In the Great Khan’s Tent

Welcome to the 2nd year anniversary of the In The Great Khan’s Tent Podcast!

It has been 2 glorious and wonderful years providing you with educational, informative, and entertaining content on this podcast! I would like to thank all of our listeners, supporters, and well wishers for coming along on this journey with us so far and hope that you will continue to do so as we move forward!

To celebrate our journey so far, I am giving our listeners an opportunity to contribute to this podcast! I have planned three episodes in celebration of our 2nd year anniversary and you could help decide what you want to listen to on our two remaining episodes! So let me know, either through our email, our social media accounts, or leave a comment wherever you listen to let me know what you’d like to hear!

In this episode, much like the episode in our 1st year anniversary, we open a new fount of entertainment, educational, and informative content by stepping foot into South Asian literature beginning with Urdu classical short stories, translated of course into English for a wider audience approach.

“The Thal Desert”, written by an eminent Pakistani Urdu poet and journalist Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi (November 20th 1910 – July 10th 2006), is set during the period of British colonial rule, known as British India, in the region which would eventually become known today as Pakistan.

The story itself is concerned with technological improvements that the colonial British had brought for their own reasons, in this case the Railroad and the Canal System. The clear apprehension that the villagers felt about the railroad is not something that is new or uncommon throughout human history and such reactions can still be found in parts of today’s world especially in areas we would consider “educated” or “secular”. The fear of the new and unknown always plays a part in the human psyche.

As we continue with this story, we learn that the village, as much as they try to adopt to this technological improvement, there is a strong string of hesitation present, even though in some cases, like the construction of the railroad or the canal there were material benefits reaped by the workers who went from this village.

The story itself does not concern the British colonial rule at all; indeed, the only British colonial characters present are unnamed, fleeting, and distant although they are implicitly present throughout the lives of the villagers.

As you listen, consider the question of why these improvements had to be made and what effect did they had in continuing the solidification of colonial rule.

Stay tuned for the next episode as we continue our 2nd year anniversary celebrations!

In this episode, we continue our exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights with the continuation of the story of “The Story of Sultan ‘Umar ibn al-Nu’man and his sons Sharkhan and Dau’ al-Makan and the strange and remarkable things that happened to them” with the continuation of Night 50 and the beginning of Night 51.

We continue with the adventure that Sharkhan and the princess Abrizah are on and learn her backstory of why she was in the monastery and why Sultan ‘Umar was asked by the King of Constantinople to help wage war against the King of Caesarea, the father of Abrizah.

Furthermore, we also learn the backstory of Sufiyeh, the concubine of Sultan ‘Umar and mother of Dau' al-Makan and Nuzhat al-Zaman and how she was given to him.

Stay tuned as this epic story continues to be an exciting and fascinating listen!

In other news, we are fast approaching our 2nd year anniversary on the 15th of September! I would like to ask all of our listeners to let me know what you’d like me to talk about in celebration of the 2nd year of In The Great Khan’s Tent! Like before I have special episodes planned to celebrate!

Thank you all for journeying with me as we continue to explore the rich history and texts of the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, Mongolia, and the Russian Far East! 

Welcome to a new special series In The Great Khan’s Tent! In The Great Khan’s Tent Presents: Tales for the Far East focuses on the tales from the Far East, also known as the Russian Colonized Far East, from the region of Siberia all the way east to the Pacific Ocean.

In this episode we focus on the tales from the Yakut ethnic group with three stories, “The Fern Girl”, “How the Birds Flew North”, and “The Obedient Daughter in Law”.

The first story “The Fern Girl” is in a similar vein to those that we encountered in the Tales from Central Asia series. Our hero, Kharzhit Bergen meets and falls in love with a girl who has magically appeared in the pasture of an old woman, first as a horsetail fern, and then when taken home turns to a beautiful girl whom she adopts as a daughter.

In the second story “How the Birds Flew North” is a story in a similar vein to traditional tales which feature animals as main characters which tend to explain how they do the things that they do. In this case the question is how the birds migrated northward. Though to be honest I have never seen a Crane carry a Duck before.

The last story “The Obedient Daughter in Law” is a short story which focuses on why it is important to think for oneself even when obeying commands.

In the next episode, we will continue our exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights.

On a side note, I would like to formally apologize to when these episodes are being released. Our release day is usually on Thursday every two weeks but the month of July has tested our technological limitations and I aim to improve the flow process to get episodes out sooner! Thank you with your patience as we sort this out!

In The episode, we continue the epic tale of “The Story of Sultan Umar ibn al-Nu’man and his sons Sharkhan and Dau’ al-Makan and the strange and remarkable things that happened to them” with Nights 49 and 50.

We continue with our exploration of the adventure of Sharkhan, our heroic prince, who in previous episodes met the Greek princess, who in this episode is revealed to be Abrizah, in the convent and wrestled with her and failed and has now spent a number of days enjoying her company.

While the Princess Abrizah has continually shown that she triumphs over Sharkhan in many different formats, in this episode it is Chess, the reasons for her triumphs are also reviled as we go further in this episode when both are interrupted by soldiers from her father’s kingdom and Sharkhan is shown as the heroic and warlike personality that he is.

This episode celebrates reaching the 50th night a tremendous achievement to have met. This is all thanks to the listeners, supporters, and well-wishers who continue to support this podcast series. Thank you!

In our next episode, we will begin a new special series bringing you once again tales of wonder, joy, and fancy as we explore the world of literature and folk literature from underserved parts of the world!

In this episode, we continue the story “The Story of Sultan Umar ibn al-Nu’man and his sons Sharkhan and Dau’ al-Makan and the Strange and Remarkable things that happened to them” with Nights 47 and 48.

After leaving the army in the valley and going to a reconnaissance mission by himself, he winds up in a meadow that has a monastery where he spies 11 beautiful maidens and an old woman.

This part of the story is a moral tale with the great and heroic Sharkhan being bested by the so far as of yet unnamed main woman character who seems a princess of the Greeks that is stationed in that monastery for some reason. It speaks of the disadvantages of being prideful and that no matter how great you are, there is always someone who is greater or can bring you down to earth.

For a first in this series, wrestling appears in these stories, with the sport being popular in both in the past and in the present especially in the modern-day nation states of Iraq and Iran. Although mentions are made of three wrestlers who were popular in the author’s time period, I have not found any biographical description of them.

As he continually loses, to absolute credit to Sharkhan however, it does seem like he rolls with the punches, being quick to adapt to his new found situation.

With this episode, we are almost reaching the first milestone for our main series, as we have almost reached the 50th night. There is only 950 or so nights to go!

What does the future hold for our hero? Stay tuned for the next episode to find out!

In this episode, we reach the exciting conclusion of the story of “The Story of Ghanim, the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love” with Nights 44 and 45. We then begin a thrilling and exciting epic story, one of many within the One Thousand and One Nights, titled “The Story of Sultan Umar al-Nu’man and his sons Sharkhan and Dau’ al-Makan and the Strange and Remarkable things that happened to them” which continues Night 45 and goes into Night 46.

This story is on the same level as any of the Greek Heroic tales, as this episode sets up the story of the three main characters, Sultan 'Umar, Sharkhan, and Dau' al-Makan and their secondary companions so far, the concubine of Sultan Umar, Sufiyeh, and the Vizir Dandan.

It is interesting to note here that this is the first appearance and reference to the Byzantine or Greek characters appearing in the story as well as the first appearance of the historical region known as Lesser Armenia centered around the old city of Caesaria or Mazaca.

However, note the setting this story takes place in.

This was before the reign of the Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik ibn Marwan (685-705 CE), which was still in the Umayyad dynasty and Baghdad is the central place of Sultan Umar’s Empire. The storyteller and the subsequent writer may have wanted to tell the tale in a setting far removed from the Abbasid court and in a time when there was still tribulations and anarchy in the Umayyad Caliphate due to rebellions and various movements within the shaky foundations of the Caliphate which was only to fall a mere 50 years later to the Abbasids in 750 CE.

While it is certain that there was no Sultan Umar in Baghdad, this story could have its roots in the porous border regions of the Caliphate and Byzantium and would be an attempt to explain to the listeners of the time period the issues that were being faced at this time.

Finally, it should be noted that this story does not appear in the Edward William Lane’s translation of the One Thousand and one night without any explanation.

This will be the focus on an upcoming Special Episode coming out soon.

Announcing our Merchandise Store has now opened! 

In this episode, we conclude our first special series "In The Great Khan’s Tent Presents: Tales from Central Asia" with Episode 4 focusing on tales from the Azerbaijani, Kyrgyz, and Kazakh ethnic groups.

The first two stories that are told are the Azerbaijani tales “The Story of Zarniyar Who Had All Her Wits About Her” and “Sheidullah the Loafer”.

The story of Sheidullah the Loafer is an interesting one as it is one of the only tales we have encountered in this special series and in our main series The One Thousand and One Nights so far where this main character does not have any redeeming traits at all. This clearly is meant to be a moral tale warning of the acts of sloth, laziness, and not performing your duty when other people are relying on you.

The third tale we encounter is the Kyrgyz story of “Which was the Biggest?” Do you know which was the biggest? Email me your answer at [email protected] and I’ll compile the answers and present all the votes on the next episode!

The last tale we encounter in this special series if the Kazakh tale of “Aldar-Kose and Shigai-Bai”. Aldar-Kose is a extremely popular character in Kazakhstan and is known for all the tricks he plays on those who are greedy or on evil Khans but is also kind and helps the poor and the weak.

Although this special series is ending, fear not listeners! We have a new special series in the works and it will begin soon. So stay tuned and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode!

This is the Trailer for In The Great Khan's Tent! 

This episode marks two important milestones that we have reached here at In The Great Khan’s Tent!

Firstly this is the 40th episode we have reached! Secondly, we have reached 2,000 all time downloads!

Both could not have happened without the support of our listeners, our supporters, and those who continue with us on our journey to examine the Literature and Folk Literature from the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, North Africa, Mongolia and the Russian Far East.

We will continue to strive to bring you the same informative, educational, and entertaining content that we have been doing! Thank you all and hope you continue this journey with us!

In light of reaching these milestones, I have decided to update our cover art and logo. I would really appreciate your comments if you like this one or prefer our older one.

In this episode, we continue our exiting exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights with the continuation of the story of “The Story of Ghanim, the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love” with Nights 42 and 43.

Once again the historical characters of Harun al-Rashid and Jafar al-Barmaki appear but this time, their roles are clearly superseded by our main characters, Ghanim and Qut al-Qulub, and they are reduced to being secondary characters.

What differs from other stories we have encountered so far that feature Harun al-Rashid, he this time appears as someone who is more religiously inclined than before with clear issues about being punished in the afterlife. This is shown by  how many times both Qut al-Qulub and his main wife Zubeydah, are either told to as in the case of Zubeydah by the old woman, or is known as when Qut al-Qulub indicates.

This indicates, to me, that this might have been told and written down when Harun al-Rashid was older and somewhat more mature than was previously shown.

We are also re-introduced to the characters of Ghanim’s mother and his sister, Fitneh, as they appear lamenting the supposed loss of Ghanim. The concept of mistaken identity is continual here with how often all three women characters overlook Ghanim due to the troubles he finds himself in and the state, both mentally and physically, he is reduced to due to his separation from Qut al-Qulub.

In the next episode, we will conclude our special series, In The Great Khan’s Tent Presents: Tales from Central Asia, with Episode 4. However, fear not listeners, we will have a new special series to replace this one coming out next month!

In this episode, we continue our exciting exploration of the One Thousand and One Nights, with the story of “The Story of Ghanim the son of Ayyub, the Distracted Slave of Love” with Nights 40 and 41.

We are first told the story of the first slave, Buhkait, and how he eventually found himself castrated. We then listen to the story of the second slave, Kafur, and the mischief he inflicted on his master and the city before getting his supposed comeuppance.

We finally then return back to our main character, Ghanim the son of Ayyub, and what he found in the chest that the three slaves had carried and had attempted to bury in the graveyard.

As you listen to this episode, consider why Ghanim could have gotten the title of the “Distracted Slave of Love” by considering what he went to Baghdad to do and what he was actually doing.

This episode is important as it highlights one of the great divergences that begins to take place within the One Thousand and One Nights translations that we will have to deal with as we continue our explorations with this work. The story of the first slave, Buhkait, was excluded from the translation of Edward William Lane, on account of its content, but was included in the translation of John Payne and of Richard Burton. Payne's version of this tale, by my estimation, was significantly toned down due to English sensibilities in contrast to Burton's version which ramped up the obscenity.

If you need a refresher on Obscenity and Bowdlerization within the One Thousand and One Nights, then refer back to our One Year Special Episode 1 where we dealt with the groundwork on this issue.