Khuulch Sandag

Born in Gobi-mergen khoshun in Tusheet-khan aimak (present-day East Gobi aimak); years of birth and death unknown. Mongolian improvisational poet of the first half of the 19th century.

While residing in the palace of the van (prince), Khuul’ch Sandag became famous as a master of improvised poems. He has gone down in the history of Mongol literature as the creator of the original genre of the ug (literally, “word”), a popular allegorical composition. Khuul’ch Sandag’s ugs were usually composed as the laments or plaints of wild animals, house pets, and even inanimate objects, for example, “Word of the Snow Melting in the Spring.”

Endowed with the gifts of thought and speech, the narrators in Khuul’ch Sandag’s works reflected on life’s misfortunes (“Word of a Windblown Tumbleweed,” “Word of a Little Camel Separated From His Mother”), injustice (“Word of a Watchdog”), and ignorance and cruelty among officials (“Word About Good and Bad Officials and Clerks”). The ugs of Khuul’ch Sandag were an artistic expression of the life, thoughts, and emotions of the people. Khuul’ch’s works are published in anthologies for Mongolian schoolchildren.