192 wilkens
nearly collapsed during the rebellion of An Lushan (755–763, 安祿山).6 On
the one hand, the steppe empires were connected with China, not only eco-
nomically but politically, which is apparent in the Kirghiz’ request of the Tang
court to grant the use of the term täŋri—the name of the sky god of the Türks
and Uyghurs—as part of the royal title which the Tang declined.7 On the other
hand, they had their own innate social dynamics based on tribal relations and
depending on the personal charisma and military achievements of the ruler.
Several internal and external factors led to the establishment and dissolu-
tion of the nomadic steppe empires. The East Uyghur Empire in Mongolia had
been weakened by an anti-Manichaean movement, which led to the assassi-
nation of Bügü Kagan in 779. Struggles between clans and political factions
caused instability in the empire, which was finally crushed by the Kirghiz
in 840. In many ways these ‘state’ formations preserved cultural patterns of
their predecessor states such as the division of the realm into an Eastern and
a Western wing,8 the establishment of the political centre in the Orkhon val-
ley in Mongolia,9 or the use of certain titles10 even though the successor states
brought about the collapse of preceding polities, as can be seen by the First
Türk Empire replacing the Rouran (柔然)11 Empire and the Uyghurs who—
aided by the equally turkophone Basmıls—brought about the downfall of the
Second Türk Empire respectively. Thus, political changes correspond with cul-
tural continuity on a symbolic level. The conversion of the Uyghur ruler Bügü
Kagan to Manichaeism (around 761/2) is a deliberate break with the nomadic
tradition, in the wake of which old forms of belief and worship were officially
discarded. By the adoption of Manichaeism as a court religion, the Uyghurs
6 Drompp, “Imperial State Formation,” 103.
7 Drompp, Michael, “Breaking the Orkhon Tradition: Kirghiz Adherence to the Yenisei
Region After AD 840,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 119.3 (1999): 400a.
8 This division is attested for the first time in case of the Xiongnu (匈奴).
9 After their defeat of the Uyghurs, the Kirghiz had to abandon this Inner Asian tradition
(Türk, Uyghur and maybe Xiongnu and Rouran, later Mongol). Cf. Drompp, “Breaking
the Orkhon Tradition”. Many older studies erroneously stated that the Kirghiz replaced the
Uyghurs as rulers in the Orkhon valley. Drompp has demonstrated on the basis of Chinese
source materials that this was not the case. As one of the possible reasons for abstaining
from permanent control over the Orkhon valley he surmises that the apparently mixed
economy of the upper Yenisei “would not have been easily transplanted to the Mongolian
steppe” (Drompp, “Breaking the Orkhon Tradition,” 402).
10 Cf. Rybatzki, Volker, “Titles of Türk and Uigur Rulers in the Old Turkic Inscriptions,”
Central Asiatic Journal 44.2 (2000): 205–292.
11 Also known under the name Ruan Ruan (蠕蠕). On this confederation see Kradin,
Nikolay N., “From Tribal Confederation to Empire: The Evolution of the Rouran Society,”
Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 58.2 (2005): 149–169.