Khalkhas Tsogtu Khuntaiji: Dissonance of Assessments in Historiography

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the political and religious activities of Tsogtu Khuntaiji, one of the controversial personalities in the history of Mongolia. In the analysis of the activities of Tsogtu Khuntaiji, the historical-biographical method was applied. It made it possible to trace the origins of the political views of Tsogtu Khuntaiji. The application of the comparative historical method revealed common features and similarities in the political trends of Inner (Southern) and Khalkha (Northern) Mongolia. Analytical comparison of the main circumstances of the political struggle among the ruling stratum showed that the religious factor has become the main dividing line of the warring parties. Using the materials of written and folklore sources, the motives and reasons that prompted Tsogtu Khuntaiji to come out as a supporter of Ligden Khan are traced. The latter was the bearer of the title of Great khan and sought to revive a single Mongolian state. To resolve this issue, the nature of the relationship between Tsogto Khuntaiji and the influential princely houses of Khalkha is considered. It is shown that the general dissatisfaction of the nobility with the activities of Tsogto Khuntaiji was expressed in the person of the rulers of large Mongolian specific possessions: Sain-noyon, Tushetu-khan and Setsen-khan. The support of Tsogto Khuntaiji for the policy of centralization of power in the hands of the Chakhar Ligden Khan led, in the conditions of the specificity of the Mongol rulers of Khalkha, to his gradual isolation, which eventually turned into expulsion from his native lands. An external factor was added to the complex tangle of interweaving of internal political conditions and religious relations ‒ the emerging state of the Manchus, which, having become the center of attraction for the Mongolian elite, was interested in the fragmentation of the Mongolian political space. It is possible that the political position of Tsogto Khuntaiji acquired its final features precisely under the influence of this circumstance.