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Muqan QaghanGary Seaman, Daniel Marksm, Rulers from the steppe: state formation on the Eurasian periphery, Ethnographics Press, Center for Visual Anthropology, University of Southern California, 1991, , pp. 96–97. (, Muqan qaγan - Ethno Cultural dictionary p=Mùgān Kèhán/Mùhàn Kèhán, , Rouran language: 𑀫𑀼𑀖𑀅𑀦 𑀕𑀅𑀖𑀅𑀦, romanized: Muɣan Qaɣan), born Ashina Yandou (阿史那燕都) was the second son of Bumin Qaghan and the third khagan of the Göktürks and the First Turkic Khaganate. He expanded their khaganate and secured the borders against the .
His accession to power was followed by finishing off remnants of the Rouran. Around the new year 554, after the defeat of Yujiulü Kangti at the hands of Göktürks, the remnants of the Rouran, which by that point was near its end, surrendered to the Northern Qi to seek protection from Gökturk attacks. Emperor Wenxuan personally attacked Muqan Qaghan, fighting off his army and then made Yujiulü Anluochen the new khagan of Rouran, settling the Rouran people within Northern Qi territory, at Mayi (馬邑, in modern Shuozhou, Shanxi). The last khagan of the Rouran Yujiulü Dengshuzi was executed by Emperor Gong in 555 because of Gökturks' pressure.
Muqan led an attack on Tuyuhun territory in 556 together with the Western Wei. According to the plan, Muqan was to attack Hezhen (near present-day Chaka Salt Lake, Qinghai) from the north and general Shi Ning (史寧) was to attack Shudun (near Gonghe County). The siege was a success as the Tuyuhun king Murong Kualu's wife, children and treasure was captured, but he returned to his homeland after the Turks withdrew. As the army prepared to withdraw, Muqan Qaghan gifted Ning 100 slaves, 500 horses, and 10,000 sheep.
He then defeated the Hephthalites to the west near Bukhara in 557 together with Khosrow I, however this battle was largely overseen by Muqan's uncle Istami. He routed the Khitan people to the east, and annexed the Yenisei Kyrgyz to the north. This expansion also pushed against the Pannonian Avars who were driven towards the Byzantine Empire and the Sassanid Empire and eventually towards the Danube. Other tribes of Central Asia, such as the eastern Bulgars were also displaced.
In the winter of 563, the joint forces of the Northern Zhou and Gökturks launched a two-prong attack on the Northern Qi, with the northern prong attacking the Northern Qi's secondary capital Jinyang (晉陽, in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi) and the southern prong attacking Pingyang (平陽, in modern Linfen, Shanxi).
In the spring of 565, Emperor Wu sent his brother Yuwen Chun (宇文純), Yuwen Gui (宇文貴), Dou Yi (竇毅) and Yang Jian (楊薦) to lead a ceremonial guard corps to Tujue to welcome back Muqan's daughter for marriage to him. However, when they arrived at Muqan's headquarters, he turned against the treaty and detained Yuwen Chun and his attendants.
In the spring of 568, a major storm at the Göktürks' headquarters inflicted substantial damage, and Muqan Qaghan took it as a sign of divine displeasure at his rescission of the marriage agreement with the Northern Zhou. He therefore returned Yuwen Chun, along with the daughter he promised Emperor Wu, back to Northern Zhou. Emperor Wu personally welcomed her and made her empress.
After Muqan's death in 572 the title of Qaghan passed to his younger brother Taspar.
Muqan Qaghan was friendly to Buddhist people, and is credited with being the first to introduce Buddhism to the Türks. He promoted the construction of a Türkic Buddhist temple in the Chinese capital city of Chang'an. Despite his promotion of Buddhism in China, it is not known if he himself converted to Buddhism, and it is also uncertain whether or not a substantial number of Türks were Buddhists during his reign. "During the reign of Muqan, the Türks were receptive toward Buddhism, but whether or not it was actually adopted by a substantial number of Türks or by Muqan himself is not known."
Some authors have translated the term "琉璃" ("glaze") as "lapis lazuli"-like (suggesting a blue color). "Muhan's blue eyes Danişmend p.208" * Other blue-eyed Kök-Türk kings see Eberhard" "The Kök-Türk kagan Mu-kan was also depicted with blue eyes..."The name for lapis-lazuli is normally 青金岩, but Buddhists sometimes call lapis-lazuli 璧琉璃 ("blue glaze"): "佛教称之为吠努离或璧琉璃，属于佛教七宝之一。" [2]
He was characterized as being "tough and fierce", and he was regarded as brave and knowledgeable by historians.
A complete genetic analysis of Muqan Qaghan's daughter Empress Ashina (551–582) in 2023 by Xiaoming Yang et al. 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.
His daughter Empress Ashina became the wife of Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou. His son Talopien, as Apa Qaghan unsuccessfully claimed the throne after the death of his uncle Taspar Qaghan while his other son Yangsu Tegin was ancestor of the later Western Turkic Qaghans.
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