<論文>カラバルガスン碑文に見えるウイグルと大食の関係

Abstract

Karabalgasun Inscription is tri-lingual in Old Turkish, Sogdian and Chinese. While the Old Turkish version in Runic script is badly damaged and only small fragments containing a few readable wordshave survived, substantial partsof the other two versionshave remained to thisday. Studiesbas ed on the Chinese and Sogdian texts have shown that the inscription commemorates the eighth Uighur qaghan (r. 808-821) and hispredeces sors' military achievementsaswell astheir adoption and support of the Manichaean religion and church. It is no doubt one of the most important sources for the history of the Uighur Steppe Empire and the study of Manichaeism in China and Central Asia. Translation of lines 20-22 of the Sogdian version in my latest edition of the Sogdian version reads as follows: "Further, in the entire Tajik (=Islam/Abbasid) realm, there were strikes(?) and persecution. When the fortunate ruler proceeded downward (=westward), he sent an order to the amir of Khorasan, and to[many other]local amirsand rulers. They[. . . . . . ]auditors[. . . . . . . . . ]up to Mumin Amir (=the Abbasid caliph), because of the[repect]and fear of the fortunate ruler, so many times they sent mighty nobles(?)(and) eminent offerings." The Chinese version also records that the Uighurs attacked the Tibetan and Qarluq soldiers and chased them to the Jaxartes (column XVII), Ferghana (column XX), and the realm of Tajiks or Dashiguo大食国(column XIX). In the inscription all these achievements were recorded asaccomplis hed by Tian Kehan 天可汗or prnpδy/prnxwntk 'xšy-wn'k "gloriousking", who isto be identified with the seventh qaghan (r. 795-808). In thispaper, while referring to what one findsin Islamic sourcesin connection with Toquzoghuz or the Uighurs, the present author discusses the relationship between the Uighur Steppe Empire and the Abbasid Empire as recorded in the Karabalgasun Inscription. The discussion supports Karev's (2015) view to refute the Uighurs' active involvement in Rāfiʻ b. Layth's Rebellion proposed by Yoshida 1988 and de la Vaissière 2007. In the present author's argument, Minorsky's 1948 now generally accepted dating of Tamīm b. Baḣ r's journey to the Uighur court in Mongolia to 821 CE can no longer be supported, because Minorsky's dating was based on a few erroneous assumptions, one of which is that Tian Kehan is the designation of the eighth qaghan.