? In today's paper, I read the news item "BHOPAL: The Income Tax department has assessed the total taxable income of suspended IAS officer Rajesh Rajora at Rs 5.21 crore and fixed a tax liability of Rs 1.5 crore against him." Mr Rajora must be drawing good salary.

Sushil: Very true. I have known many immaculately clean Government officials in India. It is always better to remember good examples than bad ones. Thank you for answering my questions.