The Rise of the Jöüngars Based on Primary Oyirod Sources

This paper draws on primary Oyirod and Mongol sources concerning the rise of the seventeenth-century Jöüngars. It relies on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Mongolian historical texts to identify the 1638 creation of an Oyirod Jöüngar [Left Wing] and Baroun Gar [Right Wing]. This origin of the Jöüngars differs substantially from historical accounts that project existence of a Jöüngar to an earlier time. From Sarayin Gerel [Moon Light] and other sources we learn that the creation of the Jöüngar Khanate was sudden and even unlikely after the division of Baatar Khong Tayiji’s people among his sons. The Jöüngars were so weakened by this division that the Dalai Lama gave the title of Chechen Khaan to the Khoshoud Ochirtu Tayiji in 1666. The Yeke Caaji [Great Code] describes Oyirod political organisation in 1640. Sarayin Gerel also provides details of the reign of Galdan Boshugtu from 1672 until 1692.