Tengri Qaghan (
Old Turkic
Old Siberian Turkic, generally known as East Old Turkic and often shortened to Old Turkic, was a Siberian Turkic language spoken around East Turkistan and Mongolia. It was first discovered in inscriptions originating from the Second Turkic Kh ...
: 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃:𐰴𐰍𐰣) (734 or 739 or 740 – 741) was the sixth ruler of the
Second Turkic Khaganate
The Second Turkic Khaganate was a khaganate in Central and Eastern Asia founded by the Ashina clan of the Göktürks that lasted between 682–744. It was preceded by the Eastern Turkic Khaganate (552–630) and the early Tang dynasty period ( ...
.
Background
He was the second son of the fourth ruler,
Bilge Khagan
Bilge Qaghan (; ; 683 – 25 November 734) was the fourth khagan, Qaghan of the Second Turkic Khaganate. His accomplishments were described in the Orkhon inscriptions.
Names
As was the custom, his personal name and the name after assuming the t ...
, and was preceded by his elder brother
Yollig Khagan. Tengri was a minor and dominated by his mother
Po Beg.
Reign
In 740,
Xuanzong sent his envoy Li Zhi (李質) who declared him Tengri Khagan. His mother
El Bilge Khatun and chancellor Yusi Tarkhan (飫斯達幹)
conspired together to centralize the state and kill the cousins who were ruling as governors in the west and the east. While they succeeded in killing the western shad, the eastern shad
Pan Kul Tigin rebelled and marched on the capital. He captured Tengri and executed him, causing his mother and regent
El Bilge Khatun to flee.
After death
Pan Kul Tigin crowned another brother of Tengri in 741 and himself as regent. However, he was soon defeated by rebelling
Basmyl
The Basmyls (''Basmyl''; Basmals, Basmils, , , Middle Chinese ZS: *''bˠɛt̚-siɪt̚-miɪt̚/mˠiɪt̚/miᴇ''; or as 弊剌 ''Bìlà'', MC *''bjiejH-lat'')Golden, Peter B. ''An Introduction to the History of Turkic Peoples'', p. 142-143 were a ...
chief
Ashina Shi (阿史那施), another rebel who was his nephew.
References
Sources
*
Christoph Baumer, History of Central Asia, volume 2, p 263.
*
Lev Gumilyov, The Ancient Turks, 1967, Chapters xxiii+xxvi (long account in Russian at
{{Göktürks
Göktürk khagans
730s births
740s deaths
Year of birth uncertain
Year of death uncertain