Bilge Khan inscription

Like Heaven, made by Heaven: I, Bilge Khan of the Turks. These are my words. My father, Bilge Khan of the Turks, [ … ] the Six Sir, the Nine Oghuz, the lords of the two Ediz with their tents, and the people [ … ] the Turk Heaven [ … ] I took the throne as khan.

When I took the throne, the Turk lords and people had been anxious to the point of death. They were proud and glad, and their lowered eyes looked up. I myself took the throne at that time, and [ … ] so many weighty laws in the four quarters.

When the blue sky above and the brown earth below were made, between the two the sons of men were made. Over the sons of men sat my forefathers, Bumın Khan and İstemi Khan. Having taken the throne, they held and they ordered the realm and the law of the Turk people.

The four quarters of the world were all enemies. Leading out armies, they took every people in the four quarters and made them all submit.

They made those who had heads bow them, and those who had knees bend them. Eastward they settled their people as far as the Kadırkan forest, westward [as far as the] Iron Gate.

Between the two they set in order the Blue Göktürks, who lived in great disorder, and so they ruled.

They were wise khans; they were brave khans. Their ministers too were wise, surely, and brave, surely. Lords and commons alike were straight with one another. [That is why] they held the realm as they did. Holding the realm, they set the law [in order. Then they themselves died.]

As mourners and wailers there came, from the east, from the sunrise, the Bükli Çöllüg people; and the Chinese, the Tibetans, the Avars, the Romans, the Kırgız, the Three Kurıkan, the Thirty Tatar, the Kıtañ, the Tatabı —

peoples this many came, and wept, and made the funeral. Such famous khans they were.

After them their younger brothers became khan, and their sons became khan. The younger brothers, however, were not made in the likeness of the elder, nor the sons in the likeness of their fathers. Khans without understanding took the throne; bad khans took the throne.

And their ministers too were without understanding, and bad.

Because their lords and their commons were not straight with one another; because the Chinese were devious and full of guile; because they were tricksters; because they set younger brother against elder brother and put lords and commons to slandering one another — for these reasons the Turk people let slip the realm they had made a realm, and lost the khan they had made khan. To the Chinese they made their sons, who should have been lords, slaves, and their daughters, who should have been ladies, serving-women.

The Turk lords threw away their Turk titles. The lords who served the Chinese took Chinese titles [and became subjects of the Chinese khan.]

[For] fifty years they gave their toil and their strength.

Eastward, toward the sunrise, they campaigned for him as far as the Bükli khan; westward they campaigned for him as far as the Iron Gate. For the Chinese khan they took realms and their law and gave them to him.

And the whole common Turk people said this: “I was a people that had a realm. [Where is my realm now? For whom am I winning realms?”] — that is what they said. “I was a people that had a khan. Where is my khan? To what khan am I giving my toil and my strength?” — that is what they said.

Speaking so, they became enemies of the Chinese khan. But having become enemies they could not organise themselves or set themselves in order, and they submitted again.

China, giving no thought at all to how much toil and strength they had been given, said: “Let me kill the Turk people. Let me [leave them without seed.”]

[Then] the Turk Heaven and the holy Earth and Water of the Turks did this: so that the Turk people should not perish, so that they should be a people, they held my father İlteriš Khan and my mother İlbilge Katun at the crown of Heaven and raised them up.

My father the khan went out with seventeen men. Hearing the report that “he is marching out there,” those who were in the towns went up into the mountains, and those who were in the mountains came down; and they gathered, and they became seventy men. Because Heaven gave them strength, my father the khan’s army was like wolves and his enemies were like sheep. Campaigning east and campaigning west, he collected them and drew them together; in all they became seven hundred men.

A people that had lost its realm, a people that had lost its khan; a people that had been turned into serving-women and slaves; a people that had let the Turk law slip — he set them in order and he taught them, according to the law of my forefathers. There he organised the Tölis and the Tarduš peoples, and there he gave them a yabgu and a shad. To the south the Chinese were enemies. To the north the subject khan and the Nine Oghuz were enemies. The Kırgız, the Kurıkan, the Thirty Tatar, the Kıtañ and the Tatabı were all enemies.

My father the khan [ … ] campaigned forty-seven times and fought twenty pitched battles. Because Heaven so ordained, he took the realm from those who had realms and the khan from those who had khans; he made enemies submit, he made those who had knees bend them and those who had heads bow them.

[Having won the realm and the law, my father the khan flew away.] For my father the khan, first of all the subject khan was set up as a balbal.

When my father the khan died, I was left at eight years of age. By the custom of that time my uncle became khan.

Having taken the throne, my uncle set the Turk people in order once more, and nourished them once more.

He made the poor rich, and the few many.

When my uncle was khan, I myself was a tegin [ … ] [ … ] Because Heaven so ordained, at the age of fourteen I became shad over the Tarduš people.

Together with my uncle the khan we campaigned eastward as far as the Green River and the plain of Shantung; westward we campaigned as far as the Iron Gate; crossing the Kögmen we campaigned as far as the country of the Kırgız. Twenty-five times in all we went out, and thirteen times we fought pitched battles. We took the realm from those who had realms and the khan from those who had khans; we made those who had knees bend them and those who had heads bow them.

The Türgeš khan was of our own Turk stock, of our own people. Because they did not understand, because they went wrong against us and offended against us, their khan died, and his ministers and lords died with him. The Ten Arrow people came to grief. So that the land and the water our forefathers had held should not be left without a master, [we set the Az people in order and organised them … ] Bars was a lord.

It was we who gave him the title of khan here. We gave him my younger sister as his princess.^[13][14] He himself went wrong, and so their khan died and their people became serving-women and slaves.

Saying, “let the land and water of the Kögmen not be left without a master,” we set the Az and the Kırgız in order, and came, [and fought … ] and gave [it] again.

[Eastward, crossing the Kadırkan forest, we settled the people] there and ordered them there; westward, as far as Keŋü Tarban, we settled the Turk people there and ordered them there.

In that time the slave had come to have slaves of his own, and the serving-woman serving-women of her own. Younger brother did not know elder brother, nor son his father. So much had we won, and so well ordered was that [realm and law] of ours. [Lords of the Turks and of the Oghuz, and you, the] people — hear me!

Unless the sky presses down from above, unless the earth splits open below, Turk people, who is there that could destroy your realm and your law?

Turk people — give it up, and repent! Out of your own insubordination you went wrong against the khan who had nourished you and against the good realm that was yours; you brought evil in with your own hands.

Where did armed men come from, to scatter you? Where did men with spears come from, to drive you off?

People of the holy Ötüken forest — you went. Some of you went east; some of you went west.

And in the places you went to, this, surely, is the good you got: your blood ran like a river, and your bones lay piled like mountains. You made your sons, who should have been lords, slaves, and [your daughters, who should have been ladies, serving-women.]

Because you did not understand, and because of your own wickedness, my uncle the khan died. First of all I [set up] the Kırgız khan [as a balbal.] So that the name and fame of the Turk people should not perish, the Heaven that raised up my father the khan and my mother the katun, the Heaven that gives realms — so that the name and fame of the Turk people should not perish, that same Heaven set me on the throne as khan.

[I did not come to rule] over a people of any wealth at all. I came to rule over a people with no food inside them and no clothes on their backs, a poor and wretched people. [The] tegin, the two shads and my younger brother Kül Tegin and I took counsel together: so that the name and the fame of the people our father and our uncle had won should not perish, for the sake of the Turk people I did not sleep at night and I did not sit still by day. Together with my younger brother Kül Tegin, together with [the two shads,] I won it at the price of dying and being lost.

Having won it so, I did not let the people, once made one, turn into fire and water. [When I myself took the throne,] the people who had gone off to every country came back — dying, lost, [on foot and naked.]

Saying, “let me nourish this people,” I went out on campaign twelve times: northward against the Oghuz, eastward against the Kıtañ and the Tatabı, southward against China. After that, because Heaven ordained it, and because I had fortune and a portion allotted me, I brought back to life a people that was going to die, and I nourished them. The naked people I clothed; the poor I made rich; the few I made many. I made them better than those who have mighty realms and mighty khans. Every people in the four quarters I made submit, and made them enemies no longer.

All of them became my subjects.

At the age of seventeen I campaigned against the Tangut. I defeated the Tangut people. There I took their sons, their women, their herds of horses and all their possessions.

At the age of eighteen I campaigned against the Six Čub [Sogdians.] There I defeated the people. The Chinese Oŋ Totok came with an army of fifty thousand. I fought at Iduk Baš, and there I wiped out that army.

At the age of twenty I campaigned against the Basmıl, the Iduk Kut, who were my kinsfolk, saying “they send no caravans.” [ … ] I made them subject, and I brought back much [ … ] tribute.

At the age of twenty-two I campaigned against China. I fought Čaça Seŋün, who came with an army of eighty thousand, and there I killed his army.

At the age of twenty-six the Čik people became enemies, together with the Kırgız. I crossed the Kem and campaigned against the Čik. I fought at Örpen. I ran their army through. I took the Az people [ … ] and made [them] subject.

At the age of twenty-seven I campaigned against the Kırgız. Breaking a way through snow deep enough to bury a spear, crossing the Kögmen range, I fell on the Kırgız people in their sleep. I fought their khan in the Soŋa forest. I killed their khan, and there I took his realm.

That same year I marched against the Türgeš, crossing the Altai range and fording the Irtysh. [I fell on the Türgeš people] in their sleep. The Türgeš khan’s army came like fire and like a storm. We fought at Bolču. There I killed their khan, their yabgu and their shad, and there I took their realm.

At the age of thirty I campaigned against Beš Balık. Six times I fought [ … ] I killed all their army [ … ] The people inside it [ … ] were going to perish [ … ] came to invite [me.] For that reason Beš Balık was saved.

At the age of thirty-one the Karluk people, who had been going about as they pleased, became enemies. We fought at Tamağ Iduk Baš. I killed the Karluk people, and there I took them [ … ] the Basmıl [ … ] The Karluk people regrouped and came [ … ] I killed [ … ]

The Nine Oghuz were my own people. Because of the disorder between Heaven and Earth, and because envy had come into their minds, they became enemies.

In one year I fought four battles. The first and foremost I fought at Toğu Balık. Swimming my army across the Toğla river, [ … ] The second I fought at Antargu. I ran their army through [ … ] The third I fought at the head of the Čuš. The Turk people’s foot gave way, and it would have gone badly. I drove back the enemy army that came pressing toward us. Many who would have died came back to life there. There I surrounded and struck a band of Toŋra champions at the funeral feast of Toŋa Tegin. The fourth I fought at Ezgenti Kadız. There I ran their army through and routed it [ … ]

At the age of thirty-two there was famine while we were wintering at the fortress of Amgı.

In the spring I campaigned against the Oghuz. The first army had gone out; the second army was at home. The army of the Three Oghuz came and attacked. “The foot soldiers have been scattered,” they said, and came to seize us. Half of their army went to plunder our homes and our goods, and half came to fight. We were few, and in a bad way. The Oghuz [ … ] enemy [ … ] Because Heaven gave strength, I ran them through there and scattered them.

Because Heaven so ordained, and because I won by my labour, the Turk people too won, surely. If I, together with my younger brother, had not taken the lead and won so much, the Turk people would have died; they would have perished. Turk lords [and people,] think so and know so: [ … ] the Oghuz people [ … ] “so that they should not send [ … ]” I campaigned.

I broke up their homes and their goods. The Oghuz people regrouped with the Nine Tatar and came. At Ağu I fought two great battles. I broke their army, and there I took their realm. Having won so [ … ] because Heaven so ordained, at the age of thirty-three I [ … ]

[ … ] a man [ … ] went astray against [his] brave khan who had nourished him.

Heaven above, and the holy Earth and Water, and the Kut of [my uncle] the khan did not approve. The Nine Oghuz people left their land and their water and went toward China. [The Chinese … ] came here. I thought, “let me nourish them” [ … ] people [ … ] [ … ] sin [ … ] in the south, in China, their name and fame were lost. Here they became my slaves.

Because I myself had taken the throne as khan, I did not [ … ] the Turk people. I won realm and law better [ … ] [ … ] regrouped [ … ] [there] I fought, I ran their army through. Those who were to submit submitted and became a people; those who were to die died. Going down the Selenga, at the Karağan crossing I broke their homes and their goods there [ … ] [they] climbed the mountain.

The Elteber of the Uyghurs, with about a hundred men, fled eastward [ … ]

[ … ] the Turk people were hungry. I took that herd of horses and fed them. At the age of thirty-four the Oghuz fled and went over to China. Regretting it, I campaigned. Out of envy [ … ] I took their sons and their women there.^[43] The two peoples with Elteber rulers [ … ]

[ … ] the Tatabı people submitted to the Chinese khan. “Their envoy does not come, nor their good news and their requests,” I said, and campaigned in the summer. I broke the people there. I took their horse herds and all their possessions there. Their army regrouped and came. [ … ] the Kadırkan forest [ … ] [ … ] settled in their homeland, in their land and water.

“March south against the Karluk people!” I said, and sent Tudun Yamtar, and he went [ … ] the Karluk Elteber was dead. His brother fled to a fortress [ … ]

[ … ] the caravan did not come. “Let me frighten them,” I said, and campaigned. The fortress guard fled with two or three men. The common people rejoiced, saying “our khan has come.” [ … ] I gave a title [to those without a title;] I raised those with a small title [ … ]

[ … ] crossing the Kök Öŋ, leading the army, I marched by night and by day and in seven stretches crossed a land without water. Reaching Čorak, [ … ] the scouts [ … ] as far as Keçen [ … ]

Like Heaven, born of Heaven, I, Bilge Khan of the Turks, took the throne at this time. Hear my words to the end — you first of all, my younger brothers, my sons, my united clan, [my people … eastward to the sunrise,] southward to the midday, westward to the sunset, northward to the midnight [ … ] every people within those bounds is subject to me. [I have set so many peoples in order.] There is nothing wrong with them now. If the Turk khan sits in the Ötüken forest, there is no trouble in the realm.

Eastward [I campaigned as far as the] plain of Shantung, [and I came within a little of the sea;] southward I campaigned as far as the Nine Ersin, and I came within a little of Tibet; westward, crossing the Pearl River (the Syr Darya), I campaigned as far as the Iron Gate; northward I campaigned as far as the country of the Yir Bayırku. To so many places I led my army, and I found that there was nowhere better than the Ötüken forest. The place from which the realm is held is the Ötüken forest.

Sitting in this country, I came to terms with the Chinese people. They give gold, silver, raw silk and figured silk in such quantity, and without trouble. The words of the Chinese people are sweet and their silks are soft. With sweet words and soft silks they draw in distant peoples and bring them close. And once a people has settled close, then they conceive their evil designs.

[They] do not let a good and wise man rise, nor a good and brave man. And if one person goes wrong, they do not kill his clan and his people, [even down to his cradle.] Deceived by their sweet words and soft silks, you Turk people died in great numbers. Turk people, you are doomed to die! If you say, “let me settle in the south, in the Çuğay forest, on the Töğültün plain,” Turk people, you are doomed to die! There an evil man advised you: “if you are far off, they give you poor goods; if you are near, they give you good goods” — so he advised.

People without understanding took that advice, went close, and died in great numbers. If you go to that land, Turk people, you are doomed to die! If you stay in the land of Ötüken and send out caravans from there, you will have no trouble at all. If you stay in the Ötüken forest, you will hold an eternal realm. Turk people! You are complacent: when you are hungry, you do not think of being full; once you are full, you do not think of being hungry. Because you are like that, you did not wait for the word of [the khan] who had nourished you. You went to every country, and there you were all used up and worn away. Those of you who were left in those places went about in every country, exhausted and half dead.

Because Heaven so ordained, and because I myself had Kut, I [became khan.]

Having become khan, I gathered the destitute, starving people.

I made the poor rich, and the few many. Is there any falsehood in these words of mine?

Turk lords and people, hear this! How the Turk people, gathered together, can hold a realm, I have set down here. How they will go wrong and die, I have also set down here. Whatever my words are, I have set them on the eternal stone. Look at them and learn. Loyal Turk people and lords — you lords who serve at this time: will you be the ones to go astray?

When my father the khan and my uncle the khan took the throne, they ordered the peoples of the four quarters again and again, [and set them in order again and again.] Because Heaven so ordained, when I took the throne I ordered the peoples of the four quarters and set them in order. [ … ] I made [ … ]

I gave my daughter to the Türgeš khan, with a very great ceremony. [ … ] For my son I took the daughter of the Türgeš khan, with a very great ceremony. [ … ] with a very great ceremony I took [ … ] [ … ] I made the peoples of the four quarters subject. I made those with heads bow them, and those with knees bend them. Because Heaven above and Earth below so ordained, I settled my people, such as no eye had seen and no ear had heard, eastward to the sunrise, southward to the midday, westward to the sunset, northward to the midnight. Yellow gold, white silver, figured silks, perfumed silks, thoroughbred horses, stallions, black sables [and] blue squirrels I won for my Turk people and gave them, and I made them free of trouble.

Above, Heaven is mighty [ … ] ten thousand [ … ] [ … ] lords and people [ … ] nourish them well; do not harm them or trouble them. [ … ] Turk lords, my Turk people [ … ] I gave a name [ … ] [ … ] won [ … ] If you do not separate from this khan, from these lords, from this land and water, Turk [people,] [ … ] you will see good, you will return to your home, you will be free of trouble. [ … ]

[Afterward] I had carvers brought from the Chinese khan. [He] did not refuse my request; he sent the carvers of his own court. For them I had an extraordinary tomb built. Inside and out, I had extraordinary carving made. [I had the stone cut, and I had the words of my heart set down … ] You, down to the sons of the Ten Arrows and to their foreign subjects, look at this and learn! I had the eternal stone cut [ … ] I had it cut, and I had it written. Look at this and learn so. [ … ] the stone, the tomb [ … ]

[ … ] on the first day I killed seventeen thousand soldiers, ten thousand and seven thousand more, of the Chinese cavalry army. On the second day I killed their foot army, all of it [ … ] went [ … ] times I campaigned [ … ] At the age of thirty-eight I campaigned in winter against the Kıtañ. [ … ] At the age of thirty-nine I campaigned in spring against the Tatabı [ … ]

I [ … ] killed [ … ]; their sons, their women, their herds of horses, [all their goods I took] [ … ] people [ … ] I destroyed their women [ … ] marching [ … ] I fought [ … ] I gave [ … ] I killed their brave men and set them up as balbal.

At the age of fifty the Tatabı people broke away from the Kıtañ [ … ] Töŋker mountain [ … ] General Ku came with an army of forty thousand. I attacked at Töŋker mountain and fought, and I killed thirty thousand of his soldiers. [ … ] I [ … ] The Tatabı [ … ] killed.

When my eldest son fell ill and died, I set up General Ku as a balbal. I was shad for nineteen years, and I was khan for nineteen years, and I held the realm. At the age of thirty-one [ … ] I won better for my Turks and my people.

Having won so much, my father the khan died in the Year of the Dog, in the tenth month, on the twenty-sixth day. In the Year of the Pig, in the fifth month, on the twenty-seventh day, I completed the funeral. Bukuğ Totok [ … ] five hundred men came under Lisün Tay-Seŋün. [ … ] perfumes [ … ] they brought gold and silver in plenty. They brought funeral candles and set them up. They brought sandalwood [ … ] All these people cut their hair and their ears. They brought thoroughbred horses, black sables and blue squirrels without number, and left them all.

Like Heaven, made by Heaven, Bilge Khan of the Turks: these are my words. When my father Bilge Khan of the Turks took the throne, the loyal Turk lords; in the west the Tarduš lords, with Kül Čor at their head and all the Šadapıt lords; in the east the Tölis lords, with Apa Tarkan at their head and all the Šadapıt lords; [ … ] Ataman Tarkan, Tonyukuk Boyla Baga Tarkan and the commanders [ … ] the Inner Commander Sebig Kül Irkin and all the commanders: so many loyal lords gave my father the khan very great applause and praise. [My father the khan] also applauded and praised the Turk lords and people very much [ … ] [ … ] for my father the khan, the Turk lords and people made [and brought] heavy stones and thick timbers. [ … ] to me so much [ … ]

[ … Bilge] Khan’s writing I, Yollug Tegin, wrote. So many buildings, carvings and long [ … ] [ … ] the khan’s nephew, Yollug Tegin, I, sitting for a month and four days, wrote it and decorated it [and made it.]

[ … ] above [ … ] Bilge Khan [flew away.] When spring comes, as the drum of Heaven rolls above, so [ … ]; as the deer bellows in the mountains, so [ … ]: I mourn. My father the khan [ … ] the stone I myself, the khan [ … ] [ … ] [ … ]