Kirghiz Iron and Gold

The Xin Tang Shu names three metals in the country of the Kirghiz: gold, iron and tin.^[1] It says that the iron made weapons of extreme sharpness. It adds that the Kirghiz regularly sent these weapons to the Göktürks.^[1]

The metals in the Tang histories

The Xin Tang Shu describes the Kirghiz under the Chinese name Xiajiasi and equates it with the old name Jiankun.^[1] The text says that the country had gold, iron and tin.^[1] Whenever it rained, the people always found iron. They called it qiasha, 迦沙.^[1] Weapons made of it were exceedingly sharp, and the Kirghiz regularly delivered them to the Göktürks.^[1]

The Tongdian tells the same of Jiegu, another Chinese name of the Kirghiz.^[2] In its words the sky often rained iron. The people collected it and used it. They called it qiasha and made knives and swords of it, very sharp.^[2] The two texts agree on the name, on the sharpness and on the rain.

Neither text says what kind of iron fell with the rain, or how it was gathered.^[3] The texts do not give the language of the name qiasha either.^[3] The Xin Tang Shu lists no quantity, no mine and no workshop.^[1]

Tin or lead

The third metal in the Xin Tang Shu is written 錫, which is the ordinary Chinese word for tin.^[1] One English rendering of the passage gives lead instead.^[4] The character itself says tin.

Gold and a golden cap

The Xin Tang Shu records the dress of the Kirghiz ruler, whom it calls A-re. In winter he wore a sable cap. In summer he wore a cap with a gold clasp, pointed at the top and rolled at the edge.^[1] The text names no other object of gold.^[1]

Archaeological finds

The excavated finds confirm the Chinese reports of Kirghiz metalworking.^[5] Gold, iron and tin were made into tools and other objects.^[5] The Kirghiz also supplied the Göktürks with metal weapons, among them knives and swords of high quality, during the years of Göktürk power in inner Asia.^[5] Trade in furs and metal objects was part of the Kirghiz economy.^[5]

Dating the deliveries

The Xin Tang Shu section on the Kirghiz is put together from accounts of different dates.^[4] The deliveries of weapons to the Göktürks therefore cannot be tied to one reign or one khaganate. The Göktürks also had smiths of their own. The Ashina had worked iron for the Rouran before the war of 546, as the article on Göktürk ironworking tells.^[6] Whether the Kirghiz metal reached the Göktürks as tribute or in trade is not stated.^[1]

In the eleventh century Mahmud al-Kashgari recorded that the Qirqiz, among others, swore alliances over an unsheathed sword, because they held iron to possess great power. The article on the iron oath gives the passage.^[7]

References

^ a b c d e f g h i j k Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217
^ a b Tongdian, juan 200
^ a b Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217; Tongdian, juan 200
^ a b Golden 1992, p. 178
^ a b c d Drompp 2002, p. 484
^ Zhou Shu (Book of Zhou), juan 50
^ Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk; al-Kāshgharī 1072–1074, p. 280

Sources

Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217 (after Jiu Tangshu)
Tongdian, juan 200 (after Sui Shu and Zhou Shu)
Zhou Shu (Book of Zhou), juan 50
Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk

Literature

Michael R. Drompp, The Yenisei Kyrgyz from Early Times to the Mongol Conquest (2002)
Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Maḥmūd al-Kāshgharī, Dīwān Lughat al-Turk (1072–1074)