Mandukhai Khatun (also known as Mandukhai Sechen Khatun or Queen Manduhai the Wise) (c. 1449 - 1510) was the Empress of the Post-imperial Mongolia. She united the warring Mongols with her husband Batmunkh Dayan Khan.
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Mandukhai was the only daughter of Chorosbai chingsang (grand councillor) of the Ongud Mongols in eastern Mongolia. Her family were aristocrats. At the age of 18, Mandukhai was married to Manduul Khan, who ruled the Mongol Empire from 1473–1479, to whom she bore a daughter. Mandukhai then took precedence over Yekhe Khabartu Yungin, the childless first wife.
After the death of Manduul Khan in 1467 at the hands of his own advisor Eslem, a spy and an agent of Ming China, the throne was left without an heir. Mandukhai brought from hiding and adopted the seven year old orphan Batmunkh, son of the late Bayan Monke Jonon, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan and part of the Golden Horde, who had also been killed by Eslem. As Batumunkh was the last living descendant of Genghis Khan, Mandukhai had him proclaimed Dayan Khan, and she rejected the marriage offer by General Unubold. However, Unubold, a descendant of Jo'chi Hasar, younger brother of Genghis Khan, remained loyal to Mandukhai and the child Khan.
Thus Mandukhai took command over the Mongols, made war with the Oirats, and defeated them. After oppressing the Western Mongols who consistently waged civil wars, Mandukhai and Dayan Khan punished them by demanding that they follow five codes.
The codes included:
The Oirats accepted everything except for the second one. Her stunning victory over the Oirats brought back great reputation of the Chinggisids.
When Batmonkh turned nineteen, she married him and retained her control over the Mongols. The Oirats again rebelled and raided the Eastern Mongols. Mandukhai lead the great army against them. She was pregnant, but still fought and delivered twin boys during a long battle. The Western Mongols were subdued once again.
In 1480, Dayan Khan and Mandukhai were provoked by the Ming Chinese when they closed their borders to trade and killed a Mongol envoy. To contain the Mongol threat, the Ming Chinese rapidly expanded the Great Wall and now used the new artillery of gunpowder to defeat her troops.[1] Mandukhai reoccupied the Ordos area and stationed soldiers there to keep watch on China. While Dayan Khaan was battling the Ming army, Eslem, the Ming spy and assassin who had been a close advisor of the khan for the past thirty years, once again played the double agent. Eslem would lead an attack on the fortress of the khan, in an attempt to kill Mandukhai and the heir to the throne. Eslem was allowed in with no suspicion and opened the gates when he had a chance. Mandukhai and her outnumbered guards were taken by surprise. They fought valiantly but were overwhelmed. The heir to the throne, Ulasbold, was secretly taken to safety, but Mandukhai died fighting Eslem in 1510.
Mandukhai managed to keep Dayan Khan in power as a descendant of Ghengis Khan, and she defeated the Oirats. Both feats have contributed to the legends which formed about her life.
She left seven sons and three daughters. The later khans and nobles of Mongolia are her descendants.
Mandukhai the Wise (Мандуухай сэцэн хатан) is a Mongolian film based on a novel of the same title by Ts. Natsagdorj; both recount her life.