Tayan Khan

Tayang Khan — was a khan of the Naimans. According to The Secret History of the Mongols, he was physically weak when he was born and his father Inanch Bilge did not believe his son would survive to adulthood, therefore he was also called Torluq Tayang (Weak Tayang). Reign He succeeded his father sometime around 1200. He married his own stepmother Gürbesu in a levirate marriage. His elder brother was Buyruq khan. His horde was living around the shores of the Black Irtysh. In 1200, he helped a brother of Toghrul, a Kerait prince Jaqa Gambu (also known as Kereyidei), who fled to Tayang khan. After a defeat in 1203 by Genghis Khan, Toghrul escaped to Naiman territories. A Naiman patrol named Qori Sübeči did not recognize him and executed him on the spot. When Tayang was presented with the head of Toghrul, he stepped on it, crushing it. Seeing the once powerful Toghrul's defeat, he decided to act against Genghis first against council of his khatun Gürbesu and general Sabraq. In 1203, he tried to reach Alaqush Tegin of Ongud, a fellow Nestorian lord ruling north of Shanxi to march on Genghis together. However Alaqush informed Genghis beforehand of Tayang's march.