Raised in 732 by Bilge Khan for his younger brother Kül Tegin, who had died the year before, in the valley of the Orkhon in central Mongolia.[1] Three faces carry Turkic in the runiform script; the fourth carries a Chinese text of condolence from the Tang court.[1] The speaker throughout is Bilge Khan. He is burying his brother, and he uses the occasion to tell his own people, in the second person, how they lost their state once and how they could lose it again.
It is the earliest text in a Turkic language to speak of Bumin and Istemi, and the fullest statement the Göktürk ever made of how they understood their own polity: where it came from, why it was lost, on what terms it was restored, and what it rests on. It is not a chronicle. It was carved by the Second Khaganate nearly two centuries after the events it opens with, for a dynasty that needed the founders to have been what it said they were. What it says about the eighth century it says about its own time; what it says about the sixth it says at two hundred years’ distance, and its Bumin is the founder a later dynasty needed him to have been.
The historical section on the east face — creation, the founders, the fall, the fifty years, the restoration — runs almost word for word in the inscription of Bilge Khan as well. The two monuments differ where each turns to the deeds of the man it commemorates; in the shared section they are one text, and citing both is citing one witness twice.
Text
The three faces are given in the order east, north, south. Line numbers follow the editions where the working translation could anchor them and are marked ≈ where they are its inference. Transcription in italics precedes each passage. Gaps in the stone are marked [ … ]. The translation writes khan where the Turkic has qaġan, following this work’s convention; yabgu, šad, tegin, balbal and the other constitutional terms are left untranslated, because there is no equivalent. Ages are given in modern reckoning: Old Turkic counts toward the coming decade, so that altı yegirmi, “six toward twenty”, is sixteen.
East face
E1 — The world is made, and so is the Göktürk state
üze kök teŋri, asra yagız yer kılıntukda, ekin ara kişi oglı kılınmış. kişi oglınta üze eçüm apam bumın kagan, istemi kagan olurmış. olurupan türk bodunıŋ ilin törüsin tuta bermiş, iti bermiş.
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 Göktürk people.
E2–E3 — The conquests of the founders
tört buluŋ kop yagı ermiş. sü sülepen tört buluŋdakı bodunug kop almış, kop baz kılmış. başlıgıg yükündürmiş, tizligig sökürmiş. ilgerü kadırkan yıska tegi, kerü temir kapıgka tegi kondurmış. ekin ara idi oksuz kök türk ança olurur ermiş. bilge kagan ermiş, alp kagan ermiş. buyrukı yeme bilge ermiş erinç, alp ermiş erinç. begleri yeme bodunı yeme tüz ermiş. anı üçün ilig ança tutmış erinç. ilig tutup törüg itmiş. özi ança kergek bolmış.
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; and between the two the Blue Göktürk dwelt, wholly free and subject to no one. 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. And then they themselves went where they were needed.
≈E4 — The funeral of the founders, and the generations that followed
yogçı sıgıtçı öŋre kün togsıkda böküli çölgil, tabgaç, tüpüt, apar, purum, kırkız, üç kurıkan, otuz tatar, kıtañ, tatabı — bunça bodun kelipen sıgtamış, yoglamış. antag külüg kagan ermiş. anda kisre inisi kagan bolmış erinç, oglıtı kagan bolmış erinç. anda kisre inisi eçisin teg kılınmaduk erinç, oglı kaŋın teg kılınmaduk erinç. biligsiz kagan olurmış erinç, yablak kagan olurmış erinç. buyrukı yeme biligsiz ermiş erinç, yablak ermiş erinç.
As mourners and wailers there came, from in front, from the sunrise, the Bökli and the Čölgil; and the Chinese, the Tibetans, the Avars, the Romans, the Kırgız, the Three Kurıkan, the Thirty Tatar, the Kıtañ and 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. But the younger brothers 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.
≈E5–E6 — How the state was lost
begleri bodunı tüzsüz üçün, tabgaç bodun tebliged kürlüg üçün, armakçısın üçün, inili eçili kiŋşürtükin üçün, begli bodunlıg yoŋaşurtukın üçün, türk bodun illedük ilin ıçgınu ıdmış, kaganladuk kaganın yitürü ıdmış. tabgaç bodunka beglik urı oglın kul boltı, silik kız oglın küŋ boltı. türk begler türk atın ıtı. tabgaçgı begler tabgaç atın tutupan tabgaç kaganka körmiş.
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 Göktürk people let slip the realm they had made a realm, and lost the khan they had made khan. To the Chinese, the sons who should have been lords became slaves, and the unblemished daughters became serving-women. The Göktürk lords threw away their Göktürk titles. The lords who went over to China took Chinese titles and became subjects of the Chinese khan.
≈E6–E7 — Fifty years of service
elig yıl isig küçüg birmiş. ilgerü kün togsıkda böküli kaganka tegi süleyü birmiş, kurıgaru temir kapıgka tegi süleyü birmiş. tabgaç kaganka ilin törüsin alı birmiş. türk kara kamag bodun ança temiş: “illig bodun ertim, ilim amtı kanı? kimke ilig kazganur men?” tir ermiş. “kaganlıg bodun ertim, kaganım kanı? ne kaganka isig küçüg birür men?” tir ermiş.
For fifty years they gave their toil and their strength. Eastward, toward the sunrise, they campaigned for him as far as the Bökli khan; westward they campaigned for him as far as the Iron Gate. To the Chinese khan they gave up their realm and their law.
And the whole common Göktürk 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?”
≈E7–E8 — Heaven intervenes
ança tep tabgaç kaganka yagı bolmış. yagı bolıp itinü yaratunu umaduk yana içikmiş. bunça isig küçüg birtükgerü sakınmatı, “türk bodunug ölüreyin, urugsıratayın” ter ermiş. yokadu barır ermiş. üze türk teŋrisi, türk ıduq yeri subı ança temiş erinç: “türk bodun yok bolmazun” teyin, “bodun bolçun” teyin, kaŋım iltiris kaganıg, ögüm ilbilge katunug teŋri töpüsinte tutup yügerü kötürmiş erinç.
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. And China, giving no thought at all to how much toil and strength they had been given, said: “Let me kill the Türk people. Let me leave them without seed.” The Göktürks were going toward extinction.
Then the Göktürk Heaven above, and the holy Earth and Water of the Göktürk, spoke thus: “Let the Türk people not perish. Let them be a people again.” And Heaven took my father İltiriš Khan and my mother İlbilge Katun by the crown of the head and raised them up.
≈E9 — Seventeen men
kaŋım kagan yeti yegirmi erin taşıkmış. “taşra yorıyur” teyin kü esidip balıkdakı tagıkmış, tagdakı inmiş, tirilip yetmiş er bolmış. teŋri küç birtük üçün kaŋım kagan süsi böri teg ermiş, yagısı koñ teg ermiş. ilgerü kurıgaru sülep tirmiş, kubratmış. kamagı yeti yüz er bolmış.
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.
≈E10 — The state rebuilt
elsiremiş, kagansıramış bodunug, küŋedmiş, kuladmış bodunug, türk törüsin ıçgınmış bodunug eçüm apam törüsinçe yaratmış, boşgurmış. tölis, tarduş bodunug anda itmiş. yabgug, şadıg anda birmiş. berye tabgaç bodun yagı ermiş. yırya baz kagan, tokuz oguz bodun yagı ermiş. kırkız, kurıkan, otuz tatar, kıtañ, tatabı kop yagı ermiş.
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 Göktürk 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, and there he gave them a yabgu and a šad. To the south the Chinese were enemies. To the north Baz Khan and the Nine Oguz were enemies. The Kırgız, the Kurıkan, the Thirty Tatar, the Kıtañ and the Tatabı — all of them were enemies.
≈E11–E12 — The father’s death, and the uncle’s reign
kaŋım kagan kırk artukı yeti yolı sülemiş, yegirmi süŋüş süŋüşmiş. teŋri yarlıkaduk üçün illigig ilsiretmiş, kaganlıgıg kagansıratmış, yagıg baz kılmış, tizligig sökürmiş, başlıgıg yükündürmiş. kaŋım kagan ança ilig törüg kazganıp uça barmış. kaŋım kaganka baş balbal tikmiş. ol törüde üze eçim kagan olurtı. eçim kagan olurıpan türk bodunug yiçe itdi, igiti. çıgañıg bay kıltı, azıg üküş kıltı.
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 in this way, my father the khan flew away. As the first balbal at his grave they set up [the image of a slain enemy].
Under that same law my uncle became khan. Having taken the throne, my uncle the khan set the Göktürk people in order once more, and nourished them. He made the poor rich, and the few many.
≈E13–E14 — “I myself was šad”
eçim kagan olurtukda özim tarduş bodun üze şad ertim. eçim kagan birle ilgerü yaşıl ügüz şantuŋ yazıka tegi süledimiz, kurıgaru temir kapıgka tegi süledimiz, kögmen aşa kırkız yeriŋe tegi süledimiz. kamagı biş otuz süledimiz, üç yegirmi süŋüşdimiz. illigig ilsiretdimiz, kaganlıgıg kagansıratdımız, tizligig sökürtimiz, başlıgıg yükündürtimiz.
When my uncle was khan, I myself was šad 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.
≈E18–E19 — The Türgeš, and the western settlement
türgis kagan türkümüz bodunumuz erti. bilmedükin üçün, bizinge yaŋıltukın, yazıntukın üçün kaganı ölti, buyrukı begleri yeme ölti. on ok bodun emgek körti. eçümiz apamız tutmış yer sub idisiz bolmazun teyin, az bodunug itip yaratıp … ilgerü kadırkan yısıg aşa bodunug ança kondurtımız, ança itdimiz. kurıgaru keŋü tarmanka tegi türk bodunug ança kondurtımız, ança itdimiz.
The Türgeš khan was of our own Göktürk 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 [and the Kırgız] in order.
Eastward, crossing the Kadırkan forest, we settled our people there and ordered them there; westward, as far as Keŋü Tarman, we settled the Göktürk people there and ordered them there.
≈E20 — The Kırgız khan Bars Beg
kırkız kaganı bars beg erti. kagan atıg bunta biz birtimiz. siŋilim kunçuyug birtimiz. özi yaŋıltı, kaganı ölti, bodunı küŋ kul boltı. “kögmen yer sub idisiz kalmazun” teyin, az kırkız bodunug yaratıp keltimiz.
The khan of the Kırgız was Bars Beg. It was we who gave him the title of khan here. We gave him my younger sister as his princess. 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 home.
E22 — “Who could have destroyed you?”
ol ödke kul kullug bolmış erti, küŋ küŋlüg bolmış erti. inisi eçisin bilmez erti, oglı kaŋın bilmez erti. ança kazganmış, ança itmiş ilimiz, törümüz erti. türk oguz begleri, bodun, esidiŋ! üze teŋri basmasar, asra yer telinmeser, türk bodun, iliŋin törüŋin kim artatı udaçı erti?
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 Göktürk and of the Oguz, and you, the people — hear me! Unless the sky presses down from above, unless the earth splits open below, Göktürk people, who is there that could destroy your realm and your law?
E22–E25 — “Give it up. Repent.”
türk bodun, ertin, ökün! küregüŋin üçün igidmiş kaganıŋa, ermiş barmış edgü iliŋe kentü yaŋıltıg, yablak kigürtüg. yaraklıg kantan kelip yaña iltdi? süŋüglüg kandan kelipen süre iltdi? ıduq ötüken yış bodun, bardıg. ilgerü barıgma bardıg, kurıgaru barıgma bardıg. barduk yerde edgüg ol erinç: kanıŋ subça yügürti, söŋüküŋ tagça yatdı. beglik urı ogluŋ kul boltı, silik kız ogluŋ küŋ boltı. bilmedük üçün, yablakıŋın üçün eçim kagan uça bardı.
Göktürk 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 stood and 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 water and your bones lay piled like mountains. Your sons who should have been lords became slaves, and your unblemished daughters became serving-women. Because you did not understand, and because of your own wickedness, my uncle the khan flew away.
E25–E26 — Heaven sets Bilge Khan on the throne
“türk bodunug atı küsi yok bolmazun” teyin kaŋım kaganıg, ögüm katunug kötürmiş teŋri, il birigme teŋri, “türk bodun atı küsi yok bolmazun” teyin özümin ol teŋri kagan olurtdı erinç. neŋ yılsıg bodunka olurmadım. içre asız, taşra tonsuz, yabız yablak bodunta üze olurtum. inim kül tegin birle sözlesdimiz. kaŋımız eçimiz kazganmış bodun atı küsi yok bolmazun teyin, türk bodun üçün tün udımadım, küntüz olurmadım.
The Heaven that raised up my father the khan and my mother the katun so that the name and fame of the Göktürk people should not perish — Heaven, the giver of realms — that same Heaven set me on the throne, so that the name and fame of the Göktürk people should not perish.
I did not come to the throne over a people of any wealth at all. I came to the throne over a people who had no food inside them and no clothes on their backs, a wretched and broken people. 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 Göktürk people I did not sleep at night and I did not sit still by day.
≈E27–E28 — The people come back
inim kül tegin birle, eki şad birle ölü yitü kazgantım. ança kazganıp, birki bodunug ot sub kılmadım. men özim kagan olurtukuma yer sayu barmış bodun ölü yitü, yadagın yalaŋın yana kelti. bodunug igideyin teyin yırıgaru oguz bodun tapa, ilgerü kıtañ tatabı bodun tapa, birgerü tabgaç tapa eki yegirmi süledim.
Together with my younger brother Kül Tegin and with the two šads, 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 Oguz, eastward against the Kıtañ and the Tatabı, southward against China.
≈E29–E30 — What was achieved
anta kisre teŋri yarlıkaduk üçün, kutum ülügüm bar üçün, ölteçi bodunug tirgürü igittim. yalaŋ bodunug tonlug, çıgañ bodunug bay kıltım. az bodunug üküş kıltım. ıgar illigde, ıgar kaganlıgda yeg kıltım. tört buluŋdakı bodunug kop baz kıltım, yagısız kıltım. kop maŋa körti. isig küçüg birür. bunça törüg kazganıp inim kül tegin özi ança kergek boltı.
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, and they give me their toil and their strength.
And when we had won this much law — my younger brother Kül Tegin, of himself, went where he was needed.
E30–E32 — Kül Tegin’s first battles, at sixteen
kaŋım kagan uçdukda inim kül tegin yeti yaşda kaltı. umay teg ögüm katun kutıŋa inim kül tegin er at boltı. altı yegirmi yaşıŋa eçim kaganıŋ ilin törüsin ança kazgantı. altı çub sogdak tapa süledimiz, buzdımız. tabgaç oŋ tutuk beş tümen sü kelti, süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin yadagın oplayu tegdi. oŋ tutuk yorçısın yaraklıg elgin tutdı, yaraklıgdı kaganka ançuladı. ol süg anda yok kışdımız.
When my father the khan flew away, my younger brother Kül Tegin was left behind at seven years old. By the good fortune of my mother the katun, who is like Umay, my younger brother Kül Tegin got a man’s name.
At sixteen he won this much for my uncle the khan’s realm and law. We campaigned against the Six Čub Sogdians, and broke them. A Chinese army under the governor Oŋ Tutuk came against us, fifty thousand strong, and we fought. Kül Tegin charged them on foot. He seized Oŋ Tutuk’s brother-in-arms with his own armed hand, and, still armed, presented him to the khan. That army we wiped out there.
≈E32–E33 — Three horses killed under him, at twenty-one
bir otuz yaşıŋa çaça seŋünke süŋüşdimiz. eŋ ilki tadıkıŋ çorıŋ boz atıg binip tegdi. ol at anda ölti. ekinti ışbara yamtar boz atıg binip tegdi. ol at anda ölti. üçünç yegen silig begiŋ kedimlig torug at binip tegdi. ol at anda ölti. yarakıŋa yalmasıŋa yüz artuk okun urtı. yüziŋe başıŋa bir tegürmedi. tegdükin türk begler kop bilir siz. ol süg anda yok kışdımız.
At twenty-one we fought the Chinese general Čača Seŋün. First he rode Tadık Čor’s grey horse and charged; that horse died there. Second he rode Išbara Yamtar’s grey horse and charged; that horse died there. Third he rode the lord Yegen Silig’s armoured chestnut and charged; that horse died there. They struck his armour and his coat with more than a hundred arrows, and not one of them touched his face or his head.
You Göktürk lords all know how he charged. That army we wiped out there.
≈E33–E34 — The Bayırku
anta kisre yir bayırku ulug irkin yagı boltı. anı yañıp türgi yargun költe buzdımız. ulug irkin azkıña erin tezip bardı.
After that, Ulug İrkin of the Yir Bayırku became our enemy. We drove him back and broke him at Lake Türgi Yargun. Ulug İrkin fled away with a very few men.
≈E34–E35 — Over the Kögmen against the Kırgız, at twenty-six
kül tegin [altı] otuz yaşıŋa kırkızka süledimiz. süŋüküg batımı karıg sökipen, kögmen yısıg toga yorıp, kırkız bodunug uda basdımız. kaganın birle soŋa yısda süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin bayırkunuŋ ak adgırıg binip oplayu tegdi. bir erig okun urtı, eki erig udu asru sançdı. ol tegdükde bayırkunuŋ ak adgırıg udlukın sıyu urtı. kırkız kaganın öltürtimiz, ilin altımız.
At twenty-six we campaigned against the Kırgız. Breaking a way through snow deep enough to bury a spear, marching over the Kögmen range, we fell on the Kırgız in their sleep. We fought their khan in the Soŋa forest. Kül Tegin mounted the white stallion of the Bayırku and charged. He struck one man with an arrow and ran two more through, one after the other. In that charge they broke the thigh of the Bayırku white stallion with a blow. We killed the Kırgız khan and we took his realm.
≈E36–E37 — Bolçu, against the Türgeš
ol yılka türgis tapa altun yısıg toga, ertis ügüzüg keçe yorıdımız. türgis bodunug uda basdımız. türgis kagan süsi bolçuda otça borça kelti. süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin başgu boz at binip tegdi. … türgis kagan buyrukı az tutukug elgin tutdı. kaganın anda öltürtimiz, ilin altımız. kara türgis bodun kop içikdi. ol bodunug tabarda kondurtumuz.
That same year we marched against the Türgeš, crossing the Altai range and fording the Irtysh, and fell on the Türgeš in their sleep. The Türgeš khan’s army came at us at Bolču like fire, like a storm. We fought. Kül Tegin rode the grey with the blaze and charged. [ … ] With his own hand he took the Türgeš khan’s minister, the governor of the Az. We killed their khan there and took his realm. The Black Türgeš all submitted, and we settled that people at Tabar.
≈E37–E38 — To the Iron Gate
soŋa yorıp, sogdak bodunug itiyin teyin, yinçü ügüzüg keçe temir kapıgka tegi süledimiz.
Marching on afterwards, saying “let me set the Sogdian people in order,” we crossed the Pearl River and campaigned as far as the Iron Gate.
≈E38–E39 — The Black Türgeš rise again; Kül Tegin sent with few men
anda kisre kara türgis bodun yagı bolmış, keŋeres tapa bardı. bizinŋ sü atı turuk, azukı yok erti. yablak kişi … alp er bizinŋe tegmiş erti. antag ödke ökünüp kül tegin[ig] az erin ırtürü ıdmız. ulug süŋüş süŋüşmiş. alp şalçı ak atın binip tegmiş. kara türgis bodunug anda ölürmiş, almış. yaña yorıp … koşu tutukug birle süŋüşmiş. erin kop ölürmiş, ebin barımın kalısız kop kelürti.
After that the Black Türgeš became enemies and went off toward Keŋeres. Our army’s horses were lean and it had no provisions. A worthless man [ … ] a brave man had attacked us. Regretting the state we were in at such a moment, we sent Kül Tegin ahead with only a few men. He fought a great battle. He rode the white horse Alp Šalčı and charged. There he killed the Black Türgeš and took them. Marching on again, he fought against the governor Košu. He killed all their men, and brought back their households and their goods, every last thing of it.
≈E39–E40 — The Karluk, at thirty; the Az, at thirty-one
kül tegin yeti otuz yaşıŋa karluk bodun erür barur erkli yagı boltı. tamag ıduq başda süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin ol süŋüşde otuz yaşayur erti. alp şalçı akın binip oplayu tegdi. eki erig udu asru sançdı. karlukug ölürtimiz, altımız. az bodun yagı boltı. kara költe süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin bir kırk yaşayur erti. alp şalçı akın binip oplayu tegdi. az iltiberin tutdı. az bodun anda yok boltı.
The Karluk people, while they were still going about freely, became our enemies. We fought at the Holy Spring of Tamag. Kül Tegin was thirty years old in that battle. He rode the white Alp Šalčı and charged. He ran two men through, one after the other. We killed the Karluk and took them.
The Az people became our enemies. We fought at the Black Lake. Kül Tegin was thirty-one years old. He rode the white Alp Šalčı and charged. He took the İltiber of the Az with his own hand. The Az people ceased to exist there.
North face
≈N1 — The İzgil
eçim kagan ili kamşag boltukınta, bodun ilig ekegü boltukınta, izgil bodun birle süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin alp şalçı akın binip oplayu tegdi. ol at anda ölti. izgil bodun ölti.
When my uncle the khan’s realm was in turmoil, and when the people and the realm had split into two, we fought the İzgil people. Kül Tegin rode the white Alp Šalčı and charged. That horse died there. The İzgil people died.
≈N2–N5 — Five battles in one year, against the Nine Oguz
tokuz oguz bodun kentü bodunum erti. teŋri yer bulgakın üçün yagı boltı. bir yılka biş yolı süŋüşdimiz. eŋ ilki togu balıkda süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin ak azman akıg binip oplayu tegdi. altı erig sançdı. sü tegişinde yetinç erig kılıçladı. ekinti antargu költe süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin az yagızın binip tegdi. bir erig sançdı, tokuz erig egire tokıdı. az bodun anda ölti. üçünç çuş başında süŋüşdimiz. türk bodun adak kamşatdı, yablak boltaçı erti. oza kelmiş süsin kül tegin agıtıp, toŋra bir uguş alpagu on erig toŋa tegin yogında egirip ölürtimiz. törtünç ezginti kadızda süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin az yagızın binip tegdi, eki erig sançdı, balıkka basıkdı. ol sü anda ölti. beşinç … oguz birle süŋüşdimiz. kül tegin … tegdi. erin sançdı, süsin sançdımız, ilin altımız.
The Nine Oguz were my own people. Because Heaven and Earth fell into disorder, they became our enemies. In one year we fought them five times.
The first time we fought at the town of Togu. Kül Tegin rode the white horse Ak Azman and charged; he ran six men through, and in the clash of the armies he put a seventh to the sword.
The second time we fought at Lake Antargu. Kül Tegin rode his brown Az horse and charged; he ran one man through and cut down nine more, surrounding them. The Az people died there.
The third time we fought at the head of the Čuš. The Göktürk people stumbled in their footing and were about to come off badly. Kül Tegin scattered the enemy army that had got ahead of us, and we surrounded and killed ten champions of the Toŋra clan at the funeral feast of Toŋa Tegin.
The fourth time we fought at Ezginti Kadız. Kül Tegin rode his brown Az horse and charged; he ran two men through, and pressed them back into the town. That army died there.
The fifth time [ … ] we fought against the Oguz. Kül Tegin [charged]. He ran their men through, we ran their army through, and we took their realm.
≈N5–N6 — The Nine Oguz go over to China
tokuz oguz bodun yerin subın ıdıp tabgaçgaru bardı. “bu bodunug igideyin” teyin yırıgaru oguz bodun tapa süledim. … tabgaçda yana içikdi.
The Nine Oguz abandoned their land and their water and went off to China. Saying “let me nourish this people,” I campaigned north against the Oguz. [ … ] They submitted again, coming back from China.
≈N7–N9 — Wintering at Amga Korgan; the attack on the royal camp
amga korgan kışlap, yazıŋa oguzgaru sü taşıkdımız. kül tegin ebig başlayu kıtdımız. oguz yagı ordug basdı. kül tegin ögsüz akın binip tokuz eren sançdı, ordug birmedi. ögüm katun, ulayu öglerim, ekelerim, keliŋünüm, kunçuylarım — bunça yeme tirigi küŋ boltaçı erti, ölügi yurtda yolta yatu kaltaçı ertigiz. kül tegin yok erser, kop ölteçi ertigiz.
We wintered at the fortress of Amga, and in the spring we led the army out against the Oguz. We sent Kül Tegin ahead in command of the camp. The Oguz enemy fell on the royal camp. Kül Tegin rode the white horse Ögsüz and ran nine men through, and he did not give up the camp.
My mother the katun, and after her my stepmothers, my elder sisters, my daughters-in-law, my princesses — of all these, those still alive would have gone into slavery, and those already dead would have been left lying in the open, on the ground and on the road. If Kül Tegin had not been there, all of you would have died.
N9–N10 — The lament
inim kül tegin kergek boltı. özüm sakındım. körür közüm körmez teg, bilir biligim bilmez teg boltı. özüm sakındım. öd teŋri yasar. kişi oglı kop ölgeli törümiş. ança sakındım. közde yaş kelser tıda, köŋülte sıgıt kelser yanturu sakındım. katıgdı sakındım.
My younger brother Kül Tegin went where he was needed.
I grieved. My seeing eyes became as though they did not see; my knowing mind became as though it did not know. I grieved.
Heaven apportions the time. The sons of men have all been born to die.
So I grieved. When tears came to my eyes I held them back; when weeping rose in my heart I turned it back. I grieved hard.
≈N10 — Why he grieved
“eki şad, ulayu inim yigenim, oglanım, beglerim, bodunum közi kaşı yablak boltaçı” tep sakındım.
I grieved thinking: “the eyes and eyebrows of the two šads, and after them of my younger brothers, my nephews, my sons, my lords, my people, are going to go to ruin.”
≈N11–N12 — The embassies
yogçı sıgıtçı kıtañ tatabı bodun başlayu udar seŋün kelti. tabgaç kaganta isiyi likeŋ kelti. bir tümen agı, altun kümüş kergeksiz kelürti. tüpüt kaganta bölön kelti. kurıya kün batsıkdakı sogd, berçeker, bukarak ulus bodunta enik seŋün, ogul tarkan kelti. on ok oglum türgis kaganta makaraç tamgaçı, oguz bilge tamgaçı kelti. kırkız kaganta tarduş ınançu çor kelti. bark itgüçi, bediz yaratıgma, bitig taş itgüçi tabgaç kagan çıkanı çaŋ seŋün kelti.
As mourners and wailers there came, at the head of the Kıtañ and Tatabı peoples, the general Udar. From the Chinese khan came İsiyi Likeŋ; he brought ten thousand bolts of silk and gold and silver past all counting. From the Tibetan khan came the bölön. From the peoples of the west, at the sunset — the Sogdians, the Persians, the city-folk of Bukhara — came the general Enik and Ogul Tarkan. From my son the khan of the Türgeš, of the Ten Arrows, came the seal-keeper Makarač and the seal-keeper Oguz Bilge. From the khan of the Kırgız came Tarduš Inanču Čor. And to build the tomb, to make the carving, and to make the inscribed stone, there came the Chinese khan’s nephew, the general Čaŋ.
≈N13 — The dates, and the finishing of the monument
kül tegin koñ yılka, yeti yegirmi yaŋıka uçdı. tokuzınç ay yeti otuzka yog ertürtümiz. barkın, bedizin, bitig taşın biçin yılka, yetinç ay yeti otuzka kop alkdımız. kül tegin özi kırk artukı yeti yaşıŋ boltı. taş barkın bunça bedizçig tuygun elteber kelürti.
Kül Tegin flew away on the seventeenth day of the Year of the Sheep. On the twenty-seventh of the ninth month we held the funeral. His tomb, his carving, and his inscribed stone we finished entirely on the twenty-seventh of the seventh month, in the Year of the Monkey. Kül Tegin’s own age came to forty-seven. It was the İlteber Tuygun who brought this many carvers for the stone and the tomb.
South face
The annals are finished and the funeral is over. What remains is a speech. Bilge Kagan turns from the record of what happened to an argument about what his people must do, and for thirteen lines he addresses them directly, in the second person, in the imperative. This is the part of the monument that was written to be read aloud by people who had not yet been born.
S1 — The address
teŋri teg, teŋride bolmış türk bilge kagan, bu ödke olurtum. sabımın tüketi esidgil: ulayu inim yigenim, oglanım, biriki ugusum bodunum; birye şadapıt begler, yırya tarkat buyruk begler, otuz tatar, tokuz oguz begleri bodunı — bu sabımın edgüti esid, katıgdı tıŋla!
I, Bilge Khan of the Göktürk, like Heaven and born of Heaven, have taken the throne at this time. Hear my words to the end — you first of all, my younger brothers and my nephews, my sons, my united clan and people; you lords of the Šadapıt in the south, you tarkans and minister-lords in the north, you Thirty Tatar, you lords and people of the Nine Oguz: hear these words of mine well, and listen to them hard.
S2 — The extent of the realm
ilgerü kün togsıkka, birgerü kün ortusıŋaru, kurıgaru kün batsıkıŋa, yırgaru tün ortusıŋaru — anda içreki bodun kop maŋa körür. bunça bodun kop itdim. ol amtı añıg yok. türk kagan ötüken yış olursar, ilte buŋ yok.
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. Peoples this many I have set in order. There is nothing wrong with them now. So long as the Göktürk khan sits in the Ötüken forest, there is no trouble in the realm.
S3 — How far he has ridden, and where he has come back to
ilgerü şantuŋ yazıka tegi süledim, taluyka kiçig tegmedim. birgerü tokuz ersinke tegi süledim, tüpütke kiçig tegmedim. kurıgaru yinçü ügüz keçe temir kapıgka tegi süledim. yırıgaru yir bayırku yeriŋe tegi süledim. bunça yerke tegi yorıtdım. ötüken yısda yeg idi yok ermiş. il tutsık yer ötüken yış ermiş.
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, I campaigned as far as the Iron Gate. Northward I campaigned as far as the country of the Yir Bayırku. To this many places I led my army.
And there was nowhere better than the Ötüken forest. The place from which the realm is held is the Ötüken forest.
S4 — Chinese words are sweet and Chinese silk is soft
bu yerde olurıp tabgaç bodun birle tüzültüm. altun, kümüş, isgiti, kutay buŋsuz ança birür. tabgaç bodun sabı süçig, agısı yımşak ermiş. süçig sabın, yımşak agın arıp, ırak bodunug ança yagutır ermiş. yagru kondukda kisre añıg bilig anda öyür ermiş.
Sitting in this country, I came to terms with the Chinese people. They give gold and silver and raw silk and figured silk in such quantity, and without our having to ask.
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 settle them close. And once a people has settled close, then and there they conceive their evil knowledge.
S5 — They will not let a good man rise
edgü bilge kişig, edgü alp kişig yorıtmaz ermiş. bir kişi yaŋılsar, ugusı bodunı bisükiŋe tegi kıdmaz ermiş. süçig sabıŋa, yımşak agısıŋa arturıp üküş türk bodun öltüg. türk bodun, ölsikiŋ! birye çogay yış, tögültün yazı “konayın” tiser, türk bodun, ölsikiŋ!
They do not let a good and wise man rise, nor a good and brave man. And if one man among them offends, they spare neither his clan nor his people, not down to the cradle.
Deceived by their sweet words and their soft silks, you Göktürk people died in great numbers. Göktürk people, you are going to die! If you say, “let me settle in the south, in the Čogay forest, on the Tögültün plain” — Göktürk people, you are going to die!
S6 — The lie they tell you
anda añıg kişi ança boşgurur ermiş: “ırak erser yablak agı birür, yaguk erser edgü agı birür” tep ança boşgurur ermiş. bilig bilmez kişi ol sabıg alıp, yagru barıp, üküş kişi öltüg. ol yergerü barsar, türk bodun, ölteçi sen! ötüken yer olurıp arkış tirkiş ısar, neŋ buŋug yok. ötüken yış olursar, beŋgü il tuta olurtaçı sen.
And there the evil men teach you this. They teach: “if you stay far off, they give you poor goods; if you come near, they give you good goods.” Men without understanding took that advice, went close, and died in great numbers. If you go to that country, Göktürk people, you are going to die!
But if you stay in the land of Ötüken and send out your caravans and your trains from there, you will have no trouble at all. If you sit in the Ötüken forest, you will hold an eternal realm.
S7 — “Türk people, you are full and you are stubborn”
türk bodun, tok arkuk sen. açsık tosık ömez sen. bir todsar açsık ömez sen. antagıŋın üçün igidmiş kaganıŋın sabın almatın yer sayu bardıg, kop anda alkıntıg, arıltıg. anda kalmışı yer sayu kop tirü ölü yorıyur ertig. teŋri yarlıkaduk üçün, özim kutum bar üçün, kagan olurtum. kagan olurıp, yok çıgañ bodunug kop kubratdım. çıgañ bodunug bay kıltım, az bodunug üküş kıltım. azu bu sabımda igid bar gu?
Göktürk people, you are full-fed and contrary. You do not think about hunger and fullness. Once you are full, you never think about being hungry again. Because you are like that, you would not take the advice of the khan who had nourished you; you scattered to every country; you were used up there, you were worn away. Those of you who were left went about in every country, half alive and half dead.
Because Heaven ordained it, and because I myself had fortune, I took the throne. Having taken the throne, I gathered together the whole destitute and starving people. I made the poor rich and the few many.
Is there any lie in these words of mine?
S8 — Why the stone exists
türk begler, bodun, bunı esidiŋ! türk bodunug terip il tutsıkıŋın bunta urtum. yaŋılıp ölsikiŋin yeme bunta urtum. neŋ neŋ sabım erser, beŋgü taşka urtum. aŋar körü biliŋ! türk amtı bodun, begler! bödke körügme begler gü yaŋıldaçı siz? men beŋgü taş tikdim.
Göktürk lords, Göktürk people — hear this! How the Göktürk people, gathered together, may hold a realm, I have set down here. How they will go wrong and die, I have set down here too. Whatever I had to say, I have set on the eternal stone. Look at it, and understand. Göktürk people of today, and lords: you lords who serve the throne of this time — are you the ones who are going to go astray?
I have set up an eternal stone.
S9–S11 — The building of the monument
… tabgaç kaganta bedizçi kelürtüm, bediztim. meniŋ sabımın sımadı. tabgaç kaganıŋ içreki bedizçig ıtı. aŋar adınçıg bark yaraturtum. için taşın adınçıg bediz urturtum. taş tokıtdım. köŋülteki sabımın urturtum. on ok oglıŋa, tatıŋa tegi bunı körü biliŋ! beŋgü taş tokıtdım.
I brought carvers from the Chinese khan, and I had the carving done. He did not refuse my request: he sent the court carvers of the Chinese khan himself. I had them build an extraordinary tomb, and I had extraordinary carving cut on it, inside and out. I had the stone cut. I had the words that were in my heart struck into it.
You, down to the sons of the Ten Arrows and to their foreign subjects — look at this and understand! I have had the eternal stone cut.
Colophon
bunça bitig bitigme kül tegin atısı yollug tegin bitidim. yegirmi kün olurup bu taşka, bu tamka kop yollug tegin bitidim.
I, Yollug Tegin, nephew of Kül Tegin, wrote all of this writing. Sitting at it for twenty days, I, Yollug Tegin, wrote every word of it, on this stone and on this wall.
Readings
A source article carries its cruces openly, and the following are the places where the transcription used here departs from, or has to choose against, other renderings.[2]
idi oksuz kök türk (E2). Two readings: idi as an intensifier, “wholly unsubjected, entirely free”, which is the majority reading and the one printed above; or idi as “master” and oksuz as “without arrow, without kin”, giving “the masterless, kinless Türk”, rendered elsewhere as “der verwaiste himmlische Türke”.[2] The sense the sentence needs — a people answering to no outsider — survives either way.
kök türk (E2). “Blue” or “sky” Göktürk is the established rendering and the origin of the modern name Göktürk; “great” and “numerous” have both been proposed, and the compound is essentially a single attestation.
türk teŋrisi türk ıduq yeri subı ança temiş (E8). The verb is te-, “to say”: Heaven and the sacred Earth-and-Water spoke, and what they said follows. The clause has also been rendered as Heaven having made the blessed earth and water; the runiform printed there, 𐰨𐰀 𐱅𐰢𐰾, carries ança temiş, “said thus”, and the translation above follows the runiform.[3]
baş balbal (E11). “As the first balbal” is the reading above; the alternative reads a name, “Baz Khan as balbal”, and is supported by the fact that Baz Khan of the Nine Oghuz is named as an enemy in the previous line.[2]
ıduq ötüken yış (E23). The transcription gives ıduq, “sacred, holy” — the same word applied to the Earth-and-Water in E8. The phrase has also been glossed as kutlu, “blessed, possessed of Kut”.[2] That gloss is not what the text reads, and the difference matters: it is the difference between Ötüken being sacred ground and Ötüken being a source of royal fortune. The articles on Kut and Tengrism follow the transcription.
kutum ülügüm bar üçün (E29) and özim kutum bar üçün (S7). These are the places where Kut is in fact attested: the khan rules because Heaven ordained it and because he had Kut and, in E29, ülüg, his allotted portion.[1]
öd teŋri yasar (N10). Written with three consonants and no vowels, the middle word supports “apportions” (yasar), “lives on” (yaşar) or “if it commands” (aysar). The serene reading printed above is a choice among three.
Bökli Čölgil (E4). Either one people with an epithet — the Koreans of the steppe — or two states, Koguryŏ and a “realm of the Čü” identified with the Northern Zhou. The translation keeps both words and decides nothing.
teŋri teg teŋride bolmış (S1). The full royal style of the Kül Tegin monument. The Bilge Khan monument opens instead with teŋri teg teŋri yaratmış, “made by Heaven”; it is that formula, not this one, that stands as the first passage of the appendix printed elsewhere, which is one of the signs that the appendix reproduces the Bilge Khan text.[3]
Historical content
For the subjects of this work the inscription is the primary witness on four points, and each has its own article. On Bumin and Istemi it is the earliest Turkic statement, and it gives them the realm and its order together, el and törü, which is the pairing that Töre rests on.[1] On religion it gives Teŋri in both senses — the sky of E1 and the god who speaks and acts in E8 — with the sacred Earth-and-Water beside him and, in E31, Umay; that is the attested core of Tengrism.[1] On legitimacy it gives Kut twice, both times of the ruler, and sets Ötüken apart as sacred ground and as the one place from which the realm can be held.[1] And on the loss of the state it gives the inscription’s own theory of history: five causes in E5, all of them internal but one, and the one external cause working by exploiting the rest.[1]
The south face is something else again — a policy. Trade with China from Ötüken, take the silk, and do not go and live there. It is the clearest political programme anywhere on the stones, and it is addressed, in the second person, to people who had not yet been born.
References
Sources
Literature
- Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
- Emre-E. Yavuz (Hg.), The Kül Tegin Inscription: working translation with transcription and notes (2026)
Articles resting on this source 49
Ashina · Avars · Battle of Bolchu · Bayirku · Beg · Bilge Khan · Bukhara · Bumin Khan · Civil war, 584–603 · First Göktürk Khaganate · Göktürk · Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Ilterish Khan · Issik Khan · Istemi · Kapgan Khan · Karluk · Khan (Khagan) · Khitan · Kül Tegin · Kut · Mukan Khan · Northern Wei · On Oq · Ötüken · Rouran · Rouran Khaganate · Sasanian Persia · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Shad · Sogdiana · Sogdians · Succession crisis of 581 · Suyab · Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630 · Tarim Basin · Tengrism · The Turkic ethnogenesis debate · The Turkic War of Independence · Tiele · Tong Yabgu · Tonyukuk · Tonyukuk inscription · Töre · Toy · Türgesh · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Yabgu · Yenisei Kirghiz
What links here30
- Persons
- Bilge Khan · Bumin Khan · Ilterish Khan · Inel Khan · Istemi · Kapgan Khan · Kül Tegin · Tonyukuk
- Conflicts
- Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630 · The Turkic War of Independence
- Battles & Events
- Battle of Bolchu
- Places
- Bukhara · Orkhon valley · Ötüken · Sogdiana · Suyab · Tarim Basin
- Sources
- Bilge Khan inscription · Bugut inscription · Menander Protector · Sui Shu (Book of Sui) · Tonyukuk inscription
- Historiography
- The Turkic ethnogenesis debate
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Kül Tegin inscription.” Turkic Atlas, revised 13 September 2026. https://turkicatlas.business-5d4.workers.dev/sources/kul-tegin-inscription/
Last revised: 13 September 2026