{{Short description|Mongol writer, historian, and Borjigin prince (1604–1641)}} {{Infobox writer | image= | caption= | birth_name=Saghang Sechen Qong Tayiji | birth_date=1604 | birth_place= Ordos (present day Inner Mongolia, China)<ref name="mongoltoli">{{cite web|title=Sagan setsen|url=https://mongoltoli.mn/history/h/424|website=mongoltoli.mn|access-date=22 May 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210521230817/https://mongoltoli.mn/history/h/424|archive-date=21 May 2021}}</ref> | death_date= after 1641 | death_place= | nationality= | occupation=Writer | notableworks = ''Erdeniin Tobchi'' | awards = | signature= }} '''Saghang Sechen'''<ref name="jstor">{{cite journal |last1=Okada |first1=Hidehiro|last2= 岡田英弘 |title= Dayan Khan as a Yüan Emperor: The Political Legitimacy in 15th Century Mongolia|journal= Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient|year=1994 |volume= Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient Vol. 81 (1994)|publisher=École française d'Extrême-Orient (JSTOR)|pages= 51–58|doi= 10.3406/befeo.1994.2245|jstor=43731760 }}</ref>{{efn|{{blist|{{langx|mn|Саган сэцэн хунтайж|Sagan secen khuntaij}}, {{IPA|khk|saʁə̆ɴ set͡sʰɘ̆ɴ χʊntʰɛ́ːt͡ɕ|pron}}|Classical Mongolian (transcription): {{Transliteration|mn|Saghang Sechen Qong Tayiji}}, {{IPA|mn|ˈsaɣăŋ ˈsetʃʰĕn qʰoŋ ˈtʰajĭdʒĭ|IPA}}}}}} (1604<ref name="cambridge">{{cite book|author=Branko Soucek |author2=Svat Soucek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7E8gYYcHuk8C|title=A history of inner Asia|page=358|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-521-65704-4}}</ref><ref name="Sanders">{{cite book|last=Sanders|first=Alan J. K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UGwvDwAAQBAJ|title=Historical Dictionary of Mongolia Volume 1|page=735|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2017|isbn=978-1-5381-0227-5}}</ref> – after 1641) was an ethnic Mongol writer, historian, and prince from the Borjigin clan.
He is primarily remembered for writing ''Erdeniin Tobchi'' (1662), a history of the Mongol great Khans which was written to promote unity among the Mongols. He also wrote a number of biographies, covering Godan Khan and the Shakyamuni Buddha. The historian was reputedly executed by the Qing dynasty for refusing to become their subject.
==Early life== Saghang Sechen was an ethnic Mongol born into the Ordos tribe, the son of the {{Transliteration|mn|Ordos Bat Khüngtaij}}.<ref name="jstor"/> He was a nephew of Altan Khan.<ref name="Sanders"/> When he was just 17, Saghang Sechen became a military and administrative aide to Ligden Khan. The latter entitled him {{Transliteration|mn|Setsen Khüngtaij}}.<ref name="Sanders"/>
==Work== [[File:Ost-Mongolen.jpg|thumb|Front-page of a 1829 German edition of the ''History of the Eastern Mongol'' by Sechen]] He is best known as the author of the ''Erdeniin Tobchi'' ('Jeweled Summary'), which was published in 1662.<ref name="brit">{{cite web|title=Mongolian literature|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/Mongolian-literature|publisher=Britannica|access-date=18 May 2021|archive-url=https://archive.today/20210518095116/https://www.britannica.com/art/Mongolian-literature|archive-date=18 May 2021}}</ref> The work is a history of the Mongol great Khans,<ref name="Sanders"/> and came as part of a struggle for unity among the Mongols, and renewal of their literature.<ref name="brit"/>
The work has some anecdotes also found in the early-13th-century ''The Secret History of the Mongols'' and in Guush Luvsandanzan's ''Altan Tobchi'' or {{Transliteration|mn|Khadyn ündsen khuraangui Altan tovch nert sudar orshivoi}} ('Short History of the Origins of the Khans Called the Golden Summary'), also written in the early 17th century. In his work there are also citations from the {{Transliteration|mn|Shar Tuuj}} ({{Transliteration|mn|Sir-a tuguji}}, 'Yellow Story'), written as on ode to Dayan Khan in the 17th century by an anonymous author. It tells the story of the capture of Gürbeljin-gua ('Beautiful lizard'), queen of Tangut, whose husband (Tangut Khan) had been murdered by Genghis Khan after he destroyed their kingdom, the Tangut state. The story tells that before giving herself to Genghis Khan, she placed a pair of tweezers inside herself, which caused a fatal injury to Genghis Khan. She then drowned herself into the Yellow River. The work of Saghang Sechen has a strong folkloric note.<ref name="Sanders"/>
He further wrote biographies of Godan Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, and of Shakyamuni Buddha.<ref name="Sanders"/>
Beside the literary value of his works, as an historian, he is said to have greatly contributed to the study of Mongol history.<ref name="unesco">{{cite book|author=Unesco. Regional Office for Education in Asia and the Pacific|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3WGAAAAIAAJ|title=Social Sciences in Asia and the Pacific|page=325|publisher=UNESCO|year=1984|isbn=978-92-3-102148-0}}</ref>
==Death== According to one source, he refused to become a subject under the Manchu of the Qing dynasty and was sentenced to death by dismemberment.<ref name="Sanders"/>
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}}
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Category:1604 births Category:17th-century deaths Category:17th-century historians Category:17th-century Mongols Category:17th-century nobility Category:17th-century biographers Category:17th-century executions by China Category:Mongolian writers Category:Mongolian nobility Category:People executed by the Qing dynasty