Functioning of some religious concepts in the ancient Turkic written monuments

Abstract

The Ancient and medieval Turkic monuments affecting language, history, religion, mentality,and other key issues of the Turkic peoples have great importance in the Turkic studies. The samples of the ancient Turkic heritage engraved on the stone represents a whole treasure that has not yet been fully explored. In addition to the historical and archaeological value of these stones, there is no doubt that they can provide information about the spiritual culture of the Turkic peoples of that time, including their way of life, customs,and religious beliefs. The articleconsidersseveralreligious concepts that existed in the ancient Turkic society. Theyare an integral part of its religious beliefs. Compared to the medieval written monuments, ancient Turkic inscriptions are based on the "eternal stones" of the Turkic kagans. The main purpose of writing on stones is to pass on from generation to generation and preserve this message addressed to the Turkic peoples. However, the cracks that appeared on the sites led researchers to different conclusions, and also contributed to the formation of several versions of the translations. When studying the ancient Turkic monuments inKazakh Turkology, first of all, the article considers the small and large inscriptions in honor of Kultegin, as well as the inscription in honor of Tonyukuk. The significance of the religion isdescribed in the first lines of the two inscriptions of Kultegin, where the kagan begins with the name of the Creator “Tengri like and Tengri born” and “When the blue sky isabove”(in the meaning Tengri). Itshould be noted that the word “Tengri”, which is also found in the medieval Turkic sources, goes back precisely to the ancient Turkic writings. The study examines concepts such as Tengri, Umai, eternity, death, and the nature of humanity.