Ötüken orOtuken (Old Turkic:𐰇𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰖𐰃𐱁,romanized: Ötüken yïš,lit. 'Ötüken forest'[1] or𐰵𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰘𐰼,romanized:Ötüken jer,lit. 'land of Ötüken';Old Uighur:𐰵𐱅𐰜𐰤:𐰘𐰃𐱁,romanized: Ötüken yïš;[2]Chinese:於都斤) was the capital of theFirst Turkic Khaganate, theSecond Turkic Khaganate and theUyghur Khaganate. It has an important place inTurkic mythology andTengrism.
Ötüken is located within the borders of theArkhangai Province andÖvörkhangai Province of present-dayMongolia.[3]
The word was used to describe thesacred mountain of theancient Turks. It was mentioned byBilge Khagan in theOrkhon inscriptions as "the place from where the tribes can be controlled". A force calledqut was believed to emanate from this mountain, granting the local potentate the divine right to rule all the Turkic tribes.[4]
Although never identified precisely, Ötüken probably stretched "from theKhangai Range of CentralMongolia to theSayan Mountains ofTuva, at the centre of which is theOrkhon Valley",[5] which for centuries was regarded as the seat of imperial power on thesteppes.
Ötüken (اتوكان)[6] inMahmud al-Kashgari'sDīwān Lughāt al-Turk:[7]
Name of a place in the deserts of Tatār near Uighur.
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TheTonyukuk inscriptions show the sacred importance of the region, as evidenced by the statement ofTonyukuk:[8]
If you stay in the land of the Ötüken, and send caravans from there, you will have no trouble. If you stay at the Ötüken Mountains, you will live forever dominating the tribes!