Tonyukuk

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Template:Short description Template:Infobox noble

Tonyukuk or Ashide Yuanzhen (Template:Langx,[1] Template:Lang-zh, Template:Lang-zh, born Template:Circa, died Template:Circa) was the baga-tarkhan (supreme commander) and adviser of four successive Göktürk khagans – Ilterish Qaghan, Qapaghan Qaghan, Inel Qaghan and Bilge Qaghan. He conducted victorious campaigns against various Turkic and non-Turkic steppe peoples, such as the Tölis, Xueyantuo, Toquz Oguz, Yenisei Kyrgyz, Kurykans, Thirty Tatar, Khitan and Tatabi as well as the Tang dynasty.[2] He was described as a kingmaker by historians such as E. P. Thompson[3] and Peter Benjamin Golden.[4]

Name

The name is spelled as t1-o-ɲ-uq1-uq1 (Template:Script) in the Old Turkic script, variously interpreted as Tunuquq, Tonuquq, Tuj-uquq, Toɲ Yuguq, Tujun-oq, Tojuquq, Tuɲoqoq with a number of suggestions for its etymology. According to Sertkaya, Tunuk means "clear, pure, abyss, who reached the depth" or "pure, penetrative", and uq or oq means "idea, wise, well-informed". Thus, Tonuquq is the owner of deep and pure idea.[5][6] His title "Bilge" means wise or master in Old Turkic.[7] According to Klyashtorny, the element yuquq means "hidden, protected thing, value, treasure, jewelry", which is derived from the verb "yoq/yuq" meaning "to hide, to protect" (used in Uyghur legal documents); meanwhile, the other ton means "first"; thus his Chinese name 元珍 Yuánzhēn is a calque of his Turkic name Tonyuquq, both meaning "first treasure"[8] René M. Giraud read the name as tonïuquq, from ton "dress, clothes" with I possessive and yuquq (from the verb yuk- "to stick") and meaning "whose dress is blessed with oil"; Likewise, Jean-Paul Roux explained the name as "with oiled dress" while discussing the culinary culture of the Mongols and suggesting that they had dirty and stained clothes.[9]

Life

Early years

File:Turkic Gold Belt Ornaments (35671983336).jpg
Gold belt ornaments, Tonyukuk ritual place, Tov, Erdene.[10]

Tonyukuk was born around 646, near Tuul River in the land of the Ashide tribe. He fled the Tang dynasty in 679 and joined Ilterish Qaghan in 681.

Template:Fs interlinear

Chinese sources state that Tonyukuk's name was "Yuanzhen," and he learned all Chinese traditions and was aware of the gaps in the borders and the Chinese wall. While he was supervising the surrendered clans in Chanyü military governorship, he was dismissed and jailed by the military governor Changshih.[11]

During Ilterish Qaghan's reign

Although he lost early wars against Xue Rengui, he was a formidable force in establishing the Second Turkic Khaganate. In 687, the Tang invaded Göktürk land again. Empress Dowager Wu commissioned the ethnically Baekje general Heichi Changzhi, assisted by Li Duozuo, to defend against Turkic attack and were able to defeat the Turkic forces at Huanghuadui (modern day Shuozhou, Shanxi) causing the Turkic forces to flee.

During Qapaghan Qaghan's reign

File:Bilge Tonyukuk - Orkhon Inscriptions.jpeg
The Tonyukuk inscriptions.

In 703, he was sent by Qapaghan Qaghan for a marriage proposal to the Wu Zhou dynasty. Wu Zetian accepted the proposal, in exchange Wu Yanxiu was released on the Khagan's order. However, Emperor Zhongzhong's accession changed the political climate, causing the cancellation of the marriage.

In 712, he commanded a Turkic army during Battle of Bolchu which proved disastrous for the Turgesh army.

During Inel Qaghan's reign

He was not in active politics during Inel Qaghan's reign and accepted him as a legitimate ruler.[12] Although this did not cost him his life and was spared, perhaps because of his great authority and his age. Another reason would the fact that he was Bilge Qaghan's father-in-law.[13]Template:Clarify

During Bilge Qaghan's reign

In 716 he was appointed as master strategist (bagha tarkhan) by his son-in-law Bilge Qaghan.

Chinese sources state that Bilge Qaghan wanted to convert to Buddhism and establish cities and temples. However, Tonyukuk discouraged him from this by pointing out that their nomadic lifestyle was what made them a greater military power when compared to the Tang dynasty.[14] While the Turks' power rested on their mobility, conversion to Buddhism would bring pacifism among population. Therefore sticking to Tengriism was necessary to survive.[15][16][17][18]

In 720 the Tang chancellor Wang Jun proposed a plan to attack Bilge Qaghan' along with the Baximi, Xi, and Khitan.[19] Emperor Xuanzong also recruited Qapaghan Qaghan's sons Bilgä Tegin and Mo Tegin, Yenisei Kyrgyz Qaγan Qutluğ Bilgä Qaγan and Huoba Guiren to fight against the Turks. Tonyukuk launched a first attack on Baximi in the autumn of 721, completely crushing them. Meanwhile Bilge raided Gansu, taking much of the livestock. Later that year the Khitans, the next year the Xi were crushed.

He died around 726.

Family

He was father to Qutluğ Säbäg Qatun and a father-in-law of Bilge Qaghan', thus a grandfather to Yollıg Khagan and Tengri Qaghan.

Legacy

His biography, achievements and advice for state administration were carved in Old Turkic script on two stele erected around 716 (before his death) at a site known as Bayn Tsokto, in Ulaanbaatar's Nalaikh district.[20] Yuan era Uyghur official Xie Wenzhi (楔文質), as well as Korean Gyeongju Seol clan claimed descent from Tonyukuk.[21]

He was mentioned and remembered in some Uyghur Manichaean texts later in Qocho.[22]

The Berlin Manichaean manuscript found in Qocho read as follows:[22]

Template:Quote

In popular culture

References

Template:Reflist

  • E. Denison Ross, The Tonyukuk Inscription, Being a Translation of Professor Vilhelm Thomsen's final Danish Rendering, Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, University of London, 1930.
  • Nathan Light. An 8th Century Turkic Narrative: Pragmatics, Reported Speech and Managing Information. Turkic languages. 10.2, 2006. pp 155–186.

External links

Template:Göktürks

  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Peter B. Golden, (1992), An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People, p. 137
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ O. F. Sertkaya (2003, p. 33)
  6. ↑ Nadelyaev V.M. “Orhon–Eniseisk mark’s reading” and “Etymology of the name of Tonuquq”. // Turkology researches M.L. 1963 pp. 197–213; Amanzholov A.C. “Talas, Enisey and Orhon inscriptions’ graphics” /Kazakh language and literature, KAz SU, Almaty, 1973. Amanzholov A.C. “Old Turkic inscriptions History and Theory”, Almaty, 2003; pp. 56–57.
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ S. G. Klyashtorny 1966, pp. 202–205
  9. ↑ Aydın, Erhan "On the name and titles of Tonyuquq", Türkbilig, 2019/37: 1–10
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Taşağıl 2004, p. 63
  12. ↑ Dobrovits,M.:“Textological Structure and Political Message of the Old Turkic Runic Inscriptions”, Talât Tekin Armağanı, Türk Dilleri Araştırmaları 18 (2008), 149–153.
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Denis Sinor (ed.), The Cambridge History of Early Inner Asia, vol.1, Cambridge University Press, 1990, Template:ISBN, 312–313.
  15. ↑ Wenxian Tongkao, 2693a
  16. ↑ New Book of Tang, vol 215-II
  17. ↑ Golden 2002, p. 9
  18. ↑ Ercilasun 2016, pp. 295–296
  19. ↑ Old Book of Tang, Vol. 194-I
  20. ↑ For the site see Sören Stark Die Alttürkenzeit in Mittel- und Zentralasien. Archäologische und historische Studien (Nomaden und Sesshafte, Band 6), Reichert: Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 75–76. Ross (1930): "About 48° N. and a little more 107° W. [sic] of Greenwich, near a place said to have the name of Bain Chokto, between the Nalaikha post-station and the right bank of the upper waters of the Tola."
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
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