Kül Tegin inscription

Rouran epochGöktürk epochUyghur epochKirghiz epoch

RouranFirst GöktürkTang ruleSecond GöktürkUyghurKirghizHunsWestern GöktürkTürgeshKarlukKhazar

This article: 732

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• Rouran 400–554
• First Göktürk 552–630
• Tang rule 630–682
• Second Göktürk 682–744
• Uyghur 744–840
• Kirghiz 840–924
• Huns 370–469
• Western Göktürk 552–659
• Türgesh 699–766
• Karluk 766–800
• Khazar 650–969

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 bear Turkic in the runiform script. The fourth bears a Chinese text of condolence from the Tang court.^[2] 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. It is also the fullest statement the Göktürks 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. Its Bumin is the founder a later dynasty needed him to have been.

The historical section on the east face runs almost word for word in the inscription of Bilge Khan as well. It covers creation, the founders, the fall, the fifty years and the restoration. The two monuments differ where each turns to the deeds of the man it commemorates. In the shared section they are one text. Citing both is therefore citing one witness twice.^[3]

The monument

The monument is a single four-sided block of limestone or marble, 3.75 metres high.^[4] It stands on a marble tortoise, which also bears a few damaged lines of text.^[5] The east face has 40 lines of Turkic, and the north and south faces have 13 lines each.^[4] The west face bears the Chinese text. Beside it stands a short Turkic text, badly damaged.^[6] In the lines that can be read, Bilge Khan says that the Sogdians rose in the west. He says that Kül Tegin gave his toil and strength, and that he himself gave Kül Tegin the title İnançu Apa Yargan Tarkan.^[6]

The group of monuments at Khöshöö Tsaidam was found on 18 July 1889 by the Russian scholar N. M. Yadrintsev.^[7][8] A Finnish expedition followed in 1890, and a Russian one under Radloff in 1891.^[7] In 1958 a Czechoslovak and Mongolian expedition excavated the monument of Kül Tegin and found one more monument, so that the group now counts five.^[9] Three of the five are small and were raised for people whose names are unknown. The two large ones commemorate Bilge Khan and Kül Tegin.^[10]

The Chinese text is a Tang imperial text of mourning.^[11] In the English translation of E. H. Parker, it calls Kül Tegin the second son of Qutluq Khan and the younger brother of Bilge Khan, who now reigns.^[12][13] It also presents the Tang emperor as a father, to whom Bilge Khan stands as a son.^[13] The text is dated to the seventh month of the twentieth year of Kaiyuan.^[14] A calculation puts its day at 1 August 732 in the Julian calendar.^[15]

According to its colophon, the Turkic text took twenty days to write. The edition of Tekin therefore takes the stone to have been raised on 21 August 732.^[16] The same edition converts the death of Kül Tegin to 27 February 731 and his funeral to 1 November 731.^[16] The Tang histories give the death a different year in each case. The Jiu Tang Shu records it under the twentieth year of Kaiyuan, which is 732.^[17] The Xin Tang Shu records it under the nineteenth year, which is 731.^[18] The Jiu Tang Shu may have the wrong year, because the emperor’s letter of condolence to Bilge Khan is dated 13 May 731.^[19][20]

The monument stands near the Orkhon, in Khashaat district of Arkhangai province.^[21] In the 1950s lightning broke off the top, and some of the pieces still lie at its foot.^[21] Japanese specialists saw in 1982 that the stone was decaying.^[21] The monuments of the Orkhon valley were put under state protection in 1971 and fenced, and guards have watched them since 1998.^[22] A Japanese and Mongolian team cleaned and consolidated the stone of Kül Tegin in June and July 1997. Its report calls the work an emergency measure that would have to be repeated every two or three years.^[23]

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. Where the runic text agrees with the working transcription word for word, a line of runes stands above the transcription. It follows Tekin’s edition, which gives the same text in Latin transcription.^[24] The other passages have no runic line, because the runic text and that edition do not agree there. Gaps in the stone are marked [ … ]. The translation writes khan where the Turkic has qaġan; 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.

In the Latin transcription the past ending is written -mış. On the stone the same ending is written with the s-sign (𐰾), and the runiform lines show it so.^[25] The stones of Ongin, Kül Tegin and Tonyukuk spell it with the s-sign 120 times and with the š-sign 13 times.^[25]

East face

North face

South face

The annals are finished and the funeral is over. What remains is a speech. Bilge Khan turns from the account of what happened to an argument about what his people must do. For thirteen lines he addresses them directly, in the second person, in the imperative. This part of the monument was written to be read aloud by people who had not yet been born.

Notes on the text

At the following places the working transcription departs from other renderings or has to choose between them.^[33]

idi oksuz kök türk (E3). The phrase can be understood in two ways. In the first, idi is an intensifier, “wholly unsubjected, entirely free”. This is the majority view and the one the translation gives. In the second, idi is “master” and oksuz is “without arrow, without kin”, giving “the masterless, kinless Türk”, rendered elsewhere in German as “the orphaned Göktürk”.^[33][34] The sense the sentence needs, a people answering to no outsider, survives either way. The German translation of Vilhelm Thomsen renders the phrase “without master and without tribal organisation”, an interpretation of the second kind.^[122] A third interpretation is that of Tekin’s edition of 1998. It takes idi as an intensifier, “very”, and oksuz as “without organisation”. It also supplies a verb, iti, “set in order”, which the stone-cutter left out. In it the founders set in order a Göktürk people that lived in great disorder, and the phrase says nothing about freedom.^[35] A fourth interpretation understands oksuz as “without the arrow” that binds a ruler to his followers. It gives “without a lord and without subjects”.^[123]

kök türk (E3). “Blue” or “sky” Göktürks is the established rendering and the origin of the modern name Göktürks. “Great” and “numerous” have both been proposed. The compound is essentially a single attestation.^[124] The same translation has “the blue Türks”.^[122]

türk teŋrisi türk ıduq yeri subı ança etmiş (E11). The verb is et-, “to do”: Heaven and the sacred Earth-and-Water acted thus, and the words that follow are what they did. The clause has also been rendered as Heaven having made the blessed earth and water. A further proposal takes the verb as te-, “to say”. The runiform printed with that proposal, 𐰨𐰀 𐱅𐰢𐰾, gives ança temiş, “said thus”.^[125] Thomsen’s German translation renders the clause “acted thus” (handelten so), which agrees with the transcription.^[126] Tekin’s edition reads etmiş, “did”, in this line and in the parallel line of Bilge Khan’s stone, and translates “acted thus”.^[42]

baş balbal (E16). “As the first balbal” is the rendering of the translation. The alternative reads a name, “Baz Khan as balbal”. It is supported by the fact that Baz Khan of the Nine Oghuz is named as an enemy in the previous line.^[33] Tekin’s edition reads başlayu baz kağanığ balbal tikmiş, “first they set up the subject khan as balbal”. It takes başlayu as “first” and baz kağan as a common noun, “subject khan”, and not as a name.^[58] Orkun reads a name, “Baz Khan”, and has him as the first balbal.^[59]

yırya baz kagan tokuz oguz bodun yagı ermiş (E14). The translation reads a name: Baz Khan, an enemy in the north beside the Nine Oguz. Alternatively, baz is a common word, “subject, vassal”, and not a name.^[127] Tekin’s edition prints the north line with the common word, “in the north the subject khan, the Nine Oguz people, were enemies”.^[55] Orkun takes Baz as a name there.^[54] One account identifies this Baz Khan with the khan of the Toquz Oghuz whom Ilterish defeated, and notes that no Chinese source names him.^[128]

bir tümen agı, altun kümüş kergeksiz kelürti (N12). The translation reads tümen as the number and agı as silk. The gift is ten thousand bolts of silk, with gold and silver past all counting. A second rendering gives the gift as an immeasurable quantity of treasures, gold and silver.^[129] Tekin’s edition renders the gift as thousands of bolts of silk, with gold and silver beyond need.^[130] Ögel understands agı as both “money” and “silk” in Old Turkic, and takes bir tümen agı as bolts of silk that stood for money.^[131] He regards kutay, which appears only in the Göktürk inscriptions, as a Chinese silk as well.^[103]

ıduq ötüken yış (E23). The transcription gives ıduq, “sacred, holy”, the same word applied to the Earth-and-Water in E10–E11. The phrase has also been glossed as kutlu, “blessed, possessed of Kut”.^[33] That gloss is not what the text reads. The difference matters, because it separates Ötüken as sacred ground from Ötüken as a source of royal fortune. The articles on Kut and Tengrism follow the transcription. Thomsen’s translation has “the holy Otükän forest” (heiligen Otükän-Bergwalde), as the transcription does.^[132] Tekin’s edition has “the people of the holy Ötüken mountains” and glosses ıduk as “sacred”.^[133]

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.^[109]

öd teŋri yasar (N10). The middle word is written with three consonants and no vowels. It supports “apportions” (yasar), “lives on” (yaşar) or “if it commands” (aysar). The serene rendering of the translation is a choice among three.^[134] Thomsen’s translation has “when Heaven determines the time” (wenn der Himmel die Zeit bestimmt), the first of the three.^[135] Tekin’s edition prints the third form, öd teŋri aysar, and translates it “when the god of Time commands, the sons of men are all created to die”.^[93] A Mongolian parallel suggests that ay- means “to say, to command”, a root that Mongolian keeps in words for speaking and ordering.^[94]

Bökli Čölgil (E4). The phrase is understood either as one people with an epithet, the Koreans of the steppe, or as two states, Koguryŏ and a “realm of the Čü” identified with the Northern Zhou. The translation keeps both words and decides nothing. Thomsen’s translation takes one people, “the distant Bökli(?) people”, and has the campaigns reach “the Bökli khan”. His glossary adds that some take Bökli khan for the name of a mountain.^[136] Tekin’s edition prints Bükli Çöllüğ el as one name and translates “the people of Bükli Çöl”. This supports the case for one people.^[137] Orkun reads the words as a description, “peoples of forests and steppes”, and not as a name, because the names of the peoples follow one by one.^[138]

kergek bol- (E4, E30, N10). The phrase means literally “to become needed”. The translation first gave it as “went where he was needed”, a euphemism for being called away. The editions of Tekin and Orkun render it plainly as “died”.^[139][140] Tekin’s glossary has kergek as “needed, absent”.^[64] The translation now says “died”. Turkic Atlas keeps the literal “becomes necessary” for the idiom under burial. The same idiom stands in the inscription of Küli Çor, where a man who charged the enemy alone “was soon kergek”. Tekin reads this as dying, and “needed” is hardly possible there.^[141]

ekinti koşulgakda ediz birle süŋüşdimiz (N5–N6). The translation first set the second battle at Lake Antargu, with the Az people dying there. That wording belongs to the Bilge Khan monument, which counts four battles and puts Antargu second.^[142] The editions of the Kül Tegin text have the second battle at Košulgak against the Ediz, who died there.^[143][144] They give the third battle against the Oguz at Bo[lču], where Orkun prints only the first letters and Tekin restores the name, and the fifth at Ezginti Kadız.^[143][144] The five battles therefore have five places, and none of them is lost.

ulayu iniygünüm (S1, N11). The translation first read two words, inim yigenim, “my younger brothers and my nephews”. Orkun says he took that rendering over from Thomsen and then judged it wrong.^[145] Tekin has one word, iniygün, “the brothers”; Orkun, in his corrections, also has one word and regards it as a term of kinship in general.^[146][147] Tekin’s glossary has iniygün as “brothers, male siblings”.^[26] The translation now follows the one-word form. Tekin also reads birki, “united”, where Orkun keeps biriki.^[148][149]

teŋri teg teŋride bolmış (S1). This is the full royal style of the Kül Tegin monument. The Bilge Khan monument opens instead with teŋri teg teŋri yaratmış, “made by Heaven”. That formula, not this one, stands as the first passage of the appendix printed elsewhere. This is one of the signs that the appendix reproduces the Bilge Khan text.^[125] Thomsen’s German translation renders the epithet of the Kül Tegin monument “born of Heaven” (Himmelsgeborene) and that of the Bilge Khan monument “installed by Heaven” (vom Himmel Eingesetzte).^[150]

apar, purum (E4). The translation reads apar as the Avars and purum as the Romans. Orkun reads Apar and Apurum as two peoples about whom nothing is known, and links only Apar to the Avars.^[138] Tekin’s edition keeps Apar and Purum apart and glosses purum as Rome and Byzantium.^[35][151]

silik kız oglın (E7, E24). The transcription reads silik, “unblemished”. Orkun reads the same word and translates “pure daughter”.^[41] Silik is attested as a word for “virgin” in Uyghur women’s names.^[152] Tekin’s edition reads eşilik kız oglın, “daughters who were to become ladies”, from eşi, “lady”.^[42][153] Another study agrees with Tekin and writes işilik, “daughters fit to be ladies”.^[154] The two interpretations give nearly the same sense, because both speak of the daughters of the lords.

yurç (E32). The translation has “brother-in-arms” for the man whom Kül Tegin seized from Oŋ Tutuk. Tekin’s edition renders yurç as “brother-in-law”.^[75]

Yaşıl üğüz (E17). The translation has “Green River”. Tekin’s edition translates “the Yellow River” and glosses the name as a river, without giving a reason.^[58]

ökün- (E22–E25). Tekin reads ökün- as “to repent” and not as “to turn back”. He renders bodun as “tribes, people” and not as “nation”.^[155] His edition of the Kül Tegin text has “give it up and repent” in this passage.^[63]

togu balıkda (N4–N5). The translation has “the town of Togu”. Ögel reads balık as “town” and concludes that the Nine Oguz had a town of that name.^[156] The name alone suggests a town, and nothing more is known of it.^[157]

tokuz oguz bodun kentü bodunum erti (N4). The Nine Oguz are called both “my own people” and enemies. This may be the claim of the victor, who counts the defeated as his subjects and, in a wider sense, as Göktürks.^[158]

amga korgan (N8). The translation reads amga korgan, “the fortress of Amga”. Tekin’s edition reads the same.^[159] Ögel reads Magı Kurgan, following the older editions.^[160]

ulus bodun (N12). The translation has “the city-folk of Bukhara”. Ögel renders ulus bodun as “the people of the province”.^[161]

enik seŋün (N12). The translation has the general Enik. Orkun reads Neng Sengün and Tekin reads Nek.^[162][130] Tekin also writes Bölön with a capital, as a name, where the translation has the title bölön, “high official”.^[130]

tuygun elteber (≈N13). The translation has “the İlteber Tuygun”. Tekin’s edition reads Tuygun Elteber, a name followed by a title.^[93] Orkun has two groups in the plural, toygun and eltebirler, and regards toygun as a rank.^[163]

yeti yegirmi yaŋıka, tokuzınç ay yeti otuzka, yetinç ay yeti otuzka (≈N13). The translation counts toward the decade, so that the numerals give the seventeenth day of the Year of the Sheep, the twenty-seventh of the ninth month and the twenty-seventh of the seventh month. Thomsen reads the numerals as days of the sixty-day cycle and not of the month. On his count the Turkic dates lag seven days behind the Chinese ones, the date of the monument agrees with the Chinese date of 1 August 732, and the funeral falls on 6 October 731.^[99]

ekinti koşulgakda ediz (N5–N6). The Ediz of the Kül Tegin stone have been equated with the A-tie, the fourteenth of the Tiele tribes listed at the beginning of the Tang. The Tonra of the fourth battle have been equated with the ninth, the T’ung-lo.^[89]

tamag ıduk baş (N1–N2). The translation has “the Holy Spring of Tamag”. Tekin’s edition has “the holy summit of Tamag”.^[159] One account places the site at the source of the Tamir river.^[86]

ol at anta ölti (N4). The translation has “That horse died there”. Tekin’s edition restores the last syllable as tüş[di], “fell”.^[159]

tabgaç … sabı süçig, agısı yımşak (S4). The translation has gifts given “without our having to ask”. Tekin’s edition has “without making difficulties”, taking buŋsuz as “without trouble”.^[110]

kıdmaz (S5). The translation has “they spare neither his clan nor his people”. Tekin’s edition reads kıd- as “to kill” and translates that the Chinese do not kill the whole clan of an offender, down to the cradle.^[164]

tok arkuk sen (S7). The translation reads two words, “full-fed and contrary”. Tekin’s edition reads one word, tokurkak, “one who thinks himself full”, from tokurka-.^[110][111] Another study also writes tokurkak as one word.^[154]

tirü ölü (S7). The translation reads tirü, “half alive and half dead”. Tekin’s edition reads toru, “weak, exhausted”, from tor-, and translates “exhausted and without strength”. The sense stays close.^[110][165]

türk amtı bodun (S8). The translation reads amtı, “now”, and so do Orkun and Thomsen.^[115] Tekin’s edition reads matı, “loyal, obedient”, and translates “loyal Turk people”. He derives matı from a Mongolian word, and that derivation is his own position.^[110][116]

kül tegin azman akıg binip (N5, N6). The translation treats azman as the name of the horse, with Tekin’s edition, which prints Azman akığ in the first and in the third battle.^[159] Tekin’s glossary gives azman as “yellowish (?)”.^[107] A Kazakh parallel suggests that azman is a common word, a gelding, as in Kazakh azban, and not a name.^[166] Another suggestion links the name with the verb az-, “to go astray”, and gives it the sense “wild, restless”.^[167]

yaguk el erser … erig yerte (S13). Tekin’s edition prints the sentence at the end of the south face. It gives the reason for the site: the land is near, and the place is easy to reach.^[35][168] The word erig has been interpreted as “barren”, “suitable”, “crossroads”, “much frequented”, “holy place” and “bustling”.^[119] A Kazakh parallel suggests that erig is a temporary camp on the migration route, so that the eternal stone stands where travellers pass and can read it.^[119]

kunçuy (E20, N9). In the Orkhon inscriptions the word names a woman of the khan’s house. In E20 the khan’s younger sister is given to Bars Beg as kunçuy, and in N9 the kunçuy stand in the camp beside the khan’s mother, stepmothers, sisters and daughters-in-law.^[169] The Yenisei epitaphs use the word in the formula “my kunçuy in the settlement” for a man’s wife.^[169] That sense rests on the editors’ interpretation of undated texts, which also allows that the word could be a form of address.^[169]

alpagu on erig (N7). The translation renders alpagu as “champion”. The word has also been read alpagut, “a hero who attacks the enemy alone”, as in Kazakh alpavut.^[170]

Historical content

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. It gives them the realm and its order together, el and törü, which is the pairing that Töre rests on.^[171][172] On religion it gives Tengri in both senses: the sky of E1 and the god who speaks and acts in E11. Beside him stand the sacred Earth-and-Water and, in E31, Umay. In E11 Heaven raises the khan and the katun together, and in E31 the katun’s Kut is likened to Umay.^[173] That is the attested core of Tengrism.^[2] On legitimacy it gives Kut twice, both times of the ruler. It also sets Ötüken apart as sacred ground and as the one place from which the realm can be held.^[109] On the loss of the state it gives the inscription’s own theory of history. It names five causes in E6, all of them internal but one, and the one external cause works by exploiting the rest.^[2]

The inscription also holds the word ordu, the royal camp. In the account of the Oguz attack, the camp holds the khan’s mother, stepmothers, sisters and daughters-in-law, and Kül Tegin does not give it up.^[174]

The words kul, “male slave”, and küŋ, “female slave”, stand in E7, E20 and E24. The passages name servitude, but they do not say what legal status the people affected had.^[39]

The stone gives the revolt of the Nine Oguz a cause in the order of the world: Heaven and Earth fell into disorder, and the Nine Oguz became enemies.^[175] This may be the picture of a state whose order is bound to that of the world. When Heaven and Earth are stirred, the order of the state and of men is lost.^[176] The stone gives no year for the revolt. One account places the battles in 714, the winter at Amga in 715, and the move of the Nine Oguz to China in 716.^[86] A second account places the revolt after the death of Kapgan in 716, the attack on the camp perhaps in the spring of 717, and the move to China in 718.^[87]

The south face is a policy. It says to trade with China from Ötüken, take the silk, and not go and live there. It is the clearest political programme anywhere on the stones. The advice may be a plan for a managed economy, in which the Göktürks conduct trade through caravans sent out from Ötüken.^[108] It is addressed, in the second person, to people who had not yet been born.

Modern accounts see the Second Khaganate as a restoration of the first. In this account Ilterish and his successors saw themselves as descendants of Bumin and Istemi and as restorers of their realm, and they treated the century between as a misfortune that the Chinese had been allowed to cause.^[177] The loss of the state in E6–E11 then corresponds to the period of Tang rule, and the restoration to the revolt of 682, in which Ilterish led the Göktürks out of the Yin Shan.^[178]

References

1. ^ Kül Tegin inscription; Tekin 1968, p. 9–10
2. ^ a b c Kül Tegin inscription
3. ^ Tekin 1968, p. 10
4. ^ a b c Tekin o. J., p. 11–12
5. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 11–12, 54
6. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 54–55
7. ^ a b Jisl 1963, p. 387
8. ^ Cumagulov 1993, p. 99
9. ^ Jisl 1963, p. 388–389
10. ^ Jisl 1963, p. 388
11. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 80–84
12. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 83–84
13. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 229–233
14. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 84
15. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 193–196, 232–233
16. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 11–13
17. ^ a b Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
18. ^ Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
19. ^ Cefu yuangui
20. ^ Pelliot 1929, p. 246
21. ^ a b c Khishigbajar 2000, p. 255
22. ^ Oyunbileg 2000, p. 288–289
23. ^ Khishigbajar 2000, p. 255–256
24. ^ Kül Tegin inscription; Tekin o. J., p. 34–54
25. ^ a b Şükürlü 2000, p. 350–351
26. ^ a b c d Tekin o. J., p. 103
27. ^ a b c d e f Tekin o. J., p. 112
28. ^ a b c d Tekin o. J., p. 100
29. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 169
30. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 39
31. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 168
32. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 104
33. ^ a b c d e f Yavuz 2025
34. ^ a b Tekin 1968, p. 334, 358
35. ^ a b c d Tekin o. J., p. 38–39
36. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 170
37. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 75
38. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 170–171
39. ^ a b Parlatır 1983, p. 808–809
40. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 171–172
41. ^ a b Orkun 1994, p. 32
42. ^ a b c Tekin o. J., p. 40
43. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 9
44. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 172
45. ^ Kül Tegin inscription
46. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 102
47. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 173
48. ^ a b Gerelmaa 2011, p. 39
49. ^ Kül Tegin inscription; Tekin o. J., p. 40–43
50. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 83
51. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 174
52. ^ a b c d Thomsen 1993, p. 175
53. ^ a b c d e Orkun 1994, p. 76
54. ^ a b Orkun 1994, p. 35
55. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 42–43
56. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 13
57. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 99
58. ^ a b c Tekin o. J., p. 43
59. ^ a b Orkun 1994, p. 37
60. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 177
61. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 8, 108
62. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 8
63. ^ a b c Tekin o. J., p. 45
64. ^ a b c Tekin o. J., p. 105
65. ^ a b c d Thomsen 1993, p. 178
66. ^ a b Gerelmaa 2011, p. 42
67. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 179
68. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 108
69. ^ Gerelmaa 2011, p. 39–40
70. ^ a b Gerelmaa 2011, p. 40
71. ^ a b c Thomsen 1993, p. 180
72. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 47, 113
73. ^ Kül Tegin inscription
74. ^ a b Kül Tegin inscription
75. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 47
76. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 47, 101
77. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 181
78. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 109
79. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 101, 102
80. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 74
81. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 49
82. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 183
83. ^ a b c d Thomsen 1993, p. 184
84. ^ Kül Tegin inscription; Tekin o. J., p. 50–51
85. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 102, 103
86. ^ a b c d Taşağıl 2004, p. 39
87. ^ a b c Sümer 1972, p. 15–17
88. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 187
89. ^ a b László 1950, p. 42
90. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 97, 108
91. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 186–187
92. ^ Kül Tegin inscription
93. ^ a b c Tekin o. J., p. 52–53
94. ^ a b Gerelmaa 2011, p. 40–41
95. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 53
96. ^ Gerelmaa 2011, p. 38–39
97. ^ a b c d Thomsen 1993, p. 188
98. ^ a b Orkun 1994, p. 77
99. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 193–196
100. ^ Kül Tegin inscription
101. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 35
102. ^ a b c d e Thomsen 1993, p. 189
103. ^ a b Ögel 1978, p. 402
104. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 190
105. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 101, 112
106. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 191
107. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 98
108. ^ a b Ögel 2000, p. 365–367
109. ^ a b c Kül Tegin inscription; Tekin 1968, p. 348, 392–393
110. ^ a b c d e f Tekin o. J., p. 36
111. ^ a b Tekin 2003, p. 88, 90
112. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 37, 103
113. ^ a b Thomsen 1993, p. 192
114. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 113
115. ^ a b Orkun 1994, p. 27
116. ^ a b Tekin 2003, p. 65
117. ^ Thomsen 1993, p. 79
118. ^ Kül Tegin inscription; Tekin o. J., p. 38–39
119. ^ a b c d Mirkamal 2011, p. 52–53
120. ^ Edward 1993, p. 37
121. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 13–14
122. ^ a b Thomsen 1924, p. 145
123. ^ Turan 1945, p. 316
124. ^ Tekin 1968, p. 8, 352
125. ^ a b Kül Tegin inscription; Yavuz 2025
126. ^ Thomsen 1924, p. 146
127. ^ Tekin 1968, p. 310
128. ^ László 1950, p. 41
129. ^ Tekin 1968, p. 272
130. ^ a b c Tekin o. J., p. 52
131. ^ Ögel 1978, p. 392–393
132. ^ Thomsen 1924, p. 149
133. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 46
134. ^ Tekin 1968, p. 398
135. ^ Thomsen 1924, p. 156
136. ^ Thomsen 1924, p. 145, 146, 171
137. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 38–40
138. ^ a b Orkun 1994, p. 31, 75
139. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 38–39, 46–47, 52–53
140. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 50
141. ^ Tekin 2003, p. 226, 247
142. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 72–73
143. ^ a b Tekin o. J., p. 50–51
144. ^ a b Orkun 1994, p. 48–50
145. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 189
146. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 34, 52
147. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 22–23, 189
148. ^ Tekin 2003, p. 219, 241
149. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 23
150. ^ Thomsen 1924, p. 140, 144
151. ^ Tekin 2003, p. 62, 72
152. ^ Rásonyi 1963, p. 80
153. ^ Tekin 2003, p. 84
154. ^ a b Kayra 1995, p. 182
155. ^ Hassan 1985, p. 171
156. ^ Ögel 2000, p. 181, 185
157. ^ Sümer 1972, p. 15
158. ^ László 1950, p. 39–40
159. ^ a b c d Tekin o. J., p. 50
160. ^ Ögel 2000, p. 161
161. ^ Ögel 2000, p. 212–213
162. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 52
163. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 53–54
164. ^ Tekin o. J., p. 36–37
165. ^ Tekin 2003, p. 90–91
166. ^ Mirkamal 2011, p. 55–56
167. ^ Aydın 2007, p. 17
168. ^ Tulum 1990, p. 197
169. ^ a b c Tokyürek 2013, p. 123
170. ^ Kayra 1995, p. 181
171. ^ Kül Tegin inscription; Tekin 1968, p. 385
172. ^ Orkun 1994, p. 28–29
173. ^ Tokyürek 2013, p. 121
174. ^ Kül Tegin inscription
175. ^ Ögel 2000, p. 121, 123
176. ^ Ögel 2000, p. 121–123
177. ^ Kwanten 1979, p. 28
178. ^ Litvinsky 1996, p. 330–331

Sources

• Kül Tegin inscription
• Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
• Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215 (after Jiu Tangshu)
• Cefu yuangui (after Tongdian and Jiu Tangshu)

Literature

• Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
• Emre-E. Yavuz (ed.), The Kül Tegin Inscription: working translation with transcription and notes (2026)
• Vilhelm Thomsen, Alttürkische Inschriften aus der Mongolei, in Übersetzung und mit Einleitung (1924)
• Talât Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic (1968)
• Talât Tekin, Orhon Yazıtları. Kül Tigin, Bilge Kağan, Tunyukuk (o. J.)
• Talât Tekin, Orhon Türkçesi Grameri (2003)
• Hüseyin Namık Orkun, Eski Türk Yazıtları (1994)
• Vilhelm Thomsen, Çözülmüş Orhon Yazıtları (mit: Orhon ve Yenisey Yazıtlarının Çözümü: İlk Bildiri) (1993)
• Lumír Jisl, Kül-Tegin anıtında 1958'de yapılan arkeoloji araştırmalarının sonuçları (1963)
• Bahaeddin Ögel, Türk Kültür Tarihine Giriş I: Türklerde köy ve şehir hayatı (2000)
• Bahaeddin Ögel, Türk Kültür Tarihine Giriş II: Türklerde ziraat kültürü (2000)
• Bahaeddin Ögel, Türk Kültür Tarihine Giriş VII: Türklerde ordu, ordugah ve otağ (2000)
• Bahaeddin Ögel, Türk Kültür Tarihine Giriş V: Türklerde giyecek ve süslenme (1978)
• Ferenc László, Dokuz Oğuzlar ve Gök Türkler (1950)
• Faruk Sümer, Oğuzlar (Türkmenler). Tarihleri, boy teşkilâtı, destanları (1972)
• Ahmet Taşağıl, Gök-Türkler, Bd. III (2004)
• Ümit Hassan, Eski Türk Toplumu Üzerine İncelemeler (1985)
• İsmail Parlatır, Türk sosyal hayatında kölelik (1983)
• László Rásonyi, Türklükte Kadın Adları (1963)
• Osman Turan, Eski Türklerde okun hukuki bir sembol olarak kullanılması (1945)
• Paul Pelliot, Neuf notes sur des questions d'Asie Centrale (1929)
• Luc Kwanten, Imperial Nomads. A History of Central Asia, 500–1500 (1979)
• B. A. Litvinsky; Zhang Guang-da; R. Shabani Samghabadi (ed.), History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. III (1996)
• Namsrai Gerelmaa, Költegin Yazıtı’nda Kalıplaşmış Bazı Kelimelerin Moğolca Esasında Yorumu (2011)
• Aydar Mirkamal, On Some Old Turkic Words in Kazakh / Kazakçadaki Bazı Eski Türkçe Sözcükler Üzerine (2011)
• Mertol Tulum, Orhon Yazıtlarında Birleşik Cümleler ve Baş Cümle ile Yardımcı Cümle İlişkileri (1990)
• Ali İsa Şükürlü; Elşen Şükürlü, Göktürk Yazıtlarında Eklerin İmlâ Kuralları (2000)
• Tryjarski, Edward, Anonymity, Adaptation and Diffusion of the Asian and European Runic Scripts (1993)
• Çetin Cumaguloviç Cumagulov, Vilhelm Thomsen'in Çalışmaları ve Kırgızistan'da Bulunan Göktürk Yazıtları (1993)
• O. Kemal Kayra; Şınar Bolatova, Çağdaş Kazak Türkçesiyle Göktürk Yazıtlarındaki Kelime ve Deyimler Arasındaki Benzerlikler (1995)
• D. Khishigbajar, Köl Tigin Yazıtı Taş Anıtının Korunması (2000)
• Z. Oyunbileg, Orhun Vadisindeki Tarihî ve Kültürel Anıtların Şu Anki Durumu ve Gerçek Sorunları (2000)
• Erhan Aydın, Uybat VI (E98) Yazıtında Geçen Azıglıg Kelimesi Üzerine Bir Anlamlandırma Denemesi (2007)
• Hacer Tokyürek, Runik Türk Yazıtlarında ve Eski Uygur Metinlerinde Kadın Hiyerarşisi (2013)

Articles resting on this source 180

Alara · Altaian Creation Story · Altın Köl Inscriptions · Amga Korgan · Ancestor Cult · Animism · Arçura · Army of the Steppe Empires · Asena the She-Wolf (Gök Börü) · Ashina · Avars · Az · Bagatur (Modu Chanyu) · Bars Beg · Battle of Bolchu · Bayirku · Beg · Bilge Khan · Bilge Khan's Golden Crown · Bodeng Ningli · Böri (Guard) · Bukhara · Bumin Khan · Burial and the balbal · Buyruk · Captives and the Unfree · Chinese Craftsmen at the Orkhon Monuments · Chinese transcriptions of Turkic · Craftsmen in the Steppe Empires · Culture of the Turkic Peoples · Diplomacy of the Steppe Empires · Envoys and Embassies · Er At · Erklig · First Göktürk Khaganate · Fulin Khan · Goguryeo · Göktürk campaign against the Kirghiz (710) · Göktürk Expansion into Europe · Göktürk Ironworking · Göktürk Succession Crisis (581) · Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Göktürk Weapons · Göktürks · Gold and Silver in the Orkhon Inscriptions · History of the Turkic peoples · Horse Market at the Western Shouxiang City (727) · Horse Sacrifice · Idi · Illig · Ilterish Khan · Inel Khan · Irkin · Iron Gate · Ishbara (Title) · Ishbara Khan · Ishbara Tolis Khan · Issik Khan · Istemi · Iye · Kam (Turkic Shaman) · Kapgan Khan · Kapgan's wars with the Tang, 698–716 · Kapgan's western war, 709–713 · Karluk · Katun · Khan (Khagan) · Khitan · Khöshöö Tsaidam · Kögmen · Kül Tegin · Kül Tegin's Horses · Küli Čor inscription · Külüg Chur · Kün Tengri · Kunçuy · Kurgan · Kurykan · Kut · Kyshtym · Loose-rein prefectures · Mukan Khan · Nalaikh Inscription · Northern Wei · Old Turkic · On Oq · Ongi inscription · Ordu · Ordu-Balık · Orkhon valley · Ötüken · Peri · Pofu Katun · Post and Communication · Proclamation of Bumin Khan (552) · Raising on the Felt · Raw Materials and Trade among the Turkic Peoples · Roof Tiles of the Uyghur Khaganate · Rouran · Rouran Domination of the Turkic Peoples · Rouran Khaganate · Sacred Mountains · Sacrifice and the year · Saŋun · Sasanian Persia · Seasonal Pastures · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Shad · Shamanism · Shiwei · Silk in the Steppe · Sogdiana · Sogdians · Soul Words · Stone Figures · Su Dingfang · Suyab · Syr Darya · Taisan · Tang · Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630 · Tarim Basin · Tarkhan · Tatars · Tegin · Tengri · Tengrism · The Bökli question · The coup of 716 · The Economy of the Steppe Empires · The Göktürk Civil War · The Göktürk interregnum, 630–682 · The Göktürk Oath · The Göktürk–Rouran Wars · The Göktürks and the Xiongnu · The Great Empires of the Steppe · The Kirghiz origin debate · The making of Tengrism · The New Year on the Steppe · The Old Turkic script · The origin of the Avars · The origin of the Old Turkic script · The revolt of the subject peoples, 714–716 · The Sogdian language · The three worlds · The Tibetan Empire · The Turkic ethnogenesis debate · The Turkic languages · The Turkic War of Independence · The Turkish–Korean friendship narrative · The twelve-year animal cycle · Tiele · Togu Balık · Tölis and Tardush · Tong Yabgu · Tongra · Tonyukuk · Tonyukuk inscription · Toquz Oghuz · Töre · Töremen Apa · Toy · Tribute Missions and Bestowals · Türgesh · Turkic Mythology · Turkic-Sogdian Synthesis · Tutuk · Ülgen and Kayra Khan · Ulukayın (Turkic World Tree) · Umay · Uyghur–Kirghiz War · Warfare of the Steppe Empires · Water Cult · Western Göktürk Khaganate · Women among the Turkic Peoples · Yabgu · Yenisei Kirghiz · Yenisei Kirghiz Khaganate · Yer-Su Spirits · Yol Tengri

Related

• Bilge Khan inscription
• Kül Tegin
• Bilge Khan
• Ilterish Khan
• Second Göktürk Khaganate
• Bumin Khan
• Istemi
• Tengrism
• Kut
• Töre
• Toy
• Ötüken
• Göktürks
• Iron Gate
• Chinese Craftsmen at the Orkhon Monuments
• Culture of the Turkic Peoples
• Women among the Turkic Peoples

What links here103

Persons

Bars Beg · Bilge Khan · Bumin Khan · Ilterish Khan · Inel Khan · Ishbara Tolis Khan · Istemi · Kapgan Khan · Kül Tegin · Tonyukuk

States

First Göktürk Khaganate · Goguryeo · Sasanian Persia · Second Göktürk Khaganate · The Tibetan Empire

Conflicts

Göktürk Expansion into Europe · Göktürk war of restoration, 679–687 · Kapgan's western war, 709–713 · Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630 · The Turkic War of Independence · Uyghur–Kirghiz War

Battles & Events

Battle of Bolchu · Proclamation of Bumin Khan (552) · The coup of 716

Places

Altai · Amga Korgan · Bodeng Ningli · Bukhara · Iron Gate · Khöshöö Tsaidam · Kögmen · Ordu-Balık · Orkhon valley · Ötüken · Sogdiana · Suyab · Tarim Basin · Togu Balık

Peoples

Bayirku · Göktürks · History of the Turkic peoples · Khitan · Kurykan · Sogdians · Tatars · Tongra · Toquz Oghuz

Institutions and Titles

Böri (Guard) · Buyruk · Chinese Craftsmen at the Orkhon Monuments · Fulin Khan · Göktürk Weapons · Illig · Irkin · Ishbara (Title) · Katun · Külüg Chur · Kunçuy · Ordu · Saŋun · Shad · Taisan · Tegin · The twelve-year animal cycle · Tölis and Tardush · Tutuk · Women among the Turkic Peoples · Yabgu

Religions

Animism · Asena the She-Wolf (Gök Börü) · Burial and the balbal · Erklig · Iye · Kam (Turkic Shaman) · Raising on the Felt · Sacrifice and the year · Stone Figures · Tengri · The three worlds · Ulukayın (Turkic World Tree) · Yer-Su Spirits · Yol Tengri

Languages

Old Turkic · The Old Turkic script

Customs & Pastimes

Culture of the Turkic Peoples · Er At · The New Year on the Steppe

Sources

Altai runiform inscriptions · Altın Köl Inscriptions · Bilge Khan inscription · Bugut inscription · Dīvān Lughāt al-Turk · Irk Bitig · Küli Čor inscription · Nalaikh Inscription · Ongi inscription · Sui Shu (Book of Sui) · Tonyukuk inscription

Controversies

The Bökli question · The origin of the Avars · The Turkic ethnogenesis debate · The Turkish–Korean friendship narrative · Turkic-Sogdian Synthesis

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Kül Tegin inscription.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/sources/kul-tegin-inscription/

Copy Last revised: 8 November 2026