In 1637, Güshi Khan defeated a rival Mongol prince Choghtu Khong Tayiji, a Kagyu follower, near Qinghai Lake and established his khanate in Tibet over the next years.

[4] In other languages it is: Güshi Khan was born Torobaikhu, the third son of Akhai Khatun and Khanai Noyan Khonggor, chief of the Khoshuts.

The main Gelug religious figure church was the Dalai Lama while the Karma Kagyu was supported by the dynasty of the Tsangpa based in Samdrubtse (modern Shigatse).

The Gelug monasteries appealed for help against the Karmapa and Bon partisans such as the Khalkha prince Choghtu Khong Tayiji, who had recently settled in Amdo.

He was joined in a pro-Gelugpa league by the other Oirat princes: his nephews Uchirtu Sechen and Ablai Tayiji in the Zaysan and Ertis areas; furthermore Erdeni Batur, whose Dzungar and Dörbet Oirat subjects lived by the Ulungur, Irtysh and Emil Rivers, and even the Torghut chief Kho Orluk, who was in the process of subduing areas to the north of the Aral and Caspian Seas.

[13] Güshi invited the Dalai Lama to visit his territories, but the Great Fifth was unable to do so due to the unstable circumstances in Ü-Tsang.

He allied with the Tsangpa ruler Karma Tenkyong and sent a message, suggesting that the troops of Kham and Tsang would attack the Gelugpa stronghold in Ü in concert.

The Dalai Lama is said to have been opposed to creating more bloodshed, but Sonam Rapten went behind his back and encouraged Güshi to destroy the Beri ruler.

An eyewitness described the horrors of the siege: "[the place] had turned into a big cremation ground covered with heaps of corpses deprived of their lives as one had given a flock of sheep to a pack of wolves".

As for Güshi Khan, according to the 5th Dalai Lama's chronicles, "When the crystal lord [the moon] of the month of Chaitra was full [14 April 1642], from that day of the first season of the year according to the Kalachakra, he became king of the three parts of Tibet and set up the white umbrella of his laws on the peak of the world".

[18] On the 5th day of the 4th month in 1642, the Dalai Lama was led in state to the palace of Shigatse and seated on the throne of the deposed king.

Güshi Khan then declared that he bestowed the supreme authority of Tibet on Dalai Lama, from Tachienlu in the east to the Ladakh border in the west.

The incensed Güshi Khan gave orders to execute his royal prisoner Karma Tenkyong, while his army ravaged Kongpo and killed 7,000 rebels.

Many Karma Kagyü monasteries in the country were forcibly converted to Gelugpa, while Nyingma monks who had performed Mongol-repelling exorcism were imprisoned.

[21] The new political system renewed the old concept of chö-yön (patron and priest relationship) which had roots back to the relation between the Sakya lamas and the Mongol great khans during the Yuan dynasty.

[22] While the Dalai Lama was the highest figure in spiritual authority, the Khoshut ruler maintained control over the armed forces; however, he did not significantly interfere in the affairs of Central Tibet.

[24] Gushi Khan died in January 1655, leaving ten sons: Furthermore, Güshi's daughter Amin Dara married Erdeni Batur, the founder of the Dzungar Khanate.

However, eight sons with their tribal followers, led by Dorje Dalai Batur, settled in the strategically important Tsongön Lake region in Amdo after 1648.