Chigils
Encyclopedia
The Chigil were a Turkic
tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul
lake area. They were considered to be descended from two of the "Six Chuy tribes" of the Chuban, the Chuyue and Chumi. They are known to have been speakers of the Oghuz
group of the Turkic languages
.
According to medieval writers, the city of Chigil was at "a distance of a human voice" from Taraz
. A 11th century story by Mahmud Kashgari
places the events in the time of the Zu-l-Karnein ("the "Bihorn", Alexander the Great) 4th century BCE:
Kashghari says that the Oghuz Turks
used to call "Chigil" all the Turks between the Oxus and Northern China.
The reigning clan of the Western Turkic Manichean Chigil tribe was Shato, which also founded the state Hou-Tang
(923–936) in Northern China, and adopted the Chinese surname Li. Its founder, Li Keün, was from the Shato Dragon tribe. Among the Shato, the dragon cult was predominant. The annals noted that Shato prayers "followed the old tradition of the northern custom" near Thunder-mountain, at the Dragon Gate.
Sima Qian
writes: "Shato is actually (or primarily) a Chüse tribe". The transcription Chüse reflects the Turkic jüz "hundred". The Chigils-Shato were Manichaeans, and "hundred" is not always a military team, but also a religious category yüz er "hundred monk men" as is stated, for example, on a number of the Manichaean Yenisei monuments of ancient Turkic writings. Thus yüz er, as opposed to otuz oglan or otuz er, is a category of dominating level.
The Chigils were prominent in the Kara-Khanid Khanate
, where they formed the main body of the troops. The power in the Karakhanid state was divided between the nobility of two tribal groups, Chigils and Yagma, which in the 9th century formed the nucleus of the Karluk
tribal union.
Chigils and Yagma
, and also the Tuhsi, one of the Türgesh
tribes, the remains of the Orkhon Turks, united in the Karluk tribal union, and the history of these tribes, at least since the 9th century, is indivisible. The Hudud al-'Ālam, compiled in 982–3 CE, describes the Chigils as members of the Karluk state, occupying the Zhetysu territories including regions around Issyk Kul to the north and east of the Karluks. They are described as possessing great riches and that their king "is one of themselves." It is also reported that "Some of them worship the Sun and the stars.". The Karluk Kaganate was divided into two parts, eastern and western, headed by their Kagan
s. The eastern Kagan was the senior Kagan, with his court in Kashgar
and Balasagun
(Buran fortress, near Tokmak in Kyrgyzstan
). He was from the Chigil tribe and had the title Arslan Kara-Hakan. The western was the lesser Kagan, from the Yagma tribe, with the title Bogra Kara-Kagan and his court in Taraz
, and later in Samarkand
..
In the eleventh century the Chigils became independent. Kashgari writes that they consisted of three branches.
After the Mongol invasion of Turkestan
, the Turks in northern Turkestan and in the Tien Shan region, among them the Chigils, Yagma
, Karluks, Argu and Tuhsi, had to give up their territory to the eastern nomadic groups. They migrated to Transoxania and Kashgharia
.
There are presently four villages in Turkey
called Chigil, indicating that some Chigils migrated to Asia Minor after the Mongol invasion.
. Later sources describe the Chigils as Nestorian Christians. The Zhetysu area, a former Chigil territory, is rich with Christian and pre-Christian archaeological remains, and the Talas
area is especially saturated with religious monuments and historical reports. the Gagauzes, a distinct Pontic
Turkic tribe known for their steadfast adherence to Greek Orthodox Christianity
, have a folk legend associating their descent from the Chigils.
In Manichaeism, the lion, mighty and ruthless king of animals, is a central image. This demonstrates an imported ideology; the lion is not native to Central Asia, and so it originally did not have symbolic significance for the population there. The building found by the archaeologists, without traces of economic activities, served as a chapel of the inhabitants depicted in long robes: the Chigils, whose symbol was a lion (Turk. Arslan, Bars).
The connection between Talas
, Manichaeism and the Lion is recorded in the Turco-Manichean "Sacred book of two fundamentals" (Iki jïltïz nom), fragments of which were found in 1907 at Kara-Khoja in the Turpan oasis by Albert von Le Coq
. The book was dedicated to the ruler (Beg) of the Chigil-Arslan tribes, named Il-Tirgüg, Ap-Burguchan, Alp-Tarhan [Henning, 1977, p. 552]. It was completed in Argu-Talas city (Altun Argu Talas). A postscript in the manuscript noted an Arslan Mengü that used the book. Talas had four Manichean cloisters: in the Chigil-balyk, Kashu, Ordu-kent and Yigyan-kent.
In the middle of the 7th century, Chigils, Chumuls and Karluks were united by the Western Turkic yabgu Aru in his anti-Tang
uprising. The yabgu's name, Aru, is identical with the Turkic-Manichean arïg (like arïg dïntar "pure priest").
The dynastic strife between competing tribes of the Tuhs and Ases in the Türgesh Kaganate also had religious significance. The new dynasty was established by Sakal of the Tuhs tribe, who was challenged by the leader of the As tribe Sülük, who took over the Kagan's throne in 716. After Sülük's death, his son Tuhsan was raised to Kaganship in Suyab
, and the "Tuhs Sovereign" Sogdo-Türgesh coin was minted in his honor. In 738, when Türgesh Tuhsan was enthroned, the Byzantine
ambassador Valentine came to the Tuhsan court. In the 11th century, the Tuhsi tribe professed Manichaeism and were called Tuhsi-Chigil, i.e. "Tuhsi-Manicheans".
, and Chigil in the Zhetysu area: During the Middle Ages, a city, Yar, is mentioned as located on the southern bank of lake Issyk-kul. This city is the capital of the leader of the Djikil (i.e. Chigil) tribe. The city retained its name in the form Chal till present. The various forms of this toponym (Shiyan, Shal, Chal) come from the Turkic ethnonym Chiyal (i.e. Chigil). The ethnotoponym Chigil is formed with an affix -il (Turk. land, country).
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul
Issyk Kul
Issyk Kul is an endorheic lake in the northern Tian Shan mountains in eastern Kyrgyzstan. It is the tenth largest lake in the world by volume and the second largest saline lake after the Caspian Sea. Although it is surrounded by snow-capped peaks, it never freezes; hence its name, which means "hot...
lake area. They were considered to be descended from two of the "Six Chuy tribes" of the Chuban, the Chuyue and Chumi. They are known to have been speakers of the Oghuz
Oghuz languages
The Oghuz languages, a major branch of the Turkic language family, are spoken by more than 110 million people in an area spanning from the Balkans to China.-Linguistic features:...
group of the Turkic languages
Turkic languages
The Turkic languages constitute a language family of at least thirty five languages, spoken by Turkic peoples across a vast area from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean to Siberia and Western China, and are considered to be part of the proposed Altaic language family.Turkic languages are spoken...
.
Etymology
Sinologist Yu. A. Zuev suggests an etymology of the name Chigil from the Chinese transcriptions of the ethnonyms Chigil (Ch. 處月 Chuyue "abode of the Moon [god]") and Chumul (Ch. 處密(or 蜜) Chumi "abode of the Sun [god]"). However, he notes that neither Turkic-Buddhist texts, nor the Turkic-Manichaean literature and other sources containing information about Turkic Manichaeism, do not give a genealogical meaning in reference to the invocation of the Sun and Moon (Turk. kün ay).History
The first reference to the Chigils comes from the "History of the Sui dynasty" (581–680, Chji-i < tšįək-iət < chigil).According to medieval writers, the city of Chigil was at "a distance of a human voice" from Taraz
Taraz
Taraz , is a city and a center of the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan. It is located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River...
. A 11th century story by Mahmud Kashgari
Mahmud Kashgari
Mahmud ibn Hussayn ibn Muhammad al-Kashgari was an 11th century Turkic scholar and lexicographer of Turkic languages from Kashgar.His father, Hussayn, was the mayor of Barsgan and related to the Qara-Khanid ruling dynasty...
places the events in the time of the Zu-l-Karnein ("the "Bihorn", Alexander the Great) 4th century BCE:
Kashghari says that the Oghuz Turks
Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion....
used to call "Chigil" all the Turks between the Oxus and Northern China.
The reigning clan of the Western Turkic Manichean Chigil tribe was Shato, which also founded the state Hou-Tang
Later Tang Dynasty
The Later Tang Dynasty was a short-lived dynasty that lasted from 923 to 937 one of the five dynasties during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was also the first in a series of three dynasties ruled by the Shatuo Turks...
(923–936) in Northern China, and adopted the Chinese surname Li. Its founder, Li Keün, was from the Shato Dragon tribe. Among the Shato, the dragon cult was predominant. The annals noted that Shato prayers "followed the old tradition of the northern custom" near Thunder-mountain, at the Dragon Gate.
Sima Qian
Sima Qian
Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
writes: "Shato is actually (or primarily) a Chüse tribe". The transcription Chüse reflects the Turkic jüz "hundred". The Chigils-Shato were Manichaeans, and "hundred" is not always a military team, but also a religious category yüz er "hundred monk men" as is stated, for example, on a number of the Manichaean Yenisei monuments of ancient Turkic writings. Thus yüz er, as opposed to otuz oglan or otuz er, is a category of dominating level.
The Chigils were prominent in the Kara-Khanid Khanate
Kara-Khanid Khanate
The Kara-Khanid Khanate was a confederation of Turkic tribes ruled by a dynasty known in literature as the Karakhanids or Ilek Khanids, . Both dynastic names represent titles with Kara Kağan being the most important Turkish title up till the end of the dynasty.The Khanate ruled Transoxania in...
, where they formed the main body of the troops. The power in the Karakhanid state was divided between the nobility of two tribal groups, Chigils and Yagma, which in the 9th century formed the nucleus of the Karluk
Karluk
Karluk can refer to many different things:* HMCS Karluk, a ship crushed and sunk by Arctic ice in January 1914* Karluk, Alaska, a town in the USA* Karluk River, a river on Kodiak Island in Alaska...
tribal union.
Chigils and Yagma
Yagma
The Yagma were a medieval tribe of Turks whose members are among the ancestors of modern Uigurs and Uzbeks. Yagma is one of the Turkic tribes that came to the forefront of history after the disintegration of the Western Turkic Kaganate. They were one component of a three-member confederation known...
, and also the Tuhsi, one of the Türgesh
Turgesh
The Türgesh, Turgish or Türgish were a Turkic tribal confederation who emerged from the ruins of the Western Turkic Kaganate...
tribes, the remains of the Orkhon Turks, united in the Karluk tribal union, and the history of these tribes, at least since the 9th century, is indivisible. The Hudud al-'Ālam, compiled in 982–3 CE, describes the Chigils as members of the Karluk state, occupying the Zhetysu territories including regions around Issyk Kul to the north and east of the Karluks. They are described as possessing great riches and that their king "is one of themselves." It is also reported that "Some of them worship the Sun and the stars.". The Karluk Kaganate was divided into two parts, eastern and western, headed by their Kagan
Kagan
- People :* Daryn Kagan , former American newscaster* Donald Kagan , Yale historian specializing in ancient Greece* Elena Kagan, dean of Harvard Law School, U.S. Solicitor General , and Associate Justice of the U.S...
s. The eastern Kagan was the senior Kagan, with his court in Kashgar
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
and Balasagun
Balasagun
Balasagun was an ancient Soghdian city in modern-day Kyrgyzstan, located in the Chui River valley between Bishkek and Issyk-Kul Lake....
(Buran fortress, near Tokmak in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan , officially the Kyrgyz Republic is one of the world's six independent Turkic states . Located in Central Asia, landlocked and mountainous, Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the southwest and China to the east...
). He was from the Chigil tribe and had the title Arslan Kara-Hakan. The western was the lesser Kagan, from the Yagma tribe, with the title Bogra Kara-Kagan and his court in Taraz
Taraz
Taraz , is a city and a center of the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan. It is located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River...
, and later in Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
..
In the eleventh century the Chigils became independent. Kashgari writes that they consisted of three branches.
After the Mongol invasion of Turkestan
Turkestan
Turkestan, spelled also as Turkistan, literally means "Land of the Turks".The term Turkestan is of Persian origin and has never been in use to denote a single nation. It was first used by Persian geographers to describe the place of Turkish peoples...
, the Turks in northern Turkestan and in the Tien Shan region, among them the Chigils, Yagma
Yagma
The Yagma were a medieval tribe of Turks whose members are among the ancestors of modern Uigurs and Uzbeks. Yagma is one of the Turkic tribes that came to the forefront of history after the disintegration of the Western Turkic Kaganate. They were one component of a three-member confederation known...
, Karluks, Argu and Tuhsi, had to give up their territory to the eastern nomadic groups. They migrated to Transoxania and Kashgharia
Kashgar
Kashgar or Kashi is an oasis city with approximately 350,000 residents in the western part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. Kashgar is the administrative centre of Kashgar Prefecture which has an area of 162,000 km² and a population of approximately...
.
There are presently four villages in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
called Chigil, indicating that some Chigils migrated to Asia Minor after the Mongol invasion.
Religion
The Chigil were known for their religious dedication. The first depictions of the Chigils describe them as adherents of ManichaeismManichaeism
Manichaeism in Modern Persian Āyin e Māni; ) was one of the major Iranian Gnostic religions, originating in Sassanid Persia.Although most of the original writings of the founding prophet Mani have been lost, numerous translations and fragmentary texts have survived...
. Later sources describe the Chigils as Nestorian Christians. The Zhetysu area, a former Chigil territory, is rich with Christian and pre-Christian archaeological remains, and the Talas
Taraz
Taraz , is a city and a center of the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan. It is located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River...
area is especially saturated with religious monuments and historical reports. the Gagauzes, a distinct Pontic
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...
Turkic tribe known for their steadfast adherence to Greek Orthodox Christianity
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
, have a folk legend associating their descent from the Chigils.
In Manichaeism, the lion, mighty and ruthless king of animals, is a central image. This demonstrates an imported ideology; the lion is not native to Central Asia, and so it originally did not have symbolic significance for the population there. The building found by the archaeologists, without traces of economic activities, served as a chapel of the inhabitants depicted in long robes: the Chigils, whose symbol was a lion (Turk. Arslan, Bars).
The connection between Talas
Taraz
Taraz , is a city and a center of the Jambyl Province in Kazakhstan. It is located in the south of Kazakhstan, near the border with Kyrgyzstan, on the Talas River...
, Manichaeism and the Lion is recorded in the Turco-Manichean "Sacred book of two fundamentals" (Iki jïltïz nom), fragments of which were found in 1907 at Kara-Khoja in the Turpan oasis by Albert von Le Coq
Albert von Le Coq
Albert von Le Coq was a German archaeologist and explorer of Central Asia. He was heir to a sizable fortune derived from breweries and wineries scattered throughout Central and Eastern Europe, thus allowing him the luxury of travel and study at the - no longer existing - Ethnology Museum in Berlin...
. The book was dedicated to the ruler (Beg) of the Chigil-Arslan tribes, named Il-Tirgüg, Ap-Burguchan, Alp-Tarhan [Henning, 1977, p. 552]. It was completed in Argu-Talas city (Altun Argu Talas). A postscript in the manuscript noted an Arslan Mengü that used the book. Talas had four Manichean cloisters: in the Chigil-balyk, Kashu, Ordu-kent and Yigyan-kent.
In the middle of the 7th century, Chigils, Chumuls and Karluks were united by the Western Turkic yabgu Aru in his anti-Tang
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
uprising. The yabgu's name, Aru, is identical with the Turkic-Manichean arïg (like arïg dïntar "pure priest").
The dynastic strife between competing tribes of the Tuhs and Ases in the Türgesh Kaganate also had religious significance. The new dynasty was established by Sakal of the Tuhs tribe, who was challenged by the leader of the As tribe Sülük, who took over the Kagan's throne in 716. After Sülük's death, his son Tuhsan was raised to Kaganship in Suyab
Suyab
Suyab was an ancient Silk Road city located some 50 km east from Bishkek, and 8 km west southwest from Tokmok, in the Chui River valley, present-day Kyrgyzstan.- History :...
, and the "Tuhs Sovereign" Sogdo-Türgesh coin was minted in his honor. In 738, when Türgesh Tuhsan was enthroned, the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
ambassador Valentine came to the Tuhsan court. In the 11th century, the Tuhsi tribe professed Manichaeism and were called Tuhsi-Chigil, i.e. "Tuhsi-Manicheans".
Toponymic traces
Many settlements recorded in medieval sources have names derived from the ethnonym Chigil, such as Chigilkant and Chigil-balyk in XinjiangXinjiang
Xinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
, and Chigil in the Zhetysu area: During the Middle Ages, a city, Yar, is mentioned as located on the southern bank of lake Issyk-kul. This city is the capital of the leader of the Djikil (i.e. Chigil) tribe. The city retained its name in the form Chal till present. The various forms of this toponym (Shiyan, Shal, Chal) come from the Turkic ethnonym Chiyal (i.e. Chigil). The ethnotoponym Chigil is formed with an affix -il (Turk. land, country).