Chinggis Khan and Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, 1222
For all that you can say on Chinggis Khan, he respected acts of courage and daring escapes, having undertaken many of his own in his own difficult youth. After his forces defeated the Khwarezmian army under Jalal al-Din Mingburnu on the Indus River in 1222, Mingburnu rushed his horse off the cliff and into the water. Mongol archers made to pick him off, but Chinggis Khan himself stopped them, according to the Persian chronicler Juvaini (writing about 30 years later).
In the image above, the quote comes from the Russian translation of Juvaini. The more accessible English translation from J.A Boyle is a bit more restrained:
"From excess of astonishment he [Chinggis Khan] put his hand to his mouth and ket saying to his sons, "such a son must a father have!"" (Juvaini/Boyle, i, 134)
To further illustrate the sentiment, Juvaini then cites some verses of the Shahnama:
"When Isfandiyar gazed behind him, he descried him on the dry land on the far side of the stream.
He said: 'call not this being a man-he is a raging elephant endued with pomp and splendour.'
So he spoke, and gazed thitherwards where Rustam went seeking his way." (Juvaini/Boyle, i, 134-135)
Jalal al-Din escapes, and would continue to fight for another ten years (though mainly against other Muslims and the Kingdom of Georgia). Despite his respect for his adversary's deed, when Jalal al-Din's wives and children were captured after the battle, the sons, even those who infants, were killed. Those of his army who also sought to swim the Indus drowned or were sunk by Mongol arrows. Mingburnu's horse survived the jump, and he brought it with him for the rest of its life, treating it with respect and never riding it again.
This picture was from my video on the Mongol Invasion of the Khwarezmian Empire, which you can watch here:https://youtu.be/oBazW15L-F0
