Činggis Qaγan in the Quriyangγui Altan Tobči

Abstract

The Quriyangγui Altan Tobči (QAT) is a seventeenth century Mongolian chronicle. It begins with a mythological genealogy of the descent of Genghis Khan, from King Maha Samadi of India and various Tibetian kings. The text of QAT can be divided into two parts: the first leading up to Činggis Qaγan’s death and funeral (the present article gives the translation of this part of the chronicle), while the second one contains the narration of the events that took place from the accession of Ögedei Qaγan up to the reign of Ligdan Qaγan. When the materials found within the episodes are compared to the Secret History of Mongols (MNT), the stories most 240 Abstracts
strongly rooted in the pseudo-historical MNT can be seen as the ones containing the most unaltered material from the MNT. The written record of Genghis Khan’s life derives from the MNT, which survived in Chinese phonetic script and in excerpts in Uighur script cited in the QAT; some parts derive from the Altan Debter (Golden Book) which has been lost, but which was known in the thirteenth century to the Persian chronicler Rashīd al-Dīn, and which served as the source for the Chinese language chronicle, Shengwu qinzheng lu 聖武親征錄 (SWQZL; The Campaigns of Genghis Khan), and for the Yuanshi 元史 (The History of the Yuan Dynasty). The translation is accompanied by a running commentary, which clarifies the historical background and interprets
the content in its historical context.