Central Asia, Transcaucasia, and parts of Asia
to Chinese concepts of cosmology and sover-
Minor, from 654/1256 to 754/1353
eignty, both being linked by a similar notion of
Hülegü took the title Ilkhan and continued his
Heaven 42
allegiance to the throne of the Great Khān in
However in the royal house and among the
China, his brother Möngke 34 The ensuing close
ruling class there was a tendency towards Bud-
relationship of symbolic and commercial ties
dhism, perhaps as a result of the fairly close rela-
between the Mongol court in China and the Ilkha-
tions with China The rulers, Hülegü (r 654/
nid court created an environment of extraordi-
1256–663/1265), Abāqā (r 663/1265–680/1282)
nary cultural exchange in the form of gifts,35
and his sons Arghūn (r 683/1284–690/1291) and
tribute36 and merchandise,37 moving in both direc-
Gaykhātū (r 690/1291–694/1295) were probably
tions between China and Western Asia Life at
Buddhists, hence Buddhism took a central place
the yuan court became an “absolute model to the
during the first half of Ilkhanid rule for about
Ilkhans, who tried to emulate the Great Khāns in
forty years (654/1256–694/1295) Consequently
their courtly life, conducting many of their private
elements of Buddhist art and iconography were
and official affairs in the Mongolian fashion of
pervasive, visualised in the many richly endowed
their ancestral homeland ”38 yuan China’s art thus
Buddhist temples built by the rulers 43 One of the
affected and informed the visual expressions of
Ilkhanid Buddhist sites is situated in the village
the Ilkhanate which was characterised by the
of Dashkasan of the district of Viār, probably
transmission of Chinese and Chinese-inspired
named after the Sanskrit term vihāra for a Bud-
Mongol motifs The blurring of the boundaries
dhist monastery It is located just outside the
between what constitutes a “Chinese,” a “Mongol”
Mongol summer quarter Qongqur Öleng (Turk
or, more broadly, a “Central Asian” style is of
“Brown Meadow”), which later became the
course the outcome of a fluidity of cultural modes
im perial city Sulṭāniyya ( c 684/1285) near Qazwīn
(expressed in material culture), representing a
in northwestern Iran founded by Ghāzān’s
long-lasting and more or less continuous state of
younger brother and successor Öljeitü (Ūljāytū,
acculturation and appropriation between differ-
r 703/1304–716/1316) At the west wall of the
ent ethnic and cultural groups
rock-cut complex two monumental, fluidly ren-
Some of the Mongols who had invaded West-
dered, quadruped dragons passant with their tails
ern Asia had been Nestorian Christians (in par-
curling between the hind legs and set against
ticular their wives),39 but the majority followed
undulating foliage are preserved Carved into
the indigenous beliefs of the Mongols which were
stone in high relief and flanked by mihrāb-like
essentially ancestral animistic and syncretic The
muqarnas niches, the creatures are an early tes-
cult of Heaven (Tengri) was central to the Turko-
timony for the depiction of a Chinese-inspired
Mongol system of belief, its beginnings going back
Mongol dragon (fig 185) 44
to remotest times This concept played a funda-
The Ilkhanids maintained the nomadic practice
mental role in the notion of legitimacy and sov-
of seasonal migrations, moving rythmically
ereignty 40 It comprised the veneration of the Sun,
according to the time of year from summer
in particular the rising Sun, the Moon and the
(yaylāq) to winter (qishlāq) quarters One of their
natural phenomena of the heavens in which, as
summer encampments was at Sughūrlūq (Turk
mentioned above, the belief in a dragon played
“Marmot Meadows”),45 in the Azerbaijan region
an important role 41 As such, it provided a bridge
of present-day Iran It was chosen for its climate,
34 Spuler, 1939, repr 1955, pp 224–6
ing Heaven”), found at the beginning of some Mongol let-
35 Idem, pp 305–6
ters; Meyvaert, 1980, pp 253, n 39 and 258, n 79
36 Idem, p 223; Masuya, 1997, pp 12–3 and n 10
41 See p 212
37 Spuler, 1939, repr 1955, pp 220–4, 359 During the
42 The cult of Heaven in Chinese state rituals may have
yuan period, Chinese maritime trade exported lacquers,
had a common origin with the veneration of Heaven as it is
ceramics, combs, silk, umbrellas and bronze coins to West
known among Altaic peoples Di Cosmo, 1999, pp 369, 380
Asia, and imported ivory, rhinoceros horn, coral, cotton
43 Spuler, 1939, repr 1955, pp 10, 74, 149–51, 308 With
cloth, hide, wax, kingfisher and peacock feathers, dyes, raw
the exception of a short period when there was a Muslim
medicine, shark skin, hawksbill turtle shell and parrots
ruler, Aḥmad Tegüder (r 680/1282–683/1284)
Deng, 1997, p 114, table 5 2
44 See Curatola, 1982, pp 71–88; Legacy, 2002, p 110,
38 Masuya, 2002, p 75 Cf Allsen, 2001, p 197
fig 127; Kouymjian, 2006, fig 63; Akbarnia, 2007, fig 29;
39 Spuler, 1939, repr 1955, pp 151–2
Kadoi, 2008, p 107–8, fig 3 19
40 Idem, pp 168–9 Cf for instance the Mongol formula,
45 Rashīd al-Dīn Ṭabīb, Taʾ rīkh-i Mubārak-i Gāzānī; par-
möngke tngri-yin küčün-dür (“In the Might of the Everlast-
tial ed Jahn, 1957, pp 66, 73; Masuya, 1997, pp 72–9