Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Why is Changez Khan not a prophet?

Amidst all the sound pollution over the Chattrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea, I got to know that the people and politicians of Mongolia have managed to upstage us in Maharashtra. They have taken the lead by erecting a massive statue of their homegrown legend Changez Khan or Genghis Khan as the English tongue pronounced it in their capital.To quote Wikipedia, the Genghis Khan Statue complex is located 54 km from Ulan Bator, Mongolia, on the bank of the Tuul River, in a place called Tsonjin Boldog, where the magnificent Khan had found a golden whip according to a Mongol legend. A 40 meter high statue on horseback was erected on a 10 meter high base, covered by stainless steel and surrounded by 36 columns. Those 36 columns are meant to represent the memory of 36 kings’ who descended from Khan.Mongolia of course now has the Khan on its currency notes, parks, restaurants, dishes, hotels, lobbies, offices, just about everywhere. Reminds you of Maharashtra, right?Two airports about a kilometre away from each other both named Shivaji International Airport?However my question has nothing to do with whether this statue mania in Maharashtra or Mongolia is good or bad.I just have one question to ask- Why is Changez/ Genghis Khan not a prophet? The answer is not easy nor palatable I suppose, or someone would have come forward to answer it.

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