Toqtamish
Nogai · mortal · Nogai traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Toqtamish, historical khan of the Golden Horde who briefly reunited it before his defeat by Timur, is the great royal antagonist of the Edige epic. In the songs he is the overreaching sovereign whose tyranny sets the tragedy in motion: he executes the loyal bey Qutlı-Qıya and covets the peri-woman, and so earns the undying enmity of Edige, who allies with Timur, breaks the khan's power and drives him to his death. He embodies the epic theme of the just revolt against an unjust ruler.
Domains
- sovereignty
- tyranny
Powers
- rules the Golden Horde as khan
- wrongs his beys and covets the peri-woman
Relations
- enemy: EdigeHis nemesis, who at last overthrows him.Ibn Arabshah, Aja'ib al-maqdur fi nawa'ib Timur (15th c.) (primary)
- enemy: Qutlı-QıyaWhom he unjustly puts to death.V. M. Zhirmunsky, Tyurkskiy geroicheskiy epos (Leningrad, 1974) (secondary)
- companion: Sıpıra JırauHis aged court bard and counsellor.A. I.-M. Sikaliev, Nogayskiy geroicheskiy epos (Cherkessk, 1994) (secondary)
Sources
- Toqtamish, khan of the Golden Horde (r. c.1380–1395), is the royal antagonist of the Edige epic, whose injustices drive the hero against him.: Ibn Arabshah, Aja'ib al-maqdur fi nawa'ib Timur (15th c.) (primary); V. M. Zhirmunsky, Tyurkskiy geroicheskiy epos (Leningrad: Nauka, 1974) (secondary)