Comments on: VI. Buzkashi and Polo

By: Buzkashi: Equestrian Sport of Central Asia « enlightened horsemanship through touch

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:44:30 +0000

[...] Kelekna over at This Side of the Pond, the American Blog of the Cambridge University Press, has written about one of the most interesting [...]

By: CambridgeBlog

CambridgeBlog — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:55:17 +0000

Pita Kelekna sends her response:

You are absolutely correct. Polo was played by the Achaemenids. I do mention that on page 89 of the book, but my sources did not specify under which ruler. So I am grateful to you for identifying Darius I and III.

Yes, Firdausi’s Shahnameh was composed during the tenth century AD (actually finished 1010 AD). But Firdausi’s work was but one of several efforts to record in writing the great legends of ancient Persian oral tradition. The tragedy of Siyavush was prehistoric. It pre-dated Zoroastrian reform, making it (scholars disagree on dates) if not late second millennium, certainly early first millennium BC – clearly pre-Achaemenid. The legend of prince Siyavush was subsequently incorporated into the Yashts (later Avesta), which featured the epic deeds of kavis (kings) and champions. It was again recounted in the Shanameh at the end of the first millennium AD.

It is difficult to cram these intricate details into a short blurb. To avoid ambiguity, I probably should re-phrase my wording to: “Possibly, the most ancient instance of polo play…”

Thank you for the precious jewels of information regarding Shapur I and Shapur II.

With regard to Tamerlane, my sources indicate Timur was a noble Turk born 1336 in Transoxiana into the Barlas clan, early followers of Genghis khan. Timur modeled his military campaigns on the nomadic warrior tradition of the Mongols, surpassing even Genghis in bloodthirstiness. It was Timur’s descendant Babur who on his mother’s side traced his ancestry through Chagatai to Genghis khan. Babur with his cavalries subsequently invaded northern India from Kabul, overwhelming the Afghans of Uttar Pradesh, the Rajput confederacy, and the Delhi sultanate to establish the Mughal empire c 1526.

Late first millennium – early second millennium AD, there were different nomads, Turkic-speakers, spilling over into the Middle East from the steppes: Karakhanids, Karluks, Seljuks, Kipchaks, sometimes allied, other times fighting among themselves. I prefer to use the term Turkic in reference to these tribes and to reserve the term Turkish for the Ottomans, who slightly later came to dominate Anatolia and to expand across the Near East, eastern Europe, and North Africa.

Thank you again for your excellent input.
-Pita Kelekna

By: dario TW

dario TW — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:02:01 +0000

hello,
nice article, but I have a few comments.
Polo is as Iranian (whether Persian o North Iranian – Scythian and Sarmatian – is unknown) as a Persian carper, or a Kantus (Median cloak that had become nomad attire for thousands of years, and in the 16th century ended up in Poland as a part of national costume known as Kontusz)) or a meydan (polo field).
Actually first accounts of the existence of polo came from the time of King Darius (Darayavaush) the Great (522- 486 B.C.). And 2 centuries later his namesake, Darius III, sent Alexander of Macedon a polo malet and a ball with an invitaiton to play polo instead of fighting.
The epic Shahnameh was composed in the late 10th century by Fidrousi, 1500 years after the first mention of the game. The slayer of Romans and builder of cities shah Shapur I (r. 226–241)when a young boy was tested whether he was the real son of king Ardeshir by use of his daring during a game of polo. Shah Shapur II (309 to 379), another Sassanian ruler of Persia, learned to play the game of polo at the age of seven. Finally, at the Sassanian courts the noble women played polo in the meydan as well.

Finally, why would you call Timur (Tamerlane) a Turkic conqueror? I think this is a very imprecise description of his ethnicity, if he actually had any ethnicity to speak off other than a nomad of the great Eurasian Steppe. He was a Mongol by origin and ‘Chagatai’ by language (after the name of the Mongol Chagatai Ulus or Khanate that collapsed around the time of ascendancy). But then the word ‘turkic’ implies nothing but a nomad at that time, so perhaps this is the most appropriate…