Daguan

Daguan, 達官, is the title the Chinese texts give to the officers around the Göktürk khan.^[1] The two characters mean “high official”.^[2] The title appears in the account of the court of Tong Yabgu. It also appears in the Tang histories of the eastern khaganate.^[3]

At the court of Tong Yabgu

In Huili’s biography, the pilgrim Xuanzang met Tong Yabgu out hunting near Suyab.^[4] More than two hundred daguan in brocade robes, with their hair braided, surrounded the khan on both sides.^[4] The khan told one of them, the daguan Damozhi, to take the pilgrim to his camp.^[4] In the great tent the daguan sat before the khan in two long rows on mats, all in shining brocade. The guards stood behind them.^[4]

The title could be given for a task.^[5] Xuanzang would not stay. The khan had his army searched for a man who knew Chinese.^[5] A young man who had lived for years in Chang’an was found.^[5] The khan made him Moduo Daguan. He had him write letters to the countries on the road and sent him with the pilgrim as far as Kapisa.^[5]

In the Tang histories

The Tongdian names a Geli Daguan among the titles taken from everyday words. The Göktürks called the old geli, and so there was a Geli Daguan.^[6] The Jiu Tang Shu reports that Ilig Khan died in 634, four years after the Tang had taken him prisoner. His old servant, the Hulu Daguan Tuyuhun Hunye, cut his own throat to follow him in death.^[7] The Xin Tang Shu adds that he had come into the household with Ilig’s mother and had been given the newborn Ilig to raise.^[8]

Daguan and tarkhan

The Tang histories write the title tarkhan 達干 or 達幹, with a different second character.^[9] No passage of the sources says whether 達官 renders the same word. Daguan may be a variant spelling of the title tarkhan.^[10] This points to a title Hulu Dagan, used among the Türgesh, beside the Hulu Daguan of Ilig’s servant.^[10]