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Khan of Heaven

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Khan of Heaven or Tian Kehan, Celestial Kha(ga)n, Heavenly Kha(ga)n, Tengri Kha(ga)n (Chinese: 天可汗; pinyin: Tiān Kèhán; Wade–Giles: T'ien K'ehan; Old Turkic: 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃𐰴𐰍𐰣‬) was a title addressed to the Emperor Taizong of Tang by various Turkic nomads.[1][2] It was first mentioned in accounts on May 20, 630 and again on October 24, 646, shortly after the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and Xueyantuo were annihilated by the Tang dynasty.[3][4] A later letter sent by the Tang court to the Yenisei Kirghiz Qaghan explained that "the peoples of the northwest" had requested Emperor Taizong of Tang to become the "Heavenly Qaghan".[5]

According to Jonathan Karam Skaff, the title deviated from both Chinese and Turkic orthodoxy by bridging them through centering Heaven as the supreme deity in both cultures. The title conferred the right to rule and acknowledged the equality of Chinese and Turkic peoples within the Tang Empire.[6]

The title remained in use by Taizong's successors until 779 AD, including Wu Zetian who assumed the title along with also the masculine form of the title emperor ("Huangdi", rather than "Nühuang" or "Huanghou", an empress) from 685 to 705.[7] The title "Khan of Heaven" was used in two appeal letters from the Turkic hybrid rulers, Ashina Qutluγ Ton Tardu in 727, the Yabgu of Tokharistan, and Yina Tudun Qule in 741, the king of Tashkent, addressed the Emperor Xuanzong of Tang as Tian Kehan during the Umayyad expansion.[8][9]


See also

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References

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Citations

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  1. ↑ Liu, 79
  2. ↑ Kenneth Scott Latourette (1964). The Chinese, their history and culture, Volumes 1-2 (4, reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 144. Retrieved February 8, 2012. territories within his empire. He took the title "Heavenly Khan," thus designating himself as their ruler. A little later the Western Turks, although then at the height of their power, were badly defeated, and the Uighurs, a Turkish tribe, were detached from them and became sturdy supporters of the T'ang in the Gobi. The Khitan, Mongols in Eastern Mongolia and Southern Manchuria, made their submission (630). In the Tarim basin
  3. ↑ Liu, 74-76
  4. ↑ Skaff 2012, pp. 120-121.
  5. ↑ Michael Robert Drompp (2005). Tang China and the collapse of the Uighur Empire: a documentary history. Vol. 13 of Brill's Inner Asian library (illustrated ed.). BRILL. p. 126. ISBN 90-04-14129-4. Retrieved February 8, 2012. the successes of Emperor Taizong of Tang and to his taking the title of "Heavenly Qaghan" at the request of "the peoples of the northwest" in 630/631. The letter goes on to describe how Taizong's envoy was sent to pacify the Kirghiz in 632/633 and how in 647/648 a Kirghiz chieftain came to the Tang court where he was granted titles, including commander-in-chief of the Kirghiz (Jian-kun). All of this implied Kirghiz subordination to Tang authority, at least in Chinese eyes. According to the letter, Kirghiz tribute had come to the Tang court "uninterruptedly" until the end of the Tianbao reign period (742-756) when Kirghiz contact with the Tang state was cut off by the rise of Uighur power in Mongolia.
  6. ↑ Skaff 2026, p. 209-2012.
  7. ↑ 朱振宏《唐代“皇帝·天可汗”释义》，《汉学研究》第21卷第1期，2003年
  8. ↑ Bai, 230
  9. ↑ Xue, 674-675

Sources

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  • Bai, Shouyi et al. (2003). A History of Chinese Muslim (Vol. 2). Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company. ISBN 7-101-02890-X.
  • Liu, Yitang (1997). Studies of Chinese Western Regions. Taipei: Cheng Chung Book Company. ISBN 957-09-1119-0.
  • Skaff, Jonathan Karam (2026), Silk Roads, Steppe Roads: History Unearthed from the Tombs of Medieval China, Princeton University Press
  • Xue, Zongzheng (1992). A History of Turks. Beijing: Chinese Social Sciences Press. ISBN 7-5004-0432-8.
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