Paper abstract

This paper deals with a central institution in the Mongol Empire, that of the güregen, or son-in-law class. Chinggis Khan established quda (marriage-alliance) relationships with various Turco-Mongol peoples to incorporate them into his early state, and these relationships continued throughout the united Mongol Empire period, as well as in the successor khanates across Eurasia. One of the important lineages with which Chinggis Khan established a marriage alliance was that of Qutuqa Beki, the leader of the Oirat. Beginning with his own daughter Checheyigen, various marriages were organised between Chinggisid princes and Oirat wives and vice versa. Descendants of Qutuqa Beki married into all four princely houses, and travelled far afield with their Chinggisid in-laws on their campaigns and into their uluses, serving as commanders in Hülegü’s conquest of much of the Middle East in the 1250s.

One branch of this family which had a long-standing relationship with the Toluid prince Hülegü and his descendants were Tanggiz and his children. Intermarriages were organised across four generations, until the downfall of the Ilkhanate in the 1330s. The peculiarity of this relationship is that it survived several instances of Tanggiz and his family siding with the wrong Chinggisid house or a failed pretender, mistakes which were routinely punished extremely harshly in the Mongol world. However, these in-laws were not executed, and instead were regularly reconnected to the Hülegüid line. While one of Qutuqa Beki’s güregen descendants, Taraqai, chose to flee to the Mamluk sultanate, Tanggiz’s line remained, eventually producing an Ilkhan from their own family, Abū Saʿīd, son of Ḥājjī Khatun, a great-granddaughter of Tanggiz Güregen. The power of this family culminated in one descendant, ʿAlī Pādshāh, becoming ruler in all but name in 1336. This paper will discuss the importance of these Oirat güregen and how they were able to survive their own treacherous actions.

Paper abstract

Kalmyk sphragistics is an emerging research field with great potential. Never before have the seals of Kalmyk khans and other Kalmyk rulers been researched in depth. The study of the seals legends on them is a rich source of information about cultural ties with Tibet and other Central Asian regions. The sphragistic data allows to attribute documents that do not bear the name of the addressee, as well as to clarify the dating of historical events of Kalmyk history. In addition, the study of Kalmyk seals and legends can also be useful to historical and sphragistic research on the history of Tibet and other Central Asian regions.

After migrating from Western Mongolia in the XIIth century, Kalmyk rulers established the Kalmyk Khanate in the Caspian Lowlands and the Volga region. After a period when the khanate was ruled by Kalmyk taishas (ruling nobles), the Kalmyk Khanate was ruled by Kalmyk khans. There were four Kalmyk khans in all: Ayuka (reign 1690-1724), Tseren-Donduk (reign 1724-1735), Donduk-Ombo (reign 1735-1741), and Donduk-Dashi (reign 1741-1761). As a sign of investiture of power, a Khan seal had to be of high legitimate origin, so all Kalmyk khans sought to obtain the khan's seal and title from the Dalai Lama.

Out of four seals of Ayuka-Khan three were of Tibetan origin. At least one of the three was bestowed by the VI Dalai Lama together with the title Daichin Ayuka-Khan. The fourth was presumably made in the Kalmyk Khanate.

The Seal of Tseren-Donduk was granted by the VII Dalai Lama together with the title of Daichin Shasa-Buja-Khan and the solemn presentation of the seal and title took place in 1735.

The next Kalmyk Khan, Donduk-Ombo, was granted the khan's title in 1737. The same year he sent an embassy to the VII Dalai Lama, but the embassy failed to receive Khan's seal. Donduk-Ombo had two seals in his possession, one of Tibetan and one of Chinese origin.

The last Kalmyk khan, Donduk-Dashi, after his appointment as khan in 1756, sent an embassy to the Dalai Lama in Tibet to obtain the khan's seal and title. Although the embassy managed to meet the Dalai Lama shortly before his death, the seal and the khan's title was not be obtained.

This paper will focus on the reading of legends on the Kalmyk Khans’ seals that allows to put into scientific circulation sphragistic data of the seals.