BELIEFS AND MYTHS OF ANCIENT TURKS

The Wolf symbolizes honour and is also considered the mother of most Turkic peoples. Asena
(Ashina Tuwu) is the wolf mother of Bumen, the first Khan of the Göktürks.
The Horse is also one of the main figures of Turkic mythology; Turks considered the horse an
extension of the individual -though generally dedicated to the male- and see that one is
complete with it. This might have led to or sourced from the term “At-Beyi” (Horse-Lord).
The legend of Timur (Temir) is the most ancient and well-known. Timur found a strange
stone that fell from the sky (an iron ore meteorite), making the first iron sword from it. Today,
the word “temir” or “timur” means “iron”.

Turkic mythology was influenced by other local mythologies. For example, in Tatar
mythology elements of Finnic and Indo-European myth co-exist. Subjects from Tatar
mythology include Äbädä, Şüräle, Şekä, Pitsen, Tulpar, and Zilant.

The Legend of Oghuz Khan is a central political mythology for Turkic peoples of Central
Asia and eventually the Oghuz Turks who ruled in Anatolia. Versions of this narratives have
been found in the histories of Rashid ad-Din Tabib, in an anonymous 14th c? Uyghur vertical
script manuscript now in Paris, and in Abu’l Ghazi’s Shajara at-Turk and has been translated
into Russian and German.

Yer Tanrı is the goddess of earth in Turkic mythology.

With her husband, Gök Tanrı, she was the parent of Ay Tanrı, Umay, Ülgen, Koyash, and
Erlik. As a fertility goddess, she was recognized as the giver of crops and abundance. In the
spring and in the autumn — before the beginning of the agricultural season and after the
harvest — she was worshiped with sacrifices of food.

Earth
Abode World
Symbol Beautiful woman
Parents none
Umay
Ülgen
Children Koyash
Erlik
Ay Tanrı
 TENGRI
Tengri (Proto-Turkic *teŋri / *taŋrɨ, from a Proto-Altaic *taŋgiri meaning oath or sky), is
one of the names for the primary chief deity in the religion of the early Turkic (Xiongnu,
Hunnic, Bulgar) and Mongolic (Xianbei) peoples.

Worship of Tengri is sometimes referred to as Tengriism. The core beings in Tengriism are
Sky-Father (Tengri/Tenger Etseg) and Mother Earth (Eje/Gazar Eej). It involved shamanism,
animism, totemism and ancestor worship.

Name

spelling of tengri in the Orkhon script.

The oldest form of the name is recorded in Chinese annals of the 4th century BC, describing
the beliefs of the Xiongnu. It takes the form cheng-li, which is identifed as the regular
Chinese transcription of tängri. Later Chinese sources give a trisyllabic teng-ning-li or teng-
yi-li.

The Proto-Turkic form of the word is reconstructed as *teŋri or *taŋrɨ. The cognate
Mongolian taŋɣaraɣ means "oath". Stefan Georg (2001) has suggested an ultimately
Yeniseian origin, from a *tɨŋgVr- "high". Alternatively, an Altaic etymology *t`aŋgiri "oath,
god" would mean that the meaning "god" is primary, and "sky" secondary. The Turkic form,
Tengri, is attested in the 11th century by Mahmud al-Kashgari.

The Chinese word for "sky", Tian, may also be related, possibly a loan from a prehistoric
Central Asian language.

In modern Turkey Tengriism is known as the Gök Tanrı ("sky god") religion,Turkish "Gök"
(sky) and "Tanrı" (God) corresponding to the Mongolian khukh (blue) and Tengri (sky),
respectively.

In modern Turkish, the derived word "Tanrı" is used as the generic word for "god", or for the
Abrahamic God, and is often used today by Muslim Turks to refer to God in Turkish as an
alternative to the word "Allah", the Arabic word.

Other reflexes of the name in modern languages include Mongolian: Тэнгэр, Bulgarian:
Тангра, Azerbaijani: Tanrı. The supreme deity of the traditional religion of the Chuvash is
Tură.

Characteristics
Tengri was the main god of the Turkic pantheon, controlling the celestial sphere. The Turkic
sky god Tengri is strikingly similar to the Indo-European sky god, Dyeus, and the structure of
the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion is closer to that of the early Turks than to the
religion of any people of Near Eastern or Mediterranean antiquity.

In Turkic mythology, Tengri is a pure, white goose that flies constantly over an endless
expanse of water, which represents time. Beneath this water, Ak Ana ("White Mother") calls
out to him saying "Create". To overcome his loneliness, Tengri creates Er Kishi, who is not as
pure or as white as Tengri and together they set up the world. Er Kishi becomes a demonic
character and strives to mislead people and draw them into its darkness. Tengri assumes the
name Tengri Ülgen and withdraws into Heaven from which he tries to provide people with
guidance through sacred animals that he sends among them. The Ak Tengris occupy the fifth
level of Heaven. Shaman priests who want to reach Tengri Ülgen never get further than this
level, where they convey their wishes to the divine guides. Returns to earth or to the human
level take place in a goose-shaped vessel.

According to Mahmud Kashgari, Tengri was known to make plants grow and the lightning
flash. Turks used the adjective tengri which means "heavenly, divine", to label everything that
seemed grandiose, such as a tree or a mountain, and they stooped to such entities.

Tengri is considered to be the chief god who created all things. In addition to this celestial
god, they also had minor divinities that served the purposes of Tengri.

History

Seal from Güyüg Khan's letter to Pope Innocent IV, 1246. The first four words, from top to
bottom, left to right, read "möngke ṭngri-yin küčündür" - "Under the power of the eternal
heaven"

Tengri was the national god of the Göktürks, described as the "god of the Turks" (Türük
Tängrisi) The Göktürk khans based their power on a mandate from Tengri. These rulers were
generally accepted as the sons of Tengri who represented him on Earth. They wore titles such
as tengrikut, kutluġ or kutalmysh, based on the belief that they attained the kut, the mighty
spirit granted to these rulers by Tengri.
The Mongolian Great Khans of the 13th century ideologically based their power on a mandate
from Tengri himself, and began their declarations with the words "by the will of Eternal
[Blue] Heaven."

The Turko-Mongolic concept of a sky god has an analogy in the Daoist coinage of 靝 (with
青 "blue" and 氣 "qi", i.e., "blue heaven") and derived Confucian concept of Tian Li. The four
direction symbols of Blue Dragon (East), White Tiger (West), Red Phoenix (South), Black
Snake-Turtle (North) in Chinese cosmology is also analogous with the four direction symbol
used in Tengriism.

A severely damaged Greek language inscription from the times of Danube Bulgarian
paganism is found on a column near Madara, Bulgaria, which is believed to have been used as
an altar stone. The inscription has been interpreted as saying "(Kanasubig)i Omu(rtag), ruler
(from God), was ... and sacri(ficed to go)d Tangra ...(some Bulgar titles follow)."

Tengriism
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It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Tengri. (Discuss)

A cosmological diagram from an early 20th century shaman's drum.

Tengriism (tenger), or Tengrianism is a religion that incorporates elements of shamanism,

animism, totemism and ancestor worship. It was the major belief of Xiongnu, Turkic peoples,
Mongols, Hungarian and Bulgar peoples in ancient times.It focuses around the sky deity
Tengri (also Tangri, Tanrı, Tangra, etc.) and reverence for the sky in general. Today, there
are still a large number of Tengriist people living in Northern and Central Asia, such as the
Khakas and Tuvans.

"Khukh" and "Tengri" literally mean "blue" and "sky" in Mongolian and modern Mongolians
still pray to "Munkh Khukh Tengri" ("Eternal Blue Sky"). Therefore Mongolia is called the
"Land of Eternal Blue Sky ("Munkh Khukh Tengriin Oron" in Mongolian).

In modern Turkey Tengriism is known as the Gök Tanrı ("sky god") religion, Turkish "Gök"
(sky) and "Tanrı" (God) corresponding to the Mongolian khukh (blue) and Tengri (sky),
respectively.

Tengriism views existence as sustained by the Eternal Blue Sky, Tengri, the fertile Mother-
Earth Spirit Eje, and a ruler who is regarded as the Holy Spirit of the Sky. Heaven, earth, the
spirits of nature and the ancestors provide every need and protect all humans. By living an
upright and respectful life, a human being will keep his world in balance and maximize his
personal wind horse power.

It is likely that Tengriism was the religion of the Huns, Eurasian Avars, early Hungarians, and
of the early Bulgars who brought it to Europe. It is still actively practised in Sakha, Buryatia,
Tuva, Mongolia and in minorities of Turkey, in parallel with Tibetan Buddhism and
Burkhanism.

The Bulgar form of the name was Tangra. The Bulgars named a large mountain in the Rila
mountain range of Bulgaria after him, only in the 15th century it was renamed to Musala
(Mountain of Allah) by the Ottomans.

A Turkish manuscript listing the names of the supreme god in different languages lists has
"Tangra" for Bulgarian. A severely damaged Greek language inscription from the times of
Danube Bulgarian paganism is found on a column near Madara, Bulgaria, which is believed
to have been used as an altar stone. The inscription has been interpreted as saying
"(Kanasubig)i Omu(rtag), ruler (from God), was ... and sacri(ficed to go)d Tangra ...(some
Bulgar titles follow)."

Another piece of evidence suggesting that the Bulgars were Tengriist is the fact that the name
of the supreme deity of the traditional religion of the Chuvash, who are regarded as having a
Bulgar language and being partially the descendants of the Volga branch of the Bulgars, is
Tură, generally considered to correspond to Turkic Tengri (and thus Tangra). Nevertheless,
the local Chuvash religion today is markedly different from Tengriism and can be described
as a local form of polytheism with some elements borrowed from Islam.
HUMA
Etymology
The word Huma which has a Persian origin is reflected in Old Iranian Humāya. In Arabic we
find the term Bulah corresponding to Huma. The Sufi teacher Inayat Khan supposed that "in
the word Huma, hu represents spirit, and the word mah originates from the Arabic "Ma'a" ‫ماء‬
which means water."[ In Turkic mythology, it is referred as bird of Kumay or Umay which
was used as a symbol of Çepni, one of the 24 tribal organizations of Oghuz Turks. Umay is
the goddess of fertility and virginity in Turkic mythology and Tengriism.

Beliefs
In some variations, the Huma bird is said to be phoenix-like, consuming itself in fire every
few hundred years, only to rise anew from the ashes. The creature is often referred to as bird
of paradise. The Huma bird is said to have both the male and female natures in one body,
each nature having one wing and one leg. ‫این نشان می‌دهد که هما در زمان ایران باستان نیز پرنده سعادت‬
‫بوده‌است‬.

Homa bird as a griffin-like creature in Achaemenid Iranian art. About 500 BC. Perspolis, Iran.

The Huma or Homa bird is considered to be a compassionate bird. It is named as bird of

fortune since its shadow (or touch) is said to be auspicious. The shadow (or the alighting) of
the Huma bird on a person's head or shoulder were said to bestow (or foretell) kingship.
Accordingly, the feathers decorating the turbans of kings were said to be plumage of the
Huma bird. Sufi teacher Inayat Khan gives the bestowed-kingship legend a spiritual
dimension: "Its true meaning is that when a person's thoughts so evolve that they break all
limitation, then he becomes as a king. It is the limitation of language that it can only describe
the Most High as something like a king."

In Sufi tradition, catching the Huma is even beyond the wildest imagination, but catching a
glimpse of it or even a shadow of it is sure to make one happy for the rest of his/her life. It is
also believed that Huma cannot be caught alive, and the person killing a Huma will die in
forty days.

Alp Er Tunga
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Alp Er Tunga or Alp er Tonğa (meaning: Brave Soldier Tunga; " ‫ الب‬Alp" "Alp, yiğit,
kahraman, bahadır.", " ‫ ار‬er" "Er, erkek, adam." ve " ‫ تنكا‬tonğa" "bebür.") is a mythical hero in
Turkic mythology and Turkish literature.

In Turkic literature he is considered to be the same character with Afrasiab in the Persian Epic
Shahnameh. And he is sometimes mentioned as a khan of Saka.

OGHUZ KHAN

Oghuz Khan (aka Oguz Kagan) was a legendary and semi-mythological Khan of Turks. He
is considered to be the ancestor of all Turks and credited to be the founder of the system of
political clans used by Turkmen, Ottoman, and other Oghuz Turks. The various versions of
the narrative preserved in many different manuscripts has been published in numerous
languages as listed below in the references. The narrative is often entitled Oghuznama, or
narrative of the Oghuz.

Sources

Legend of Oghuz Khan is believed to be formed around 2nd century B.C. but it was first
recorded in 13th century. Oldest version of the story can be found on an Uyghur manuscript in
the Turkish manuscript section of the Paris Bibliothèque Nationale. This version of the
Oğuzname(Book of Oghuz) tells the legend of Oghuz Khan, and is untouched by the
Islamization of Turks and reflects pre-islamic Tengriist and shamanistic themes. Later
versions are "Tarih-i Oğuzan ve Türkan"(History of Oghuzs and Turks) section of Cami-üt
Tevarih by Rashid-ad Din, another manuscript found in Uzunköprü and was written in
Chagatai language (published by Namık Orkun at 1935) and Şeçere-i Terakime by Abu'l
Gahzi Bahadır Khan. This later versions are more islamised yet still features shamanistic
supernatural themes.

The anonymous Uyghur vertical script narrative of the 14th century preserved in the Paris
manuscript was probably already being modified to fit somewhat with stories of the Mongol
Conquest, as Paul Pelliot has shown. But it does not have any suggestions of Oghuz Khan's
later significance as Islamizer of the Turks, and it does not include the figure of Moghul
(Mongol) as an ancestor of Oghuz Khan.

Abū’l-Ghāzī’s 16th century version roughly follows Rashīd ad-Dīn’s already Islamized and
Mongolized (post-conquest) version of the early 14th century. But in his account Oghuz Khan
is more fully integrated into Islamic and Mongol traditional history: the account begins with
descent from Adam to Noah, who after the flood sends his three sons to repopulate the earth:
Ham was sent to Hindustan, Sam to Iran, and Yafes went to the banks of the Itil and Yaik
rivers and had eight sons named Turk, Khazar, Saqlab, Rus, Ming, Chin, Kemeri, and Tarikh.
As he was dying he established Turk as his successor. Turk settled at Issiq Kul and was
succeeded by Tutek, the eldest of his four sons. Four generations after him came two sons,
Tatar and Moghul, who divided his kingdom between them. Moghul Khan begat Qara Khan
who begat Oghuz Khan. For three days he would not nurse and every night he appeared in his
mother's dream and told his mother to become a Muslim or he would not suckle her breast.
His mother converted and Abū’l-Ghāzī writes that Turkic peoples from Yafes to the time of
Qara Khan had been Muslims but then had lost the faith. Oghuz Khan restores Islamic belief.

Legend

According to legend, Oghuz is born in Central Asia, as the son of Qara Khan, leader of Turks.
He starts talking as soon as he was born. He stops drinking his mother's milk after one time
and asks for kımız(an alcoholic beverage made by horse milk) and meat. After that he grews
up supernaturally fast and only in forty days he becomes a young adult. At the time of his
birth, lands of Turks was prayed upon by a dragon named Kıyant. Oghuz arms himself and
goes to kill the dragon. He kills the great dragon with his lance and cuts his head.

After Oghuz kills the dragon Kıyant, he becomes a hero of the nation. He formes a special
warrior band from the forty sons of forty Turk nobles. But his Chinese stepmother and half-
brother who is the heir to the throne, become jelous and convince Qara Khan that Oghuz was
planning to dethrone him. Qara Khan decides to assassinate Oghuz at a hunting party. Oghuz
learns about this plan and instead, kills his father and becomes the khan. His stepmother and
half brother flee to China.

After Oghuz becomes the khan, he goes to steppes by himself to praise and pray to
Tengri(Sky-God). While praying he sees a circle of light coming from the sky and there is a
supernaturaly beautiful girl in that light. Oghuz falls in love with the girl and marries her. He
has three sons which he names Gün(Sun), Ay(Moon) and Yıldız (Star). Later, Oghuz goes
hunting and sees a supernaturaly beautiful girl inside a tree. He marries her and has three sons
which he names Gök (Sky), Dağ (Mountain) and Deniz (Sea).

After his sons are born, Oghuz Khan gives a great toy (feast) and invites all of his beys
(lords). At the feast he gives this order to his lords:

"I am became your Khan;

Let's all take swords and shields;

Kut(divine power) will be our sign;

Grey wolf will be our uran(warcry);

Our iron lances will be a forest;

Khulan will walk on the hunting ground;

More seas and more rivers;

Sun is our flag and sky is our tent."

Then he sends letters to the kings of four directions, saying: "I am the Khan of Turks. And I
will be Khan of the for corners of earth. I want your obedience."

Altun Khan (Golden Khan) on the right corner of earth submits his obedience but Urum
(Roman) Khan of the left corner does not. Oghuz declares war on Urum Khan and marchs his
army to west. One night, a large male-wolf with grey fur comes to his tent in an aura of light.
He says "Oghuz, you want to march against Urum, I want to march before your army". The
grey sky-wolf marchs before the Turkish army and guides them. Two armies fought near river
İtil (Volga) and Oghuz Khan wins the war. Then Oghuz and has six sons carry out campaigns
in Turkistan, India, Iran, Egypt, Syria, with the grey wolf guide. He becomes the khan of four
corners of the earth.

In his old age Oghuz sees a dream. He calls his six sons and sends them to east and west. His
elder sons find a golden bow in the east. His younger sons finds three silver arrows in the
west. Oghuz Khan breaks the golden bow in to three pieces and gives to his three older sons
Gün, Ay and Yıldız. He says: "My older sons, take this bow and shoot your arrows to the sky
like this bow." He gives three silver arrows to his three younger sons Gök, Dağ and Deniz and
says: "My younger sons, take this silver arrows. Bow shoots the arrows and you be like the
arrow." Then, he passes his lands on to his sons, Bozoks (elder sons) and Üçoks (younger
sons) at a final banquet. (Abū’l-Ghāzī identifies the lineage symbols, tamga seals and ongon
spirit guiding birds, as well as specifying the political hierarchy and seating order at banquets
for these sons and their 24 sons) Then he says:

"My sons, I walked a lot;

I saw many battles;

I threw so many arrows and lances;

I rode many horses;

I made my enemies cry;

I made my friends smile;

I paid my debt to Tengri;

Now I am giving my land to you."

Ötüken (Old Turkic: , Ötüken yïšMount Ötüken, 於都斤山, 都尉揵山 , 烏德鞬山/

乌德鞬山, 都斤山 , 大斤山, 郁督軍山/郁督军山, , Ötüken jer Land of Ötüken) is
one of the names given to Mother Earth in Tengriism. According to this ancient belief, the
mood of the Yer-sub and Ötüken could be seen in the trees’ condition. If the trees are healthy
and strong and are bearing a lot of fruit, it is believed that Ötüken is satisfied with humans. A
prayer dedicated to Ötüken was once directed to a grand tree.

Later, the word was used to describe the sacred mountain of the ancient Turks. It was
mentioned by Bilge Khan in the Orkhon inscriptions as, "the place from where the tribes can
be controlled." A force called qut was believed to emanate from this mountain, granting the
local potentate the divine right to rule all the Turkic tribes.

Although never identified precisely, Ötüken probably stretched "from the Khangai Range of
Central Mongolia to the Sayan Mountains of Tuva, at the centre of which is the Orkhon
Valley", which for centuries was regarded as the seat of the imperial power of the steppes.

ASENA

Asena (asenā) is the name of the one of the ten sons, whom mythical female wolf gave birth to, in
old Turkic mythology. It is associated with a Göktürk ethnogenic myth "full of shamanic
symbolism".But Ziya Gökalp mentioned to Asena in his article titled "Türk devletinin tekâmülü"
(Küçük Mecmua magazine: that was published in 1922 in Diyarbakır) as follows: According to Chinese
people, Asena means wolf. In Turkey many people believe that Asena should be the name of female
wolf.

The Grey Wolf Legend

The legend runs as follows. After a battle, only an injured young boy survives. A she-wolf
finds the injured child and nurses him back to health. He subsequently impregnates the wolf
which then gives birth to ten half-wolf, half-human boys. One of these, Ashina, becomes their
leader and founds the Ashina clan that ruled the Göktürks and other Turkic nomadic empires.

Helper Teacher : History Teacher Emine Yılmaz

Source : Wikipedia
Regulatory: Enver Avcıoğlu (Project Member)