Kul Tigin
Kul Tigin was a general and a prince of the Turkic Khaganate">Orkhon script">Turkic Khaganate.
Etymology
Necip Asım initially gave his name as köl, based on the etymology of Mahmud al-Kashgari, meaning "lake, sea". Radloff rendered this word as kül, and Thomsen, Malov and Tekin adopted this reading. Bazin and Hamilton rejected Radloff's reading and preferred the form köl. However, Chinese sources used the Chinese character 闕. Therefore, this word should be read as kül, not köl.Biography
Early years
Kul Tigin was the second son of Ilterish Qaghan, the Second Turkic Khaganate's founder, and the younger brother of Bilge Qaghan, the fourth qaghan. He was seven when his father died.During the reign of Qapaghan Qaghan, Kul Tigin and his older brother earned reputation for their military prowess. They defeated the Yenisei Kyrgyz, Türgesh, and Karluks, extending the kaganate territory to the Iron Gate south of Samarkand. They also subjugated all nine of the Toquz Oghuz tribes.
In 705, Turkic forces commanded by Ashina Mojilian entered Lingwu, defeating Shazha Chongyi. Kul Tigin commanded a unit in battle, in which he lost three horses.
In 711, he participated in Battle of Bolchu, which was disastrous for the Türgesh.
In 713 he participated in subjugation of Karluk tribes with his brother and uncle.
As supreme commander
Upon the death of Qapaghan Qaghan, his son Inel Qaghan attempted to illegally ascend to the throne, defying the traditional lateral succession, but Kül Tigin refused to recognize the takeover. He raised an army, attacked, and killed Inel, Ashina Duoxifu and his trusted followers. He placed Mojilian on the throne as Bilge Qaghan, and took the title of shad, an equivalent of commander-in-chief of the army, for himself.Death
He died suddenly on 27 February 731. A stele in his memory, which included inscriptions in both Turkic and Chinese, was erected at his memorial complex of Khoshoo Tsaidam, at the present site of the Orkhon inscriptions. Kül-Tegin is also mentioned in the inscription erected in memory of his older brother Bilge Qaghan at the neighbouring site of Khöshöö-Tsaidam-1.His burial ceremony took place in 1 November 731. He was posthumously renamed Inanču Apa Yarğan Tarqan by Bilge Qaghan.
The head of the Kül Tigin sculpture in the Khöshöö-Tsaidam enclave in carries a bird with wings spread like an eagle, personifying a raven. The head was found by the Czech archeologist Lumir Jisl during his 1957–1958 expedition to Mongolia.