HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is a belief-system originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on shamanism and animism. It generally involves the titular
sky god The sky often has important religious significance. Many polytheism, polytheistic religions have deity, deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson's ''Motif-Index o ...
Tengri. According to some scholars, adherents of Tengrism view the purpose of life to be in harmony with the universe. It was the prevailing religion of the
Göktürks The Göktürks (; ), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main powe ...
,
Xianbei The Xianbei (; ) were an ancient nomadic people that once resided in the eastern Eurasian steppes in what is today Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Northeastern China. The Xianbei were likely not of a single ethnicity, but rather a multiling ...
,
Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic peoples, Turkic Nomad, semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region between the 5th and 7th centu ...
,
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...
, Yeniseian and Mongolic peoples and
Huns The Huns were a nomadic people who lived in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. According to European tradition, they were first reported living east of the Volga River, in an area that was par ...
, as well as the state religion of several medieval states such as the First Turkic Khaganate, the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate,
Old Great Bulgaria Old Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' (" Onogur land"), was a 7th-century Turkic noma ...
, the First Bulgarian Empire, Volga Bulgaria, Khazaria, and the
Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...
. In the '' Irk Bitig'', a ninth century manuscript on divination, Tengri is mentioned as (God of Turks). According to many academics, Tengrism was, and to some extent still is, a predominantly
polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...
religion based on the shamanistic concept of animism, and was first influenced by
monotheism Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
during the imperial period, especially by the 12th–13th centuries. Abdulkadir Inan argues that Yakut and Altai shamanism are not entirely equal to the ancient Turkic religion. According to Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taşağıl, Turkic Tengrism differed from classical shamanism, possessing a distinct theological structure. He argues that what is commonly termed "Shamanism" constitutes a "
Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
-mixed steppe tradition" and "a system of magic" rather than a formal religion. Based on historical evidence, he proposes that the ancient Turks were not Shamanists and adhered to a unique Tengrist belief system centered around an abstract deity in heaven, mixed with nomadic beliefs and Buddhism, distinguishing it from other shamanistic beliefs. The term also describes several contemporary Turkic and Mongolic native religious movements and teachings. All modern adherents of "political" Tengrism are monotheists. Tengrism has been advocated for in intellectual circles of the Turkic nations of
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
(
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...
with
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
) and
Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
(
Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...
, Bashkortostan) since the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
during the 1990s. Still practiced, it is undergoing an organized revival in Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia), Khakassia, Tuva and other Turkic nations in
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
. Altaian Burkhanism and Chuvash Vattisen Yaly are contemporary movements similar to Tengrism. The term ''tengri'' can refer to the sky deity ''Tenger Etseg'' – also ''Gök Tengri''; '' Sky father'', ''Blue sky'' – or to other deities. While Tengrism includes the worship of personified gods ('' tngri'') such as Ülgen and Kayra, Tengri is considered an "abstract phenomenon".Aykanat, Fatma. "The Contemporary Reflections of Tengrism in Turkish Climate Change Fictions." Turkish Ecocriticism: From Neolithic to Contemporary Timescapes (2020): 21. In Mongolian folk religion,
Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...
is considered one of the embodiments, if not the main embodiment, of Tengri's will.


Terminology and relationship with shamanism

The forms of the name ''Tengri'' () among the ancient and modern Turkic and Mongolic are ''Tengeri'', ''Tangara'', ''Tangri'', ''Tanri'', ''Tangre'', ''Tegri'', ''Tingir'', ''Tenkri'', ''Tangra'', ''Teri'', ''Ter'', and ''Ture''. The name Tengri ("the Sky") is derived from ("daybreak") or Tan ("dawn"). Meanwhile, Stefan Georg proposed that the Turkic ''Tengri'' ultimately originates as a loanword from Proto-Yeniseian ''*tɨŋgɨr-'' "high".
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
is sometimes poetically called the "Land of Eternal Blue Sky" () by its inhabitants. According to some scholars, the name of the important deity
Dangun Dangun or Tangun (; ), also known as Dangun Wanggeom (; ), was the legendary founder and first king of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom. He founded the first kingdom around the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "gra ...
(also Tangol) (God of the Mountains) of the Korean folk religion is related to the Siberian '' Tengri'' ("Heaven"), while the bear is a symbol of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). The word "Tengrism" is a fairly new term. The spelling ''Tengrism'' for the religion of the ancient Turks is found in the works of the 19th century Kazakh ethnographer Shoqan Walikhanov. The term was introduced into a wide scientific circulation in 1956 by Jean-Paul Roux and later in the 1960s as a general term of English-language papers. ''Tengrianism'' is a reflection of the Russian term, ' ("Tengriánstvo"). It is introduced by Kazakh poet and turkologist Olzhas Suleymenov in his 1975 book ''AZ-and-IA''. Since the 1990s, Russian-language literature uses it in the general sense, as for instance, reported in 1996 ("so-called Tengrianism") in the context of the nationalist rivalry over Bulgar legacy. The spellings ''Tengriism'', ''Tangrism'', ''Tengrianity'' are also found from the 1990s. In modern
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
and, partly, Kyrgyzstan, Tengrism is known as the ' or ("Sky God religion"); the Turkish (sky) and (God) correspond to the Mongolian (blue) and (sky), respectively. Mongolian ' is used in a 1999 biography of
Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...
. In the 20th century, a number of scientists proposed the existence of a religious imperial khagan cult in the ancient Turkic and Mongolian states. The Turkish historian of religion Ziya Gökalp (1876–1924) wrote in his ''The History of Turkish Holy Tradition and Turkish Civilization'' that the religion of the ancient Turkic states could not be primitive shamanism, which was only a magical part of the religion of the ancient Türks (see a historiography of the problem: ). The nature of this religion remains debatable. According to many scholars, it was originally
polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...
, but a
monotheistic Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
branch with the sky god Kök-Tengri as the supreme being evolved as a dynastical legitimation. It is at least agreed that Tengrism formed from the diverse folk religions of the local people and may have had diverse branches. It is suggested that Tengrism was a monotheistic religion only at the imperial level in aristocratic circles,Fergus, Michael; Jandosova, Janar. Kazakhstan: Coming of Age Stacey International, 2003, p. 91: *"... a profound combination of monotheism and polytheism that has come to be known as Tengrism." and, perhaps, only by the 12th-13th centuries (a late form of development of ancient animistic shamanism in the era of the Mongol empire). According to Jean-Paul Roux, the monotheistic concept evolved later out of a polytheistic system and was not the original form of Tengrism. The monotheistic concept helped to legitimate the rule of the dynasty: "As there is only one God in Heaven, there can only be one ruler on the earth ...". Others point out that Tengri itself was never an Absolute, but only one of many gods of the upper world, the sky deity, of
polytheistic Polytheism is the belief in or worship of more than one Deity, god. According to Oxford Reference, it is not easy to count gods, and so not always obvious whether an apparently polytheistic religion, such as Chinese folk religions, is really so, ...
shamanism, later known as Tengrism. Tengrism differs from contemporary Siberian shamanism in that it was a more organized religion. Additionally the polities practicing it were not small bands of hunter-gatherers like the Paleosiberians, but a continuous succession of pastoral, semi-sedentarized khanates and empires from the Xiongnu Empire (founded 209 BC) to the Mongol Empire (13th century). In Mongolia it survives as a synthesis with Tibetan Buddhism while surviving in purer forms around Lake Khovsgol and
Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...
. Unlike Siberian shamanism, which has no written tradition, Tengrism can be identified from Turkic and Mongolic historical texts like the Orkhon inscriptions, '' Secret History of the Mongols'', and '' Altan Tobchi''. However, these texts are more historically oriented and are not strictly religious texts like the scriptures and sutras of sedentary civilizations, which have elaborate doctrines and religious stories. On a scale of complexity, Tengrism lies somewhere between the
Proto-Indo-European religion Proto-Indo-European mythology is the body of myths and deities associated with the Proto-Indo-Europeans, speakers of the hypothesized Proto-Indo-European language. Although the mythological motifs are not directly attested – since Proto-In ...
(a pre-state form of pastoral shamanism on the western steppe) and its later form the Vedic religion. The chief god Tengri ("Heaven") is considered strikingly similar to the Indo-European sky god *Dyḗus and the East Asian Tian (Chinese: "Sky; Heaven"). The structure of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion is actually closer to that of the early Turks than to the religion of any people of neolithic European, Near Eastern or Mediterranean antiquity. The term "shamanism" was first applied by Western anthropologists to the ancient religion of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples, as well as those of the neighbouring Tungusic and Samoyedic-speaking peoples. Upon observing more religious traditions across the world, some Western anthropologists began to also use the term in a very broad sense. The term was used to describe unrelated magico-religious practices found within the ethnic religions of other parts of Asia, Africa, Australasia and even completely unrelated parts of the Americas, as they believed these practices to be similar to one another. Terms for 'shaman' and 'shamaness' in Siberian languages: *'shaman': ''saman'' (Nedigal, Nanay, Ulcha, Orok), ''sama'' (Manchu). The variant /šaman/ (i.e., pronounced "shaman") is Evenk (whence it was borrowed into Russian). *'shaman': ''alman, olman, wolmen'' (Yukagir) *'shaman': (Tatar, Shor, Oyrat), (Tuva, Tofalar) *The Buryat word for shaman is ''бөө'' (''böö'') , from early Mongolian ''böge''. *'shaman': ńajt (Khanty, Mansi), from Proto-Uralic *nojta (cf. Sámi noaidi) *'shamaness': (Mongol), (Yakut), ''udagan'' (Buryat), ''udugan'' (Evenki, Lamut), ''odogan'' (Nedigal). Related forms found in various Siberian languages include ''utagan'', ''ubakan'', ''utygan'', ''utügun'', ''iduan'', or ''duana''. All these are related to the Mongolian name of Etügen, the hearth goddess, and Etügen Eke 'Mother Earth'.
Maria Czaplicka Maria Antonina Czaplicka (25 October 1884 – 27 May 1921), also referred to as Marya Antonina Czaplicka and Marie Antoinette Czaplicka, was a Polish cultural anthropologist who is best known for her ethnography of Siberian shamanism. Czaplicka ...
points out that Siberian languages use words for male shamans from diverse roots, but the words for female shaman are almost all from the same root. She connects this with the theory that women's practice of shamanism was established earlier than men's, that "shamans were originally female". Buryat scholar Irina S. Urbanaeva developed a theory of Tengrist esoteric traditions in Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the revival of national sentiment in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.


Historical Tengrism

The first time the name Tengri was recorded in Chinese chronicles was from the 4th century BC as the sky god of the
Xiongnu The Xiongnu (, ) were a tribal confederation of Nomad, nomadic peoples who, according to ancient Chinese historiography, Chinese sources, inhabited the eastern Eurasian Steppe from the 3rd century BC to the late 1st century AD. Modu Chanyu, t ...
, using the Chinese form (''chēnglí'',
Old Chinese Old Chinese, also called Archaic Chinese in older works, is the oldest attested stage of Chinese language, Chinese, and the ancestor of all modern varieties of Chinese. The earliest examples of Chinese are divinatory inscriptions on oracle bones ...
). Tengrism formed from the various Turkic and Mongolic folk religions, which had a diverse number of deities, spirits and gods. Turkic folk religion was based on Animism and similar to various other religious traditions of Siberia, Central Asia and Northeast Asia. Ancestor worship played an important part in Tengrism. The cult of Heaven-Tengri is fixed by the Orkhon, or
Old Turkic script The Old Turkic script (also known variously as Göktürk script, Orkhon script, Orkhon-Yenisey script, Turkic runes) was the alphabet used by the Göktürks and other early Turkic peoples, Turkic khanates from the 8th to 10th centuries to recor ...
used by the
Göktürks The Göktürks (; ), also known as Türks, Celestial Turks or Blue Turks, were a Turkic people in medieval Inner Asia. The Göktürks, under the leadership of Bumin Qaghan (d. 552) and his sons, succeeded the Rouran Khaganate as the main powe ...
("celestial Turks") and other early
khanate A khanate ( ) or khaganate refers to historic polity, polities ruled by a Khan (title), khan, khagan, khatun, or khanum. Khanates were typically nomadic Mongol and Turkic peoples, Turkic or Tatars, Tatar societies located on the Eurasian Steppe, ...
s during the 8th to 10th centuries. Tengrism most probably existed in medieval states in
Eurasia Eurasia ( , ) is a continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. According to some geographers, Physical geography, physiographically, Eurasia is a single supercontinent. The concept of Europe and Asia as distinct continents d ...
, such as the Göktürk Khaganate, Western Turkic Khaganate,
Old Great Bulgaria Old Great Bulgaria (Medieval Greek: Παλαιά Μεγάλη Βουλγαρία, ''Palaiá Megálē Voulgaría''), also often known by the Latin names ''Magna Bulgaria'' and ''Patria Onoguria'' (" Onogur land"), was a 7th-century Turkic noma ...
, Danube Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria, and Eastern Tourkia (Khazaria) Turkic beliefs contains the sacral book '' Irk Bitig'' from Uyghur Khaganate. Tengrism also played a large role in the religion of
Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...
s as the primary state spirituality.
Genghis Khan Genghis Khan (born Temüjin; August 1227), also known as Chinggis Khan, was the founder and first khan (title), khan of the Mongol Empire. After spending most of his life uniting the Mongols, Mongol tribes, he launched Mongol invasions and ...
and several generations of his followers were Tengrian believers and "Shaman-Kings" until his fifth-generation descendant, Uzbeg Khan, turned to Islam in the 14th century. Old Tengrist prayers have come to us from ''
the Secret History of the Mongols The ''Secret History of the Mongols'' is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolic languages. Written for the Borjigin, Mongol royal family some time after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, it recounts his life and conquests, and parti ...
'' (13th century). The priests-prophets (''temujin'') received them, according to their faith, from the great deity/spirit ''Munkh Tenger''. Tengrism was probably similar with the folk traditions of the Tungusic peoples, such as the Manchu folk religion. Similarities with Korean shamanism and Wuism as well as Japanese
Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...
are also evident. According to Hungarian archaeological research, the religion of the
Magyars Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common culture, language and history. They also have a notable presence in former parts of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...
(
Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...
) until the end of the 10th century (before Christianity) was a form of Tengrism and Shamanism.István, Fodor
A magyarok ősi vallásáról (About the old religion of the Hungarians)
Vallástudományi Tanulmányok. 6/2004, Budapest, p. 17–19
Tengrists view their existence as sustained by the eternal blue sky (Tengri), the fertile mother-earth spirit ( Eje) and a ruler regarded as the chosen one by the holy spirit of the sky. Heaven, earth, spirits of nature and ancestors provide for every need and protect all humans. By living an upright, respectful life, a human will keep his world in balance and perfect his personal Wind Horse, or spirit. The Huns of the northern Caucasus reportedly believed in two gods: Tangri Han (or Tengri Khan), considered identical to the Persian
Esfandiyār Esfandiyār or Espandiyār (; ; ) is a legendary Iranian hero and one of the characters of Ferdowsi's ''Shahnameh (The Book of Kings)''. He was the son and the crown prince of the Kayanian King Goshtasp and Queen Katāyoun. He was the grandc ...
and for whom horses were sacrificed, and Kuar (whose victims are struck by lightning). Traditional Tengrism was more embraced by the nomadic Turks than by those residing in the lower mountains or forests. This belief influenced Turkic and Mongol religious history since ancient times until the 14th century, when the
Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as ''Ulug Ulus'' ( in Turkic) was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the division of ...
converted to
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
. Since then, Tengrism was mostly submerged by other religious ideas. Traditional Tengrism persists among the Mongols and in some Turkic and Mongolic influenced regions of Russia ( Sakha, Buryatia, and Tuva) in parallel with other religions.


Orkhon inscriptions

According to the Orkhon inscriptions, Tengri played a big role in choices of the kaghan, and in guiding his actions. Many of these were performed because "Heaven so ordained" ().


Arghun's letters

Arghun expressed the association of Tengri with imperial legitimacy and military success. The majesty (''suu'') of the khan is a divine stamp granted by Tengri to a chosen individual through which Tengri controls the world order (the presence of Tengri in the khan). In this letter, "Tengri" or "Mongke Tengri" ("Eternal Heaven") is at the top of the sentence. In the middle of the magnified section, the phrase ''Tengri-yin Kuchin'' ("Power of Tengri") forms a pause before it is followed by the phrase ''Khagan-u Suu'' ("Majesty of the Khan"): Arghun expressed Tengrism's non-dogmatic side. The name ''Mongke Tengri'' ("Eternal Tengri") is at the top of the sentence in this letter to Pope Nicholas IV, in accordance with Mongolian Tengriist writing rules. The words "Tngri" (Tengri) and "zrlg" (zarlig, decree/order) are still written with vowel-less archaism:


Tengrism in the ''Secret History of the Mongols''

Tengri is mentioned many times in ''
the Secret History of the Mongols The ''Secret History of the Mongols'' is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolic languages. Written for the Borjigin, Mongol royal family some time after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, it recounts his life and conquests, and parti ...
'', written in 1240. The book starts by listing the ancestors of Genghis Khan starting from Borte Chino (Blue Wolf) born with "destiny from Tengri". Borte Chino was either a heavenly wolf, a real man with the totemic name of a wolf or Modu Chanyu. Bodonchar Munkhag the 9th generation ancestor of Genghis Khan is called a "son of Tengri". When Temujin was brought to the Qongirat tribe at 9 years old to choose a wife, Dei Setsen of the Qongirat tells Yesugei the father of Temujin (Genghis Khan) that he dreamt of a white falcon, grasping the Sun and the Moon, come and sit on his hands. He identifies the Sun and the Moon with Yesugei and Temujin. Temujin then encounters Tengri in the mountains at the age of 12. The Taichiud had come for him when he was living with his siblings and mother in the wilderness, subsisting on roots, wild fruits, sparrows and fish. He was hiding in the thick forest of Terguun Heights. After three days hiding he decided to leave and was leading his horse on foot when he looked back and noticed his saddle had fallen. Temujin says "I can understand the belly strap can come loose, but how can the breast strap also come loose? Is Tengri persuading me?" He waited three more nights and decided to go out again but a tent-sized rock had blocked the way out. Again he said "Is Tengri persuading me?", returned and waited three more nights. Finally he lost patience after 9 days of hunger and went around the rock, cutting down the wood on the other side with his arrow-whittling knife, but as he came out the Taichiud were waiting for him there and promptly captured him.
Toghrul Toghrul ( ''Tooril han''; ), also known as Wang Khan or Ong Khan ( ''Wan han''; ; died 1203), was a Khan (title), khan of the Keraites. He was the blood brother (anda (Mongol), anda) of the Mongol chief Yesugei and served as an important early ...
later credits the defeat of the Merkits with Jamukha and Temujin to the "mercy of mighty Tengri" (paragraph 113). Khorchi of the Baarin tells Temujin of a vision given by "Zaarin Tengri" where a bull raises dust and asks for one of his horns back after charging the ger cart of Jamukha (Temujin's rival) while another ox harnessed itself to a bigger cart on the main road and followed Temujin, bellowing "Heaven and Earth have agreed to make Temujin the Lord of the nation and I am now carrying the nation to you". Temujin afterward tells his earliest companions Boorchi and Zelme that they will be appointed to the highest posts because they first followed him when he was "mercifully looked upon by Tengri" (paragraph 125). In the Battle of Khuiten, Buyuruk Khan and Quduga try using zad stones to cause a thunderstorm against Temujin but it backfires and they get stuck in slippery mud. They say "the wrath of Tengri is upon us" and flee in disorder (paragraph 143). Temujin prays to "father Tengri" on a high hill with his belt around his neck after defeating the Taichiud at Tsait Tsagaan Tal and taking 100 horses and 50 breastplates. He says "I haven't become Lord thanks to my own bravery, but I have defeated my enemies thanks to the love of my father mighty Tengri". When Nilqa Sengum the son of Toghrul Khan tries to convince him to attack Temujin, Toghrul says "How can I think evil of my son Temujin? If we think evil of him when he is such a critical support to us, Tengri will not be pleased with us". After Nilqa Sengum throws a number of tantrums Toghrul finally relents and says "I was afraid of Tengri and said how can I harm my son. If you are really capable, then you decide what you need to do". When Boorchi and Ogedei return wounded from the battle against Toghrul, Genghis Khan strikes his chest in anguish and says "May Eternal Tengri decide" (paragraph 172). Genghis Khan tells Altan and Khuchar "All of you refused to become Khan, that is why I led you as Khan. If you would have become Khan I would have charged first in battle and brought you the best women and horses if high Khukh Tengri showed us favor and defeated our enemies". After defeating the Keraits Genghis Khan says "By the blessing of Eternal Tengri I have brought low the Kerait nation and ascended the high throne" (paragraph 187). Genghis sends
Subutai Subutai (c. 1175–1248) was a Mongol general and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan. He ultimately directed more than 20 campaigns, during which he conquered more territory than any other commander in history a ...
with an iron cart to pursue the sons of Togtoa and tells him "If you act exposed though hidden, near though far and maintain loyalty then Supreme Tengri will bless you and support you" (paragraph 199). Jamukha tells Temujin "I had no trustworthy friends, no talented brothers and my wife was a talker with great words. That is why I have lost to you Temujin, blessed and destined by Father Tengri." Genghis Khan appoints Shikhikhutug chief judge of the Empire in 1206 and tells him "Be my eyes to see and ears to hear when I am ordering the empire through the blessing of Eternal Tengri" (paragraph 203). Genghis Khan appoints Muqali "Gui Wang" because he "transmitted the word of Tengri when I was sitting under the spreading tree in the valley of Khorkhunag Jubur where Hotula Khan used to dance" (paragraph 206). He gives Khorchi of the Baarin 30 wives because he promised Khorchi he would fulfill his request for 30 wives "if what you say comes true through the mercy and power of Tengri" (paragraph 207). Genghis mentions both Eternal Tengri and "heaven and earth" when he says "By the mercy of Eternal Tengri and the blessing of heaven and earth I have greatly increased in power, united all the great nation and brought them under my reins" (paragraph 224). Genghis orders Dorbei the Fierce of the Dorbet tribe to "strictly govern your soldiers, pray to Eternal Tengri and try to conquer the Khori Tumed people" (paragraph 240). After being insulted by Asha Khambu of the Tanguts of being a weak Khan Genghis Khan says "If Eternal Tengri blesses me and I firmly pull my golden reins, then things will become clear at that time" (paragraph 256). When Asha Khambu of the Tangut insults him again after his return from the Khwarezmian campaign Genghis Khan says "How can we go back (to Mongolia) when he says such proud words? Though I die I won't let these words slip. Eternal Tengri, you decide" (paragraph 265). After Genghis Khan "ascends to Tengri" (paragraph 268) during his successful campaign against the Tangut (Xi Xia) the wheels of the returning funeral cart gets stuck in the ground and Gilugdei Baatar of the Sunud says "My horse-mounted divine lord born with destiny from Khukh Tengri, have you abandoned your great nation?" Batu Khan sends a secret letter to Ogedei Khan saying "Under the power of the Eternal Tengri, under the Majesty of my uncle the Khan, we set up a great tent to feast after we had broken the city of Meged, conquered the Orosuud (Russians), brought in eleven nations from all directions and pulled on our golden reins to hold one last meeting before going our separate directions" (paragraph 275).


Contemporary Tengrism

A revival of Tengrism has played a role in search for native spiritual roots and Pan-Turkism ideology since the 1990s, especially in
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...
,
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
,
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
, some autonomous republics of the
Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
(
Tatarstan Tatarstan, officially the Republic of Tatarstan, sometimes also called Tataria, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in Eastern Europe. It is a part of the Volga Federal District; and its capital city, capital and largest city i ...
, Bashkortostan, Buryatia,
Yakutia Sakha, officially the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, and the largest federal subject of Russia by area. It is located in the Russian Far East, along the Arctic Ocean, with a population of one million ...
, and others), among the
Crimean Karaites Crimean Karaites or simply Karaites (Crimean Karaim language, Karaim: Кърымкъарайлар, ''Qrımqaraylar'', singular къарай, ''qaray''; Trakai dialect: ''karajlar'', singular ''karaj''; ; ; ), also known more broadly as Eastern E ...
and Crimean Tatars. After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, and especially after the proclamation of the Republic in 1923, a nationalist ideology of Turanism and Kemalism contributed to the revival of Tengrism. Islamic censorship was abolished, which allowed an objective study of the pre-Islamic religion of the Turks. The Turkish language was purified of Arabic, Persian and other borrowings. A number of figures, while they did not officially abandon Islam, adopted Turkic names, such as
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...
(''Atatürk'' – "father of Turks") and the historian of religion and ideologist of the Kemalist regime Ziya Gökalp (''Gökalp'' – "sky hero"). The prominent Turkish writer and historian Nihal Atsız was Tengrist and the ideologue of Turanism. The followers of Tengrism in the paramilitary organisation Grey Wolves, mainly inspired by his work, replace the Arabic designation of the god "Allah" with the Turkish "Tanri" in the oath and pronounce: "''Tanrı Türkü Korusun''" (''Tengri, bless the Türks!''). The most famous modern ideologues and theorists of Tengrism are (1944–2018), (1938–2003), Aron Atabek, (1955–2010), Rafael Bezertinov, Shagdaryn Bira, , (1947–2018), Mongush Kenin-Lopsan, (1958–2016), Choiun Omuraliyev, Dastan Sarygulov, and Olzhas Suleimenov. The poet, literary critic and Turkologist Olzhas Suleimenov, the eulogist of the Kazakh national identity, in his book ''AZ-and-IA'' that was banned after publication in 1975 in Soviet Kazakhstan, USSR, presented Tengrism ("Tengrianstvo") as one of the most ancient religions in the world. Tengrism's revival of an ethnic religion reached a larger audience in intellectual circles. Former Presidents of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev and Kyrgyzstan Askar Akayev have called Tengrism the national, "natural" religion of the Turkic peoples. So, during the 2002 trip to Khakassia, Russia, Akayev spoke out that a visit to the
Yenisei River The Yenisey or Yenisei ( ; , ) is the list of rivers by length, fifth-longest river system in the world, and the largest to drain into the Arctic Ocean. Rising in Mungaragiyn-gol in Mongolia, it follows a northerly course through Lake Baikal a ...
and the runic steles constituted "a pilgrimage to a holy place for the Kyrgyz" just as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Presenting Islam as foreign to the Turkic peoples, as Semitic religion together with Christianity and Judaism, adherents are found primarily among the nationalistic parties of Central Asia. Tengrism may be interpreted as a Turkic version of Russian neopaganism, which is already well-established. It is partly similar to the
new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as a new religion, is a religious or Spirituality, spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin, or they can be part ...
s, such as
New Age New Age is a range of Spirituality, spiritual or Religion, religious practices and beliefs that rapidly grew in Western world, Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclecticism, eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise d ...
. In Tatarstan, the only Tengrist periodical ''Beznen-Yul'' (Our Path) appeared in 1997, and also works a theorist of Tengrist movement Rafael Bezertinov. He writes:
Today it's hard to even say who the modern Turks and Mongols. Their names are 90% Arabic, Persian, Greek, Jewish, etc; religion is Semitic (Arabic, Christian, Jewish) and Indian; many do not know their philosophy and traditions; live by the laws and lifestyle of the West; clothes and their food is western; the alphabet is western; forgotten your kind and ancestors; they do not know the history of their folk; many city residents do not speak their native language. Who are they really and what do they have own for today? Only hereditary genes ...
The Yakut philologist Lazar Afanasyev-Teris, PhD founded Tengrist organisation "Kut-Siur" (now
Aiyy Faith __NOTOC__ The Aiyy Faith () is a neo-Tengrism, Tengrist Yakuts, Yakut religious organization that has been registered since 2015 in Yakutsk, Yakutia, Sakha Republic (Yakutia), Russia. It was established by the philologist and has a precursor in t ...
) in 1990–1993. The headquarters of the International Fund of Tengri Research is also located in Yakutsk. Several Kyrgyz politicians are advocating Tengrism to fill a perceived ideological void. Dastan Sarygulov, secretary of state and former chair of the Kyrgyz state gold-mining company, established in 2005 the Tengir Ordo—a civic group promoting the values and traditions of Tengrism—and an International scientific center of Tengrist studies. He based on the ideas of one of the first ideologists of pre-Islamic religion in the post-Soviet space, the Kyrgyz writer Choiun Omuraliyev alias Choiun uulu Omuraly, described in his book ''Tengrism'' (1994). Another Kyrgyz proponent of Tengrism, Kubanychbek Tezekbaev, was prosecuted for inciting religious and ethnic hatred in 2011 with statements in an interview describing Kyrgyz mullahs as "former alcoholics and murderers". At the same time, the Kyrgyz authorities do not go for the official registration of "Tengirchilik" (Теңирчилик) and other Tengrist associations. The ideology of de-Judaization and the revival of Tengrism is imbued with the works of the leaders of the
Crimean Karaites Crimean Karaites or simply Karaites (Crimean Karaim language, Karaim: Кърымкъарайлар, ''Qrımqaraylar'', singular къарай, ''qaray''; Trakai dialect: ''karajlar'', singular ''karaj''; ; ; ), also known more broadly as Eastern E ...
and Krymchaks of
Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
, who traditionally professed forms of
Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
(Igor Achkinazi (1954–2006), (1922–2019), and others). They are related to Tengrism or are part of it also movements within the framework of the anti-shamanistic Burkhanism (Ak Jang) that arose in 1904 in Altai (its famous proponents were the painter Grigory Gurkin and poet , 1938–2020) and the ethnic faith Vattisen Yaly in Chuvashia, Russia. Some of the Slavic Bulgarian proponents of the Native Faith in
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
identify themselves with the descendants of the Turkic
Bulgars The Bulgars (also Bulghars, Bulgari, Bolgars, Bolghars, Bolgari, Proto-Bulgarians) were Turkic peoples, Turkic Nomad, semi-nomadic warrior tribes that flourished in the Pontic–Caspian steppe and the Volga region between the 5th and 7th centu ...
and revive Tengrism. They are incorporated into the "Tangra Warriors Movement" (Bulgarian: Движение "Воини на Тангра"). Articles on Tengrism have been published in social-scientific journals. In 2003 in
Bishkek Bishkek, formerly known as Pishpek (until 1926), and then Frunze (1926–1991), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. Bishkek is situated near the Kazakhstan ...
, the Tengir Ordo Foundation held the first international scientific symposium on Tengrism "Tengrism—the worldview of the Altaic peoples". The conference "Tengrism as a new factor for the identity construction in Central Asia" was organized by the French Institute for Central Asia Studies in Almaty, Kazakhstan, 25 February 2005. Since 2007, every two years, International scientific conferences "Tengrism and the epic heritage of Eurasian nomads: origins and modernity" have been held in Russia, Mongolia and other countries (the first was sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and Spiritual Development of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia)).


Symbols and holy places

A symbol used by many Tengrists, representing the runic spelling of god Tengri and "shangrak" (an equilateral cross in a circle), depicting the roof opening of a yurt, and a shaman's drum. Many world-pictures and symbols are attributed to folk religions of Central Asia and Russian Siberia. Shamanistic religious symbols in these areas are often intermixed. For example, drawings of world-pictures on Altaic shamanic drums. See also: * Flag of Chuvashia * Flag of Kazakhstan * Flag of Kyrgyzstan * Flag of Sakha Republic * Göktürk coins * Gun Ana – the sun (featured in most flags) *
Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...
The tallest mountain peaks usually became sacred places. Since the time of the Turkic Khaganate, this is '' Otgontenger'' in Mongolia—perhaps, the '' Otuken'' of the old inscriptions, state ceremonies are held were. Among others: '' Belukha'' (or Üch-Sümer) in Russia's Altai, ''Khan Tengri'' alias Jengish Chokusu in Kyrgyzstan (not to be confused with the modern
Khan Tengri Khan Tengri is a mountain of the Tian Shan mountain range in Central Asia. It is on the China—Kyrgyzstan—Kazakhstan tripoint, east of lake Issyk-Kul, Issyk Kul in Kyrgyzstan. Its geologic elevation is , but its glacial icecap rises to ...
), and '' Burkhan Khaldun'' in Mongolia, associated with the name of Genghis Khan. Symbolic mountains are man-made shrines- ovoos.


Beliefs

Tengrism is an animistic all-encompassing system of belief that includes medicine, religion, a reverence of nature, and ancestor worship. Turkic spiritual wisdom has no finalized condition, but is dialogical and discursive. Tengrism as a monotheistic religion developed only at the imperial level in aristocratic circles.


Gods

Tengrism is centered on the worship of the Tengri (gods) and the sky deity Tengri (Heaven, God of Heaven). This is similar to
Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...
and Tengri is often linked to the Chinese Tian. ''Kök Tengri'' (Blue Sky) is the sky deity and often considered as the highest god. It is known as ''Tangara'' to the Yakut. While Gök Tengri always remains abstract, never depicted in anthropomorphic or zoomorphic forms, other deities are often personified. " Itugen, an earth or fertility deity" often accompanied Tengri. The total number of deities believed to exist varies from population to population. Deities may be related to natural aspects of the world, such as
earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
,
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
,
fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...
,
the Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
, the Moon,
star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...
s, air, clouds,
wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...
,
storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...
s,
thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...
and
lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...
, and
rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...
and
rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
s. Animals were thought to be totemistic symbols for specific gods, like the sheep being associated with fire, cows with water, horses with wind, and camels with earth. Other deities include: * Umay ("placenta, afterbirth") is the goddess of children and babies' souls. She is the daughter of Tengri. *Öd Tengri is the god of time. However, he is not discussed often in Tengrist texts. *Boz Tengri, like Öd Tengri, is not known much. He is seen as the god of the grounds and steppes and is a son of Kök Tengri. * Kayra is the primordial god of highest sky, upper air,
space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...
, atmosphere,
light Light, visible light, or visible radiation is electromagnetic radiation that can be visual perception, perceived by the human eye. Visible light spans the visible spectrum and is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400– ...
, and life, and is a son of Kök Tengri. * Ülgen is the son of Kayra and Umay and is the god of
good In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil. The specific meaning and etymology of the term and its ...
ness. The Aruğ (Arı) denotes "good spirits" in Turkic and Altaic mythology. They are under the order of Ülgen and do good things on earth. * Mergen is the son of Kayra and the brother of Ülgen. He represents mind and intelligence and sits on the seventh floor of the sky. * Erlik is the god of death and the underworld, known as Tamag. * Ay Dede is the
moon god A lunar deity or moon deity is a deity who represents the Moon, or an aspect of it. These deities can have a variety of functions and traditions depending upon the culture, but they are often related. Lunar deities and Moon worship can be foun ...
. Another god is Natigai, who was the god of pregnancy, children, livestock, wives, and health. The highest group in the pantheon consisted of 99 ''tngri'' (55 of them benevolent or "white" and 44 terrifying or "black"); 77 "earth-spirits"; and others. The '' tngri'' were called upon only by leaders and great shamans and were common to all the clans. After these, three groups of ancestral spirits dominated. The "Lord-Spirits" were the souls of clan leaders to whom any member of a clan could appeal for physical or spiritual help. The "Protector-Spirits" included the souls of great shamans and shamanesses. The "Guardian-Spirits" were made up of the souls of smaller shamans and shamanesses and were associated with a specific locality (including mountains, rivers, etc.) in the clan's territory. Non-human beings ('' İye''), neither necessarily personified nor deitified, are revered as sacred essence of things. These beings include natural phenomena such as sacred trees or mountains.


Three-world cosmology

The Tengrist cosmology proposes a division between the upper worlds (heaven), the Earth, and the world of darkness (underworld). These worlds are inhabited by different beings, often spirits or deities. A shaman (''kam'') could through mental powers communicate with these spirits. The worlds are not entirely separated, they have constant influence on the Earth. In
Turkic mythology Turkic mythology refers to myths and legends told by the Turkic people. It features Tengrism, Tengrist and Shamanism in Central Asia, Shamanist strata of belief along with many other social and cultural constructs related to the nomadic and wa ...
within
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
n
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
n religious systems there is the "celestial world", the ground to which "Earth-Water" (Yer-Su) belongs too, and the "underworld" ruled by the spirits beneath the earth. They are connected through the " Tree of Worlds" or
Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...
in the center of the worlds. The celestial and the subterranean world are divided into seven layers, although there are variations (the underworld sometimes nine layers and the celestial world 17 layers). Shamans can recognize entries to travel into these realms. In the multiples of these realms, there are beings, living just like humans on the earth. They also have their own respected souls and shamans and nature spirits. Sometimes these beings visit the earth, but are invisible to people. They manifest themselves only in a strange sizzling fire or a bark to the shaman.


Heavenly world

The heavens are inhabited by righteous souls, the Creator and the protector deities.Ferhat ASLAN ''THE DRAGON MOTIF IN ANATOLIAN LEGENDS'' Uluslararası Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi The Journal of International Social Research Cilt: 7 Sayı: 29 Volume: 7 Issue: 29 www.sosyalarastirmalar.com Issn: 1307-9581 p. 37 The celestial world has many similarities with the earth, but as undefiled by humans. There is a healthy, untouched nature here, and the natives of this place have never deviated from the traditions of their ancestors. This world is much brighter than the earth and is under the auspices of Ulgen another son of Tengri. Shamans can also visit this world. On some days, the doors of this heavenly world are opened and the light shines through the clouds. During this moment, the prayers of the shamans are most influential. A shaman performs his imaginary journey, which takes him to the heavens, by riding a black bird, a deer or a horse or by going into the shape into these animals. Otherwise he may scale the World-Tree or pass the
rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...
to reach the heavenly world.


Subterranean world

The underworld is the abode of wicked souls, devils and evil deities. There are many similarities between the earth and the underworld and its inhabitants resemble humans, but have only two souls instead of three. They lack the "Ami soul", that produces body temperature and allows breathing. Therefore, they are pale and their blood is dark. The sun and the moon of the underworld give far less light than the sun and the moon of the earth. There are also forests, rivers and settlements underground. Erlik Khan (Mongolian: Erleg Khan), one of the sons of Tengri, is the ruler of the underworld. He controls the souls here, some of them waiting to be reborn again. Extremely evil souls were believed to be extinguished forever in Ela Guren. If a sick human is not dead yet, a shaman can move to the underworld to negotiate with Erlik to bring the person back to life. If he fails, the person dies.


Souls

It is believed that people and animals have many souls. Generally, each person is considered to have three souls, but the names, characteristics and numbers of the souls may be different among some of the tribes: For example,
Samoyeds The Samoyedic peoples (sometimes Samodeic peoples) are a group of closely related peoples who speak Samoyedic languages, which are part of the Uralic languages, Uralic family. They are a linguistic, ethnic, and cultural grouping. The name derive ...
, a Uralic tribe living in the north of Siberia, believe that women consist of four and men of five souls. Since animals also have souls, humans must respect animals. According to Paulsen and Jultkratz, who conducted research in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
,
North Asia North Asia or Northern Asia () is the northern region of Asia, which is defined in geography, geographical terms and consists of three federal districts of Russia: Ural Federal District, Ural, Siberian Federal District, Siberian, and the Far E ...
and
Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...
, two souls of this belief are the same to all people: * ''Nefes'' (''Breath'' or '' Nafs'', life or bodily spirit) * Shadow soul / Free soul There are many different names for human souls among the Turkic and the Mongolic peoples, but their features and meanings have not been adequately researched yet. * Among Turks: Özüt, Süne, Kut, Sür, Salkin, Tin, Körmös, Yula * Among Mongols: Sünesün, Amin, Kut, Sülde In addition to these spirits, Jean Paul Roux draws attention to the "Özkonuk" spirit mentioned in the writings from the Buddhist periods of the Uighurs. Julie Stewart, who devoted her life to research in Mongolia described the belief in the soul in one of her articles: * Amin: Provides breathing and body temperature. It is the soul which invigorates. (The Turkish counterpart is probably ''Özüt'') * Sünesün: Outside of the body, this soul moves through water. It is also the part of soul, which reincarnates. After a human died, this part of the soul moves to the world-tree. When it is reborn, it comes out of a source and enters the new-born. (Also called ''Süne ruhu'' among Turks) * Sülde: It is the soul of the self that gives a person a personality. If the other souls leave the body, they only loss consciousness, but if this soul leaves the body, the human dies. This soul resides in nature after death and is not reborn.


Anthropology

Humans are the product of (father) heaven and (mother) earth. Records of Old Turkish inscriptions tell about the beginning of humans as follows: By that, Tengrism favors an ecocentric theological system over an anthropocentric one. Humans are considered to be part of nature rather than above. Thus, Tengrism sanctifies human's relationship with nature (which might be personified or not) and their relationship with the sky. Contrary to Abrahamic account on anthropogeny, Tengrism does not place humans above nature, rather considers mankind as part of nature without any special rank assigned by God. Some people are believed to inherited spiritual powers, called ''kam'' or ''baksy'' in Kazakh (shamans). The kam is believed to mediate between nature and humans. A shaman might (mentally) transform herself into an animal, hence, transferring wisdom of animals towards humans.


Creation Story

There is no unified creation story among Tengrist beliefs. Jens Peter Laut states that Tengrism is based on a constantization of the world rather than on traditional doctrines. However, it is possible to reconstruct beliefs by passed down narratives. According to the "Fire Prayer", it is implied that heaven and earth were once one, but separated later, giving birth to
Fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...
(''Od''). After the separation of heaven and earth, life on earth came into being; through the rains of the heavens, then from earth sproud various life forms. For that reason, heaven is associated with father and earth with mother.


Tengrism and Buddhism

The 17th century Mongolian chronicle Altan Tobchi (''Golden Summary'') contains references to Tengri. Tengrism was assimilated into Buddhism in Mongolia, Mongolian Buddhism while surviving in purer forms only in far-northern Mongolia. Tengrist formulas and ceremonies were subsumed into the state religion. This is similar to the Shinbutsu-shūgō, fusion of Buddhism and Shinto in Japan. The Altan Tobchi contains the following prayer at its very end: The figure of the God of War (Daichin Tengri) was iconographically depicted in Buddhist-influenced form and carried into battle by certain armies even in the modern era. During the Napoleonic Wars the Kalmyks, Kalmyk prince Serebzhab Tyumen (1774-1858) and 500 Kalmyks of his Second Cavalry Regiment, as well as 500 Kalmyks of the First Regiment of Prince Jamba-Taishi Tundutov, carried the yellow banner of Daichin Tengri (as well as Okhin Tengri) through the battles of Borodino, Warsaw, Leipzig, Battle of Fère-Champenoise, Fère-Champenoise (1814) as well as the capture of Paris. In early 1921 the Buddhist Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg (1886-1921) was reportedly recognized as the God of War (Daichin Tengri) by the Bogd Khan of Mongolia. James Palmer in his book "The Bloody White Baron" quotes Ossendowski who claims that Baron Ungern's imminent death in 130 days was foretold on three separate occasions. First by two monks in the "Shrine of Prophecies" of Urga (Ulaanbaatar) who cast dice and came up with the number 130, then by the Bogd Khan himself who said "You will not die but you will be incarnated in the highest form of being. Remember that, Incarnated God of War, Khan of grateful Mongolia" and finally by a female shaman in the ger of the Buryat prince Djambolon. Ossendowski relates: File:Иллюстрация к статье «Калмыцкое войско». Военная энциклопедия Сытина (Санкт-Петербург, 1911-1915).jpg, Banner of Daichin Tengri carried into battle during the Napoleonic Wars File:Kalmyk princes Tyumenevy (by K. Hampeln).jpg, Serebzhab Tyumen (seated) carried the Banner of Daichin Tengri into the Battle of Fère-Champenoise (1814). File:Ungern-Sternberg-1920.jpg, Baron Ungern was called the God of War (Daichin Tengri) by certain Mongols.


Tengrism and Islam


Conversion

When Turks converted to Islam, they probably assimilated their beliefs to Islam via Sufism, identifying Dervishes as something akin to shamans. In the writings of Ahmad Yasawi, both Tengrist elements as well as Islamic themes can be found. For example, Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad features as the prototype of human's way to unite with God, while simultaneously referring to God as both ''kok tangir'' (Gök Tengri) or ''Allah''. According to Yasawi, humans should seek to purify their soul to harmonize with God and the world. Turkic and Mongolic peoples in Central Asian largely converted to Islam during the fourteenth century. However, they were not focusing on the laws, memorization and conformity offered by Islam, but were focused on the inwardly and personal experience. Thus, many scholars argued for a syncretism between Orthodox-Islam, Sufism, and pre-Islamic Turkic religion. Sociologist Rakhat Achylova studied how aspects of Tengrism were adopted into a Islam in Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyz form of Islam. Muslim Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, around the year 1075, described the non-Islamic Turks as infidels: "The infidels – may God destroy them! – call the sky Tengri, also anything that is imposing in their eyes call Tengri, such as a great mountain or tree, and they bow down to such things." The Medieval Age Syriac historian Michael the Syrian (1166–1199) describes the Turks conversation from Tengrism to Islam in one of his surviging text fragments.Mario Conterno "The Conversation of the Turks" in "Conversion to Islam in the Premodern Age: A Sourcebook" Univ of California Press 2020 p. 193-195 He mentions three reasons on how the Turks converted:
First: as we said above, the Turks have always proclaimed one God, already in their land of origin, even though they considered the invisible firmament as God. [...] They think in fact that the sky is the unique God. So when they heard the Arabs speak about one God, they adhered to their religion (nqapu l-tawdithun). The second way: the Turks who came first and went to the land of Margiana [the region of Merv in today's Turkmenistan] and settled there arrived at the time of the Persians. After a while Muhammad appeared and was accepted by the Arabs, and then by the Persians too. [...] So the Turks who had migrated to the land of Margiana joined (etnaqapu) Islam, just like the Persian people and the race of the Kurds. And when the new Turks who arrived afterwards met their people and those who spoke their language, they also turned to the customs they found the others had taken up, following their lead. The third way of the Turk's union with the Tayyaye [Arabs] was the following: since the Arabs used to take the Turks with them as mercenaries in the war against the Greeks, and they would enter these propserous regions and feed on the booty, they would listen to the Arabs and accept the word of Muhammad who said that by giving up the worship of idols and other created things [...]."
Recently, the syncretism-theory has been challenged. Scholars argued that an orthodox Islam simply did not exist during the Medieval period and has been a product of Modernism, Modernization, thus there has been no strong distinction between Islam and Pre-Islamic Turkic beliefs when the first Turkic empires converted. First contact between shamanistic Turks and Islam took place during the Battle of Talas against the Chinese Tang dynasty. Many shamanistic beliefs were considered as genuinely Islamic by many average Muslims and are still prevalent today. Turkic Tengrism further influenced parts of Sufism and Folk Islam, especially Alevism with Bektashi Order, whose affiliation to Islam became disputed in the late Ottoman period.


Contemporary views

Tengrism is based on personal relationship with the gods and spirits and personal experiences, which cannot be set in writings; thus there can be no prophet, holy scripture, place of worship, clergy, dogma, rite and prayers. In contrast, orthodox
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
is based on a written corpus. Doctrines and Sharia, religious law derive from the Quran and are explained by hadith. In this regard, both belief systems are fundamentally distinct.Aigle, Denise (2014). ''The Mongol Empire between Myth and Reality: Studies in Anthropological History'', BRILL p. 107 Modern Tengrists see themselves as separate from the Abrahamic religions. According to some modern believers, by praying to the god of Islam the Turkic peoples would give their energy to the Jews and not to themselves ( Aron Atabek). It excludes the experiences of other nations, but offers Semitic history as if it were the history of all humanity. The principle of submission (both in Islam as well as in Christianity) is disregarded as one of the major failings. It allows rich people to abuse the ordinary people and makes human development stagnant. They advocate Turanism and abandonment of Islam as an Arab religion ( Nihal Atsız and others). Prayer from the heart can only be in native language, not Arabic. On the contrary, others assert that Tengri is indeed synonymous with Allah and that Turkic ancestors did not leave their former belief behind, but simply accepted ''Allah'' as new expression for ''Tengri''. Shoqan Walikhanov asserts, only the names but not the thoughts became Islamic. Thus, "Gök Tengri" (the "blue Sky") was called ''Allah'', the "spirit of the earth" ''Iblis, Shaitan'', demons became ''div'', ''peri'' or ''jinn'', but the idea behind them remained shamanic.


Tengrism and Christianity

Hulegu Khan sent a letter in Latin to King Louis IX of France on April 10, 1262, from his capital Maragheh in Iran. Kept in the Vienna National Library as MS 339, it is both an invitation for joint operations against the Mamluks as well as an imperious command to submit. The letter provides key insights into the Mongols' understanding of Tengrism's relationship to Christianity as well as furnishing one of the first Latin transcriptions of Tengri. Only a few sentences from the lengthy letter are shown below (those with relevancy to Tengrism): The letter largely propounds the usual Mongol ideology and understanding of Tengrism with mentions of the supreme shaman Kokochu Teb Tengri. All meanings of Tengri including the sky, the most high God and "a god" are implied in the letter. Jesus Christ is called ''Misicatengrin'' or Messiah-Tengri in the letter. The ''Misica'' is from Syriac ''mshiha'' (Messiah, Christ) as opposed to Arabic ''masih''. Another Syriac word in the letter is ''Barachmar'' (greetings). This points to the well-known Nestorianism, Nestorian heritage within the Mongol Empire which used Syriac as its liturgical language. The Mongolian letter of Arghun Khan to Pope Nicholas IV (1290) also uses the word Misica for Christ. William of Rubruck reported that Arig Boke, brother of Hulegu Khan, used the word Messiah near Karakorum in 1254 (Then they began to blaspheme against Christ, but Arabuccha stopped them saying: "You must not speak so, for we know that the Messiah is God"). There are elements of syncretism between Tengrism and Nestorian Christianity with overlapping notions of monotheism and a traditional view of Christ as ''Misicatengrin'' probably dating back to the Keraites, Keraite conversion in 1007. In Hulegu's letter Tengrism takes the overarching, non-dogmatic role and contains Nestorianism as a compatible subset, in line with the religious pluralism practiced by the Mongols. Hulegu himself was not strictly a Christian, although his wife, his general Kitbuqa and mother were Nestorians. He was a Tengriist whose Nestorian interests were of the Mongol, syncretic type. His successor Abaqa Khan would take part in the Ninth Crusade with the future Edward I of England, King Edward of England in 1271 and also storm the Krak des Chevaliers in February 1281 with the Hospitallers of Margat. Due to the claim that there is only one eternal Tengri in heaven, many Christians believed ''Tengri'' refers to the Christian God. However, it is clear from Letter from Güyük Khan to Pope Innocent IV, a letter by Güyük Khan, sent to the Pope, that the Mongols will not convert to Christianity, because they would not obey the word of ''Möngke Tengri'' (Eternal God).


Contemporary Age


Mongolia

In
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
, Tengrism has not died out and is still practised by about 2.5 percent of the population. The Western peoples and Southern peoples are known to have the highest number of Tengrism practitioners. In Mongolian language, Mongolian, Tengrism is often referred to as “бөө мөргөл” or “böö mörgöl”. In an interview about Mongolian shamanism, Tengrism is explained as the belief that the universe has its own order, that no one could change that order, and that one can only live in harmony with it by understanding the heavenly powers and how it affects human lives, and regulating one's life according to that. The "Great Khan" is quoted saying: "I am doing this work with the grace of the Eternal Heaven.", which is interpreted as stating that his actions are not accidental, but that the universe was calculated to be appropriate for doing such act.


Modern revival

"Tengrism" is the term for a revival of Central Asian shamanism after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
. In
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...
, Tengrism was suggested as a Pan-Turkic national ideology following the Kyrgyzstani presidential election, 2005, 2005 presidential elections by an ideological committee chaired by state secretary Dastan Sarygulov. Kyrgyzstan counts no fewer than 50,000 followers of Tengri today. An attempt was made by Tengrist followers in Kyrgyzstan to get recognition of the religion by collecting 5,000 signatures and submitted to government. But the government did not recognize it. Some campaigners accused the Muslim leaders of Kyrgyzstan of lobbying the government. Murat Auezov, former head of the National Public Library of
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
, regards Tengrism as a manifestation of an worldview in which mankind is identified with nature, in contrast to anthropocentric religions. According to Kazakh writer Ulyana Fatyanova, Tengrism does not have a specific set of laws, the laws of Tengri cannot be broken, as Tengri's laws are the laws of the universe (which might include physics, karma, Spirit (vital essence), spirits, gods and so on). Turkish people, Turkish lawyer Burhanettin Mumcuoğlu became the first person in
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
to officially change his religion from
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
to Tengrism in 2022.


Demographics

In
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
, there are over 1 million people following Tengrism as of 2024. It has not been recognized as one of the official religions there. In Kyrgyzstan, there are about 50,000 people following Tengrism, as of 2014. It has not been recognized as a religion there.


See also

* Heaven worship * Hungarian Native Faith * List of Tengrist movements * List of Tengrist states and dynasties * Manzan Gurme Toodei * Nardoqan * Religion in China * Uralic neopaganism


Footnotes


Bibliography


Secondary sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * —— (2005). 'Political Background of the Old Turkic Religion' in: Oelschlägel, Nentwig, Taube (eds), ''"Roter Altai, gib dein Echo!"'' (FS Taube), Leipzig, pp. 260–65. * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Vol. 149 (149-1), pp. 49–82Vol. 149 (149-2), pp. 197–230Vol. 150 (150-1), pp. 27–54Vol. 150 (150-2), pp. 173–212
* ——. ''Tengri.'' In: ''Encyclopedia of Religion'', Vol. 13, pp. 9080–82. * * * * * * * * *


Modern Tengrist authors

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Shaimerdinova, N. "Tengrism in the life of Turkic peoples". In: ''Religion and State in the Altaic World: Proceedings of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Permanent International Altaistic Conference (PIAC), Friedensau, Germany, August 18–23, 2019''. Edited by Oliver Corff, Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2022, pp. 177–182. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110730562-016


External links


International Fund of Tengri Research
– official website
TÜRIK BITIG
– Turkic Inscriptions and Manuscripts, and Learn Old Turkic Writings – website of Language Committee of Ministry of Culture and Information of the Kazakhstan, Republic of Kazakhstan {{Paganism Tengriism, Turkic mythology Asian shamanism Ethnic religions in Asia Polytheism Mongol mythology Mongolian shamanism Siberian shamanism