its tail to the tip of a stand of three reeds that
were disheartened and dismayed and the Mongol
surmount the bowl], hanging head down to the
army emboldened and exhilarated 131
reed above the bowl [filled with water], so that
there was a distance of two ells between the head
The account thus details the military use of
of the snake hanging down and the surface of
weather magic as a meteorological weapon em -
the water After that he got two pieces of stone
ployed to enhance nomadic martial tactics
from the keeper of the stones, and put them into
On yet another level, the “philosopher’s stone,”
the water He murmured some words, raised
the universal remedy endowed with the power of
his head towards the sky, and prayed for rain
transmutation, is allegorically compared to the
Then suddenly, clouds appeared at the edges of
the sky, and it began to rain heavily, the air cooled
serpent stone in the Kitāb Mānī rasūl Allāh, a
down, and the men and the animals were eased 130
short treatise attributed to Mani (216– c 277), son
of Pattēg, the founder of the dualist religion of
In his Taʾrīkh-i jahān-gushāy (“The History of
Manichaeism, proclaiming the great secret:
the World-Conqueror”) ʿAlā al-Dīn ʿAṭa-Malik
al-Juwaynī (623/1226–681/1283) reports how
Blessed be he who knoweth the Tree of Beatitude
Genghis Khān’s son Toluy resorts to using the
The distinguishing mark of this noble tree is the
magical stone to produce snow as a means of con-
following: it only grows where goodness and
cealment when hard pressed by the Tungusic
blessing is to be found Its fruit has a sweet, bitter,
Jurchen army during his invasion of northern
sour, bilious taste, from it emanates a tomb-like
stench Only few eat from it for it is deadly poison
China (Chīn) in 1232 Among his army was a
However if you eat knowingly from it, you will
Qanqlī Turk, a yaichi/yadachi (master of the art
not die, since it contains both poison and theriac
of yai/yada) who was well versed in the science
[or theriac as well as poison], as is the case with
of this stone and whom he ordered to make use
the serpent Our stone resembles the serpent,
of the weather magic in warfare:
one can find it in the treasuries of kings and in
Ulugh Noyan commanded him to begin practis-
the houses of sages, but one can also find it on
ing his art and ordered the whole army to put
the rubbish heaps, because fools spurn it and
on raincoats over their winter clothes and not
sages and scholars err with regard to its value
to dismount from their horses for three days and
When you wish to pick from the fruits of the
nights The Qanqli busied himself with his yai
tree, it will cry and shed tears Do not let your-
so that it began to rain behind the Mongols, and
self be frightened by this, rather pick them boldly
on the last day, the rain was changed to snow,
and do not be frightened by it and its tears, because
to which was added a cold wind From this exces-
its tears banish suffering and illnesses, which it
sive summer chill, which was such as they had
can generate, into the earth 132
not experienced in winter, the Khitayan army
130 Molnár with an appendix by Zieme, 1984, pp 63–4
They filled the world with wind and rain,
See also idem, pp 120–4
The clouds roared with thunder and the winds howled
131 Tr Boyle, 1912–37, vol 1, p 193 This feat is also
A thunderbolt fell upon the earth
recorded by Ghiyāth al-Dīn Khwāndamīr (d 942/1535)
Although the sun was in Orion, a host of dark clouds sud-
in his chronicle Ḥabīb al-Siyār (“Friend of Travels”); see
denly filled the sky The thunder resounded and the lightning
Ross, 1895, p 33 The historian Muḥammad Ḥaidar Mīrzā
flashed The elements rushed out from the am bush of destiny
Dughlāt (905/1499–1500–958/1551), a cousin of the first
into the open plain of the ether, and the thunderclaps
Mughal ruler, Bābur, notes the continued use of the magical
re-echoed round the azure vault of heaven The arrows of
rain stone in his Taʾrīkh-i Rashīdī In the account of the
lightning were shot out, in all directions, from the bow of the
Chagatayid Tughluq Tīmūr’s (d 764/1363) invasion of Mā
thunder-clouds, and the rain shot down its whistling darts It
warāʾ al-nahr, the Khān’s two forces were on the right bank
seemed as if the Fates had again become prey to the love of
of the Jayḥun (Āmū Daryā) but since they were faced with
rebellion and confusion Such a quantity of water descended
an army that:
from the eyes of the stars, that the Deluge seemed to occur
“exceeded them in number, [they] had recourse to magic,
a second time ”
and sought aid from the Jadah stone, which possessed
supernatural properties
Tr Ross, 1895, pp 32–3 The use of weather magic in warfare
appears also in the Shāh-nāma account, tr and ed Mohl,
The army of Jatah had not strength for the fight,
1838–1878, vol 3, pp 35–9
So they sought help from the magic stone
132 Ullmann, 1970, p 186, and idem, 1972, p 186 and
With the stone of Jadah, who was a magician,
ns 1 and 2
the dragon and the province of magic and divination
183