The Migration Epic is a Uyghur epic. It is a continuation of the Epic of Origination (Türeyiş). The epic tells how the Turks were punished by God when they gave their sacred stone to the Chinese, how famine and drought set in, and how they migrated from their ancestral homeland.
The Epic
"In the homeland of the Uyghurs there was a mountain called 'Hulin.' Two rivers flowed from Mount Hulin. One night a light descended from the sky onto a tree there. Afterward a swelling formed on the trunk of the tree, and the divine light rested upon the swelling for nine months and ten days. The trunk of the tree split open, and from within it five children appeared. The people of this country raised these children. The youngest of them, Buğu Han, became ruler when he grew up. The country grew rich, and the people happy.
A long time passed. A prince named Yulug Tigin became khagan. Yulug Tigin fought many wars against the Chinese. To put an end to these wars, he decided to marry his son Gali Tigin to a Chinese princess. In return for the princess, the Chinese asked the ruler for the rock at the foot of the Mountain of God (Tanrı Dağı) bearing the name Kutlu Dağ (Blessed Mountain). Gali Tigin gave the rock. To carry the rock away, the Chinese lit fires around it, and when the rock grew hot they poured vinegar over it. Breaking it into small pieces, they loaded the rock onto carts and carried it to China. All the birds and animals of the land wept in their own tongues at the departure of this rock. Seven days after this, Gali Tigin died. Famine and drought came. They were forced to abandon their homeland and migrate."
Different Versions
Although it is known that the Migration Epic emerged in two different forms according to its records in Chinese and Iranian sources, these two separate accounts are in fact complementary to one another.
According to Chinese Sources
The epic was recorded in China in this form;
In the Chinese sources, unlike the Iranian sources, the Uyghurs' conversion to the religion of Manichaeism as a result of the migration is not included.
Sources
- Turkish Wikipedia: tr.wikipedia.org