The Kazakhs trace their ancestry … from the people of the Turks. … The Turks are known by many names, but we are from the Uigur branch.
Shakarim Kudaiberdy-uly. Genealogy of Turks, Kirghiz, Kazakhs and khan dynasties
Shakarim’s authority is extremely high among Kazakhs. However, his words that «we are from the Uigur branch» probably surprised someone, and someone thought that the aksakal made a mistake or confused something. But Shakarim insisted: «All known genealogies translate the word «Uyghur» as «united, joined (each other)». This people was made up of the Taifs: Kyrgyz, Kanly, Kypchak, Argynot, Naiman, Kereyt, Doglat, Oysyn — i.e. our direct ancestors.»
Imagine, this is half of the main Kazakh clans! And it is more than a mystery for a modern Kazakh…. Why? Because it’s not Shakarim who confused it. It is us, descendants of the Türk people, were confused in our own history. He speaks historical truth, and he is not understood!
Shakarim’s murdered truth
And, probably, many people would like to ask Shakarim why he said so! But there will be no answer. There is no — Shakarim. He was executed without investigation and trial. Alash historians M. Tynyshpayev and A. Bukeikhanov will not help either. They were destroyed together with the entire modernist elite of Kazakhs. Alash autonomists, pan-Turkists and their opponents Kazakh «national-Bolsheviks» are also cut out.
They «kept silent» in the late 20s, when before the Holodomor the «remnant», and in fact the whole traditional elite of the Kazakh society was destroyed. These were the so-called «feudal-bai elements»: descendants of khans-sultans, biys, batyrs, bai and imams. But democrats and revolutionaries «kept silent». Therefore, when they themselves were repressed, there was no one to shout.
The circle of silence closed for them. It’s not that there was no truth. There was no one to tell the truth.
And there was no one to lead the people. It came to the point that during the uprisings of the 30s, there was no nobility left to lead the people, and the rebels’ khans were elected by the narodnik leaders. They rose up doomed. They stood at the head of the people, but did not know where to lead it …
The truth could have been learned from the scientists. But they were so massively repressed that Orientalism was practically destroyed. There are hundreds of professional oriental historians on the repressive lists. In these lists are 72 scientific institutions and the entire geography of the USSR from Minsk and Kiev through the Caucasus and the Volga region to Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk. All scientific centers were beheaded: academies, institutes, museums, libraries. There was no one to speak and defend the truth…. Another circle of silence.
The same L.N. Gumilev, vaunted by Kazakhs, prepared his works in prison. But he was still «lucky»! He survived, but learned to hide meanings between the lines. And he did not touch the mystery of the Naimans of Mongolia, although in the form of a remark he mentioned the Turkic people «Segiz-Oguzes».
Only those whose views fit into the new history of the «peoples of the Soviet East» remained.
Hiding Turkic Eurasia
Modern Kazakh historical consciousness has been shaped by the educational course of the USSR. With regard to the Turks, it was so brief that there was not even a hint about Attila and the Hun Turks. And in the textbook of Kaz.SSR from all ancient Turkic Khaganates there was only one West Turkic Khaganate.
The reason for the silence about the great Turkic Eurasia was the ideology of «big brother». Using Kazakh terms, a doctrine was created about a certain senior Great Russian «zhuz», surrounded by some other cultural peoples, but a step below. And all others followed the descending hierarchy: union republics, autonomies, etc. A peculiar «national-administrative» pyramid of Soviet nations was formed. According to its «tradition of historical seniority» a peculiar «mound of default of forgotten ethnic groups» was formed.
And although the mound is a rather stable construction, but not in history and not in public life. You cannot build the building of statehood on lies. All this mound subjectivism was ephemeral from the base to the top. That is why it collapsed as soon as somewhere down there, at the bottom of the pyramid, the clouds of small deceptions began to disintegrate. And as soon as local ethnic conflicts began from below, the top was bent down as well…. And when Turkic secrets began to be revealed, the whole slope of myths was torn down and emptiness was exposed.
The history of nomadic Turks was monolithic as the life of a single super-ethnos. Therefore, when the ancient names of imperial peoples and royal dynasties of the Turks «disappeared» from the course, a gaping void was formed. Its gaps were filled with myths, and also «patched» by the fact that pieces of the Kaganates were «passed» from one «sov.nation» to another. It turned out to be an absurdity, covered by propaganda.
Because of such myths the origin of Kazakhs «from the branch of Uigur» looks strange!
The memory of many ancient peoples was «repressed» together with scientists. One of the victims of historical «crookedness» was the people of Naiman. It was a splinter of the Great Kaganate of Turks, like its imperial predecessors and contemporaries. But they all «disappeared»: Turkuts, Sires, ancient Uyghurs, Kimaks, Karakhanids….
Only in relation to only one Kagan people the historical justice was restored, and only partially. In the beginning there was nothing about the people Sir-Kypchak too, except mentioning about «Wild Polovetsian field». But with time on Kypchaks recognized the 50-decade-long kaganate of Sir-Kypchaks and the imperial dynasty of Ashina-Ashide. But others did not receive such recognition.
And it turned out that the ancient Uighurs were supposedly exterminated, and the Naimans supposedly appeared from nowhere!
Soviet myths about the Naiman people
The Soviet «course» did a «miracle» with the history of the Naiman people! It appeared as if out of nowhere, although in nature this does not happen. The reason for this «miracle», most likely, is that the Naimans somehow «out of time» became contemporaries of Genghis Khan (whose people also appeared out of nowhere?). And it was not customary to «offend» the brotherly people of a socialist country.
And the Naimans had no ancestor! But there was an ancestor. The strongest and most numerous people of the then still Turkic Mongolia could not not have powerful ancestors.
To circumvent this «failure», the Naimans were «enrolled» in the Mongolian-speaking peoples. This was the course of Sovietized history-ideology. Of course, it was nonsense, because the Mongols were «tried on» as an ancestor, although they themselves as a people had not yet existed. This initial falsehood entailed even more lies, and it was necessary to search for little-known names of small ethnic groups, to invent previously unknown details, and to hide or profane obvious facts.
The myth about the Mongolian-speaking Naimans began to be scaled up. This myth was opposed by the Western European school of history, which considers the Naimans and other tribes of Mongolia to be Turks. An open dispute could have arisen. But it did not take place…. There was nothing to object to.
This myth lives even now. The only thing was to «enroll» Naimans and other Mongolian Turks in «peoples with unclear origin»! And nothing convinces Mongolophiles: neither Turkic names-titles of Naiman khans, nor ancient Turkic writing, nor Turkic political tradition. It came to absurdity.
For example, the encyclopedic dictionary of F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron directly called the Naimans «the strongest Turkic tribe». The Soviet Historical Encyclopedia pointed to the Turkic name «sekiz-oguz» («eight Oguzes»). But despite this, the methodological course was oriented to the Mongol-speaking Naimans. The Soviet Encyclopedia claimed that «the majority of researchers» considered the Naimans «ethnically and linguistically» to be Turks, but the opposite was «hammered» into the propaganda? Isn’t that absurd!?
The Naim River or the People of the Spear?
Even the clan name of Naimans became a mystery and a reason for misconceptions. The reason for this was the Turkophile version that the name «Naiman» comes from the name of «the river Naima, a tributary of the Katun». This was the most «direct explanation»: Altai was Turkic and the Naimans as natives of Altai were Turks. The temptation was so obvious that some Turkophiles succumbed to it.
However, it was a «mistake in naming». The Naima River as such does not exist either in nature or in historical geography. The Altai river Maima is a tributary of the Katun River and it is not the Naimans who live there, but the Maimans. And there is a village there and the district is correspondingly Maiman.
And even those scientists who considered Naimans to be an original Turkic tribe succumbed to this obsession. And therefore it is not surprising that never unknown river Naima is propagandized in dozens, if not hundreds of sources!
«Miracle»! No — not a miracle. It is the «pressure of authority» and the power of a certain bias: he is right even when he is wrong. All the more so everyone says so…
Where did this version come from? As it turns out — from friends. N.A. Aristov as a convinced Turkophile insisted on the fact that «Kireys (Kireites)», Merkits and Naymans: «All these were tribes of Turkic language». He defended the Turkicness of the Naimans, but it was he who, in the heat of the polemic, made a «mistake in the name», counting Maima for Naima and Maimans for Naimans.
This unverified thesis is now propagandized as a fact, which discredits the all-Turkic position. Therefore, it is necessary to abandon the river Naima, especially since there are enough other arguments for the Turkicness of the Naimans.
Only, on the river Maima it is possible as an option to consider the process of reverse renaming. Maimans are fixed in Altai relatively recently and it is possible to assume that they are not the progenitors of Naimans, but on the contrary, they are their descendants. Part of the Naimans defeated by Genghis Khan according to the Turanian tradition changed the «unlucky name» and became «Maimans». Such a custom was performed not for the first time. The same Sirs-Seyanto after the fall of the Syrian Kaganate changed the name Sir to Kypchak. There is something sacred in this tradition, warning that one should not accept the names of lost nations, no matter how great they were in history.
And since other versions of the origin of the name do not look reliable, we will allow ourselves to join the opoetized heroic version that the self-name of the people of Nayman was «Spearmen» (people of the Spear — or people NAY-za). The great dynasty of the Naiman died, but their clans retained their strength. And so the «people of the Spearmen» did not change their name. Moreover, for the initiates the name Nayman remained a Turkic sign of continuity, a testament of the Oguz Kaganate.
Mongolophiles about the Kidan ancestors of the Naimans
As indicated above, one should not be deceived by the namesake of names. It is too ephemeral.
However, the only argument of Mongolophiles is based precisely on the similarity of names-terms. In their opinion, «Naiman» in Mongolian means «eight» and therefore the Naimans come from eight tribes of Mongolian-speaking Kidans. In fact, this «numeral» is the only linking of the Naimans to the Mongols.
However, Mongolophiles forget about historical facts.
First of all, the Kidanis performed their feats quite remotely from the Turkic lands. And among the Turks the Kidans appeared rather late, only in 1123 during the emigration of Prince Yelyu-Dashi to Turkestan. And even then as «forced migrants».
Secondly, Mongolophiles ignore the extreme small number of Kidans in the army of Yelyu-Dashi. So, for example, «according to Chinese news Yelyui-Dashi, the eighth generation descendant of Abarka, the first Kidan emperor, after fruitless attempts to support the Kidan empire falling under the blows of the Jurchens … fled, at the head of 200 horsemen». In the province of Shanxi he «gathered the chiefs … seven regions and eighteen clans … which, apparently, all belonged to the Turkic tribe. Having listened to the speeches of Yelyu-Dashi, who asked for help, the assembly provided him with an army of select horsemen, numbering more than ten thousand people.»
Thus the prince lost his country and his people. He became a fugitive accompanied by only 200 Kidanese horsemen who were faithful to their oath. The Kidanese had both the title and the right to power, but the eight tribes of the Kidanese were not with him. The ratio of two hundred Kidans to ten thousand Turkic troops speaks for itself.
And for our question it is enough that two hundred men in no way form eight tribes. From this it follows that the «Kidan» origin of Taifa Naiman is a hoax.
Thirdly, Yelyu had no place in Mongolia. There he would have been finished off, as the last Uighur Kagan was once persecuted. The Churjeni were an eastern people, and they knew the dynastic rule: those who can challenge the title are not spared. In neighboring Mongolia the last Yelui would have been killed.
Fourthly, in Turkic Mongolia did not wait for the Kidans in principle. There ruled their own Kagan and grand-princely Turkic dynasties, which had no need for an alien heir. Among their kings there was never anyone from the Yelyui clan. Therefore, when the last Yelui tried to pass into the «country of the Kergizes», he was explicitly rejected from there. And he went to the southwest through Kashgar and Tien Shan to Samarkand. But Kashgar and Samarkand have no relation to Naiman Mongolia.
Thus, the Kidan prince went much further south than the Naimans.
And finally, fifth and most importantly. Not only that Yelyui-Dashi never appeared in Mongolia, but long before the Kidans lived there their own eight Turkic tribes — «Segiz-Oguzes». Already by the very Oguz name, they were part of the ancient Turks.
And as Turks they were known long before Yelyu-Dasha and the Kidan march of 1123. The tribes of «Segiz-Oguzes» together with «Toguz-Tatars» as early as in 747 raised turmoil in the Toguz-Oguz Kaganate, choosing their own Kagan. Their separatism led to the fact that in 753 the army of the Kaganate was divided into two wings, the Segiz-Oguzes and the Toguz-Oguzes.
Eight Naimans and other Oguzes
Segiz-Oguzes were subordinated to the ancient Uigur Kaganate and were part of the Toguz-Oguz Kaganate. The Kaganate was called Uigur Kaganate, as the horde was composed of the On-Uigur tribe, and Toguz-Oguz Kaganate, as the military-political basis were Toguz-Oguzes.
But as we see, the eight-tribe Oguzes also demonstrated their strength. Perhaps, their origin was connected with the split of the Toguz-Oguz clans, dissatisfied with the excessively repressive policy of the khagans of the first dynasty of Yaglakar. It is not accidental that this dynasty perished in the civil war. After the internecine strife there was a division of wings. The Khan’s aimak of the On-Uyghurs and the Toguz-Oguz clans adjoining them retained the old name «Toguz-Oguzes», and the rebellious parts of the other eight (naturally, without the ninth royal ulus) clans adopted the new name «Segiz-Oguzes».
Naturally there were other «autonomists». And when the Ancient Uigur Khaganate collapsed, several khanates were formed on its ruins. But the strongest was the Naiman Khanate of the Segiz-Oguzes.
Their «numerical name» should not surprise us. Such «numerical names» were not new for the Turks and the most ancient tribal culture of Turan. There were many such clans in the Ancient Uigur Kaganate: On-Uigurs, Toguz-Oguzes, Toguz-Tatars, Segiz-Oguzes (Naimans), Jeti-Oguzes (presumably, their remnants — Dolons). According to Gumilev in Mongolia remained also «the people of six Begovs» (presumably, six ancient Tele tribes Bugu, Hun, Bayegu-Baiyrku, Tongra-Tunlo, Syge-Sygye, Kibi-Kibiyu). Somewhere the remnants of forty tribes of the Basmyl Kaganate and fragments of the tenth Syr Oguz, who mostly left Mongolia after the fall of the Ancient Kypchak Kaganate, were preserved. What is to say, relics of such ancient royal clans as the Orkhon Turks have been preserved.
Based on the above mentioned set, there were more than fifty clans of Turks in the composition of the Kaganate. Such a large number of clans is not surprising, since the Turkic clan system was a multi-layered state structure.
The title of «nine powers»
The literature indicates a different number of Toguz-Oguz and On-Uyghur clans themselves, the number of them comes to 14-15. But in fact these «internal» clans could be even more. This is evidenced by the fact that after the catastrophe «thirteen clans of the khan’s aimak» accompanied the last ancient Uyghur kagan Uge-tegin towards death. In this ruinous flight they became «eyewitnesses of their own destruction». And also «fifteen aimaks» went into exile with the more fortunate prince Pan-Tore. And each of these aimaks had its own clan name. Here we see 28 clan-lords.
It is interesting that, in spite of obviously greater number of tribes, Kaganate was called Toguz-Oguz, that is 9-tribes. This is explained by the sacral meaning of the number «nine» for the Tengrian Turks. Nine implied a connection with Heaven and blessed the supreme power. This title was accepted sacredly, from Heaven. And on earth it denoted a dynastic claim to imperial power.
So, for example, as soon as the Karluk jabgu (note, not jabgu, but the jocating term) accepted the imperial title of Kagan, his three-member people Uch-Karluk began to be called «Toguz-Karluk». The right to the title of nine powers was given to him by the confidence in his absolute power.
So why the mighty Naimans did not accept the title of the nine-tribe people. Probably because there were really eight tribes. And besides, adopting a sacred name would be a challenge to all enemies. That is why the Naimans simply reproduced their old tribal name — «pikemen».
There was no more central imperial power in Mongolia, and the Kagan title of the master of the «nine bunchuk» remained vacant. Only Genghis Khan was able to renew the title and the Kaganate. He accepted this title only after the death of the supreme dynastic elite of Segiz-oguz and taking an oath from the surviving princes of blood.
And, indeed, according to Turanian laws Genghis Khan could not accept the title of «Son of Heaven» while there was a dynasty of Naimans. It originated from princes — princes of blood of the Ancient Uigur Kaganate. And only they were legitimate applicants for the heavenly title of Kagan.
Nayman kings came from the Ancient Uigur dynasty. This is evidenced by the reproduction of sacral names and dynastic authority of the Naiman kings in Mongolia. This version reaches the identification of the kings: «… Uigur Buku (Byogyu)-kagan and Naiman Buku-khan are one and the same person». However, there is most likely no identity here. There is dynastic heredity and legitimization of power by reproducing the main title.
The main historical source — Rashid ad-Din — says about it: «The king of the Naimans, who was with them before the enmity of Genghis Khan with the Naimans, was called Inanch-Bilge Buku-khan: In ancient times Buku-khan was a great sovereign, (to the memory of) whom the Uighurs and many other tribes treat with full respect and tell that he was born from the same tree». And all these tribes were Turks who could not identify themselves with the Kidans.
And if the Naiman would have been Mongolian-speaking, and would have been related to the «Iron Empire of Liao», they would have reproduced not Turkic, but Kidan titles. But — no. All Naiman khans took the throne names of Turkic emperors. Ancient Mongolia was Turkic and there was no Liao dynasty or Yelui surname in it.
Therefore, denying Aristov’s version of the «river Naima», we agree with him that the «Kirghiz-Kazakh people … consists of many Turkic tribes of Uigur and western groups». Among others, the Naimans were the heirs of the ancient Uigur kingdom. They were the people and the main surviving array of tribes of the Ancient Uyghur Kaganate of the Turks …
And they did not arise out of nowhere, just as other peoples did not disappear allegedly in «nowhere»: Kimaks, Karakhanids, etc. … They, too, had «children» left, who were also «parroted»…..
The mystery of the Nayman people
Numerals: Segiz-Oguzes, Toguz-Tatars, On-Uyghurs