Bodonchar Munkhag

Bodonchar Munkhag Khan
Bodonchar (in blue) shown listening to his mother Alan Gua in an Iranian painting from 1430.
Founder and 1st Khan of the Borjigin
Reign10th century
PredecessorAnqawi Khan
SuccessorHabich Baghatur
Bornapprox. around late
9th century between
880s–890s?
Mongolia
DiedMid-10th century
Mongolia
IssueHabich Baghatur
Baaridai
Khabu Baatar
Jeguredei
Barim Sïqïratu Qabichu
Temple name
Shizu (始祖)
HouseKiyat Borjigin
FatherAnqawi Khan
(Timurid scribes)
MotherAlan Gua
(mythical)
ReligionTengrism

Bodonchar Munkhag or Bodonchar Khan (fl. late-9th to mid-10th centuries) was a Mongol Borjigin chieftain and warlord. He was known as founding patriarch of Borjigins and as first ruler of the tribe. He was the patrilineal ancestor of Genghis Khan who was the founder of Mongol Empire in 1206, as well as the Turco-Mongol Barlas tribe of the Central Asian Turco-Mongol conqueror Amir Timur who was the founder of Timurid Empire in 1370.

Account

According to the Secret History of the Mongols, he was the 12th generation nominal (non-biological) descendant of Borte Chino. Genghis Khan was the 11th and Timur was the 16th generation biological descendant of Bodonchar Munkhag. (sometimes written Butanchar the Simple). Bodonchar Munkhag is the founder of the House of Borjigin. Chagatai tradition dates 'Buzanjar Munqaq' to the rebellion of Abu Muslim or 747 CE. The name Borjigin does not come from Bodonchar but from Bodonchar's nominal great-grandfather Borjigidai the Wise (Borjigidai Mergen). The date 747 CE corresponds better with Borjigidai Mergen. A confusion with Bayanchur Khan could also account for this date discrepancy.

He was given the temple name Shizu (Chinese: 始祖; lit. 'Progenitor') during reign of Yuan dynasty in China.

According to Timurid scribes, Timur's father Taraqai told him that they were of the Descent of Bodonchar in 15th generational ancestry they tracing with him. The Timurid ruler Ulugh Beg's Tārīkh-i arbaʿ ulūs (lit. 'History of Four Nations'), abridged as the Shajarat al-atrāk (lit. 'Genealogy of Turks'), Timurids were descendants of Turk, son of Yāfith (Japheth). Turk was commonly referred as "Father of the Turks". Mughul and Tatar were twin brothers and children of Aljeh Khan, and therefore fifth generation descendants of Turk. Ulugh Beg's work on genealogy classified Mongols as Turks, while also praising their warrior spirit. Ulugh Beg included Yāfas (Japheth), Turk, Mughūl, Tātār and Ughūz in the genealogical record of the Genghisids and Timurids. More detail was given about Bodonchar's paternal than maternal ancestry. His father was Anqawi Khan; his grandfather, Qyal Khan; his great-grandfather, Ayi Khan; his great-great-grandfather, Tangez Khan; and his great-great-great-grandfather, Manqali Khan. Manqali was the great-grandson of Oghuz Khan, who was said to be a descendant of Mongol Khan. Bodonchar is the 28th generation in a family tree that traces lineages back to Adam, the first human and an Islamic prophet, about Bodonchar mother in Timurid Scribes, she was not necessarily mentioned because The Secret History of Mongols, mentioning her named as Alan Gua the mythological women.

Notes

  1. ↑
    • Classical Mongolian: ᠪᠣᠳᠤᠨᠴᠠᠷ ᠮᠥᠩᠬᠡ
    • Khalkha Mongolian: Бодончар Мөнх

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The secret history of the Mongols : a Mongolian epic chronicle of the thirteenth century. Igor de Rachewiltz. Leiden. 2006. ISBN 90-04-15363-2. OCLC 173262183.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  2. 1 2 Lee, Joo-Yup (2016). "The Historical Meaning of the Term Turk and the Nature of the Turkic Identity of the Chinggisid and Timurid Elites in Post-Mongol Central Asia". Central Asiatic Journal. 59 (1–2): 120–129. doi:10.13173/centasiaj.59.1-2.0101. ISSN 0008-9192. JSTOR 10.13173/centasiaj.59.1-2.0101.
  3. ↑ Rührdanz, Karin (1 January 2016), "8 From the Mongols to the Timurids: Refinement and Attrition in Persian Painting", The Mongols' Middle East, BRILL, pp. 172–192, doi:10.1163/9789004314726_010, ISBN 978-90-04-31199-2, retrieved 3 June 2025
  4. ↑ "Part Two: The Secret History of the Mongols Index", Index to the Secret History of the Mongols, De Gruyter Mouton, 31 December 1972, pp. 175–344, doi:10.1515/9783112311790-003, ISBN 978-3-11-231179-0, retrieved 3 June 2025
  5. 1 2 Chann, Naindeep Singh (2008). "Intellectual Movements during Timuri and Safavid Periods (1500-1700 A.D.)". Iran and the Caucasus. 12 (2): 413–415. doi:10.1163/157338408x406182. ISSN 1609-8498.
  6. ↑ Khorezmiĭ, Munis; Ogaḣiĭ, Muḣammad Rizo Mirob Ėrniëzbek ŭghli (1999). Firdaws Al-iqbāl: History of Khorezm. Brill. p. 15. ISBN 978-90-04-11365-7.
  7. ↑ Atwood, Christopher P. (2012). "Six Pre-Chinggisid Genealogies in the Mongol Empire". Archivum Eurasiae Medii Aevi (19): 5–58.
  8. 1 2 3 Timur; Stewart, Charles, eds. (2013), "CHAPTER III", The Mulfuzat Timury, or, Autobiographical Memoirs of the Moghul Emperor Timur: Written in the Jagtay Turky Language, Cambridge Library Collection - Perspectives from the Royal Asiatic Society, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 27–31, doi:10.1017/CBO9781139507325.015, ISBN 978-1-108-05602-1, retrieved 18 August 2022
  9. ↑ Quinn, Sholeh (2020). Persian Historiography across Empires: The Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals. Cambridge University Press. p. 24.