Bogd Khan, , ; ( – 20 May 1924) was the khan of the
Bogd Khaganate
The Bogd Khanate of Mongolia ( mn, , Богд хаант Монгол Улс; ) was the government of Outer Mongolia between 1911 and 1919 and again from 1921 to 1924. By the spring of 1911, some prominent Mongol nobles including Prince Tögs ...
from 1911 to 1924, following the state's ''de facto'' independence from the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
of China after the
Xinhai Revolution
The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...
. Born in
Tibet
Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
, he was the third most important person in the
Tibetan Buddhist
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
hierarchy as the 8th
Jebtsundamba Khutuktu
The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, , ; zh, c=哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖, p=Zhébùzūn Dānbā Hūtúkètú; bo, རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ཧུ་ཐུག་ཐུ་, Jetsün Dampa Hutuktu; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" ar ...
, below only the
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
and
Panchen Lama
The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, h ...
, and therefore also known as the "Bogdo Lama". He was the spiritual leader of Outer Mongolia's Tibetan Buddhism. His wife
Tsendiin Dondogdulam, the Ekh Dagina ('
Dakini Mother'), was believed to be a manifestation of
White Tara
Tara ( sa, तारा, ; bo, སྒྲོལ་མ, ), Ārya Tārā, or Shayama Tara, also known as Jetsun Dölma (Tibetan: ''rje btsun sgrol ma'') is an important figure in Buddhism, especially revered in Tibetan Buddhism. She appears as a f ...
.
Life
![Seal of Bogd Khan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Seal_of_Bogd_Khan.svg)
The future Bogd Khan was born in 1869 in the area of Lhasa, in a family of a Tibetan official. He was born as Agvaan Luvsan Choijinnyam Danzan Vanchüg. His father, Gonchigtseren, was an accountant at the
12th Dalai Lama's court. The boy was officially recognized as the new incarnation of the
Bogd Gegen
The Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, , ; zh, c=哲布尊丹巴呼圖克圖, p=Zhébùzūn Dānbā Hūtúkètú; bo, རྗེ་བཙུན་དམ་པ་ཧུ་ཐུག་ཐུ་, Jetsün Dampa Hutuktu; "Venerable Excellent incarnate lama" ar ...
in
Potala
The Potala Palace is a ''dzong'' fortress in Lhasa, Tibet. It was the winter palace of the Dalai Lamas from 1649 to 1959, has been a museum since then, and a World Heritage Site since 1994.
The palace is named after Mount Potalaka, the mythic ...
in the presence of the
13th Dalai Lama and the
Panchen Lama
The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high lamas, h ...
. The new Bogd Gegen arrived in
Urga, the capital of
Outer Mongolia, in 1874. After this he lived only in Mongolia.
As a result, from his young years the 8th Bogd Gegen was the subject of intrigues of Qing officials in Urga. Later he became the subject of
propaganda
Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded ...
campaigns organised by Mongolian
Communists
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
, which attacked him by alleging that he was a prolific poisoner, a
paedophile
Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty a ...
, and a
libertine, which was later repeated in
belles-lettres
is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pejora ...
and other non-scientific literature (e.g. James Palmer). However, analysis of documents stored in Mongolian and Russian archives does not confirm these statements.
[Kuzmin, S.L. and Oyuunchimeg, J. The Great Khan of Mongolia, the 8th Bogd Gegeen. - Aziya i Afrika Segodnya (Moscow, Russian Acad. Sci. Publ.), 2009, no. 1, pp. 59-64.]
As a monk, the Bogd had limited access to physical means of imposing power, though some enemies were executed for
blasphemy
Blasphemy is a speech crime and religious crime usually defined as an utterance that shows contempt, disrespects or insults a deity, an object considered sacred or something considered inviolable. Some religions regard blasphemy as a religiou ...
. The Polish traveller
Ferdinand Ossendowski recorded that he knew "every thought, every movement of the Princes and Khans, the slightest conspiracy against him, and the offender is usually kindly invited to
Urga, from where he does not return alive. Ossendowski's claims for his acquaintance with the Bogd Gegen were not confirmed by comparative analysis of his book and manuscripts.
By the spring of 1911, some prominent Mongolian nobles including Prince
Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren
Tögs-Ochiryn Namnansüren (; ; ; 1878 – April 1919), full title: Sain Noyon Khan Namnansüren (, Good noyon khan Namnansüren), was a powerful hereditary prince and prominent early 20th-century Mongolian independence leader. He served as ...
persuaded the Jebstundamba Khutukhtu to convene a meeting of nobles and ecclesiastical officials to discuss independence. The Khutukhtu consented. To avoid suspicion, he used as a pretext the occasion of a religious festival, at which time the assembled leaders would discuss the need to reapportion taxes among the khoshuuns. The meeting occurred on July 10 and the Mongolians discussed independence. The assembly became deadlocked, some arguing for complete, others for partial, resistance. Eighteen nobles decided to take matters into their hands. Meeting secretly in the hills outside of Urga, they decided that Mongolia must declare its independence. They then persuaded the Khutuktu to send a delegation of three prominent representatives—a secular noble, an ecclesiastic, and a lay official —to Russia for assistance.
0The particular composition of the delegation—a noble, a cleric, and a commoner—may have been intended to invest the mission with a sense of national consensus.
On December 1, the Provisional Government of Khalkha issued a general proclamation announcing the establishment of a theocracy under the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu. On December 29, the Khutuktu was formally installed as the Bogd Khan of the new Mongolian state.
The Bogd Gegen lost his power when Chinese governance was restored in 1919. The Tusiyetu Khan Aimak's Prince Darchin Ch'in Wang was a supporter of Chinese rule while his younger brother Tsewang was a supporter of
Ungern-Sternberg
The House of Ungern-Sternberg is the name of an old and influential Baltic-German noble family, with branches belonging to the German, Finnish, Swedish and Russian nobility.
Notable members
* Mattias Alexander von Ungern-Sternberg (1689–176 ...
.
When Baron Ungern's forces failed to seize Urga in his 1920 invasion, the Bogd was placed under house arrest; then he became a puppet of Ungern shortly before he took Urga in 1921. After the
revolution in 1921 led by
Damdin Sükhbaatar
Damdin Sükhbaatar ( mn, Дамдины Сүхбаатар, Damdinii Sühbaatar, ; February 2, 1893 – February 20, 1923) was a Mongolian communist revolutionary, founding member of the Mongolian People's Party, and leader of the Mongolia ...
, the Bogd Khan was allowed to stay on the throne in a limited monarchy until his death in 1924,
a year after that of his wife.
After his death
The government took control of the Bogd Khan's seal after his death according to the 26 November 1924 Constitution of the Mongolian People's Republic.
It was proposed that
Zhang Zuolin
Zhang Zuolin (; March 19, 1875 June 4, 1928), courtesy name Yuting (雨亭), nicknamed Zhang Laogang (張老疙瘩), was an influential Chinese bandit, soldier, and warlord during the Warlord Era in China. The warlord of Manchuria from 1916 to ...
's domain (the Chinese "
Three Eastern Provinces") take Outer Mongolia under its administration by the Bogda Khan and Bodo in 1922 after pro-Soviet Mongolian Communists seized control of Outer Mongolia.
After his death, the Mongolian Revolutionary government, led by followers of the Soviet Communists, declared that no more reincarnations were to be found and established the
Mongolian People's Republic
The Mongolian People's Republic ( mn, Бүгд Найрамдах Монгол Ард Улс, БНМАУ; , ''BNMAU''; ) was a socialist state which existed from 1924 to 1992, located in the historical region of Outer Mongolia in East Asia. It w ...
. However, rumors about a reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu appeared in northern Mongolia in that same year. No traditional determination of the supposed incarnation was conducted. Another rumor appeared in 1925. In November 1926 the 3rd Great Khural of Mongolian People's Republic approved a special resolution that searches for reincarnations of the Bogd Gegen should not be allowed.
A final prohibition was approved by the 7th Congress of the
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party and the 5th
People's Great Khural
The State Great Khural, ; "State Great Assembly" is the Unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Mongolia.Montsame News Agency. ''Mongolia''. 2006, Foreign Service office of Montsame News Agency, , p. 40 It is located in the Government Palac ...
in 1928.
[Purevjav, S. and Dashjamts, D. BNMAU-d Sum, Khiid, Lam Naryn Asuudlyg Shiidverlesen Ni. Ulaanbaatar: Ulsyn Khevleliin Khereg Erkhlekh Khoroo Publ.]
Nevertheless, the next reincarnation of Bogd Gegen was found in Tibet as a boy born in 1932 in Lhasa. This was not announced until the
collapse of the USSR
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
and
democratic revolution
Democratic Revolution () is a Chilean centre-left to left-wing political party, founded in 2012 by some of the leaders of the 2011 Chilean student protests, most notably the current Deputy Giorgio Jackson, who is also the most popular public fi ...
in Mongolia. The
9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu
The 9th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu (January 6, 1933 – March 1, 2012) was the 9th reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the third highest lama in the Tibetan Buddhism hierarchy and the spiritual leader of the Gelug lineage among the Khalkha Mo ...
was formally enthroned in
Dharamsala
Dharamshala (; also spelled Dharamsala) is the winter capital of Himachal Pradesh, India. It serves as administrative headquarters of the Kangra district after being relocated from Kangra, a city located away from Dharamshala, in 1855.
Th ...
by
Tenzin Gyatso
The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
, the 14th
Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...
in 1991, and in
Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...
in 1999.
The
Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan has been preserved and is a tourist attraction in Ulaanbaatar.
See also
*
Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan
*
Mongolian Revolution of 1911
The Mongolian Revolution of 1911 (Mongol: Үндэсний эрх чөлөөний хувьсгал, , ''Ündèsnij èrx čölöönij xuv’sgal'') occurred when the region of Outer Mongolia declared its independence from the Manchu-led Qing Chi ...
*
Bogd Khaganate
The Bogd Khanate of Mongolia ( mn, , Богд хаант Монгол Улс; ) was the government of Outer Mongolia between 1911 and 1919 and again from 1921 to 1924. By the spring of 1911, some prominent Mongol nobles including Prince Tögs ...
*
Mongolian Revolution of 1921
The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 ( Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921, or People's Revolution of 1921) was a military and political event by which Mongolian revolutionaries, with the assistance of the Soviet Red Army, expelled Russian White Gua ...
Notes
References
Citations
Sources
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bogd Khan
1869 births
1924 deaths
Mongolian Buddhist monks
Jebtsundamba Khutuktus
Heads of state of Mongolia
Mongolian anti-communists
Mongolian independence activists
Founding monarchs