Mahakhitan: A Chinese Buddhist Civilization in India

[Green Painting]

Here is an incomplete list of the Emperors of Western and Southern Liao, with their Temple Names and Era Names. It's made based on all the information available in the updates so far, just for your reference, lest it may confuse readers in the following updates.

Notice that this isn't official. The author, Chuye Kara, prepared an official list of Emperors, although it's not yet the time to publish it. So this table is subject to changes and editions as she wills it.

Those were AH personnel completely different from OTL Kara Khitai emperors. From Yelü Dashi (Dezong) onwards, their titles and years of reign were completely different. The OTL emperors could be seen here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qara_Khitai#Sovereigns_of_Qara_Khitai

An emperor of a Chinese or Chinese-influenced state usually have four names: 1) A personal name gained at birth, 2) An Era name to mark his regnal years, 3) A Temple Name, gained after his death, to be used on his Ancestral tablet in the family temple, and 4) a Posthumous Name, given by courtiers or historians after his death, to praise or depreciate the emperor. So far, for TTL Liao Emperors, only Temple Names and Era Names are shown, and used interchangeably.

I made this table with a summary of events, but that would completely destroy the suspense for the next updates, so I cropped that out.

Edit: Now It's complete and official

 

[Green Painting]

Oh shit, this is my jam right here! There are zero timelines on Quara Khitai, even though there’s so much potential. Watched.

This Qara Khitai will be very different the OTL one, hope you can still enjoy it.

Will the watercolors be posted to this TL?
EDIT: Ah I see.

There will be more to come

I love seeing a TL where cultural fusion is front and center.

Hope that we don't disappoint you.

 

[mlp]

This is great, keep going

 

[Avrorrange]

I don’t think there will be that much cultural fusion considering that there’s barely any Chinese with the Western Liao and the Khitans themselves were not fully sinicized and were few in numbers.

 

[Green Painting]

Chapter 2: A Short History of the Liao Enterprise in India 遼國經營印度簡史

The Point of Divergence (PoD) between this timeline (TTL) and our timeline (OTL) came about at around autumn of 1130. This update will deal mainly with the course of Mahakhitan’s conquest of India, and a short account on the Liao-Mongol Wars, as well as the Liao’s war with the Seljuqs.

Liao Army During the Western Liao Period, tribute to Osprey
​

The history of the Liao Rule in India started in the 3rd year of Kangguo (1145). When the Seljuq Sultanate’s internal disturbances created the chances for Yelü Dashi to lead a southern expedition on Ghaznavian-ruled Afghanistan. From the mouths of captured Ghaznavid nobles, Yelü Dashi caught wind of North India’s wealth. The appearance of 8000 Sindh troops during the latter part of Kabul’s Siege gave Dashi an idea of the poor conditions this South Asian army was in.


(The Battle of Qatwan was butterflied ITTL).


In the winter of the 3rd Year of Anshang (1158, or 28th Year of Shaoxing in Song Dynasty), an aging Yelü Dashi lead a Liao army of 12000 and crossed over the Kyber Pass to raid the region of Sindh. In the following winters, Yelü Dashi expanded his territories in the valley of middle Indus River, which dealt a heavy blow on the declining Kingdom of Sindh. At the 9th Year of Anshang (1164), the Liao State had already controlled a series of agricultural and trade centres along the middle and lower course of the Indus. Knowing the he didn’t have any chance to regain his lost empire from the Jurchen Jin, Yelü Dashi consolidated his rule on Central Asia and (what was to become OTL) Pakistan. He established a series of fiefdoms to be ruled by his veteran courtiers who co-founded the Western Liao in the olden days, which became the first Khitan statelets in South Asian Subcontinent.


Xuanzong, who succeeded him, continued his policy of avoid fighting the Seljuqs while pushing south to grab the wealthier lands. During the Zhaohe Era (1165-1172), in the First Punjab War, the Liao gained the lands of Western Punjab. By the time of the 3rd Year of Zhuque (1176, Song’s 3rd of Chunxi), the Liao have accumulated enough power to launch the Second Punjab War. Within a decade, the Liao conquered the entire Turkic-dominated Punjab and Baluchistan.


However, during the entire 12th century, Liao’s military and political centre of gravity was still in the grasslands of the Seven Rivers (Zhetysu) Region. They were content with reaping the trade benefits gained from controlling both the trade routes east to west and north to south. It was only after the Mongol troops swept across the Altaic mountains, forcing the Liao forces out of the large swaths of land north of Tianshan, and raided the Seven Rivers Region repeatedly, then did the Liao State started to attach importance to the position of Western India and Afghanistan as its rear.

Metropolitan area surrounding the Upper Capital, OTL Chuy River Valley, Kirgizstan. Artist Unknown ​

In the year 1240, having conquered the Jin Empire, Mongol Khan Tolui struck west once again. The Liao Empire lost its Upper Capital Balasagun, its Emperor Zhaozong died of battle wounds. The remnant Liao Army retreated to the south of Balkh. The Liao lost its most important source of men and pasture.


In the following decades, the next two generations of Liao Emperors, Wuzong and Yingzong, pulled their forces together once again, and transformed the semi-nomadic Empire into a Feudal Empire centered on the Indus Basin and Upper Gangetic Basin. In the reform, called the Qianhe Reforms （乾和變法）by historians, the Emperors finally abolished the Northern and Southern Administrations, and established three-tier administrative system of Circuits, Prefectures, and Counties. A military system based on feudal levy soldiers, and vastly improved the financial system. A revived Liao empire achieved the conquest of Gujarat, Bihar, and Bengal in the following decade, and fought a series of See-saw battles with the Mongols around Kangzhou (康州，or Samarkand) 【1】, with victories and defeats on both sides.

【1】Samarkand has long been called the Kang State （康國） in Chinese. Now the Kang State becomes Kang prefecture, or Kangzhou.

 

[Green Painting]

This is great, keep going

Kamsahamnida

I don’t think there will be that much cultural fusion considering that there’s barely any Chinese with the Western Liao and the Khitans themselves were not fully sinicized and were few in numbers.

The Dashi's men were minorities, this made them very conscious in preserving their old traditions, a tradition of mixed Khitan and Han practices. But they were also the ruling class, they were, in one way or the other, dominate cultural preferences in the State.

As for the number of people, there were still Han Chinese in Central Asia at the time of Dashi's arrival. It's not only that few thousand folks he took with him from Kedun City. I'm not sure about how many arrived at the Upper Capital's doorstep in the Western Liao period. But since the Southern Liao began, new Chinese immigrants would come from the sea.

Kara was trying to create a snowball effect, tens of thousands of Khitans and Han conquering the Gaochang Uyghurs, who were Mahayana Buddhists, and making the first mixed civilization (we will come to this in the next updates), and then a 5-6 million Khitai conquering Sindh and Punjab of a similar population, and assimilated them, and them a 20 million strong Mahakhitan absorbing the surrounding small states step by step. Each step, this hybrid civilization would expand. Well, we can't call it Sinicization any more, maybe it's Liaocization.

 

[Green Painting]

Thoughts or question on the new update?

I try to make another by today, today as in 29th November, GMT + 8

I could have gone faster, I wish for more thorough discussion on existing chapters.

 

[123456789blaaa]

I'm not sure if I'm just missing it but I still can't see the PoD?

 

[Green Painting]

I'm not sure if I'm just missing it but I still can't see the PoD?

There are two PoDs, one was that Dashi chose to fully annex and integrate the Gaochang Uyghurs other than giving them significant autonomy IOTL, the second being Dashi avoided fighting the Seljuqs (no battle of Qatwan) and chose to expand South.

I'm sorry for any confusion, but since the chapters are not arranged in chronological order, the first PoD will only come about much later in chapter 4.

 

[Green Painting]

Image of Mahakhitan Central Capital’s North Imperial Forest Park ​

Author's note on future subjects
… …

There are few planned subjects that I’ve decided to write, the list goes:

Mahakhitan Buddhist Architectural Arts

Liao Buddhist Paintings

Liao utensils for daily use

Indo-Khitan national costumes,

Indo-Khitan literature

… …

I’m going to go through quite a lot of books, and put up with a nice big brain canon, and to deduce a luring East Asian – Central Asian – Indian hybrid civilization

As for Mahakhitan deeds in India, palace drama, princesses in political marriage, as well as wars big or small, I will mix them in between these chapters. The passages will talk about Indo-Khitan material wealth till 1440, and then we will move on to the age of Europa Universalis, when Liao culture and arts will change vastly, and I will keep on my brain canons, till mid 20th century.


Before that, the upcoming Chapter 3 will be a sketch on the culture and geography of the Empire, to provide a framework for future understanding.


In fact, It’s almost done, save for a few maps. ​

— Kara, from Santiago, United States of America, 22 Oct 2017


Ahem:
As the translator, I have to say it's too much work for today, especially the Maps.
Let's wait till tomorrow.
— Green Painting, 29 Nov. 2017.

P.S. We do need assistance on Indian culture. Yes, Kara is reading them, but she doesn't know any of the Indian languages.
Our monarchs will have Chinese Era Names and Temple Names, but they also need corresponding Sanskrit royal titles.
Our alphabet for the new Liao Language will be written with Siddham script, etc.
We do need assistance and welcome volunteers.

 

[Green Painting]

Chapter 3: A Sketch of Geography and Culture of the Empire 【0】


This chapter will serve as a summary on the natural and human landscape, ethnic composition, and simple geographic division within Mahakhitan around the year 1440. The picture shows the Imperial Hunt in Kashmir.

the Imperial Hunt in Kashmir


The map shows the territorial span of Liao Empire around the 26th Year of Jingyun (1400, or 5th of Zhengtong in Ming)

By Mid-15th century, Liao’s major territory has extended from a part of Central Asia to most parts of South Asia. The major part of the Empire was the broad region where the Liao Language was used. (There will be specific introduction on the “Liao Language” later on.)


The region stretched from Balkh in the north, through Kabul, Middle and Lower Indus River plains, and extended eastwards, along Ganges and Zhuchuan River (珠川, Yamuna River), all the way to Middle of Ganges River, forming a “Y” shape three thousand Chinese miles wide on one side.


The core part of the vast region, was usually considered the interior of Mahakhitan, or, according to some new term of foreign origin, it was called, with no sure terms, the “Fuli”（腹裏）, or the within of the abdomen.


Mahakhitan’s so-called “Fuli”, was thought to be composed of several parts in the mind of the contemporaries:


Firstly, the Punjab and Indus River basin, divided into Shannan Circuit (山南道, or South-of-the-Mountain Circuit) and Tianzhu Circuit (天竺道, Tianzhu was from Sindhu, ancient Chinese word for India). by Liao. It was usually called “Great Khitanistan” by the locals and the Islamic World. Starting from 1200, the region was given as fiefdoms by the Liao State to Khitan, Han and Uyghur aristocrats, to be ruled by them. For two hundred years, lifestyle of the lords and the immigrants fused together with the local ways of life in Sindh and Punjab. The aristocrats, and the merchants who followed them, their language has been adopted as the lingua franca. The people believed in Mahayana Buddhism. There was the Liao’s capital, the Central Capital Tangshi Fu (棠石府, or Pear-Stone Prefecture, south of Takshashila of OTL Pakistan.) 【1】and summer pastures in the mountains of Kashmir. In the mouth of the Indus River, there was the Debu Fu (德布府 or Debul Prefecture, northeast of OTL Karachi, Pakistan)【2】, an important trading port in the Indian Ocean.


Secondly, the upper and middle part of Gangetic basin, a land acquired by the Liao State during the wars of conquest in the 13th century, under the reign of the Tianying, Deyou, Qianhe Emperors (1205-1270), and were usually called the “Little Khitanistan”, the land was allocated to the Dongjing Circuit （東京道, Eastern Capital Circuit）, and was similarly conferred to the noblemen with military contributions, making a series of fiefdoms of varying size. Those dukes and counts played an enormous role in the Liao’s eastward and southward expansions, and won higher rank in the peerage system.


In between the thousand Chinese miles of Ganges and Yamuna, during a part of the 14th century, there were once as many as ten hereditary duchy’s capitals. Crowns and canopies gathered like clouds, villas and pool stood like forests, venerable monks came back and forth, and this was its heydays. The region believed in Mahayana Buddhism as well. Liao’s imperial temporary residence in winters, the Eastern Capital Zhuchuan Fu (珠川府 Yamura Prefecture) was also there, it was the place where the emperor held his New Year Banquet, received the country’s princes and foreign ambassadors.


People living in the “Fuli” were called summarily as the “Liao People” by outsiders, with no difference among races, be it Han, Khitan, Uyghur, or Indians etc.]

A map of the cultural core region of the Liao State in 1440, or 26th of Jingyun（景雲）in Liao, 5th of Zhengtong in Ming.


Outside of the Fuli, the Liaonized regions included the eastern Afghan mountains. Centred on Kabul, it has long been ruled directly by the Liao Emperor from the Central Capital. Liao’s military forts were spread all over the place, forts passed down from the Ghaznavids. In the vital region around the Pass of Iron Gate, the Liao State even built a Great Wall. When the Mongol Yuan Empire descdend into chaos in the 11th Year of Yongtai (1311), and the pressure from the north eased, the Liao State allocated this land to the Hanshan Circuit (Cold Mountain Circuit), and placed close offshoots of the Imperial family in Kebu Garrison Post (岢埠鎮, Kabul Garrison Post)【3】. This region also contains a large number of Buddhist temples, headed by the Bamiyan Temple, good pastures, and the cultural esteem brought by its proximity to the Fuli.


Besides Fuli and Hanshan Circuit, places that the Liao State Liao given to aristocrats and Liaonized Indian nobles to rule included the Malwa Region (or Monan Circuit, South of the Desert Circuit), Indian Ocean Coast (the Persia Circuit, the setting of which enraged the Seljuk Sultan), and Kangzhou region (Samarkand, lost and recaptured for multiple time during the see-saw battle with the Mongol Yuan). Those regions also held high regards in the Khitan world.)


What’s left were the administrative zones the Emperor set up symbolically, whereas titles of Prince or Duke were given to their original leaders, and the land of a Circuit or a Prefecture was “”granted” to him in a purely ritual gesture in confirmation, thus creating a peripheral region. Those regions held relatively larger autonomy, and tends to keep more native culture. In the matter of religion, they were influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. Their princes intermarried with the Yelu family for generations.

The larger territories of this type included the Shanyang Circuit (山陽道 Yang/South of the Mountain Circuit, Assam)【4】 of the House of Pala, the Puti Circuit (菩提道，Bodhi Circuit, Bihar) of the Yelu family’s collateral branches, the aforementioned Hanshan Circuit or Afghanistan might also belong here. The Bodhi Circuit has the Bodh-gaya and the Nalanda.

Smaller ones included the autonomous prefectures of the Monan Circuit (漠南道, South of the Desert Circuit, Rajputana), prefectures of the Lengjia Circuit (楞伽, or Lanka Circuit), the prefectures of the Annan Circuit (安南道 Pacifed South Circuit, or Orissa), prefectures of the Xihai Circuit (西海 Western Sea Circuit, or Gujrat). The Liao Emperor has been, in the recent years, trying to weaken those prefecture’s autonomy and slowly Liaonize them.

An administrative map of the Liao State in 1440, or 26th of Jingyun（景雲）in Liao, 5th of Zhengtong in Ming.


The Liao State has, in 1440, a population of approximately 55 million. Of this, the Fuli has about 28 million. Most believed in Mahayana Buddhism. Having been pushed by generations of Emperors with religious fervour, the abolition of the caste system had been complete in the directly controlled Circuits. (Hurrah or “wansui” for that.)


The Empire still used Chinese Characters on formal documents and important architectures, and on money. At the same time, a spelling system based on the Siddham Script had been widely tried to spell the “Liao Language”, Khitan, Uyghur and to transcript Indian native languages.


The metropolitan region around The Central Capital and Hanshan Circuit was the Liao Army’s most important pasture. The Liao Imperial House kept one of its traditions, called “Water of the Spring and Mountain of the Autumn” (春水秋山), that was to hold spring hunting near the water (in India, it’s usually done in wetlands of Heitian/Krishna Prefecture near Lahore and Hunts of Kashmir.) and the autumn hunt in the mountains (usually in the Central Capital North Imperial Park south of Nanga Parbat)


In the Tianzhu Circuit (天竺道, or Sindhu Circuit) on the Lower Indus plain, there were the fiefdoms of the Han and Khitan Hereditary Marquis (世侯, who weren’t marquis at all, but Khitan and Han warlords who rose against the Jurchen Jin during Mongol Invasion IOTL, and fled to Qara Khitai in large numbers ITTL). There were also many Chinese merchants living off the foreign trade who settle there, they are handling the trade between Arabia and the Ming Empire for years.


Liao’s major agricultural areas were in Punjab, Indus and Ganges, the Empire built a great amount of irrigatory projects there.


The Bodhi Circuit has a large amount of Buddhist heritage, as well as the primeval Mahakhitan scholastic centre: the Nalanda. Donations made by pilgrimaging Buddhist kings from the nations were enormous.




[Liao’s furthest territorial reach in the four directions:]


In the 24th Year of Jingyun (1438), troops from Kangzhou pushed north, and reached the Upper Capital, which had fallen for two centuries. They swept and cleaned the mausoleums of their Khitan ancestral emperors, and presented offerings. Chachi (察赤, or Tashkent), south of the Upper Capital’s ruin, was Mahakhitan’s northernmost outpost.


The Liao Empire, during the third Seljuq War, occupied the city of Moshi (Muscat) along Arabian Sea, and together with the Huomu (Holmuz) City, formed the westernmost oversea outpost of the Liao state, controlling trade routes of the Arabian Sea. Further inland, the Liao State’s western border reached Herat, taken from the Ghurids by troops of the Hanshan Circuit not long ago.


The Liao Emperor gained Sri Lanka via a succession, that’s the Lengjia Circuit (Lanka Circuit), constituting the Southernmost point of the Liao Empire. On the mainland, it was the Mumbai Sea south of Surat.


In the east, the Liao’s Shanyang Circuit with the mountains as it border, was in touch with the Yunan Province of the Ming Empire. The trade routes were on and off.

On this grand stage, the Khitan, the Han, the Turkic tribes’ descendent, together with native Indian peoples, created an entirely new civilization.

Phew … The next chapters will finally be the real subject.


【0】The nature of the Chinese language has made it very easy to do Phono-semantic Matching in translation, and many of the place names are translated just that way.
【1】棠石府（Tangshi Fu），tangshi sounds similar to Takshashila, but it also means "Stone as fine as pear-wood", a match for its original "city of cut stone".
【2】德布府（Debu Fu），debu sounds similar to Debul, but it also means "To preach virtue", which was a very Confucian idea.
【3】岢埠鎮 （Kebu Zhen），Kebu sounds like Kabul, but it literally means City in a Steep Mountain
【4】山陽道 （Shanyang Circuit）Yang as in Ying and Yang. Any place south of a mountain and north of a river is considered Yang. Assam is south of the Himalayas.

 

[Green Painting]

Sorry if this update seems a bit confusing, adding Chinese names to non-Chinese objects may be a fun word game to Chinese readers, but would appear utterly chaotic to non-Chinese readers.

 

[Whiteshore]

Is "Rum" basically TTL's term for what in OTL we'd call Greece? It seems like the ERE has fared better than OTL.

 

[Green Painting]

Is "Rum" basically TTL's term for what in OTL we'd call Greece? It seems like the ERE has fared better than OTL.

Well, basically the Abbasid Caliphate was driven out of Baghdad, and was Hellenized in Anatolia, this might have butterflied the Ottomans away.

 

[Whiteshore]

Well, basically the Abbasid Caliphate was driven out of Baghdad, and was Hellenized in Anatolia, this might have butterflied the Ottomans away.

So the Palaeologoi fared better than OTL, right? I wonder how Bulgaria and Serbia are doing with the ERE still a prominent power.

 

[Green Painting]

So the Palaeologoi fared better than OTL, right? I wonder how Bulgaria and Serbia are doing with the ERE still a prominent power.

Was occupying parts of the Roman Empire a necessary condition for Serbia and Bulgaria's rise? They don't have to pay blood debts ITTL for sure.

 

[Green Painting]

Bonus: Exploring the Possibilities of Mahakhitan Art.


I’ve been reading some stuff on the Qocho or Gaochang Uyghurs, and came to the conclusion that the Mahakhitans would inevitably, owing to historical reason, get influenced by Qocho’s craftsmanship after conquering Qocho. And I happily accepted this, and determined that Mahakhitan brought this artistic style to India after forming their own (under Qocho Influence).

Now, after lunch I spent my time drawing on a sketchbook, and it went out of control. The result would be the following… (I regret not taking a better sketchbook).

Grand Temple of Gandhalaya, or Fragrance, Nalanda

It’s a section on the left and elevation on the right, an unrefined work made by an hour. I mainly referred to the the Qocho Buddhist Temple in the ruins of the ancient city of Beiting, escavated in 1979, and the Y Pagoda in the ruins of Qocho. With some influences from the Gupta and Chandala artistic styles which I know quite little still. That’s how it appears.


As for the Liao Empire’s signature large wooden structure, emm, admittedly I didn’t put in all my effort.


What are your advices if you feel interested?

 

[Mccarthypaddy1216]

That is pretty good looking Picture if I do say so myself

 

[Green Painting]

That is pretty good looking Picture if I do say so myself

Thank you

 

[Whiteshore]

How do the Liao administer Sri Lanka owing to the great distance it has from the rest of the Empire?