KΓΌl Bilge Qadir Khan (; ) or Bilge Kul Qara Khan was the first known ruler of the Karakhanids.
Tribal affinity
There are different theories on the tribal identity of Bilge Kul khagan. According to Western and Kazakh historiographies, he was a ruler of
Isfijab, a descendant of the
Karluk yabghu. Alternatively, he was from the Edgish tribe, a part of the
Chigils
The Chigil (Chihil, and also (D)Jigil, Cihil, Chiyal) were a Turkic tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul lake area. They were considered to be descended from the tribe Chuyue, who were of mixed Yueban- Western Turkic ...
or a
Yagma. According to
Pritsak, he claimed the title "Khaqan" after the fall of
Uyghur khaganate
The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; otk, π±π°π°΄π°:π°π°π°:π°π°π°π°£, Toquz OΞ³uz budun, Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that ...
since he was from the
Ashina dynasty. However, Wei Liangtao claims that he was, in fact, Pang Tegin, a ruler of remnants of the Uyghur ruling dynasty in
Khotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
. Qian Baiquan doubted that.
References
Turkic rulers
Founding monarchs
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