Shajare-i Tarakime


Shajare-i Tarākime is a historical work of the Khan of Khiva and prominent historian of the 17th century - Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur, which describes the history of Turkmens since ancient times, the birth and life of the ancient ancestor of all Turkmens and the progenitor hero of all Turkic peoples - Oghuz Khan, his campaigns to conquer various countries and regions of Eurasia, as well as the rule of the Oghuz-Turkmen khans in the Middle Ages.

About the author

Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur was the Khan of Khiva and a renowned historian of the Turkic peoples who wrote his works in Chagatai language. He was the author of two works that have great importance in learning Central Asian history, Shajare-i Tarākime or Şecere-i Terakime, completed in 1659, and Shajare-i Turk, which he left incomplete. The second work was completed by his son, Abu al-Muzaffar Anusha Muhammad Bahadur, in 1665.

Content

According to Abu al-Ghazi, " the 'Genealogy of the Turkmens' was written ""at the request of the Turkmen mullahs, sheikhs and beks"", who believed that the previous Oğuznames were full of "errors and differences" and that it was necessary to give an official version of the legend of the origin of the Turkmens.
"'Genealogy of the Turkmens" is not only an important historical source, but also a significant literary work, which describes numerous Turkmen folk legends, tales, etymologies of ethnonyms, proverbs and sayings.
"The Genealogy of the Turkmens' can be divided into three parts: information of a biblical nature ; information based on the Oghuz-Turkmen epic, which includes the legend of Oghuz-Khan and his descendants, and information acquired through oral tradition about the origin, division and location of the Oghuz tribes, about Tamga, Ongons and others.
Shajare-i Tarakime roughly follows Rashīd ad-Dīn’s already Islamized and Mongolized version about the origin of Oghuz Khan and Turks. But in his account, Oghuz Khan is fully integrated into Islamic and Mongol traditional history. The account begins with descent from Adam to Noah, who after the flood sends his three sons to repopulate the earth: Ham was sent to Hindustan, Sam to Iran, and Yafes was sent to the banks of the Itil and Yaik rivers. Yafes had eight sons named Turk, Khazar, Saqlab, Rus, Ming, Chin, Kemeri, and Tarikh. As he was dying, he established Turk as his successor.

Tribal organization

According to the "Genealogy of the Turkmens", Oghuz Khan had six sons in total, and each of them in turn had 4 sons from their first wives and several more from their other wives. Twenty-four grandsons from the first wives of the sons of Oghuz Khan were the ancestors of the 24 oldest and main Oghuz-Turkmen tribes and the heads of the so-called "Aimak". Each of the main 24 tribes was joined by other tribes whose ancestors were the grandsons of Oghuz Khan from the secondary wives of his sons and so on: this is the main association of several clans that formed a single "Aimak".
Two united Aimaks formed "yuzluks". The yuzluks, in turn, were grouped into two main groups: "Bozoks" and "Uchoks". Thus, the entire ancient Oghuz-Turkmen people were divided into two parts : each of these parts was divided into 12 yuzluks, and each of the yuzluks was divided into two Aimaks.
24 Oghuz Turkmen tribes according to the Genealogy of the Turkmens by Abu al-Ghazi Bahadur:

Bozoks (Gray Arrows)

;Gün Han
;Ay Han
;Yyldyz Han
;Gök Han
;Dag Han
;Dengiz Han