The history of Central Asia before the days of Jingis Khan is singularly complicated and obscure; and if we are to make our way among its mazes, we can only do so profitably by concentrating our attention on the larger empires which then floúrished, and integrating the scattered facts that have survived to our day about the lesser powers around them. The empire which held this dominant position at the accession of Jingis was that of Kara Khitai, a short-lived, but also an important power, which held sway with more or less authority from the Caspian to the borders of China, and thus formed in some measure a model, upon which the later Mongol Empire was framed, assisting, also, very considerably in its formation, since, when it fell, a large, disciplined and compact territory was added to it. With your permission, I propose to collect together so much of its history as I can meet with, and to clear up some difficulties that attach to it.
Messianism, rationalism and inter-Asian connections: The Majalis-i Jahangiri (1608–11) and the socio-intellectual history of the Mughal ‘ulama