“He Seized All Qağan's Sons and Grandsons and Presented Them to the Court”: on Genealogical Accounts of the Sino‑Turkic Epitaph of Karï čor tegin

Abstract

The article examines genealogical accounts in the bilingual epitaph of the Uyghur prince Karï čor tegin recently discovered in the city of Xi’an (former Chang’an), the People's Republic of China (PRC). The epitaph set up in the western capital city of the Tang Empire contains texts in Chinese hieroglyphs and Turkic runic script, which complement each other. Analysis of its accounts on kin relations of Karï čor tegin with some high rank Uyghur officials allows shedding light on internecine struggle in the supreme echelon of power in the Uyghur Empire (744—840) not recorded in the Tang sources.