In the Great Khan’s Tent

In this Episode, we conclude the story “The Story told by the Jewish Physician” continuing with Night XXVIII and begin the story “The Story told by the Tailor” in Night XXIX and Night XXX. I will have to say at the outset that the story told by the Tailor and the character of the Barber which features in this cycle of stories is one of my favorite characters in the One Thousand and One Nights. Wha...

In this Episode, we conclude the story “The Story told by the Sultan’s Steward” with Night XXVIII and beginning the story “The Story told by the Jewish Physician”. Once again, in a similar vein to the stories told in this cycle, the main character for the story told by the Jewish Physician is a merchant, this time from Mosul, who travels to cities of Aleppo and Damascus and by the time we reach th...

In this Episode, we conclude the story “The Story told by the by the Christian Broker” with Night XXVI and in Night XXVII we begin the story “The Story told by the Sultan’s Steward”. The story told by the Christian broker was in essence a sad one. Although he does gain his wealth back and more by the end, what he has lost is more immense than can be recovered by mere wealth alone. This fact is cle...

In This Episode we have concluded the story of “The Story of Nur-ud-din Ali and his Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter” with Night XXIV and beginning a new story, “The Case of the Tailor, The Hunchback or Humpback, the Jew, the Inspector, and the Christian” or known as “The story of the Humpback” with Night XXV. This new story is, much like some of the earlier ones, a story within a...

In this Episode we are reaching the conclusion of the story of “The Story of Nur-ud-din Ali and his Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter” continuing with Night XXIII and going into Night XXIV. In this night we see that Shams-ud-din Mohammad, his daughter Sitt al-Husn, and his grandson Ajib, are all in Damascus and then going to Basrah to pick up Hasan Badr-ud-din’s mother and returnin...

Welcome back to In The Great Khan’s Tent and our continuing series on the One Thousand and One Nights also known as the Arabian Nights. To recap, we had begun the story of “The Story of Nur-ud-din Ali and his Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter” where Hasan Badr-ud-din, whose father Nur-ud-din had died after leaving Egypt for Basra, found himself being taken away as he slept to Egypt...

In this episode of In The Great Khan’s Tent Presents: The Later Mughals we continue with the struggle of the three sons of Aurangzeb, this time focusing on the two strongest candidates, Bahadur Shah and Azim Shah and the beginning of the culmination of this conflict with the start of the battle of Jajau on the 20th of June 1707 C.E. Azam Shah’s struggles with the loyalty of some of his prominent s...

Welcome to a new series from In The Great Khan’s Tent! Fear not listeners! We will be continuing the One Thousand and One Nights shortly but wanted to take this podcast in a new direction under our directive to educate people. What better way to do that than to look at one of the overlooked areas of History than the Later Mughals. Thus, I present you with IN The Great Khan’s Tent: The Later Mughal...

In this episode, we continue “The Story of Nur-ud-din Ali and his Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter” with Nights XXI and XXII. In this part, unlike in other tales told, we see here believing Jinns directly facilitate the story by transporting Hasan Badr-ud-din, the son of Nur-ud-din to Cario to participate in the shenanigans that are occurring. We also get to see the appearance of...

In this episode, we continue “The Story of Nur-ed-din Ali and His Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter”. We see here, for the first time, actual geographical destinations that do correspond in actuality to the location where Nur-ed-din begins his journey in Cario, going to Bilbais, Jerusalem, Aleppo, and finally ending in Basra. We also have mention of a town in Egypt, Qalyub or Kalyu...

In this episode, we end the story cycle of the “The Porter, the Three Ladies of Baghdad, and the three Dervishes” with Night XIX and begin another story cycle “The Story of the Three Apples” with Night XX. Within the “Three Apples” cycle we start “The Story of Nur-ed-din Ali and His Son and of Shams-ud-din Mohammad and his Daughter”. What is interesting about both the end of the first cycle and th...

In this episode, we end “The Story of the First of the Three Ladies of Baghdad” and move on to “The Story of the Second of the Three Ladies of Baghdad” with the continuation of Night XVII and Night XVIII. We once again encounter two Jinn, the main dealings are with the Jinniyah with the other being an anonymous enemy of her, and see the type of help they provide. It is interesting that her help wa...

In this episode, we finally end the story of “The Third Royal Dervish” and begin the final round of tales with the “The Story of the First of the Three Ladies of Baghdad” continuing with Night XVI and going into Night XVII. We again encounter the prospect of being lost at sea and winding up in an entirely new place setting a precedent with the orphan stories like Sindbad. We also encounter for the...

In this episode, we begin the story of “The Third Royal Dervish” with Night XV and Night XVI. Note that the Third Royal Dervish is the first instance we encounter of a hero who enjoys sailing, owns ships, and is subsequently shipwrecked. This clearly shows that the fundamental ideas that were to be found in orphan stories like Sindbad do have some basis in the One Thousand and One Nights. We also...

In this series of special episodes, I hope to highlight the historical background for the One Thousand and One Nights, by examining the history of the work, where the text drew its inspiration from, the original manuscripts, translators and translations, and how it found a new iteration in Children's Literature. In this Second special episode, I look into the brief history of oral literature, prov...

In this episode we continue the story of “The Second Royal Dervish” in the continuation of Night XIII and part of Night XIV. Within this story is a nested tale of “The Story of the Envier and the Envied” which provides a moral tale for those who are envious. Within the story of “The Second Royal Dervish” we encounter, for the first time, an actual confrontation head on with the Jinn, in this case...

In this episode, we continue the story of “The First Royal Dervish” in the continuation of Night XI, Night XII, and part of Night XIII. We also hear part of the story of “The Second Royal Dervish” and encounter the Jinn once again. However, unlike previous episodes this time the Jinn is named, Jarjaris, and given a lineage which links him to Iblis, commonly known as Satan, providing evidence for t...

In this episode, we continue with the story of “The Porter, The Three Ladies of Baghdad, and the Three Dervishes: with Night IX, Night X, and the beginning of Night XI. We also begin to learn more about the three Dervishes with the beginning of the first Dervish’s story “The Story of the First Royal Dervish” in Night XI. This section of the One Thousand and One Nights also marks the first appearan...

In this episode, we finally reach the end of the story of the Fisherman and the Jinn with Night VIII and Night IX. Within Night IX, we also begin one of the popular stories in the Arabian Nights, that of “The Porter, The Three Ladies of Baghdad, and The Three Dervishes”. Here we also encounter the first scientific wording which refers to bodily anatomy. We also begin to see more references to the...

In this series of special episodes, I hope to highlight the historical background for the One Thousand and One Nights, by examining the history of the work, the original manuscripts, translators and translations, and how it found a new iteration in Children's Literature. In this episode I focus on my own academic/scholarly history to help the listener understand where I am approaching this topic f...

In this episode, the story of the Fisherman and the Jinn in Nights V, VI, VII is continued and the beginning of Night VIII and again we encounter evidence of a story that is not told, this time said by the Jinn to the Fisherman, that of “Umameh and ‘Atikeh”. We also introduced to the story of the “The Young King of the Black Islands” although moving directly away from the Fisherman and the Jinn, h...

In this episode, we continue with Nights III, Night IV and the middle of Night V. There are certain things which are different in this episode as compared to the last. One of the most important things to note here is that this is one of the first instance of a tale which we do not encounter, which is the “Story of the Crocodile” as mentioned by the Sage Duban. As we listen, I would suggest that th...

In this episode we look at the beginning of the Thousand and One Nights with Night I and Night II with the story of the Merchant and the Jinn. Note the role that the Jinn play in these tales and how the structure of the narrative is formed. We also look at the beginning of Night III with the opening of the Tale of the Fisherman which is one of the more commonly known tales. As you are listening, p...

In this series of In the Great Khan’s Tent I will be reading “The Thousand and One Nights” or commonly referred to as the “Arabian Nights”. Two translations will be used as the basis of this podcast, the four volume “The Thousand on One Nights: The Arabian Nights Entertainment” translated by Edward William Lane and Stanley Lane-Poole and the 3 volume “Tales from the Arabic of the Breslau and Calcu...