Nayan (Mongol Prince) Nayan (Mongol Prince) Nayan was a prince of the Borjigin royal family of the Mongol Empire. He raised a noteworthy and serious rebellion against the Mongolian Khagan, Kublai Khan. He was a Nestorian Christian. Much of what is known of Nayan was recorded by the Venetian traveller Marco Polo. Nayan was a member of a collateral branch of the Mongol royal dynasty, being a descendant of one of the brothers of Genghis Khan. He was either a great-great grandson of Temüge, Genghis Khan's youngest full brother, or of Belgutai his half-brother. More than one prince named Nayan existed and their
Religion in the Mongol Empire interests of the next life. Thus he invited Sakya Pandita to his ordo. Prince Kötön was impressed and healed by Sakya Pandita's teachings and knowledge, and later became the first known Buddhist prince of the Mongol Empire. Kublai Khan, the founder of Yuan dynasty, also favored Buddhism. As early as the 1240s, he made contacts with a Chan Buddhist monk Haiyun, who became his Buddhist adviser. Kublai's second son, whom he later officially designated as his successor in the Yuan dynasty, was given a Chinese name "Zhenjin" (literally, "True Gold") by Haiyan. Khatun Chibi influenced Kublai to be converted to