KHARAKHORUM

capital of the Mongol Empire

By Kim Lau

Kharakhorum (or Karakoram) is the capital of the Mongol Empire from 1235-1260, and the capital of Northern Yuan when the ruling Mongols were evicted from China. Today, its called Kharkhorin, a town and soum (district) center in Övörkhangai Province in Mongolia. The ruins of Kharakhorum were used to build Erdene Zuu Monastery, and its location is adjacent to the monastery. They are part of the upper part of the World Heritage Site Orkhon Valley Cultural Landscape. The Orkhon valley was a center of the Xiongnu, Göktürk (Blue Turks) and Uyghur empires in antiquity. The Mongols was the last to dominate the valley. Genghis Khan built his supply base at Kharakhorum while Ogedei turned it into the capital of the Mongol Empire. People from all over the world came to pay tribute to the empire at Kharakhorum. Kublai eventually shifted the capital to Xanudu in inner Mongolia, then to Khanbaliq, current site of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, China. When the Mongols were banished from China, subsequent rulers administer from Central Mongolia with proximity to the Orkhon Valley. This series introduces Kharakhorum and the Orkhon valley.

orkhon river into kharakhorum

View of the Orkhon river from the Great Imperial Map Monument.

SHAMANISTIC OVOO : overlooking Orkhon River from Kharakhorum. Contribute a rock and circle 3 times clockwise for a safe jounrney

SUMMER BATH @ ORKHON : Locals drive to a remote bank on the Orkhon river near Kharkhorin for a summer bath.

AZER GER CAMP : at the base of the Imperial Map Monument

THE GREAT IMPERIAL MAP MONUMENT

Overlooking Khakhorin, the monument honours the various nomadic empires from the Orkhon Valley. It has 3 sides depicting maps from the Hunnu period, the Turkic period, and the Mongol period. Facing is the map of the Mongol empire with the present Mongolia in blue.

MONGOLIAN STONE TURTLE

These stone turtles are base of stelle with inscriptions. They mark the corners of the ancient capital at Kharakhorum

ERDENE ZUU

Means “Treasures Hundred“ (monastries). It used to have 60-100 temples and hosted 1000 monks. Communist purge in 1937 destroyed all but 3 small temples. Its architecture reveal Chinese roofs, Tibetan Buddism symbols, and Machu styles similar to those in the forbidden palace. Built in 1585 using ruins from Kharakhorum, it is the first buddist monastery in Mongolia.

HERDS @ ERDENE ZUU : A young girl leads her animals pass Erdene Zuu.

STUPA WALLS & OVOO : The walls topped with stupas runs the pheriphery of the temple compound. Skulls of horses are sacred objects, and Mongols decorate ovoos with them

SAND STORM @ ERDENE ZUU : Whether changes abruptly, dusting dirt into the atmosphere.

MONKS & VENDOR : Family members accompany monks home at the end of the day. Erdene Zuu does not have monk‘s living quarters. Friendly and curious vendors came up to me for a photo.

ERDENE ZUU BAND

These musicians had been training since a young age, and they perform for both commercial, national and religious events. Performed at Anar ger camp at Kharkhorin.

ZANABAZAR’S VIEW

Moving south along the Orkhon river brought us to Tövkhön Khiid, remotely located in the Khangai mountains. Built by Zanabazar in 1651, this is where he created many of his master piece at Tövkhön Khiid. Zanabazar was a direct descendent of Genghis Khan, and the first Jebtsundamba Khutughtu, the Gelug Tibetan Buddhism spiritual leader after Dailai and Panchen. He was the leader of the Khalkh Mongols, which was technically subjugated by Manchu who was ruling China. He was however, better respected for his Buddhist arts than a ruler. After the second Jebtsundamba revolted against the Manchu, it was ordered by Qianlong, Manchu emperor that future reincarnations of Jebtsundamba to be found within Tibet. The 8th Jebtsundamba was discovered in Kham, eastern region of Tibet, and was installed as Bogd Khan, ruler of Mongolia after the collapse of the Qing Dynasty in China. After his death during the communist era, it was declared that there be no more Jebtsundamba reincarnations. However, the 9th Jebtsundamba was immediately confirmed, whose identity was concealed until 1990. The 9th Jebtsundamba passed away in March 2012.

BIG VULTURES @ ORKHON

These birds were spotted feeding on a corpse with proximity to the herd

Göktürks khaganate

The Göktürks is the first Turkic empire here in the 6th century and its second installation in the 8th century produces a stone stelle that commemorates a pair of princes: Bilge Khan and Kul Tegin. Left is a depiction of Bilge Khan court, and right is the sculpture of Kul Tegin.

orkhon inscription

The stele has inscriptions in the old Turkic (Orkhon) script and Chinese. It was clear that empire had many relationships with the Tang dynasty of China; the stele praises Chinese technology as well as lamenting on its negative influences on cultural assimilation. Chinese script translated by nephew of Tang Dynasty emperor Taizong. Old Turkic, Uyghur script are runic script that is similar to those used for ancient Germanic script which is geographically far away

闕特勒 is Kul Tigin. Stone stelle says : Gin's stelle, from Kul Ti

Orkhon script (Old Turkic, Uyghur script )

UYGHUR KHAGANATE

The Uyghur revolted the Göktürks, forming the Uyghur Empire at Karabalghasun, also known as Ordu-Baliq and Khar Balsas in Mongolian language, meaning “city of courts” and “black city” respectively. The fall of the Uyghur empire led to the eventual migration of Uyghur west and south west to their current location in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, China.