Bumin Qaghan ([Ouyang Xiu et al., New Book of Tang, Cilt 215-II ] He was the chieftain of the Turks under the sovereignty of the Rouran Khaganate.[馬長壽, 《突厥人和突厥汗國》, 上海人民出版社, 1957, (Ma Zhangshou, Tujue ve Tujue Khaganate), pp. 10-11. ][陳豐祥, 余英時, 《中國通史》, 五南圖書出版股份有限公司, 2002, (Chen Fengxiang, Yu Yingshi, General history of China), p. 155. ][Burhan Oğuz, Türkiye halkının kültür kökenleri: Giriş, beslenme teknikleri, İstanbul Matbaası, 1976, p. 147. «Demirci köle» olmaktan kurtulup reisleri Bumin'e ] He is also mentioned as Tumen (, , commander of ten thousand["Tumen" is used for expressing 10,000 and "Bum" is used for expressing 100,000 in Secret History of the Mongols, Larry Moses, "Legend by the numbers: The Symbolism of Numbers in the 'Secret History of the Mongols'", Asian folklore studies, Vol. 55-56, Nanzan University Institute of Anthropology, 1996, p. 95.]) of the Rouran Khaganate.
Early life and reign
According to the
History of the Northern Dynasties and the
Zizhi Tongjian, in 545 Tumen's tribe started to rise and frequently invaded the western frontier of
Cao Wei. The chancellor of
Western Wei,
Yuwen Tai, sent
An Nuopanto (安諾盤陀, Nanai-Banda, a
Sogdian people from
Bukhara,
[Shing Müller, "Sogdian in China um 600 n. Chr. Archäologische Zeugnisse eines Lebens zwischen Assimilation und Identitätsbewahrung", NOAG, Vol. 183-184, 2008. p. 123. ]) as an emissary to the Göktürk chieftain Tumen, in an attempt to establish a commercial relationship.
[Li Yanshou (李延寿), History of Northern Dynasties, Vol. 99. ][Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 159. ] In 546, Tumen paid tribute to the Western Wei state.
In that same year, Tumen put down a revolt of the
Tiele people against the Rouran Khaganate, their overlords.
Following this, Tumen felt entitled to request of the Rouran a princess to be his wife. The Rouran khagan, Yujiulü Anagui, sent a message refusing this request and adding: "You are my blacksmith slave. How dare you utter these words?" Bumin got angry, killed Anagui's emissary, and severed relations with the Rouran Khaganate.
[Linghu Defen et al., Book of Zhou, Vol. 50. ][Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, Vol. 164. ][Christopher I. Beckwith, Empires of the Silk Road: a history of Central Eurasia from the Bronze Age to the present, Princeton University Press, 2009, , p. 9.] Anagui's "blacksmith" ( / 锻奴, Pinyin: duàn nú, Wade–Giles: tuan-nu) insult was recorded in Chinese chronicles. Some sources state that members of the Turks (referred as "Tujue" in Chinese sources) did serve as blacksmiths for the Rouran elite,
and that "blacksmith slavery" may refer to a kind of vassalage that prevailed in Rouran society.
[Larry W. Moses, "Relations with the Inner Asian Barbarian", ed. John Curtis Perry, Bardwell L. Smith, Essays on Tʻang society: the interplay of social, political and economic forces, Brill Archive, 1976, , p. 65. Slave' probably meant vassalage to the Juan Juan confederation of Mongolia, whom they served in battle by providing iron weapons, and also marching with qaghan's armies.] Nevertheless, after this incident Bumin emerged as the leader of the revolt against the Rouran.
In 551, Bumin requested a Western Wei princess for marriage. Yuwen Tai permitted it and sent of Western Wei to Bumin.
In the same year Emperor Wen of Western Wei died, and Bumin sent a mission and gave two hundred horses.
The beginning of formal diplomatic relations with China propped up Bumin's authority among the Turks. He eventually united the local Turkic tribes and ended their subservience to the Rouran. In 552 Bumin's army defeated Anagui's forces at the north of Huaihuang and then Anagui committed suicide.[Talat Tekin, (1968), A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic, p. 58] According to the Bilge Qaghan's memorial complex and the Kul Tigin's memorial complex, Bumin and Istemi ruled people by Turkic laws and they developed them.
Death and family
Bumin died within several months of proclaiming himself Illig Qaghan.
He was married to Princess Changle of
Western Wei.
Issue:
-
Ashina Keluo (阿史那科罗) - Issik Qaghan
-
Ashina Qijin (阿史那俟斤) - Muqan Qaghan
-
Taspar Qaghan
-
Ashina Kutou (阿史那庫頭) - Ditou Qaghan (appointed by Muqan Qaghan to be lesser khagan of eastern wing of Turkic Empire)
-
Mahan Tigin - Lesser khagan appointed by Taspar Qaghan
-
Rudan Qaghan (褥但可汗)
-
Böri Qaghan (步離可汗) - Lesser khagan of appointed by Taspar Qaghan
Genetics
A complete genetic analysis of
Empress Ashina (551–582), Bumin Qaghan' granddaughter through his son Muqan Qaghan, by Xiaoming Yang et al. in 2023 , found nearly exclusively Ancient Northeast Asian ancestry (97,7%) next to minor West-Eurasian components (2,7%), and no Chinese ("Yellow River") admixture. This supports the Northeast Asian origin of the
Ashina tribe and the Göktürk Khanate.
According to the authors, these findings "once again validates a cultural diffusion model over a demic diffusion model for the spread of Turkic languages" and refutes "the western Eurasian origin and multiple origin hypotheses" in favor of an East Asian origin for the Türks.
Legacy
He was succeeded by his younger brother
Istemi in the western part and by his son
Issik Qaghan in the eastern part. In less than one century, his khaganate expanded to comprise most of
Central Asia.
Notes
