Buli Shad

Buli Shad was a younger brother of Chula Khan, who ruled the eastern Göktürks in 619 and 620.^[1] In 620 Chula sent him with two thousand horsemen to fight beside the Tang.^[1]

In that year the Tang emperor’s son Li Shimin, later the emperor Taizong, was ordered against the rebel Liu Wuzhou. He halted his army at Taiyuan.^[1] Chula sent the Buli Shad with two thousand riders to join the imperial army.^[2] The Zizhi tongjian enters the help under the sixth month of 620.^[3] In the same month Chula himself came to Bingzhou. The Tang governor Li Zhongwen went out to greet him, and Chula stayed three days.^[1] Many of the city’s beautiful women were carried off, and Li Zhongwen could not stop it.^[1] The Xin Tang Shu joins the two reports. In its words the brother’s two thousand horsemen met the Tang at Bingzhou for three days and carried off many women.^[4] The Zizhi tongjian names the city Jinyang.^[3] In that year Chula set up a Sui court in exile at Dingxiang.^[1]

Chula died later in 620, and another of his brothers became Ilig Khan.^[1] The Xin Tang Shu lists the commands that Ilig gave at his accession. Among them is a Buli Shad set over the Xi, 霫.^[4] The title and the year make it likely that this is Chula’s brother, who was also a brother of Ilig.

The title recurs among the western Göktürks. The khan Ishbara Tolis fled to his younger brother, the Buli Shad, and held Karashahr with him.^[1] That Buli Shad belongs to the 630s and the west. He is a different man. The Buli Khan of the 570s is written 步離, with a different second character.^[5]