Toqtamys

Toqtamys is the khan who serves as the chief antagonist of the epic Edige across its Karakalpak and wider Turkic recensions. He reflects the historical Tokhtamysh, the late-fourteenth-century khan of the Golden Horde whose alliance and eventual rupture with the emir Edigü (Edige) and with Amir Timur reshaped the steppe. In the epic his overweening rule and his estrangement from Edige precipitate the hero's flight and revolt, and the long feud between them, carried on into the next generation, structures the whole narrative. Toqtamys embodies rightful but corrupted sovereignty against which the hero's charisma is measured.

Domains

• sovereignty

Powers

• rules as khan and provokes the hero's revolt

Relations

• enemy: EdigeKarl Reichl (ed.), Edige: A Karakalpak Oral Epic (2007). (secondary)

Sources

• Toqtamys is the khan of the Golden Horde and antagonist of the epic Edige, whose conflict with the hero forms the narrative's political axis; he reflects the historical Tokhtamysh.: Karl Reichl (ed.), Edige: A Karakalpak Oral Epic as performed by Jumabay Bazarov (2007). (secondary); 'Edigey as the common heritage of the Turkic people', ERIC document EJ1115732. (secondary)