Khutulun was a great-granddaughter of Genghis Khan, descended through his son Ögedei, Ögedei’s son Kashin, and Kashin’s son Kaidu. She was a warrior princess of the Kaidu–Du’a line in Central Asia, renowned for her skill in mounted archery and wrestling, and she is the most famous single woman in the Mongol military tradition. According to the Jami’ al-Tawarikh of Rashid al-Din, she swore she would marry only a man who could defeat her in wrestling; she was eventually defeated by a man named Abtai, whom she married. Modern Mongolists (Hatcher, Sultans of the Steppe; Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens) have compared her to the princess Turandot in Persian and Italian literature, but Puccini’s Turandot (1926) is in fact based on the Persian tale of Turandokht in Nizami’s Haft Peykar (1197), not on Khutulun.
Khutulun was born around 1260, the daughter of Kaidu, the grandson of Ögedei and the most consistent opponent of the Toluid line. She grew up in the Ili Valley, in what is now Xinjiang, and she received a traditional Mongol education that included training in horseback riding, archery, and wrestling. She was reportedly a strong, athletic, and determined woman, and she quickly established a reputation as one of the most skilled warriors in the Mongol world.
The Early Life of Khutulun
Khutulun was born around 1260, the daughter of Kaidu, the grandson of Ögedei and the most consistent opponent of the Toluid line. Kaidu was a brilliant military commander who ruled a substantial portion of Central Asia from his base in the Ili Valley, and he was a major opponent of the Toluid line for more than forty years.
Khutulun grew up in the Ili Valley, and she received a traditional Mongol education that included training in horseback riding, archery, and wrestling. She was reportedly a strong, athletic, and determined woman, and she quickly established a reputation as one of the most skilled warriors in the Mongol world. She reportedly accompanied her father on many of his military campaigns, and she is said to have distinguished herself in several battles.
The Wrestling Challenge
Khutulun is most famous for the wrestling challenge that she is reported to have made. According to the story, Khutulun swore that she would only marry a man who could defeat her in wrestling. The challenge attracted many suitors, but Khutulun was undefeated for many years, and she reportedly defeated a large number of suitors in wrestling matches.
The most famous of the suitors was a man named Abtai, who was reportedly a skilled wrestler in his own right. Abtai was defeated in the wrestling match, and he married Khutulun, but the story is not entirely clear about whether the marriage was the result of the wrestling match or whether it was the result of other considerations.
The story of Khutulun and the wrestling challenge has been the subject of much literature and scholarship. The story is told in the histories of Rashid al-Din and other Persian historians, and it has been the inspiration for a number of literary and artistic works, including the opera Turandot by Giacomo Puccini. The story is, in many ways, a powerful symbol of the strength and the independence of Mongol women, and it has been the inspiration for many discussions of the role of women in Mongol society.
The Military Achievements of Khutulun
Khutulun was also a major military figure, and Rashid al-Din reports that she accompanied her father on campaign, distinguishing herself in several engagements. The principal battle in which she is named is the Battle of Zawukhan (Zawakhan) in 1298, fought between the forces of Kaidu and a Yuan army under Kublai’s general Kokechu; Kaidu won, and Khutulun is credited with a decisive cavalry charge. The battle is poorly attested in non-Mongol sources and the details should be treated with caution.
The military achievements of Khutulun are also reported in a number of other sources. She is reported to have led several other military expeditions, and she is said to have been one of the most respected military commanders in the Mongol world. The military achievements of Khutulun were particularly remarkable for a woman in the medieval world, and they are a major factor in the relative independence of Mongol women.
The Legacy of Khutulun
Khutulun is remembered in modern Mongolia as a national figure — a warrior princess of the steppe who held her own against suitors and on the battlefield. The wrestling story is retold in Mongolian popular culture and is taught in schools. Modern Western scholarship has compared her to the princess Turandot in Persian and Italian literature (the connection is a parallel, not a source), and to the literary tradition of the warrior-woman in Central Asian epic. The limitations of the historical record (a single detailed source, in Persian, written 60 years after her death) should be kept in mind: the modern Khutulun is partly a historical figure and partly a symbol that 19th- and 20th-century Mongolists, Russian orientalists, and the 20th-century Mongolian national movement have built on top of her.
Sources
- Rashid al-Din, Jami’ al-Tawarikh (Compendium of Chronicles), c. 1300–1311; English translation by W. M. Thackston, A Critical Edition of the Compendium of Chronicles (Cambridge, 1998–1999).
- Jack Weatherford, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens (New York, 2010).
- John Man, Genghis Khan: Life, Death and Legacy (London, 2004), chapter on the women of the Mongol world.