In the war raised against Chinghiz and Aung Khan, when still
allies, by a great confederation of the Naiman and other tribes in 1202,
we are told that Sengun, the son of Aung Khan, when sent to meet the
enemy, caused them to be enchanted, so that all their attempted movements
against him were defeated by snow and mist. The fog and darkness were
indeed so dense that many men and horses fell over precipices, and many
also perished with cold. In another account of (apparently) the same
matter, given by Mir-Khond, the conjuring is set on foot by the Yadachi
of Buyruk Khan, Prince of the Naiman, but the mischief all rebounds on the
conjurer's own side.
In Tului's invasion of Honan in 1231-1232, Rashiduddin describes him, when
in difficulty, as using the Jadah stone with success.
Timur, in his Memoirs, speaks of the Jets using incantations to produce
heavy rains which hindered his cavalry from acting against them. A
Yadachi was captured, and when his head had been taken off the storm
ceased.
Baber speaks of one of his early friends, Khwaja Ka Mulai, as excelling in
falconry and acquainted with Yadagari or the art of bringing on rain and
snow by means of enchantment. When the Russians besieged Kazan in 1552
they suffered much from the constant heavy rains, and this annoyance was
universally ascribed to the arts of the Tartar Queen, who was celebrated
as an enchantress. Shah Abbas believed he had learned the Tartar secret,
and put much confidence in it. (P. Delia V. I. 869.)
[Grenard says (II. p. 256) the most powerful and most feared of sorcerers
[in Chinese Turkestan] is the djaduger, who, to produce rain or fine
weather, uses a jade stone, given by Noah to Japhet. Grenard adds (II.
406-407) there are sorcerers (Ngag-pa-snags-pa) whose specialty is to make
rain fall; they are similar to the Turkish Yadachi and like them use a
stone called "water cristal," chu shel; probably jade stone.
Mr. Rockhill (Rubruck, p. 245, note) writes: "Rashideddin states that
when the Urianghit wanted to bring a storm to an end, they said injuries
to the sky, the lightning and thunder. I have seen this done myself by
Mongol storm-dispellers. (See Diary, 201, 203.) 'The other Mongol
people,' he adds, 'do the contrary. When the storm rumbles, they remain
shut up in their huts, full of fear.' The subject of storm-making, and the
use of stones for that purpose, is fully discussed by Quatremere,
Histoire, 438-440." (Cf. also Rockhill, l.c. p. 254.) - H. C.]
An edict of the Emperor Shi-tsung, of the reigning dynasty, addressed in
1724-1725 to the Eight Banners of Mongolia, warns them against this
rain-conjuring:
