ABSTRACT

This set of events is recorded in a surprising form in several Persian hagiographies of the khwāja dynasty (written in the eighteenth century), in eastern Turkish poetry and in oral tradition where legends and historical facts mingle. In these sources, the head of the lamaist church and the Jungghar sovereign were either converted to Islam and sufism or convinced of the supremacy of Islam after being defeated through magical competitions, and as a consequence they provided help to Āfāq khwāja. In this article, my aim is to analyse how legends and history intertwine in these competing narratives and conversion stories.