Hassan Ibn Sabbah: Grand Master of Assassins
Growing up in a small town in a remote part of the country, the only thing to keep oneself entertained (especially for someone shy and awkward as me) was books. And so I read books. Having a brother who read a lot, and a father, who never objected to our reading any kind of stuff, helped me to explore bookstores and books (perhaps it was ok for my mother with whatever we did, as long as we were not bothering her, or getting run over by a car or something like that!).
Added to that was the fact that back then people used to read and so there were a few very quality periodicals published in my language. There were guys writing there, who dared to be unconventional and swim against the wave. Thus at the age of 12, I learned that the whole Shivalinga episode (an insuted Shiva, metamorphising into the burning Shivalinga, and seeking to destroy the world, and a Goddess taking the same of a Yoni, and quneching Shiva's anger etc. etc.) could be nothing more than the mataphor for some Aryan community offering their girls to a non-Aryan leader or king, who went berseck after being assaulted/attacked by the Aryans, to establish peace.
At almost the same age, I also learned that in pornography everyone wants sex, and everyone is happy. It would be much later that I would read an article by Dom Moraes (perhaps in Debonair or Playboy) where he analysed the changing pattern of pornography over the decades in the context of Bill Clinton- Monica Lewinsky saga.
At that same period, I also read a biographical novel based on Omar Khayyam. Years later, after reading Rubaiyyat by Fitgerald, I would notice how this novel was more or less a translation of Rubaiyyat; but the author never claimed the novel to be his original work and so, I don't consider him a plagiarist. I rather feel obliged to him for introducing me to Omar Khayyam in a rational way. In addition to being the poet that we know him as, Omar Khayyam was also a scholar: a mathematican, and an astronomer who corrected Ptolemy's calendar, and who, inspite of making three fatallly accurate predictions, never accepted Astrology as of value. He was also a broken-hearted lover.
But I'm more grateful to our author for introducing me to another, more colorful character though his novel: Hassan Ibn Sabbah, who has been a subject of fascination to me ever since.
A classmate of Omar Khayyam and a brilliant student, Hassan Ibn Sabbah later went renegade and controlled a group of killers, who assassinated people of imporance for political reasons. He was the "First Grand Master of the Order of Assassins", as they say. The word, 'Assassin' derives from his name. Many people seem to connect 'Assassin' to 'Hashish', an intoxicant Ibn Sabbah apparently fed to his followers; but most probably this is just another Urban legend.
He taught his followers to infiltrate any organization, to deny their faith if necessary, and then to kill whoever opposed him. To most, he is a ruthless killer; but to me, he's a little more than that. If I remember correctly what I read somewhere long ago, he was more intelligent as a student than the others including Omar Khayyam; but someone fortune didn't favor him, and the resulting frustration made him the guy he would later become.
I cannot say that killing is something appreciable or, that he's my hero; but if what I just wrote is true, I feel sorry for him. And perhaps many other people, who saw people less smarter than themselves reaching higher positions, would also feel the same way for him.
However, it is not easy to tell what is truth and what is lie, when one reads about such issues. Most of the world view on Hassan Ibn Sabbah is based on Marco Polo's account, whose work I will never consider to be authentic. I read his "Travels", and his documentation is more like Antonio Pigafetta's account of the south America, where Fantasy took an unlimited flight! I would personally like to (at least partially) believe the line of argument presented in the website, http://www.inter-zone.org/hassan2.html . I will discuss why I do so, when I will write the blog about Caligula, another historical character regarding whom the fact is very difficult to separate from fiction.
________________________________________________________________Added to that was the fact that back then people used to read and so there were a few very quality periodicals published in my language. There were guys writing there, who dared to be unconventional and swim against the wave. Thus at the age of 12, I learned that the whole Shivalinga episode (an insuted Shiva, metamorphising into the burning Shivalinga, and seeking to destroy the world, and a Goddess taking the same of a Yoni, and quneching Shiva's anger etc. etc.) could be nothing more than the mataphor for some Aryan community offering their girls to a non-Aryan leader or king, who went berseck after being assaulted/attacked by the Aryans, to establish peace.
At almost the same age, I also learned that in pornography everyone wants sex, and everyone is happy. It would be much later that I would read an article by Dom Moraes (perhaps in Debonair or Playboy) where he analysed the changing pattern of pornography over the decades in the context of Bill Clinton- Monica Lewinsky saga.
At that same period, I also read a biographical novel based on Omar Khayyam. Years later, after reading Rubaiyyat by Fitgerald, I would notice how this novel was more or less a translation of Rubaiyyat; but the author never claimed the novel to be his original work and so, I don't consider him a plagiarist. I rather feel obliged to him for introducing me to Omar Khayyam in a rational way. In addition to being the poet that we know him as, Omar Khayyam was also a scholar: a mathematican, and an astronomer who corrected Ptolemy's calendar, and who, inspite of making three fatallly accurate predictions, never accepted Astrology as of value. He was also a broken-hearted lover.
But I'm more grateful to our author for introducing me to another, more colorful character though his novel: Hassan Ibn Sabbah, who has been a subject of fascination to me ever since.
A classmate of Omar Khayyam and a brilliant student, Hassan Ibn Sabbah later went renegade and controlled a group of killers, who assassinated people of imporance for political reasons. He was the "First Grand Master of the Order of Assassins", as they say. The word, 'Assassin' derives from his name. Many people seem to connect 'Assassin' to 'Hashish', an intoxicant Ibn Sabbah apparently fed to his followers; but most probably this is just another Urban legend.
He taught his followers to infiltrate any organization, to deny their faith if necessary, and then to kill whoever opposed him. To most, he is a ruthless killer; but to me, he's a little more than that. If I remember correctly what I read somewhere long ago, he was more intelligent as a student than the others including Omar Khayyam; but someone fortune didn't favor him, and the resulting frustration made him the guy he would later become.
I cannot say that killing is something appreciable or, that he's my hero; but if what I just wrote is true, I feel sorry for him. And perhaps many other people, who saw people less smarter than themselves reaching higher positions, would also feel the same way for him.
However, it is not easy to tell what is truth and what is lie, when one reads about such issues. Most of the world view on Hassan Ibn Sabbah is based on Marco Polo's account, whose work I will never consider to be authentic. I read his "Travels", and his documentation is more like Antonio Pigafetta's account of the south America, where Fantasy took an unlimited flight! I would personally like to (at least partially) believe the line of argument presented in the website, http://www.inter-zone.org/hassan2.html . I will discuss why I do so, when I will write the blog about Caligula, another historical character regarding whom the fact is very difficult to separate from fiction.
Sources:
http://www.inter-zone.org/hassan2.html
http://www.geocities.com/skews_me_too/assassin.html
http://www.alamut.com/subj/ideologies/alamut/etymolAss.html
http://www.geocities.com/skews_me/assassin.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Hassan-i-Sabah
http://www.insteadof.com/TerrorAttack/p32.htm
http://www.nndb.com/people/043/000031947/
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Omar%20Khayyam
http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node=Hassan%20I%20Sabbah
http://www.ismaili.net/histoire/history06/content600.html
http://www.inter-zone.org/hassanpages.html
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home