Jigme Namkha, a Mongol lama writing in Tibetan, completed his History of Buddhism in the Great Land of the Hor (Mongols) in 1819, drawing on Mongolian chronicles such as Sagang Sechen and on Tibetan histories. It retells the Mongol royal line from its legendary Tibetan ancestor to Chinggis Khan, Khubilai and the later khans, then the spread of Buddhism among the Mongols. The corpus holds the Tibetan text volume and Georg Huth's German translation (Strassburg, volume 2 dated 1896 in the corpus manifest), quoted here with working English translations.
How they knew
Compiled from others
Who “Tartar” means here
The author writes of Hor and Sog po, the Tibetan words for the Mongols, which Huth renders 'Mongolen'. The word Tatar does not appear in the translation.
Why read it
It is the Mongols' own 19th-century picture of their past: a Tibetan prince as ancestor, Chinggis named by a magic bird, Khubilai as a builder of cities, and a subject world that includes dog-headed people.
Watch out
A pious chronicle mixing legend with history; Huth's translation has known errors, and the German OCR is imperfect. Quotes are in German with my own English translation.
Editorial contextThe chronicle credits Khubilai, who took the throne in 1260, with building four great cities: Daidu (Beijing), Chagan (Chagan Balgasun), Huriyetu and Lanfin (Kaiping, the later Shangdu), and with appointing able prefects. For this Mongol author, the khans were founders of cities, not tent-dwellers only.
He built four great cities: the city of Daidu, the city of Chagan, the city of Huriyetu and the city of Lanfin, and appointed capable men as prefects.
Working translation
Original wording
Er erbaute vier grosse Städte: die Stadt Täitu, die Stadt C'agan, die Stadt Hnriyet'u und die Stadt Lanfin, er- nannte tüchtige Männer zu Präfekten
Jigme Namkha (translated from the Tibetan into German by Georg Huth, 1896)
A Tibetan prince at the sacred mountain: where the Mongol khans came from
Editorial contextJigme Namkha begins the Mongol royal line not with the wolf and doe of the Secret History but with a son of the Tibetan king Drigum Tsenpo, called Borte Chino in Mongolian, who went into Mongolia with his wife and came to the mountain Burkhan Khaldun. The local people, learning of his noble descent, made him their ruler. It is a Buddhist retelling that ties the Mongol khans to Tibet's royal house.
That youngest son of King Khri gum btsan po, named Nya khri, or in Mongolian Borte Chino, took a wife named Go(a) Maral from the land of Kongpo, went with her into Mongolia and came to the mountain Burkhan Khaldun on the shore of Lake Baikal.
Working translation
Original wording
Jener jüngste Sohn des Königs K'ri gum btsan-po, mit Namen Na k'ri oder mongolisch Porta Zeba, nahm sich aus dem Lande rKoii-po eine Gattin G-n-ö Maral mit Namen, ging mit ihr in die Mongolei und kam an den Berg Porhan Galtona am Ufer des Päigal -Seees.
Jigme Namkha (translated from the Tibetan into German by Georg Huth, 1896)
Huth's transliteration of Mongol names is idiosyncratic ('Porta Zeba' for Borte Chino, 'Porhan Galtona' for Burkhan Khaldun), and the OCR garbles some letters; the placing of Burkhan Khaldun by Baikal is the author's.
Editorial contextThe chronicle explains Chinggis Khan's title with a marvel: for three mornings a never-before-seen bird with rainbow feathers sat on a stone in front of his palace and called 'chinggis, chinggis', so his officials gave him the name. Then the stone split open by itself, revealing the old imperial jade seal. The author adds that the name is mispronounced in Tibetan as 'Jingir'.
...[the bird] called for a long time in a lovely voice 'chinggis, chinggis'. The officials took this as a wonderful sign and a lucky omen, and therefore gave the king the name Bogda Chinggis.
Working translation
Original wording
rief lange mit lieblicher Stimme ‘c'ihgis, chhgis’. Die Beamten fassten dies als ein wunderbares Zeichen und glückliches Omen auf und gaben daher dem Könige den Namen Pogta C'ingis
Jigme Namkha (translated from the Tibetan into German by Georg Huth, 1896)
Editorial contextListing the peoples conquered from Chinggis to Khubilai, the chronicle gives the 'five colours': blue Mongols, red Chinese, black Tibetans, yellow Sartagul (Central Asian Muslims) and white Solongos (Koreans). Then come four more peoples: Amazons, one other, people with an eye on the chest, and dog-headed people. Old wonder-lore sits beside a real map of the empire.
The blue Mongols, over four hundred thousand households; the red Chinese; the black Tibetans; the yellow Sartagul; the white Solongos... and four further peoples: the Tsug-te Amazons, the Yon-ru, those with one eye on the chest, and those with dogs' heads.
Working translation
Original wording
Die blauen Mongolen, über vierhunderttausend Häuser, die roten Chinesen, die schwarzen Tibeter, die gelben Sart'agwol, die weissen Solongwos … ferner vier weitere Völkerschaften: die T sug-te- Amazonen, die j/Yon-ru, die mit einem Auge auf der Brust und die mit Hundeköpfen.
Jigme Namkha (translated from the Tibetan into German by Georg Huth, 1896)
The marvellous peoples are traditional lore repeated by the author, not observation.
The fine print
How we know
compilation Assembled from earlier sources. The author did not observe it directly.
retrospective history compiled from Mongolian and Tibetan sources by a Mongol author; includes lists of Mongol khans and the Dzungar-Qing wars
Research notes
Compiled from Sagang Sechen and Tibetan histories; Huth's translation has known errors (see Vostrikov). BDRC W1KG15408 is a different, 20th-century Hor chos 'byung by Blo bzang rta mgrin (out of scope).
Why it matters
The standard Mongol-authored history of Mongolia in Tibetan; gives Mongol dynastic succession and the names of Mongol groups as understood in Mongolia itself c.1819.