A Khagan...posthumously...

Sometimes I wonder if it was good to be Chengiz Khan...so many little kids study of him ages afterwards! But what do they not read? Here is what I never knew about him till a day ago...

• Chengiz Khan was born Temüjin, meaning ironworker around 1162. The Secret History of the Mongols says that Temüjin was born with a blood clot grasped in his fist, an indication in the traditional Mongolian folklore that he was destined to become a great leader.
  
• No Accurate portrait exists saying how he looked.Persian historian Rashid al-Din recorded in his "Chronicles" that the legendary "glittering" ancestor of Genghis was tall, long-bearded, red-haired, and green-eyed.
  
• Religiously, he was very tolerant.Equality among religions & assured equal social status to women was the order of the day.
  
• As he defeated rival tribes, he didn't drive away enemy soldiers and abandon the rest. Instead he took the conquered tribe under his protection and integrated its members into his own tribe. However he was not tolerant of people who ditched their armies to join his. He used to get them procecuted, loyalty to him, was a great virtue.
  
• He would even have his mother adopt orphans from the conquered tribe, bringing them into his family. 
  
• These political innovations inspired great loyalty among the conquered people, making Temüjin stronger with each victory
  
• He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in Mongolia at a location unknown...special efforts were made to ensure that his grave is not discovered...rivers were diverted, trees planted, horses made to run over the place n what not!!!
  
• The Mongol Empire did not emphasize the importance of ethnicity and race in the administrative realm, instead adopting an approach grounded in meritocracy.
  
• The exception was the role of Genghis Khan and his family. The Mongol Empire was one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse empires in history, as befitted its size.
  

Good points all...well most...he was'nt so bad a general afterall! Strangely, I never knew of all these till date...my history books painted a gory picture of him in my mind! 

History, to carry the thought forward, is an adaptation of facts tinted by the eye of the historian. Only Winners get to write it ... wonder why they dont need to put disclaimers under what they write.