An Ephemeral State on the Enduring Steppe

Abstract

Baroun Tala, or the Khoshoud Khanate, was the first of three khanates created by the Oirat Mongols of the seventeenth century (1642), followed by the Jöüngar (1678) and Kalmyk Khanates (1681). It rose at a time when the two most powerful noble Oirat lineages, the Choros and Khoshoud, were close allies. The Khoshoud ruled in Kükünour and Tibet from 1642 to 1720, some 78 years. That history is summarised herein. The Khoshoud alliance with the Jöüngars (ruled by the Choros) ended in 1676 when Choros Galdan Boshugtu defeated the Khoshoud Chechen Khan and scattered his people. The Khoshoud Khanate was tied to the Fifth Dalai Lama and the centralisation of governance that occurred under his newly established political authority. The end of the Khoshoud Khanate is linked to the demise of the Sixth Dalai Lama, their failed alliance with the Jöüngars and ultimate capitulation to the Qing.