History The
Kutadgu Bilig was written in 1069-1070 and presented to Tavghach Bughra Khan, the prince of Kashgar. It was well known through the Timurid era (Dankoff, 3), but only three manuscripts—referred to by the name of the city they were discovered in—survived to give us our modern knowledge of the text: • The Vienna manuscript, written in the 8th century.
TURK DIL KURUMU，(I. N. Dilman)，Kutadgu Bilig Tipkibasim，Viyana Nushasi，Alaeddin Kiral Basimevi，Istanbul，1942. • The Fergana manuscript.
TURK DIL KURUMU, Kutadgu Bilig Tipkibasim, Fergana Nushasi, Istanbul, Alaeddin Kiral Basimevi, 1943. • The Egypt manuscript.
TURK DIL KURUMU, Kutadgu Bilig Tipkibasim, Misir Nushasi, Istanbul, Alaeddin Kiral Basimevi, 1943. Language The
Kutadgu Bilig is written in a
Karluk language known as the "
Karakhanid language" but often simply referred to as "Middle Turkic". It's similar to the language of the
Orkhon inscriptions, in
Old Turkic, but in addition to the
Turkic base, has a large influx of
Persian vocabulary. Dankoff mentions a good number of
calques in the language of the
Kutadgu Bilig from Arabic and Persian. One of the features of the language of Karakhanid is that its 3rd person imperative always has /s/ instead of /z/ and around half of the Brahmi instances are not -zUn but -sUn. This is often rendered as
sU in Kutadgu Bilig: kutadsu atı ber
sü iki cihân May he be happy, may his name spread to the two worlds ——Kutadgu Bilig 88 bayat ok bolu ber
sü arka yölek May Allah become your pillar ——Kutadgu Bilig 90 tuta ber
sü teŋri bu taht birle baht May God bring you happiness too ——Kutadgu Bilig 92 The following is the excerpt from the Kutadgu Bilig; the first column is the text in the original (Karluk or Middle Turkic) language, but transliterated into Turkish (Latin) letters. Second column is the text's Turkish translation, while the third one is its English translation. :
Text in original Turkic language: :Bayat atı birle sözüg başladım, törütgen egidgen keçürgen idim :Üküş ögdi birle tümen miŋ senâ, uğan bir bayatka aŋar yok fenâ :Yağız yer yaşıl kök kün ay birle tün, törütti halâyık öd üdlek bu kün :Tiledi törütti bu bolmış kamuğ, bir ök bol tedi boldı kolmış kamuğ :Kamuğ barça muŋluğ törütülmişi, muŋı yok idi bir aŋar yok eşi :Ay erklig uğan meŋü muŋsuz bayat, yaramaz seniŋdin adınka bu at :Uluğluk saŋa ol bedüklük saŋa, seniŋdin adın yok saŋa tuş teŋe :Aya ber birikmez saŋa bir adın, kamuğ aşnuda sen sen öŋdün kedin :
Turkish translation: :Yaratan, yetiştiren ve göçüren rabbim olan Tanrının adı ile söze başladım. :Kâdir ve bir olan Tanrıya çok hamd ve binlerce sena olsun; Onun için fânilik yoktur. :Kara yer ile mavi göğü, Güneş ile Ayı, gece ile gündüzü, zaman ile zamaneyi ve mahlûkları O yarattı. :İstedi ve bütün bu varlıkları yarattı; bir kere: — "ol!"— dedi, bütün diledikleri oldu. :Bütün bu yaratılmış olanlar Ona muhtaçtır; muhtaç olmayan yalnız Tanrıdır; Onun eşi yoktur. :Ey kuvvetli, kâdir, ebedî ve müstağni olan Tanrı, Senden başkasına bu ad yakışmaz. :Ululuk ve büyüklük Sana mahsustur; Sana eş ve denk olan başka biri yoktur. :Ey bir olan Tanrı, bir başkası Sana şirk koşulamaz; başta her şeyden evvel ve sonda her şeyden sonra Sensin. :
English translation: : I started with the name of God, my Lord, who created, cultivated and moved. : Praise be to God, who is Powerful and one and only; there is no fraud for Him. : He created the dark earth and the blue sky, the Sun and the Moon, the night and the day, the time and all creatures. : He wanted and created all these beings; Once: - "Be!" - He said, everything He wanted came to fruition. : All these creatures need Him; the only one who does not need anything is God; He has no equal. : God, who is mighty, powerful, eternal and our master, this name does not suit anyone else than You. : Greatness belongs to You; There is no one who can match You or be equal to You. : O only God, no one can reach You; You are the first ahead of everything and last behind everything. Despite the prevalence of Islamic wisdom from
hadiths and the
Qurʻān, Persian calques and Arabic and Persian vocabulary, there are no specific references to Islamic texts, nor are Arabic and Persian words used for Islamic concepts. This strengthens the argument that Islam came into Central Asia through wandering
Sufis.
Style The author of the
Kutadgu Bilig used the Arabic
mutaqārib metre, consisting of couplets of two rhyming 11-syllable lines, often broken down further—the first six syllables forming the first group in each line and the last five syllables forming another group. This is the earliest known application of this metre to a Turkic language. The original metre is composed of preceding short and long vowels: Since Turkic language did not differentiate between short and long vowels, he transformed them to open and close syllables, for example: (The snow molten, the earth full of fragrance, taking off the winter clothes, the world is in new elegance. ——
Kutadgu Bilig·Volume 4·2)
Content The
Kutadgu Bilig is structured around the relations between four main characters, each representing an abstract principle (overtly stated by the author). Dankoff summarises the specifics nicely in the form of a chart (Dankoff, 3):
Influences Dankoff suggests that the author of the
Kutadgu Bilig was attempting to reconcile the Islamic and
Turkic wisdom traditions present among the Karakhanids, the former with urban roots and the latter with
nomadic roots. Certainly the recent move from a more nomadic way of life changed the requirements for a good leader; the
Kutadgu Bilig's agenda does appear to include instruction for how to be a good leader. • Islamic and pre-Islamic
strife poems, found in Arabic and Persian literature, •
Aytış, responsive song competition between two opponents found today among the
Kazakhs and the
Kyrgyz, •
Askiya, a similar style of song competition found today among the
Uzbeks, • Songs between boys and girls, such as Uzbek
lapar and Kazakh
bedil songs, • Wedding songs such as Uzbek
yor-yor and Kazakh
jar-jar Aside from the Islamic and Turkic influences, Dankoff posits some amount of
Greek and Buddhist influence on the text. == Selected Online Resources ==