Historical definition
In turk.: Kutlug; in Chinese sources: Ta-po //Tobo; in sogdian.: Maga Tatpar kagan 74. Ancestor of Tatpar kagan was Bumin kagan from “ačïna” generation (the official title is “El kagan”; ruled in 552-599). Bumin kagan's son Kara (“Aju”) the kagan ruled Turkic people after Bumin kagan. Then the younger brother of Kara kagan Mukan (“Turk Kulik El”) kagan ruled. Tatpar (Makan tegi) is younger brother of Mukan. Tatpar kagan sat on the throne in 571-582. During this period Turk people turned to a great empire on the “Silk way”.
It is known from Chinese sources, that Tatpar kagan supported the Buddhism.
Names
“Bugatin dursgal” 75 (in mong.: statue of deer), “The Bugut inscription”, “the Complex of sacred places of Bugiti”, “the Complex of Tatpar kagan monuments”, “the memorial complex of Tatpar kagan”
Location
Found in 10 km west from Bugit (Ih tamir) sum in Arkhangai aimag of Mongolia, at N47º 49´, E101º 16´.
A barrow, some rests of walls, stone balbals (the erected stone sequence), etc. are on the site. A stele and a stone turtle are put on the central square of Tsetserleg city’s local history museum (Arkhangai aimag). A fragment of the top part is kept in the museum warehouse.
Specification
The stone fences (bariq) in form of walls (40-50m), aryks (ditches) (width - 4-5 m, depth - 2m), the tent-dome with wooden racks, a stele, stone clusters (7.5х7.5m), balbals (528-276 stones last up to 300m) devoted to a kagan. The stele erected on the stone turtle support. The stone balbals are above 276.
The stele was put under a ceil with eight columns76.
There is an inscription of sogdian letters in old sogdian language on face (В-2, 19 lines) and on each side (on right side: В-1, 5 lines; on left side: В-3, 5 lines) of yellowish clay stele. Depth of letters is 0.1-0.3 mm. And there is an inscription of brahmi-old Sanskrit (language is unknown) on back side.
Size
Height of the stele is 198 cm, width is 70 cm, and thickness is 20 cm. Sizes of the stone turtle: 92.5 х 58.5 х 63 cm.
Researches
The complex was found by Mongolian archeologist T.Dorzhsuren in 1956. He wrote: «Diameter of the circular stone cluster was 8 m. The half of a stele was seen up on front of it. The half of this seen part of the stele was damaged. The rest was like the wolf’s image with open mouth and omitted head. There were old Uigur writings on front face and each side of the stele. And there was unknown inscription on back side. We were very excited by the found unknown inscription. This could be a small inscription of the state Kidan. But the final conclusion should be made after detailed studying of the inscription»77.
Well-known Mongolian archeologist N.Ser-Odzhav claims that the inscription is “the Uighur writing” in his scientific article named “Archeologic inscriptions of Mongolia” published in 1960 78. Academician B.Rintchen included it to the atlas of «Corpus Scriptorum Mongolorum» 79 in 1968. V.A.Livshits, S.G.Klyashtornyi defined, that the inscription was old Sogdian language80 in 1969. The members of Mongol-Soviet expedition V.E.Voitov, S.G.Klyashtornyi, G.Menes, T.Sanzhmyatav, S.Karzhaubai and other scientists conducted researches 81 in 1982-1985. The Mongol-Japanese joint expedition conducted researches 82 in 1996-1998. Japanese scientist Utaka Yoshida was a member of that expedition. His translation was new and distinguished from S.G.Klyashtornyi’s and V.A.Livshits's translations.
The picture of the stele and a short definition were included in the scientific directory of “Historical and cultural inscriptions of Mongolia” 83. And some photos of the stele were published in 200184. Kazak scientists conducted researches in 2001, 2002 and 2004 85.
