According to one of the Mongolian legends, at a time when the waters of the warm sea were still splashing on the site of the rocky Gobi desert, a beautiful and rich city was built on its picturesque shore by the first descendants of the gods, in which sages and merchants, brave warriors and skilled artisans lived.
Khara-Khoto - this was the name of the legendary ancient city, about the death of which another Mongol legend tells. It says that the last ruler of the city of batyr, Khara-jian-jun, wishing to take the throne from the Chinese emperor, declared war on him.
However, having lost a number of battles, the batyr was forced to hide behind the impregnable walls of the city. Unable to take the city by storm, the Chinese emperor ordered to divert the channel of the Entsin-Gol river from Hara-Khoto and thereby deprive its defenders of water.
Seeing that the city and its inhabitants were doomed to inevitable death, Hara-jian-jun hid all his untold treasures in a secret place, killed his wife and children and fought a decisive battle in which he was killed. The Chinese troops that broke into Hara-Khoto destroyed all its inhabitants, and the city itself was turned into ruins …
The city has long been known to Russian travelers, scientists and researchers about the dead city lost in the sands of the southern part of the Gobi Desert.
In 1907, a student of N. Przhevalsky, the famous Russian explorer Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, having organized an expedition, went to Mongolia. After several weeks of unsuccessful searches, Kozlov managed to enlist the support of the prince of the Torgout-Beile tribe, who lived in those parts, and with the help of a guide, on March 19, 1907, the expedition arrived at the dead city located at the bend of the Eisin-Gol River.
The guide, whose name was Bat, conveyed the prince's instructions to Kozlov, according to which foreigners were forbidden to bring pack animals into the ruined city, light fires and eat inside the city walls. Women were not allowed to appear in Hara-Khoto. Such prohibitions were explained by the fact that their violation could cause anger of the spirits-founders of the ancient city.
In support of this belief, Bath told Russian travelers a story about how a century ago, in search of lost horses, a local woman accidentally wandered into the city. Among the destroyed buildings, she discovered several strands of large pearls. Barely leaving the city, the woman suddenly fell into a terrible sandstorm …
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A few days later, her corpse, half-covered with sand, with strands of pearls clutched in her palms, was found by a caravan passing by …
The prince of the Torgout-Beile tribe also wished that the Russian researchers, if they discovered the treasures of the batyr Khara-jian-jun, would transfer the found riches to him.
Priceless finds
The eyes of Russian travelers saw the high fortress walls, almost completely covered with sand. At the western wall there were two mausoleums - suburgans, one of which was completely destroyed. Another well-preserved mausoleum was located outside the fortress. It was there that researchers came across a number of amazing and invaluable, from a historical point of view, finds.
So, inside the mausoleum, scientists discovered the rarest examples of Buddhist icon painting made in colored paints on silk canvases, many metal and wooden figurines. The found library was of particular value - more than 2000 well-preserved manuscript books and scrolls.
In the center of the mausoleum, on a stone pedestal, from which a tall metal pole rose upward, twenty clay figures, as tall as a man, were placed face to face. Next to each of the figures, stacked on top of each other, lay hundreds of handwritten sheets. In the far corner of the suburgan, scientists came across a well-preserved skeleton in a sitting position. As the researchers suggested, the skeleton could belong to a clergyman, for whom, in fact, this mausoleum was erected …
Many curious and mysterious discoveries awaited the members of the expedition in the city itself. So, in the center of Khara-Khoto, scientists have cleared of sand a strange structure - a round stone structure, two and a half meters high, resembling a giant head of cheese.
On the upper - flat - side of it, researchers stumbled upon incomprehensible cuneiform letters that differed from those with which the found manuscripts were made, and, apparently, belonged to a much earlier era, as well as mysterious concentric circles, spirals and lines woven into a bizarre web.
All of this was hollowed out in solid stone. According to scientists, the building in ancient times could well serve as an observatory for the inhabitants of the city, as well as a sacred place where ancient priests made sacrifices to their gods.
Another curious discovery awaited Russian researchers in one of the dilapidated buildings. After careful cleaning, the eyes of the amazed researchers saw well-preserved fragments of wall painting, in which, in addition to the faces of the saints, there were images of strange creatures: two-headed birds, fish with human heads, and a terrifying-looking dragon. Next to these mythical creatures were miniature figures of people.
Hara-Hoto reveals its secrets
In the middle of the summer of 1907, Kozlov was ordered by the Mongolian authorities to stop excavations and leave the country. This was motivated by complaints from the local population to the administration that outsiders were desecrating the Forbidden City with their presence.
By coincidence, it was during the stay of the expedition in Hara-Khoto that an unprecedented drought was established in those parts. To top it off, a series of powerful tremors swept through the central part of Mongolia. All this was interpreted by the elders of the Mongol tribes as a sign that powerful spirits are unhappy with the presence of gentiles on their land.
Despite the obstacles posed by the authorities, Kozlov managed to transport a significant part of the found exhibits and manuscripts to St. Petersburg, to the Geographical Society. Due to the fact that in the library of the dead city a dictionary of the "si-xia" language was found, which was spoken by the Tangut who once lived in the state whose capital was Khara-Khoto, experts and scientists who were part of the Society were able to decipher most of the discovered manuscripts …
Some of the scrolls were filled with all kinds of recipes and medicines that helped in the treatment of people and livestock. A lot of space in the books found was devoted to chronicles, from which it became known that in about 1226-1227 the Tangut state was defeated by the troops of Genghis Khan, after which it became part of the great Mongol state.
However, some of the documents were never deciphered. This was due to the fact that they were written in a language unknown to researchers. According to one of the versions of scientists, ancient priests encrypted some magical texts on mysterious scrolls, which mere mortals were not allowed to know. According to another, these writings are, perhaps, the only material evidence of a certain mysterious civilization that created the city of Hara-Khoto.
The great Russian thinker and researcher of Asia N. K. Roerich, having become acquainted with the artifacts found in the dead city, made the following entry in his diary: “I recall a wonderful image of a woman's head. If such people lived in desert cities, how far were these places from savagery!"
Perhaps our great compatriot was right in thinking that such creations could have been created by a civilization that was much ahead of its time in development. But only silent ruins covered with sand and covered with many exciting legends remind of her.
Secrets of the 20th century. Mysteries of history №2-С 2011