Editing Kul Tigin

{{short description|Prince and military commander of the Second Turkic Khaganate}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          = Kül
| honorific_suffix = [[Tegin]]
| native_name   = Kültegin<br>{{langx|otk|𐰚𐰇𐰠𐱅𐰃𐰏𐰤}}
| native_name_lang = otk
| image         = Turkic Head of Koltegin Statue (35324303410).jpg
| caption       = Bust of Kul Tigin found at the [[:Commons:Category:Khoshoo Tsaidam|Khoshoo Tsaidam]] burial site, in [[Khashaat]], [[Arkhangai Province]], [[Orkhon River]] valley. Located in the [[National Museum of Mongolia]].
| birth_date    = 684
| death_date    = {{death date and age|731|2|27|684||}}
| allegiance    = [[Second Turkic Khaganate]]
| battles       = [[Battle of Bolchu]]<br>[[Sogdian Campaign]]<br>[[Battle of Iduk Bash]]<br>[[Battle of Ming Sha]]<br>[[Battle of Sayan Mountains]]<br>Transoxiana Campaign<br>[[Battle of Tashkent (713)]]
| relations     = [[Ilterish Qaghan]] (father)<br />[[El Bilga Khatun]] (mother)<br />[[Bilge Khagan]] (brother)
| rank          = [[Tarkhan]] (posthumously)
| memorials     = [[Orkhon inscriptions]]
}}

'''Kul Tigin''' ({{langx|otk|𐰚𐰇𐰠𐱅𐰃𐰏𐰤|Kültegin}}<ref name=":0">[http://irq.kaznpu.kz/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=15&m=1 Kultegin’s Memorial Complex, TÜRIK BITIG]</ref> {{lang-zh|[[wikt:闕|闕]][[wikt:特|特]][[wikt:勒|勤]]}},{{efn|erroneously  阙特勒 Quètèlè}} [[Pinyin]]: Quètèqín, [[Wade–Giles]]: chüeh-t'e-ch'in, AD&nbsp;684–731) was a general and a [[Tegin|prince]] of the [[Second Turkic Khaganate]].

== Etymology ==
Necip Asım (1921) initially gave his name as ''köl'', based on the etymology of [[Mahmud al-Kashgari]], meaning "lake, sea". [[Vasily Radlov|Radloff]] rendered this word as ''kül'', and [[Vilhelm Thomsen|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>{{cite book|title=Central Asiatic Journal|volume=35|page=48|year=1991|editor=Lars Laamann}}</ref>

== 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 (Central Asia)|Iron Gate]] south of [[Samarkand]]. They also subjugated all nine of the [[Tokuz-Oguzes|Tokuz Oguz]] tribes.

In 705, Tujue forces commanded by [[Ashina Mojilian|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">{{Cite book|title=Gök-Türkler|last=Ahmet.|first=Taşağil|date=1995–2004|publisher=Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi|others=Atatürk Kültür, Dil, ve Tarih Yüksek Kurumu (Turkey)|isbn=975161113X|location=Ankara|oclc=33892575}}</ref>

In 713 he participated in subjugation of [[Karluks|Karluk]] tribes with his brother and uncle.<ref name=":1" />

== As supreme commander ==
Upon the death of [[Qapagan Khaghan]], his son [[Inel Qaghan]] attempted to illegally ascend to the throne, defying the traditional [[Order of succession|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 (prince)|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 [[Orkhon script|Turkic]] and [[Chinese language|Chinese]], was erected at his memorial complex of [[Khoshoo Tsaidam]] (more images from the site [[:Commons:Category:Khoshoo Tsaidam |here]]), at the present site of the [[Orkhon inscriptions]]{{clarify |Not also the site where they were discovered? |date= February 2025}}.<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]].{{clarify |Really, a distinct site from "Khöshöö-Tsaidam"? |date= February 2025}}

{{quotation|Heavenly Divine Türk Bilgä Qaghan, I reign at this time.<br>Hear out my words, all my brothers, my sons, and also you, my tribe, my people:<br>Šad Pït lords of the south;<br>Tarqan Buyruq lords of the north;<br>Otuz . . .;{{sfn|Kamola|2023|p=18}}}}

His burial ceremony took place in 1 November 731. He was posthumously renamed '''Inanču Apa Yarğan Tarqan''' ({{langx|otk|𐰃𐰤𐰨𐰆:𐰯𐰀:𐰖𐰺𐰍𐰣:𐱃𐰺𐰴𐰣}}) by [[Bilge Qaghan]].

The head of the Kül Tigin sculpture in the Khöshöö-Tsaidam enclave in ([[Orkhon Province|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, {{Listed Invalid ISBN|9985-4-4152-9}}</ref> 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 (TV series)|Dae Jo-yeong]].''

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== 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：[[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]

==External links==
*[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/ubhist/turk.html The National Museum of Mongolian History]
*[https://gokturkanitlari.appspot.com/kultigin.html Kül Tiğin Inscriptions complete text] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107015747/http://gokturkanitlari.appspot.com/kultigin.html |date=2014-01-07 }} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200424140519/https://www.turkbitig.com/kultigin.html archived])
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20160305002018/http://bitig.org/?lang=e&mod=1&tid=1&oid=15&m=1 Orkhon inscriptions with translations (contains Kül Tiğin inscriptions with translations, archived)]

{{Göktürks}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tigin, Kul}}
[[Category:680s births]]
[[Category:730s deaths]]
[[Category:Göktürk khagans]]
[[Category:Ashina house of the Turkic Empire]]
[[Category:8th-century generals]]