DZUNGAR

also spelled Jungar, Jngar, Dzhungar, or Dsongar, people of Central Asia, so called because they formed the left wing (dson, left; gar, hand) of the Mongol army. A western Mongol people whose home was the Ili River valley and Chinese Turkistan, they adopted Buddhism in the 17th century. They are for all practical purposes identical with the Oyrat (q.v.).