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The Chigil ( Chihil, Cihil, or Chiyal) were a Turkic peoples tribe known from the 7th century CE as living around Issyk Kul lake area. They were considered to be descended from the tribe Chuyue,Golden, P.B. (1992) An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples in Turcologica (9). p. 199Zuev, "Early Turks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 145, 250Lee, J.Y. (2018) " Some remarks on the Turkicisation of the Mongols in post-Mongol Central Asia and the Qipchaq Steppe" in Acta Orientalia 71(2). p. 129 of 121-144 who were of mixed Yueban-Western Turkic origins.Gumilyov L.N., "Ancient Türks", Moscow, 'Science', 1967, Ch. 20 (In Russian)
However, Atwood (2010), in light of researches by Edkhyam Tenishev (1965) & Saguchi (1986), doubted the common scholarly identification of Chigils with Chuyue, from whom emerged the Shatuo New Book of Tang Vol. 218 Shatuo "沙陀，西突厥別部處月種也" as Chuyue is phonetically closer to Chunghyl, the name of a "bone" among the Yugurs in modern Gansu province.Atwood, Christopher P. (2010). "The Notion of Tribe in Medieval China: Ouyang Xiu and the Shatup Dynastic Myth". Miscellanea Asiatica: p. 602, n. 27 of 593–621.
As for * Čömül (Arabic Jumul جمل), H. W. Bailey derived it from Iranic * čamṛta < čam- "to stride out like a warrior", thus "warrior striders"
According to medieval writers, the city of Chigil was at "a distance of a human voice" from Taraz.Volin, 1960, p. 81-82Zuev, "Early Turks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 191, An 11th-century story by Mahmud Kashgari proposed a folk etymology of Chigil, which he dated back to the time of the Zu-l-Karnein ("the "Bihorn", i.e. Alexander the Great) 4th century BCE:
KashghariKāshgharī, i, 330 says that the Oghuz Turks used to call "Chigil" all the Turks between the Oxus and Northern China.Minorsky, V. Hudud al-'Ālam. "Regions of the world. A Persian Geography 372 A. H. – 982 A. D." London, 1937, pp. 298–299
If the Chuyue in Chinese sources were indeed Chigils, then the Shatuo 沙陀, a Chuyue splinter group, were also a splinter group from Chigils. A Shatuo noble, Li Keyong, was from the Shatuo Dragon tribe, bore the surname Zhuye 朱耶 ~ Zhuxie 朱邪, and later adopted the surname Li of the Tang emperors,Malyavkin, 1974, p. 100; Li Fan, Ch. 425, p. 3458-3459 first bestowed on Keyong's father Li Guochang. Keyong's son Li Cunxu would found of the Later Tang dynasty (923–936) in Northern China, elevating the Shatuo to a regnal clan. Among the Shatuo, the dragon cult was predominant. The annals noted that Shatuo prayers "followed the old tradition of the northern custom" near Thunder-mountain, at the Dragon Gate.Xue Zongzheng, Ch. 32, p. 225, f. 4bZuev, "Early Turks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 145, Ouyang Xiu. Xin Wudaishi. Vol. 4
Paraphrasing a passage from Sima Guang's Zizhi Tongjian, Zuev states that "Shatuo is originally (or, at root, 本 běn) a Zhuxie tribe";Zizhi Tongjian, vol. 223 "沙陀姓朱耶，世居沙陀磧，因以為名。" tr. "The Shatuo is surnamed Zhuye. For generations they have been dwelling amid sandy slopes and dunes. So they use those as name" Zuev further asserts that Zhuxie reflects the Turkic jüz "hundred". The Chigil-Shatuo were Manichaeans, and "hundred" is not always a military team, but also a religious category yüz er "hundred monk men" as is stated, for example, on a number of the Manichaean Yenisei Kyrgyz monuments of ancient Turkic writings. Thus yüz er, as opposed to otuz oglan or otuz er, is a category of dominating level.Zuev, "Early Turks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 146,
Chigils and Yagma, and also the Tuhsi, one of the Türgesh tribes,Gumilyov, L. Searches for an Imaginary Kingdom: The trefoil of the Bird's Eye View' Ch. 5: The Shattered Silence (961-1100)Pylypchuk, Ya. "Turks and Muslims: From Confrontation to Conversion to Islam (End of VII century - Beginning of XI Century)" in UDK 94 (4): 95 (4). In Ukrainian the remains of the Old Turkic, united in the Karluk tribal union, and the history of these tribes, at least since the 9th century, is indivisible.S. G. Klyashtorny, T. I. Sultanov, "States And Peoples of the Eurasian Steppe", St. Petersburg, 2004, p.117, The Hudud al-'Ālam , compiled in 982–3 CE, describes the Chigils as members of the Karluk Yabghu state, occupying the Zhetysu territories including regions around Issyk Kul to the north and east of the Karluks. They are described as possessing great riches and that their king "is one of themselves." It is also reported that "Some of them worship the Sun and the stars."Minorsky, V. Hudud al-'Ālam''. "Regions of the world. A Persian Geography 372 A. H. – 982 A. D." London, 1937, pp. 98–99
The Chigils were prominent in the Kara-Khanid Khanate, where they formed the main body of the troops.Vasily Bartold, Turkestan, 317. The power in the Karakhanid state was divided between the nobility of two tribal groups, Chigils and Yagma, which in the 9th century formed the nucleus of the Karluks tribal union, besides Mouluo 謀落 / Moula 謀剌 ( Bulaqs?), Tashili 踏實力 ( Tashlyk?) and Suofu 娑匐Ecsedy, Ildikó "A Contribution to the History of Karluks in the T'ang Period" in Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, Vol. 34, No. 1/3 (1980), p. 29-32 ( Sebeğ?) "Karluk Djabghu State (756-940)" Qazaqstan TarihyGolden, Peter B. (1992). An Introduction to the History of the Turkic People. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. p. 197 or Chisi 熾俟. Golden (1992) hesitantly identifies the Chisi 熾俟 with Chuyue 處月. Meanwhile, Atwood (20101) identifies Chisi 熾俟 with Zhusi 朱斯, also mentioned in Xiu Tangshu; Atwood does not link Chisi 熾俟 ~ Zhusi 朱斯 to Chuyue 處月, but instead to Zhuxie 朱邪, the original tribal surname of the Shatuo ruling house. This Karluk languages-speaking Khaganate was divided into two parts, eastern and western, each headed by its own Khagan. The eastern Kagan was the senior Kagan, with his court in Kashgar and Balasagun (Buran fortress, near Tokmak in Kyrgyzstan). He was from the Chigil tribe and had the title Arslan Kara-Hakan. The western was the lesser Kagan, from the Yagma tribe, with the title Bogra Kara-Kagan and his court in Taraz, and later in Samarkand.S. G. Klyashtorny, T. I. Sultanov, "States And Peoples of the Eurasian Steppe", St. Petersburg, 2004, p.118,
In the eleventh century the Chigils became independent. Kashgari writes that they consisted of three branches.Faruk Sumer, "Oguzlar", Ankara, 1967, p. 27
After the Mongol invasion of Turkestan, the Turks in northern Turkestan and in the Tien Shan region, among them the Chigils, Yagma, Karluks, Argyn and Tuhsi, had to give up their territory to the eastern nomadic groups. They migrated to Transoxania and Kashgar.Z. V. Togan, "Turkistan Tarihi", Istanbul, 1947, p. 60, note 80
There are presently four villages in Turkey called Chigil, indicating that some Chigils migrated to Asia Minor after the Mongol invasion.Faruk Sumer, "Oguzlar", Ankara, 1967, p. 27
An Arab writer named Abū Dulaf reported to have found only a few Christians among the Chigil, while most worshipped "the stars", in particular Sirius.
In Manichaeism, the lion, mighty and ruthless king of animals, is a central image. This demonstrates an imported ideology; the lion is not native to Central Asia, and so it originally did not have symbolic significance for the population there. The building found by the archaeologists, without traces of economic activities, served as a chapel of the inhabitants depicted in long robes: the Chigils, whose symbol was a lion (Turk. Arslan, Bars).Yu. Zuev, "Early Türks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 193,
The connection between Taraz, Manichaeism and the Lion is recorded in the Turco-Manichean "Sacred book of two fundamentals" (Iki jïltïz nom), fragments of which were found in 1907 at Kara-Khoja in the Turpan oasis by Albert von Le Coq. The book was dedicated to the ruler (Beg) of the Chigil-Arslan tribe, named Il Tirgüg, Ap Burguchan, Alp Tarhan Henning,. It was completed in Argu-Talas city (Altun Argu Talas). A postscript in the manuscript noted an Arslan Mengü that used the book.Zuev, "Early Turks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 203, Talas had four Manichean cloisters: in the Chigil-balyk, Kashu, Ordu-kent and Yigyan-kent.Yu. Zuev, "Early Türks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 207,
In the middle of the 7th century, Chigils, Chumuls and Karluks were united by the Western Turkic yabgu Ashina Helu in his anti-Tang dynasty uprising. Zuev reconstructs Helu's Old Turkic name as * Aru, which, he contends, is identical with the Turkic-Manichean arïg (like arïg dïntar "pure priest").Zuev, "Early Turks: Essays of history and ideology", Almaty, Daik-Press, 2002, p. 221,
During the Middle Ages, a city, Yar, is mentioned as located on the southern bank of lake Issyk-kul. This city is the capital of the leader of the Djikil (i.e. Chigil) tribe.Sh. Kamoliddin, "Ancient Türkic Toponyms of the Middle Asia", Tashkent, Shark, 2006, p. 92 The city retained its name in the form Chal till present. The various forms of this toponym (Shiyan, Shal, Chal) come from the Turkic ethnonym Chiyal (i.e. Chigil).Sh. Kamoliddin, "Ancient Türkic Toponyms of the Middle Asia", Tashkent, Shark, 2006, p. 126
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