Wanders in Mongolia: Burkhan Khaldun Khora

by Don Croner

8,040-foot Burkhan Khaldun in the Khentii Mountains is one of the most sacred mountains of Mongolia. It is mentioned several times in the Secret History of the Mongols, a thirteenth-century account of the rise of the Mongols under Chingis Khan, and it was here, many believe, that Temüjin—the future Chingis Khan—hid from the Merkit tribesmen who had kidnapped his wife and wanted to capture him. According to legend, he also came here to pray before embarking on his military campaigns. Chingis Khan instructed his descendants to worship the “Every morning I shall sacrifice to Burkhan Khaldun, and every day I will pray to it. The seed of my seed shall know this,” he said, according to the Secret History. Eventually the mountain would be inextricably bound up in the cult of Chingis Khan and also become a pilgrimage site for Buddhists. Still later some would claim that Chingis Khan was born near Burkhan Khaldun and was buried on its summit.

The author describes here an eighty-five-mile-long khora, or circumnavigation, of Burkhan Khaldun by horse, including an ascent to its summit.

18,500 words. Includes three maps and thirty-eight photographs (color on devices that support color).

91 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 17, 2022