Khongirad

The Khongirad[a] (/ˈkɒŋɡɪræd/; Mongolian: ᠬᠣᠩᠭᠢᠷᠠᠳ Хонгирад; Kazakh: Қоңырат, romanized: Qoñyrat; Chinese: 弘吉剌; pinyin: Hóngjílá) was one of the major divisions of the Mongol tribes.

The tribe's own origin myth claims that they were descended from three brothers born of a golden vessel—Jurluq Mergen, Quba Shira, and Tusbu Da'u.

[6][7] According to Mongol legend, two warriors named Kiyan (Khiyad) and Negus (Mongolian: Nokhos, dog or wolf) were defeated in battle and forced to seek shelter in an enclosed valley called Ergune khun ("steep cliffs").

Once free, the people of Kiyan and Negus went on to create several tribes, including the Mongols and the Hongirads (whose susceptibility to gout was explained by the "fact" that their ancestors were the first to flee Ergene Qun, so they burned their feet on the hot iron).

Yesugei Ba'atur, the father of Genghis Khan, was not a high ranking Mongol leader, but even he secured himself an Onggirat wife by stealing one from another man.

The Hongirad under queen Dagi and Temüder, the Minister of the Secretariat, reached their political peak in the Yuan Dynasty, the principal state of 4 khanates, during the reign of Gegeen Khan Shidebala (r.1321-1323).

After the death of the last Yuan emperor, Toghan Temur, who lost his imperial status in China and other Mongol khanates, a body of the Khongirat and Olkhunut (Borte's clan) surrendered to the Ming Dynasty in 1371.

[citation needed] Currently a Kazakh tribe of the Middle Juz named Qoñyrat (or less commonly Qoñğyrat) are considered descendants of Khongirads (Ongrat, Kungrat in (Gumilev, n.d).