by Murad Adji
KIPCHAKS
The iron sickles and axes, pig iron ploughs, warm log huts, graceful palaces and towers, carriages, cabriolets, coaches and many - many others the hardworking Türks presented to the mankind. Here they are, the actual achievements of the ancient Türkic culture! In front of us... In olden time in Altai it was said: “Everything is good and evil, the poverty and riches is given only by Tengri".
It is truly so.
The Celestial God
Who is Great Tengri, the heart of the Türkic culture?
Tengri is an invisible spirit living in the sky. Huge. The size of the sky, of all the worlds. Therefore, the ancient Türks respectfully named Him “an Eternal Blue Sky" or "Tengri - Khan". A title “Khan" specified His supremacy in the Universe.
He is a Supreme God, Creator of the world and of all existing on the Earth. A Lord. About Him are preserved ancient legends, they have not been forgotten.
To understand wisdom and depth of a faith in Tengri, the people themselves should understand one basic truth: “the God is uniform, He sees all". Nothing can be hidden from Him. He is a Master and a Judge.
The Türkic people then lived in trepidation of the God’s Judgment. But not with fear!.. The people were sure: there is a Higher Justice in the World. It is God’s Judgment. And nobody will escape it, neither king, nor slave.
The god is a protection and punishment in one! It was the base of the faith of Türks in Omnipotent God.
The highest achievement of the spiritual culture of Türkic people is the religion; people left paganism. They addressed Tengri in unendingly different ways: God (Russ. Bogdo or Boje), Khodai (or Kodai), Allah (or Ollo), My Lord (Russ. Gospodi or Gozbodi).
The mountains of Altai already heard these words two and a half thousands years ago! There were, certainly, also other ways of addressing Tengri.
But the word “God" was said more often than others, it meant “to obtain peace, calm, perfection ». With God the Türks went now in battle. With God they started any difficult task.
The word "“Khodai" (literally “become happy") was different, it showed that Tengri is Omnipotent in this world. The Creator, Maker of this world. From here is Omnipotent, Giving Happiness.
“Allah" (Ala) the ancient Türks said less often, only when asked Great Tengri - Khan for something... About most sacred... This word came from Türkic “al" (arm). In other words, “giving and taking", that what meant “Allah" at one time. Saying it, it was necessary to read a pray and to turn the palms of hands to Eternal Blue Sky.
And the word “My God" was infrequent, only clerics had the right to pronounce it. Literally it means “an enlightenment of eyes » or “giving an enlightenment ». It is a higher call to Tengri, most sacred. It had a very deep philosophical sense. The spiritually pure righteous asked direction for the true path, to understand that stands behind the visible side of the experience...
With years the rules by which the people prayed were refined, celebrating holidays, observing fasts. These rules were called rituals. Clerics led the rituals.
The Türkic clerics differed from the other people by clothes and radiant thoughts. They walked in lengthy dressing gowns (caftan, epanche) and pointed hats (bashlyk)... The clerics of higher grades wore white; the other clergy wore black clothes.
Naturally, on the rocks of Altai the ancient artists also pictured clerics. We now know what they were, these mysterious “white wanderers", as they were named by the people. They were the preachers of faith.
As a sign of Tengri - Khan the Türks selected a direct equilateral cross, named “adji". It should be noted the cross also existed before as a sign of Türkic culture, and there also was a “slanted" cross, a sign of a hell and of old underground gods.
Initially adji were artistically simple, and then became the real works of art, made by jewelers: the surface of the cross was golden plated, decorated with precious stones, to shine and please the soul.
On Altai the oblique crosses appeared about three thousand years ago. To speak strictly, they were not crosses. It was the Europeans, who found out about Tengri faith, that described them as crosses.
The cross is an intersection of two lines. But on the sign of Tengri there are no intersections, the meaning here is quite different. There is shown a circle of the Sun, with emitted four rays. This is what the sign of Tengri was.
Rays of the sun!.. More correctly, rays of divine blessings coming from of a single center. They are the signs of Celestial nature, which forever marked the Türkic spiritual culture. In could not be any other way for the people that believed in the virtue of Eternal Blue Sky.
Sometimes to the cross-like sign of Tengri was added a half moon. And that attained an absolutely another sense: it was a reminder of time and eternity. For the ancient Türks understood time as a unity of the Moon and Sun. (And from here originates their calendar with 12 years cycle.)
The sign of Tengri was embroidered on the battle banners. It was worn on the breast, hung on a chain. It was tattooed on forehead. The artists weaved it in arrangements and ornaments... And how could it be different? From here come the national traditions.
The European Kipchaks
Geographical map is a serious historical document bearing information not less than a heavy book. But we should be able to read it: The Great Movement of Peoples left the trace on the map. Then, in the 2nd-5th centuries AD, appeared a huge steppe country, the Desht-i-Kipchak, with the settlements, cities, villages, and road stations.
The Türkic culture dominated from the Baikal to the Alps. In all of the steppe zone. The Europe then "began" in Siberia! Centuries passed, seems that it all disappeared. But... Nothing was forgotten. The map remembers what people forgot.
Nikolay Rerih noted it:
We do not know. But they know.
Stones know. Even know
The trees. They remember.
Remember, who named the mountains
And the rivers.
Who built previous cities.
Who named the immemorial countries.
The words are unknown to us.
But all of them have meanings.
For example, the borders of the Desht-i-Kipchak. They are intact! In Russian, the word "kurgan", as writes the most prominent toponymician E.M.Murzaev, previously meant "border", "boundary". Why? Because first of all kurgans distinguished the Türkic lands. Beyond the kurgans began the other's land.
The border of the Desht-i-Kipchak in the north passed by the Moscow River, the northern bank belonged to the Finns and Ugrs, and the southern to the Türks. Only within the limits of Moscow are known quite a few kurgan groups, the majority of them are on the southern (right) bank. They are also in the former " Türkic" Moscow suburbs where were settlements of Türks, the toponyms witness to it. For example, Kolomenskoe, its old name is Kolloma, in Türkic "Guardian", "Providence". Kopotnya is from "Tall Settlement" (or "Tall Grass"), Kuntsevo from "Shelter" or "Inn"... These words are obviously not of the Slavic origin... And to the north of the Moscow River, there are no kurgans, there lived other people, with other culture, and the toponymy there have other root and also not Slavic.
Authors Note. Seems, we need to clarify. Say, in the 12th century the border was not a line, as nowadays. It was a wide zone in which neighbors were interested in equal measure (a zone of a dialogue, of exchange and the peace). The Moscow R river, Oka and adjoining lands were such territories before the arrival here of the Slavs, therefore the Türkic monuments are alongside the Finno-Ugric monuments. It is natural. For example, the Nizhni Novgorod initially was called in Türkic, Bulgar, and since the old times was famous for its fairs. To the Bulgar fair were coming merchants from the Europe, from Persia.
In the south the country of Türks reached Iran, the kurgans bear witness to that. The border remains almost without changes, Türks still live there, and they are called the Iranian Azerbaijanis.
Between the northern and the southern border of the Desht-i-Kipchak also nowadays remain thousands of Türkic place names, it is presently a real treasure for the toponymy! For example, opposite the Moscow Kremlin, on the right bank, is Balchug. In Russian there is no such word, and in Türkic it is "bog", "mud". Clearly its a Türkic toponym.
There is a multitude of similar examples. As a rule, the names of the many old cities of steppe Russia are from the Türkic root: Orel is "Road Upward", Tula is "Full", Bryansk (Birinchi, Bryanechsk) is "First", "Main", Saratov (Sarytau) is "Yellow Mountain", Simbirsk (Simbir) is "Lonely Tomb"... Kashira, Kolomna, Kaluga, Voronezh, Penza, Chelyabinsk, Kurgan... There are a lot of names, and everyone tells the forgetful Kipchaks about their native land.
The geographical maps captured the traces of the aggressive wars of Ivan the Terrible and Peter I. They show, how Rus grew at the expence of the neighbors. The map keeps the very dark history which is being tried to wash off the re-written chronicles. And it becomes understandable, why the ancient Türkic city of Kipenzaj, shown on the European maps, became the Russian Penza, Shapashkar became Cheboksary, Buruninej became Vironej, Sarytau became Saratov, Chelyaba became Chelyabinsk, Birinchi became Bryansk...
In Atilla's time the lands farthest from the Altai were called "Aleman", in Türkic "Distant". From here comes the nowadays toponym Alemania, present day Germany. Many of the "Germanic tribes" were blue-eyed, with wide chick bones, with the obvious Kipchak appearance, and they spoke in Türkic, which shows in their runic writing, ancient customs and folk memory. They are comers from the far-away Altai!
The part of the population of the France and Italy, England and Austria, Yugoslavia and Czechia have a similar early history. Judging by the archives, almost to the end of the 16th century there was in use the Türkic language. In fact, later, during the time of the inquisition, the roman catholic church carried a " great purge" of the archives, but, fortunately, some documents survived. It is these documents that allow to assert the unconventional, that the Türks lived in the Central Europe ... A detailed discussion about it follows later.
Certainly, the Türkic place names remained on the maps of the Europe. In them the history of some countries and peoples is clearly read.
Here is the path of the Burgund clan.. The Ulus Burgund came to the Europe from the spurs of the Baikal Ridge, the eastern-most toponym "Burgund" is known there. Then they lived in the Caspian steppes, then a part of them settled in the foothills of the Caucasus in Karachai, where is a settlement Burgund. And in the 435 AD their ulus, led by the Attila's father, reached the present France, creating the Burgundy, the Burgund-yurt... The French - Burgundians preserved the dishes of the Türkic national cuisine, a elements from the dress and utensils, and have not forgotten the traditions and the customs. They lost the native language.
It is possible to trace the Ulus Savoi. This toponym also stretches by a thin chain on the geographical map from the Altai... It also coincides in time with the Great Movement of the Peoples.
And the word "Tering" may also serve as a compass in a similar historical travel.
"Tering" in Türkic is "Plentiful". So was called, for example, an extensive, fertile valley. From Balkhash (also Balkash - Translator's Note) (this lake was previously called Tering-Kül - Author) to the Central Europe this toponym is clearly marked. Coincidence? Certainly not. Attila's cohorts, judging from the West-European literature, were Terings (Türings, Tyurings), Burgunds and others "Germanic tribes". All of them were fine horsemen, they fought under the banners with a cross... Not surprising is a line of the historian Jordanes about Terings, about their skill in the horse breeding... The native Europeans did not breed horses then! And did not drink koumiss. That was a favorite Türkish occupation.
Looking at he map of Danube gives a plethora of the Kipchak names. By the way, "Balkan" in Türkic is "Wooded Mountain". So is called one of the areas Azerbaijan, with surprisingly beautiful wooded mountains
The Chernogorets (Black Mountaineers - Translator's Note) in the Balkans are teased "Karaties", why is that? Without knowing the Türkic language, there is no answer. But the answer is simple. "Kara" is black, "Tau" is mountain. So, "Karaties" and "Chernogorets" is the same.
There are as many Türkic toponyms on the map of Eurasia as there are stars in the sky. However to learn about them is impossible (for peoples in Russia - Translator's Note). The books on this thematic were published, but only beyond the Russian borders. Only a narrow circle of scientists knows about them. One of them is a prominent geographer Edward Makarovich Murzaev. He wrote his own book, maybe the main in his life, "Türkic geographical names"... The book, mockingly, was published with a measly print (only five hundred copies).
The borders of the Great Steppe can also be clearly discerned in England. There they are a memory of Anglo-Saxon campaigns which in the 5th-6th centuries AD were lead by the Türks (Saks or Saxes?).
Defeating the natives, Kipchaks established their "island" state, starting the city of Kent, which gave the name to the Yurt, later to the kingdom. "Kent" in Türkic is a "Stone Fortress" (Compare Tashkent - "Stone Fortress" - Translator's Note). That was a foothold for the advance deeper into the island. Accross the galf, on the continent was built the city of Calais, from here, we know, began the Anglo-Saxon campaigns, here was prepared the fording of the gulf... The map confirms this story.
Authors Note. "Kala" is also Türkic, "Fortress", with not a stone, but with an earthen rampart.
And, maybe, the most fascinating, what the toponymy shows, is right on the surface. "Ing" in the Old Türkic expression means "Booty". Is this the source for "Ingland", the "Captured Land"? Before the arrival of the Türks the island was called Albion.
One more fact, at first for reflection, and then and for the disputes: the Church in Ingland did not recognized the Pope, only the Pope St. Gregory I the Great (590-604 - Translator's Note). managed to win the trust. At first the Englishmen followed the traditions of the eastern rites. Why? Where it came to the island from? They were called Arians, why? The very first abbot had the Türkic name Aidan (it means "Light" in Türkic), he taught the natives to believe in the Heavenly God . The missionary went along with a translator. Again, why was that?
By the way, who come that in the far England there are kurgans, which became the long-standing attractions? Precisely the same kurgans are also in the other lands of the Great Steppe. There are none in Scotland... And do the Englishmen know, what their favorite polo game (on horses and with sticks) was popular in Altai before the Great Movement of Peoples? They drove not a wooden ball, but a head of the enemy bound in a leather bag. Türks have not forgotten this game, as well as many other ancient games.
The Kipchak Blood did not freeze in the veins of some Englishmen. Their appearance and behavior give out their roots... The English Kipchaks, seemingly, have forgotten the proverb of their ancestors long before Anglo-Saxon campaigns: "do not get in another's trousers". They will not hide you.
Having conquuered half of the world, the Kipchaks seems to have left the history. After each large intercene conflict an ulus after another ulus left- the Desht-i-Kipchak, becoming either a "new" people, or merging with another peoples. The Türks melted away, as snow under the sun.
Neither the sky, nor the ground did not open, plague
And starvation did not beat us: so why also who,
My Türkic people!, tell me, why and who
Thy law and rule brought to the end?
You, yourself, my people, to the land,
To the Kagan that wanted to serve you ,
To you yourself have sinned:
You chose for yourself, as fateful lot, an evil.
Did not descend an armed force,
To overcome you, scatter, take in bondage!
None came with sharper swords than yours,
To capture you, to bend, erase you from the earth!
Oh my Türkic people...
So the poet Anatoly Prelovsky translated the posthumous call of the Türkic Kagan Kül-Tegin. The text is as it was etched on the stone in the ancient script only yesterday, even it is more than thousand years old.
Really the evil come to us?.. No! Evil is not eternal. The word from lips of the enemy became a poison for Kipchaks, but now the Word will be a medicine.
Reference
Türkic geographical names,
By Murzaev, E.M.
M., 1996
Slovar' narodnykh geograficheskikh terminov. V 2-kh tomakh. Tom 1: A-K.
By Murzaev, E.M.
Moskva: Kartgeotsentr; Geodezizdat, 1999. 340 pp.
Slovar' narodnykh geograficheskikh terminov. V 2-kh tomakh. Tom 2: L-Ia.
By Murzaev, E.M.
Moskva: Kartgeotsentr; Geodezizdat, 1999. 354 pp.
Glossary
Ulus - a district, an area, a unit of territory or population for taxing purposes. Ulus can be as small as few villages or pastoral clans, or as large as as an empire, such as Juchi Ulus, which in turn encompassed the Western Siberian Ulus, Bulgarian Ulus, Rus Ulus, and quite a few of other uluses. The head of the ulus administration was appointed or confirmed by the central Great Khan or Kagan.
Yurt - home, native land, center. Akin to the word yurta - house, in pastoral societies a mobile house on a carriage or in a village. The Chechen war made the term "Yurt" in the sense of the home, native land, center well known, since the most of Russian-Chechen war atrocities were reported as taking place in the "yurt" locations, like Katyr-Yurt town, Nozhai-Yurt district, etc.