| Tong Yabghu Qaghan | |
|---|---|
| Qaghan of theWestern Turkic Khaganate | |
| Reign | 618–628 |
| Predecessor | Sheguy |
| Successor | Baghatur Qaghan |
| Died | 628 |
| House | Ashina |
| Religion | Buddhism[1] |
Tong Yabghu Qaghan[a] (r. 618–628 or 630[3]) was thekhagan of theWestern Turkic Khaganate from 618 to 628 AD. Tong Yabghu was the brother ofSheguy (r. 611–618), the previous khagan of the westernGöktürks, and was a member of theAshina clan;[4] his reign is generally regarded as the zenith of the Western Göktürk Khaganate.[5]
His name is transcribed with Chinese character 統, which means "main silk thread > guideline,[6] to unite, to command, to govern".[7]Karakhanid scholarMahmud al-Kashgari, writing in the 11th century, glossedtoŋa inMiddle Turkic as basically meaningtiger.[8]Gerard Clauson argues against Kashgari and states thattoŋa means vaguely "hero, outstanding warrior".[9]
Tong Yabghu maintained close relations with theTang dynasty ofChina, and may have married into the Imperial family.[10]
The ChineseBuddhistpilgrimXuanzang visited the western Göktürk capitalSuyab in modernKyrgyzstan and left a description of the khagan. Scholars believe the khagan described by Xuanzang was Tong Yabghu.[11] Gao and La Vaissière argue that the khagan Xuanzang met was his son Si Yabghu, rather than Tong Yabghu.[12][13] Xuanzang described the khagan as follows:
Thekhan wore a greensatin robe; his hair, which was ten feet long, was free. A band of whitesilk wound round his forehead and hung down behind. The ministers of the presence,[14] numbering two hundred in number, all wearing embroidered robes, stood on his right and left. The rest of his military retinue [was] clothed in fur,serge and fine wool, the spears andstandards and bows in order, and the riders of camels and horses stretched far out of [sight].[15]
According to theOld Book of Tang, Tong Yabghu's reign was once considered as the golden age of Western Göktürk Khaganate:
Tong Yehu Kaghan is a man of bravery and astuteness. He is good at art of war. Thus he controlledTiele tribes to the north, confrontedPersia to the west, connected with Kasmira (nowadaysKashmir) to the south. All countries are subjected to him. He controlled ten thousands of men with arrow and bow, establishing his power over the western region. He occupied the land of Wusun and moved his tent to Qianquan north of Tashkent. All of the princes of western region assumed the Turk office ofJielifa. Tong Yehu Kaghan also sent aTutun to monitor them for imposition. The power of Western Turks had never reached such a state before".[16]
Tong Yabghu's empire fought with theSassanids ofIran. In the early 620's the khagan's nephewBöri Shad led a series of raids across theCaucasus Mountains intoPersian territory. Many scholars have identified Tong Yabghu as theZiebel[dubious –discuss] mentioned inByzantine sources as having (as khagan of theKhazars) campaigned with the EmperorHeraclius in theCaucasus against theSassanidPersian Empire in 627–628.[17] It has long been maintained by some scholars, including Chavannes, Uchida, Gao and Xue Zhongzeng that Tong Yabghu cannot be positively identified with Ziebel (or any Khazar ruler) and may actually have died as early as 626. These scholars point to discrepancies in the dates between Byzantine and Chinese sources and argue that definitively conflating Ziebel with Tong Yabghu is an exaggeration of the extant evidence.[12][18] The latest research on this topic proves that they were right: if Tong indeed died in 628, Ziebel is to be identified with Sipi khagan, Tong Yabghu's uncle, who murdered him and rose briefly to the throne.[19]Sipi was by then pronounced Zibil and he was a small khagan in charge of the western part of Tong Yabghu's empire, exactly as Ziebel was according to the Byzantine sources. Ziebel is described as the brother of Tong in the Byzantine sources, and as his uncle in the Chinese sources, a discrepancy which long precluded the identification. However uncle and elder brother is the same word in ancient Turkish,äçi, and the Chinese sources could not render this double meaning with their very precise system of kinship names.[20]
Tong Yabghu appointed governors ortuduns to manage the various tribes and people under his overlordship.[11] In all likelihood Tong Yabghu's nephewBöri Shad, and son of Zibil/Ziebel was the commander of theKhazars, the westernmost of the tribes owing allegiance to the Western Göktürks; this branch of the family may have provided the Khazars with their first khagans in the mid seventh century.[21]
Tong Yaghbu also supported the spread ofBuddhism within his realm and patronised scholars from the monastery ofNalanda in India including the translator and monk,Prabhakāramitra.[22]
In ca. 630 he was murdered byKülüg Sibir, his uncle and a partisan of theDulu faction. Following the death of Tong Yabghu, the might of the Western Göktürks largely collapsed. Although the khaganate lingered for a few decades before falling to the Chinese Empire, many of the client tribes became independent and a number of successor states, including theKhazar Khaganate andGreat Bulgaria, became independent.[23]
He had at least 2 sons:
Tong Yabgu was favourably inclined towards Buddhism...
| Preceded by | Qaghan of theWestern Turkic Khaganate 618–628 | Succeeded by |
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