Mandukhai was the only daughter of Chororsbai-Tumur, chingsang (grand councillor) of the Ongud Mongols in eastern Mongolia.

[5] Mandukhai brought from hiding and adopted the seven-year-old orphan Batumunkh, son of the late Bayan Mongkhe Jonon, a direct descendant of Genghis Khan and part of the Altan Urug, who had also been killed by Esmel (Ismail).

[6] Her stunning victory over the Oirats brought back great reputation of the Borjigins and united Mongolia for the first time in more than one hundred years.

From 1480, Dayan Khan and Mandukhai increased the pressure on the Ming territory because they closed the border trade and killed a Northern Yuan envoy.

Mandukhai with Dayan Khan went to the Kherlen River in 1501 though her husband continued raids on the Ming dynasty.

According to the most credible sources, Mandukhai died of natural causes, although there are legends that say she was killed by a Ming double agent or by one of her husband's concubines.

The film Queen Mandukhai the Wise suggests that she was killed by the Mongol general Esmel (Ismail) who was a Ming spy.

Mandukhai's life is also fictionalized in the historical fiction Fractured Empire Saga, by Starr Z. Davies, published 2021-2022,[9] a four-book series: Daughter of the Yellow Dragon, Lords of the Black Banner, Mother of the Blue Wolf, Empress of the Jade Realm.

Mandukhai is also the primary protagonist of the historical novel Manduchai - Die letzte Kriegerkönigin, written by German Author Tanja Kinkel in 2014.