Chingizid mongols

Chingizid Menggu/Mengwu/ Mongol tribe.

Hun connection

  • “From the famous rock-carving on the cliff overlooking the Tuula river facing north towards Ulan Bator dated to the 1000-1100s of CE depicting the ancestress doe (Qoa Maral) and the ancestress Alan Qoa suggest that the Mongols had re-established themselves in Mongolia by then.” [MT]
  • “It is notable that the Chingiz Khan and his successors recognized this region and established their capital of Qara Qorum in this region. This supports the continuity hinted by Chingiz recognizing the Shanyu the Xiongnu as a temporal predecessor in his letter to the cīna sage Chiu Chuji. … Chingiz does not acknowledge these Türks as his predecessors rather he skips them going back to the earlier Huns.” [MT]

Legacy of Chingiz

The great chingiz temujin khAn conquered and started the empire (details separate). General details about their foundational tactical, strategic, legal, ritual, administrative techniques are described there.

Thence emerged:

  • The Golden horde (urdu)/ Ulus of Jochi towards Russia, which after Öz Beg Khan declined due to internal conflict and Islamicized.
  • Remnants of (Chagatai) Tsagadaina Khaanat Ulus ruled over mughalistaan in Ferghana area - also islamicized.
    • gUrkhAni-s Timur and babur’s mogols (displaced by Oirat-s) came thence.
  • House of Ögedei, later split and subsumed by chagatai and Tolui’s descendents.
  • Tolui’s yuan dynasty came from his Nestorian Christian wife Sorghaghtani Beki.
  • From Tolui’s son - Hulagu-yn Ulus/ Ilkhanate accross Iran, Iraq etc., which also islamized.

Fall

Summary

“Finally, other than demography (relatively low numbers) and internecine conflict a key factor in the ultimate unraveling of the Mongol system was their approach to religion.”

Religion

“As archetypal heathens they clearly gravitated towards a version of religion closest in spirit to their own namely the Indo-Aryan religion. They received watered down versions of it from the Uighurs first and then the Tibetans. This however, did not translate into a robust religious policy. Like most archetypal heathens their natural tendency was to adopt a “secular” (used in the weird Indian sense of the usage) attitude towards the religion of their conquered peoples.” Secularism failed here - [MT]

“It appears that their endogenous religion was not sufficient to provide a strong cultural shield that protected their identity against rival identities. "

“The Mongol states were replaced in most places (except Mongolia itself and Han China) by less well-governed or less stable Shariah states – a future which might also await the Indians.”

Case of Ananda

“We suspect that the inability of the Mongol people to develop their endogenous religion as a strong scaffold of their identity, despite the efforts of Chingiz Khan in this direction was a major factor in their unraveling. Indeed, this deficit was felt at its biggest in their encounter with Islam. In a sense the case of Ananda, Qubilai’s grandson epitomizes this. He was given dIkSha in various tAntrika sAdhana-s and along with his Korean wife was an active bauddha to start with. But to gain an upper hand over his brothers and cousins he acquired a private army mainly made up of Arabs and Moslem Turks. Under their influence, Ananda became a Mohammedan even as Qubilai’s nephew was consulting whether to invade Mecca. He first practiced a fusion version of the religion wherein he advocated idiosyncratic combinations as his wife refused to convert from the bauddha dharma. He allowed Mullahs, bauddha vajrAchArya-s and shamans to officiate in a multicultural hodgepodge in his court. But the more he heard his Mevlanas the more filled with Islamic zeal he became. Styling himself as an Amir-al-Momin he imposed Islam on the population of Ningxia who were to become the Hui who continued to wage Jihads in China long after Ananda’s line had ceased to be. "

“Thus, the original plan of the great Khans Chingiz and Möngke to disperse Mohammedans from Central and West Asia to various far-flung parts of the empire so that they could no longer play a political role actually backfired badly under the Mongol secularism.”

Internal discord

“Many dynasties peter out due to the falling quality of successor who follow the great founder. This might be due to many reasons: 1) the founder consorting with lower quality women based purely on split-second decisions that males usually make often leads to offspring who are diluted in terms of the genetic advantages that the founder possessed. 2) Conversely, there could be regression to the mean upon consorting with a high-quality female. 3) The indolence coming from sheltered environments might make the successors less driven than the founder thereby losing their edge. But by all counts the experiment of Chingiz Khan was a success – in biological terms it was stupendous. 16 million males are believed to descend in his line today. If one accounts for females the number could be as many as double that. No one to our knowledge has been such a success story. Importantly, suggests that the quality of the founder lasted for a while in his line. This indeed was the case with his descendants like Batu, Möngke, Qubilai, Hülegü, Qaidu and Du’a and the like. They were accomplished men – something which was not limited to physical prowess as many tend to think but actually predicated by mental ability. Both Hülegü and Qubilai showed interest and good understanding of astronomy, while Qaidu and Du’a are described by different sources as smart men. The high fecundity ensured that in the line of Chingiz there was an abundance of talent and ironically this proved to be their undoing as it sparked intense intra-clan rivalry which ultimately resulted in them directing their energies inwards rather than outwards (despite episodic suggestions from leaders like Batu and Du’a).” {MT}

Han absorption

“One persistent theme in the Qaidu-Qubilai conflict, which has often been ignored by historians but repeatedly articulated by both the Chinese and West Asian chroniclers closer to the age, is the tension between the Mongol tradition and the Han steamroller. Qubilai was clearly seen as being allied to the Han interests as opposed to those purely of the Mongols. Qaidu was the one to clearly recognize and articulate this. … In practical terms, the adoption of sedentary ways could result in health problems for the steppe people due to processed foods with high carbohydrate content and perhaps a general softening of lifestyle. But Qaidu noted something beyond this – the policy of Qubilai to use the Han as a demographic force to consolidate his rule beyond the borders traditionally occupied by the Han meant that the traditional Mongolian steppe-lands were in danger. It was not merely that of the Mongols going soft in China as the great Khan had realized. So it was indeed a strong cause to which Qaidu was able to rally much support within the Mongol elite.” {MT}

Events

  • Khubilai’s descendents were cast out of China after the plague, unrest and murders.
  • “After 1370 CE the power of the Qubilaid Mongols declined precipitously leaving Mongolia in chaos, with several contenders jostling for supremacy but none gaining any ground. As they were fighting each other, the Kirghiz lord Ugechi routed the Qubilaid Khan Elbek and killed him in a battle in 1399 CE. "
  • “However, around the same time, (i.e. towards the end of the 1300s) a new Mongol confederation of tribes, the Oirat arose in Western Mongolia under their leader Mahamu. He formed an alliance with the chief of the Mongolized Arans (Alan; Airya>Ara), who were late-surviving steppe Iranians who had been close to the Qubilaids. Initially, they acted as though restoring Qubilaid power by overthrowing Ugechi and killing him.” After Punyashri, they took over firmly.
  • “Chingizids of the Qubilaid line might have waned into anonymity had they not found a new leader in the form of the direct descendent of Qubilai Khan, Puṇyaśrī Oljei Temür. On one hand Puṇyaśrī was a learned Sanskritist, with literary interests going beyond the vajrayāṇa tantra-s and encompassing the works of Daṇḍin and Bhojadeva Paramāra. On the other he was a vigorous warrior who started rebuilding the Mongol army and drew back the Arans to his side. He repulsed the Ming thrusts into Mongolia and struck out at the Chinese forces in several encounters to the south. … in 1424 CE the Arans and Puṇyaśrī had a falling out and the latter was killed in the conflict.” [MT]
  • “This was the highpoint of the Oirat Mongol empire which remained a great power till 1490CE. But at that point a remarkable Chingizid princess, Mandughai Khatun, who was seen by some as a reincarnation of Chingiz Khan’s mother Hoelun, restored Chingizid power by overthrowing the Oirats in 1491CE.” Her husband Batumongke Dayan Khan’s decision to divide the Six tumens of Eastern Mongolia as fiefs for his sons created decentralized but stable Borjigin rule over Mongolia for a century. A legend says: “She defeated several Ming attacks and protected Mongolia, she wore the helmets and the sword and fought with the Ming soldiers. She was pregnant, but still fought and delivered twin boys during a long battle. "
  • Borjigin Barsboladiin Altan Khan, grandson of Dayan Khan pushed out the Oirats and reunited Mongolia.
  • A century later, after the khan lost most power, they fell to Nurhachi and the Manchu Qing as they took over China. Russia also gobbled up siberian parts (esp Buryatia).
  • Chakhar / Chahar mongols (under a chingizid) of inner mongolia initially split and moved east. They surrendered to the manchu-s, heavily intermarried as vassals. But around 40 years later, they started a failed rebellion, and the leadership was annihilated (females enslaved). Inner mongolia was colonized by hans.
  • As the Dzungars under Galdan Boshugtu Khan (with Rus assistance) later attacked the khAlkha Chingizid Zanbazar despite all attempts at appeasement, the latter subjected themselves to manchu Qing Kanxi.

Late Indo-tibetan influence

  • Adoration of the 5th dalAi lAma sonam gyatso by Altan kakhAn, partial suppression of shamanism [tengrism page]. Within 50 years virtually all Mongols had become Buddhist, with tens of thousands of monks, who were members of the Gelug order, loyal to the Dalai Lama.
  • Later transmission through the geluk-influenced incarnation of tAranAtha - jJNAnavajra (zanbazar).

Independence

  • By 19th century, mongols were impoverished. Qing manchus (with army heavily consisting of Chakhar mongols) began colonization plans.
  • Mongols led by Bogd Gegeen Ezen Khan (reincarnation of zanbazar), chingizid prince Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren, mystic buddhist shaman Ja lama etc rebelled. It was mostly an orderly transference of power given Qing realism. They got support from Russians for a buffer state against Chinese and Japanese. Treaty of Kyakhta (1915) gave de-facto independence.
  • Inner Mongolia was divided and stayed with Qing.
  • After Russian Revolution in 1917, threatened by Grigori Semyonov and jealous of Bogd Khan, some princes invited Chinese military; who came and abolished autonomy. The White guard under Baron Roman Fyodorovich von Ungern-Sternberg invaded, but was repulsed. He reattacked in 1921 and restored Bogd Khan. Soviet supported communists gained ground. Red army invaded. Thousands of princes and princesses were killed, surnames abolished, geneologies forgotten. 2/3 years later, nominal theocratic rule was abolished.
  • Finally, in 1990, mongols became de-communized, but were cut off from their specific pitR-s.