The Torghut (or Torgud, Torgut people) are one of the four major sub-tribes of the Oirat people. They formed Oirat alliance with other 3 main tribes. Their name is also variously romanized as Torgut, Torghuud (Torγuud), Torguud, or Turgŭt. The Torghut ruling dynasty traced its descent to the Kerait ruler Wang Khan's bodyguards.
They might be kheshigs of the Great khans before Kublai khan. The Torgud clan first appear as an Oirat tribe in the middle 16th century. After the collapse of the Four Oirat Alliance, A bulk of Torghuts under Kho Orluk separated from other Oirats and moved west to Volga in 1630, forming the core of the Kalmyks. A few Torghut nobles followed Toro Baikhu Guushi Khan into Kokenuur, becoming part of the Upper Mongols. In 1698, 500 Torghuds went on pilgirimage to Tibet but were unable to return. Hence, they were resettled in Ejen by Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty. In 1699 15,000 Torghud households returned from Volga to Zungaria where they joined the Khoits. After the fall of the Zungars, one of their princes, Taiji Shyiren, fled to Volga region with 10,000 families in 1758.
Due to harsh pressures of Russian governors, most of Torghuts migrated back to Dzungaria and western Mongolia, departing en masse on January 5, 1771. While the first phase of their movement became the Old Torghuts, the Qing called the late Torghud immigrants "New Torghuds". The size of the departing group has been variously estimated at 150,000 to 400,000 people, with perhaps as many as six million animals (cattle, sheep, horses, camels and dogs).[1]. Beset by raids, thirst and starvation, approximately 85,000 survivors made it to Dzungaria, where they settled near the Ejin River with the permission of the Manchu Emperor.[1]
However, a group of around 70,000 Torghuts were left behind in Russia, since (according to legend) the Volga River was not frozen and they could not cross it to join their comrades.[1] This group became known as the Kalmyk, or "remnant"[1], although the name may predate these events. However, the Muslims called the Oirats as Qalmyc before. In any case, the remnant were quite successful, doubling their numbers by 1930.[1] The Torghud-Kalmyk archers under Russian notable general Mikhail Kutuzov clashed with the French army of legendary Napoleon in 1812[2]. In 1906, the Qing put western Mongolia's New Torghuds under the Altai district. One New Torghud prince opposed Mongolian independence and fled to Xinjiang in 1911-12. However, the others were reincorporated into Mongolia's Khovd.
Torghut descendants number more than 60,000 in Xinjiang, China and more than 10,000 in Khovd Province, Mongolia. There are around 170,000 Kalmyks in Russia.
Language
References
- Ram Rahul-March of Central Asia Indus Publishing, 2000 ISBN 8173871094
- Johan Elverskog-Our Great Qing:The Mongols, Buddhism and the State in Late Imperial China ISBN 0824830210
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