Heshana Khan

Heshana’s Turkic name may have been Arslan, and he no longer bore the title yabgu. He ruled a western realm. In it the cities of Sogdiana and Bactria, lost to Persia in 589, returned to Göktürk rule after the second Persian war of 606 and 607.^[1] The Jiu Tang Shu describes the people of the western Göktürks as a mixture. It names the Dulu and the Nushibi, the Geluolu, who are the Karluks, the Chuyue, the Chumi and the people of Yiwu.^[2] The description is undated. Some scholars tie it to the reign of Chuluo, about 611.^[3]

At home a new taxation of the Tiele brought protest. He answered it by executing several hundred of their chiefs at a single meeting.^[4] The Tiele rose. They made Geleng of the Qibi their own khan, with Yishibo as a subordinate Yiedie khan. By about 605 they had driven Heshana from Dzungaria to the Ili.^[5] The Sui strategist Pei Ju then allied the emperor with the sub-khan Shegui. Shegui attacked his overlord and drove him to Gaochang.^[4] Only the threat to kill his mother, who lived in China, brought him to submit. In 611 the emperor conferred on him by decree the title Heshana Khan and a Chinese princess. This sealed his powerlessness.^[5] The Sui Shu dates his marriage to the princess Xinyi to the first month of 614. The Zizhi tongjian dates the title to the first month of 612.^[6]

By 619 he had lost all control of his former khaganate. At Chang’an the first Tang emperor yielded to the pressure of Shibi Khan and handed him to a party of eastern Göktürk envoys. They executed him.^[7] Two sons who survived him later entered Tang service.^[1] He stands as Tardush’s successor, Heshana or Chuluo Khan, from 603 to 611. It is said of him only that his poor leadership led to revolts.^[8] The eastern Göktürks had fought no war with Heshana. Why they wanted him dead is not recorded.

References

^ a b Yavuz 2025
^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
^ Markwart 1938, p. 150
^ a b Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84
^ a b Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84; Yavuz 2025
^ Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 181
^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 187
^ Golden 1992

Sources

Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84
Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 181, 187 (after Wei Shu, Zhou Shu, Sui Shu and Bei Shi)

Literature

Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
Josef Markwart, Wehrot und Arang. Untersuchungen zur mythischen und geschichtlichen Landeskunde von Ostiran (1938)