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{{short description|Prince and military commander of the Second Turkic Khaganate}}

factoids

| allegiance = Second Turkic Khaganate| battles = Battle of BolchuSogdian CampaignBattle of Iduk BashBattle of Ming ShaBattle of Sayan MountainsTransoxiana CampaignBattle of Tashkent (713)| relations = Ilterish Qaghan (father)El Bilga Khatun (mother)Bilge Khagan (brother)| rank = Tarkhan (posthumously)| memorials = Orkhon inscriptions| religion=Tengrism}}Kul Tigin (Kultegin’s Memorial Complex, TÃœRIK BITIG ,{{efn|erroneously 阙特勒 Quètèlè}} Pinyin: Quètèqín, Wade-Giles: chüeh-t’e-ch’in, AD 684–731) was a general and a prince of the Second Turkic Khaganate.

Etymology

Necip Asım (1921) for the first time did read his name as köl, based on the etymology of Mahmud al-Kashgari, meaning “lake, sea”. Radloff did read this word as kül, and Thomsen (1896), Malov (1951) and Tekin (1968) adopted this reading. Bazin (1956) and Hamilton (1962) rejected Radloff’s reading and preferred the form köl. However, Chinese sources used the Chinese character é—• (què). Therefore, this word should be read as kül, not köl.BOOK, Central Asiatic Journal, 35, 48, 1991, Lars Laamann,

Early years

He was a second son of Ilterish Qaghan, the Second Turkic Khaganate’s founder, and the younger brother of Bilge Kaghan, the fourth kaghan. He was seven when his father died.During the reign of Qapagan Khaghan, Kul Tigin and his older brother earned reputation for their military prowess. They defeated Yenisei Kirghiz, Turgesh, and the Karluks, extending the Kaganate territory all the way to the Iron Gate south of Samarkand. They also subjugated all nine of the Tokuz Oguz tribes.In 705, Tujue forces commanded by Mojilian entered Lingwu, defeating Shazha Chongyi (沙吒忠义). Kul Tigin commanded a unit in battle, in which he lost three horses.In 711, he participated in Battle of Bolchu, which was disastrous for Turgesh.BOOK, Gök-Türkler, Ahmet., TaÅŸaÄŸil, 1995–2004, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Atatürk Kültür, Dil, ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu (Turkey), 975161113X, Ankara, 33892575, In 713 he participated in subjugation of Karluk tribes with his brother and uncle.

As supreme commander

Upon the death of Qapagan Khaghan, his son Inel Qaghan attempted to illegally ascend to the throne, defying the traditional Lateral succession law, but Kül Tigin refused to recognize the takeover. He raised an army, attacked, and killed Inel, Ashina Duoxifu and his trusted followers. He placed his elder brother Bilge Khagan on the throne, and took the title of Shad, an equivalent of commander-in-chief of the army, for himself.

Death

(File:Kultegin monument Mongolia.JPG|thumb|right|Kul Tigin stele.)He died suddenly on 27 February 731. A stele in memory of Kül Tigin, which included inscriptions in both Turkic and Chinese, was erected at his memorial complex of (:Commons:Category:Khoshoo Tsaidam|Khoshoo Tsaidam), at the present site of the Orkhon inscriptions.Sören Stark, Die Alttürkenzeit in Mittel- und Zentralasien (Nomaden und Sesshafte, Band 6), Reichert: Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 76–78 Kül-Tegin is also mentioned in the inscription erected in memory of his older brother Bilge Qaghan at the neighbouring site of Khöshöö-Tsaidam-1.{{quotation|Heavenly Divine Türk Bilgä Qaghan, I reign at this time.Hear out my words, all my brothers, my sons, and also you, my tribe, my people:Å ad Pït lords of the south;Tarqan Buyruq lords of the north;Otuz . . .;{{sfn|Kamola|2023|p=18}}}}His burial ceremony took place in 1 November 731. He was posthumously renamed Inanču Apa YarÄŸan Tarqan () by Bilge Khagan.The head of the Kül Tigin sculpture in the Khöshöö-Tsaidam enclave in (Orkhon, in northern Mongolia) carries a bird with wings spread like an eagle, personifying a raven.Yu. Zuev, “Early Türks: Sketches of history and ideology”, Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 25, {{Listed Invalid ISBN|9985-4-4152-9}} The head was found by the Czech archeologist Lumir Jisl during his 1957–1958 expedition to Mongolia.

Popular culture

He was portrayed by Ham Suk Hun (함석훈) in Korean TV Series Dae Jo-yeong.

Notes

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References

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Sources

• {{citation|last=Kamola|first=Stefan|year=2023|title=I Made Him Praiseworthy: The Kül Tegin Inscription in World History|publisher=De Gruyter}}
• Talat Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic. Indiana University Uralic and Altaic Series, vol. 69 (Bloomington/The Hague: Mouton, 1968)
• 新疆维吾尔自治区民族事务委員会、新疆民族辞典， 乌鲁木齐：新疆人民出版社，1995 [Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous District Minority People’s Committee, Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Xinjiang Minority Peoples, Ãœrümqi: Xinjiang People’s Publishing Company, 1955]

External links

• The National Museum of Mongolian History
• Kül TiÄŸin Inscriptions complete text {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107015747gokturkanitlari.appspot.com/kultigin.html |date=2014-01-07 }} (www.turkbitig.com/kultigin.html" title="web.archive.org/web/20200424140519www.turkbitig.com/kultigin.html">archived)
• bitig.org/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=15&m=1" title="web.archive.org/web/20160305002018bitig.org/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=15&m=1">Orkhon inscriptions with translations (contains Kül TiÄŸin inscriptions with translations, archived)

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