Étienne de LA VAISSIÈRE

IDRĪSĪ ON THE UIGHUR EMPIRE. A DEPICTION OF QARAQORUM AND BAYBALIQ

he Mongol and German excavations going on at Qaraqorum, the Tformer capital of the Mongols in the Orkhon valley, as well as at Qara- balghasun, the former Uighur capital, are improving our knowledge on the importance of the valley for the nomadic empires.1 Based on exten- sive surveys, the history of nomadic settlements is also better known. Preliminary results show that the Orkhon valley was not of major impor- tance during the Xiongnu period.2 Even for the Türks, it was not as important as the monumental inscriptions of Khöshöö Tsaidam would let us think: the Orkhon could have been the actual centre of the empire only during a short period, c. 690 to c. 740, after the return of the Turks from their century-long move to the South of the Gobi, in the Yinshan and the valleys close to the Huanghe loop, and before their defeat in front of the coalition of their subordinate tribes.3 During the early Empire, the centre seems to have been situated slightly more to the West, in the Tamir val- ley, where the Bugut inscription was discovered and which might be mentioned in the Chinese texts on the Türks as the annual meeting point of the tribes. We do not know why Tonyuquq, the actual builder of a new Turkic power base north of the Gobi, chose the Orkhon. But this choice triggered a series of subsequent choices, beginning with the Uighurs. Qarabalghasun, the Uighur capital is only one stage away from the tombs of the Türks’ qaghans, at Khöshöö Tsaidam, on the other side of the large Orkhon valley. There is a hint to the reason for this choice in the Uighur inscriptions: on line S5 of the Tariat inscription the control

1 Bemmann, Pohl, Schütt, Schwanghart, “Archaeological findings”. 2 Bemmann, “Center of the Xiongnu Empire”. 3 La Vaissière, “Away from the Ötüken”.

Turcica, 47, 2016, p. 399-405. doi: 10.2143/TURC.47.0.3164949 © 2016 Turcica. Tous droits réservés. 400 étienne de la vaissière

of the imperial tombs is mentioned as an ultimate proof of the favour of Heaven, just before the (re-)creation of the Uighur qaghanate in 748: “Afterwards in the Rat Year (A.D. 748), ‘the graves are in your hand. — the strong common people said. The graves belong to you. There has been a powerful Qara-suv.’ The common people stood up and gave me the title of Qaγan.”4 Actually this importance of the control of the imperial tombs directly echoes a text of Herodotus (IV.127), describing the Royal tombs of the Scythians as the only part of their territory they would fight for in front of the advancing army of Darius. The longue durée continuity of the political organisation of the succeeding nomadic empires is once more striking. The choice of the middle Orkhon by Chingis in 1220 and then by Ögödei was itself in direct relationship to the Türkish and Uighur peri- ods, as demonstrated by Th. Allsen with a clear text of Juvaynī.5 Juvaynī wrote: “It is the opinion of the Uighur that the beginning of their generation and increase was on the banks of the river Orqon, whose source flows from a mountain which they call Qara Qorum; the town that was built by Qa’an in the present age is also called after that mountain. Thirty rivers have their sources in it; upon each river there dwelt a different people; the Uighur forming two groups upon the Orqon. When their number increased, after the manner of other peoples they appointed a chief from their midst and yielded him obedience. And so they continued for five hundred years until the appearance of Buqu Khan. Now it is said that Buqu Khan was Afrasi- yab; and there are ruins of a well, and also a great stone, on the hillside near Qara-Qorum, and this well is said to be that of Bizhan.”6 This text demonstrates that the thirteenth century Uighurs kept memory of Bögü qaghan and of the Orkhon, but also faintly of a toponym Qaraqo- rum. Some remains were discovered, across the river from Mongol Qaraqorum, although no town is mentioned. However, this text is not the only one linking Qaraqorum with the Uighurs. In his synthesis of the Arabic geographical knowledge, written in twelfth century Sicilia for King Roger, al-Idrīsī wrote that:

و أما بلاد التغزغز فمنها مدينة خزخراكث وبينها وبين مدينة خاقان ملكهم يوم خفيف وهي مدينة كثيرة الخيرات وفيها صنائع ويجلب إليها حديد كثير يتجهز به سائر الآفاق من بلاد الترك ومن خزخراكث إٕلى مدينة نضخو أربع مراحل ومدينة نضخو على بحيرة كبيرة وتسمى بحيرة كوارث.

4 Moriyasu, Ochir, Provisional Report, p. 171. 5 Allsen, “Spiritual Geography”. 6 Juvaynī, Gengis Khan, p. 54. idrīsī on the uighur empire 401

وهذه البحيرة ماؤها حلو وبها طير كثير يبيض ويفرخ على الماء وهو شبيه بالطائر المسمى بالهدهد مبرقش بضروب الألوان وإلى هذه البحيرة ينتجع كثير من الترك لكثرة ربيعها وعشبها. ومن مدينة نضخو إلى مدينة خاقان أربع مراحل خفاف في عمارة متصلة وقوم ظواعن رحالة ينتقلون من موضع إلى موضع ومنها إلى نشران وهي مدينة كبيرة في جهة الشمال ست مراحل وهي مدينة حسنة للتغزغز على نهر كبير خصيب الضفتين ومواشي أهل هذه المدينة تسرح في ناحيتيه وجانبيه وبها تجارات وصناعات ويوجد في هذا النهر أحجار 7 اللازورد ويجمع بها منه جمل كثيرة فيحمل إلى خراسان والعراق وسائر بلاد الشامات “In the country of the Tughuzghuz there is a town (named) Ḫ.z.ḫ.rākath There is a short day between this town and the town of the .خزخراكث qaghan, the king of that country. There are many amenities and there are workshops. A lot of iron is brought there, and from this town to the other dependancies of the country of the Turks. From Ḫ.z.ḫ.rākath to N.ḍḫū, four stages. This town is situated on the shore of a big lake, named K.wār.th lake. Its water is sweet. Many birds are flying above its water, of a special species that lays and raises its chicks on water. It looks like the hoopoe, and its feathers are of diverse colours. Many Turks are coming to the shore of this lake as there are many spring pastures and grass. From N.ḍḫū to the town of the qaghan, four short stages through a country continuously inhabited by nomads wandering from place to place. From this town to N.shrân, a big town to the north, 6 days. N.shrân is a beautiful town of the Tughuzghuz, on a big river, fertile on its two banks. The livestock of the people of this town grazes on its shores and surroundings. There are trade and workshops. In this river lapis-lazuli is to be found, a lot of it, sent to Khurasan, Iraq and the provinces of Syria.” It is well known that Idrīsī, although quite late, is the only geographer to preserve part of the once vast Muslim knowledge on Siberia, Mongolia and Xinjiang. He ascribed his data on the Tughuzghuz to Ibn Ḫurdāḏbih.8 Ḫ.z.ḫ.rākat has been identified by J. Marquart with Qaraqorum. He wrote:

war dies eine gewerbreiche Stadt, die nur eine schwache Tagreise خزخراكت“ von der Residenz des Chagans entfernt war […] Ich wage daher die Ver- die alte Stadt Qaraqoram steckt, deren Ruinen das خزخراكت mutung, dass in Charāchorā-kat ُخراخراكت heutige Qarabalgassun darstellt. Wir hätten dann wie so häufig, an den türkischen Namen ,كت zu lesen, wobei das iranische angehängt ist.”9

7 Idrīsī, Opus geographicum, p. 521. 8 Idrīsī, Opus geographicum, p. 518. On Ibn Ḫurdāḏbih’s posterity see most recently Göckenjan, Zimonyi, Orientalische Berichte über die Völker Osteuropas, p. 29-31, Lur’e, “Description of the Overland Route”. We have only an abridged text of Ibn Ḫurdāḏbih. A longer manuscript was seemingly still known to Raverty in the 19th c. 9 Marquart, Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge, p. 81. 402 étienne de la vaissière

While certainly possible from a paleographic point of view — a single dot of difference — , this hypothesis was however not further developped in Marquart’s text and his analysis seems to have been overlooked by every single historian or archaeologist working on Qaraqorum since then. Actually, Marquart made a confusion, as Qaraqorum and Qarabalghasun were two different towns: Qarabalghasun was the actual residence of the Uighur Qaghan, not Qaraqorum. But it can be demonstrated that his intui- tion was right even if Qarabalghasun has to be distinguished from Qaraqorum. Ḫ.z.ḫ.rākath can be identified in relation to the landmarks provided in the text: it is a short stage away from the capital of the Uighurs, and four stages away from a very big lake. The source of Idrīsī seems to make use of 4 different measures of length: short stage, stage, short day, day. A full day of travel with a caravan is in the 35-40 km range, a short day then might be c. 30 km. a stage is 4 farsakhs10, i.e. c. 20-25 km and a short stage should be in the 15-20 km range (fig. 1). The key point is certainly the mention in the text of the residence of the qaghan. However, it is not in itself enough to demonstrate that the Orkhon valley is here described: the Uighurs shifted their capital after their flight to the south in 840 and we cannot assume that this passage was in the lost part of the first redaction of Ibn Ḫurdāḏbih’s text, dated 846-7, and not in the second one, dated 885-6. Before 840 their capital was Qarabalghasun, a few decades later they settled first at Qarashahr, then at a winter capital in Qocho-Gaochang, and a summer one at Besh- balik-Beiting, south and north of the Bogda shan. The pre-840 date can be actually demonstrated in the case of Ḫ.z.ḫ.rākath. The big lake is at four short stages from the Uighur capital: there is no such big lake around nor Qarashahr nor Beshbalik nor Qocho, i.e. in a 50-100 km radius. Qarashahr is on the shore of its lake. The Barskul, which would be a likely candidate for Beshbalik and Qocho, is at 280 km east of both these towns as the crow flies and is much too far away, while the other candidate, the Aiding lake at the very bottom of the Turfan depression, 154 m below sea level, is only one short stage away from Qocho, at 19 km. The situation is entirely different in the Orkhon valley: the Ögii Nuur, a big 22 km2 lake, is situated at 50-60 km from Qarabalghasun, a quite good match to the four short stages . It is celebrated for its bird life, although this is far from unique in the region. It is at c. 75-90 km from Qaraqorum, depending on the road chosen, a very good match to the four stages between Ḫ.z.ḫ.rākat and the lake. Qarabalghasun­ is precisely at a normal stage from Qaraqorum, 27 km.

10 Minorsky, “Tamim Ibn Bahr’s Journey”, p. 293. IDRĪSĪ ON THE UIGHUR EMPIRE 403

Fig. 1. Orkhon and Selenga valleys according to al-Idrīsī. 404 étienne de la vaissière

From an archaeological point of view, later, Mongol-time, Qaraqorum was famous for its metal trade.11 Iron ingots have been found there. Recently some Mongol smelting furnaces have been discovered close to Qaraqorum, on the left bank terrace of the Orkhon, on a site with traces of much earlier occupation.12 This might vindicate on another point the accuracy of Idrīsī’s text, on iron brought to Qaraqorum. Uighur Qaraqo- rum, a stage away from the capital, was seemingly a small industrial centre devoted to iron smelting or final processing: no big town could have existed so close from the gigantic Qarabalghasun. The mention of lapis-lazuli in a big river 6 stages north of the lake is also a specific feature of Northern Mongolia, up to now, as it is present in many rivers south of the Baykal, especially in the range separating the Selenga from the Baykal: the Selenga valley is precisely where a 6 days travel north from the lake Ögii would lead, i.e. at about 210 km. The Selenga is most probably the large river, fertile on its two banks, with a نشران lot of livestock of Idrīsī. The big, beautiful and busy town of N.shrân might be identified with Baybalik, indeed at a distance of 6 days right north from the Ögii lake, on the Selenga, although the Arabic tran- scription is corrupt beyond recognition and some other Uighur towns might have existed in the same valley. It is quite likely that Idrīsī, or rather his source, copied a pre-840 piece of information on the Orkhon valley and Selenga valley under Uighur power. It is well known that most of the informations on the Uighur in the Arabic sources are to be dated to the heyday of the Uighurs in Mon- golia, before 840. Tamin b. Baḥr was a central source of information for that, but some Sogdian itineraries or at least narratives were also certainly incorporated, as most of the toponymy went through a Sogdian filter, including Ḫ.z.ḫ.rākath, -kath being the Sogdian ending for town.13 Being quite different from Tamin’s text as known to us, it is indeed possible that Idrīsī, or rather Ibn Ḫurdāḏbih, is making use of a pre-840 Sogdian depiction.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allsen (T.), “Spiritual geography and political legitimacy in the Eastern Steppe” in H. Claessen, J. Oosten ed., Ideology and Formation of Early States, Leiden, 1996, p. 116-135.

11 Pohl et alii, “Production sites in Karakorum”, p. 49. 12 Pohl et alii, “Production sites in Karakorum”, p. 54-58. 13 Minorsky, “Tamim Ibn Bahr’s Journey”; La Vaissière, Sogdian traders, p. 312-313; Lur’e, “Description of the Overland Route”. idrīsī on the uighur empire 405

Bemmann (J.), “Was the center of the Xiongnu Empire in the Orkhon Valley?” in U. Brosseder, K. Miller ed., Xiongnu Archaeology. Multidisciplinary Perspectives of the First Steppe Empire in Inner Asia, Bonn, 2011, p. 441-461. Bemmann (J.), Pohl, E., Schütt (B.), Schwanghart (W.), “Archeological findings in the Upper and Middle Orkhon Valley and their geographical setup”, in J. Bemmann, E. Erdenebat, E. Pohl eds., Mongolian-German Karako- rum Expedition, Bonn, 2010, p. 307-320. Göckenjan (H.), Zimonyi (I.), Orientalische Berichte über die Völker Osteuropas und Zentralasiens im Mittelalter: die Gayhani-Tradition (Ibn Rusta, Gardīzī, Ḥudūd al-‘Ālam, al-Bakrī und al-Marwazī), Wiesbaden, 2001. Idrīsī, Opus geographicum; sive, Liber ad eorum delectationem qui terras pera- grare studeant. Consilio et auctoritate E. Cerulli [et al.] Una cum aliis ediderunt A. Bombaci [et al.], Naples-Rome, 1971. Juvaynī, J. A. Boyle transl., Gengis Khan. The History of the World-Conqueror, Manchester, 1958. La Vaissière (Étienne de), Sogdian traders: A History, Leiden, 2005. La Vaissière (Étienne de), “Away from the Ötüken: A geopolitical approach to the 7th c. Eastern Türks”, in J. Bemmann, M. Schmauder eds., The Com- plexity of Interaction along the Eurasian Steppe Zone in the First Mil- lennium AD. Empires, cities, nomads and farmers, Bonn, 2015, p. 453-461. Lur’e (P.), “Description of the overland route to China in Hudud al-‘Alam: dates of the underlying itinerary”, Eurasian Studies 6 (2007), p. 179-200. Marquart (J.), Osteuropäische und ostasiatische Streifzüge; ethnologische und historisch-topographische Studien zur Geschichte des 9. und 10. Jahr- hunderts (ca. 840-940), Leipzig, 1903. Minorsky (V.), “Tamim Ibn Bahr’s journey to the Uyghurs”, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 12/2 (1948), p. 275-305. Moriyasu, (T.), Ochir, (A.), Provisional Report of Researches on Historical Sites and Inscriptions in Mongolia from 1996 to 1998, Osaka, 1999. Pohl (E.), Mönkhbayar (L.), Ahrens (B.), Frank (K.), Linzen (S.), Osinska (A.), Schüler (T.), Schneider (M),. “Production sites in Karakorum and its environment: a new archaeological project in the Orkhon Valley, Mon- golia”, The Silk Road 10 (2012), p. 49-65.