The Legend of Oghuz Khan and the Oghuz in Tavārīkh-i Guzīda-yi Nuṣrat-nāma: Questions of Origin and Historical Memory

Research аrticle

Abstract

This article analyzes the section on the legend of Oghuz Khan and the Oghuz in the "Tavarikh-i guzida-yi nusrat-name," a monument containing a systematized account of the genealogy and tribal composition of the Turkic and Mongol peoples. The author's focus is on questions of origin and the mechanisms by which historical memory was formed, as recorded in the structure of this genealogical narrative. The article examines the genealogical scheme of Oghuz society: the six sons of Oghuz Khan (Kün Khan, Ay Khan, Yulduz Khan, Kök Khan, Tag Khan, and Dingiz Khan), their twenty-four grandsons who served as tribal ancestors, and the corresponding tribes, later divided into two wings, Bozok (the right wing, the "broken bow") and Uchok (the left wing, the "arrows"). The relationship between the Oghuz and "Mongol" genealogical lines is analyzed separately: the lists given in the text of tribes belonging to the "Mongol Dürlükin" and "Nirun" groups, as well as the legend of the origin of part of the Mongol clans from Dobun-Bayan and his wife Alan-Qo'a, whose descendants later became the ancestors of Genghis Khan. Considerable attention is given to the Turkic genealogy tracing back to the Prophet Noah through Abulja Khan, his son Dib Yavqu, and his grandsons Kara Khan, Or Khan, Kür Khan, and Küz Khan. The article examines in detail the story of the miraculous birth of Oghuz Khan, his refusal to take his mother's milk until she converted to the true faith, and his conflict with his father over his acceptance of Islam, which led to war and the death of Kara Khan. This narrative is interpreted as an ideological justification for the Islamization of the Turkic clans and the legitimization of the power of Oghuz and his descendants. Special attention is paid to the etiological legends explaining the origins of the names of the tribes Uyghur, Qangly, Qipchaq, Qarluq, Khalaj, and Agacheri, which are traced to specific episodes of Oghuz Khan's campaigns and demonstrate the folk-etymology mechanism characteristic of epic tradition. The author emphasizes the particular significance of the "Tavarikh-i guzida-yi nusrat-name" as a source for reconstructing the genealogy of the Golden Horde and the Kazakh Khanate: the list of the Bozok and Uchok tribes recorded in the text, together with the genealogical lines traced back to Oghuz Khan and Abulja Khan, largely coincide with the tribal composition and shezhire (genealogies) of the Kazakh clans and zhuzes, making the monument a key source for studying the ethnopolitical history of the post-Golden Horde space. The information contained in the source makes it possible to trace the continuity of tribal structure from the Oghuz era, through the Ulus of Jochi, to the formation of Kazakh statehood, which lends this work particular value for the history of Kazakhstan and the study of the origins of the Kazakh people