Tengrism
Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is a religion originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on shamanism and animism. It generally involves the titular sky god Tengri,[1] who is not considered a deity in the usual sense but a personification of the universe.[2] According to some scholars, adherents of Tengrism view the purpose of life to be in harmony with the universe.[3]
Not to be confused with Tenrikyo.
It was the prevailing religion of the Göktürks, Xianbei, Bulgars, Xiongnu, Yeniseian and Mongolic peoples and Huns, as well as the state religion of several medieval states such as the First Turkic Khaganate, the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Old Great Bulgaria, the First Bulgarian Empire, Volga Bulgaria, Khazaria, and the Mongol Empire. In the Irk Bitig, a ninth century manuscript on divination, Tengri is mentioned as Türük Tängrisi (God of Turks).[4] According to many academics, Tengrism was, and to some extent still is, a predominantly polytheistic religion based on the shamanistic concept of animism, and was first influenced by monotheism during the imperial period, especially by the 12th–13th centuries.[5] Abdulkadir Inan argues that Yakut and Altai shamanism are not entirely equal to the ancient Turkic religion.[6]
The term also describes several contemporary Turkic and Mongolic native religious movements and teachings. All modern adherents of "political" Tengrism are monotheists.[7] Tengrism has been advocated for in intellectual circles of the Turkic nations of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan with Kazakhstan) and Russia (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan) since the dissolution of the Soviet Union during the 1990s. Still practiced, it is undergoing an organized revival in Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia), Khakassia, Tuva and other Turkic nations in Siberia. Altaian Burkhanism and Chuvash Vattisen Yaly are contemporary movements similar to Tengrism.
The term tengri (compare with Kami) can refer to the sky deity Tenger Etseg – also Gök Tengri; Sky father, Blue sky – or to other deities. While Tengrism includes the worship of personified gods (tngri) such as Ülgen and Kayra, Tengri is considered an "abstract phenomenon".[8]: 23 In Mongolian folk religion, Genghis Khan is considered one of the embodiments, if not the main embodiment, of Tengri's will.[9]
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A symbol used by many Tengrists, representing the runic spelling of god Tengri and "shangrak" (an equilateral cross in a circle), depicting the roof opening of a yurt, and a shaman's drum.
Many world-pictures and symbols are attributed to folk religions of Central Asia and Russian Siberia. Shamanistic religious symbols in these areas are often intermixed. For example, drawings of world-pictures on Altaic shamanic drums.[87]
See also:
The tallest mountain peaks usually became sacred places. Since the time of the Turkic Khaganate, this is Otgontenger in Mongolia—perhaps, the Otuken of the old inscriptions, state ceremonies are held were. Among others: Belukha (or Üch-Sümer) in Russia's Altai,[88] Khan Tengri alias Jengish Chokusu in Kyrgyzstan (not to be confused with the modern Khan Tengri),[89] and Burkhan Khaldun in Mongolia, associated with the name of Genghis Khan. Symbolic mountains are man-made shrines-ovoos.
The forms of the name Tengri (Old Turkic: Täŋri)[10] among the ancient and modern Turkic and Mongolic are Tengeri, Tangara, Tangri, Tanri, Tangre, Tegri, Tingir, Tenkri, Tangra, Teri, Ter, and Ture.[11] The name Tengri ("the Sky") is derived from Old Turkic: Tenk ("daybreak") or Tan ("dawn").[12] Meanwhile, Stefan Georg proposed that the Turkic Tengri ultimately originates as a loanword from Proto-Yeniseian *tɨŋgɨr- "high".[13][14] Mongolia is sometimes poetically called the "Land of Eternal Blue Sky" (Mönkh Khökh Tengeriin Oron) by its inhabitants. According to some scholars, the name of the important deity Dangun (also Tangol) (God of the Mountains) of the Korean folk religion is related to the Siberian Tengri ("Heaven"),[15] while the bear is a symbol of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major).[16]
The word "Tengrism" is a fairly new term. The spelling Tengrism for the religion of the ancient Turks is found in the works of the 19th century Kazakh Russophone ethnographer Shoqan Walikhanov.[17] The term was introduced into a wide scientific circulation in 1956 by Jean-Paul Roux[18] and later in the 1960s as a general term of English-language papers.[19]
Tengrianism is a reflection of the Russian term, Тенгрианство ("Tengriánstvo"). It is introduced by Kazakh poet and turkologist Olzhas Suleymenov in his 1975 book AZ-and-IA.[17][20] Since the 1990s, Russian-language literature uses it in the general sense, as for instance, reported in 1996 ("so-called Tengrianism") in the context of the nationalist rivalry over Bulgar legacy.[21]
The spellings Tengriism, Tangrism, Tengrianity are also found from the 1990s. In modern Turkey and, partly, Kyrgyzstan, Tengrism is known as the Tengricilik[22] or Göktanrı dini ("Sky God religion");[23] the Turkish gök (sky) and tanrı (God) correspond to the Mongolian khukh (blue) and Tengeri (sky), respectively. Mongolian Тэнгэр шүтлэг is used in a 1999 biography of Genghis Khan.[24]
In the 20th century, a number of scientists proposed the existence of a religious imperial khagan cult in the ancient Turkic and Mongolian states. The Turkish historian of religion Ziya Gökalp (1876–1924) wrote in his The History of Turkish Holy Tradition and Turkish Civilization that the religion of the ancient Turkic states could not be primitive shamanism, which was only a magical part of the religion of the ancient Türks (see a historiography of the problem: Alici 2011, pp. 137–139).
The nature of this religion remains debatable. According to many scholars, it was originally polytheistic, but a monotheistic branch with the sky god Kök-Tengri as the supreme being evolved as a dynastical legitimation. It is at least agreed that Tengrism formed from the diverse folk religions of the local people and may have had diverse branches.[25][26][27]
It is suggested that Tengrism was a monotheistic religion only at the imperial level in aristocratic circles,[28][29][30] and, perhaps, only by the 12th-13th centuries (a late form of development of ancient animistic shamanism in the era of the Mongol empire).[31]
According to Jean-Paul Roux, the monotheistic concept evolved later out of a polytheistic system and was not the original form of Tengrism. The monotheistic concept helped to legitimate the rule of the dynasty: "As there is only one God in Heaven, there can only be one ruler on the earth ...".[32]
Others point out that Tengri itself was never an Absolute, but only one of many gods of the upper world, the sky deity, of polytheistic shamanism, later known as Tengrism.[33]
Tengrism differs from contemporary Siberian shamanism in that it was a more organized religion. Additionally the polities practicing it were not small bands of hunter-gatherers like the Paleosiberians, but a continuous succession of pastoral, semi-sedentarized khanates and empires from the Xiongnu Empire (founded 209 BC) to the Mongol Empire (13th century). In Mongolia it survives as a synthesis with Tibetan Buddhism while surviving in purer forms around Lake Khovsgol and Lake Baikal. Unlike Siberian shamanism, which has no written tradition, Tengrism can be identified from Turkic and Mongolic historical texts like the Orkhon inscriptions, Secret History of the Mongols, and Altan Tobchi. However, these texts are more historically oriented and are not strictly religious texts like the scriptures and sutras of sedentary civilizations, which have elaborate doctrines and religious stories.
On a scale of complexity Tengrism lies somewhere between the Proto-Indo-European religion (a pre-state form of pastoral shamanism on the western steppe) and its later form the Vedic religion. The chief god Tengri ("Heaven") is considered strikingly similar to the Indo-European sky god *Dyḗus and the East Asian Tian (Chinese: "Sky; Heaven"). The structure of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion is actually closer to that of the early Turks than to the religion of any people of neolithic European, Near Eastern or Mediterranean antiquity.[35]
The term "shamanism" was first applied by Western anthropologists as outside observers of the ancient religion of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples, as well as those of the neighbouring Tungusic and Samoyedic-speaking peoples. Upon observing more religious traditions across the world, some Western anthropologists began to also use the term in a very broad sense. The term was used to describe unrelated magico-religious practices found within the ethnic religions of other parts of Asia, Africa, Australasia and even completely unrelated parts of the Americas, as they believed these practices to be similar to one another.
Terms for 'shaman' and 'shamaness' in Siberian languages:
Buryat scholar Irina S. Urbanaeva developed a theory of Tengrist esoteric traditions in Central Asia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the revival of national sentiment in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.[41][42]
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Banner of Daichin Tengri carried into battle during the Napoleonic Wars
Serebzhab Tyumen (seated) carried the Banner of Daichin Tengri into the Battle of Fère-Champenoise (1814)
Baron Ungern was called the God of War (Daichin Tengri) by certain Mongols
The 17th century Mongolian chronicle Altan Tobchi (Golden Summary) contains references to Tengri. Tengrism was assimilated into Mongolian Buddhism while surviving in purer forms only in far-northern Mongolia. Tengrist formulas and ceremonies were subsumed into the state religion. This is similar to the fusion of Buddhism and Shinto in Japan. The Altan Tobchi contains the following prayer at its very end:
The figure of the God of War (Daichin Tengri) was iconographically depicted in Buddhist-influenced form and carried into battle by certain armies even in the modern era. During the Napoleonic Wars the Kalmyk prince Serebzhab Tyumen (1774-1858) and 500 Kalmyks of his Second Cavalry Regiment, as well as 500 Kalmyks of the First Regiment of Prince Jamba-Taishi Tundutov, carried the yellow banner of Daichin Tengri (as well as Okhin Tengri) through the battles of Borodino, Warsaw, Leipzig, Fère-Champenoise (1814) as well as the capture of Paris. In early 1921 the Buddhist Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg (1886-1921) was reportedly recognized as the God of War (Daichin Tengri) by the Bogd Khan of Mongolia. James Palmer in his book "The Bloody White Baron" quotes Ossendowski who claims that Baron Ungern's imminent death in 130 days was foretold on three separate occasions. First by two monks in the "Shrine of Prophecies" of Urga (Ulaanbaatar) who cast dice and came up with the number 130, then by the Bogd Khan himself who said "You will not die but you will be incarnated in the highest form of being. Remember that, Incarnated God of War, Khan of grateful Mongolia" and finally by a female shaman in the ger of the Buryat prince Djambolon. Ossendowski relates:
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Tengrism and Islam
Conversation
When Turks converted to Islam, they probably assimilated their beliefs to Islam via Sufism, identifying Dervishes as something akin to shamans.[112] In the writings of Ahmad Yasawi, both Tengrist elements as well as Islamic themes can be found.[113] For example, Muhammad features as the prototype of human's way to unite with God, while simultaneously referring to God as both kok tangir (Gök Tengri) or Allah. According to Yasawi, humans should seek to purify their soul to harmonize with God and the world. Turkic and Mongolic peoples in Central Asian largely converted to Islam during the fourteenth century. However, they were not focusing on the laws, memorization and conformity offered by Islam, but were focused on the inwardly and personal experience.[114] Thus, many scholars argued for a syncretism between Orthodox-Islam, Sufism, and pre-Islamic Turkic religion. Sociologist Rakhat Achylova studied how aspects of Tengrism were adopted into a Kyrgyz form of Islam.[115]
Muslim Turkic scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari, around the year 1075, described the non-Islamic Turks as infidels: "The infidels — may God destroy them! — call the sky Tengri, also anything that is imposing in their eyes call Tengri, such as a great mountain or tree, and they bow down to such things."[116]
The Medieval Age Syriac historian Michael the Syrian (1166–1199) describes the Turks conversation from Tengrism to Islam in one of his surviging text fragments.[117] He mentions three reasons on how the Turks converted:
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Contemporary Age
Mongolia
In Mongolia, Tengrism has not died out and is still practised by about 2.5 percent of the population. The Western peoples and Southern peoples are known to have the highest number of Tengrism practitioners. In Mongolian, Tengrism is often referred to as “бөө мөргөл” or “böö mörgöl”.
In an interview about Mongolian shamanism, Tengrism is explained as the belief that the universe has its own order, that no one could change that order, and that one can only live in harmony with it by understanding the heavenly powers and how it affects human lives, and regulating one's life according to that. The "Great Khan" is quoted saying: "I am doing this work with the grace of the Eternal Heaven.", which is interpreted as stating that his actions are not accidental, but that the universe was calculated to be appropriate for doing such act.[130]
Modern revival
"Tengrism" is the term for a revival of Central Asian shamanism after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
In Kyrgyzstan, Tengrism was suggested as a Pan-Turkic national ideology following the 2005 presidential elections by an ideological committee chaired by state secretary Dastan Sarygulov.[131] Kyrgyzstan counts not less than 50,000 followers of Tengri today.[132]
Murat Auezov, former head of the National Public Library of Kazakhstan,[133] regards Tengrism as a manifestation of an worldview in which mankind is identified with nature, in contrast to anthropocentric religions.[134]
According to Kazakh writer Ulyana Fatyanova, Tengrism does not have a specific set of laws, the laws of Tengri can't be broken, as Tengri's laws are the laws of the universe (which might include physics, karma, spirits, gods and so on.)[135]