Nara clan
Nara is a clan name shared by a number of aristocratic Manchu clans, sometimes also transliterated as Nalan or Nalland. The four tribes of the Hūlun confederation – Hada, Ula, Hoifa and Yehe – were all ruled by clans bearing this name.
The head of each clan held the princely title of "beile".
During the Jin dynasty, Nara was listed as one of the noble "white clans".
Nar is the Mongolian word for "sun". In Mongolia, the sun is associated to Genghis Khan as the nara tamga is the main tamga attributed to him.
History
The Naras lived in the Haixi area, which encompasses parts of modern-day Jilin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia. Hada-Nara and Ula-Nara are native to Manchuria and shared an ancestor. Yehe-Nara were founded by the Tümed Mongol prince Singgen Darhan who conquered the local Nara tribe and assumed their name, establishing his rule over the banks of the Yehe River. Hoifa-Nara, on the other hand, came from the local Ikderi clan.During Nurhaci's efforts to unite the Jurchen people, the Naras resisted because they had always been rather well-treated by the Ming government. Instead they tried to appease Nurhaci by offering him a daughter from each of the tribal rulers, the most famous of which were Lady Abahai of the Ula tribe and Monggo Jerjer of the Yehe tribe. Nonetheless, Nurhaci eventually began his assault against the Naras, and the Hada, Ula and Hoifa tribes soon fell. The Yehe-Naras were able to resist the longest as they were the largest and strongest of the tribes, but even they soon had to enlist the help of the Ming dynasty.
Using Ming's sympathy towards the Yehe-Naras as an excuse, Nurhaci began to wage war against the Ming forces as well. Both the Ming soldiers and the Yehe-Naras were defeated in subsequent battles, including the Battle of Sarhū, and the Yehe-Nara prince Gintaisi was either forced to commit suicide or hanged, but not before he allegedly cursed Nurhaci that as long as one of his descendants lived, even female ones, they would remember the clan's vendetta and bring down the Aisin-Gioros. The last prince of the Ula tribe Bujantai, who was fighting alongside the Yehe-Naras, was captured as well and later killed by Nurhaci's first son, Cuyen.
The Hada and Hoifa tribes fell from prominence after Nurhaci's Manchurian conquest, whereas Ula and Yehe survived the defeat and integrated into Qing's Banner aristocracy. They continued to be powerful clans in the Qing court, often named among the eight great Manchu noble clans. Modern day Nara descendants mostly hail from these two clans.
Present-day descendants of Ula-Nara generally adopted "Nà" and "Zhào" as Chinese surnames, to conform to the monosyllabic Han surnames. Others, less commonly, took "Nà", "Bái", "Nán", "Liú", and "Sū". Those descended from Hada-Nara took "Wáng". Descendants of Yehe-Nara primarily chose "Yè", "Hè", or "Hé", others took after their Borjigin forebears and used "Bāo" or "Bó". The Hoifa-Nara line is extinct.
Notable figures of the Nara clans
Men
- Wenbin ; prominent official
- Moluohun ; married Šurhaci's sixth daughter
- Badana ; married Šurhaci's eighth daughter
- Ezhayi ; married Nurhaci's seventh daughter
- Muwuna ; married Šurhaci's 12th daughter
- Xingde ; married Princess Huaike of the Second Rank, the Yongzheng Emperor's second daughter
- Bozhechentian ; married Yongxing's fourth daughter
Women
- Empress Nara, the Qianlong Emperor's second empress
- Noble Lady Nara, the Kangxi Emperor's consort
- Šurhaci's sixth primary consort
- Manggūltai's first primary consort
- Dodo's third primary consort
- Šose's first primary consort
- Changning's first primary consort
- Hooge's secondary consort
- Yunyou's secondary consort
- Hong Taiji's mistress
- Dodo's mistress
- Hooge's mistress
- The Shunzhi Emperor's mistress
- Fuquan's mistress
- Yinxiang's mistress
Wanyan-Nara
The Nara gradually grew to become the dominant clan in the Haixi region, culminating in the establishment of the Hūlun confederation in the 16th century, with Nara princes at its core. At the same time, this Nara clan split into two branches: the senior Hada line founded by Kesina, leader of the Hūlun confederation, and the junior Ula line founded by Kesina's younger brother Gudai Juyan.
Notable figures of the Wanyan-Nara
- Nacibulu
- * Shangyandorheqi, Nacibulu's son
- ** Jiamaka, Shangyandorheqi's son
Hada-Nara
Under Wangtai, Hada-Nara gained ascendency over the Haixi Jurchens. He assumed the title Wan Khan, and held hegemony in the Hūlun confederation.
In 1574, Wangtai captured the rebellious Jianzhou Jurchen leader Wanggao, and was rewarded by the Ming court with the titles Right Pillar of State and Dragon-Tiger General, further legitimising the Hada supremacy in Haixi.
Upon Wangtai's death in 1582, a succession struggle ensued, sapping Hada of its strength and allowing Yehe-Nara, and later Nurhaci, to eclipse its power. In 1599, Narimbulu of Yehe-Nara invaded Hada. Weakened, Menggebulu, the ruler of Hada, requested aid from Nurhaci, who sent two thousand troops led by Fiongdon and Gagai. Fearing the rise of the Jianzhou Jurchens, Narimbulu in turn offered to ally with Menggebulu to defeat Nurhaci. Menggebulu accepted the offer, but the plot was leaked and Nurhaci attacked Hada instead.
Nurhaci's general Yangguli captured the Hada seat and the ruling Hada-Nara clan. Nurhaci spared Menggebulu and offered him an alliance, but Menggebulu again plotted to assassinate Nurhaci. This plot was also discovered, leading to his execution.
In 1601, Nurhaci married his daughter to Urgūdai, who succeeded Menggebulu. The Ming court accused Nurhaci of attempting to annex Hada. In response, Nurhaci released Urgūdai from Jianzhou and allowed him to return to rule Hada. Learning this, Narimbulu of Yehe-Nara again started raiding Hada. Severely weakened and defenseless, Urgūdai eventually capitulated and submitted to Nurhaci's rule, becoming the last ruler of Hada.
Notable figures of Hada-Nara
Men
- Kesina, Suitun's son; leader of the Hūlun confederation and founder of the Hada-Nara line
- * Wangzhong, Kesina's second son; first ruler of Hada
- Wangtai, Wangzhong's nephew; Khan of the Hūlun confederation and legitimised client overlord of Haixi under Ming
- * Hurhan, Wangtai's first son
- ** Daišan, Hurhan's son
- * Menggebulu, Wangtai's son
- ** Urgūdai, Menggebulu's first son; last independent ruler of Hada
- Urgūdai ; married Mangguji, Nurhaci's third daughter
Women
- Šurhaci's second primary consort
- Manggūltai's second primary consort
- Hooge's first primary consort
- Yunyou's primary consort
- Amin Jerjer, Nurhaci's secondary consort
- Daišan's secondary consort
Ula-Nara
Of the four tribes, Ula was the economic and cultural powerhouse of Manchuria. The Ula tribe were mostly traders, buying horses, livestock, and fur from the steppe Mongols and selling them on the Jianzhou plateau in the Liao Piver basin, the economic center and farmland of the Manchu region. They in turn bought grains such as millet and corn in Jianzhou and sold them to the Mongols. The Ula-Naras, for a large part, dominated trade between Manchuria and Mongolia by controlling the mountain pass in modern-day Baicheng, Jilin, where the only passage between the two areas was located.
The Nara ruler Buyan built the Ula seat by the Hulan River and founded the Ula state, "ula" meaning "riverside" in Manchu.
Ula and Jianzhou had numerous conflicts, culminating in the Battle of Mount Gele. Defeated at Mount Gele, Mantai fled back to Ula but was killed by his subordinates three years later in 1596.
On the other hand, Mantai's younger brother, the second ruler Bujantai was captured at Mount Gele. Bujantai submitted to Nurhaci and married both Nurhaci's and Surgaci's daughters. Upon Mantai's death, Nurhaci aided Bujantai in defeating other Ula-Nara pretenders to regain control of Ula. The following year, he married his younger sister to Surgaci to formalise the alliance. Two years later, he married Mantai's daughter Lady Abahai to Nurhaci, and she later became his primary consort.
The alliance between Ula and Jianzhou did not last, however. Warka, a Donghai Jurchen tribe, after repeated harassment by Bujantai, sought to submit to Nurhaci. Nurhaci sent troops to annex Warka, which Ula tried to intercept. The alliance broken, the two states resumed their conflicts. Eventually, Nurhaci captured the Ula seat and annexed Ula. Bujantai alone fled to Yehe, and spent the rest of his life under the protection of the Yehe-Nara tribe.
The descendants of the last Ula rulers were mostly incorporated into the Plain White Banner. They supplied numerous high officials and imperial consorts to the Qing court and are among the most prominent Manchu noble clans.
Butha Ula
After Nurhaci captured Ula, he kept hostage the Ula clansmen. In order to induce Bujantai to surrender, Nurhaci showered Hongko, Bujantai's youngest son, with favours. He married one of his daughters to Hongko, granted him a small fief near the Ula capital, named him the ruler of Butha Ula, and left him "independent" from the Banner system.As he reached maturity, Hongko realised that his independence was only nominal. He plotted to rebel against Jin, but the plot was exposed and Hongko was forced to commit suicide. His two sons survived his downfall. The eldest Ulon took the Chinese surname Zhao and hid out in exile, eventually reintegrating years later into their Ula kins of the Plain White Banner. The younger Ula was saved by his Aisin-Gioro mother and brought back into the Jin fold.