Jack Weatherford: prediction

Transcript context

…Especially, with names. I’m like today in Mongolia… Well, I’ve been there so long, I think the fad has passed now. But about 20 years ago, it was popular to name children Misheel, girls. Because it’s a French name, an American name, and it means smile in Mongolian. So, it’s the power of three great languages and three great civilizations. And so many names are like that. And so I think Chinggis it doesn’t have one meaning. I think it means powerful, it means the sea, I think it means many different things. So, he had become a Khan, and he was ruling over him. And so Jamukha now switched loyalties to the next kingdom over called the Naiman people who are farther west. And he becomes the protege, you could say, of the Naiman people. But when Chinggis Khan attacks the Naiman, Jamukha deserts the Naiman. He tells them, “These people have snouts of steel and they eat humans alive.” And he was telling him all these horrible things about the Mongols. And Tayang Khan, the leader of the Naimans he was rightfully scared about them. And he was left there, and he, in fact, was very quickly also defeated. So, Jamukha has not fought against Temüjin in this campaign. And he’s off with some of his people, Jadaran clan people. He’s off with them and they see the turning of the tide. But he now wants to become the Great Khan of the Steppe. He has very few followers, but he takes the title Gurkhan, which is a very old ancient important title. But because Wang Khan is gone, Toghrul Khan gone, he could take this title and pretend to be the great Khan of the Steppe, and all. But his own people turn against him and they capture him, and they think they will take him to Chinggis Khan. It’s now Chinggis Khan. They’ll take him and they’ll be rewarded perhaps for turning him in. And Chinggis Khan does reward them immediately. He kills them all because they have betrayed their leader who is his anda. It’s a very strange encounter. And so supposedly Chinggis Khan says to him, “Come back to me, save me, be beside me, protect me, be my shadow, be my safety guard in life.” And supposedly Jamukha says, “But I did betray you when my people fought against you, and you will always know that, and you will never completely trust me. I’ll be like a louse underneath the collar of your tunic. I’ll be like a thorn in the lapel of your dell.” He said, “Kill me without shedding my blood, let me die. And if you do, take my remains up to a high place and bury me, and I will be the guard, I’ll be the protector for you and your people forever.” So, they obviously, Tamujan did not participate in the killing, but he ordered the killing. And he was either… It’s not specified how he was killed without shedding the blood, but the Mongols had several ways. obviously, Tamujan did not participate in the killing, but he ordered the killing. And he was either… It’s not specified how he was killed without shedding the blood, but the Mongols had several ways. Because the most honorable way to die was without shedding blood. The blood contains part of the soul, and if you lose it, you’re losing your soul before you die. So, they usually wrap them up in felt carpets and then beat them to death or trample them to death with horses, something like that. There are a couple other methods, but I think that’s probably the method by which Jamukha was killed. And so he was killed, and then Temüjin or Chinggis Khan had his remains taken up and buried in a high place. This is over near Tuva, which is today part of Russia. But until the 20th century it was a part of Mongolia. The Tuvan people very, very close culturally to the Mongols. It seems that both of them under the anda relationship had a deep value for loyalty. And so it’s not worth living after you’ve been disloyal, which is the Jamukha perspective, right?…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.