Bujantai

Who is Bujantai?

Bujantai was a Jurchen beile of the Ula tribal confederation.

Bujantai was descended from Nacibulu, the ancestor of the Nara lineages of Ula and Hada. Tradition spoke of Nacibulu as having attracted the attention of some Mongols who desired to make him subservient to them. When the Mongola attempted to capture him, however, he successfully subdued them, and when they shouted to inquire his name he responded with a defiant challenge, "Nara". In this manner the important Nara clan is supposed to have received its name. Nacibulu settled near modern Jilin on the Sungari river, which was often called simply the Ula, or "the river". There he became a successful hunter and trapper who attracted many followers. Several generations later, two brothers among his descendants, Kesina and Gudui Juyan, became the ancestors of the Hada and Ula branches of the Nara clan. Buyan, grandson of Gudui juyan, fortified the settlement on the Sungari and named himself beile of the Ula tribe. Two of his grandsons were Mantai and Bujantai, both of whom would succeed to the position of beile of the Ula.

The Yehe tribe under the beile Bujai and Narimbulu assembled the various groups in the Hūlun alliance, along with some Khorchin Mongols, to oppose the rising power of Nurhaci. Bujantai led the Ula contingent, but was taken prisoner by Nurhaci when the confederation was defeated at Mt. Gure in October 1593. Nurhaci refrained from killing Bujantai and after holding him for three years as a retainer sent him back under escort to the Ula. The Ula beile Mantai, and his son having recently been executed by their tribesmen, Bujantai was released by Nurhaci, established as beile in his brother's place and as tributary to the lord of the Jianzhou, Nurhaci. In order to cement ties with Nurhaci, he sent a sister as wife to Nurhaci's brother, Šurhaci, and in 1597 joined the Yehe and other tribes in a formal truce with Nurhaci. Two years Bujantai would received a daughter of Šurhaci as a wife, and in 1601 he arranged the marriage of his niece, the future Empress Xiao Lie Wu to Nurhaci. Two years later after unsuccessful attempts to secure a daughter of the Mongol, Minggan 明安, chief of the Borjigit tribe, he requested another wife from Nurhaci and was given a second daughter of Šurhaci.