buddhism in the west uyghur kingdom and beyond 227
by two s̩ūfi ̄s, Jamāl al-Dīn and is son Arshad al-Dīn, and “their descendants
exercised strong influence in the court of the Moghul Qans and formed a ṭarīqa
(‘path’) called Katakī. This local ṭarīqa was later divided into two branches
based on Kučā in the west and on Turfan in the east.”149 Under his youngest son
Xiḍr Khwāja (reigned from 1389–1399) Turfan and Beš Balık became gradually
islamicised.150 It is reported in the 16th century work History of Rashīd (Persian
Tārīkh-i Rashīdī) that the population was forcefully converted.151
The attitude of the Mongol rulers towards the various religious groups
active in their empire and their personal religious commitment has been much
debated.152 In the consolidation of power, the religions were regarded as
essential, and—if loyal to the ruling house and praying for the ruler’s well-
being—patronised.153 Mongol rulers and members of the royal family are
often mentioned, according to their rank, in Old Uyghur colophons of the 13th
and 14th century.154 In one colophon, we even find the Mongol emperor men-
tioned as the patron of the text.155 It is highly likely that the spread of Tantric
Buddhism in the late phase of Uyghur Buddhism is due to the keen interest
members of the ruling clan of the Mongols took in Tantric rituals. Recently
Johan Elverskog has highlighted a Buddhist trade network, which he connected
with the revival of Buddhism in Tibet in the 11th century. He calls this network
the ‘Tantric block’156 which encompassed Tibet, Northeastern India under the
Pāla Dynasty (c. 750–1161), the Tangut Kingdom, the Khitan Liao Dynasty in
North China and the Song Dynasty and Japan. The Uyghurs were not affected
by the Tantric block until Mongol times although some translations of dhāraṇīs
which were made from Chinese originals may belong to an earlier period (pos-
sibly to the 12th century).157 But these belong to esoteric or rather ‘dhāraṇī’
149 Kim, Hodong, “The Early History of the Moghul Nomads: The Legacy of the Chaghatai
Khanate,” in The Mongol Empire and its Legacy, ed. Reuven Amitai-Preiss and David O.
Morgan (Leiden: Brill, 1999), 302.
150 Zhang, Rong, “Concise History,” 406.
151 Foltz, Richard C. Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from
Antiquity to the Fifteenth Century (New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1999), 141.
152 See Jackson, Peter, “The Mongols and the Faith of the Conquered,” in Mongols, Turks, and
Others: Eurasian Nomads in the Sedentary World, ed. Reuven Amitai and Michal Biran
(Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2005), 268–275.
153 On religious politics of the Mongols and the privileges granted to various religions see
Jackson, “Mongols,” 262–268 with further references.
154 Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 73–74.
155 Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 50.
156 Elverskog, Buddhism and Islam, 84 (see map 10).
157 On these texts see Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft, 40.