Tengri
Tengri is the sky-god and supreme deity of the old Turkic religion carried into Kazakh tradition, the vault of the eternal blue heaven personified as a conscious, ordering power. From him descends qut, the fortune and charisma that legitimates khans and prospers herds, and by his will the length of every life is measured. First attested by name in the eighth-century Orkhon inscriptions, where the blue Tengri above and the sacred Earth-Water below are said to have ordered the Turkic people into being, he remained central to Kazakh oath, blessing and lament; the everyday invocation Tanir jarylqasyn preserves his name. In later folk usage his figure merged with the Islamic Kudai, so that Tanir came to name the one God without wholly losing its ancient celestial coloring.
Domains
- sky heaven
- fate destiny
Powers
- bestows sovereignty and fortune
- ordains the span of life
Epithets
- Мәңгі Көк Тәңір — Eternal Blue SkyOrkhon inscriptions, in Tekin, A Grammar of Orkhon Turkic (1968). (primary)
Relations
- ally: UmaiInvoked together with Umai as the paired celestial protectors of the people.Tonyuquq / Bilge Qagan inscriptions, where Tengri, Umai and the sacred Yer-Sub are invoked together as protecting powers; in Tekin (1968). (primary)
- ally: Zher-SuOrkhon inscriptions naming Tengri and the sacred Yer-Sub among the powers that raised the Turkic people; in Tekin (1968). (primary)
Sources
- Tengri is the supreme sky-god of Kazakh Tengrism, the paramount deity of the pre-Islamic Turkic pantheon whose worship persisted in Kazakh folk religion.: Orkhon inscriptions (c. 732-735 CE), trans. Talat Tekin (1968). (primary); Roux, J.-P. La religion des Turcs et des Mongols (Paris: Payot, 1984). (secondary)
- Kazakh sources record Tanir as the high god alongside a syncretic identification with Islamic Kudai/Allah.: Valikhanov, 'Sledy shamanstva u kirgizov,' Sobranie sochinenii, vol. 4 (1985). (secondary)