Kul Tigin
Template:Short description Template:Infobox military person
Kul Tigin (Template:Langx<ref name=":0">Kultegin’s Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIG</ref> Template:Lang-zh,Template:Efn Pinyin: Quètèqín, Wade–Giles: chüeh-t'e-ch'in, AD 684–731) was a general and a prince of the Second Turkic Khaganate.
Etymology
[edit]Necip Asım (1921) initially gave his name as köl, based on the etymology of Mahmud al-Kashgari, meaning "lake, sea". Radloff rendered 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 闕 (què). Therefore, this word should be read as kül, not köl.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Early years
[edit]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.<ref name=":0" />
In 711, he participated in Battle of Bolchu, which was disastrous for Turgesh.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
In 713 he participated in subjugation of Karluk tribes with his brother and uncle.<ref name=":1" />
As supreme commander
[edit]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
[edit]
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 Khoshoo Tsaidam (more images from the site here), at the present site of the Orkhon inscriptionsTemplate:Clarify.<ref>Sören Stark, Die Alttürkenzeit in Mittel- und Zentralasien (Nomaden und Sesshafte, Band 6), Reichert: Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 76–78</ref> 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.Template:Clarify
His burial ceremony took place in 1 November 731. He was posthumously renamed Inanču Apa Yarğan Tarqan (Template:Langx) by Bilge Qaghan.
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.<ref>Yu. Zuev, "Early Türks: Sketches of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 25, Template:Listed Invalid ISBN</ref> The head was found by the Czech archeologist Lumir Jisl during his 1957–1958 expedition to Mongolia.
Popular culture
[edit]He was portrayed by Ham Suk Hun (함석훈) in Korean TV Series Dae Jo-yeong.
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]Sources
[edit]- Template:Citation
- 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：Xinjiang People's Press，1995 [Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous District Minority People's Committee, Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Xinjiang Minority Peoples, Ürümqi: Xinjiang People's Publishing Company, 1955]