Читать книгу The History of Kazakhstan from the Earliest Period to the Present time. Volume I - Zhanat Kundakbayeva - Страница 8

This chapter was written on the base of the article "Ancient Turkic Religious Beliefs (before islam)7". The religious beliefs in the early Turkish states on the plateaus of Central Asia coalesced around three main points. The first of these was a belief in animistic forces. These early Turks attributed conscious life and a discrete in-dwelling spirit to every material form of nature (such as plants and stones), to celestial bodies (sun, moon, stars), and to natural phenomena (storms, earthquakes, etc.). The Uighurs, for example, practiced a form of astrology in which the movements of the moon and stars were consulted before setting out a campaign.

The second was an ancestral cult in which the memories of departed ancestors and leaders were kept alive through reverence and animal sacrifice. Upon a death, a period of mourning was observed. The dead were buried, cremated or mummified. A kurgan (earthen barrow), mound or cairn of stones was erected so that the departed spirit would have a place to call its own. Sometimes stone statues (called balbal) were set up.

The third element was the worship of the sky god (Gok Tangri). While animism and ancestral cults are common among early tribal cultures, this particular form of sky god worship appears only among the Turks. In this system of belief, the sky god is the Supreme Being. The Blue Turks (who called themselves KokTürk) believed that their empire's formation was a consequence of the sky god's wishes and that their khagan (leader) had been sent to them by their god. Tangri took a personal interest in the independent existence of the Turks, and victory in battle was a result of Tangri's will. Tangri commanded and punished the disobedient, and life and death alike were dependent upon his will. Tangri granted life and could take it back whenever he wished. According to these early Turkish beliefs, Tangri was eternal and the creator of all that existed. He was also singular and could not be reduced to any material form. This is why one never finds idols to Tangri or temples to put them in. Tangri was a great, solitary, spiritual power. The sun, moon, stars, fire and rivers were his hallowed assistants who occupied positions much like the angels, prophets and scriptures of the Semitic deities.

During the Uighur period (these were one of Turkic peoples who dominated Mongolia and eastern Turkestan from the eighth to the 12th centuries, now inhabiting northwestern China), the sky god cult was still practiced but had begun to encounter competition from Manichaeanism and Buddishm, which were spreading among the Turks. Both faiths became particularly entrenched during the Uighur control of Turkistan.

The original writing system of the Blue Turks was supplanted by that of the Uighurs, which was based on the Sogdian. Under the Uighurs, Buddhist and Manichaean scriptures were translated, and a rich liturgical literature developed. Some time before the 10th century, the Uighurs invented a system of printing that involved making impressions of single-letter molds on paper. This was the forerunner of the printing press and modern printing technology.

The communities of the early steppe lander (steppe-dwellers) Turks tended to be political associations rather than religious ones, and for that reason religious leaders did not play as great a role among them as they did among desert and forest-dwellers. The religious beliefs of these people were centered around three fundamental tenets.

The first of these was a worship of the forces of nature. Early Turks attributed conscious life and a discrete in-dwelling spirit to mountains, hills, rocks, valleys, streams, springs, caves, trees, volcanic lakes, iron and sword handles. Celestial bodies such as the sun, moon, and stars and natural phenomena such as lightning and thunder were thought to be spirits or deities. There were both good spirits and evil ones. In some inscriptions there are also references to a goddess whose name is given as Umay (Umai). Such animistic beliefs are common among all early tribal cultures. For instance among the Asian Huns, horses and sheep were sacrificed to the sky god, to ancestors, and to the forces of nature during the first month of the year at the palace of their ruler, and in late spring (June) in the vicinity of the Ongkin river. The Blue Turks and Uighurs made similar sacrifices during the same month at the source of the Temir river. The Huns also conducted a similar ritual in the fall at Tai-lin. Among the Blue Turks, there were three sacred rituals held during the year in which sacrifices were offered to Tangri (the sky god) and to ancestors. Both the Blue Turks and Uighurs practiced astrology, determining the advisability of courses of action upon the positions and movement of the planets and stars. The Tabgatch planted beech trees by their graves and regarded them as sacred. Forces of nature called yer-sub (in modern Kazakh, "jer-su," meaning "earth-and-water") were genies or sprits dwelling in hills and springs that were considered to be sacred (iduk) places. Tamik-iduk-bas and Iduk-otuken are two such sites. In the Uighurs' Kutlu-Dag Efsanesi ("Legend of Happy-Mountain"), a rock is held to be sacred because its houses a spirit that gives people strength and fortitude. To cause rain or hail to fall or to make the wind blow, the ancient Turks had recourse to a natural magic involving a stone that they believed to be sacred.

The second pillar of this religion was an ancestral cult. The worship of departed leaders and the veneration of ancestors are thought to be a manifestation of a patriarchal social order in religion. The Asian Huns, Tabgatch and Blue Turks frequently offered sacrifices to their ancestors at the mouths of sacred caverns. The deep respect that was held for ancestors is one reason why grave robbery and the despoliation of Turkic tombs was punished so severely. A kurgan, mound or cairn of stones was erected so that the departed spirit would have a place to call its own. Sometimes stone statues (called balbal) were also set up. Only animals, however, were sacrificed to Tangri and ancestors. Human sacrifice was never practiced among the Turks. Only males were chosen as sacrificial animals, and the most valuable of these was of course the horse. Skeletons of sacrificed horses are found frequently in steppe lander Turkic tombs everywhere, from the empire of the Asian Huns to the Hun-Avar tombs of Central Asia.

The third element was the worship of the sky god. This was the fundamental creed of the ancient Turks, and in this particular form appears only among them. In this system of belief, the sky god (Tangri, Tengri) is the Supreme Being, the central object of all worship, the source of all power. The Old Turks followed a religious tradition that blended shamanism with what Western scholars have named “Tengrism,” a faith worshiping Heaven (Türk. Tengri) as the supreme God and venerating certain mountains as seats of power. Tengrism was never an organized religion and appeared in several forms among almost all the peoples of the Central Asian steppes – Türk, Mongol, and Tangut alike. In its Turkic form, it supported the Turkic social structure, which was built on the basis of a hierarchy of tribes. One tribe is dominant and its chief is the source of a hereditary line of rulers for all. The Turkic form of Tengrism, then, regards any Turkic chief controlling Otukan as supreme ruler (Türk. qaghan) of all Turkic tribes and embodiment of society’s fortune. If Turkic society’s fortune declined, the Khagan was accountable and could even be sacrificed. His son would then succeed to his position.

The principle beliefs and practices of the Tangri cult can be more or less determined by a study of Chinese sources and the Orkhon monuments. In a letter sent to the Chinese emperor by Mo-tun, the ruler of the Asian Huns, the latter notes that he had been elevated to the throne by Tangri and that his military victories were won first and foremost by virtue of the sky god's grace. Another Hun ruler, having escaped a trap set for him by the Chinese in 133 B.C. declared that his deliverance had been the will of Tangri, who watched over him and ensured his success. A Turkish ruler in 328 is reported as raising his arms to the heavens upon having achieved a success and saying "O Sky (Kok)… Thanks be to thee!" In the treaty between the Avar the Khagan and the Byzantine emperor, the former swore to uphold the agreement in the name of Kok-Tangri. After a victorious battle in 598 or 599, the Blue Türk (KokTürk) the Khagan Tardu dismounted, addressed the sky and proclaimed his thanks. According to the inscriptions on the Orkhon monuments, Tangri was the creator of the universe. The Blue Turks believed that their empire's formation was a consequence of the sky god's wishes and that their khagan had been sent to them by their god. In other words, Tangri took a personal interest in the independent existence of the Turks. Victory in the battle was a consequence of Tangri's will. Tangri intervened directly in the lives of the Turks and of people in general. He commanded and punished the disobedient. Tangri bestowed fortune and retracted it from those who were unworthy. It was Tangri who broke the light of day at dawn and who fused vegetation with life. Death was also dependent upon his will. Tangri granted life and could take it back whenever he wished: "When his time came, Kul Tegin died. Human beings are created to die. Law and right come from Tangri. He joins that which is broken and mends that which is torn."

The progress of the development of the concept of Tangri among the Turks from that of the physical sense of "sky" to a supreme being is interesting. In the Orkhon inscriptions there is a sentence that sums up the Turkish cosmogony in a nutshell: "Uze kok Tengri, asra yagiz yer kilindikta ikin ara kisi ogli kilinis" (When almighty Kok-tangri formed the dark yonder-earth, he also created man). To these early steppe landers the vast over-arching sky seemed to embrace everything from the phenomenal rising and setting of the sun and moon to the regular movements of the stars; from the unchanging cycle of the seasons to rain, snow, and wind; the heat of the day and the cold of the night; the quickening of vegetation in spring and its desiccation in summer; the sudden flowing of streams and their dying up; the birth and growth of animals in an invariable order and balance whose harmony was so perfect that it was inconceivable to the mind of man, and it was only natural that they should have regarded it as a supreme being. In addition to the absolute might of Tangri's immortality, Tangri also acquired the attribute of being everywhere at all times and of being incapable of being represented physically.

It has also been asserted that totemism was practiced among the early Turks; however, recent investigations have disproved this allegation. Researchers working in Siberia and Mongolia during the second half of the 19th century put forth an assertion that the early Turks were originally shamanists. Although incorrect, this notion became widespread and still persists.

In the course of their long history and wanderings, Turkish groups came into contact with many other religions prior to Islam. Some groups in China adopted Buddhism. The Danube Bulgars opted for Christianity. Judaism was popular with the Khazars. The Uighurs adopted Buddhism and Manichaeanism. The consequences for Turkish identity were not always providential since these groups were eventually assimilated into the larger communities.

Buddhism earlier than all great religions became popular in the first Turk khaganate aristocratic environment. The third son of Bumen (Il-Qağan) and Wei Chang'le, and the fourth khagan of the Gokturk khaganate Taspar reigned from 572-581. Unlike his father and older brothers he embraced chinese culture, especially Buddhism. He was converted to this religion by the Qi monk Huilin, for whom he built a pagoda. It is known from the Bugut inscription (VI c.) at court of Taspar khagan lived Sogdians-Buddhists. The Bugut inscription itself was written with the script typical for Buddhist sutrs. The khaganate rulers saw in Buddhism a universal form, that could help to creating a certain ideological community in the heterogeneous power. However, a social-political crisis in the khaganate begun in 581 г. Halted this process. In the west and east of the khaganate Buddhism was kept for some time. Some spreading Buddhism got among the Yenisei Kyrghyz and the Kimaks. One of the princes of the Yenisei Kyrghyz princely house even became a Buddhist monk, settled in one of the Buddhist monastery of Eastern Turkestan and translated sacred texts from Tibetan into Turkic.

A bronze mirror with a runic inscription found in a burial place of a Kimak woman in Eastern Kazakhstan, was decorated with a Buddhist maxim in the Turkic language. However only the Uighurs of Eastern Turkestan adopted Buddhism as a state religion and created the richest heritage of Buddhist texts translations, written in India, Tibet, Eastern Turkestan. Another religion spread among the Turks was Manichaeism. Manichaeism (Manichaeanism), dualistic religious movement founded in Persia in the 3rd century ad by Mani, who was known as the “Apostle of Light” and supreme “Illuminator.” Although Manichaeism was long considered a Christian heresy, it was a religion in its own right that, because of the coherence of its doctrines and the rigidness of its structure and institutions, preserved throughout its history a unity and unique character. Mani was born in southern Babylonia (now in Iraq). With his “annunciation” at the age of 24, he obeyed a heavenly order to manifest himself publicly and to proclaim his doctrines; thus began the new religion. From that point on, Mani preached throughout the Persian Empire. At first unhindered, he later was opposed by the king, condemned, and imprisoned. After 26 days of trials, which his followers called the “Passion of the Illuminator” or Mani’s “crucifixion,” Mani delivered a final message to his disciples and died (sometime between 274 and 277). Mani viewed himself as the final successor in a long line of prophets, beginning with Adam and including Buddha, Zoroaster, and Jesus. He viewed earlier revelations of the true religion as being limited in effectiveness because they were local, taught in one language to one people. Moreover, later adherents lost sight of the original truth. Mani regarded himself as the carrier of a universal message destined to replace all other religions. Hoping to avoid corruption and to ensure doctrinal unity, he recorded his teachings in writing and gave those writings canonical status during his lifetime.

The Manichaean Church from the beginning was dedicated to vigorous missionary activity in an attempt to convert the world. Mani encouraged the translation of his writings into other languages and organized an extensive mission program. Manichaeism rapidly spread west into the Roman Empire. From Egypt it moved across northern Africa (where the young Augustine temporarily became a convert) and reached Rome in the early 4th century. The 4th century marked the height of Manichaean expansion in the West, with churches established in southern Gaul and Spain. Vigorously attacked by both the Christian Church and the Roman state, it disappeared almost entirely from Western Europe by the end of the 5th century, and, during the course of the 6th century, from the eastern portion of the Empire. During the lifetime of Mani, Manichaeism spread to the eastern provinces of the Persian Sāsānian Empire. Within Persia itself, the Manichaean community maintained itself in spite of severe persecutions, until Muslim ʿAbbāsid persecution in the 10th century forced the transfer of the seat of the Manichaean leader to Samarkand (now in Uzbekistan).

The religion’s expansion to the East had already begun in the 7th century with the reopening of caravan routes there after China’s conquest of East Turkestan. A Manichaean missionary reached the Chinese court in 694, and in 732 an edict gave the religion freedom of worship in China. When East Turkestan was conquered in the 8th century by the Uighur Turks, one of their leaders adopted Manichaeism and it remained the state religion of the Uighur kingdom until its overthrow in 840. Manichaeism itself probably survived in East Turkistan until the Mongol invasion in the 13th century. In China it was forbidden in 843, but, although persecuted, it continued there at least until the 14th century. Teachings similar to Manichaeism resurfaced during the Middle Ages in Europe in the so-called neo-Manichaean sects. Groups such as the Paulicians (Armenia, 7th century), the Bogomilists (Bulgaria, 10th century), and the Cathari or Albigensians (southern France, 12th century) bore strong resemblances to Manichaeism and probably were influenced by it. However, their direct historical links to the religion of Mani are difficult to establish.

Mani sought to found a truly ecumenical and universal religion that would integrate into itself all the partial truths of previous revelations, especially those of Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus. However, beyond mere syncretism, it sought the proclamation of a truth that could be translated into diverse forms in accordance with the different cultures into which it spread. Thus, Manichaeism, depending on the context, resembles Iranian and Indian religions, Christianity, Buddhism, and Taoism. At its core, Manichaeism was a type of Gnosticism – a dualistic religion that offered salvation through special knowledge (gnosis) of spiritual truth. Like all forms of Gnosticism, Manichaeism taught that life in this world is unbearably painful and radically evil. Inner illumination or gnosis reveals that the soul which shares in the nature of God has fallen into the evil world of matter and must be saved by means of the spirit or intelligence (nous). To know one’s self is to recover one’s true self, which was previously clouded by ignorance and lack of self-consciousness because of its mingling with the body and with matter. In Manichaeism, to know one’s self is to see one’s soul as sharing in the very nature of God and as coming from a transcendent world. Knowledge enables a person to realize that, despite his abject present condition in the material world, he does not cease to remain united to the transcendent world by eternal and immanent bonds with it. Thus, knowledge is the only way to salvation. The saving knowledge of the true nature and destiny of humanity, God, and the universe is expressed in Manichaeism in a complex mythology. Whatever its details, the essential theme of this mythology remains constant: the soul is fallen, entangled with evil matter, and then liberated by the spirit or nous. The myth unfolds in three stages: a past period in which there was a separation of the two radically opposed substances – Spirit and Matter, Good and Evil, Light and Darkness; a middle period (corresponding to the present) during which the two substances are mixed; and a future period in which the original duality will be reestablished. At death the soul of the righteous person returns to Paradise. The soul of the person who persisted in things of the flesh – fornication, procreation, possessions, cultivation, harvesting, eating of meat, drinking of wine – is condemned to rebirth in a succession of bodies. Only a portion of the faithful followed the strict ascetic life advocated in Manichaeism. The community was divided into the elect, who felt able to embrace a rigorous rule, and the hearers who supported the elect with works and alms. The essentials of the Manichaean sacramental rites were prayers, almsgiving, and fasting. Confession and the singing of hymns were also important in their communal life. The Manichaean scriptural canon includes seven works attributed to Mani, written originally in Syriac. Lost after Manichaeism became extinct in the Middle Ages, portions of the Manichaean scriptures were rediscovered in the 20th century, mainly in Chinese Turkestan and Egypt.

Reasons for Choosing Manichaeism: The Wish to Maintain Friendly Relations with Tang China

For a century and a half, the Uighurs had been more or less allies of Tang China. They had demonstrated their military superiority to the Tang forces by suppressing the An Lushan rebellion, when the latter had failed to do so. Nevertheless, the Uighur khagans still wished, for the moment, to maintain friendly relations with Tang China. Despite the Uighurs’ sacking of Chang’an and Loyang, the Tang court wished the same.

In 713, the powerful Eastern Turk minister, Tonyuquq, had convinced Kapaghan Khagan (r. 692 – 716) to deport the Sogdian community from Mongolia as he steered the empire toward a revival of its shamanic and Tengrian traditions. The community included both Buddhists and Manichaeans, and the Tang court had allowed them all to join with the Sogdians already settled in Chang’an and Loyang. In 732, however, Xuanzong had banned any Han Chinese from following Manichaeism and had restricted it to the foreign community. Eight years later, he had deported all foreign Buddhist monks, yet still tolerated aliens in Tang China who professed Manichaeism. If the Uighurs were to adopt this latter religion, they could maintain friendly relations with Tang China without offending its religious policies. There were additional reasons, however, for making this choice. The Uighurs were intent on further expansion of their territory, particularly into the Tarim Basin where they could control the lucrative Silk Route trade. Tang China had only a weak presence in Turfan, Beshbaliq, and along the northern branch of the route in Kucha and Kashgar. The Tibetans also had only a weak presence along the Silk Route’s southern branch. Sogdian merchants, however, were found in all the oasis city-states, primarily Turfan.

Having triumphed over the An Lushan rebellion, while the Tang emperor had been forced to flee in humiliation, the Uighurs were now the heroes of the day. The Tang government had not only lost face, but was in an even weaker position than before to exercise effective control over Turfan or anywhere else in the Tarim Basin. Although Tang China had given the Sogdians political asylum in 713, yet by expelling the Buddhist monks among them, they had undoubtedly lost the confidence of the Sogdian community. If the Uighurs were to adopt a major Sogdian religion, they would readily be accepted as the protectors and overlords of the Turfan Sogdians. This would give them a foothold in the Tarim Basin for further expansion and possible control of the Silk Route.

The Conversion to Manichaeism

It was undoubtedly with such thoughts in mind that Bogu Khagan declared Manichaeism the Uighur state religion in 762, since Buddhism was not a viable alternative at this time. Furthermore, with its stress on the forces of light gaining the victory over the powers of darkness, Manichaeism would have given the impression of being more suited than Buddhism for a martial nation. Following the lessons learned from the First and Second Eastern Turk Dynasties, the Khagan borrowed the Sogdian alphabet, but not the Sogdian language, and modified it for writing Uighur. He used it for both administrative as well as religious purposes, employing Sogdians to translate Manichaean texts into Uighur.

Having gained experience translating Buddhist texts into Old Turk, the Sogdians had begun to render Buddhist scriptures into their own language during the interim (630 – 682) between the First and Second Eastern Turk Dynasties. This was the period when not only Mongolia and Turfan, but also the entire Tarim Basin had been conquered by Tang China. The Sogdian translators had used primarily Han Chinese sources, the tradition and language with which they were most familiar. With Tang China in such a dominant political position, the Sogdian Buddhists probably had finally felt their identity threatened enough to take this step to distance themselves from possible absorption by Han Chinese culture. Since this Buddhist translation activity was still continuing at the time the Uighurs commissioned the Sogdian translators to prepare Uighur Manichaean texts, and since the Sogdians had already worked with the Old Turk language which was related to Uighur, the Sogdians naturally borrowed a considerable amount of Buddhist terminology for their new task. Popular Resistance to the Conversion

As a result of the Uighur rule of Turfan from 605 to the 630s, many Uighurs had already adopted the Eastern Turk form of Buddhism, particularly the warriors and common people. Yet after the Uighur suppression of the An Lushan rebellion, Bogu Khagan led his men in destroying all Buddhist monasteries and temples when pillaging Chang’an and Loyang. He ordered the subsequent destruction of Buddhist monasteries in other parts of his realm as well, as far away as Semirechye in northern West Turkestan. In so doing, he was undoubtedly trying to reaffirm the pan-Turkic martial tradition and justify his choice of Manichaeism by demonstrating even further the weakness of Buddhism.

Numerous Uighur soldiers, however, undoubtedly still followed a mixture of Buddhism, Tengrism, and Turkic shamanism at this time. This is indicated by the fact that Bogu Khagan had to force his people into accepting Manichaeism. He organized them into units of ten, with one person responsible for the religious observances of each group. Nevertheless, this mainly Sogdian religion never became widespread among the Uighurs. It was limited primarily to the aristocratic nobility, to whom it appealed because of its emphasis on a pure and clean religious elite who were morally superior to the so-called “dirty masses.” Buddhism undoubtedly continued among these “dirty masses” throughout the period of Uighur rule over Mongolia.

Furthermore, the Uighur nobility itself was not exclusively committed to Manichaeism. Twenty years after the official state conversion, Alp Kutlugh (r. 780 – 790) assassinated Bogu khagan for his financial excesses in support of this new religion. Assuming the title Khagan, he requested Patriarch Timotheus (r. 780 – 819) to assign a Nestorian Christian metropolitan for his realm. This form of Christianity, however, like Manichaeism, was still basically a Sogdian faith. Its patronage fit logically within the general Uighur strategy for winning the allegiance of the people of the Tarim Basin as led economically by the Sogdian merchants.

In the seventh and eighth centuries, Nestorian Christianity spread through southern Kazakhstan and Semirechye and later in the ninth and 10th centuries led to the founding of the Metropolitan See of Qarluks. Christian churches still exist in Taraz and Mirke. In Taraz today there are still Christian families of Syrian origin (easily recognized by their dark skin) who claim that their ancestors went there to escape persecutions, the memory of which has been lost in time.

Control questions:

1. Describe three main points of the religious beliefs in the early Turk states on the plateaus of Central Asia coalesced around.

2. How do we know about the principle beliefs and practices of the Tangri cult? Give some examples.

3. Give an analyses of many other religions prior to Islam Turkic groups came into contact in the course of their long history and wanderings

4. How do we know about Taspar (reigned from 572-581) conversion to Buddhism?

5. Provide some modern-day site evidences about Nestorian Christianity spread through southern Kazakhstan and Semirechyeю