The Tariat inscriptions appear on a stele found near the Hoid Terhyin River in Doloon Mod district,

Arkhangai Province The Arkhangai Province or Arkhangai Aimag ( mn, Архангай аймаг, Arhangai aimag, ; "North Khangai") is one of the 21 aimags of Mongolia. It is located slightly west of the country's center, on the northern slopes of the Khangai Moun ...

, modern-day

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

. (The forms Terkhin and Terhyin are also used). The

stele A stele ( ),Anglicized plural steles ( ); Greek plural stelai ( ), from Greek , ''stēlē''. The Greek plural is written , ''stēlai'', but this is only rarely encountered in English. or occasionally stela (plural ''stelas'' or ''stelæ''), whe ...

was erected by

Bayanchur Khan )''Heavenborn State Founding Wise Qaghan'', birth_name=Yàolúogě Mòyánchùo (藥羅葛磨延啜) Mo-yun Chur (磨延啜) (b. 713 - d.759) or Eletmish Bilge Qaghan was second qaghan of Uyghur Khaganate. His Tang dynasty invested title was Yingwu ...

of the

Uyghur Khaganate The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; otk, 𐱃𐰆𐰴𐰕:𐰆𐰍𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Toquz Oγuz budun, Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that e ...

in the middle of the eighth century (between 753 and 760 CE seems to be the best estimate).

Discovery

Archeologists already knew of the existence of this stele because it was mentioned in another Uighur stele found in 1909. But it took 47 years to discover and unearth the stele; finally being found by Mongolian archeologist T. Dorjsuren in 1956. The finds are now exhibited in the Mongolian Institute of Archeology in

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar (; mn, Улаанбаатар, , "Red Hero"), previously anglicized as Ulan Bator, is the capital and most populous city of Mongolia. It is the coldest capital city in the world, on average. The municipality is located in north ce ...

Uighurs

The Uyghur Khaganate replaced the

Second Turkic Khaganate The Second Turkic Khaganate ( otk, 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰰:𐰃𐰠, Türük el, State of the Turks, , known as ''Turk Bilge Qaghan country'' ( otk, 𐱅𐰇𐰼𐰝:𐰋𐰃𐰠𐰏𐰀:𐰴𐰍𐰣:𐰃𐰠𐰭𐰀, Türük Bilgä Qaγan eli) in Bai ...

Inner Asia Inner Asia refers to the northern and landlocked regions spanning North, Central and East Asia. It includes parts of western and northeast China, as well as southern Siberia. The area overlaps with some definitions of 'Central Asia', mostly the h ...

in 745 CE. Its founder was Kutluk Bilge Köl (745-747). Unlike their predecessors, they were allies of the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

and in the early days of the khaganate the khagans (rulers) supported the Tang emperor against the rebellious general

An Lushan An Lushan (; 20th day of the 1st month 19 February 703 – 29 January 757) was a general in the Tang dynasty and is primarily known for instigating the An Lushan Rebellion. An Lushan was of Sogdian and Göktürk origin,Yang, Zhijiu, "An Lushan ...

. They were one of the major powers of Asia. However, in 848 CE they were defeated by the

Kyrgyz Kyrgyz, Kirghiz or Kyrgyzstani may refer to: * Someone or something related to Kyrgyzstan *Kyrgyz people *Kyrgyz national games *Kyrgyz language *Kyrgyz culture *Kyrgyz cuisine *Yenisei Kirghiz *The Fuyü Gïrgïs language in Northeastern China ...

and were forced to move west to the

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

and

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

regions of modern-day China.

The Stele

The stele had been erected on a

bixi Bixi, or Bi Xi (), is a figure from Chinese mythology. One of the 9 sons of the dragon, 9 sons of the Dragon King, he is depicted as a Chinese dragon, dragon with the shell of a turtle. Stone Chinese sculpture, sculptures of Bixi have been used ...

or tortoise plinth and is made of light gray granite. There are 30 lines of text inscribed on each side of the stele in old Turkic using the Orkhon alphabet (Turkic runes) which was also used in the famous

Khöshöö Tsaidam Monuments The Orkhon inscriptions (also known as the Orhon inscriptions, Orhun inscriptions, Khöshöö Tsaidam monuments (also spelled ''Khoshoo Tsaidam'', ''Koshu-Tsaidam'' or ''Höshöö Caidam''), or Kul Tigin steles ( zh, t=闕特勤碑, s=阙特勤� ...

Bilge Khagan Bilge Qaghan ( otk, 𐰋𐰃𐰠𐰏𐰀:𐰴𐰍𐰣, Bilgä Qaγan; ; 683 – 25 November 734) was the fourth Qaghan of the Second Turkic Khaganate. His accomplishments were described in the Orkhon inscriptions. Names As was the custom, his ...

and his brother

Kül Tigin Kul Tigin ( otk, 𐰚𐰇𐰠𐱅𐰃𐰏𐰤, Kültegin zh, wikt:闕, 闕wikt:特, 特wikt:勒, 勤, Pinyin: Quètèqín, Wade-Giles: chüeh-t'e-ch'in, Xiao'erjing: ٿُؤ تْ ٿٍ, AD 684–731) was a general and a Tegin, prince of the Se ...

of the Turkic khaganate in 732 and 735 CE. Together with the Bain Tsokto monument of Tonyukuk, these remains are collectively called the Orkhon Monuments. The narrator is

of the Uighur khaganate who reigned between 747 and 759 CE.

The Narration

Bayanchor Khan refers to himself as El etmish Bilge Kagan. (Not to be confused with Bilge Kagan of the Turkic Khanate who lived earlier). According to inscriptions appearing on the east side of the slab, during the interregnum following the death of his father, Bayanchor fought against the tribes supporting his elder brother Tay Bilge Tutuk. Among these tribes, the

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

seem to have been the most important enemy, for their names are mentioned several times. On the west face of the stele, a brief history of the Turkic peoples is given. It is notable that the names of

Bumin Khan Bumin Qaghan ( otk, 𐰉𐰆𐰢𐰣:𐰴𐰍𐰣, Bumïn qaγan, also known as Illig Qaghan ( Chinese: 伊利可汗, Pinyin: Yīlì Kèhán, Wade–Giles: i-li k'o-han) or Yamï Qaghan ( otk, 𐰖𐰢𐰃:𐰴𐰍𐰣, Yаmï qaγan, died 552 A ...

and İstemi of the Turkic Khaganate are also mentioned in the inscriptions. This may mean that the power shift from the Turkic Khaganete to the (linguistically indistinguishable) Uighur Khanate was considered merely as a

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

.Jean Paul Roux: ''Historie des Turcs'' (Translated by Aykut Kazancıgil,Lale Arslan Özcan), Kabalcı Yayınevi, İstanbul, p 159

Complete text

References

Notes

{{Turkic inscriptions Archaeology of Mongolia 8th-century inscriptions Uyghur inscriptions Speeches by heads of state