Güshi Khan

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Güshi Khan, founder of the Khoshut Khanate

Güshi Khan (1582 – 14 January 1655; Chinese: 固始汗) was a Khoshut prince and founder of the Khoshut Khanate, who supplanted the Tumed[1] descendants of Altan Khan as the main benefactor of the Dalai Lama and the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1637, Güshi Khan defeated a rival Mongol prince Choghtu Khong Tayiji, a Kagyu follower, near Qinghai Lake and established his khanate in Tibet over the next years. His military assistance to the Gelug school enabled the 5th Dalai Lama to establish political control over Tibet.

Name

It is also spelt Gushri Khan[2][3] and Gushihan.[4] In other languages it is:

  • Chinese: 固始汗
  • Mongolian: ᠭᠦᠦᠱᠢ ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ (Гүш хаан),
  • Standard Tibetan
    : གུ་ཤྲཱི་བསྟན་འཛིན

Early years

Güshi Khan was born Torobaikhu, the third son of Akhai

Volga River. Now Güshi succeeded to the position of Baibaghas as chief of the Khoshut.[6]

Intervention on behalf of the Dalai Lama

In 1615, when the Oirats were still under the suzerainty of the Khalkha leader Ubasi Khong Tayiji,[7] the elite had largely converted to Tibetan Buddhism. However, the period saw a rise in internal religious rivalries within Tibet, in particular between the Gelug and Karma Kagyu schools. The main Gelug religious figure church was the Dalai Lama while the Karma Kagyu was supported by the dynasty of the Tsangpa based in Samdrubtse (modern Shigatse). They, in turn, found support from groups of Khalkhas and Chahars.

Emil Rivers, and even the Torghut chief Kho Orluk, who was in the process of subduing areas to the north of the Aral and Caspian Seas.[10]
As it turned out, it would nevertheless take several years to install the "Great Fifth" as the head of a unified Tibetan state.

In the company of the Dzungar prince Erdeni Batur, Güshi marched into Qinghai with 10,000 Oirat troops in 1636. In the next year, he confronted the Khalkha forces of Choghtu Khung Tayiji, which were 30,000 strong and were opposed to the Gelugpa sect. The contest took place in the Kokonor Gorge and is known as the Battle of the Bloody Hill. The Choghtu troops were defeated and scattered, and the survivors had to surrender. Choghtu himself hid in a marmot hole but was found and killed on the spot.[11] In that way the Khalkhas were suppressed in Tibet a short time after they were subjugated in Mongolia by the invading Manchu people.[12]

Güshi proceeded to

direct descendants of Genghis Khan).[13]

Güshi invited the Dalai Lama to visit his territories, but the Great Fifth was unable to do so due to the unstable circumstances in Ü-Tsang. He did, however, send a permanent representative to the Khoshut to maintain good relations. Güshi Khan returned to his newly conquered realm in Qinghai, where the Khoshuts resolved to settle down.[14]

Invasion in Kham

New trouble soon followed. The king of Beri in

Drukpa and Taklungpa were brought out of the prison dungeons where they had been placed and sent back to their own. The people up to the king of Jang paid taxes in money and earnestly sought to bow to him respectfully."[16] The Beri ruler was executed and all the Dalai Lama's enemies in Kham
were crushed.

Conquest of Central Tibet

Statues of the Fifth Dalai Lama and (apparently) Güshi Khan seen by Johann Grueber in the lobby of the Dalai Lama's palace in 1661

Having subdued Kham entirely by 1641, Güshi proceeded to invade the domain of Karma Tenkyong in Tsang. His reputation as an invincible warrior rendered resistance weak. Meanwhile, Sonam Rapten was busy taking over districts in Ü which paid allegiance to the Tsangpa. The Khoshut troops besieged

5th Dalai Lama in his turn confirmed the position of Güshi Khan as the Dharma king (or chogyal) of Tibet.[20]

The upheavals of the Mongol conquest led to famine and hardship. There was moreover still opposition against the Güshi Khan-Dalai Lama ruling constellation. The Karmapa hierarch Chöying Dorje was requested by the Dalai Lama to sign a formal agreement that he would not cause any further trouble. The Karmapa refused, arguing that he had not fomented trouble in the past. Mongol and Tibetan soldiers then surrounded his large movable encampment (gar). Chöying Dorje managed to sneak out at the last minute, but the troops broke in, ravaged the camp and killed anyone who resisted. The Karmapa hierarch fled to the mountains in the south. The surviving supporters of the Tsangpa and Karma Kagyü took up resistance in the Kongpo region in the southeast. The incensed Güshi Khan gave orders to execute his royal prisoner Karma Tenkyong, while his army ravaged Kongpo and killed 7,000 rebels. The remainder gave up. Many Karma Kagyü monasteries in the country were forcibly converted to Gelugpa, while Nyingma monks who had performed Mongol-repelling exorcism were imprisoned.[21]

After unification

The new political system renewed the old concept of chö-yön (

Sakya lamas and the Mongol great khans during the Yuan dynasty.[22] While the Dalai Lama was the highest figure in spiritual authority, the Khoshut ruler maintained control over the armed forces; however, he did not significantly interfere in the affairs of Central Tibet. He tended to spend the summers in the pastureland of Dam by the Tengri-nor Lake, some 80 miles to the north of Lhasa which he visited in wintertime. The bulk of the semi-nomadic Khoshots stayed with their herds around the Tsongön Lake (Qinghai Lake). Sonam Rapten acted as regent (desi) and was formally appointed by the Khoshut king.[23] Shortly after unification, a conflict broke out with Bhutan, recently unified under the Tibetan lama Ngawang Namgyal. Güshi Khan and the regent sent several hundred Mongol and Tibetan troops into Bhutan in 1644. However, the Mongol warriors were unused to the climate and the expedition suffered a major defeat. This broke some of the Mongol reputation for invincibility. A peace was concluded in 1646 but was soon violated. Fresh fighting in the following year led to another defeat for the Dalai Lama state.[24]

Gushi Khan died in January 1655, leaving ten sons:

  • Dayan Khan
  • Bonpo Sechen Daiching
  • Dalantai
  • Bayan Abugai
  • Elduchi
  • Dorje Dalai Batur
  • Hurimashi
  • Sanggaerzha Yiledeng
  • Gunbu Chahun
  • Tashi Batur

Furthermore, Güshi's daughter Amin Dara married Erdeni Batur, the founder of the Dzungar Khanate. Güshi's eldest son Dayan succeeded him in his dignity as Dharma king of Tibet and protector of the faith. However, eight sons with their tribal followers, led by Dorje Dalai Batur, settled in the strategically important Tsongön Lake region in Amdo after 1648.[25] They were known as the Eight Khoshuts and quarreled constantly over territory. The 5th Dalai Lama sent several governors in 1656 and 1659. The Mongols were gradually Tibetanised and played an important role in extending the Gelug school's influence in Amdo.[26] The system with a Khoshut protector ruler over Tibet lasted for four generations, up to 1717.

See also

Part of a series on
Tibetan Buddhism
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Key personalities
First dissemination
Second dissemination
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Gelugpa
Teachings
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  • Four Tenets system
  • Rangtong-Shentong
  • Svatantrika-Prasaṅgika distinction
Nyingma
Practices and attainment
Major monasteries
Institutional roles
Festivals
Texts
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History and overview

References

  1. ^ The New Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th Edition (1977), Vol. 18, p. 380h.
  2. OCLC 947145370
    .
  3. ^ "gu shrI rgyal po - The Treasury of Lives: A Biographical Encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia and the Himalayan Region". The Treasury of Lives. Retrieved 1 March 2018. QUOTE: "This person is mentioned in 4 biographies. In 1639, as Gushri Khan (1582-1654), the ruler of the Khoshut Mongol, attacked the Bon King of Beri, Donyo Dorje (be ri rgyal po don yod rdo rje, d.1640) on his way to destroy the King of Tsang, Karma Tenkyong Wangpo (karma bstan skyong dbang po, 1606-1642), and conquer central Tibet ..."
  4. ^ "By the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing, the Emperor sent Gushi Han [Gushri Khan] to Tibet and overthrew Zangbajiebao and restored the throne to the Fifth Dalai Lama. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/barnett/pdfs/link2b-ngapo.pdf
  5. ^ Atwood, Christopher P. (2004). Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York: Facts on File, p.211
  6. ^ Haines, R Spencer (2018). "Charismatic Authority in Context: An Explanation of Guushi Khan's Swift Rise to Power in the Early 17th Century". Mongolica: An International Journal of Mongolian Studies. 52. International Association of Mongolists: 24–31.
  7. Tümed
    (d. 1583).
  8. ^ Grousset, René. (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, p. 523.
  9. ^ Schaik, Sam Van. (2011). Tibet: A history. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, p. 120.
  10. ^ Grousset, René. (1970). The Empire of the Steppes. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, p. 523.
  11. ^ Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. (1967). Tibet: A political history. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, p. 104.
  12. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1
    .
  13. ^ Adle, Chahryar, and Habib, Irfan. (2003). History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume V. Paris: Unesco, p. 146.
  14. ^ Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. (1967). Tibet: A political history. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, p. 105.
  15. ^ Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. (1967). Tibet: A political history. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, p. 105-6.
  16. ^ Fifth Dalai Lama (1995) A history of Tibet. Bloomington: Indiana University, pp. 195-6.
  17. ^ Olaf Czaja (2013). Medieval rule in Tibet, Wien: ÖAW, p. 325.
  18. ^ Fifth Dalai Lama (1995) A history of Tibet. Bloomington: Indiana University, pp. 197.
  19. ^ Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. (1967). Tibet: A political history. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, p. 111.
  20. ISBN 978-0-8021-1827-1
    .
  21. ^ Schaik, Sam Van. (2011). Tibet: A history. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, p. 122.
  22. ^ Seyfort Ruegg, D. (2003), 'Mchod yon, yon mchod and mchod gnas/yon gnas: On the historiography and semantics of a Tibetan religio-social and religio-political concept', in McKay, Alex (ed.), The history of Tibet, Vol. II. Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 362-72.
  23. ^ Haines, R Spencer (2018). "Charismatic Authority in Context: An Explanation of Guushi Khan's Swift Rise to Power in the Early 17th Century". Mongolica: An International Journal of Mongolian Studies. 52. International Association of Mongolists: 24–31.
  24. ^ Shakabpa, Tsepon W.D. (1967). Tibet: A political history. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, p. 112-3.
  25. ^ Zahiruddin Ahmad, Sino-Tibetan relations in the seventeenth century. Rome 1970, p. 66-7.
  26. ^ Karmay, Samten C. (2005). "The Great Fifth", p. 2. Downloaded as a pdf file on 16 December 2007 from: [1] Archived 15 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Güshi Khan.

Further references

  • Haines, R Spencer (2018). "Charismatic Authority in Context: An Explanation of Guushi Khan's Swift Rise to Power in the Early 17th Century". Mongolica: An International Journal of Mongolian Studies. 52. International Association of Mongolists: 24–31.
  • Matthew Kapstein, The Tibetans. Oxford: Blackwell 2006.
  • Tsepon W. D. Shakabpa, One hundred thousand moons, Vols. I-II. Leiden: Brill 2010.
  • Wang Furen and Suo Wenqing, Highlights of Tibetan history. Beijing: New World Press 1984.
  • Ya Hanzhang, Biographies of the Tibetan Spiritual Leaders Panchen Erdenis. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press 1994.
Preceded by Khan of the Khoshut Khanate
Protector-ruler of Tibet
1642–1655 		Succeeded by
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