Dei Sechen is the father of Borte.
When Yesugei came to him about 1171 with the nine-year-old Temujin, he betrothed Borte to the boy after hearing Yesugei's account of his dream, and kept Temujin in his tent as a son-in-law in waiting. He is a man of the peaceful Onggirat way: in the Secret History he says that his people win not by fighting for land but by giving beautiful daughters as queens. Rashid says he was not pleased by the match and that his son Anchen arranged it; a modern Japanese scholar suggests a hand in Yesugei's poisoning (a hypothesis).
He is Temujin's father-in-law and friend, but his people have not joined Temujin's following (what they do next is in the likely course). His son Anchen succeeds him.
Who he is
- Name
- Dei Sechen
- Title
- Chief of the Onggirat, styled Sechen 'the wise'
- Since
- not pinned
- Born
- an old man in 1200
- Family
- Wife Chotan; sons Anchen (Anchar) and Qogu; daughter Borte, wife of Temujin; later descendants marry into the Borjigin.
- Confidence
- medium
Wikipedia's Dei Sechen and Khongirad articles; the Secret History.
What it holds
- Pastures on the lower Khalkha and the Ergune
- The prestige of the daughters
How it was acquired
By descent.
Allies and rivals
Father-in-law of Temujin; neighbour and kin of the Ikires and Olqunut. His people have been at odds with the Jin and the Tatars since 1195.
How things stand that morning
Old and alive; camp not pinned. His people beat a Jin detachment on 4 February 1196 and no settlement with the Jin is recorded (see the Onggirat realm).
Military
Onggirat levies; no numbers.
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- 1201 (one line)The Onggirat swear with Jamuqa; after Koyiten they come back to Temujin.Depends on: The coalition. Stopped by: Temujin's victory in 1200.
Where the sources disagree
On the map: A guess on the Khalkha.
Primary sources for The Onggirat
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Record of the Personal Campaigns of the Holy Warrior (Chinggis Khan) (presented to Khubilai in 1288, finished in Mongolian in 1290; the surviving Chinese version dates from 1369). A year-by-year Chinese account of Temujin's wars, drawn from the lost Altan Debter (the same source behind the Yuan shi's first chapter and Rashid al-Din). Read online
- The Secret History of the Mongols (1228 or 1240 (the colophon's Year of the Rat is disputed), with later additions; the surviving Chinese transcription and gloss were made under the Ming in the 1380s). The only Mongol account of Temujin's rise, written within living memory. Read online
- Compendium of Chronicles, Rashid al-Din Fadl Allah Hamadani (1300 to 1311, at Tabriz). The official Ilkhanid history, compiled from Mongol oral tradition and the lost Altan Debter. Read online
- Compendium of Chronicles: the Turkic and Mongol tribes and the life of Chinggis Khan, Rashid al-Din Hamadani (about 1300 to 1311, in the Ilkhanate). The fullest description of who held what on the steppe around 1200, written a century later from Mongol court records (the Altan Debter) and from informants such as Bolad Chingsang. Read online
- History of the Yuan, Song Lian (宋濂) and the Ming history office (1369 to 1370). Juan 1, the annals of Taizu (Chinggis Khan), gives a dated outline of Temujin's early wars drawn from the same lost Altan Debter as the Shengwu qinzheng lu: the Tatar war with the Jin in 1196, the Merkit and Naiman campaigns, the Tayichi'ut war, Jamuqa's coalition of 1201 and the Tatar and Kereyit wars of 1202 and 1203. Read online
Sources and studies
- Dei Sechen (Wikipedia)
- Khongirad (Wikipedia)
- The Secret History of the Mongols, transl. and commentary Igor de Rachewiltz (Brill 2004; shorter edition ed. J. C. Street, Western Washington University 2015)
- The Secret History of the Mongols, adapted by Paul Kahn from the Cleaves translation (names and place names of the early chapters)
- Rise of Genghis Khan (Wikipedia)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.