The
Bogd Khan (
Mongolian ???? ????; 1869-1924) was enthroned as the Emperor (
Khan) of
Mongolia on 29 December 1911, when the country declared independence from the
Qing Dynasty. As the eighth
Jebtsundamba Khutugtu, he had already been the spiritual leader of Mongolia's Tibetan
Buddhism.
He was placed under house arrest when Chinese troops occupied the country in 1919, but he was freed and reinstated by Baron Ungern's forces, shortly before they took Urga in 1921. After the revolution led by Damdin Sükhbaatar, the Bogd Khan was allowed to stay on the throne in a limited monarchy until his death in 1924. After his death, the Communist government declared that no more reincarnations were to be found and established the Mongolian People's Republic. However, a reincarnation of the Jebtsundamba Khutugtu was found in northern Mongolia almost immediately but then disappears from the record. The matter was referred to the Dalai Lama in Lhasa in 1929 for mediation who determined that a ninth reincarnation had been born in 1932 in Lhasa. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama died in 1933. The Ninth Jebtsundamba Khutugtu was formally enthroned in Ulan Bator by the fourteenth Dalai Lama in 1999.
Despite being a lama, the eighth Jebtsundmba Khutuktu had a queen, named Dondogdulam and known as Ekh Dagina (Dakini Mother). She died in 1923.
The Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan has been preserved and is a tourist attraction in Ulan Bator.
