Origin The ancestors of the Ongud were the
Shatuo Turks, who, in turn, descended mainly from the two remnant tribes of
Western Turkic Khaganate: namely, the Chuyue, the
Türgesh-associated Suoge, and the Anqing of Sogdian origins. In the seventh century they moved to east of modern
Dzungaria, then under the rule of the
Tang dynasty. By the ninth century, the Shatuo were scattered over north Shanxi and modern
Inner 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. The Uyghurs also fought against an alliance of Shatuo and Tibetans at Beshbalik. The Shatuo Turks under Zhuye Chixin (
Li Guochang) served the Tang dynasty in fighting against their fellow Turkic people in the
Uyghur Khaganate. In 839, when the Uyghur khaganate (Huihu) general Jueluowu (掘羅勿) rose against the rule of then-reigning
Zhangxin 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. In 843, Zhuye Chixin, under the command of the Han Chinese officer
Shi 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. A Shatuo warlord,
Li Keyong, mobilized 10,000 Shatuo cavalrymen and served the Tang dynasty as an ally. In 923, his son
Li Cunxu defeated the
Later Liang dynasty and became emperor of the
Later Tang dynasty. After the overthrow of the Li family, Shatuo commanders established the
Later Jin, the
Later Han and the
Northern Han.
Mongol Empire In the 13th century, a part of Shatuo probably included in the
Mongol Empire as an Ongud tribe, another part as White Tatars. According to a number of authors, the Onguds were already a Mongolized tribe in the 13th century (
Nikolai Aristov, Ochir). Academicians Boris Vladimirtsov and
Vasily Bartold believed that ethnically the Onguds were already the southern Mongols. According to the Mongolian chronicler Sanan-Setsen, the Onguds at the time of
Genghis Khan were part of the Su Mongols. The Ongud chief
Ala Kush Tegin revealed the
Naimans 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 daughter
Alakhai 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.
Alakhai Bekhi ruled the Ongud as regent for several underage princes until the reign of
Güyük Khan (1246–48). Many famous post-Genghis Mongols are of Ongud descent, including the well-known traveler, diplomat, and
monk of the
Church of the East,
Rabban Bar Sauma (1220–1294). The Ongud proved good allies to
Kublai. For example, the Ongud ruler
George married Kublai's two granddaughters and fought against
Kaidu, whose protégé
Duwa captured and killed him later in 1298. A number of Öngüd, including George, were said to have been converted to Catholicism by
John of Montecorvino (1246–1328). After 1221 many Onguds were resettled in Khwarezm, where they served as governors for the
Golden Horde. They formed part of the
Argyns and the
Mughal tribe. The Onguds in Mongolia became an otog of the
Tumed 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 to
Tibetan Buddhism from the 16th century onwards. ==Art and architecture==