People or range · Self-governing peoples of Mongolia and the Steppe · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Uriangkhai of the Khentii

The Uriangkhai of the Khentii forest are hunters and smiths who live in the woods of Burkhan Khaldun, under the trees rather than on the open steppe.

The Secret History names the old smith Jarchi'udai (our memory, not in the excerpt we could read), who brought a sable swaddling-cloth for the newborn Temujin and later gave him his son Jelme. The text we could read (Kahn/Cleaves, pp. 46 to 49) says that Subedei, Jelme's younger brother, 'left the Uriangkhai' to follow Temujin at the parting from Jamuqa and at the election pledged to gather soldiers.

The mountain people as a whole are not Temujin's subjects: they govern themselves in their forest and have the habit of friendship with the Qiyat family. They supply iron, and the sanctuary of the mountain is theirs to guard.

Who holds it

Name
Jarchi'udai (father of Jelme) and his kin; not pinned for 1200
Title
Family heads; the smith Jarchi'udai is the one named elder
Confidence
low

What it holds

  • Forest hunting grounds on the slopes of Burkhan Khaldun
  • Forges and iron-working
  • A share in the cult of the mountain

Allies and rivals

Friends of Temujin through Jelme and Subedei.

How things stand that morning

Independent in their forest; friendly to Temujin, who uses the mountain as his refuge; two of their sons ride with him.

Wealth

Furs, game and smith's work in iron.

Military

Hunters; no army. The woods are a refuge.

Threats

  • Steppe raiders from the Merkit or Tayichi'ut who would burn the forest camps

Places of note

  • Forest camps: The forest slopes of the Khan Khentii massif; the site is a guess.

Where the sources disagree

  • The brief lists Uriankhai among the forest peoples of the Sayans; this record is for the separate forest Uriangkhai of the Khentii, who are the ones the Secret History names.

Evidence: Jelme and Subedei are attested in the Kahn/Cleaves excerpt; Jarchi'udai and the extent of the mountain people are from memory and inference.

On the map: Overlaps Temujin's winter range; the forest people are inside it as hosts, not subjects.

Sources and studies

  1. The Secret History of the Mongols, adapted by Paul Kahn from the Cleaves translation (names and place names of the early chapters)
  2. The Secret History of the Mongols, transl. and commentary Igor de Rachewiltz (Brill 2004; shorter edition ed. J. C. Street, Western Washington University 2015)
  3. Jelme (Wikipedia)
  4. Uriankhai (Wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.