Basmyls

The Basmyls (Basmyl; Basmals, Basmils, , , Middle Chinese ZS: *bˠɛt̚-siɪt̚-miɪt̚/mˠiɪt̚/miᴇ; or as 弊剌 Bìlà, MC *bjiej H -lat) were a 7th- to 8th-century Turkic nomadic tribe who mostly inhabited the Dzungaria region in the northwest of modern-day China. Originally a forest people, the Basmyls eventually grew in importance and played a prominent role in the Turkic politics from the 6th century. Basmyl supreme leaders were the first to use the term Ydyk-kut, which replaced khagan; Qocho Uyghur rulers of Turpan likewise titled themselves Ydyk-kuts. The title contains two components: the first component Ïdïq/Ydyk means "[heaven]-sent, sacred"; the second component kut/qut in the title is often found in Old Turkic onomastics and titulature and has the lexical meaning "grace" or "blessing". In 720 CE, the dynastic Basmyl clan were reported to be concentrated at Beiting Protectorate, near Gucheng (Qitai), in the Bogda Shan range, and to be Ashina Turks (Ch. 突厥 pinyin Tu-jue). Mahmut Kashgari, an 11th-century historian, lists the Basmyls as one of ten prominent Turkic tribes and enumerates the locations of the Turkic polities from the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire to the borders of China in the following sequence: # Bäčänäk; # Qifčāk; # Oğuz; # Yemēk; # Bašğirt; # Basmyl; # Qāi; # Yabāqu; # Tatār; # Qirqiz.…

The Basmyls (Basmyl; Basmals, Basmils, , , Middle Chinese ZS: *bˠɛt̚-siɪt̚-miɪt̚/mˠiɪt̚/miᴇ; or as 弊剌 Bìlà, MC *bjiej H -lat) were a 7th- to 8th-century Turkic nomadic tribe who mostly inhabited the Dzungaria region in the northwest of modern-day China. Originally a forest people, the Basmyls eventually grew in importance and played a prominent role in the Turkic politics from the 6th century. Basmyl supreme leaders were the first to use the term Ydyk-kut, which replaced khagan; Qocho Uyghur rulers of Turpan likewise titled themselves Ydyk-kuts. The title contains two components: the first component Ïdïq/Ydyk means "[heaven]-sent, sacred"; the second component kut/qut in the title is often found in Old Turkic onomastics and titulature and has the lexical meaning "grace" or "blessing". In 720 CE, the dynastic Basmyl clan were reported to be concentrated at Beiting Protectorate, near Gucheng (Qitai), in the Bogda Shan range, and to be Ashina Turks (Ch. 突厥 pinyin Tu-jue). Mahmut Kashgari, an 11th-century historian, lists the Basmyls as one of ten prominent Turkic tribes and enumerates the locations of the Turkic polities from the borders of the Eastern Roman Empire to the borders of China in the following sequence: Bäčänäk; Qifčāk; Oğuz; Yemēk; Bašğirt; Basmyl; Qāi; Yabāqu; Tatār; Qirqiz. Kashgari also noted that "Among the nomadic peoples are the Čömül - they have a gibberish (raṭāna [رَطَانَة]) of their own, but also know Turkic; also Qāy, Yabāqu, Tatār and Basmil - each of these groups has its own language, but they also know Turkic well"." The Basmyls may be ancestral to the Argyn of the Middle Juz of modern Kazakhstan. Marco Polo apparently mentioned them as "Argons" in a country called "Tenduc" (around Kuku-Khotan, or modern-day Hohhot), during the 13th century. Polo reported that this tribe who had "sprung from two different races: to wit, of the race of the Idolaters of Tenduc and ... the worshippers of Mahommet. They are handsomer men than the other natives of the country, and having more ability, they come to have authority; and they are also capital merchants."

History

The Basmyl ethnonym is etymologisable as Turkic: the first component *bas- means "to crush, press, oppress make a surprise attack" in Proto-Turkic; the other, *-mïl, is the Oghuric cognate of Common Turkic nominalizing suffix *-miš/-*mïs. Thus "Basmıl may be viewed as Oğuric Turkic bas- + -mıl = 'the tribe that crushed (its opponents),' Basmıš in Common Turkic. This was typical of Turkic tribal names that denoted aggressiveness." This prompted Golden to further posit that Basmyls were Oghuric speakers who remained east after their cousins had migrated west.

Khaganate period

According to Tongdian, the Basmyls originally lived dispersed on the snowy mountains, hunted on skis, and dwelt south of Beiting Protectorate and the Northern Sea (i.e. Lake Baikal) and southeast of Yenisei Kyrgyz; the "courageous and powerful" Basmyls numbered 2,000 families, and had leaders but no princes (Tigin) Since 552, the Basmyls became a part of the First Turkic Khaganate, who might have recognized Basmyls' economic or political importance enough to appoint an Ashina yabghu over the Basmyls. When this khaganate split into Eastern and Western Kaganates in 604, the Basmyls found themselves in the Western Turkic Kaganate, dominated by the Eastern Turks. Following state administrative reforms in favor of the eastern part of the Kaganate, the Basmyls lost their position of primacy along with the tribes of Karluks, Yagma, Kipchaks, Chumi, Chuyue (from whom emerged Shatuo). In 641 disgruntled tribes, including the Dzungarian Basmyls, joined a revolt by pretender to the throne Yugu-Ukuk. The Chinese Tang empire used the turmoil in the Western Turkic Kaganate to become the dominant regional power, and by 649, as a result of the military defeats, Bukhara and the Basmyls submitted to the Tang rulers. The period from 649 to 703 is the best documented in Basmyl history due to the existence of Chinese annalistic records. This was also a prosperous period; vassalage did not impose any obligations and was instead afforded Chinese luxuries provided as gifts, until the Tang emperors felt confident enough to introduce their own bureaucracy to supplant the rule of the traditional Türkic nobility. According to ancient Türkic succession law, a brother succeeded a brother, and a nephew succeeded his uncle in a process of lateral succession. The Chinese thought such an idea absurd, and ignored it in their acts, causing further problems on top of existing resentment of the greedy bureaucracy. This 52-year period of relative quiet ended with the rise of the restored Eastern Turkic Kaganate, and its recapture of Dzungaria and the Dzungarian Basmyls by Kutlug and Kul Tegin.

Basyz

Anvarbek Mokeev put forward a hypothesis «about the origin of the Kyrgyz tribe Basyz from the circle of the forest tribes of Altai, who migrated there after the collapse of the once powerful union of the Basmyl tribes.» According to A. Mokeev, the Basmyls were incorporated into the Altai Kyrgyz. He identifies the ethnonym «Basmyl» with the Kyrgyz «Basyz».

References

Gumilev L.N., "Ancient Türks", : Древние тюрки Grumm-Grjimailo, G. E. Western Mongolia and Uryankhai Territory, 3 volumes, vol. 2, Leningrad, 1926.

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