| Tufa Rutan 禿髮傉檀 | |||||||||||||||||
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| Prince of Liang | |||||||||||||||||
| Ruler of Southern Liang | |||||||||||||||||
| Reign | 402–414 | ||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Tufa Lilugu | ||||||||||||||||
| Born | 365 | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | 415 (aged 49–50) | ||||||||||||||||
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| Dynasty | Southern Liang | ||||||||||||||||
Tufa Rutan or Tufa Nutan (Chinese: 禿髮傉檀; 365–415), formally Prince Jing of (Southern) Liang) ((南)涼景王), was the last prince of the Xianbei-led Chinese Southern Liang dynasty.[1] As he was the son that his father, the Xianbei chief Tufa Sifujian (禿髮思復犍), considered most talented, his older brothers, the founding prince Tufa Wugu (Prince Wu) and Tufa Lilugu (Prince Kang) both decided to pass the throne to a brother, intending that he receive the throne. However, Tufa Rutan, while obviously talented as a general, is viewed by historians as being overly aggressive in waging military campaigns, and he greatly drained the resources of the Southern Liang while doing so. Southern Liang's strength particularly waned after a major 407 defeat at the hand of the Hu Xia emperor Helian Bobo, and it drew attacks from its neighbors Northern Liang and Western Qin. Eventually, Tufa Rutan was forced to surrender to Western Qin in 414 after Western Qin captured his capital Ledu (樂都, in modern Haidong Prefecture, Qinghai), and he was poisoned to death a year later.