Bögü Qaghan () or Tengri Qaghan (, died 780) was the third khagan of Uyghurs. He was the younger son of Bayanchur Khagan. His personal name was Yaoluoge Yidijian (藥羅葛移地健) and was titled Ulu Bilge Töles Shad () during his father's reign. His subsequent regnal names upon inheriting the throne were Tarkhan Bögü Qaghan, Alp Külüg Bögü Qaghan, and finally Tengrida Qut Bolmish El Tutmish Alp Külüg Bilge Qaghan (). He was posthumously renamed as Kün Tengrida Qut Bolmish El Tutmish Alp Külüg Bilge Qaghan by Baoyi Qaghan, stressing his adoption of the Manichean religion. Other titles granted to him were Yingyi Qaghan (英義可汗) - a

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

invested title and Zahag-i Mani (Emanation of Mani) - a Manichaean title. He is known for being the most powerful monarch of the

Uyghur Khaganate The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; , Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that existed for about a century between the mid 8th and 9th centuries. It ...

, converting to

Manichaeism Manichaeism (; in ; ) is an endangered former major world religion currently only practiced in China around Cao'an,R. van den Broek, Wouter J. Hanegraaff ''Gnosis and Hermeticism from Antiquity to Modern Times''. SUNY Press, 1998 p. 37 found ...

in 763, and founding the Por-Bazhyn Palace.

Reign

He was viceroy of eastern part of the khaganate during his father Bayanchur's reign. Bögü succeeded him in 759. He was approached by Shi Chaoyi, who offered him to march on Tang together. This proposal alarmed the khagan who rode 100,000 Uyghur soldiers to the Tang border, believing the dynasty had fallen. However, Emperor Daizong sent an embassy in 762, reminding his friendship with the late brother of the qaghan, asking for an alliance. Li Kuo - supreme commander of Tang forces met with qaghan on 12 November 762 in his camp near

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

and agreed to attack the remaining rebel forces. However, a number of his staff members had been arrested and killed over a dispute in the meeting protocol between the young prince and the khan. This started a hatred in Li Kuo against Uyghurs for the rest of his life. In any case, Shi Chaoyi was crushed by the combined forces of Bögü and his father-in-law Pugu Huai'en near

Luoyang Luoyang ( zh, s=洛阳, t=洛陽, p=Luòyáng) is a city located in the confluence area of the Luo River and the Yellow River in the west of Henan province, China. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zheng ...

and fled. Bögü returned to the steppe on 8 April 763 via

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

. This successful war greatly improved Uyghur influence, all Uyghur officials together received a total tax income of 20,000 households, there were even reports about

Uyghur Uyghur may refer to: * Uyghurs, a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia (West China) ** Uyghur language, a Turkic language spoken primarily by the Uyghurs *** Old Uyghur language, a different Turkic language spoken in the Uyghur K ...

soldiers arbitrarily capturing civilians in Changan markets to sell them as slaves in the middle of the day. Even they were arrested, Daizong set them free. Bögü allowed a contingent of Uyghurs to join forces with Tang China against the invading Tibetan forces in 765–768. Some of these commanders included his younger brother and ministers Motu Baga Tarkan, Tun Baga Tarkhan, Kutlug Bilge, Jiela Boyla Tarkhan, Prince Ulu Tarkhan, and Haiying Kül Tarkhan. The remaining Uyghur generals An Ke (安恪) and Shi Diting (石帝庭) gathered groups of bandits and pillaged the region. Despite the treaty, the Uyghurs kept raiding Chinese territories. They invaded

on 22 February 778, injuring and killing almost 10,000 Tang soldiers.

Religious policy

Bögü met 4 Manichaean priests, including one certain Ruixi (睿息) in Luoyang who was interested in their religion. He took them to Ordu-Baliq and converted to

and declared it a state religion in 763. Using his influence, he posed as the protector of the Manicheans and asked Daizong to re-open Manichaean temples in the empire in 768. The emperor did not sympathize with the Manichaeans, but was forced to give permission in 771. His Manichean followers urged him to invade Tang China, following Daizong's death in 779. This prompted a coup-de-etat inside court led by Chief Minister Tun Baga Tarkhan, who was a zealous Tengriist and did not want any new war with the Tang. Bögü was murdered along with 2,000-3,000 of his supporters and relatives in 780.

Family

Bögü khagan was married to Pugu Huaien's daughter Quangin Khatun (光亲可敦). She died in 768. Emperor Daizong created another daughter of Pugu Huai'en as Princess Conghui (崇徽公主) on 2 June 769 and sent her as continuing the ''

heqin ''Heqin'', also known as marriage alliance, refers to the historical practice of Chinese monarchs marrying princesses—usually members of minor branches of the ruling family—to rulers of neighboring states. It was often adopted as an appeasem ...

'' treaty. She was given 20,000 pieces of silk as dowry.

Legacy

According to Larry Clark, as the first ruler in history to adopt Manichaeism as personal and state religion, Bögü Qaghan was strongly revered by later Manichaean traditions.

References

{{Manichaeism footer 780 deaths 8th-century monarchs in Asia Manichaeans Yaglakar clan Tengrist monarchs Uyghur khagans