Turkic creation myth

The Turkic creation myth, known as the creation of Kao-che in Chinese sources (Chinese: 高車 / 高车, Pinyin: Gāochē, Wade-Giles: Kao-ch'e), is an ancient story about the creation of the Turks told among various Turkic peoples.[1][2]

The tale is told in Chinese in the Wei Shu.[3] and the History of the Northern Dynasties[4]

The Turkish version was recorded in the 19th century[5]

The story

One of the greatest khans of the Xiongnu had two daughters, both of whom were so sublimely beautiful that it was commonly believed these two girls were created by Tengri to marry the emperors or gods of the realm, not for humans. Hearing these ideas from his subjects, the khan started looking for ways to keep his daughters away from people. He ordered an extremely tall tower to be built in the northernmost part of his land, an uninhabited wasteland, and had them both locked up inside. He subsequently began to beg the gods to show themselves and marry his daughters. His ceaseless cries got to a point that finally one day, one god was able to stand it no more. He manifested as a gray wolf and came down from the heavens. He married the sisters, who bore many children from this marriage: the 9 Oghuz and the 10 Ogurs. These children resembled their father and carried his wolven spirit, and they, too, roamed the earth and multiplied. Thus were the Turks created.[6]

Notes
  1. 1890-1966., Köprülü, Mehmet Fuat (2009). Türk edebiyatı tarihi [Turkish literature history] (in Turkish). Akçağ Yayınları. pp. 69–73. ISBN 978-975-338-468-1. OCLC 984456710.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. Cemal., Anadol (2006). Türkler : tarihe hükmeden millet [Turks: the nation that dominates history] (in Turkish). Bilge Karınca. pp. 77–101. ISBN 975-8715-64-X. OCLC 433010806.
  3. Wei Shu, Volume 103
  4. History of the Northern Dynasties, Volume 98
  5. "Turkish Creation Myth". Larry Avis Brown. Retrieved 2022-04-03.
  6. Cemal., Anadol (2006). Türkler : tarihe hükmeden millet [Turks: the nation that dominates history] (in Turkish). Bilge Karınca. p. 101. ISBN 975-8715-64-X. OCLC 433010806.

See also
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