Ambaghai

Life

Ambaghai was a member of the Borjigin clan’s cadet branch, born to Sorqaduqtu China, who was a son of Charaqai Lingqum and grandson of Khaidu Khan. The Secret History of the Mongols also names his father as Senggüm Bilge. He first ruled the Taichuud tribe and later became khan of Khamag Mongol. According to Rashidaddin, he took over from Khabul Khan because he was the oldest living member of the Borjigid line.

Near the end of his rule, while traveling to marry his son Qadaan Taishi to the daughter of the Airu’ut Tatar chief, Ambaghai was seized by the Tatars along with Khabul Khan’s son Tödö’en Otchigin. The Jurchen Jin dynasty ordered this capture, alarmed by the Mongols’ rising strength. Ambaghai was taken to the Jin capital Zhongdu, where he was crucified and then cut to pieces. No exact dates for his reign or death survive; one estimate places his death around 1156, while another suggests he ruled from 1146 to 1156.

His distant cousin Hotula Khan succeeded him. Ambaghai’s son Qadaan Taishi became the de facto leader of the Taichuud and fought alongside Hotula Khan against the Tatars, but was poisoned in the 1160s, likely by relatives in a succession dispute. In 1211, Genghis Khan launched the Mongol–Jin War, which ended with the Jin dynasty’s collapse, as sworn revenge for Ambaghai’s kidnapping and execution. With his two wives, Orbei and Sokhatai, Ambaghai had several sons: Adal Khan, Targutai Kiriltuk, Au’chu Baghatur, Qadaan Taishi, Quril Baghatur, Töda’a, Qodun Orchang, Bakhachi, and Udor Bayan.