The Precious Summary: A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty

The Mongols, their khans, and the empire they built and ruled in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries exert an enduring fascination. Caricatured as a marauding horde that ravaged surrounding peoples, in reality the Mongols created institutions, trading networks, economic systems, and intellectual and technological exchanges that shaped the early modern world. However, the centuries after the waning of Mongol power remain overlooked in comparison to the days of Chinggis Khan. The Precious Summary is the most important work of Mongolian history on the three-hundred-year period before the rise of the Manchu Qing dynasty. Written by Sagang Sechen in 1662, shortly after the Mongols’ submission to the Qing, it chronicles the fall of the Yuan dynasty in China, the Mongol-Oirat wars, and the revival of Mongol power during the reign of Dayan Khan in the sixteenth century. Sagang Sechen’s masterful account spans Buddhist cosmology, Chinggis Khan, the post-Yuan Mongols, Chinese history, and the Mongols’ conversion to Buddhism—and throughout, it attempts to come to terms with the new Manchu state. Featuring extensive and accessible annotations and explanations of historical context, Johan Elverskog’s translation of the Precious Summary offers invaluable perspective on Inner Asian and Chinese history, Mongolian historiography, and the history of Buddhism in Asia.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. History of the Universe, the Buddha, and India 2. History of Tibet 3. History of Chinggis Khan 4. History of the Yuan Dynasty 5. History of the Northern Yuan Dynasty 6. History of the Mongol-Oirat Wars 7. History of Dayan Khan 8. History of the Six Tümen 9. History of Khutugtai Sechen Khung Taiji 10. History of Altan Khan and the Buddhist Conversion 11. History of the Dalai Lamas and the Ordos 12. History of the Ming and Qing Dynasties 13. Epilogue 14. Colophon Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Sagang Sechen was born in 1604 into an important aristocratic family in Ordos in what is now the southwest part of Inner Mongolia. He distinguished himself in both military and bureaucratic service, including advising his local ruler to submit to the Manchu Qing dynasty in 1635. Little is known about his later life. Johan Elverskog is Dedman Family Distinguished Professor, professor of religious studies, and, by courtesy, professor of history at Southern Methodist University. His books include The Buddha’s Footprint: An Environmental History of Asia (2020).

Review :
This edition of The Precious Summary shows, once again, that Johan Elverskog is the preeminent English-language translator of Mongolian classics working today. Not since the Secret History of the Mongols first appeared forty years ago has a Mongol masterpiece of equal importance found its way into English. Elverskog's linguistic intelligence and profound knowledge of Mongolian history make the prose and poetry of this historical classic shine. Almost two hundred years after I. J. Schmidt’s first translation into German, Elverskog has finally given us an authoritative English rendition of Sagang Sechen’s Precious Summary, designed for a wide readership and accounting for the most modern scholarship. The Precious Summary is a must-read for all those interested in Mongolian civilization. Johan Elverskog’s annotated translation of a critically important Mongol text comes as the most comprehensive translation to date. Elverskog not only helps us in forming a unique understanding of the seventeenth-century text, but he also provides essential references and analyses to previous translations and other texts from Inner Asia which now can be seen in a new light. [An] extraordinary achievement . . . which will remain the standard reference work for this important Mongolian chronicle for many years to come. Accessible and erudite, Johan Elverskog’s translation of this seventeenth-century classic of Mongolian literature is a major contribution to the study of Inner Asian history. The book contextualises the Precious Summary’s place...succinctly provides historical background, accurately translates the text itself and masterfully explicates its content. Since the founding of Mongolian, Buddhist, and Asian studies as professional disciplines, scholars have heralded the an analytical possibilities that would open should an authoritative translation of The Precious Summary one day appear. Johan Elverskog’s masterful work has finally answered them.