Kimek Khanate

The Kimek Khanate, also spelled "Kimäk Khanate" and Kimak Kaganate was a prominent medieval Turkic state formed by the Kimek and Kipchak people in the area of the Ob-Irtysh interfluvial. It existed as the "Kimak Kaganate" from approximately 743 to 1050 AD, and as the "Kimak Khanate" until the Mongol conquest in the early thirteenth century. Arab and Persian geographers, travelers and historians provide an abundance of information about the Kimaks. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"] The name "Kimaks" was not known to medieval Chinese geographers, just as the name "Chumuhun" was not known by Arabian and Persian geographers. Both names referred to the same Kimak tribe. [Gumilev L.N. "Ancient Turks", Moscow, 'Science', 1967, Ch.27 http://gumilevica.kulichki.net/OT/ot27.htm] From 840 to 916 one power, the Kimak Kaganate, dominated the heartland of Asia, controlled a key central portion of the Silk Road, and influenced events from China to Persia and Europe, on a par with the Scythians and Mongols. The Kimak polity can now be seen for what it was: one of the great pastoral nomadic empires of all time. [Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994, p.371]

In the beginning, the Kimak state incorporated seven related tribes: Kimaks, Yamak, Kipchaks, Tatar (Kimek Khanate), Bayandur, Lanikaz, and Ajlad. At its height, the Kimak Kaganate had 12 nuclear tribes, and extended from the Irtysh river and Altai mountains in the east to the Black Sea steppe in the west, into the taiga fringes in the north, and southward it reached into the desert-steppe. After their decline, the Jeti-Su Kimaks retreated back to the upper Irtysh region, and the western Kipchak-Kimaks settled in the North Pontic steppes. [Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994, pp.371-373] The Kimaks were originally Tengrians, with some Buddhist and Christian communities. In the eleventh century Islam made some inroads.

Prehistory

Originally, the Kimaks lived along Irtysh between the Altai and Tarbagatai mountain ranges. During time of the Great Türkic Kaganate (552-743), the Hunnish tribes Chuüe, Chumi, Chumuhun and Chuban, called Üeban, or "Weak Huns", and "Chumuhun" by Chinese historians, played a major role as part of the Shato Türk and Kimak tribal unions. Chinese historians located the Üebans west of the Tarbagatai and Altai. The civilization created by the Great Türkic Kaganate was carried on by many peoples, including Kipchaks, Kimaks, Uyghurs, Bajanaks, Oguz, Karluks, Kyrgyz, Türgeshes, Khazars, Bulgars and others, who inherited it after the destruction of Kaganate. In the middle of the seventh century the Kimaks lived near the Irtysh, north of the Altai, and were members of the Western Türkic Kaganate. After the disintegration in 743 AD of the Western Türkic Kaganate, a part of the Kimaks remained in its successor, the Uyghur Kaganate (740-840), and another part retained their independence. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"] During that period a nucleus of the Kimak tribes was consolidated. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.26] The head of the Kimak confederation had the title "Shad Tutuk", "i.e." "Prince Governing, or Ruling”. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"] The tribe Imak (Yemak, Kimak) became the head of the union, and later of the Kimak Kaganate. In another transcription the tribal name sounds like "Kai", which in Mongolian means "snake". Possibly during consolidation of seven tribes appeared the expression: "A snake has seven heads", cited by Mahmud Kashgari in his fundamental work "The Genealogy of Türks". [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.26] At the end of the tenth century, not only the Caliphate writers and scientists were knowledgeable about them, but in the Central Asian states the travel to the Kimak country was especially well known and discussed in the markets and "chaihanas" (tea houses). [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.25]

Kimak Kaganate Period

Initial Period

Before the middle of the 8 c., Kimaks bordered decentralized Karluks and Tokuz-Oguzes on the south, and the Yenisei Kyrgyz state on the east. After the 743 AD splinter of the Western Türkic Kaganate, the main body of the Kimaks remained in the Irtysh area, and a part of Kimak tribes in the 2nd half of the 8th – the beginning of the 9th c. migrated in two directions, northwest to the Urals and southwest to the northern Jety-Su. The migration impact propagated to change the ethnic composition of the Middle Itil and Lower Kama areas in the west. Spreading from the Irtysh area, Kimaks occupied territory between the rivers Yaik and Emba, and the Aral and Caspian steppes, to the Jety-Su area. During the 7-12 cc. Kimak and Kypchak culture was identical. The southern neighbors of Kimaks were decentralized Karluks, who preserved their independence for another 200 years. Kimak Khakan's residence was in the city Imakia on Irtysh. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"]

Middle Period

After the 840 AD breakup of the Uyghur Kaganate, the Central Asian tribes found themselves unattached. Kimaks, of all the numerous tribes, were ready to head a new political tribal union, and they created a new Kimak Kaganate state, a federation of seven tribes, seven Khanlyks. Abu Said Gardizi (d. 1061) wrote that Kimak federation consisted of seven tribes: ‘Kimaks (Imak, Imek, Yemek), Imi, Tatars, Bayandur, Kypchak, Lanikaz’ and ‘Adjlad’. Chinese historians called "Chumuhun" the remaining descendants of those Üeban "Weak Huns" who lived west of Tarbagatai and Altai and remained independent from the Uyghur Kaganate, and in that area had formed the historical Kimaks. Thus, as descendants of the Huns, among all the Hunnish tribes Kimaks continued their history the longest. The Tatars' name is mentioned for a first time in connection with the events in middle of the 6 c. in the Kül-Tegin and Bilge-Kagan inscriptions in Kosho-Tsaydam. Tatar tribes participated not only in the creation of Kimak state, but also in ethnogenesis of the Kimaks. In 821 Arabian Tamim ibn Bahr Al-Mutavai ‘(al-Muttavi)’ traveled to Tokuz-Oguzes through Kimak and Kypchak lands. His description of travel, description of Türks were later used by other authors. The Persian traveler Gardizi made first records about Kimaks, noting their location which previously was on record as the territory of the Huns' descendants, called by the Chinese authors "Chumuhun". Tamim ibn Bahr in first half of 9th c. also was one of the first authors who mentioned Kimaks. In the 9 c. Kimaks allied with Oguzes. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"]

The dominating Kimak tribe mostly lived on the banks of Irtysh. The Kipchaks, described by Hudud al-Alam, occupied a separate territory located to the west, approximately in the southeastern part of the Southern Urals. Chinese chroniclers wrote about the mountains of the Kipchak land, in the chronicle Üan-shi these mountains are named Üyli-Boli, and the Kipchaks are called "Tsyn-cha". North of Kipchaks and Kimaks lay endless taiga forest. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.27]

After the breakup of the Uyghur Kaganate in the 840 AD, portions of the Türkic tribes Eymür, Bayandur and Tatar joined the core of the Kimak tribes. The Tatar tribes already were the members of the Kimak confederation, some of them had already participated in the initial formation of the Kimak Kaganate. Kypchaks also had their Khanlyk, but politically they were dependent from Kimaks. In the second half of the 9 c. the reinforced Kimaks began drifting westwards. They occupied lands of Bajanak (‘Besenyo, Badjinak, Patsinak’) nomadic cattle breeders, whose nucleus were the tribes of the Kangar political union. The Bajanak position worsened, their union was defeated by an alliance of Oguzes, Kimaks and Karluks. Kimaks, together with Oguzes, seized Kangar Bajanak lands along Seyhun (Syr-Darya), and in the Aral area, taking over the pastures in the Southern Urals. Under pressure of Kimaks, the Bajanaks moved from the Aral to the Lower Itil steppes, and from there on to the Don-Dnieper interfluvial, pushing the Magyars westward. At the end of the 9 c. in the south of the Eastern European steppes formed a new nomadic union of Bajanaks, called by the Arabs “Badjnaks”, and by the Byzantines “Patsinaks”. Their neighbors were stronger and better known people: Oguzes, Kypchaks, Magyars and the Khazar Kaganate. Under pressure from joined assaults by Kypchaks and their linguistic Oguz cousins of the Kimak Kaganate, and using the weakness of the Khazar Kaganate, Bajanaks moved through its territory to the west, wringing destruction to the settled populations of Bulgars and Alans in the N.Caucasus. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"]

In the 10th c. Oguzes were allied with Kimaks. In his 10th century work, Ibn Haukal drew a map showing that Kipchak-Kimak tribes together with Oguzes pastured in the steppes north of the Aral Sea, and al-Masudi at approximately the same time wrote that all of them were coaching along Emba and Yaik. In Middle East, the Kypchak country began to be called Desht-i-Kypchak. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"] Biruni noted that Oguzes quite often pastured in the country of Kimaks. Some clans of Kimak tribes quite often coached along the coast of the Caspian Sea: "Shahname" even calls that sea as Kimak Sea". The main western neighbors of Kimak-Kipchaks in the 10th c. were Bashkirs, with whom at that time the westernmost Kipchak clans established very close contacts. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.27]

The economy of the Kimak confederation, with their settlements and pastures stretched for thousands kilometers from Irtysh to the Caspian Sea, and from taiga to the Kazakhstan semi-deserts, was uneven between the eastern areas and the western areas, and between the northern forest-steppe and the southern foothills of the Tian-Shan mountains. The Persian Anonym specially emphasized that Kipchaks living in the extreme western areas of the Kaganate lead a more primitive way of life than the Kimaks who live near Irtysh, where the city Imakiya was the center of the Kimak union, and a summer seat of the Kimak Kagan. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.28]

In the 12th century the territory of the khanate included southern Urals, E.Volga area, Mangyshlaq, and the region northwest of the Aral Sea. Their centers included Kimäk and Sangir. Most of the population was semi-nomadic, a minority were sedentary farmers, many of the city dwellers were craftsmen. In the northern parts of Kimek territory were underground towns of tunnel networks and chambers to escape the cold.

The Kimeks were ruled by a "Kagan, alco called "Khakan" in the eastern records, not of the Ashina dynasty. In the 10th and 11th centuries the ruling clan was Tatar Kimek. Later they appear to have been ruled by the Ilbari (Ilburi) clan.

During the tenth century Kipchaks became independent within the Kaganate, and began migration westward. A part Kipchaks intermixed with Kangars (Kangly, Kangüy) became known as Cumans. The zenith of Kimak power came under the Ilburi rulers near the end of the eleventh century. In 1183, the Kimaks attacked Volga Bulgaria, and they twice sacked Chorasm, in the 1152 and 1197.

Decline

The Kimak federation occupied a huge territory from the rivers Tobol and Irtysh to the Caspian Sea and Seyhun, from taiga to the Kazakhstan semi-deserts. The northern border of the Kimak federation was the Siberian taiga, the eastern border was the Altai Mountains, the southern border was the lifeless steppe Bet Pak. The borders of the Kimak state were naturally protected from the enemies, Kimaks lived undisturbed. In the expanded borders of their settlement, Kimaks neighbored with Karluks, Oguzes and Kyrgyzes. Kimaks, Kypchaks, Oguzes, Bajanaks, Ugrs and other peoples and ethnic groups of the multi-ethnic Kimak Kaganate lived peacefully, the Kimak Kaganate was prospering.

When in the beginning of the 11th c. AD Kimaks and Kypchaks pushed Oguzes to the south, Bajanaks to the west, Karluks to the southeast, and Ugrs to the north into the Siberian taiga, they became owners of the ancient Kangüy. Individual Khanlyks of the Kimak Kaganate grew stronger, separatist forces increased, undermining central authority. Khakan became only a military leader of the militia, there was no central army, each subject Khan had his small army of militia soldiers. Kimaks and then Kidanes pressed Kipchaks to move west. In the beginning of the 11 c. the Kypchak Khanlyk moved west, occupying lands that earlier belonged to Oguzes. After seizing Oguz lands, Kypchaks grew considerably stronger, and the Kimaks became dependents of the Kypchaks. The Kipchak migration was a planned invasion, a capture of richer pastures. A part of the Kimaks remained in the ancient land along Irtysh, and a part left with the Kypchaks to the west. A larger portion of the Kimak Kaganate Türkic tribes, the Kimaks, Kypchaks, Bajanaks, and Oguzes migrated to the west, to beyond Yaik, Itil, Don and Dniepr, changing the ethnic map of the Eastern Europe. Southern Karluks joined the Karakhanid state.

A significant mass of the Kypchaks and Kimaks remained in the Irtysh territories, with the ancient population of the Western Siberia. Subsequently, they formed Siberian Tatars and other Türkic peoples. In the west, Kypchaks followed the path taken previously by the Bajanaks under a pressure of Oguzes, and later taken by Oguzes under a pressure of Kimaks and Kypchaks. Kypchak crossed Itil, crossed Don, Dniestr, Dniepr, reached Danube. On the way Kypchaks were joined by the remains of the Bajanaks and Oguzes. The Rus chronicles under year 1054 record an appearance near Kyiv of the Oguz people, who were pushed by Kipchaks, a branch of middle Irtysh and Ob Kimaks. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"]

Al-Marvazi (end of the 11th c, a court doctor of the Seljuk Sultans), and Armenian historian Matvey Edessian (middle of the 11th c.) both recorded the same event with semantically identical names. Al-Marvazi tells that Kais (snakes) and Kuns pressed the tribe Shars (Türkic ‘sary = pale, yellow’), and those, in turn, occupied the lands of the Turkmen, Oguzes and Badjanaks. Matvey Edessian tells that the people of snakes pressed the "red-haired" (i.e.yellow), and the "red-haired" moved on the Oguzes, who together with Badjanaks attacked Byzantium. The Kais are Kimaks, and Shars are Kipchaks, with Slavic copy of the word "Kipchak" as "Polovets" (Slav. "polovye") with a meaning light yellow. Besides Sharys, "i.e." the yellow Kipchaks, in the advance to the West participated other Kimak hordes (Kais, Kuns), and other members of the Kaganate. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.34]

In this global migration to the fecund western pastures Kipchaks were most active participants, a number of sources calls them "yellow". Many researchers believe that Kipchaks were blonds and blue-eyed, originally "Dinlins", who lived in the steppes of Southern Siberia in the end of the 1st millennium BC, and who were, according to the Chinese chroniclers, blonds. Certainly among Kipchaks were some blond individuals, however a great bulk of the Türkic-speaking people had an admixture of Mongoloidness (according to anthropologists), the Kimak-Kipchaks were dark-haired and brown-eyed. Possibly the color characteristic was a symbolical definition of a part of the Kipchaks. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.35]

Kimak Kaganate fall in the middle of the 11th c was caused by external factor, by migration of the Central Asian Mongolian-speaking nomads pushed by the Mongolian-speaking Kidan state Lyao formed in the 916 AD in the Northern China. The Kidan nomads occupied Kimak and Kypchak lands west of Irtysh. The Kaganate thereafter declined, and Kimeks were probably at times subjected to Kyrgyz and Kara-Khitai overlordship. In the 11th-12th cc. a Mongol-speaking Naiman tribe in its westward move displaced Kimaks-Kypchaks from the Mongolian Altai and Upper Irtysh. From the middle of the 12th c. the Mongolian tribes predominated almost in all the territory of the modern Mongolia. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"]

In the 13th century the remnant of the Kimak Khanate was conquered by Mongols and its lands were assigned to the Ulus of Jochi. See Golden Horde for the area's subsequent history. A significant part of the population in the Kipchak Khanate state, created by Mongols, was from the Kimak Kaganate lands. [Faizrakhmanov G., "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"] The Kimak leader Bachman Khan resisted some years after the Mongols conquered the region.

Economy

The Kimak economy was classic Central Asian pastoral nomadism, with the Turkic pattern of widely varied local economic specialization and adaptation [Buell 1993] . The key animal was horse and the main subsistence animal was sheep. As a subsistence animal, fatty-tailed sheep provided meat for food, oil for cooking, and tallow for light. Poorest Kimaks, perhaps the ones so poor they had no horses, herded cattle. They wintered in the steppe between Emba and Yaik rivers, but summered near Irtysh. The summer home of the Kimak Khakans was in the town of Imak, in the middle Irtysh, the winter capital was Tamim on the southern shore of lake Balkhash. [Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994, pp.377-385] Archeologically confirmed, Kimaks in the Irtysh area were semi-settled, Al-Idrisi in the 12th century wrote as a well-known fact about Kimak cultivated lands, wheat crops, millet, barley, legumes, and even rice. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.28] Kimaks also raised grapes, were beekeepers. Kimaks left remains of irrigation systems and ruins of castles. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"] Al-Idrisi describes in detail the Kimak cities, emphasizing that all of them are well fortified, and in the Kagan’s city, with its concentration of all Kimak aristocracy, were markets and temples. Sedentary life led to construction of more fundamental dwellings, in the settlements and cities clay-walled semi-dugouts were widely used alongside felt yurts. Typically, both type of dwellings had a hearth in the center, like in yurts. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.28]

Kipchaks of both written sources and archeological evidence continued pastoral cattle breeding with some elements of sedentary life. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.29] Desht-i-Kipchak steppes were well organized for prosperous nomadic cattle breeding. The steppe was subdivided into locations with certain pasture routes, yaylag (‘yaylak, yailag, or jailik, djailik’) summer settlements and (‘aul, atar, kishlak’) winter settlements. Near permanent yaylak and kishlak settlements were kurgan cemeteries. In the settlements and along the steppe shlyakhs ('roads') and coaching routes Kipchaks erected ancestor sanctuaries with stone statues representing the diseased. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.30] Favorite animal of Kimak populace was horse. Horses were used for riding and draught, in agriculture, and a horse meat was considered the best. Among the crafts the first was leather processing, felt manufacturing, clothing and footwear, horse harnesses of leather and felt. Kimaks and other tribes of the Kaganate produced weapons, implements, and agricultural tools. In the forest-steppe areas was widely spread woodworking. Utensils, yurt parts, etc. were made of wood. Iron, gold, and silver were mined and processed. Kimak cities were mostly located along the trading ways. The trade was mostly barter, farmers exchanged grain and flour for lambs and leather, but the monetary trade was active as well.

Under influence of active trading relations with Muslim Arabs, the Kimak Kaganate was drawn into a slave-trading business. The "objectionable" people, and even relatives were sold into slavery. Slave-trade became a destiny of multitudes, they were sold by Kidanes, who were running endless manhunt attacks and roundups. That tragedy lasted for 200 years, ca 850-1050. [Faizrakhmanov G. "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"]

Culture

The Kimak were literate. Abu Dulaf ca 940, and Ibn al-Fakikh indirectly described writing in the Kimak Kaganate: "They have reeds with which they write" in the Old Turkish ( [Orkhon] ) script. Archeologists found bronze mirrors with inscriptions, dated by the 10th-11th c. AD, near Urdjar in the Tarbagatai mountains, and in the Irtysh region. L. Kimball stipulates that literate Kimak had works of law, religion, history, and epic poetry, none of which had survived. Although the Kimak had copper coins, most trade was done by barter.

A key facet of Kimak life was hunting. Large group hunts served as training for war. Pride, prestige, and leadership were associated with the use of falcons, hawks, golden eagles, and hunting dogs, and with the pursuit of beasts of prey, including tiger and snow-leopard.

Kimak Khans wore golden crowns and clothes sewn with gold. Al Idrisi relayed that Kimaks extract gold with mercury and float it in dung.

Kimak towns arose from a symbiosis of local predominantly Turkic Kimak populations, pre-existing autochthonous culture, and people from elsewhere in Central Asia. A characteristic feature was that all towns were well-fortified, and in each a prince-chieftain headed a garrison. Towns were situated on lake shores, river banks, in border areas, and in impregnable mountain areas. A fortified wall with an iron gate surrounded the largest capital town Tamim of the Khakan, where also lived aristocrats. In the hills stood castle-forts surrounded by moats.

Kimaks on the of the Seihun steppe traded in sheep. Kimak presence on the Itil enabled them to use local major trade routes, and put them in contact with the Byzantine and Viking worlds (Buell 1993).

Kimaks made cheese, beverages from fermented mare's milk, some of which probably were distilled to high potency, and beverages from rice, millet, barley, and honey. [Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994, pp.378-385]

Confessions

The western neighbors of Kyrgyzes, "i.e." Kimaks, Kypchaks, Oguzes, Bajanaks, Karluks, etc., who were located closer to the Muslim countries, in the 9th c. still professed Tengrianism. Kimak religion was the same as majority of Türks, in the steppes from the Baikal to Danube the Türks believed in Tengri. Kimaks had a tradition of reverence ancestors. On the border with Uyghurs, Kimaks adopted Manichean version of Christianity. [Faizrakhmanov G., "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia"] Kimaks also worshipped rocks with images (apparently, ancient petroglyphs) and images of human foot. Al-Idrisi spoke about belief in various spirits, and also about acceptance by some Kimaks of Manichaeism and Islam. Apparently, the last two religions started penetrating Kimaks in the 10th century, and spread among them much later, and then only in the central areas, in the Irtysh and Balkhash area. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.32]

Kurgan graves and sanctuaries

The most typical and notable feature of the Kimak-Kipchak culture are the obelisks, erected at kurgan sanctuaries with square fencing of rough stone and gravel. In the 6th-9th centuries similar sanctuaries with statues of the diseased soldiers and numerous "balbals" (a line of stone obelisks symbolizing enemies killed by the diseased ancestor) stretching from the fence were built by the Türks and Uyghurs. After destruction of the Türkic and Uyghur Kaganates, Kipchaks were one of the few Türkic-speaking peoples who preserved this tradition. Kipchaks continued kurgan tradition until the loss of their political independence.

From the end of the 9th century a construction of small fenced sanctuaries devoted to ancestors, with a statue (or statues) inside became a distinctive feature of the Kipchaks. The obelisks were simple rough stelae, frequently with figures without details. The faces are indicated by deeply carved lines, frequently in a shape of "hearts". Female statues differed from the men's by round "breasts". [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.30] The sanctuaries were built only for the rich and noble nomads.

Nizami described Kimak reverence to their ancestors. Kimak erected many statues, they were believed to have special power, and were honored accordingly. "All Kipchak tribes, when they happen to pass there, bow down twice in front of this obelisk. Mounted or on foot, they bow to it as to a Creator. A horseman takes an arrow from his quiver in honor of it, shepherds with flocks leave a sheep behind". [Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994, p.381]

Near Irtysh, cremation burials have been found, some Kimaks cremated their dead. [Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994, p.380]

Burial customs of Kimaks, Kipchaks, and Oguzes in Kimak Kaganate

S.A.Pletneva developed a comparative description of Middle Age N. Pontic burials customs including Kimaks and Kipchaks, and other ethnical kurgan burial traditions. The funerary accompanying objects are those necessary for a nomad during a trip (to the next world): horse harnesses, weapons, less frequently personal decorations and vessels with ritual food. Next to the diseased was laid his true tovarich (Türk., ‘comrade’), a horse. The belief in need to supply the diseased with the things necessary on the road and at least for initial life in the other world is given by Ibn Fadlan, a most inquisitive and truthful Arab traveler in the beginning of the 10th century. He described not a Kimak-Kipchak, but an Oguz funeral ceremony. However, from the excavations of the nomadic kurgans we know that the funeral ceremony of the Türkic-speaking peoples generally was extraordinarily monotonous, and it means that the general provisions, which the nomads held for the construction of the funeral complexes, were actually identical. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.30] Citing Ibn Fadlan: "And if a person from their number would die, for him is dug a big hole in a shape of a house, he would be dressed in his jacket, his belt, his bow... and would put in his hand a wooden cup with nabiz, would put before him a wooden vessel with nabiz, would bring everything that he has, and would lay it with him in that house... Then would place him in it and cover the house above him with decking, and pile above it something like a dome of clay". This is a description of the sepulchral niche and kurgan above. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.30] "Then they would take horses, and depending on their number would kill a hundred of them, or two hundred, or one, and would eat their meat, except for the head, legs, hide, and tail. And, truly, they stretch all this on wooden frames and say: "These are his horses on whom he would go to paradise". And if he ever killed men and was brave, they would carve images from wood numbering those whom he killed, would place them on his tomb and would say: "These are his youngsters who would serve him in paradise".

The nomads were always accompanied on the way into another world with slaughtered horses, and sometimes with others animals, and also enemies killed by him, represented by simple stelae or rough human images of stone or wood (balbals). The horses were necessary for speedy crossing, for coaching from one world to another, the more of them were, the better. Between Oguzes, the images of diseased were not installed neither over the tombs, nor in special sanctuaries. That custom was only among the population of the Kimak Kaganate, and mainly among the Kipchaks. [S.A.Pletneva, "Kipchaks", p.31]

Khan-Priest

Türkic khans, including Kimak Khan, had a special role as a High Priest and bearer of prophecy. Shabib al-Karani left a probably distorted description of a ritual: The Khakan (Arabic pronunciation of the title "Kagan") of the Turks has a specific day when they light a huge bonfire. Khakan speaks an oracular phrase into the fire. Then he looks intently staring into the fire, and turns away from the fire. If his face becomes yellow, it is a sign of fertility and good, if it becomes white, harvest will fail, if it becomes green means illness and epidemics, and if it becomes black, it indicates a death of the Khakan or a distant journey. When the latter happens, Khakan hastens to go on a journey or a raid. Kimak shamans had "yada", "rain stones", which were used to bring rain when it was needed. [Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994, p.381 ]

List of known rulers

* Alip Qara Uran
* Alip Derek
* Inalchiq
* Abarkhan
* Bachman Khan

Literature

*Faizrakhmanov G., "Ancient Turks in Sibiria and Central Asia" Kazan, 'Master Lain', 2000, ISBN 5-93139-069-3
*Gumilev L.N., "Ancient Turks", Moscow, 'Science', 1967
*Kimball L., "The Vanished Kimak Empire", Western Washington U., 1994
*Kumenkov B. E., "Kimak State if the 9-11th centuries according to Arabic sources", Alma-Ata, 'Science', 1972
*Pletneva S.A., "Kipchaks", Moscow, , 1990, ISBN 5-02-009542-7

References

See also

*History of Russia
*History of Kazakhstan