Tonyukuk
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Tonyukuk (died c. 724 AD, known as 暾欲谷 in Chinese sources) was the yabgu and commander-in-chief of four Göktürk khagans, the best known of whom is Bilge Khan. He played a major role in the revival of local Turkic tribes and establishment of the Göktürk state. His biography, achievements and advices for state administration were carved (in the so-called Orkhon-Turkic script) on two stelae at the site of Tsagaan-Ovoo (Mongolia, Töv aimag, near Nalaikh).[1]
Translation of the inscription (by Yastanovog):
I, wise Tonyukuk, was brought up under the influence of China, because at that time the Turk nation was under Chinese rule. I longed for the day when the Turk nation would have a Khan. The Turk nation separated from China and got a Khan. But very soon they rejected their Khan and submitted to the Chinese. It was then that the Decree of Tengri (Heaven) was heard: I gave you a Khan but you abandoned your Khan and submitted to others. Tengri was displeased and when he made the Turks die they died and were ruined.
In the land of the Turks there was no longer any state. A few who hadn't submitted to others gathered together and became 700 in number. Two parts of them rode horses while one part walked on foot. The leader of these 700 was the Shad (name of a high ranking official). He called out to people to follow him. Among those who followed him was I, wise Tonyukuk. I wished to make him Khan indeed, but like the saying goes, from afar it is hard to distinguish a fat deer from a thin deer. Later Tengri in his grace gave me Bilge so I made him Khan. Since beside me there was Baila Baga Darkhan...(?) in order to make Elteres a Khan I vanquished China to the south, Khitan to the east and the many Oghuz to the north. At that time we were camped at Tsughui Khoji and Khara Ghom. There I camped eating deer and rabbits. The people's belly was full. Our enemies were around us encircling like flesh-eating birds. That was the state we were in. We were there when a scout came from the Oghuz saying: ... (to be translated later)
When I heard these words of the scout I became sleepless during the night and restless during the day. I then spoke to my Khan, thus said I: if China, Oghuz and Khitan become allies we are doomed. It will be as if by blind fate we were shattered by a rock. It is easy to bend something when it's soft, to rip something when it's thin. If something soft becomes hard one needs heroic strength to bend it. If someting thin becomes thick one needs heroic strength to rip it. We ourselves have two to three thousand soldiers. Let us ride to Khitan in the east, to the Western Turks in the west and Oghuz in the south. It is best. When Khan accepted my words, I, wise Tonyukuk, executed the deed myself. He (the Khan) said "You yourself lead them." We went by Hug Jung and I... (to be translated later)
- ^ For the site see Sören Stark Die Alttürkenzeit in Mittel- und Zentralasien. Archäologische und historische Studien (Nomaden und Sesshafte, Band 6), Reichert: Wiesbaden 2008, pp. 75-76
