Hesa was the last khan of the Uyghur khaganate. The court set him up in 839, after the minister Kürabir had moved against the khan before him. The Kirghiz killed him in 840.[1] His reign is the shortest of the list. It is also the only one the Tang never recognised.[2]

Name

The Tang Huiyao writes his name 㕎颯 and calls him khan.[3] The two Tang histories give the second character as 馺. They call him a tegin before he is khan, so that the name stands as Hesa Tegin.[4] No Turkic form of it is attested. Hesa is the romanisation of the Chinese sounds. The Tang histories give the khan who reigned from 824 to 832 a name of nearly the same sound, 曷薩特勒. He is another man.[5]

No kinship is recorded for him. His age is not recorded either.[4]

The throne of 839

In 832 the khan was killed by his own men. His nephew Hu Tegin took the throne.[5] In 839 a minister, Kürabir, rose against the khan. The khan died.[4] On the order of the narratives, this khan was the Hu Tegin of 832.[5]

The Jiu Tang Shu has the minister make Hesa Tegin khan.[6] The Xin Tang Shu has the people set him up.[5] The Tang court had issued no appointment when the emperor Wuzong came to the throne. The envoy who went to announce the accession found the Uyghur state in disorder.[5] The famine, the pestilence and the snow of that year had killed many sheep and horses.[7] The Chinese court recognised every khan of the empire except the usurper of 790 and Hesa.[2]

The end

Soon after, the general Külüg Bagha came with the Kirghiz.[5] The Xin Tang Shu says that they killed the khan, executed Kürabir and burned the royal camp.[5] The Jiu Tang Shu names the man they killed as Hesa.[6] The Tang Huiyao says that the Kirghiz killed him that year. His state broke up.[3] Fifteen Uyghur tribes fled to the Karluks, and the remnants fled to Tibet and Anxi. Thirteen clans of the royal camp made Ögä their khan and went south.[5]

One man or two

The Tang Huiyao says that the people set up a man as Hesa Khan. It names him with the last three characters of Kürabir’s name as that text writes it.[3] Some scholars take this to mean that the minister and the khan were one man.[8] Both Tang histories keep them apart. In both, the Kirghiz kill the khan and execute the minister.[9]

References

  1. ^ Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217; Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 195; Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang), juan 98
  2. ^ a b Mackerras 1972, p. 42
  3. ^ a b c Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang), juan 98
  4. ^ a b c Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217; Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 195
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217
  6. ^ a b Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 195
  7. ^ Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217; Tang Huiyao (Institutional History of the Tang), juan 98
  8. ^ Mackerras 1972, p. 182
  9. ^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 195; Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217

Sources

Literature

  • Colin Mackerras, The Uighur Empire According to the T'ang Dynastic Histories (1972)

Related

What links here2

Persons
Emperor Wuzong of Tang · Kürabir

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Hesa Khan.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/hesa-khan/

Last revised: 8 November 2026