How do later Mongol reflections on the yasa bring out the uneasy relationship they had with the memory of Genghis Khan.
Later Mongol reflections on the yasa reveal an uneasy relationship with Genghis Khan's memory through the complex ways his successors fashioned it to suit their needs. Originally meaning 'law', 'decree' or 'order', by the mid-thirteenth century, yasa came to signify the 'legal code of Genghis Khan'.
A striking example is 'Abdullah Khan, a descendant of Jochi, who in the late sixteenth century performed Muslim prayers at Bukhara's festival ground—the same place where Genghis Khan had once admonished Muslim residents as sinners. His chronicler justified this act of Muslim piety as being 'according to the yasa of Genghis Khan', a surprising claim given the Great Khan's earlier hostility toward Muslims there.
This shows how later Mongols selectively interpreted the yasa to legitimise actions that contradicted Genghis Khan's own conduct, reflecting their struggle to reconcile his memory with their changing circumstances.
Explanation
The answer draws from the textbook's discussion of how the yasa was used by later Mongol rulers like Abdullah Khan to justify actions that actually contradicted Genghis Khan's historical conduct. The textbook explicitly mentions this as 'surprising' and discusses how the memory of the Great Khan was 'fashioned by his successors' in 'complex ways'. The uneasy relationship stems from the tension between revering Genghis Khan's authority (through invoking the yasa) while simultaneously departing from his actual practices and beliefs, particularly as later Mongols adopted Islam and sedentary lifestyles.