Khutulun Khan — The Great Mongolian Warrior Princess | Nerve Center

Imagine a land so vast, stretching from the highest peaks surrounding Lake Baikal in Central Asia, to the shores of the Euphrates in the North of Iraq. A rather large group of people moves about the arid landscapes and the harsh weather patterns as the season shifts, setting up temporary camps (yurts) in the empty grasslands and tending the cattle. The men are tall with hardened features and always dressed for a battle; the women clad in colourful clothing, with pale skin and the highest cheekbones ever known to man. These people and their land are what made up the Mongol Empire — one of the largest, contiguous land empires in history. One famous character from these lands was the warrior princess Khutulun Khan.

Genghis Khan is said to be the ‘Father of the Mongols’, the First Great Khan or the Qaghan (as Mongolians referred to him). Khan is said to have fathered more than 40 sons during his lifetime — notwithstanding a count of his illegitimate children, most of which remain lost to history. He was ruthless, fearful and yet, a calculated leader, who singlehandedly made the Mongol Empire the strongest army in the world at the time. It is these characteristics that his descendants acquired and ruled the Empire long after his death, for most of the 13–14 CE.

Kaidu Khan, Genghis’s great-grandson and the direct grandson of Ogedei Khan was one such man. He grew up under the shadow of his cousin, Kublai Khan. Kaidu is known mostly for his constant sparring with Kublai and his famous daughter — the warrior princess, Khutulun.

Khutulun was Kaidu’s favourite child as she was the only daughter among fourteen brothers. Marco Polo described her to be “so well-made in all her limbs, and so tall and strongly built, that she might almost be taken for a giantess”. Whenever Kaidu left to take on Kublai Khan’s men, he always turned to Khutulun and not his sons, to assist him in the battle.

Beautiful, intimidating and endowed with a fiery spirit, Khutulun was taught the basics of every possible sport that a Mongolian steppe royalty could master at an early age. Archery, horsemanship and wrestling were just a few to name. The 13–14th-century Arab historian, Rashid-al-Din wrote that Khutulun “often went on military campaigns, where she performed valiant deeds with her father”, confirming that the Khutulun was every bit as fierce and dedicated to her father’s cause as possible.

It should come as no surprise that a strikingly beautiful woman in possession of noble blood and unmatched strength must be sought by desperate suitors, all vying for her attention by attempting ridiculous feats.

The warrior princess suggested that her suitors try and beat her in a wrestling match, the loser would have to gift her anything between 10–100 horses. Not only did she defeat each and every one of them, she also returned home with almost 10,000 horses! Once again she proved herself to be undefeated.

But like every other parent, Khutulun’s parents too worried about her marriage and beseeched her to stop fooling around and settle down.

She made sure that she found a husband of her own liking, settling for a man she had never wrestled. Although it was widely believed that Khutulun never wanted to settle down, she was eventually forced to as rumours surfaced of her illicit affair with her own father. It wasn’t very common in the 13th century to have a healthy father-daughter relationship, and/or to remain unmarried by choice. Khutulun was eventually forced to succumb to the societal pressures.

Kaidu desperately wanted his daughter to take over the throne after him, as one of his heirs. But this was the steppe land and Khutulun was the only girl among fourteen sons. But her brother, Orus Khan agreed on making Khutulun a commander within the army itself.

Despite all the promises made, jealousy got the better of Orus and Khutulun mysteriously passed away in the year 1306, at the age of forty-six. Exactly five years after Kaidu’s death, his daughter too joined him in his eternal abode.

Khutulun’s story would have been thrown in the dustbin of history, had it not been for Francois Petis de La Croix — a Frenchman based an entire story off of her life called Turandot (Turkish Daughter). Many western adaptations followed, everyone moulded her story to suit their own audience. Yet deep amidst the quiet, rolling hills of Mongolia, somewhere between the ancient steppe lands — the Mongolian wrestlers continue to honour her by wearing open-chested outfits to show that they are not women. The warrior princess of the greatest Empire in the world continues to live in her peoples’ memory. Such was the legacy of the great, undefeated and the beautiful lady, Khutulun Khan.

Originally published at https://nervecenter.world on December 26, 2019.