The Mongols: An Overview of Their History and Cultural Influence

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The Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia), and some regions of Russia. The Mongols are members of a large family of Mongolic people. The Mongols are bound by a common ethnic identity.

The designation “Mongol” appeared in eighth-century records of Tang China. In the 13th century, the word Mongol grew into an umbrella term for a large group of Mongolic-speaking tribes united under Genghis Khan. The ancestry of Mongolic peoples can be traced back to the Donghu, a nomadic confederation occupying eastern Mongolia and Manchuria. The Donghu were the neighbors of the Xiongnu, whose identity is still debated today. It is said that the language of the Mongols was related to Xiongnu.

With the expansion of the Mongol Empire, the Mongols settled over almost all of Eurasia and carried on military campaigns from the Adriatic Sea to Indonesian Java and from Japan to Palestine. They became Padshahs of Persia, Emperors of China, and Great Khans of the Mongols. The Mongolic peoples of the Golden Horde established themselves to govern Russia by 1240. By 1279 they conquered the Song dynasty and brought all of China under the control of their dynasty. Zhas Gong described Mongols as below –

“… from Chinggis up high down to the common people, all are shaven in the style pojiao. As with small boys in China they leave three locks, one hanging from the crown of their heads. When it has grown some, they clip it; the strands lower on both sides their plait to hang down on the shoulders.”

The original religion of the Mongolic peoples was Shamanism. Later on, the Mongols came in contact with Confucianism and Daoism and adopted Buddhism in the 5th century. The Buddhist monk Dharmapriya was proclaimed the state teacher of the Mongols. In 511 the Rourah Douluofubadoufa Khan sent Hong Xuan to the Tuoba court with a pearl-encrusted statue of Buddha as a gift.

The holiest shrine of the Mongols was Mount Burkhan Khaldun. Genghis Khan usually fasted, prayed, and meditated on this mountain before his campaigns. As a young man, he had thanked the mountain for saving his life and prayed at the foot of the mountain.

The moral precepts were more expressed in poetic form and mainly involved truthfulness, fidelity, help in hardship, unity, self-control, fortitude, veneration of nature, veneration of the state, and veneration of parents.

The traditional Mongol family was patriarchal, patrilineal, and patriolocal. Wives were brought for each of the sons. The daughters were married off.

In world history, the history of the Mongols is a significant chapter. Due to their invasion, the Chinese built the Great Wall of China. But more wonder is that the rise of Buddhism led to the fall of the Mongols. The influence of Buddhism made them peaceful and thereby left their swords. This was a great success of Lord Buddha.

(The views expressed are the writer’s own.)

Radhakanta Seth is an Income tax officer in Sambalpur.  He is a Freelance writer and his articles have been published in some Oriya dailies like Sambad, Samaj, Dharitri and English dailies like The Telegraph and in a sociological journal ‘Folklore’ published from Kolkata.