Khubilai's Buddhist Turn: How Religion Fractured the Mongol Empire

In this episode, we explore how Khubilai Khan's embrace of Tibetan Buddhism as the state religion of the Yuan dynasty deepened the rift between the Mongol heartland and the western khanates. After the Toluid Civil War, Khubilai turned away from steppe traditions, appointing Drogön Chögyal Phagpa as imperial preceptor and adopting the 'Phags-pa script. This religious shift alienated the Ilkhanate, where Ghazan would later convert to Islam, and the Golden Horde under Berke, already Muslim. Meanwhile, the Chagatai Khanate and Ögedeid princes like Kaidu clung to traditional Mongol Tengrism, seeing Khubilai as a Chinese puppet. We trace how Buddhism, intended to unify the Yuan realm, instead became a wedge that helped splinter the empire. From the consolidation of Buddhist monasteries in Dadu to the resistance of steppe loyalists, we examine the religious dimension of the Mongol collapse. Featuring discussions of Phagpa, the Ilkhanate's Islamic pivot, and the last kurultai that never was, this episode offers a fresh angle on why Chinggis Khan's vision of a unified world empire could not survive its own diversity. #MongolEmpire #KhubilaiKhan #TibetanBuddhism #Phagpa #YuanDynasty #Ilkhanate #GoldenHorde #ChagataiKhanate #ReligiousDivision #MongolHistory #CentralAsia #CivilWar #BuddhistMongols #MongolIslam #SteppePolitics #FexingoHistory #History #Podcast Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo