The Precious Summary : A History of the Mongols From Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty

The Mongols, their khans, and the empire they built and ruled in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries exert an enduring fascination. Caricatured as a marauding horde that ravaged surrounding peoples, in reality the Mongols created institutions, trading networks, economic systems, and intellectual and technological exchanges that shaped the early modern world. However, the centuries after the waning of Mongol power remain overlooked in comparison to the days of Chinggis Khan. The Precious Summary is the most important work of Mongolian history on the three-hundred-year period before the rise of the Manchu Qing dynasty. Written by Sagang Sechen in 1662, shortly after the Mongols’ submission to the Qing, it chronicles the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China, the Mongol-Oirat wars, and the revival of Mongol power during the reign of Dayan Khan in the sixteenth century. Sagang Sechen’s masterful account spans Buddhist cosmology, Chinggis Khan, the post-Yuan Mongols, Chinese history, and the Mongols’ conversion to Buddhism―and throughout, it attempts to come to terms with the new Manchu state. Featuring extensive and accessible annotations and explanations of historical context, Johan Elverskog’s translation of the Precious Summary offers invaluable perspective on Inner Asian and Chinese history, Mongolian historiography, and the history of Buddhism in Asia. "Contrary to popular belief, the Mongols were not simply a marauding horde that destroyed surrounding civilizations. The Mongolian empire made possible institutions, trading networks, economic systems, and intellectual and technological exchanges that would come to shape and define the early modern world. But less is known of the centuries following the collapse of that empire. Sagang Sechen's 1662 work, Precious Summary, tackles this history, from the ejection of the Mongols from Beijing after the fall of the Yuan dynasty to the rise of the Qing. Precious Summary is at the same time a Buddhist cosmological history of the universe and imperial rule, a history of Chinggis Khan, a history of the post-Yuan Mongols, and a history of the Mongols' Buddhist conversion-but throughout it is also from its contemporary moment trying to make sense of the new Manchu state. Elverskog sees this text as the most important work of Mongolian history after the 13th-century Secret History of the Mongols. It was translated into German in 1829 and has never been translated into English"-- Provided by publisher Table of Contents Introduction 1. History of the Universe, the Buddha, and India 2. History of Tibet 3. History of Chinggis Khan 4. History of the Yuan Dynasty 5. History of the Northern Yuan Dynasty 6. History of the Mongol-Oirat Wars 7. History of Dayan Khan 8. History of the Six Tümen 9. History of Khutugtai Sechen Khung Taiji 10. History of Altan Khan and the Buddhist Conversion 11. History of the Dalai Lamas and the Ordos 12. History of the Ming and Qing Dynasties 13. Epilogue 14. Colophon Notes Bibliography Index