Godan (), also romanized as Koden and Khodan, (1206–1251) was a grandson of

Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...

. Godan administered much of Northern China (

Cathay Cathay ( ) is a historical name for China that was used in Europe. During the early modern period, the term ''Cathay'' initially evolved as a term referring to what is now Northern China, completely separate and distinct from ''China'', which w ...

) before

Kublai Khan Kublai Khan (23 September 1215 – 18 February 1294), also known by his temple name as the Emperor Shizu of Yuan and his regnal name Setsen Khan, was the founder and first emperor of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty of China. He proclaimed the ...

came to power. He was the second son of

Ögedei Khan Ögedei Khan (also Ögedei Khagan or Ogodei; 11 December 1241) was the second Khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. The third son of Genghis Khan, he continued the expansion of the empire that his father had begun. Born in 1186 AD, Öged ...

and

Töregene Khatun Töregene Khatun (also Turakina, , ; died 1246) was the Great Khatun and regent of the Mongol Empire from the death of her husband Ögedei Khan in 1241 until the election of her eldest son Güyük Khan in 1246. Background Töregene was born i ...

and a brother of

Güyük Khan Güyük Khan or Güyüg Khagan, mononymously Güyüg ( 19 March 1206 – 20 April 1248), was the third Khagan of the Mongol Empire, the eldest son of Ögedei Khan and a grandson of Genghis Khan. He reigned from 1246 to 1248. He started his mili ...

. He is broadly known as Godan Khan, even though he did not have the monarchical title of khan. Godan ordered the

invasion An invasion is a Offensive (military), military offensive of combatants of one geopolitics, geopolitical Legal entity, entity, usually in large numbers, entering territory (country subdivision), territory controlled by another similar entity, ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, led by Doord Darkhan (known as Doorta) in 1240. In 1247 at the request of Godan,

Sakya Pandita Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyeltsen (Tibetan: ས་སྐྱ་པཎ་ཌི་ཏ་ཀུན་དགའ་རྒྱལ་མཚན, ) who lived from (1 April 1182 – 28 December 1251) was a Tibetan spiritual leader and Buddhist scholar and t ...

and his two nephews served as delegates of Tibet's political leadership at the suggestion of the

Abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

Reting Monastery Reting Monastery () is an historically important Buddhist monastery in Lhünzhub County in Lhasa, Ü-Tsang, Tibet. It is also commonly spelled "Radreng." History Reting Monastery was founded by Atiśa's chief disciple Dromtön in 1057 i ...

, when

arrived at Godan's court he cured Godan of an illness, and Godan then became his disciple and converted to

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

and learned the

Tantras Tantra is an esoteric tradition in Hinduism and Buddhism. Tantra may also refer to: Religion * Buddhist tantric literature, the literature of the Vajrayana Buddhist traditions *Hindu tantric literature, esoteric scriptures in Hinduism * Neotantra ...

; thus began the special relationship that eventually made the Sakyapas rulers of Tibet. In addition, Sakya Pandita with the aid of his nephew

Drogön Chögyal Phagpa Drogön Chogyal Phagpa (), who lived from (26 March 1235 – 15 December 1280), was the fifth leader of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism. He was also the first Imperial Preceptor of the Yuan dynasty and was concurrently named the director o ...

were encouraged by Godan to invent a Mongolian script, called 'Phags-pa script named after its inventor.*

References

{{reflist, 2 13th-century Mongol khans Converts to Buddhism House of Ögedei Mongolian Buddhist monarchs Sons of emperors

See also

References