Across Europe and Asia, religion played a huge role in political and daily life throughout the medieval period-not because of the Mongols themselves, but because the various parts of the Mongol Empire were dominated by Christianity (in Russia), Islam (in Persia), and Buddhism (in China). The different religions shaped the Mongol khans’ personal lives and their political decisions. The local khan’s faith sometimes determined what laws were enforced and who was considered an enemy. And some religious leaders labeled anyone who did not follow their faith “heathens,” and used religious difference as a reason to wage wars.
The Mongols’ original religious beliefs centered on ancestor worship. They kept images of their dead relatives and prayed to their spirits.
Civil Wars
Although the Russians may have had some sense of nationalism under Mongol rule, the Russian princes continued to fight among themselves for power. During the 1280s and 1290s, princes from the same family sometimes battled each other, trying to win control of larger regions. At one time, Mongol forces fought against each other during these Russian wars, as Noghai and Tode Mongke backed rival princes.
Ancestors could become spirits of mountains and water. Above all these spirits was Eternal Heaven (Mongke Tenggeri). Earth was seen as an ancient grandmother.
Shamans Today
Shamanism developed across Central Asia and Siberia, and the "medicine men" of North and South American Native peoples are also shamans. Shamanism is still practiced around the world today, including in Mongolia, although Tibetan style Buddhism is now the dominant religion. Shamanistic powers are thought to pass from parents to their children. Stanley Stewart, in In the Empire of Genghis Khan: A Journey Among Nomads, described a session with a shaman who entered a trance and made predictions about the future. The shaman told Stewart that contacting the spirits is not easy: "I am often afraid. The way to the spirits is littered with the souls of fallen shamans."
In the time of Chinggis, the Mongol religion was shamanistic: The people looked to religious leaders called shamans to offer religious guidance. The shamans were mostly men, but some were women. Shamans, the Mongols believed, had the power to communicate with gods and spirits. The shamans were the link between the world of humans and the supernatural. They could drive out evil spirits and seek help from good ones. They usually performed their duties, such as praying, on hills or mountains, so they would be closer to heaven. Shamans could also use their skills to cure disease and, supposedly, to predict the future. When Chinggis was named Great Khan, the Mongol shaman said (as reported by Juvaini and quoted in Paul Ratchnevsky’s Genghis Khan: His Life and Legacy), “God spoke to me, saying: ‘I have given the whole Earth to Temujin and his sons. . . . See that he rules justly!’”
At times, the Mongols sacrificed animals to the gods and spirits. To keep evil spirits out of their homes, they made strangers walk between two fires. The fires were thought to drive out any spirits occupying their guests, and they were also used to purify relatives who were inside a ger when a family member died. Carpini reported (in The Story of the Mongols Whom We Call the Tartars) that a Russian prince who refused to pass between the fires and then bow to a statue of Chinggis Khan was trampled to death.
Modern historians suggest that the Russian prince was killed because of a political disagreement with the Mongols, not for rejecting a practice of their religion. When it came to religious beliefs, the Mongols were perhaps the most tolerant people in the medieval world. In general, they readily accepted other peoples’ gods, while often still following their shamanistic traditions.
World History
