Turan

Tūrān (PerB|توران) is the ancient Iranian name [ Emeri "van" Donzel, "Islamic Reference Desk", Brill Academic Publishers, 1994. pg 461. Actual Quote: "Iranian term applied to region lying to the northeast of Iran and ultimately indicating very vaguely the country of the Turkic peoples."] for Central Asia, literally meaning "the land of the Tur". As described below, the original Turanians are the Tuirya Iranian people. [Edward A Allworth,"Central Asia: A Historical Overview", Duke University Press, 1994. pp 86] [ I. M. Diakonoff, "The Paths of History", Cambridge University Press, 1999, p. 100 : "Turan was one of the nomadic Iranian tribes mentioned in the "Avesta". However, in Firdousi’s poem, and in the later Iranian tradition generally, the term Turan is perceived as denoting ‘lands inhabited by Turkic speaking tribes."] [According to Prof. Gherardo Gnoli:’’Iranian tribes that also keep on recurring in the Yasht, Airyas, Tuiryas, Sairimas, Sainus and Dahis’’. G. Gnoli, "Zoroaster's time and homeland", Naples 1980] of the Avesta age. According to the "Shahnameh"s account, at least 1500 years later after the "Avesta", the nomadic tribes who inhabited these lands were ruled by Tūr, who was the emperor Fereydun's elder son. The association with Turks is also primarily based on the "Shahnameh"s geographical account where Turkification of Central Asia was partially completed during that time. [http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/f/firdausi/f52ek/part8.html Firdawsi, "The Epic of Kings", translated by Helen Zimmern, eBooks@Adelaide 2004] ]

Tur/Turaj (Tuzh in Middle Persian) [Dehkhoda dictionary: Turaj] is the son of emperor Fereydun in ancient Iranian mythology. In the "Shahnameh", he is identified with the Turks [Edgar Burke Inlow. "Shahanshah: A Study of the Monarchy of Iran", Motilal Banarsidass Pub, 1979. pg 17: "Faridun divided his vast empire between his three sons, Iraj, the youngest receiving Iran. After his murder by his brothers and the avenging Manuchihr, one would have thought the matter was ended. But, the fraternal strife went on between the descendants of Tur and Selim (Salm) and those of Iraj. The former - the Turanians - were the Turks or Tatars of Central Asia, seeking access to Iran. The descendants of Iraj were the resisting Iranians.] although culturally, there is no relationship between Turanians of the "Shahnameh" and the culture of ancient Turks. [Bosworth, C. E. "Barbarian Incursions: The Coming of the Turks into the Islamic World." In "Islamic Civilization", Edited by D. S. Richards. Oxford, 1973. pg 2: "Hence as Kowalski has pointed out, a Turkologist seeking for information in the Shahnama on the primitive culture of the Turks would definitely be disappointed."] . In 19th century and early 20th century discourse, now obsolete, Turan was primarily an ideological term designating Turkic, Ugric languages, Uralic languages, and even Dravidian people(Southern Turanian Group) [ George "van" Driem, "Handbuch Der Orientalistik", Brill Academic Publishers, 2001. pp 335-336. [http://books.google.com/books?id=fiavPYCz4dYC&pg=PA335&ots=MCaj622c-s&dq=that+the+turanian+language+was+%27named+after+the+descendants+of+tur%27&sig=wekmEa9Bz9b9tp0ySjPdO9cghFY] ] and people more or less indiscriminately, implying a common ancestry and common culture of the various ethnicities in question.

Turan in literature

"Avesta"

The oldest existing mention of Turanian is in the Farvardin Yashts of the young "Avesta", which is dated by linguists to have been composed approximately 2500 years ago. [ Prods Oktor Skjærvø, "Avestan Quotations in Old Persian?" in S. Shaked and A. Netzer, eds., "Irano-Judaica IV", Jerusalem,1999, pp. 1-64] . The "Avesta" contains the names of various tribal groups who lived in proximity to each other. According to Prof. Gherardo Gnoli:’’Iranian tribes that also keep on recurring in the Yasht, Airyas, Tuiryas, Sairimas, Sainus and Dahis’’. [ G. Gnoli, "Zoroaster's time and homeland", Naples 1980] . In the hymns of the "Avesta", the adjective "Tūrya" is attached to various enemies of Zoroastrism like Fraŋrasyan (Shahnameh: Afrāsīāb). The word occurs only once in the "Gathas", but 20 times in the later parts of the "Avesta". Apparently there is no ethnic difference between the "Tūrya" and the "Ārya" in the "Avesta", both having Iranian names and being related genealogically.

The Turanians or Tuiryas as they were called in Avesta play a more important role in the "Avesta" than in the Sairimas, Sainus and Dahis. Zoroaster himself hailed from the Airya people but he also preached his message to other neighboring tribes. [ M. Boyce, "History of Zoroastrianism". 3V. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. (Handbuch Der Orientalistik/B. Spuler)] [ G. Gnoli, "Zoroaster's time and homeland", Naples 1980] .

According to Prof. Mary Boyce, in the Farvardin Yasht, "In it (verses 143-144) are praised the fravashis of righteous men and women not only among the Aryas (as the "Avestan" people called themselves), but also among the Turiyas, Sairimas, Sainus and Dahis; and the personal names, like those of the people, all seem Iranian character". [ M. Boyce, "History of Zoroastrianism". 3V. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. ("Handbuch Der Orientalistik"/B. Spuler)., pg 250] . Hostility between Tuirya and Airya is indicated also in the Farvardtn Yast (vv. 37-8), where the Fravashis of the Just are said to have provided support in battle against the Danus, who appear to be a clan of the Tura people. [ G. Gnoli, "Zoroaster's time and homeland", Naples 1980, pg 107] . Thus in the "Avesta", some of the Tuiryas believed in the message of Zoroaster while others rejected the religion.

Similar to the ancient homeland of Zoroaster, the precise geography and location of Turan is unknown. [ G. Gnoli, "Zoroaster's time and homeland", Naples 1980, pg 99-130] . In post-Avestan traditions they were thought to inhabit the region north of the Oxus, the river separating them from the Iranians. Their presence accompanied by incessant wars with the Iranians, helped to define the latter as a distinct nation, proud of their land and ready to spill their blood in its defense. [Ehsan Yarshater, "Iranian National History," in "The Cambridge History of Iran" 3(1)(1983), 408-409] . The common names of Turanians in Avesta and Shahnameh include Frarasyan, ["Encyclopædia Iranica", [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f6/v1f6a008.html "Afrasiyab"] , E. Yarshater] Aghraethra, ["Encyclopedia Iranica", [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f6/v1f6a055.html "Agrerat"] , Dj. Khaleghi-Motlagh] Biderafsh, ["Encyclopedia Iranica", [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v4f3/v4f3a013.html "Bidarafsh"] , Ahmad Tafazzoli] Arjaspa ["Encyclopedia Iranica", [ http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v2f4/v2f4a064.html "Arjasp", A. Tafazzoli] Namkhwast [Encyclopedia Iranica, [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v4f3/v4f3a013.html "Bidarafsh"] , A. Tafazzoli] . The names of Iranian tribes including those of the Turanians that appear in Avesta have been studied by Professor Mayrhofer in his comprehensive book on Avesta personal name etymologies: "Iranisches Personennamenbuch, I: Die altiranischen Namen. Faszikel l, Die Avestischen Namen". [M. Mayrhofer, "Die avestischen Namen",IPNB I/1(Vienna 1977).]

Late Sassanid and early Islamic era

The continuation of nomadic invasions on the north-eastern borders in historical times kept the memory of the Turanians alive. [Ehsan Yarshater, "Iranian National History," in "The Cambridge History of Iran" 3(1)(1983), 408-409] After the 6th century the Turks, who had been pushed westward by other tribes, became neighbours of Iran and were identified with the Turanians. [Ehsan Yarshater, "Iranian National History," in "The Cambridge History of Iran" 3(1)(1983), 408-409] [ R. Frye, "The Heritage of Persia: The pre-Islamic History of One of the World's Great Civilizations", World Publishing Company, New York, 1963. pg 41] The identification of the Turanians with the Turks was a late development, possibly made in the early 7th century; the Turks first came into contact with the Iranians only in the 6th century. [ "Encyclopedia Iranica", "Afrasiyab", E. Yarshater ]

According to C.E. Boseworth: ["Encyclopædia Iranica", [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v5f2/v5f2a017.html "CENTRAL ASIA: The Islamic period up to the mongols"] , C. Edmund Bosworth]

The terms "Turk" and "Turanian" became used interchangably during the Islamic era. "The Shahnameh", or the Book of Kings, the compilation of Iranian mythical heritage, uses the two terms equivalently. Other authors, including Tabari, Hakim Iranshah and many other texts follow like. A notable exception is the Abl-Hasan Ali ibn Masudi, an Arab historian who writes: "The birth of Afrasiyab was in the land of Turks and the error that historians and non-historians have made about him being a Turk is due to this reason". [ Abi al-Ḥasan Ali ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Ali al-Masudi, "Muruj al-dhahab wa-maadin al-jawhar", Beirut, Lebanon: Dar al-Marifah, 2005.] By 10th century, the myth of Afrasiyab was adopted by the Qarakhanid dynasty ["Encyclopædia Iranica", [http://www.iranica.com/newsite/articles/v1f6/v1f6a008.html "Afrasiyab"] , E. Yarshater] During the Safavid era, following the common geographical convention of the "Shahnameh", the term Turan was used to refer to the domain of the Uzbek empire in conflict with the Safavids.

Some linguists derive the word from the Indo-Iranian root *"tura-" "strong, quick". Others link it to old Iranian *"tor" "dark, black", related to the New Persian "tār(ik)", Pashto "tor (thor)", and possibly English "dark". In this case, it is a reference to the "dark civilization" of Central Asian nomads in contrast to the "illuminated" Zoroastrian civilization of the settled Ārya.

According to Mohammad Taghi Bahar's work "Sabk Shenaasi", the name "Turan" derives from the "Avestan" "Tau-Raodan", which means "Further on the River", where the "River" is to be considered Amu Darya. In the same document, he mentions the word "Turk" is from Middle Persian "Turuk" which means "Warrior" or "Horseman".

Shahnameh

In the Persian epic "Shahnameh", the term "Tūrān" ("land of the Tūrya" like "Ērān, Īrān" = "land of the Ārya") refers to the inhabitants of the eastern-Iranian border and beyond the Oxus. According to the foundation myth given in the "Shahnameh", King Firēdūn (= Avestan Θraētaona) had three sons, Salm, Tūr and "Īraj", among whom he divided the world: Asia Minor was given to Salm, Turan to Tur and Iran to Īraj. The older brothers killed the younger , but he was revenged by his grandson, and the Iranians became the rulers of the world. However, the war continued for generations. In the "Shahnameh", the word Turan appears nearly 150 times and that of Iran nearly 750 times.

Some examples from the "Shahnameh":

cquote|نه خاکست پیدا نه دریا نه کوه

ز بس تیغداران توران گروه

Due the multitude of the swordsmen in the Turanian army

One cannot view the sands, or sea or mountains

cquote|تهمتن به توران سپه شد به جنگ

بدانسان که نخجیر بیند پلنگ

The Tahamtan(Powerful-Bodied) Rustam went to battle against the armies of Turan

Like a Leopard when he sees his hunt.

Turan in modern literature

Geography

Since early 20th century, the word "Turan" was borrowed by the western languages as a general word for Central Asia. Accordingly, the phrase "Turan Plain" or "Turan Depression" is a geographical term referring to a part of Central Asia.

Linguistics

The term "Turanian", now obsolete, was formerly used by European (especially German, Hungarian and Slovak) ethnologists, linguists and Romantics to designate populations speaking non-Indo-European, non-Semitic and non-Hamitic languages [Abel Hovelacque, "The Science of Language: Linguistics, Philology, Etymology", pg 144, [http://books.google.com/books?id=QQ8SAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA144&dq=neither+aryan,+nor+hamitic,++uralo+semitic] ] and specially speakers of Altaic, Dravidian, Uralic, Japanese, Korean and other languages [Elisabeth Chevallier,François Lenormant, "A Manual of the Ancient History of the East", J. B. Lippincott & co., 1871. pg 68. [http://books.google.com/books?id=zqQYvJBoLjwC&pg=PA68&dq=turanian+dravidian] ] .

Max Müller classified the Turanian language family into different sub-branches. The Northern or Ural-Altaic division branch compromised Tungusic, Mongolic, Turkic, Samoyedic, and Finnic. The Southern branch consisted of Dravidian languages like Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, and other Dravidian languages. The languages of the Caucasus were classified as the "scattered languages of the Turanian family". Muller also began to muse whether Chinese belonged to the Northern branch or Southern branch. [ George "van" Driem, "Handbuch Der Orientalistik", Brill Academic Publishers, 2001. pp 335-336. [http://books.google.com/books?id=fiavPYCz4dYC&pg=PA335&ots=MCaj622c-s&dq=that+the+turanian+language+was+%27named+after+the+descendants+of+tur%27&sig=wekmEa9Bz9b9tp0ySjPdO9cghFY] ]

The main relationship between Dravidian, Uralic, and Altaic languages were considered typological. According to "Encyclopedia Britannica": "Language families, as conceived in the historical study of languages, should not be confused with the quite separate classifications of languages by reference to their sharing certain predominant features of grammatical structure." ["language." "Encyclopædia Britannica". 2007. "Encyclopædia Britannica Online". 27 Apr. 2007 . ] . Today languages are classified based on the method of comparative linguistics rather than their typological features. According to "Encyclopedia Britannica", Max's Muller's "efforts were most successful in the case of the Semites, whose affinities are easy to demonstrate, and probably least successful in the case of the Turanian peoples, whose early origins are hypothetical". [religions, classification of." "Encyclopædia Britannica". 2007. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.] Today the linguistic usage of the word Turanian is not used in the scholarly community to denote classification of language families. The relationship between Uralic and Altaic, whose speakers were also designated as Turanian people in 19th century European literature is also uncertain ["Ural-Altaic languages." "Encyclopedia Britannica". 2007] .

Ideology

In European discourse, the words "Turan" and "Turanian" designate a certain mentality, i.e. the nomadic in contrast to the urbanized agricultural civilizations. This usage is probably in accordance with the Zoroastrian concept of the "Tūrya", which is not primarily a linguistic or ethnic designation, but rather a name of the infidels that oppose the civilization based on the preaching of Zoroaster.

Combined with physical anthropology, the concept of the Turanian mentality has a clear racist potential. Thus, the scholar J.W. Clackson described the "Turanid" or "Turanian" race in the following words: [ "The Iran and Turan", "Anthropological Review" 6:22 (1868), p. 286]

Politics

In the declining days of the Ottoman Empire, the word "Turanian" was adopted by some Turkish nationalists to express a pan-Turkic ideology, also called Turanism. Presently, Turanism forms an important aspect of the ideology of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party ("MHP"), whose members are also known as Grey Wolves.

In recent times, the word "Turanian" is sometimes used to express a pan-Altaic nationalism (theoretically including Manchus and Mongols in addition to Turks - and potentially Japanese and Koreans), though no political organization seems to have adopted such an ambitious platform.

Fiction

The name "Turan" also appears in the fictional geography of the Conan the Barbarian stories.

The Turanic Raiders from the real time strategy game "Homeworld" may be a reference to the Turan.

Names

Turandot or "Turandokht" is a female name in Iran and it means "Turan's Daughter" in Persian.

Turan is also a common name in the Middle East, including in Iran and Turkey. Turanshah (Shah of Turan) is also the name of the brother of Saladin.

Turaj, who in ancient Iranian myths was the ancestor of Turanians, is also a popular name and means "Son of Darkness". The name Turan according to Iranian myths derives from the homeland of Turaj. The Pahlavi pronunciation of Turaj is Tuzh, according to the Dehkhoda dictionary. Similarly, Iraj, which is also a popular name, is the brother of Turaj in the "Shahnameh". A deformed version of Turaj is Zaraj which means "son of gold"

See also

* Aniran

References

External links

* [http://www.zoroastrian.org/articles/Iran_Turan_in_Avesta.htm Iranians and Turanians in the "Avesta"]
* [http://www.celtoslavica.de/bibliothek/turan1.html Der Schatten von Turan] (a history of the Turan ideology - "in German")
* [http://www.hunmagyar.org/turan/turan.html Hunmagyar.org] (a representative of the controversial Turanian theory)