Khongirad

"Red tasseled Mongols" redirects here. For the other ethnicity who were called "Red tasseled Mongols" by Khalkha Mongols, seeManchu people.

Mongol Empirec. 1207, Khongirad and their neighbours

TheKhongirad(/ˈkɒŋɡɪræd/;Mongolian:ᠬᠣᠩᠭᠢᠷᠠᠳ Хонгирад;Kazakh:Қоңырат,romanized:Qoñyrat;Chinese:Hoằng cát lạt;pinyin:Hóngjílá) was one of the major divisions of the Mongol tribes. Their homeland was located in the vicinity ofLake HuluninInner MongoliaandKhalkha Riverin Mongolia,where they maintained close ties with the ruling dynasties of northern China. Because the various Hongirad clans never united under a single leader, the tribe never rose to great military glory. Their greatest fame comes from being the primary consort clan of the ruling house ofGenghis Khan'sMongol empire.Genghis Khan's mother (Hoelun), great grandmother, and first wife were all Khongirads, as were many subsequent Mongol Empress and princesses.

During theYuan dynastythey were given the title Lu Wang ( "Prince of Lu";Chinese:Lỗ vương), and a few Khongirads migrated west into the territory of modernUzbekistanandTurkistan Regionwhere they became governors ofKhwarazmand were known as theSufi dynasty.After a brief period as independent rulers, they were subjected byTimur.

Origin

The Khongirads are often identified as the descendants of the ancient Wuku/Wugu tribe inTang Dynastyrecords. The tribe's own origin myth claims that they were descended from three brothers born of a golden vessel—Jurluq Mergen, Quba Shira, and Tusbu Da'u. The descendants of these brothers formed the Hongirad tribe, but feuds quickly splintered the tribe and gave rise to the offshoot tribes of the Ikires,Olkhonud,Karanut,Gorlos,and Qongliyuts. Only the descendants of Jurluq Mergen retained the tribal name of Hongirad. One of the most famous Hongirad ancestors was Miser Ulug, an Onggirat Hercules who was super-humanly strong and often slept for days at a time.

Many names of the 12th century's Hongirads and their subtribes have Mongol origin:

• Dei Setsen — tsetsen (wise)
• Jurluq Mergen — zörlög (path) mergen (wise). (SeeMerkit)
• Quba Shira — goo (beautiful) shar (yellow). In the 1680sZasagt Khanof theKhalkhaMongolia wasShar(Shira). (SeeAlan Gua).

Subtribes

• Hongirad — khun (swan), khungiin (swan's), ard (person); swan person. Swan is one of Mongol totems. (SeeOirats).
• Qongliyuts — Khonkhluud; khonkh (bell), "iud" or "uud" is plural suffix.
• Gorlos — ModernSouthern Mongolsubgroup
• Ikires — Ikhires: ikh (great), ikhes (chief, noble)
• Karanut — Kharnuud: khar (black), "iud" or "uud" is plural suffix
• Olkhunut — Olkhunuud, "uud" is plural suffix. They have three subgroups:
  • Alag aduutan: alag (piebald), aduutan (horse herder); piebald horse herder.
  • Shar khonit: shar (yellow), khoni (sheep); yellow sheep breeder.
  • Ulaan zalaat: ulaan (red), zalaa (tassel); person who wears hat with red tassel.Today, Mongols call themselves "red-tasseled Mongols" because Mongols wear hat with red tassel and they adore fire.Fire is a general symbol of eternal growth, wealth, and success and a figure of fire is used in Mongolianflag,coat of armsandSoyombo symbol.The three tongues of the flame represent the past, present, and future.

Shamanic practices continue in present-dayMongolculture.

Relationship with the Mongols: The Legend of Ergune Khun

According to Mongol legend, two warriors named Kiyan (Khiyad) and Negus (Mongolian: Nokhos, dog or wolf) were defeated in battle and forced to seek shelter in an enclosed valley calledErgune khun( "steep cliffs" ). After several generations the descendants of these heroes became too numerous for the valley to support, but no one remembered the way out. Ablacksmithcame up with a solution—they would create their own way out by melting an exposed iron vein that existed in one of the encircling mountains. Building a massive fire and stoking it with 70 large bellows, the trapped clan did just that and succeeded in creating a passage to the outside world. Once free, the people of Kiyan and Negus went on to create several tribes, including the Mongols and the Hongirads (whose susceptibility togoutwas explained by the "fact" that their ancestors were the first to flee Ergene Qun, so they burned their feet on the hot iron).

Consort tribe

EmpressRadnashiriwas from the Khunggirad

In addition to having a shared ancestry with the Mongols in general, the Hongirads also shared ancestors with the Mongol royal line, whose originator, Alan Qo'a, was a woman of the Kharlas clan, an offshoot of the Khongirads founded by the legendary Miser Ulug. Down to the 12th century, Mongol rulers such asKhabul Khanand his great-grandsonGenghis Khanwere still taking Khongirad wives.YesugeiBa'atur, the father of Genghis Khan, was not a high ranking Mongol leader, but even he secured himself an Onggirat wife by stealing one from another man. The wives of most rulers of theYuan DynastyandGolden Hordewere also from the Hongirad. That is why they held enormous powers behind the courts in both states. They forced the rulers of theGolden Hordeto make peace withKublaiin 1280s and convincedTokhta Khanto accept supremacy of theGreat Khanin 1304. The Hongirad under queen Dagi and Temüder, the Minister of the Secretariat, reached their political peak in the Yuan Dynasty, the principal state of 4 khanates, during the reign ofGegeen Khan Shidebala(r.1321-1323). They builtYingchangcity in modernInner Mongoliain 1271.

After the death of the last Yuan emperor,Toghan Temur,who lost his imperial status inChinaand other Mongol khanates, a body of the Khongirat andOlkhunut(Borte's clan) surrendered to theMing Dynastyin 1371. Meanwhile, the Khongirad, belonged to the southernKhalkhatumenin modernInner Mongoliaand Olkhunuts lived in modernKhovd Province.

Transoxiana

During the 18th century, the basins of theAmu DaryaandSyr Daryapassed under the control of threeUzbek khanatesclaiming legitimacy in their descent from Genghis Khan. These were, from west to east, the Khongirads based on Khiva inKhwārezm(1717–1920), theManghudinBukhara(1753–1920), and the Mings inKokand(Qǔqon; c. 1710–1876). TheSufi Dynasty(1359–1388) which was founded by the Qongirat elites in Khwārezm ruled their own state under theJochidsandTimur.The Qongirat Inaks became de facto rulers of theKhanate of Khivain 18th century and their descendants assumed the title of khan themselves in 1804. On 2 February 1920,Khiva's last khan,Sayid Abdullah,abdicated before its territory was finally incorporated into theSoviet Unionin 1924.

Descendants are found among the people inMongoliaand theYugursinGansu,China,and little bit in theKarakalpaksand theUzbegs.

Kazakhstan

Currently aKazakhtribeof the Middle Juz named Qoñyrat (or less commonly Qoñğyrat) are considered descendants of Khongirads (Ongrat, Kungrat in (Gumilev, n.d). Around the beginning of the 20th century CE, the Kazakh Qongyrats lived mainly in what is nowTurkistan Region(formerly South Kazakhstan Region), especially in the vicinity ofthe city of Turkistan.This region borders Uzbekistan, and a majority of the local population has at times been recorded asUzbek;the part of the region in which the Kazakh Qongırats were concentrated was located between theSır Riverand the lower reaches of theChu Riverwhere it disappears in the steppe. The Qongyrat tribe of Kazakhs are notable for the extremely high frequency among them (64/95 = 67.37%) of Y-DNA that belongs tohaplogroup C-M407,a clade that otherwise has been observed with greatest frequency amongBuryats(117/217 = 53.9%,40/80 = 50.0%,86/298 = 28.9% (mostly northern and western)) and other indigenous peoples ofBuryatia(15/28 = 53.6%Sojots,27/51 = 52.9%Hamnigans). Members of C-M407 also have been found with lower frequency amongMongolsin Mongolia,Kalmyks(especiallyDörwöds),Manchusin China,andYakutsinSakha Republic.

Rule of Khiva

TheyruledtheKhiva khanatefrom 1763 to 1920.

External links

• Onggirats at Chinaknowledge
• Hongirad tribe of Kazakh people - from Wikipedia Hongirad introduction in Kazakh language