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Pre-Manichaean Beliefs of the Uyghurs I: Celestial and Natural Cults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2025

Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç
Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç*
Affiliation:
Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University; h.ihsan.erkoc@comu.edu.tr
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Abstract

The original beliefs of Uyghurs, who were known for their conversions to Manichaeism and Buddhism, have not been examined in detail until now. Uyghur inscriptions as well as Chinese and Islamic sources provide some information regarding these beliefs. Historical sources indicate that they believed in a variety of celestial and natural cults, the most prominent being Täŋri, the god of sky. Cults devoted to other natural and celestial beings included earth, mountains, trees, sun, moon, and fire. The words Täŋri and Täŋrikän were also used for other beings, reflecting flexibility in their beliefs. Although some scholars thought that Buddhism was practiced prior to the official conversion to Manichaeism in the 760s, this article demonstrates that this is hardly the case and shows how these ancient cults survived even after their conversions to major religions.

Keywords

Uyghursearly Turkic beliefsTäŋriTengrinatural cultscelestial cultsshamanismanimism

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Article
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Harvard Theological Review , Volume 118 , Issue 1 , January 2025 , pp. 41 - 60
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the President and Fellows of Harvard College

Introduction

The UyghursFootnote 1 were a Turkic tribe that first appeared in historical sources during the late-fourth century CE. Subsequently, they became one of the numerous tribal vassals of the First Türk (Tujue 突厥; 552–583), Eastern Türk (583–630) and Xue Yantuo 薛延陀 (628–646) qaghanates; starting from the 620s, they became one of the prominent members of the Toquz Oghuz tribal union in today’s Mongolia. After the fall of the Xue Yantuo Qaghanate in 646, the Uyghurs became nominal vassals of the Tang 唐 Dynasty (618–907) in China. Meanwhile, the Toquz Oghuz established their own qaghanate, and the Uyghurs became its primary tribe. However, the Eastern Türks established their Second Qagahanate in 682 and subjugated the Uyghurs and Toquz Oghuz by 688. When the Second Türk Qaghanate started experiencing inner strife in 742, a tribal union of Uyghurs, Qarluqs, and Basmïls rose up against it, establishing the Basmïl ruler as their own qaghan. By 744, the Uyghurs and Qarluqs had already overthrown the Basmïl qaghan; while relations between the Uyghurs and Qarluqs deteriorated, the former established its own qaghanate in the Orkhon region corresponding to today’s Central Mongolia. The last Türk qaghan was killed by the Uyghurs in 745, which became the successor state of the Second Türk Qaghanate. The Orkhon Uyghur Qaghanate ruled as a major steppe empire until its sudden collapse and destruction by the Yenisei Kyrgyz in 840. Afterwards, the Uyghurs and other Toquz Oghuz tribes dispersed over a wide area, eventually establishing two smaller kingdoms in Gansu 甘肅 and Turfan (Gaochang 高昌, Qočo).Footnote 2

The Uyghurs were most famously known for being the pioneers of several cultural transformations among medieval Turkic peoples, such as sedentarization and conversion to major religions. Originally adherents of ancient Turkic beliefs,Footnote 3 the Uyghur ruling class converted to Manichaeism after Bögü Qaγan (reigned 759–779) adopted it as the state’s official religion in the 760s. However, Manichaeism does not seem to have gained much popular support, so it seems to have been restricted to a minority group. After the fall of the Orkhon Qaghanate and their migrations, Manichaeism continued to be professed by their elites for several decades (and there were also a few individual conversions to Nestorianism among the populace), but eventually most of the Uyghurs, including their elite, converted to Buddhism which became their dominant religion for centuries. However, Islam also started spreading among them, and, by the sixteenth century, most of the Uyghurs had become Muslims.Footnote 4

One major debate over early Uyghur religious history revolves around the question of which religion they practiced prior to the adoption of Manichaeism as their official religion. Some scholars like Hans-Joachim Klimkeit, Bahaeddin Ögel, and Özkan İzgi have been of the opinion that seventh- and eighth-century Uyghurs were Buddhists before they converted to Manichaeism, so the outline of Uyghur religious conversions followed this line: Ancient Turkic beliefs → Buddhism → Manichaeism → Buddhism again → Islam.Footnote 5 One aim of this article is to find out whether this was really the case, while a second aim is to examine records in Uyghur, Chinese, and Islamic sources about the celestial and natural cults within the earliest native beliefs of Uyghurs and to determine their place among the ancient Turkic beliefs in general.

Täŋri: The Cult of Sky

Täŋri (Tengri) was the supreme god of pre-Manichaean Uyghurs just like all other early Turkic peoples. The word itself in Old Turkic originally denoted the physical sky but later also acquired the meaning of a creative supreme god.Footnote 6 Cults devoted to the sky and worshipping it as a supreme deity have always been common among the nomadic peoples of the Eurasian steppes, such as the Scythians, various Turkic peoples, and Mongols. Not only steppe nomads, but also other sedentary civilizations professed sky worship; in fact, Chinese Tian 天 (meaning both “sky” and “God”) is cognate with Turkic Täŋri. How and when Turkic peoples started differentiating between the physical sky and the supreme god that created it is a matter of debate, and this is also the case with early Uyghurs.

The earliest references to Uyghurs are found in Chinese sources, which record them as a tribe of the High Carts (Gaoche 高車), who were a Turkic people that consisted of numerous cart-riding nomadic tribes dwelling over a vast area covering Eastern and Central Eurasian steppes (Weishu 103.2310).Footnote 7 These sources, primarily the Weishu 魏書, describe the culture of these High Carts including their religious beliefs, which can be used to shed light on the earliest beliefs of the fourth- through fifth-century Uyghurs. The earliest traces of the cult of Täŋri among early Uyghurs are also seen in these records. According to the origin myth of the High Carts recorded in Weishu, an anonymous Xiongnu 匈奴 chanyu 單于 (ruler) had two beautiful girls, whom the chanyu decided to marry to Täŋri (Tian 天)Footnote 8 and locked in a tower located in the northern parts of his realm. The girls waited for four years, and then an old male wolf appeared; guarding the tower day and night, the wolf dug a cavern below it and never left there. Eventually, the younger daughter thought that the wolf was a messenger of Täŋri 天, so despite the objections of her elder sister, she went down the tower and mated with the wolf, their offspring becoming the High Carts (WS 103.2307). An interesting practice of the High Carts that can be associated with the cult of Täŋri was their ceremony regarding thunder. The Weishu tells us that the High Carts enjoyed thunder and thunderbolts; whenever a thunderbolt struck, they would shoot arrows into the sky 天 and then leave the place, leaving the arrows behind. The next year, when autumn came and the horses were fattened, they would gather at the place of the storm, burying the sheep they sacrificed, lighting fires, and drawing their daggers. Afterwards, a female shaman would pray (WS 103.2308). This shooting of arrows towards the sky seems like an offering to Täŋri. The Weishu also narrates that tens of thousands of people from the five High Cart tribes gathered together during the reign of emperor Gaozong 高宗 (Emperor Wencheng of Northern Wei 北魏文成帝; reigned 452–465) and made offerings to Täŋri 天. Our source notes that the High Carts used to ride horses, sacrifice animals, wander around, sing and celebrate during their big gatherings, and the gathering organized during Gaozong’s reign was unprecedented in size (WS 103.2309).Footnote 9

It is thus evident that the ancestors of Uyghurs already worshiped Täŋri. When it comes to the eighth-century Uyghurs, both their inscriptionsFootnote 10 and Chinese sources give us details about their belief in this cult. However, when examining the inscriptions it is sometimes difficult to determine whether the sky, god, or both are meant. To see whether a distinction was made between the two, it is necessary to examine all the usages of Täŋri in these inscriptions:

Tes N1: Täŋri as the physical sky is counted among created beings: täŋri qïlïntuqda (“when the sky was created”).

Tes E1, E4: Täŋri denotes the physical sky while being mentioned within the imperial title of the Uyghur ruler: täŋr[i]dä bolmïš il itmiš uyγur qaγan (täŋr[i]dä bolmïš = “born in the sky”) in E1 and täŋridä bolmïš il itmiš [bilgä] qaγan in E4.

Tariat E4: The blue sky is counted as one of the gods said to have bestowed upon the ruler his title: atïmïn üzä kök täŋri asra yaγïz yir yana. . . (“my name was [given to me by] the blue sky above, the brown earth below again. . .”).

Tariat S6, W1, 6; Shine Us N1: Täŋri denotes the physical sky while being mentioned within the imperial title of the ruler: täŋridä bolmïš il itmiš bilgä qaγan. Footnote 11

Tariat W3: The blue sky is mentioned as one of the gods helping the qaghan in his organization of the realm: üzä kök täŋri yarlïqaduq üčün asra yaγïz yir igit[d]ük üčün ilimin törümin itinti[m] (“Because the blue sky above ordered, because the brown earth below fed, I organized my realm [and] my laws”).

Tariat N1–4: Täŋri has the meaning of “heavenly” while being used as a title of the qaghan: täŋrim qanïm in N1, 3–4 (“My heavenly, my khan”) and täŋri qanïm (“My heavenly khan)” in N2.Footnote 12

Shine Us E1–2: Täŋri denotes the sky as a god as one of the helpers of the qaghan in his victory over the Säkiz Oghuz and Toquz Tatars: qulïm küŋim bodunïγ täŋri yir ayu birti anta sančdïm (“For my male slaves, my female slaves [and] people the sky [and] earth said [ordered], I lanced there”); yazuqluγ atlïγ[ïγ] . . . täŋri tuta birti (“The sinful cavalrymen . . . Täŋri held [them]”).

Shine Us S9: Täŋri again denotes the sky as a god as one of the helpers of the qaghan in his victory over some enemy groups, perhaps the Oghuz and Türks: küŋim qulïm bodunïγ täŋri yir ayu [bi]rti anta sančdïm (“For my female slaves, my male slaves [and] people the sky [and] earth said [ordered], I lanced there.”).

First Qara Balghasun Inscription-Turkic Side (hereafter QBI-T) I/I line 1: The title Täŋrikän is mentioned here. It is well known that this honorific title was formed by the combination of Täŋri and Qan (Khan), here meaning “heavenly person.”Footnote 13

First QBI-T I/I line 4–5: Täŋri meaning “Heavenly” can be seen within the title of the ruler who erected the First Qara Balghasun Inscription: [ay] täŋridä qut bulmïš alp bilgä täŋri uyγur qa[γan]. It is interesting to see that “heavenly,” one of the meanings of Täŋri in Old Turkic, continued to be used by the Uyghurs even after their adoption of Manichaeism.

Täŋri is also seen in other Uyghur inscriptions, some of them containing no approximate dates:

Sixth Khoit Tamir line 1: Täŋrikän (“Heavenly”) is seen within a title: täŋrikän alp qutluγ bilgä qan.

Seventh Khoit Tamir line 2: It is possible that both the physical sky and the god might be meant here in the expression täŋridä qut bulmïš (“Found qut [fortune] in Täŋri”). Uyghur qaghanal titles from the Manichaean period, such as Ay Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Fortune in the Moon God”), Kün Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Fortune in the Sun God”) and Kün Täŋridä Ülüg Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Destiny in the Sun God”),Footnote 14 demonstrate a similar case.

Seventh Khoit Tamir line 4: It is not so easy to determine the precise meaning of Täŋri in the expression . . . qut täŋri qutluγ bolzun (“ . . . fortune, may Täŋri be blessed”).

Thirteenth Khoit Tamir line 4: The word Täŋri is visible but erosions in this line make it impossible to determine the context.

- Twenty First Khoit Tamir: This very short and partially eroded inscription ends with the word täŋrim (“my Täŋri”), which most probably means “my heavenly one” as noted by Erhan Aydın.Footnote 15

Xi’an 西安 line 9: This bilingual inscription in Old Turkic and Chinese has been recently discovered in Xi’an (Chang’an 長安 of the Tang period), erected in 795 for the Uyghur prince Qarï Čor Tigin who died in China. The title of his elder brother is given in the inscription as bögü bilgä täŋri qan, with Täŋri meaning “Heavenly” here.

Second Qara Balghasun line 6: This inscription was erected for an anonymous warrior who died in battle. The blue sky is mentioned while describing how unlucky the deceased warrior was: kök täŋridä qutum yuyqa boltï yaγïz yirdä yolïm qïsγa boltï (“My fortune in the blue sky became thin, my luck in the brown earth became short”).

Arkhanan line 1: Täŋrikän is used as an epithet for a princess: täŋr[i]kän qunčuy (“heavenly princess”).

Arkhanan line 2: It is evident here that the word Täŋrikän was not reserved for human beings only, but it was also used for inanimate objects: qaya täŋr[i]kän qutluγ boluŋ (“Be blessed [like] the heavenly rock!”).

Gurvaljin Uul: This very short inscription is comprised of a single sentence containing just three words, in which the inscriber describes himself as a servant of God: täŋri qulï bitidim (“I, servant of Täŋri, inscribed”).

Bömbögör Side line 1: The Bömbögör Inscription is an undated inscription dedicated to a Turkic qunčuy (princess), but to which Turkic people or tribe exactly she belonged remains a mystery. Hatice Şirin pointed out that she might have belonged either to the Ašïna (Ashina 阿史那) tribe of the Türks or the Yaγlaqar clan of the Uyghurs.Footnote 16 If the latter is the case, this inscription provides some interesting information about Uyghur beliefs as the inscriber sets worshipping of sky (Täŋri) alongside earth: üzä täŋrikä asra yirkä yükün[t]üküm bar ärti yaŋïltuqum yoq (“I had worshiped the sky above, I had worshiped the earth below; I have never gone astray”).

Besides Uyghur inscriptions, Chinese sources also provide us with some information regarding the cult of Täŋri practiced by the Uyghurs.Footnote 17 Although they believed that the qaghans acquired their right to rule through the qut Footnote 18 bestowed upon them by Täŋri, and although there are a few Chinese records regarding qaghans receiving qut (except the expressions we see in qaghanal titles),Footnote 19 these records do not mention Täŋri, as we will see later. A reflection of the Uyghur concept of qut can be seen in an Uyghur legend about Buqu Xan (Bögü Qaγan), recorded by the thirteenth-century Persian historian ʿAlā al-DīnʿAtāʾ Malik Juvaynī in his work titled Tārīχ-i Jahāngušā. Although recorded many centuries later when the Uyghurs were mostly Buddhists with a few adherents to other religions, the legend contains numerous elements from ancient Turkic beliefs. According to the legend, as Buqu Tigin (the later Buqu Xan) and his four other brothers were miraculously born from a beam of light descending on a mound, the Uyghurs decided to make one of them their ruler as the boys were sent by God Almighty.Footnote 20 After Buqu became khan, God Almighty sent him three ravens that knew all the languages, which also acted as Buqu Xan’s spies.Footnote 21

The protective side of Täŋri is also not mentioned in the Chinese sources, but there is one record demonstrating that the Uyghurs considered Täŋri to be a punitive deity. The Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書 says that, in 765, some Uyghur nobles were convinced by the rebellious Tang general Pugu Huai’en 僕固懷恩 (himself of Toquz Oghuz origin) to invade China because he told them that the emperor (Tang Daizong 唐代宗; reigned 762–779) had fled south and his famous general Guo Ziyi 郭子儀 had been removed from the command of Tang armies. But when the Uyghurs entered China, they came across Ziyi and, during their meeting, decided to halt the invasion as they understood that Huai’en had tricked them. During the conversation they told Ziyi that Huai’en was an ungrateful man and he was killed by Täŋri 天 (Jiu Tangshu 195.5205).Footnote 22 Yet, the qaghanal titles of Uyghur rulers recorded in Uyghur and Chinese sources provide us with hints regarding Uyghur beliefs, both in the pre-Manichaean and Manichaean periods. These titles have been written with a variety of forms in the Chinese sources, but James Russell Hamilton and Yukiyo Kasai have successfully reconstructed their Old Turkic forms. These titles include religious terms and formulae such as Qutluγ (“Blessed”), Täŋridä Bolmïš (“Born in the Sky”), Bögü (“Wise, Sage, Sorcerer”), Täŋri (“Heavenly”),Footnote 23 Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Fortune in God”), Ay Täŋridä Bolmïš (“Born in the Moon God”), Täŋridä Ülüg Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Destiny in God”), Ay Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Fortune in the Moon God”), Kün Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Fortune in the Sun God”), and Kün Täŋridä Ülüg Bulmïš (“[One who] Found Destiny in the Sun God”).Footnote 24

While narrating an Uyghur legend, the Yuanshi 元史 mentions that when Princess Jinlian (Jinlian Gongzhu 金蓮公主) from China married Geli 葛勵, son of the Uyghur ruler Yulun Tigin (Yulun Dejin 玉倫的斤), she started dwelling in a place called Bieli Boli Ta 別力跛力答Footnote 25 meaning “Mountain Where the Wife Dwells” (Fusuojushan 婦所居山), located in Qara Qorum (Helin 和林). Another name of this mountain was Tiangeliyu Daha 天哥里于答哈, meaning “Mountain of the Spirit of Sky” (Tianlingshan 天靈山) (YS 122.2999). Bahaeddin Ögel suggested that Tiangeliyu Daha could stand for Turkic Täŋrikän Taγ;Footnote 26 this does not come as a surprise, as we already saw above that the word Täŋrikän was used in the Arkhanan Inscription for a rock.

Thus, the Uyghurs considered Täŋri or Kök Täŋri to be both the physical sky and their supreme deity. Qaghans were born in this sky, which itself was considered to be one of the created beings in the universe. Täŋri as a god was believed to bestow imperial titles on rulers, help them organize their realms, and protect them in battles against enemies. Qaghans and other people were gifted with fortunes and privileges by Täŋri. In fact, people considered themselves to be servants of this god, whom they worshiped. Not just a protective god, Täŋri was also a punitive deity that killed wrongdoers. Yet, the words “Täŋri” and “Täŋrikän” also had the meaning “Heavenly,” and they were used for other godly and non-godly beings such as qaghans, emperors, princes, princesses, and mountains. This example demonstrates how flexible early Turkic beliefs could be, as also seen from other examples throughout Turkic history.Footnote 27

Before continuing with the other cults, there are a few issues that have to be addressed here. The first one is whether Täŋri was considered to be a creative god by the Uyghurs. Their inscriptions seem to be silent on that, except that Täŋri is counted among the created beings in the Tes Inscription. However, what we know about earlier Türk beliefs shows us that the Türks considered Täŋri to be the supreme creative god. The official title of Täŋri Qaγan mentioned above was given in the Bilgä Qaγan Inscription as Täŋri Täg Täŋri Yaratmïš Türük Bilgä Qaγan (“God-like, Created by God, Türk Wise Qaghan”) (E1, S13).Footnote 28 While describing the beliefs of the Türks, the seventh-century Byzantine historian Theophylactus Simocatta wrote that they “honour fire to a quite extraordinary degree, they revere air and water, and they praise the earth; but they only worship and call god him who made the heaven and the earth” (7.8.14).Footnote 29 As his translators, Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby, noted, Tengri (Täŋri) is meant here.Footnote 30 Thus, it can be remarked that, by the seventh century, the Türks were already making distinctions between the physical sky and a superior deity that created it along with other beings in the universe. Although Uyghur inscriptions are silent about the creative power of Täŋri, we can assume that they also probably considered it a creative god.

However, we do have a problem here: if Täŋri was the all-creator, why was Täŋri also counted among the created beings in the Tes Inscription? This exact problem exists also within the Türk inscriptions. The Eastern Sides of both of the Orkhon Inscriptions begin with a short description of creation: üzä kök täŋri asra yaγïz yir qïlïntuqda ikin ara kiši oγlï qïlïnmïš (“When the blue sky above, the brown earth below were created, human beings were created between the two”) (BQI E2; KTI E1). There seems to be a contradiction here. However, if the Türk inscriptions are examined in detail, there is almost always a distinction made between the physical sky (Kök Täŋri) and the supreme god (Täŋri) in these inscriptions.Footnote 31 The things that are described in the Orkhon Inscriptions as created beings are the blue sky and brown earth, both physical beings. This also coincides with Theophylactus’s statement that the Türks believed in a god that created both the sky and the earth. Another problem we face here regarding creation is terminology. Kök Täŋri by the Türks and Täŋri by the Uyghurs are mentioned respectively with the reflexive verb of qïlïn- having the passive meaning “to be created, be born.”Footnote 32 On the other hand, when an act of creation by Täŋri himself is described, the causative and transitive verb yarat- is preferred. This seems to be a deliberate choice by both the Türks and Uyghurs. Jean-Paul Roux thought that, since the verb yarat- was not used in Köl Tigin E1 and Bilgä Qaγan E2, a creation in the form of “creating out of nothing” was not the case.Footnote 33 Since both verbs yarat- and qïlïn- have generally the same meanings, and since early Turkic myths about creation are unfortunately not recorded in the sources in detail, it is quite difficult to find a definite answer to this question. However, the different reflexive and transitive forms of both verbs seem to be a significant difference.

Another slight difference between Türk and Uyghur perceptions of Täŋri is its national versus universal character. Although the Türks viewed Täŋri as an all-creator, they also named it Türük Täŋrisi (“Täŋri of the Türks”) (BQI E10; KTI E10). According to René Giraud, a “national god” was meant here. Ahmet Yaşar Ocak also compared this expression to YHWH of the Jews, stating that it described a national “Turkish God.”Footnote 34 It is understood from the formula Türük Täŋrisi that the Türks viewed Täŋri as a supreme god who created the universe but chose the Türks as his “chosen people,” appointing for them Türk qaghans to rule over the Earth on his behalf. However, we do not come across any expressions like Uyγur Täŋrisi or Toquz Oγuz Täŋrisi in the Uyghur inscriptions. This makes one wonder if the Uyghurs viewed Täŋri as a more universal god than the Türks did. Yet, the Uyghurs still believed that their qaghans received their qut from Täŋri, so they must have viewed their rulers as the representatives of Täŋri in the world. Besides, considering the fact that a significant part of the texts of Uyghur inscriptions have been eroded overtime, perhaps such expressions existed in the parts that are now illegible.

Comparing Türk and Uyghur beliefs about Täŋri, we observe that the Türks seemed to have a more concrete comprehension of this supreme being. They believed in a deity called Täŋri, who created everything including the blue sky (kök täŋri) above and the brown earth (yaγïz yir) below. However, while the Uyghurs counted Täŋri as one of the created beings (perhaps meaning only the sky, if thinking along the Türk inscriptions), both Täŋri and Kök Täŋri also acted as supreme gods. Turkic peoples are known to have worshiped Täŋri well before the Türks, but when and how they started making a distinction between god and sky is unclear. The earliest evidence we have of this separation is from the Türk period as we saw before, but we do not know if the earlier Xiongnu and High Carts made this distinction or not. Looking at the Uyghur samples, we can think that, prior to the Türks, such a distinction may not have existed yet, and before their conversion to Manichaeism, the Uyghurs still professed a more archaic version of the cult of Täŋri compared with the more complicated Türk version of this cult. In this archaic version, the sky and god were probably not differentiated yet, and the blue sky was probably worshiped as the supreme deity.

Cults of Earth (Yir) and Trees

Although Täŋri was the most important cult of pre-Manichaean Uyghurs, it was not the only deity or sacred being worshiped by them, thus signifying a polytheistic set of beliefs rather than monotheistic. Uyghur, Chinese, and Islamic sources point to cults associated with other sacred objects almost entirely consisting of natural and celestial beings. These cults demonstrate that a part of the original Uyghur beliefs was animistic in style and part of ancient Turkic beliefs. In these beliefs, the most significant difference between Täŋri and other cults was that the latter were not believed to possess creative powers; yet, we currently also do not know whether the Uyghurs considered Täŋri as a creative god or not.

It is interesting that Uyghur inscriptions do not mention the goddess Umay, who appears in the Türk inscriptions as the second most important cult after Täŋri. Neither Chinese nor Islamic sources mention her, although perhaps she might have been mentioned in the now-eroded parts of the Uyghur inscriptions.Footnote 35 Following Täŋri and Umay, Türk inscriptions mention Ïduq Yir Sub (“Sacred Spirits of Earth and Water”),Footnote 36 while yir (“earth”) is also sometimes mentioned right after Täŋri (“sky” or “god,” depending on the context). The expression Ïduq Yir Sub and specifically the cult of water is not seen in the currently legible parts of Uyghur inscriptions, but a part of Ïduq Yir Sub, the cult of earth, is observed in these sources. As we saw before, the Tes Inscription mentions Täŋri as one of the created beings. The beginning part of the line is damaged; Takashi Ōsawa has left it blank, but Aydın has proposed that yir (“earth”) must have been written before täŋri. If this is the case, it demonstrates that the Uyghurs viewed earth as one of the beings created alongside the sky (N1).Footnote 37 The Tariat Inscription counts the brown earth (yaγïz yir), alongside the blue sky, among one of the gods bestowing upon the ruler his title (E4). The same inscription narrates that, together with the order of the blue sky above and the feeding of the brown earth (yaγïz yir) below, the qaghan organized his realm and his laws (W3). Meanwhile, the Shine Us Inscription reflects another aspect of the cult of earth as a helping deity. According to it, after the sky (täŋri) and earth (yir) ordered it, the qaghan won a victory over the Säkiz Oghuz and Toquz Tatars (E1–2). Again, the same inscription describes a victory of the qaghan over (probably) the Oghuz and Türks after the sky (täŋri) and earth (yir) ordered it (S9).The scribe of Bömbögör Inscription narrates that since he/she worshiped the sky above and the earth below (asra yir), he/she has never gone astray (Side line 1).

The legend about Buqu Xan recorded by Juvaynī reflects some cults of early Uyghurs, including those about trees and earth. According to the legend, after a beam of light descends from the sky on a mound between two trees,Footnote 38 some time passes and five baby boys are miraculously born in the mound. After the children grew up and started speaking, they asked the Uyghurs about their parents, and the people showed them those two trees. The boys showed obeisance to the trees as children show to their parents, and they also showed respect and honor to the earth from which the trees had grown. Afterwards, the trees started speaking to the children and blessed them, wishing a long life for all. One of the boys was given the name Buqu Tigin, who would eventually grow up to become Buqu Xan (The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá, 40–41). Juvaynī also says that, during his own time, the Uyghurs used to fasten parts of that family tree on the walls of their houses as a symbol of their family trees (The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá, 45).Footnote 39 In the Chinese version of this legend recorded in Yuanshi, the divine light lands directly on a tree (shu 樹), and the children are born inside it. The connection between trees and earth is also not mentioned in this version (YS 122.2999). As J. A. Boyle already noted,Footnote 40 Rašīd al-Dīn and Marco Polo also very briefly mentioned this legend. Rašīd al-Dīn stated that Bügü Xan was an important Uyghur ruler of the past who was believed by them to be born of a tree (daraχt) (Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, 1:128). While describing Iuguristan (Uyghuria) in his famous late-thirteenth-century travel book, Marco Polo wrote, “but they say the king whom they first had did not take his beginning from human generation, but was sprung from a certain fungus which is made up from the sap of trees, what indeed is accustomed among us to be called esca; and from him all the others descended” (1.59). Regarding the legend of Bögü Qaγan, the version with birth from a tree seems to be more widespread.

Cults of Mountains (Taγ)

The Uyghurs practiced mountain cults as part of their beliefs related to nature. Their usage of Täŋri as the name of a mountain (Ušqunluq Täŋrim) in Mongolia has been mentioned above (Rašīd al-Dīn, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, 1:138), as well as their usage of Täŋrikän for a mountain in Mongolia (YS 122.2999). Another sacred mountain for them was mentioned by both the Yuanshi and Rašīd al-Dīn. According to the Uyghur legend narrated in the former, a rocky mountain (shishan 石山) located to the south of Täŋrikän Taγ was called Qutluγ Taγ (Huli Daha 胡力答哈) meaning “Mountain of Good Fortune” (Fushan 福山). When the envoy of Tang Dynasty arrived in the Uyghur country, he told other Chinese officials dealing with foreign lands that the prosperity and power of the Qara Qorum region derived from this mountain; if they could destroy the mountain, the Uyghur state would be weakened. Thus, all the Chinese officials told Yulun Tigin that, as his son was married to Princess Jinlian, he had to fulfill some requests from them. The rocks of Qutluγ Taγ were not used in the Uyghur country, but the Chinese wanted to see them. The Tigin agreed to their request and allowed the Chinese to take the rocks. As they were too big to move, the Chinese burnt them with fire and watered them with strong vinegars. Thus, the rocks broke into smaller pieces and were easily carried away by the Chinese. However, this brought bad luck upon the Uyghurs; the birds and beasts of their land started crying out in grief, and Yulun Tigin died in the next seven days. Disasters occurred frequently, and the people could not live in peace and comfort. Several successors of Yulun Tigin died, and the Uyghurs finally had to migrate to Qočo (Jiaozhou 交州, also called Huozhou 火州), also controlling the region of Beš Balïq (Bieshi Bali 別失八里) (YS 122.2999–2300).Footnote 41 As observed by Ögel,Footnote 42 Yuanshi’s Qutluγ Taγ is the same place as Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ’s Qut Taγ, described by Rašīd al-Dīn as a mountain in the original Uyghur homeland in Mongolia (Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, 1:138). Another mountain that can be considered as a sacred place for Uyghurs is mentioned again by Juvaynī. The legend of Buqu Xan recorded by him describes how the khan continues speaking with a sacred girl at a place called Aqtaγ (“White Mountain”)Footnote 43 for seven years, six months, and twenty two days (The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá, 42). As noted above, the epithet täŋrikän (“heavenly”) was used by the Uyghurs for a rock (qaya) (Arkhanan line 2).

Although the formula Ïduq Yir Sub is not witnessed in Uyghur inscriptions, a concept related to it can be seen in the form of a toponym in regards to mountain cults. Täŋridä Bolmïš Il Itmiš Bilgä Qaγan mentioned in the Tariat Inscription that in 748 he set up his throne between two mountain tops called As Öŋüz Baš and Qan Ïduq Baš, located right in the middle of Ötükän, the sacred political center of Turkic qaghanates (S6). The qaghan also narrated that in 752 he spent the summer to the west of As Öŋüz Baš and Qan Ïduq Baš, and he set up his throne there (W2). A similar statement can be found in the Shine Us Inscription, in which the qaghan says that until the fifth month of 751 he spent the summer at a location where two rivers named Yabaš and Toquš meet, located to the west of Ötükän Yïš, As Öŋüz Baš and Ïduq Baš (without Qan), setting up his throne there (E9).Footnote 44 The word ïduq meaning “sacred,” is also attested in the Shine Us Inscription two more times, but erosions in the lines make it quite difficult to determine the context (N4, S4).Footnote 45 As is well known, Buddhist Turfanese Uyghur rulers of the Mongol period carried the title Ïduq Qut.Footnote 46

Cults of Sun (Kün) and Moon (Ay)

Records about Uyghur cults regarding the celestial objects of sun and moon are from the Manichaean period but reflect their ancient pre-Manichaean beliefs. The Jiu Tangshu and Xin Tangshu give detailed accounts of an Uyghur ceremony in 822 when the Chinese princess Taihe (Taihe Gongzhu 太和公主) arrived in the Uyghur capital to marry Kün Täŋridä Ülüg Bulmïš Alp Küčlüg Bilgä Chongde 崇德 Qaγan (reigned 821–824) and become his Qatun (chief wife). At the beginning of the ceremony, the qaghan climbed to a tower and sat there facing east throughout the ceremony. After some salutations and changes of clothing, the princess was led to a sedan chair by several Uyghur ministers. Nine Uyghur ministers from each of the nine Toquz Oghuz tribes then carried the princess with the chair, following the sun and turning rightwards around the Uyghur court nine times. Afterwards, the princess got down from the chair, climbed the tower, and sat next to the qaghan, sitting facing east like him (JTS 195.5212–5213; XTS 217B.6130). Although the Uyghur ruling elite were already Manichaean by 822, it is evident that this ceremony had pre-Manichaean origins. We know from Chinese sources that the doors of Türk tents faced east because the east was considered sacred as it was the direction from where the sun was born. Hence, Türk qaghans set their tents facing east. Another reflection of the sun cult among the Türks can be seen in the enthronement ceremony of their rulers, in which the new qaghans were lifted up on a felt cloth and turned nine times while facing the sun.Footnote 47 Hence it is also not a coincidence that the gates of the qaghanal palace in Ordu Balïq and the great Buddhist monastery in Qočo also face eastwards. The Uyghur qatun-making ceremony as well as their royal architecture show us that some of the ancient Turkic beliefs survived even after the adoption of Manichaeism.

The sun and the moon were sacred celestial bodies in Manichaean beliefs. Hence, beginning in 789, we start seeing the usage of epithets Kün Täŋri (“Sun God”) and Ay Täŋri (“Moon God”) within the titles of Uyghur qaghans after their conversion, with the latter seemingly more popular in use: Ay Täŋridä Bolmïš Külüg Zhongzhen 忠貞 Bilgä Qaγan (reigned 789–790); Ay Täŋridä Ülüg Bulmïš Alp Uluγ Qutluγ Bilgä Huaixin 懷信 Qaγan (reigned 795–805); Ay Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš Külüg Bilgä Qaγan (reigned 805–808); Ay Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš Alp Bilgä Qaγan or Kün Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš Alp Bilgä Qaγan (also known as Baoyi 保義; reigned 808–821); Kün Täŋridä Ülüg Bulmïš Alp Küčlüg Bilgä Chongde 崇德 Qaγan (reigned 821–824); Ay Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš Alp Bilgä Zhaoli 昭禮 Qaγan (reigned 824–832); Footnote 48 Ay Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš Alp Külüg Bilgä Zhangxin 彰信 Qaγan (reigned 832–839).Footnote 49

These epithets are not seen in the titles of early Uyghur rulers. However, Harun Güngör ascertained that the usages of Kün Täŋri and Ay Täŋri by the Uyghur qaghans were more likely derived from ancient Turkic beliefs rather than Manichaeism itself.Footnote 50 Kasai noted that the beginning of the usage of these titles might be connected with the dynastic change which happened in the qaghanate.Footnote 51 It seems Manichaean Uyghur rulers synthesized their new religion with their ancient beliefs, as both the sun and the moon were considered sacred objects by other Turkic and steppe peoples.Footnote 52 It is interesting to see that no cults associated with stars, which is common in Turkic beliefs and mythology, can be found among Uyghur beliefs, but they may have existed.

The Cult of Fire

Another cult observed among the Uyghurs concerned fire. While talking about the Uyghur conversion to Manichaeism, the Soghdian side of the First Qara Balghasun Inscription mentions that “. . . (in stead of?) fire-burning religion (you) accept God(like) Mār Mānī’s religion . . .” (](’)’try swc(’)y δynh β(γ)y (mr)m’ny δ(ynh p)tcxš(δ)[’) (No. 6 line 8). Although the expression “fire-burning religion” may point to the practice of Zoroastrianism, this pre-Manichaean religion of the Uyghurs cannot be that practice since the next line mentions the burning of idols.Footnote 53 Thus, it is evident that a fire cult of the Uyghurs was meant from this expression. Another reference to the Uyghur fire cult can be seen in Tamīm bin Bahr al-Muttawwiʿī’s travel report, which recounts his travel to Ordu Balïq as a Samanid envoy most probably in 821. Tamīm mentions that, before reaching the Uyghur capital, he travelled through villages for twenty days. According to him, most of the dwellers were Turks who included “fire-worshippers professing the Magian religion” and “Zindīqs” (Manichaeans). He also noted that the latter formed the majority in the Uyghur capital.Footnote 54 Although associating the “fire-worshippers professing the Magian religion” with Zoroastrians is tempting, V. Minorsky found it unlikely. According to him, this expression referred either to Buddhists or adherents of the natural Turkic religion.Footnote 55 I consider the latter to be far more likely, as throughout history the cult of fire was widespread among numerous steppe and Siberian peoples, including those of Turkic stock.Footnote 56

Conclusion

Uyghur beliefs prior to the conversion of their ruling elite to Manichaeism in the 760s consisted of various cults observed also among numerous Turkic and other steppe peoples throughout history. The most prominent Uyghur cult belonged to Täŋri, the god of sky. Although the Türks, predeccesors of the Uyghurs, made a distinction between the physical sky and a creative supreme god, the Uyghurs seem to have lacked such a distinction, considering the blue sky (kök täŋri) as their supreme deity. Unlike the Türks, the creative power of Täŋri is not stressed by the Uyghurs; in fact, the blue sky and brown earth are considered created beings without noting their creator. It is not clear whether the Uyghurs viewed Täŋri as a national god like the Türks did or as a more universal deity. Uyghur qaghans believed that they were born in the sky, achieved their imperial titles from Täŋri, and received help from him in their administrative organizations and battles against enemies; these might indicate that, like the Türks, the Uyghurs saw Täŋri as a god that favored them. Täŋri gave fortunes and priviliges to the qaghans and other people who worshiped him and considered themselves his servants. Besides being a protective deity, Täŋri was believed to punish wrongdoers by killing them. Like other Turkic peoples, the Uyghurs had a flexible understanding of Täŋri as the words Täŋri and Täŋrikän also meant “Heavenly,” being used for other godly and non-godly beings such as royalty and mountains.

Besides Täŋri, animistic cults about natural and celestial objects constituted a significant part of Uyghur beliefs. Cults about earth, mountains, trees, sun, moon, and fire are noted in historical sources. While the cults of Umay and water seen in earlier Türk beliefs are not mentioned in the written accounts, it is highly possible that they also existed among Uyghur beliefs. The brown earth (yaγïz yir) seems to be the most important of these cults as it is frequently mentioned as a helper of Täŋri in aiding the Uyghurs with their administrative and military difficulties. Narratives about Uyghur legends mention several sacred mountains, thus pointing to cults related to them. Sacred mountain tops were called Ïduq Baš and the word Täŋri was used as the name of a mountain. During the Manichaean period, the God of Sun (Kün Täŋri) and the God of Moon (Ay Täŋri) appear as divine helpers of Uyghur qaghans and sources of their legitimacy, but the religious practices of the Uyghurs indicate that cults about these celestial objects were also observed by them prior to their conversion. Fire was also an important cult, as it was used by Manichaeans and Muslims to name the native beliefs of Uyghurs. These natural cults demonstrate that early Uyghur beliefs were polytheistic in nature, not monotheistic.

In conclusion, I can say that prior to the conversion of the Uyghur ruling elite to Manichaeism in the 760s, the Uyghurs were adherents of their native beliefs. These constituted a part of the wider spectrum of ancient Turkic religious beliefs, as numerous similarities have been demonstrated in this article. However, some of these Uyghur cults seem to contain differences from other Turkic beliefs, which is expected because ancient Turkic beliefs were not an organized sedentary religion and contained local or tribal differences. Comparing Türk and Uyghur cults about Täŋri, we see that the Uyghurs professed a more archaic version of this cult. Some cults we know from Türk inscriptions, and other sources about later Turkic beliefs also do not seem to exist among the Uyghurs, but noting that a significant part of Uyghur inscriptions have eroded with time, it would be improper to conclude that these cults were never practiced by the Uyghurs. Another problem I have mentioned above is the question of which religion the Uyghurs practiced in the seventh and eighth centuries, before the conversion to Manichaeism. Some scholars have hypothesized that it was Buddhism; a few records about Uyghur beliefs might be interpreted as indications of the existence of Zoroastrianism among the Uyghurs as well, but this also hardly seems to be the case. Uyghur inscriptions from the pre-760s period contain no traces of Buddhism, nor do Chinese accounts dealing with the same period. All the cults noted in the Uyghur inscriptions prior to the 760s clearly point to the adherence of ancient Turkic beliefs, and Chinese and Islamic sources attest to this fact. Another conclusion that can be drawn from this study is that, although the Uyghurs converted to Manichaeism and Buddhism, most of their ancestral beliefs managed to survive under these new religions and merged with them. In fact, as seen above, some of the cases about original Uyghur beliefs found in the historical sources are from the period following their conversions to Manichaeism and Buddhism. This is understandable because this sociological phenomenon can be observed among almost every human group in world history who converted to a new religion.

Footnotes

*

For the second article in this series, see Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç, “Pre-Manichaean Beliefs of the Uyghurs II: Other Religious Elements,” Journal of Religious History 47.4 [2023] 586–603.

References

1 Known in the Chinese sources with a variety of forms such as Yuange 袁紇, Weige 韋紇, Huige 回紇/迴紇, Huigu 回鶻/迴鶻, etc.

2 For an overview of Uyghur history until 840, see Colin Mackerras, The Uighur Empire (744–840) According to the T’ang Dynastic Histories (Canberra: Center of Oriental Studies, The Australian National University, 1968); Colin Mackerras, “The Uighurs,” in The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia (ed. Denis Sinor; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004) 317–42.

3 There have been many debates regarding how to name the native beliefs of early Turkic peoples, including terms like “Ancient Turkic Religion,” “Ancient Turkic Beliefs,” “Turkic Shamanism,” “Tengrism” (or “Tengriism”) and so on. Getting involved in that matter would highly prolong the length of this article.

4 For the religious history of Uyghurs and how their new religions influenced their cultures, see Yukiyo Kasai, “Uyghur Legitimation and the Role of Buddhism,” in Buddhism in Central Asia I: Patronage, Legitimation, Sacred Space, and Pilgrimage (ed. Carmen Meinert and Henrik Sørensen; Brill: Leiden, 2020) 65, 71–76; Li Tang, A History of Uighur Religious Conversions (5 th–16 th Centuries) (Singapore: Asia Research Institute National University of Singapore, 2005); Münevver Ebru Zeren, “Maniheizm ve Budizm’in Uygurlar’ın Kültür Hayatına Etkileri” (Ph.D. diss., Istanbul University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of Turkology Studies, 2015); Peter Zieme, Religion und Gesellschaft im Uigurischen Königreich von Qočo. Kolophone und Stifter des alttürkischen buddhistischen Schrifttums aus Zentralasien (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1992).

5 Özkan İzgi, Uygurların Siyasî ve Kültürel Tarihi (Hukuk Vesikalarına Göre) (Ankara: Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü Yayınları, 1987) 11; Bahaeddin Ögel, Türk Mitolojisi (Kaynakları ve açıklamaları ile destanlar) (2 vols.; Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 1993) 1:73; Münevver Ebru Zeren, “Göktürk ve Uygur Dönemi Yazıtlarında Budizm’in İzleri ve Etkileri,” in Uluslararası Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık Tarih ve Tarihçilik Sempozyumu: Bildiriler I. Cilt (Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Yayınları, 2021) 692. This topic was examined in a previous article (Erkoç, “Pre-Manichaean Beliefs of the Uyghurs II,” 587–589).

6 The etymology of Täŋri has been a matter of debate. While some scholars were of the opinion that it was a pre-Turkic or non-Turkic word (Gerard Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth-Century Turkish [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972] 523; Gerhard Doerfer, Türkische und mongolische Elemente im Neupersischen, unterbesonderer Berücksichtigung älterer neupersischer Geschichtsquellen, vor allem der Mongolen- und Timuridenzeit [4 vols.; Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1965] §944, 2:577–85; Stefan Georg, “Türkisch/mongolisch tengri ‘Himmel, Gott’ und seine Herkunft,” Studia Etymologica Cracoviensa 6 [2001] 83–100), there have been scholars who also defended a Turkic origin. The hypothesis I am inclined to accept as the most logical explanation belongs to Talat Tekin, who suggested that Täŋri might have been an Old Turkic noun derived from a hypothetical verb *täŋir- with an -i suffix, the former being an earlier form of the attested verb *tägir- meaning “to turn around, to enclose, to surround” (Talat Tekin, Hunların Dili [Ankara: Doruk Yayınları, 1993] 11).

7 Wei Shou 魏收, Weishu 魏書 (Beijing 北京: Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局, 1974); hereafter, WS, appearing in parentheses within the text.

8 Some modern Turkish historians with deep nationalistic and conservative motives attempt to portray the Turkic supreme deity Täŋri as a monotheistic god very similar to Islamic Allāh. However, in the Islamic faith Allāh does not have a wife; contrary to that, there are several examples of Turkic peoples believing that Täŋri was a married deity (Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç, “Türklerin İslâmiyete Geçiş Sürecinde Teŋri ve Allah Algıları,” AÜ DTCF Dergisi 58.1 [2018] 301–26, at 318).

9 Similarly, the Xiongnu and Türks also held massive gatherings where they made sacrifices to Täŋri, other gods, spirits, and their ancestors.

10 The three famous Uyghur inscriptions at Tes, Tariat (Terkh), and Shine Us were erected during the 750s by Täŋridä Bolmïš Il Itmiš Bilgä Qaγan (Bayan Čor; reigned 747–759), the greatest ruler of Orkhon Uyghurs. Being the second ruler of the Uyghur Qaghanate, it was he who conquered most of the nomadic peoples of the Eastern Steppes and transformed this polity into a major steppe empire.

11 Tariat W6 has qan instead of qaγan.

12 For N1 and 3–4, Akio Katayama has separated the expression täŋrim qanïm as two different words and translated it as “My Heaven, my Qan” (Akio Katayama, “Tariat Inscription,” in Provisional Report of Researches on Historical Sites and Inscriptions in Mongolia From 1996 to 1998 (hereafter PRRH) [ed. Takao Moriyasu and Ayudai Ochir; Osaka: SCES, 1999] 168–76, at 170, 172).

13 Although the First QBI is from the period when the Uyghurs had adopted Manichaeism as their official religion, the title Täŋrikän is a pre-Manichaean Uyghur title. In fact, we already see it in the Ongi Inscription of the Türks (E5–6, 8). In his famous eleventh-cent. Turkic-Arabic dictionary Dīwān Luγāt al-Turk, Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī noted that Täŋrikän meant “a wise man, a pious man” in the dialect of “infidel” Turks (Maḥmūd bin al-ḥusayn bin Muḥammad al-Kāšγarī, Kitāb Dīwān Luγāt al-Turk [Millet Yazma Kütüphanesi, Ali Emîrî Arabî No. 4189, Istanbul] 609, 613; Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī, Compendium of the Turkic Dialects (Dīwān Luγāt at-Turk) [trans. Robert Dankoff and James Kelly; 3 vols.; Duxbury, MA: Harvard Print Office, 1982–1985] 3:343, 350).

14 The Old Turkic word ülüg normally means “share, part” but it was also used with the meanings “destiny and fate” (Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary, 142).

15 Erhan Aydın, Uygur Yazıtları (Istanbul: Bilge Kültür Sanat, 2018) 81.

16 Hatice Şirin, “Bombogor Inscription: Tombstone of a Turkic Qunčuy (“Princess”),” JRAS (2015) 1–9, at 3.

17 As I have demonstrated in a yet unpublished study of mine, Chinese records about the cult of Täŋri among the Türks are greater in number.

18 The Uyghur concept of qut was examined in a previous article (Erkoç, “Pre-Manichaean Beliefs of the Uyghurs II,” 598–600). The word qut was used in Old Turkic with a variety of meanings such as “favor, fortune, luck, happiness, charisma, health, soul and spirit” (Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary, 594; Jens Wilkens, Handwörterbuch des Altuigurischen. Altuigurisch—Deutsch—Türkisch [Göttingen: Universitätsverlag Göttingen, 2021] 428–29). For the Turkic concept of qut in general, see Alessio Bombaci, “Qutluγ Bolzun!,” UAJ 36 (1965) 284–91; idem, “Qutluγ Bolzun!,” UAJ 38 (1966) 13–43; Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary, 594. For the concept of qut among the Türks and other Turko-Mongol polities, see Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç, “Eski Türklerde Devlet Teşkilâtı (Gök Türk Dönemi)” (M.A. thesis, Hacettepe University, Institute of Social Sciences, Department of History, 2008) 75–79.

19 Erkoç, “Pre-Manichaean Beliefs of the Uyghurs II,” 598.

20 The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá of ‘Alá’u ’d-Dín ‘Aṭá Malik-i-Juwayní (Composed in A. H. 658 = A. D. 1260): Part I, Containing the History of Chingíz Khán and His Successors (ed. Mírzá Muḥammad Ibn ʿAbdu’l-Wahháb-i-Qazwíní; Leyden: E. J. Brill, Imprimerie Orientale, 1912) 41.

21 The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá, 41. Another version of this legend was recorded in the Uyghur ïduq qut (ruler) Barčuq Art Tigin’s (Ba’ershu A’erte Dejin 巴而朮阿而忒的斤) biography in Yuanshi 元史 (hereafter YS). In this version, the divine light lands on a tree, and five boys are born afterwards, one of them being Bögü Qaγan (Bu[gu] Kehan 不古可罕). However, the qaghan’s acceptance by the people for being sent by God and his God-sent ravens are not mentioned in this version (Song Lian 宋濂, Yuanshi 元史 [Beijing 北京: Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局, 1976] 122.2999).

22 Liu Xu 劉昫, Jiu Tangshu 舊唐書 (Shanghai 上海: Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局, 1975) (hereafter JTS). The part of Xin Tangshu 新唐書 (hereafter XTS) describing this event does not mention the Uyghurs saying that Huai’en was killed by Täŋri (Ouyang Xiu 歐陽修, Xin Tangshu 新唐書 [Shanghai 上海: Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局, 1975] 217A.6120).

23 Jiu Tangshu and Zizhi Tongjian 資治通鑑 (hereafter ZZTJ) tell us that when Bilgä Köl Qaγan (Pijia Que Kehan 毗伽闕可汗; Täŋridä Bolmïš Il Itmiš Bilgä Qaγan) died in 759, he was succeeded by his son Täŋri Qaγan (Dengli Kehan 登里可汗) (JTS 195.5201; Sima Guang 司馬光, Zizhi Tongjian 資治通鑑 [Shanghai 上海: Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局, 1976] 221.7076). He is the famous Bögü Qaγan who is mentioned in these sources with that title (sometimes only as Dengli 登里) a few more times as well (JTS 195.5201–5204; ZZTJ 222.7131, 7141, 226.7282). Jonathan Karam Skaff emphasized that the qaghan was invested with this title by the Tang court (Jonathan Karam Skaff, Sui-Tang China and Its Turko-Mongol Neighbors: Culture, Power, and Connections, 580–800 [New York: Oxford University Press, 2012] 125–26). ZZTJ also notes that the wife of Bögü Qaγan sent from China (who was also the daughter of Huai’en) carried the title Täŋri Qatun (Dengli Kedun 登里可敦) (222.7131). The Soghdian Side of the First Qara Balghasun Inscription mentions Bögü Qaγan with the epithet “god(like) ruler” (βγy ’xšy-wn’k) (No. 6 line 20). Prior to the Uyghurs, the Türks also used Täŋri Qaγan as an imperial title; one of Bilgä Qaγan’s (reigned 716–734) sons and successors carried this title (JTS 194A.5177–5178; XTS 215B.6054; ZZTJ 214.6809, 6844). The usage of this term goes back to the sixth century, as can be seen in the Soghdian side of the bilingual Bugut inscription. Here the expression βγy (“God[like]”) is placed in front of the titles of several early Türk rulers (Yutaka Yoshida and Takao Moriyasu, “Bugut Inscription,” in PRRH [ed. Moriyasu and Ochir], 122–25, at 123–24). Besides calling their qaghans Täŋri (“Heavenly”), the Türks used the formula Täŋri Täg (“God-like”) for them in their inscriptions (for a complete list, see Erhan Aydın, Orhon Yazıtları [Istanbul: Bilge Kültür Sanat, 2017] 169). The Old Turkic title Täŋri Qaγan was also used by Türks, Toquz Oghuz, and other Turkestanis for Chinese emperors during the seventh and eighth cents., recorded in Chinese sources as Tian Kehan 天可汗 (Erkoç, “Eski Türklerde,” 28–29; Skaff, Sui-Tang China, 119–127). This usage was continued by the Uyghurs, as both JTS and XTS note that, during the incident of 765 described above, the Uyghurs called the Chinese emperor Täŋri Qaγan 天可汗 (JTS 195.5205; XTS 217A.6120). These sources contain another example of the usage of this title; when Chinese emissaries visited Täŋridä Bolmïš Il Itmiš Bilgä Qaγan in 759, the qaghan is recorded as having mentioned the Chinese emperor (Tang Suzong 唐肅宗; reigned 756–762) as Täŋri Qaγan 天可汗 (JTS 195.5200; XTS 217A.6116; Skaff, Sui-Tang China, 125, 347). Not surprisingly, the Chinese Side of the First Qara Balghasun Inscription mentions some of the Uyghur rulers with the title Täŋri Qaγan 天可汗 (line 12, 15–18). Quite interestingly, Täŋri is also recorded as an Uyghur toponym in the early fourteenth cent. Persian work Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ written by Rašīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh-i Hamadānī. He devoted a chapter to the Uyghurs, in which a narration about their original homeland in Mongolia is given and two big mountains are mentioned, one of them called Ušqunluq Täŋrim (Rašīd al-Dīn Faḍlullāh-i Hamadānī, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ [ed. Muḥammad Rūšan and Muṣṭafā Mūsavī; 4 vols.; Tahrān: Našr-i Alburz, 1373/1953] 1:138). W. M. Thackston noted that the former word derives from ušqun meaning “rhubarb,” while the latter expression means “my god” (Rashiduddin Fazlullah, Jami‘u’t-Tawarikh: Compendium of Chronicles: A History of the Mongols [trans. W. M. Thackston; 3 vols.; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998–1999] 1:75 n. 1). The Türks also used Täŋri as a toponym for a mountain which was also considered the God of Earth (Hayrettin İhsan Erkoç, “Bozkır Halklarında Su Kültü,” in Tarih ve Kültür Penceresinden Su ve Sağlık İlişkisi Uluslararası Sempozyumu Bildirileri—10-11 Haziran 2019, İstanbul [ed. Arın Namal, Hacer Topaktaş Üstüner, and Bożena Płonka Syroka; Istanbul: Beykoz Belediyesi, 2020] 69–108, at 81–82).

24 James Russell Hamilton, Les Ouïghours à l’époque des Cinq dynasties d’après les documents chinois (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1955) 139–41; Kasai, “Uyghur Legitimation,” 64–66.

25 Bahaeddin Ögel suggested that the words Bieli 別力 and Da 答 probably represented Bäglig and Taγ respectively, but he could not reconstruct the Turkic form of Boli 跛力 (Bahaeddin Ögel, Sino-Turcica: Çingiz Han’ın Türk Müşavirleri [Istanbul: IQ Kültür Sanat Yayıncılık, 2002] 21 n. 8, 24 n. 8).

26 Ögel, Sino-Turcica, 24 n. 9.

27 In his entry for Täŋri, Kāšγarī gave several different meanings and usages. From his expressions, it is understood that Muslim Turks used this word as the Turkic translation of Allāh. However, he noted that the “infidel” Turks also used Täŋri for “sky” and for “anything that is imposing in their eyes,” “such as a great mountain or tree, and they bow down to such things” (Maḥmūd bin al-ḥusayn bin Muḥammad al-Kāšγarī, Kitāb Dīwān Luγāt al-Turk, 608–609; Maḥmūd al-Kāšγarī, Compendium, 3:342–43). For the Turkic flexibility in the usage of Täŋri with a variety of meanings, see Erkoç, “Türklerin İslâmiyete,” 313–15.

28 Apart from the meaning “to create,” the verb yarat- was also used in Türk and Uyghur inscriptions with the meanings “to make, form and organize” (Aydın, Orhon Yazıtları, 175; idem, Uygur Yazıtları, 194; Talât Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic [Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968] 397).

29 Theophylacti Simocattae Historiarum Libri Octo (ed. Immanuel Bekker; Bonn: E. Weber, 1834) 286; The History of Theophylact Simocatta: An English Translation with Introduction and Notes (trans. Michael Whitby and Mary Whitby; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997) 191.

30 The History of Theophylact Simocatta, 99 n. 47.

31 A point emphasized in a yet unpublished work of mine.

32 Aydın, Orhon Yazıtları, 158; idem, Uygur Yazıtları, 146; Tekin, A Grammar, 344.

33 Jean-Paul Roux, La Religion des Turcs et des Mongols (Paris: Payot, 1984) 106–107.

34 René Giraud, L’Empire des Turcs célestes. Les regnes d’Elterich, Qapghan et Bilgä (680–734). Contribution à l’histoire des Turcs d’Asie Centrale (Paris: Librairie d’Amerique et d’Orient, Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1960) 102; Ahmet Yaşar Ocak, Alevî ve Bektaşî İnançlarının İslâm Öncesi Temelleri (Istanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 2000) 68.

35 The cult of Umay among Turkic peoples is first attested in the Türk inscriptions of the early-eighth cent. Although these sources mention her as one of the assistants of Täŋri in his earthly businesses and stress her feminity, not much is known about her cult during this period, as other Chinese, Byzantine, and Islamic sources do not mention her. Kāšγarī translated Umay as “placenta” and noted a Turkic belief in which Umay was considered a companion of a child in the mother’s womb, and those that worshiped her would have children (Maḥmūd bin al-ḥusayn bin Muḥammad al-Kāšγarī, Kitāb Dīwān Luγāt al-Turk, 74). Umay seems more like a cult associated with women and children, hence it is no surprise that the sedentary neighbors of Turkic peoples did not hear much about her, perhaps because they received most of their information from the male members of Turkic societies.

36 For this cult of the Türks, which seems to be a major collection of animistic cults associated with natural beings, see Erkoç, “Bozkır Halklarında,” 73–85. Just as Täŋri was a more national deity for the Türks, Ïduq Yir Sub was also considered to be a specific Türk set of gods and spirits, as can be seen from the expressions Türük Täŋrisi Türük Ïduq Yiri Subï and Türük Täŋrisi Ïduq Yiri Subï (“Täŋri and Sacred Earth-Water Spirits of the Türks”) found in the Orkhon Inscriptions (BQI E10; KTI E10–11). A similar belief is narrated by Kāšγarī, who mentions provincial and earth genies, called Čïwï, protecting Turkic clans and tribes before they engaged in battles (Maḥmūd bin al-ḥusayn bin Muḥammad al-Kāšγarī, Kitāb Dīwān Luγāt al-Turk, 544).

37 Aydın, Uygur Yazıtları, 35; Takashi Ōsawa, “Tes Inscription,” in PRRH (ed. Moriyasu and Ochir), 158–167, at 159–160.

38 According to the legend one of the trees was called qusuq, a type of tree “shaped like a pine (nāž), whose leaves in winter resemble those of a cypress and whose fruits is like a pignon (jilγūza) both in shape and taste,” while the other one was called toz (The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá, 40; ʿAla-ad-Din ʿAta-Malik Juvaini, Genghis Khan: The History of the World Conqueror [trans. J. A. Boyle; Manchester: Unesco Publishing, 1997] 55). J. A. Boyle has explained that the former was the Siberian cedar and the latter was the birch (ʿAla-ad-Din ʿAta-Malik Juvaini, Genghis Khan, 55 n. 13–14).

39 Throughout history, sacred trees and forests played an important role in the beliefs and mythologies of various Turkic peoples.

40 ʿAla-ad-DinʿAta-Malik Juvaini, Genghis Khan, 56 n. 16.

41 A different version of this legend of migration is also narrated by Juvaynī. Here it is told that, after Buqu Xan’s death, one of his sons succeeded him, and eventually the Uyghurs migrated to Bišbalïq after following the cries of animals and children sounding like “Köč! Köč!” (“Migrate! Migrate!”). However, the disasters that befell them after their loss of Qutluγ Taγ are not mentioned in this version nor are any reasons given for their migration (The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá, 45).

42 Ögel, Sino-Turcica, 22–23 n. 8, 24 n. 10.

43 As J. A. Boyle pointed out, this place could be Ektag where the Byzantine envoy Zemarchus met with the Türk ruler Istämi/Ištämi Yabγu Qaγan as described by Menander Protector. He considered that Ektag/Aqtaγ probably corresponded to the Tianshan 天山 (ʿAla-ad-Din ʿAta-Malik Juvaini, Genghis Khan, 57 n. 19), known in modern Turkic languages as Tengri Tagh and other similar forms. The same toponym Äk Taγ also appears in the Second Tunyuquq Inscription of the Türks. While describing various groupings of seventh-cent. Turkic tribes called Tiele 鐵勒 (Tägräk; the Uyghurs and other Toquz Oghuz were also members of this tribal union), Chinese sources mention a place in Turkestan called Baishan 白山, literally meaning “White Mountain.” Many studies on Ektag/Äk Taγ/Aqtaγ/Baishan have been conducted by numerous scholars so far; for this mountain and various hypotheses about its location, see Erhan Aydın, Eski Türk Yer Adları (Istanbul: Bilge Kültür Sanat, 2016) 66–71. If Juvaynī’s Aqtaγ is the same mountain as Ektag/Äk Taγ/Baishan in Turkestan, then it is not located in the original Uyghur homeland in Mongolia, so this thirteenth-cent. Uyghur motif of “sacred mountain” must have been formed after their migration to the region following 840.

44 The word baš means “head” in Old Turkic as well as in modern Turkic languages. However, it also has the meaning “mountain top” and “spring, river head,” so different meanings are given by Turkologists to toponyms containing baš. As for the Uyghur inscriptions, Katayama and Takao Moriyasu preferred to translate baš as “river-head” while Aydın chose “mountain top,” which is more likely in my opinion as well (Aydın, Uygur Yazıtları, 44, 57–58; Katayama, “Tariat Inscription,” 169–171; Takao Moriyasu, “Site and Inscription of Šine-Usu,” in PRRH [ed. Moriyasu and Ochir], 177–95, at 179–80, 184). For Aydın’s explanation of the toponym Qan Ïduq Baš, see Uygur Yazıtları, 137; idem, Eski Türk Yer Adları, 86–87. Similar to the Uyghurs, Türk inscriptions also mention several toponyms named Ïduq Baš; for these as well as the debates on whether these are mountain tops or springs and river heads, see Erkoç, “Bozkır Halklarında,” 82–85. The Old Turkic word ïduq derives from the verb ïd- meaning “to relieve, to set free,” and hence it denotes sacred beings that are set free to be dedicated to the gods, thus indicating taboo practices (Erkoç, “Bozkır Halklarında,” 75–77).

45 For S4, which has the word üč (“three”) before it hence pointing to three sacred beings, Moriyasu read ïduq taγ meaning “sacred mountain” (thus “three sacred mountains”), but Aydın’s reading is ıdok t 1t 1ı (Moriyasu, “Site and Inscription,” 180, 184; Aydın, Uygur Yazıtları, 52, 60).

46 During the Mongol period, the Uyghur title Ïduq Qut was transformed into Idiqut. Both Juvaynī and Rašīd al-Dīn have translated Idi Qut/Idiqut into Persian as χudāvand-i davlat (“lord of fortune”) (The Ta’ríkh-i-Jahán-gushá, 32; Rašīd al-Dīn, Jāmiʿ al-Tavārīχ, 1:140). As Boyle noted, Juvaynī seems to have confused the first syllable with Turkic idi meaning “lord, owner,” and “lord of fortune” should have been *Qut Idi (ʿAla-ad-Din ʿAta-Malik Juvaini, Genghis Khan, 44 n. 1). Apparently the same goes for Rašīd al-Dīn.

47 Similarly, the earlier Xiongnu rulers also gave prominence to the left (eastern) direction. Numerous Western Türk coins have images of the sun and the moon, which are connected with their cults according to Emel Esin (Emel Esin, “ ‘KÜN-AY’ [Ay-Yıldız motifinin proto-Türk devirden Hakanlılara kadar ikonografisi],” in VII. Türk Tarih Kongresi—Ankara: 25–29 Eylül 1970—Kongreye Sunulan Bildiriler [2 vols.; Ankara: TTKY, 1972] 1:313–59, at 338–52).

48 He is the one who erected the First QBI. The first fragment from its Turkic side gives his title as Ay Täŋridä Qut Bulmïš Alp Bilgä Täŋri Uyγur Qaγan; although the word in line 2 before Täŋridä is currently not legible due to erosions in the fragment, Moriyasu has determined that it should have been Ay (QBT-I I/I line 2; Aydın, Uygur Yazıtları, 67; Yutaka Yoshida, “Studies of the Karabalgasun Inscription: Edition of the Sogdian Version,” Modern Asian Studies Review 11 [2020/3] 1–139, at 99).

49 Hamilton, Les Ouïghours, 140–41; Kasai, “Uyghur Legitimation,” 64–66.

50 Harun Güngör, “Uygur Kağan Ünvanlarında Kün ve Ay Teñri Kavramlarının Kullanılışı,” in XI. Türk Tarih Kongresi—Ankara: 5-9 Eylül 1990—Kongreye Sunulan Bildiriler (2 vols.; Ankara: TTKY, 1994) 2:511–17.

51 Kasai, “Uyghur Legitimation,” 66.

52 Cults regarding celestial objects can also be observed among numerous steppe peoples like the Massagetae, Xiongnu, Caucasian Huns, Bulghars, Mongols, Altaians, and Siberian shamanists.

53 Erkoç, “Pre-Manichaean Beliefs of the Uyghurs II,” 594.

54 V. Minorsky, “Tamīm ibn Baḥr’s Journey to the Uyghurs,” BSOAS 12.2 (1948) 275–305, at 279, 283.

55 Minorsky, “Tamīm ibn Baḥr’s Journey,” 296.

56 The Türks honored fire, worshiped it, and also considered it as a purifying being, a belief shared by Mongols. Fire-worship is also observed among the Caucasian Huns. This widespread cult is again dealt with in a work of mine awaiting publication.