Dayan Khan ( mn, dayan qaɣan, died 22 April 1668) was the second khan of the

Khoshut Khanate The Khoshut Khanate was a Mongol Oirat khanate based on the Tibetan Plateau from 1642 to 1717. Based in modern Qinghai, it was founded by Güshi Khan in 1642 after defeating the opponents of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism in Tibet. The ...

and protector-king of

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, ...

, ruling from 1655 to 1668. He sat on the throne during the time of the

5th Dalai Lama Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (; ; 1617–1682) was the 5th Dalai Lama and the first Dalai Lama to wield effective temporal and spiritual power over all Tibet. He is often referred to simply as the Great Fifth, being a key religious and temporal leader ...

, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso, but did not have a major independent role in Tibetan politics.

Khoshut patronage

Dayan Khan was the son of

Güshi Khan Güshi Khan (1582 – 14 January 1655; ) was a Khoshut prince and founder of the Khoshut Khanate, who supplanted the Tumed descendants of Altan Khan as the main benefactor of the Dalai Lama and the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1637, Güsh ...

of the Khoshut tribe who allied with the

Gelug file:DalaiLama0054 tiny.jpg, 240px, 14th Dalai Lama, The 14th Dalai Lama (center), the most influential figure of the contemporary Gelug tradition, at the 2003 Kalachakra ceremony, Bodh Gaya, Bodhgaya (India). The Gelug (, also Geluk; "virtuous ...

faction (the Yellow Church) in Tibet and was victorious in 1642. Güshi had offered the earth, tribes and people of the three ''cholka'' of Tibet to the Gelug leader, the

. The Dalai Lama, in return, named him Dharma king, Protector of the Faith. The Khoshut khan did not normally interfere in political matters, but rather managed the Mongol forces that backed up the dharma regime of Dalai Lama. Güshi Khan and his sons were known as "the father and son kings of the Mongolian government".

Reign

As long as Güshi was alive he maintained a degree of control over the new Tibetan state. However, he died in January 1655, 73 years old. His eldest and youngest sons, Dayan Khan and Tashi Batur (1632-1714), then reigned in tandem. However, they stood far below their imposing father in terms of political wisdom or prestige. They were suspicious of each other and primarily focused on Mongolian affairs. Dayan, who was also known as Tenzin Dorje or Tsik Shitu Tenzin, was the eldest son of the younger queen of Güshi. He was proclaimed the new "king of Tibet" by the Dalai Lama on 7 February 1658 and took responsibility for the Mongol troops like his father had done. A division of the Khoshuts was effected so that his junior brother Tashi Batur ruled in the Kokonor region, while Dayan Khan held power over the tribesmen in Central Tibet and maintained his prerogatives as Dharma king. There was however commotion among the Mongols who lived by the Tsongön Lake in this period, as the factions did want to submit to each other. The 5th Dalai Lama dispatched envoys who made the Mongols promise to conform to

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

principles and end their discord. The situation indicates the degree of Dalai Lama's spiritual and political influence. Clearly, Dayan Khan did not have the pondus of his father. The Khoshut elite was handicapped by its nomadic lifestyle, having their main pastures in the land of

Dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use ...

(south-east of Tengri-Nor Lake). The king would only come to

Lhasa Lhasa (; Lhasa dialect: ; bo, text=ལྷ་ས, translation=Place of Gods) is the urban center of the prefecture-level city, prefecture-level Lhasa (prefecture-level city), Lhasa City and the administrative capital of Tibet Autonomous Regio ...

in the winters, though not every year, and stay at the Ganden Khangsar Palace. An incident with the

Qing Empire 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 ...

occurred towards the end of Dayan's reign, in 1667. An army of Mongols from Kokonor moved towards

Xining Xining (; ), alternatively known as Sining, is the capital of Qinghai province in western China and the largest city on the Tibetan Plateau. The city was a commercial hub along the Northern Silk Road's Hexi Corridor for over 2000 years, and wa ...

near the border and laid siege to the city. However, they withdrew on the approach of Chinese troops. Dayan died on 22 April 1668 and was succeeded in his dignity by his son

Tenzin Dalai Khan Tenzin Dalai Khan (Mongolian: ''gončuɣ dalai qaɣan'', ''Gonchig Dalai Khaan'', died 1696 or 1701) was the third khan of the Khoshut Khanate and protector-king of Tibet. He ruled from 1668 to 1696 (or 1701), in the time of the Fifth and Sixth ...

.Ya Hanzhang,
Biographies of the Tibetan Spiritual Leaders Panchen Erdenis
'. Beijing 1994, pp. 60-1; Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa 1967, p. 119; Zahiruddin Ahmad, ''Sino-Tibetan relations in the seventeenth century''. Rome 1970, p. 70.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dalai Khan Oirats 1668 deaths 17th-century Mongol rulers Khoshut Khanate

Khoshut patronage

Reign

See also

Footnotes