Analytical Comparison of How the Life of Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah is Narrated in Historiographical and Literary Texts (Representation of the Narration of the Indus Battle, 1221 AD)

Abstract

In historical texts, one can find traces of historical characters who are close to the heroes of romances in terms of actions and personality traits. The authors of these texts have made every effort to show these events as real. One of these personalities is Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah. 'Battle of Indus' has been narrated in the life of this hero in very different historiographical and literary texts. The literary narratives of this event are formed from within the historiographical texts. The purpose of the authors of this study is to compare the narratives of historiographical and literary texts from the seventh century to the contemporary period in expressing the event of the 'Battle of Indus' in the context of narratological studies. According to the results of the research, among the narrations, Ibn al- Athir's work is closer to reality due to the believability and logic of the narrations and the neutrality of the historian, but the narrations of Nasawi and Juvayni are more literary due to less believable and contradictions in the narrations. In some of these narrations, Jalal al-Din is similar to the hero of the romances; These narratives have become the main reference for writers and poets of later periods to create poems and historical novels.Keywords: Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah, Indus Battle, Historical and Literary Texts, Historical and Literary Characterization. IntroductionThe type of characters is determined according to the text in which they are created. Our idea of historical texts is to create characters that are not beyond real people because in this case, they approach the literary type of "myth" and "romance". However, in our historical texts, we can find signs of kings who have always been loved and hated by history, and sometimes a better or worse face has been painted for them than what they really were. Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah is one of these kings, whose face is depicted differently in different texts, and sometimes he is even close to the hero of romances through "historical" texts. The purpose of this research is an analytical comparison of how Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah's life is narrated in the narrative of the Indus Battle (618 AH) in historical and literary texts. The time span of the historiographical texts starts from the complete book of Ibn al-Athir (555-630 AH) and ends with the book of The Hero of Khwarazm in the year (1398 SH). Literary texts are also included in this period of time and include poems, historical novels, and two literary works, Nafsat-al-Masdoor and Tadhkirat al-Shuara. In this essay, thirty-six literary and historical works have been examined. Literature ReviewTwo articles have been written about Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah, which are related to the topic of the current research and the time period under investigation.The article "Jalal Al_Din, The Mongols, And The Khwarazmian Conquest of the Panjab and Sind" (2004) was written by Peter Jackson and translated by Mehri Idrisi. In this article, the events of the years 618 to 621 AH have been analyzed by using the three books of Sirat-e Jalal al-Din Minkoberni, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri and The History of The World Conqueror. The events narrated in this article are related to the time of Jalal al-Din's residence in India and the events after the Indus Battle; In addition, it has a very brief account of Jalal al-Din's life and it mostly narrates the events of Genghis Khan and Nasir-ad-Din Qabache's life.The article "The End of Sultan Jalal Al-Din's Life" (1396 SH) written by Yazdan Farrokhi has examined several different accounts of the end of Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah's life in 628 AH.In the current research, using historical and literary texts of the event of the Indus Battle in the definition of the character of Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah, an attempt is made to show the narrative that seems more correct by showing the weaknesses of other narratives and the credibility of historians. This incident is the most important narrative in the life of Jalal al-Din Khwarazmshah, and many texts from the past until now have introduced him to the readers and referred to him as the"Hero of Indus Battle". The achievement of the research is important and valuable for historians and writers in the correct analysis of a part of the history of the Mongol period and after that, which is reflected in historical and literary texts. MethodologyThe method of this research is descriptive and analytical and the method of collecting information is library and note-taking. ConclusionIn this essay, the events of the "Indus Battle" have been examined among two types of historical and literary works. There were three narrative forms for the event of the end of Jalal al-Din's family:A number of texts do not mention the Jalal al-Din's family in the narration; as if they were not present in that incident. Seventeen sources have chosen this form of narration from the sources used. Ibn al-Athir is the narrator of this story.In this form of narration, Jalal al-Din drowns his family in water so that they will not be captured by Tatars. The creator of this narrative is the book of Nasawi, and the creator of the narrative has used it to make the event epic and emotional. After Nasawi, most literary texts such as historical novels have quoted it. Nine of the used sources have chosen this form.In the third form of the narrative, it is mentioned that Jalal al-Din retreated and left his family in the hands of the Mongols. Juveyni is the creator of this story. Nine of the sources used in this research have repeated this story. Jalal al-Din does not have a very good image in this form of narration and only thinks about his own salvation.Each of these three narrators, Ibn al-Athir (an impartial historian in the Mosul region, who is the originator of Jalal al-Din's narratives), Nasawi (Jalal al-Din's secretary, who usually deals with the narratives emotionally due to his attachment to Jalal al-Din) and Juveyni (the court secretary of Arghun Aqa and Hulagu khan), they have recreated this narrative and drawn different faces of Jalal al-Din from their own perspective and position. The first version of the narrative is closer to the truth because none of the sources has mentioned the presence of Jalal al-Din's family before the Indus Battle, and Jalal al-Din left Khwarezm with a small number of his soldiers, and most of the sources have reconstructed this form of narration.The narration of crossing the Indus River is also mentioned in the texts in three forms:The first form in Ibn al-Athir's book refers to Jalal al-Din's passage by ship, which seems logical and there is no contradiction in the content.In the second image, Jalal al-Din crosses the water with a horse. Twenty-five sources of the reviewed texts have recorded this form. Details such as the height of the water and Genghis Khan's speech have also been added to the essence of the incident. In these historical and literary texts, there are materials that have turned Jalal al-Din into an epic hero. In this respect, he is superior to other people. He overcomes nature and approaches the hero of romances. This image has been repeated more than the other two forms, But the internal contradiction makes it far from reality.In the third picture, Jalal al-Din's way of passing is not mentioned and it is seen in the texts that have a brief description of Jalal al-Din's life. The audience is faced with this form of narration in nine sources.

Keywords

• jalal al-din khwarazmshah
• indus battle
• historical and literary texts
• historical and literary characterization