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Alan Gua ( mn, Алун гуа, ''Alun gua'', ''lit. "Alun the Beauty"''. ''Gua'' or ''Guva/Quwa'' means ''beauty'' in Mongolian) is a mythical figure from ''
The Secret History of the Mongols
''The Secret History of the Mongols'' (Middle Mongol: ''Mongɣol‑un niɣuca tobciyan''; Traditional Mongolian: , Khalkha Mongolian: , ; ) is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolian language. It was written for the Mongol royal fam ...
'', eleven generations after the
grey wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly ...
and the white doe, and ten generations before
Genghis Khan
''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan''
, birth_name = Temüjin
, successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan
, spouse =
, issue =
, house = Borjigin
, ...
.
Her five sons are described as the ancestors of the various Mongol clans. (That is, the
Dörvöd are said to have been the descendants of Alan Gua's brother-in-law, , and the origins of the Khori
Tümed
The Tümed (Tumad, ; "The many or ten thousands" derived from Tumen) are a Mongol subgroup. They live in Tumed Left Banner, district of Hohhot and Tumed Right Banner, district of Baotou in China. Most engage in sedentary agriculture, living in ...
and
Uriankhai
Uriankhai ( traditional Mongolian: , Mongolian Cyrillic: урианхай; sah, урааҥхай; zh, t=烏梁海, s=乌梁海, p=Wūliánghǎi), Uriankhan (, урианхан) or Uriankhat (, урианхад), is a term of address applie ...
are not explained at all.) She also figures in the Central Asian version of the parable of the five arrows, known in Western sources as
The Old Man and his Sons
The Old Man and his Sons, sometimes titled The Bundle of Sticks, is an Aesop's Fable whose moral is that there is strength in unity. The story has been told about many rulers. It is numbered 53 in the Perry Index.
Fable
An old man has a number ...
.
''Secret History of the Mongols''
The ''Secret History'' says that Alan Gua's clan was originally from the area of the Khori
Tümed
The Tümed (Tumad, ; "The many or ten thousands" derived from Tumen) are a Mongol subgroup. They live in Tumed Left Banner, district of Hohhot and Tumed Right Banner, district of Baotou in China. Most engage in sedentary agriculture, living in ...
, and moved to the
Burkhan Khaldun
The Burkhan Khaldun (Cyrillic: Бурхан Халдун) is one of the Khentii Mountains in the Khentii Province of northeastern Mongolia. The mountain or its locality is believed to be the birthplace of Genghis Khan as well as his tomb. It i ...
when their hunting grounds were fenced off. Alan Gua was first spotted by Duva Sokhor, and later married to Duva Sokhor's brother, Dobun Mergen.
Five arrows
Alan Gua had two sons (Begünütei and Belgünütei) during the lifetime of Dobun Mergen, and three more (Bukha Khatagi, Bukhatu-Salji and
Bodonchar Munkhag
Bodonchar Munkhag (Mongol: Бодончар Мөнх, ; died 10th Century CE.) was a renowned Mongol warlord and a direct ancestor of Genghis Khan as well as of the Barlas Mongols, the tribe of the Central Asian warlord Timur.
According to the ...
) after her husband's death. This caused her two older sons to suspect the three younger sons were fathered by an Uriankhai servant.
Hearing of these suspicions, Alan Gua summoned her five sons for a meal, then gave each of them one arrow and asked them each to break it. Next she made a bundle of five arrows and asked them to break it, and they could not, showing them the power of unity: a lesson Hogelun later discussed with her own sons.
The glittering visitor
Alan Gua's explanation for the conception of her three younger sons is the visit of a glittering visitor, who come through her
yurt
A yurt (from the Turkic languages) or ger ( Mongolian) is a portable, round tent covered and insulated with skins or felt and traditionally used as a dwelling by several distinct nomadic groups in the steppes and mountains of Central Asia. ...
's roof opening each night and left each morning by crawling on the sun- or moonbeams "like a yellow dog". She concluded that the younger sons must be children of heaven and that it was therefore inappropriate to compare them to ordinary people. Her older sons suspected that their family's Bayad servant was the likely father. She advised her five sons that if they tried to stay on their own, they would be broken like the five arrows. But if they stuck together like the bundle of five arrows, nothing could harm them. Therefore, the so-called "Nilun" Mongols might be the descendant of Bayad tribesmen who made love to Alan, it is more than likely that Alan has remarried secretly to the Bayad servant and gave birth to what would later become "Nilun Mongols". Due to the favoritism, Alan Gua is able to use the religions to manipulate her sons who are Dobun Mergen's descendants into believing the illegitimate "Nilun" Mongols are the descendant of gods. The descendants of Dobun has therefore became the "Dilegun?" or "Commoners".
Statue
The ''Secret History'' states that Alan Gua's clan is from a place called Arig usun (= pure water), and some
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
n authors believe that this refers to the Arig gol in
Mongolia
Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...
n
Khövsgöl aimag. A statue of her, three metres high, has been erected at the river in 1992, at the confluence with the Khökhöö gol and twelve kilometres from the center of
Chandmani-Öndör sum.
[G. Tseepil, ''Hovsgol Aimag Map'', no date]
References
{{reflist
9th-century Mongolian people
History of Mongolia
Mongol mythology
Legendary progenitors
Women in mythology