"The evidence adduced in Abel Remusat's paper on
Karakorum (Mem.
De l' Acad. R. des Insc. VII. 288) establishes the site
on the north bank of the Orkhon, and about five days' journey above the
confluence of the Orkhon and Tula. But as we have only a very loose
knowledge of these rivers, it is impossible to assign the geographical
position with accuracy. Nor is it likely that ruins exist beyond an
outline perhaps of the Kaan's Palace walls."
In the Geographical Magazine for July, 1874 (p. 137), Sir Henry Yule has
been enabled, by the kind aid of Madame Fedtchenko in supplying a
translation from the Russian, to give some account of Mr. Paderin's visit
to the place, in the summer of 1873, along with a sketch-map.
"The site visited by Mr. Paderin is shown, by the particulars stated in
that paper, to be sufficiently identified with Karakorum. It is precisely
that which Remusat indicated, and which bears in the Jesuit maps, as
published by D'Anville, the name of Talarho Hara Palhassoun (i.e. Kara
Balghasun), standing 4 or 5 miles from the left bank of the Orkhon, in
lat. (by the Jesuit Tables) 47 deg. 32' 24". It is now known as Kara-Kharam
(Rampart) or Kara Balghasun (city). The remains consist of a quadrangular
rampart of mud and sun-dried brick, of about 500 paces to the side, and
now about 9 feet high, with traces of a higher tower, and of an inner
rampart parallel to the other. But these remains probably appertain to the
city as re-occupied by the descendants of the Yuen in the end of the 14th
century, after their expulsion from China."
Dr. Bretschneider (Med. Res. I. p. 123) rightly observes: "It seems,
however, that Paderin is mistaken in his supposition. At least it does not
agree with the position assigned to the ancient Mongol residence in the
Mongol annals Erdenin erikhe, translated into Russian, in 1883, by
Professor Pozdneiev. It is there positively stated (p. 110, note 2) that
the monastery of Erdenidsu, founded in 1585, was erected on the ruins of
that city, which once had been built by order of Ogotai Khan, and where he
had established his residence; and where, after the expulsion of the
Mongols from China, Togontemur again had fixed the Mongol court. This vast
monastery still exists, one English mile, or more, east of the Orkhon. It
has even been astronomically determined by the Jesuit missionaries, and is
marked on our maps of Mongolia. Pozdneiev, who visited the place in 1877,
obligingly informs me that the square earthen wall surrounding the
monastery of Erdenidsu, and measuring about an English mile in
circumference, may well be the very wall of ancient Karakorum."
Recent researches have fully confirmed the belief that the Erdeni Tso, or
Eideni Chao, Monastery occupies the site of Karakorum, near the bank of
the Orkhon, between this river and the Kokchin (old) Orkhon. (See map in
Inscriptions de l'Orkhon, Helsingfors, 1892; a plan of the vicinity and
of the Erdeni Tso is given (plate 36) in W. Radloff's Atlas der
Alterthuemer der Mongolei, St. Pet., 1892.)
[Illustration]
According to a work of the 13th century quoted by the late Professor G.
Deveria, the distance between the old capital of the Uighur, Kara
Balgasun, on the left bank of the Orkhon, north of Erdeni Tso, and the
Ho-lin or Karakorum of the Mongols, would be 70 li (about 30 miles), and
such is the space between Erdeni Tso and Kara Balgasun. M. Marcel Monnier
(Itineraires, p. 107) estimates the bird's-eye distance from Erdeni Tso
to Kara Balgasun at 33 kilom. (about 20-1/2 miles). "When the brilliant
epoch of the power of the Chinghizkhanides," says Professor Axel Heikel,
"was at an end, the city of Karakorum fell into oblivion, and towards the
year 1590 was founded, in the centre of this historically celebrated
region of the Orkhon, the most ancient of Buddhist monasteries of
Mongolia, this of Erdeni Tso [Erdeni Chao]. It was built, according to a
Mongol chronicle, on the ruins of the town built by Okkodai, son of
Chinghiz Khan, that is to say, on the ancient Karakorum. (Inscriptions de
l'Orkhon.)" So Professor Heikel, like Professor Pozdneiev, concludes that
Erdeni Tso was built on the site of Karakorum and cannot be mistaken for
Karabalgasun. Indeed it is highly probable that one of the walls of the
actual convent belonged to the old Mongol capital. The travels and
researches by expeditions from Finland and Russia have made these
questions pretty clear. Some most interesting inscriptions have been
brought home and have been studied by a number of Orientalists: G.
Schlegel, O. Donner, G. Deveria, Vasiliev, G. von der Gabelentz, Dr.
Hirth, G. Huth, E. H. Parker, W. Bang, etc., and especially Professor
Vilh. Thomsen, of Copenhagen, who deciphered them (Dechiffrement des
Inscriptions de l'Orkhon et de l'Ienissei, Copenhague, 1894, 8vo;
Inscriptions de l'Orkhon dechiffrees, par V. Thomsen, Helsingfors, 1894,
8vo), and Professor W. Radloff of St. Petersburg (Atlas der Alterthumer
der Mongolei, 1892-6, fol.; Die alttuerkischen Inschriften der Mongolei,
1894-7, etc.). There is an immense literature on these inscriptions, and
for the bibliography, I must refer the reader to H. Cordier, Etudes
Chinoises (1891-1894), Leide, 1895, Id. (1895-1898), Leide, 1898, 8vo.
The initiator of these discoveries was N. Iarindsev, of Irkutsk, who died
at Barnaoul in 1894, and the first great expedition was started from
Finland in 1890, under the guidance of Professor Axel Heikel.
(Inscriptions de l'Orkhon recueillies par l'expedition finnoise, 1890, et
publiees par la Societe Finno-Ougrienne, Helsingfors, 1892, fol.) The
Russian expedition left the following year, 1891, under the direction of
the Academician W. Radloff.
M. Chaffanjon (Nouv. Archiv. des Missions Scient. IX., 1899, p. 81), in
1895, does not appear to know that there is a difference between Kara
Korum and Kara Balgasun, as he writes: "Forty kilometres south of Kara
Korum or Kara Balgasun, the convent of Erdin Zoun."
A plan of Kara Balgasun is given (plate 27) in Radloff's Atlas.
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