TheOngud (also spelledOngut orÖngüt;Mongolian: Онгуд, Онход;Chinese: 汪古,Wanggu; fromOld Turkicöng "desolate, uninhabited; desert" plusgüt "class marker"[1]) were aTurkic tribe that later becameMongolized[2][3] active in what is nowInner Mongolia innorthern China around the time ofGenghis Khan (1162–1227).[4] Many Ongud were members of theChurch of the East.[5] They lived in an area lining theGreat Wall in the northern part of theOrdos Plateau and territories to the northeast of it.[4] They appear to have had two capitals, a northern one at the ruin known asOlon Süme and another a bit to the south at a place called Koshang or Dongsheng.[6] They acted as wardens of the marches for theJin dynasty (1115–1234) to the north ofShanxi.[7]
The ancestors of the Ongud were theShatuo Turks,[8][9] who, in turn, descended mainly from the two remnant tribes ofWestern Turkic Khaganate: namely, the Chuyue, theTürgesh-associated Suoge, and the Anqing of Sogdian origins. In the seventh century they moved to east of modernDzungaria, then under the rule of theTang dynasty. By the ninth century, the Shatuo were scattered over north Shanxi and modernInner Mongolia. In 808, 30,000 Shatuo under Zhuye Jinzhong defected from the Tibetans to Tang China and the Tibetans punished them by killing Zhuye Jinzhong as they were chasing them.[10] The Uyghurs also fought against an alliance of Shatuo and Tibetans at Beshbalik.[11] The Shatuo Turks under Zhuye Chixin (Li Guochang) served the Tang dynasty in fighting against their fellow Turkic people in theUyghur Khaganate. In 839, when the Uyghur khaganate (Huihu) general Jueluowu (掘羅勿) rose against the rule of then-reigningZhangxin Khan, he elicited the help from Zhuye Chixin by giving Zhuye 300 horses, and together, they defeated Zhangxin Khan, who then committed suicide, precipitating the subsequent collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate. In the next few years, when Uyghur Khaganate remnants tried to raid Tang borders, the Shatuo participated extensively in counterattacking the Uyghur Khaganate with other tribes loyal to Tang.[12] In 843, Zhuye Chixin, under the command of the Han Chinese officerShi Xiong with Tuyuhun, Tangut and Han Chinese troops, participated in a raid against the Uyghur khaganate that led to the slaughter of Uyghur forces at Shahu mountain.[13][14][15] A Shatuo warlord,Li Keyong, mobilized 10,000 Shatuo cavalrymen and served the Tang dynasty as an ally. In 923, his sonLi Cunxu defeated theLater Liang dynasty and became emperor of theLater Tang dynasty.[16][17][18][19]
After the overthrow of the Li family, Shatuo commanders established theLater Jin, theLater Han and theNorthern Han.
In the 13th century, a part of Shatuo probably included in theMongol Empire as an Ongud tribe, another part as White Tatars.[20][21] According to a number of authors, the Onguds were already a Mongolized tribe in the 13th century (Nikolai Aristov,[2] Ochir[3]). Academicians Boris Vladimirtsov[22] andVasily Bartold[23] believed that ethnically the Onguds were already the southern Mongols. According to the Mongolian chronicler Sanan-Setsen, the Onguds at the time ofGenghis Khan were part of the Su Mongols.[24]
The Ongud chiefAla Kush Tegin revealed theNaimans plan to attack Genghis Khan in 1205 and allied with the Mongols. When Genghis Khan invaded the Jin Dynasty in 1211, Ala Kush Tegin supported him. Genghis married his daughterAlakhai Bekhi to one of Ala Kush's sons. However, political opponents killed Ala Kush Tegin. Genghis put down the rebellion and took the family under his protection, with his daughter the de facto ruler.[25]Alakhai Bekhi ruled the Ongud as regent for several underage princes until the reign ofGüyük Khan (1246–48).
Many famous post-Genghis Mongols are of Ongud descent, including the well-known traveler, diplomat, andmonk of theChurch of the East,Rabban Bar Sauma (1220–1294). The Ongud proved good allies toKublai.[26] For example, the Ongud rulerGeorge married Kublai's two granddaughters and fought againstKaidu, whose protégéDuwa captured and killed him later in 1298. A number of Öngüd, including George, were said to have been converted to Catholicism byJohn of Montecorvino (1246–1328).[27]
After 1221 many Onguds were resettled in Khwarezm, where they served as governors for theGolden Horde. They formed part of theArgyns and theMughal tribe. The Onguds in Mongolia became an otog of theTumed in the 15th century. The Onguds gradually vanished from historical records and likely assimilated into other Turkic and Mongol tribes beginning in the post-Yuan period. The Mongols of Inner Mongolia, Mongolia and western China eventually converted toTibetan Buddhism from the 16th century onwards.[28]
TheUniversity of Hong Kong possesses a collection of around a thousand 13th- and 14th-century bronzeNestorian crosses from the Ongud region collected during the 1920s by F. A. Nixon, a British postal official working in northern China. Although their designs vary,Maltese crosses with a square central panel displaying aswastika, the Buddhist good luck symbol, predominate.[29]
The Ongud Monument Ensemble was constructed by the Turkic tribes during the 6th-8th centuries for their noblemen. This consists of over 30 man-like figures, a lion and a sheep, and about 550 standing stones in alignments reminiscent of Carnac or Avebury. There is also a large tomb made of 4 sculptured slabs. Each slab has the front face decorated with a trellis-pattern like the walls of ayurt, and a simple frieze on top.