Lady Poshi

Lady Poshi was the mother of Ilig Khan, the last khan of the eastern Göktürks.^[1] The Jiu Tang Shu names her once, in its account of Ilig’s old servant Tuyuhun Hunye.^[1]

Hunye had come with her as one of the retainers who went with a bride at her marriage.^[1] When Ilig was born, the child was given into his care.^[1] When Ilig died in 634, Hunye killed himself to follow him.^[1] The Jiu Tang Shu and the Tongdian write her name 婆施氏, the lady of the Poshi family. The Xin Tang Shu writes Poshi alone.^[2] The Cefu yuangui has the same sentence as the Jiu Tang Shu.^[3]

Ilig was the third son of Yami Khan, whom the Chinese histories call Qimin.^[1] Lady Poshi was therefore one of Yami’s wives.

The Tuyuhun

The Sui Shu names the mother’s family of one of Yami’s sons.^[4] In the first Daye years the Sui envoy Cui Junsu went on his embassy to the western khan Heshana. He called the Tuyuhun the mother’s family of Yami’s youngest son, the Moheduo Shad.^[4] Moheduo Shad was the title Ilig held before he became khan.^[1] The Jiu Tang Shu makes Ilig the third son. It does not call him the youngest.^[1] Whether Poshi was the name of a Tuyuhun family, no text says. Her retainer’s name, Tuyuhun Hunye, begins with the name of that people.^[1] The histories record nothing else of her life.