6

9gag.com claims,

Genghis Khan forbade the selling of women, theft of other's properties, decreed religious freedom, outlawed hunting during breeding seasons, and exempted the poor from taxation.

enter image description here

Are the claims that he "forbade the selling of women" and "exempted the poor from taxation" true?

http://9gag.com/gag/a9POyy6/good-guy-genghis-khan

|improve this question
  • 2
    I find it curious that there were 3 claims, and you've split them into 2 questions. What do these two claims have in common that they form one question? – Jamiec♦ Nov 21 '16 at 12:43
  • 3
    @Jamiec They relate to humans and the other is about animals. – Sakib Arifin Nov 21 '16 at 13:43
  • 2
    The source for these claims is from The Yasa of Chingis Khan. However, there are no surviving copies of the Yasa and there are only writings which borrowed heavily from a compiled code by the mid-thirteenth century writer Juvaini writing about thirty years after Chinggis Khan's death. Juvaini had never seen or never said that he saw the source scrolls nor is there any record of anyone else who had seen the original Yasa-fsmitha.com/h3/mongols-sup.htm- – pericles316 Nov 21 '16 at 14:39
  • @MohammadSakibArifin Your other was closed as a duplicate, so you may want to update this one to include the animals portion. – called2voyage Dec 8 '16 at 14:50
7

The source of these laws were from The Great Yasa of the Mongol emperor Chinggis Khan. However, scholars conclude that no copies of the Great Yasa have ever actually been recorded and also the evidence for the life of Temuchin/Chinggis Khan come mainly from two sources namely a Mongol source which is 'The Secret History of the Mongols' and a Persian source which is 'The Compendium of Chronicles' (Ja¯mi‘ al-Tawa¯rı¯kh).

The term yasa is a Mongol word meaning law, order, decree, judgement. As a verb it implied the death sentence as in ‘some were delivered to the yasa’ usually meaning that an official execution was carried out. Until Professor David Morgan exploded the myth in 1986, it was the accepted wisdom that Chinggis Khan had laid down a basic legal code called the ‘Great Yasa’ during the Quriltai of 1206 and written copies of his decrees were kept by the Mongol princes in their treasuries for future consultation. Source: Chinggis Khan: World Conqueror

  1. The claim "forbade the selling of women and kidnapping of women" is true since it was prohibited by the Mongol customary law as shown below.

The kidnapping of wives was prohibited (Genghis had lost his own wife Borte this way) as was the selling of women into marriage. Source: 1206: The Yasak of Genghis Khan

  1. The claim "exempted the poor from taxation" is false since the actual persons exempted from taxation were ones who provided essential services.

Those providing essential services were exempt from taxation including religious leaders, doctors and undertakers, lawyers, teachers and scholars. Source: 1206: The Yasak of Genghis Khan

The explanation provided above can also be verified by reading page 69 of the 2004 book 'Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World" by Jack Weatherford.

|improve this answer
1

According to Genghis Khan :

Temujin, later Genghis Khan, was born around 1162 ... His mother had been kidnapped by his father and forced into marriage.

...

He also forbade the selling and kidnapping of women, banned the enslavement of any Mongol and made livestock theft punishable by death.

|improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .