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SAKA-HUNNIAN ORIGIN OF THE BAIKALIAN METROPOLY OF THE SAKHA PEOPLE
Grigori Tomski President of the CONCORDE International Academy
g.tomski@gmail.com
The expression "southern Baikalian metropoly of the Yakuts" was put into circulation by Gavriil Ksenofontov in the book "Sakhas-Uraanghays". This article is devoted to the arguments on the Saka-Hunnian origin of this metropolis.
Keywords: Baikal metropolis of Yakuts, Slab Grave culture, Saka, northern Xiongnu, Huns, battle of Yanzhan mountain.
The book Sakhas-Uraanghays [1, 2] by Gavriil Ksenofontov (1888-1938) contains a wealth of material collected during his expeditions to a large part of Eastern Siberia in 1920-1926 and their in-depth analysis.
We believe that most of the conclusions formulated in this book do not contradict the views of modern historians and we will quote them extensively.
Let's start with a statement about the existence of the southern Yakut metropoly:
« The unity of the Yakut language, the absence of dialectological differences and more or less perceptible regiolects, despite the dispersion of its speakers over a very large space, the originality and integrity of the Yakut religious worldview, their epic poetry and oral legends, the complexity and stability of the Yakut psyche and a whole series of peculiarities of their material and spiritual culture indicate that the Yakout tribe is not a new historical formation. The Yakuts are undoubtedly an ancient people, and their culture is ancient. One need only look at the enormous dictionary of the Yakut language compiled by E. K. Pekarsky and published by the Academy of Sciences to be convinced of the validity of this position. Daily popular culture is developing at a very slow pace.
If the Yakuts formed an independent and numerous nation in antiquity, long before taking possession of the Lena basin, then their northward migration cannot be imagined in the form of one or more invasions of a few human groups. The biblical picture of the resettlement of this people, whose welfare lies in the many herds of horses and cattle, could only take place in the steppe or forest-steppe area, where there is a constant supply of forage, and, thanks to the relatively mild climate, the herds feed all year round. In the taiga regions of Siberia, such migrations are only possible with reindeer herding.
The above convinces us that the relocation of the Yakuts in the Lena basin should have taken a very long time. We must speak not of the massive invasion of a whole people or of its large departments, but of the evolutionary development of the colonization of Yakout in the Lena region in the presence of a southern metropolis. » ([2], p. 11-12)
Beginning of the formation of the Baikal metropoly
The first visible archaeological traces of the population of steppe origin in the Baikal region date back well before our era to the era of the slab tomb culture (STC) and are well characterized in the article by de A. D. Tsybiktarov [2]:
« the pastors of the steppes of Transbaikalia and Mongolia first set themselves the task of developing not the large-scale colonization of the steppe regions of the Baikal region (Прибайкалье, Cisbaikalia), but of establishing mutually advantageous feconomic relations or the exchange of the products of their economy with the local population. The inhabitants of the steppe could provide, which has already been repeatedly noted by researchers, more advanced metallic products of bronze, later - of iron, and bronze, as shown by the study of the chemical composition of the Baikal metal (Sergeeva, 1981), as well as products of animal husbandry and, possibly, agriculture. The people of the STC were probably exchanging their "articles" for the
products of the local forest population of the Cisbaikalia - the specific natural resources of the inhabitants of the taiga, primarily furs. To conduct such a mutually beneficial exchange, a massive movement of steppe inhabitants to the territory of the future economic partners, the hunters of the Baikal taiga, was not necessary. The implementation of these exchange operations was quite within the reach of a small number of representatives of the steppe population of the STC, who could settle in small groups on the territory of the local partner population. » (p. 35)
The slab tomb culture (STC) bordered the territory of the Sakas (Asian Scythians), as well as Aryan tribes (Indo-European):
Wikipedia map
Archaeological excavations in Kazakhstan and Southern Siberia show that the Sakas have reached a high cultural and technological level:
The Sakas exerted a strong influence on their neighbors and, in particular, they participated in the Baikalian trade with the hunters of the taiga. This is evidenced by the discoveries of products created by them in Yakutia [4]:
Случайно найденные в Якутки бронзовые предметы: 1-4 - наконечники копни: 5-9 - мечи; 10 12 — кельты; 11 - котел; (По В. И. Эртюкову и другим авторам)
Nikita Аrkhipov writes:
« Among these finds, there remains a unique rarity for the archeology of Yakutia, a bronze cauldron found in the upper reaches of the Markha River, a tributary of the Vilyuy. It is a large hemispherical cauldron with a slightly curved rim and a rounded bottom on a conical base. It is equipped with ring-shaped handles, topped with a hat-shaped rim. Under the edge it is surrounded by two parallel sashes - an imitation of twisted cords. Both in form and in ornament, it is included in the set of "Scythian" cauldrons widespread in Siberia from the VII-I centuries before JC. » ([4], p. 15-16):
« Another bronze tableware, found in Vilyuy in the first half of the 19th century, is a vase with a straight neck and a hemispherical body. It appears before us gracefully decorated. » ([4], p. 16)
Many traces of the influence of the Sakas and the Aryans on the Yakut culture and language are described in the works of Anatoly Gogolev ([5], p. 13-26) and other authors [6].
In the 3rd century BC, almost simultaneously with the Chinese Empire, the Empire of the Huns of Asia (Empire Khunnu, Hsiung-nu or Xiongnu) was founded, which pushed the Sakas west and north. Naturally, during this period, there was an increase in the saka population of the Cisbaikalia, which could well lead to the adoption at that time by the population of this region of the prestigious name of Saka or Sakha.
Strengthening of Hunnic influence in the Baikal region
Ksenofontov writes:
« With the destruction of the Northern Hun khanate in the Mongolian steppes, the aboriginal population of the Cisbaikalia should have received a strong boost from the influx of remains of the Northern Huns leaving their native steppes. In this turbulent time, the tungus tribes who lived in the region of Angara (Bargudzhin-Tukum) as well as the Western Mongols (Yugelet and Tumat), subjected to a strong influence of the Khunnus (Huns) and learned from them the iron technology, had to move to Vilyuy, where they partly kicked out local tungus and partly mixed with it. » ([2], p. 209)
« Therefore, in the Yakut language one must see the heir to the ancient Turkish language of the Khunnu (Huns). » ([2], p. 194)
It is well known that the borders of the Khunnu Empire (of the Huns) reached Baikal:
Wikipedia map
In the first century BC, this empire was divided into three parts: the Southern Huns recognized the power of the Chinese Emperor, taking advantage of this, the peoples of the East (including the Xianbi) became independent:
https://fr.daydaynews. cc/history/186150.html
Lev Gumilev describes the last battles of the Northern Huns in the following terms [7]:
« The Xianbis struck the first blow. In 87, they entered the eastern lands of the Huns (Khunnus), and Yulyu-chanyu suffered complete defeat. He was captured by enemies who ripped off his skin. The Xianbis did not continue their success; after defeating the enemy, they left, but the panic they sowed among the Huns immediately paid off. The remaining 58 clans, which numbered 200,000 souls and 8,000 warriors, migrated south and crossed over to China. These numbers show the scale of the Huns' losses. For 200,000 people, there should have been around 40,000 warriors. It made little sense for a Chinese historian to exaggerate the number of fugitives in this case. Most likely, most of them were widows and orphans, whom the Xianbis did not have time or wanted to take prisoner. The following year, nature itself fought against the Huns. Locusts passed through Khalkha, and hunger added to the calamities of the war ...
A change of power also had for the Southern Huns: the place of the late Xuan was taken by his cousin Tuntuhe. He conspired with the regente to destroy the Northern Huns, and in the spring of 89, the Chinese army set out. The Northern Huns had not yet recovered from defeat and hunger when a new invasion fell upon them. Yulyu's successor, whose name has not been preserved by history, was defeated near the Yanzhan Mountains and fled. The Chinese (8,000) and the Southern Huns (30,000) have captured up to 200,000 prisoners. This figure may be exaggerated, but the very fact of the Chinese victory is beyond doubt.
In 1990, the war resumed. Shigy became the leader of the campaign against the Northern Huns. With a detachment of only 8,000 cavalry and insignificant Chinese reinforcements, he raided deep behind enemy lines and, attacking the northern chanyu headquarters at night, defeated it. There were only a thousand Northern Huns, but they accepted the battle. The chanuy fought courageously; Exhausted from his wounds, he fell from his horse, but his faithful companions put him back in the saddle and escaped the encirclement. Chanyu's family and all of their possessions, including the State Jade Seal, fell into the hands of enemies.
In 91, the western Chinese governor again defeated the chanyu, who fled and disappeared without a trace. Western Prince Yuchugian, brother of the missing, declared himself chanyu and sent an embassy to China to ask for peace. He found the support of General Dou Xian. The latter presents a report in which he proposes to preserve the Northern Huns so as not to disturb the political balance and order in the steppe, because the Huns supported him. The Chinese court accepted chanyu's proposal and negotiations had already started when Dou Xian was suddenly arrested and executed. Frightened by the loss of his protector, Yuchugian migrated north. Chinese officials in the report described the migration as a riot. In pursuit of the chanyu, they sent a thousand Chinese cavalry, lured him for negotiations and killed him, and his army was destroyed (in 1993). Yuchugian was the last northern chanyu of the Modu clan. »
On August 14, 2017, the People's Daily announced:
« The Mongolian Studies Center of Inner Mongolia University of China and Mongolian Genghis Khan University confirmed the discovery of "Yanran Mountain Inscription" »
Photo: Le site de fouille et le gravé sur ia falaise, inscription de la montagne Yanran (coordon nées géographiques 45.177896 ° N, 104.554299 » E)
According to the records of Hou Hanshu (History of the Eastern Han Dynasty), the commander of war chariots and horsemen, General Dou Xian, launched a campaign, leading an army of 30,000 men with the Southern Huns, nomadic peoples of Wuhuan. and Qianghu. Dou Xian sent over ten thousand elite soldiers to fight the Northern Huns. As a result, the head of state of the Northern Huns fled. Dou Xian pursued the defeated enemy, killed more than 13,000 people and took many prisoners. Having achieved the victory, Dou Xian climbed Yanran Mountain, on which he recorded his success. Two years later, he completely defeated the Northern Huns, this people forever left the territory of the Mongolian steppe.
The modern name of Yanran Mountain is Hanyai, it is located in the central part of Mongolia. At the forefront of the Han people's struggle against the Huns, Mount Yanran is often depicted in ancient Chinese poetry. »
(http://russian.people.com.cn/n3/2017/0814/c31516-9254990.html)
This inscription is located at the longitude of the city of Irkutsk and about 770 kilometers to the south:
After the defeat of the year 89, the northern chanyu could migrate even closer to Lake Baikal, and two years later take refuge in the Cisbaikalia.
From these facts follows the validity of Ksenofontov's hypothesis about the influx of the irreconcilable part of the Northern Huns into the Cisbaikalia at this time.
It is natural to call the people of Western Prince Yuchugian and their descendants the Western Huns, because [7]:
« The new territory of the Northern Huns extended from Lake Barkul to the "Western Sea", that is, to the Caspian Sea or the Aral Sea. Power belonged to the Huyang clan. After the passage of the Western Territory into the hands of the Huns in 107, the regions of northwest China became the scene of the fifty years war. The possession of the steppe expanses of Western Siberia, inhabited by warrior Ugrians, considerably strengthened the northern Huns. »
Thus, the Western Huns at the end of the 1st century were not far from the Volga, but in the 2nd century they fought heavy battles with the Chinese and the Xianbi, and it was not until the 4th century that they turned to Europe, and in the 5th century, they founded a great empire led by Attila.
https://daydaynews. cc/en/history/349619. html
Hunnic heritage in Yakut culture and language
The vestiges of the Khunnu period in Yakut culture are described in the works of Anatoly Gogolev ([5], p. 26-46) and other authors.
The main feature of the Yakut people is the preservation of the Tangrian (Tengrian) religion of the ancient peoples of the steppes, which was the state religion of the Huns Empire (Khunnu Empire) [8-11].
Sadri Maksudi notes the eloquent title Tengri Kut of the head of state of the
Huns:
« Although Chinese historians wrote this title in the form of Tingli Kutu and translated as "Son of Heaven", there is no doubt that the only correct spelling is Tengri Kut ... There is no doubt that the title of Tengri Kut signified celestial power, celestial reign.we have already proved that in the language of the ancient Turkish the word kut also had the meanings of happiness, grandeur, power, political domination ...
In Chinese sources the title Tengri Kut is completed by another title Tang Hu. European sinologists read this word as §en-Yu (Rahip Bi5urin, op.cit p 12). » ([12], p. 354)
This second title is now transcribed as Chanyu (Shanyu). The basic meaning of the word kut is "soul". Therefore, the title Tengri Kut may also have the meaning of
Divine Soul or Elected by Tangra.
Let us also quote Nikolay Kradin ([13], p. 140) :
« There is a direct parallel between the name of the Hunic titularity of the ruler and the corresponding reference to the ruler among the ancient Turks and Mongols: in the Chinese transcription, chengli gudu (Son of heaven) roughly corresponds to the ancient Turkish Tanri Kut(u) ... (Panov, [14, 15]) »
The Sakha heroic epic (olonkho) is considered the most archaic epic of the steppe peoples. It often contains the phrase "By the decree of Odun Khan, by the law of Genghis Khan" ("Odun Khan hurricane, Tchingys Khan yiaagynan"). The word "yi'ag" or "yiakh" resembles the word "yassak" or "yasa". We can say that the heroes of the Sakha epics respected the Yasa of Genghis Khan! A more complete formula mentions Bilghe Khan: "By the order of Genghis Khan, by the action of Odun Khan, by the knowledge of Bilghe Khan." Who can be identified with Bilghe Khaghan, a ruler of the ancient Turks.
A folklore expert Ilya Baishev writes: "Hunno-Turkish Tangrism is born of the cult of sacred ancestors, it is preserved in this form among the Yakuts ..." He identifies the Tankha Khan of the Yakut Tangrian religion with Tankug (Tonyukuk), a wise counselor of the Kaghans, and exclaims: "The Aiyy (celestial spirits, divinities) are born on Earth and then fly to Heaven" ([16], p. 15-16).
But what was Odun Khan, another saint of the Tangraist religion? I believe that it is Modun Khan, first Hun emperor and first codifier of the traditions and laws of the peoples of the steppes. According to Lev Gumilyov, the chanyu (tangri kut) of the Huns du Nord, who disappeared in 91, was of his lineage. Therefore, the deification of Modun (Modu) in the tangrism of the Yakuts is one of the arguments in favor of Ksenofontov's opinion on a strong influx of Huns in the Cisbaikalia during the "destruction of the Northern Hun khanate".
Now let's move on to another Ksenofontov hypothesis: in the Yakut language one must see the heir to the ancient Turkish language of the Khunnu (Huns).
Let's analyze the names of the Huns. The names of the women of Attila are known in Latin and Greek transcriptions: Kerka, Enga, Ildigo. I identify in "ka", "ga", "go" the word "ko" of the Sakha epics. This word, which is no longer used in everyday language, means "noble and beautiful woman". Then, very probably, Kerka = Kere-ko, "kere" means "beautiful", Enga = En-ko, Ildigo = Ildi-ko.
The name Roas (from an uncle of Attila) resembles a very common Sakha name Oruos (Oros). The eldest son of Attila has a purely sakha name: Ellak = "one who possesses a state" = "a sovereign" ("El" means "state, union, peace"). Unzundur from Roman sources is probably Uzoun-Tour: "be up long" = "live long". Ernak can be read as Er-Nak. We can translate "Er" as "a real man". Er-Nak became the founder of the Bulgarian Khan Dynasty.
Kurdak ("Kuridakh - king of the Akatzirs" in Roman sources) is still a sakha name and means "One who wears a belt". A beautiful and rich belt among the Turco-Mongol peoples was a sign of power. An uncle of Attila also has a Sakha name: Oyor-Bars ("Oebars" in the same sources) which means "Leopard which jumps". There was also General Berik, whose name can be translated as "the one who gives".
The Sakha epics sing the exploits of ancestors belonging to the Kun people ("people of the Sun") whose country is located between the Aral Sea and Lake Baikal.
This situation corresponds well to the country of the "Hiong-nou" (Chinese transcription) or the "Khunnu" (Russian transcription), of the ancient Huns. It should be noted that in Central Asia the Huns were known as the "Kun" people. Sadi Maksudi, Rafael Bezertinov, Gulipa Madmarova and others give the same interpretation [12, 17, 18].
The steppes and pastures of Cisbaikalia could shelter several tens of thousands of Huns. Ksenofontov recognizes about 70,000 Buryats from the Irkutsk province as indigenous, not counting among them the "later immigrants from Mongolia", and among them there were about 101 horses, 171 cows, 148 sheep and goats for a hundred persons ([2], p. 123 et 127).
Therefore, the population of Cisbaikalia had to switch fairly quickly to the Proto-Turkish language of the Huns and preserve it in this archaic form without significant changes, despite the periodic influx of other groups of peoples. steppes following various historical events [19, 20].
It is known that the basic vocabulary of the Yakut language, characterizing the steppe area, the terms on grazing cattle breeding and the socio-political system are common with Turkish, and among the Mongolisms of the Yakut language there is a quite a large number of words denoting different realities of the taiga landscape and of terms associated with haymaking and cattle housing. This is consistent with the assumption that the first sedentary cattle ranchers of Cisbaikalia, who passed these terms on to the Huns, the proto-Turkish ancestors of the Yakuts, were Mongol-speaking. Probably, almost all of the Slab Tomb Culture (STC) bearers were too.
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