The Tibetan-born reincarnate lama enthroned as the last great khan of Mongolia
'The princes feared him, the common people loved him.'
Born in Lhasa, Tibet, the 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu was, after the Dalai and Panchen Lamas, the highest living incarnation in Mongolian Buddhism. When the Qing dynasty collapsed in 1911, Mongol nobles enthroned him on 29 December as the 'Bogd Khan' ('Holy Ruler') of a new theocratic state. Stripped of power when China abolished autonomy in 1919, he was reinstated as a limited monarch after the 1921 revolution and died of throat cancer on 20 May 1924, ending the monarchy. The first and last great khan of Outer Mongolia since the late 17th century, he held Mongols together amid upheaval through his religious charisma.
Also known as: 8th Jebtsundamba Khutuktu · Bogd Gegen · Agvaan Luvsan Choijinnyam Danzan Vanchüg · Bogdo Lama
Activities and affiliations
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1874–1924
Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism8th Jebtsundamba KhutuktuMain
Religion -
1911–1924
Mongolia state institutionsBogd Khan
Monarchs and royalty
Career Timeline
- 1874Arrived in Urga (Ih Hüree), recognized as head of Mongolian Buddhism
- 1911Enthroned as Bogd Khan on 29 December
- 1919Lost power as China abolished autonomy
- 1921Reinstated as limited monarch after the People's Revolution
- 1924Died of throat cancer, ending the monarchy
Related historical events
- 1911–1916The 1911 Revolution and the birth of the RepublicMonarch of Mongolian independenceProclaimed Outer Mongolia’s independence on 29 December 1911 amid the fall of the Qing and became ruler of the Bogd Khanate.
- 1921–1924Mongolian revolution and establishment of the republicLast monarch and 8th Jebtsundamba KhutuktuReinstated in 1921, he died on 20 May 1924, ending the monarchy.
Confrontation with the Qing Administration and Religious Patronage
The authority the reincarnate lama acquired was not confined to the religious sphere; it collided head-on with the administrative power of the Qing empire. From about the age of ten, five years after arriving in Urga, he began to raise objections to the dominance of Chinese merchants in the capital. In 1882 he submitted a document directly to the Qing emperor Guangxu, informing him that unless the Chinese trading quarter moved outside the city, he would transfer his own seat from Urga to Erdene Zuu; the Qing authorities eventually conceded and removed the traders from the monastery.
He clashed with the Qing administration repeatedly thereafter. He hid his old teacher in his palace and refused to hand him over for trial by the Qing authorities, protested actively against the tax increases of the Urga amban De Lin, refused to meet him, and in the end secured his dismissal despite De Lin's backing in Beijing. According to some accounts, in the 1900s the imperial authorities even made attempts on his life.
When the 13th Dalai Lama came to Khalkha in 1904 to escape the British expedition's occupation of Lhasa, European reports describe friction between the two hierarchs; Mongolian and Tibetan sources, however, hold that there was no real conflict between them and that the Qing authorities manufactured it in order to drive the Dalai Lama out of Mongolia. The affair cost the Jebtsundamba dearly as well. Believing himself set up and that the appearance of a conflict had been created, he lost his eyesight. Reports exist of cataracts and of his refusal of treatment, even free treatment, by European doctors, while the claim of some Europeans that he went blind from drink conflicts with Mongolian sources.
To restore his sight, a twenty-six-metre statue of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, Megjid Janraiseg, was erected at the Gandantegchenlin monastery. Its construction and the temple were blessed by the 13th Dalai Lama during his stay in Urga; the statue was cast at Dolonnuur and brought to Urga in disassembled pieces, and the work was completed only in 1913.
The Khalkha princes expected that the nearly blind Jebtsundamba would become an object of their influence and showed him broad loyalty. Despite his affliction, however, he showed himself an active and independent politician.