The political and ethnic history of Central Asia in the early and advanced Middle Ages has been thoroughly studied. On the contrary, the pre-Islamic history of the religious and state ideology of the Turkic peoples is clearly insufficiently studied. There are such state formations of pre-Islamic Central Asia as the Ancient Turkic Khaganates, the Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate, the Uyghur and Oguz khaganates, etc. It is clear that power in them could not exist without ideological motivation.

N. D. Nurtazina, a researcher of Islam in Kazakhstan, believes that there is no serious reason to consider Tengrianism as monotheism. It was not an "ethical religion" and therefore " ... could not become the source of civilization "[Nurtazina, 2000, p. 31]. This is explained by the semantic diversity of the concept of "tengri", as well as the fact that the Turks worshipped the deities Umai, Erklig and others, and also knew totemic cults [Nurtazina, 2000, pp. 31-32].

Researchers of the ancient Turks have a different opinion. Thus, I. V. Stebleva refers Tengri to a monotheistic deity who had the functions of creation, patronage, and distribution of destinies [Stebleva, 1972, p.213]. S. Ak-Atay agrees with this point of view. He convincingly argues this thesis, referring to medieval Arab-Persian narrative materials [Ak-Atay, 1998, p. 99]. It is widely known that the Islamic Sufi missionaries of the XI-XII centuries identified Allah with Tengri. The material collected by us also gives the right to attribute Tengri and Tengrianism in the Turkic culture to religious monotheistic systems.

Written sources quite definitely record the Tengri cult as one of the earliest religious systems in the Arid zone, which underwent a process of adaptation to state ideology (this was recorded in the Xiongnu state). With the emergence of the ancient Turkic state, the cult underwent a number of changes. This led to a chain of changes in the religious and ideological system among the carriers of the ancient Turkic culture, as well as among all those who found themselves in the zone of their political and cultural influence. It should be noted that the cultural and ideological expansion of the ancient Turks in relation to their nomadic and settled neighbors lasted for a long period - two centuries. It not only affected the similar mentality of the Turkic - and Mongolian-speaking neighbors, but also went far beyond the Steppe (ancient Rus).

"Ancient Turks" is a largely conventional concept, which does not fully reflect the ethnic situation in the Altai region both in the VI century and later. The Tujue Turks formed into the original unified ethnic substratum in the fifth century. This can be traced in the Chinese dynastic chronicles describing events related to the migration of the ancestors of the Turks to the "Otyuken land".

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The state institutions generated by the descendants of the Ashina clan were superimposed on the tribal environment of the nomads of Altai, Sayan and Western Mongolia, related in language and economy, and became the framework for the formation of a mono-ethnic group (based on 10 genera) and a religious synthesized system based on the Tengri cult common to all Altai ethnic groups and the organic interweaving of the original tele ethnic cults Ugro-Samoyeds, Turkyuts, and other components of the future khaganate.

In the sixth century, when forming the state monoideology, the Ashinaids had a wide opportunity to choose various religious systems. Among the nobility of nomadic pastoralists, the ideas of Confucianism, Buddhism (in its Tibetan version), Manichaeism, Nestorianism and Zoroastrianism were widespread and popular. However, the Ashinaids chose and preserved what was closer and more understandable to the majority of their subjects, simple nomads - Tengrianism, but in a new state-ideological version created by them. "In the ancient Turkic society, the veneration of Tengri," according to S. Ak-Atay, " reaches its highest development. Tengri takes the form of a state ideology, becomes not only the name of a heavenly deity and being, but also a point of reference for temporal and spatial continents " [Ak-Atai, 1998, p. 98].

The main result was the adaptation of previous religious and ideological views to the new social conditions. The Turkic religious system that has come down to us in fragments bears the stamp of unification, the impression of painstaking work to give validity, logic, structural integrity and harmony to all the components of religion. According to A. M. Sagalaev, the mythological design of the worldview is " marked only for the ancient Turkic culture...", but "with the fall of the Turkic statehood, the loss of writing, an irreversible process of rearchaization of the worldview begins" [Sagalaev, 1991, p.17].

Tengrianism withstood direct competition with the experiment of introducing Buddhism. Taspar Kagan (573 - 581) tried to introduce Buddhism as the main state religious and ideological system in the kaganate. The Khagan, under the influence of the monk Hui Lin from the Northern Li kingdom, himself adopted a new religion, built a temple, and at his request, the Nirvana Sutra was translated into the Turkic ("Khakan" dialect of Turkic) language in 574 [Vasiliev, 1983, p. 11], and, apparently, under his pressure, a large number of Turkyuts adopted it. Buddhism by forming a religious community (Sukhbatar, 1978, p. 69). The fourth face of the Bugut stele, written in Sanskrit in the Brahmi script, is a visible monument of this period [Klyashtorny and Livshits, 1978, p. 51]. According to Yu. A. Zuev, the Orkhon and other Turks experienced a strong influence of Manichaeism, which was officially perceived in the khaganate of medieval Kyrgyz and Uighurs [Zuev, 2002, p. 267]. O. Karaev, based on Arab-Persian sources, provides information about the presence of special prayer houses among the Kyrgyz-Manichaeans, about the worship of heavenly bodies on the veneration of lamps, etc. [Karaev, 1973, p. 95].

After the death of the Kagan in 581, the influence of Buddhists greatly weakened, and soon it was completely eliminated. Only a third of a century later, Bilge Kagan tried to revive Buddhism and spread Taoism among the eastern Turkyuts, but soon, on the advice of the nobility, he was forced to abandon these ideas [Bichurin, 1950, p.274]. These events clearly reflect, on the one hand, the great cultural influence of the city-states of the Tarim River basin on the Turks, and on the other hand, the lack of alternatives to Tengrianism in this period, which was the ideological framework of the new state.

Until the fifth century and later, among ethnic groups that remained outside the direct cultural influence of the ancient Turks, Tengrianism continued to be variations of many tribal and tribal cults with a set of various accompanying or, conversely, acquired rituals. Thus, ethnographic and narrative sources convey to us the words:

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"tipr", "ter" - among the Khakass, "tangar" - among the Yakuts, but the most diverse variants are found among the Mongolian-speaking ethnic groups: "Monkhe-tengri", "Ehteu-tengri", "Degeri-tengri", "Milian-tengri", "Atacha-tengri", "Bagatur-tengri", "Hisa-tengri", "Darkhan-Gujir-tengri", "Sulde-tengri" [Myths of the peoples of the world, 1997, p. 99].

The first systematization of the Tengri cult was carried out in the state of the Huns.

The leader of the Huns, Shangyu, was declared "Chenli Hutu" - the son of Tengri (Bichurin, 1950, p. 76). In the original version of diplomatic letters to China, the turnover was maintained: "The Great Xiongnu Shanyu set up by heaven (Tengri - T. Zh.)" (Bichurin, 1950, p.54). In the future, the title of leader becomes more complicated: "born of heaven (Tengri. - T. Zh.) and earth (Ier-Su. - Tj.), set by the sun and moon, the Xiongnu great Shanyu " (Bichurin, 1950, p. 58). The titulature seemed to emphasize the status of the Shanyu and put them on an equal footing with the Han emperors. Here we are talking about Tengri in the singular, the rest of the state cults are arranged according to the hierarchy: the cults of the earth (Ier-Su), the sun and the moon. Shanyu bows to the sun in the morning when leaving the camp, and to the moon in the evening [Bichurin, 1950, p. 50].

"On the first moon of the new year, a small number of elders come to the temple of the Shanyu Horde" (Bichurin, 1950, pp. 49-50). In this case, we are talking about our own cult of the Shanyu family. It is not surprising that few people come to this festival: most of the pastoralists during this period are busy lambing and preparing for the spring-summer migration. Apparently, it was then that the elders held meetings on the distribution of summer nomadic routes. Shanyu gave his authority the force of law to this event and approved the final version of the decision.

A festival dedicated to the Tengri cult was held in late summer and early autumn: "On the 5th moon, everyone gathers in Lun-chen, where they sacrifice to their ancestors, heaven, earth, and spirits" (Bichurin, 1950, pp. 49-50). Elsewhere, speaking of the southern Huns, the chronicler says more specifically: "It was the custom of the Huns to gather three times a year in Lunts (Dragon Temple), where on the 1st, 5th, and 9th moons, on the day called "xu", they sacrificed to the Spirit of heaven (Tengri. - T. Zh.)"; in addition to religious rites, "at these meetings, the heads of generations discussed state affairs, amused by the horse race and the running of camels" [Bichurin, 1950, pp. 119-120].

The choice in favor of Tengrianism was promoted by the tradition of honoring Tengri by the majority of Altai tribes as one of the main deities. Altai Tengrianism did not have a written systematic dogma. Nevertheless, this religious system was not primitive. French researcher Rene Grousset describes the Turkic universe as follows: "The world is created from layers - "floors". The seventeen upper floors form the sky, the realm of light; the seven or nine inner floors create the earthly world, the realm of darkness; between them is the area of the earth where man lives. Heaven and earth are subject to the supreme deity, who lives at the very top and who is called by the divine name-Tengri. Heaven is a place where beneficent souls live, just as the underworld is hell for evil ones (Grousset, 1948, p.131-132). Only Tengri grants khagans wisdom and bravery. "However, Tengri meant more to the Turks than the last two qualities," writes M. Macao. Tengri gave wisdom to Tonyukuk and suggested to him who should be placed on the throne, Tengri gave the throne to Kagan Kutlug, etc. [Masao, 1981, p. 41-51].

Although Tengrianism belonged to primitive religions, even before the appearance of state institutions, it carried many features of developed religions: monotheism, the departure to the periphery of totemic and fetish foundations characteristic of patriarchal Tengrianism, a significant unification of the functions of characters in the divine pantheon, their reduction, etc. Historians have repeatedly noted the religious tolerance of the Turks, their religious flexibility and openness to the adoption of new ideological systems.

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It has already been mentioned that among the medieval Turkic-Mongolian ethnic groups, due to their extensive contacts, ancient traditional cults got along with Manichaeism, Nestorian Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and Buddhism.

However, the nomads were not Christians or Buddhists, because they continued to live in an atmosphere of polytheism. Behind every aspect of their existence, behind every natural phenomenon and process, there were various supernatural forces personified in Tengri, Erklig, Umai, Yer-Su, ancestral spirits, mountains, etc. The gods of Christians, Buddhists, and Zoroastrians also lined up in the same row. Each of them, if this did not fundamentally contradict the traditional worldview, could turn out to be stronger than the old gods in different life circumstances. The plasticity of Tengrianism lay in the fact that the Turks, discovering new worlds, new relationships and new religious systems, did not reject them, organically absorbed and processed them, turning them into a part of their culture. The Turkyuts were the first to do this.

The Tutseue Turks in the sixth century, having found themselves on the periphery of Eastern civilization (in the Altai) and at a distance from the centers of ideological struggle (in the Middle and Middle East), were not involved in global religious conflicts. Therefore, they did not follow the path of rejecting the old gods, but strengthened the functions of the most suitable divine characters in relation to their political association. According to Yu. A. Zuev and G. Agelov, the cult of Tengri became a defining one in the pantheon, taking the form of Bud-tengri among the Turkyuts, combining the masculine and feminine principles, symbolically and ideologically reflected in the presence of the Kagan and Katun on the throne. "The long stage of co - rule of the Kagan and Katun clans," the researchers believe, " was embodied in the idea of contrasting duality, when, despite the struggle for power between the Kagan and Katun clans, only their interaction leads to the creation of the state. The establishment of Bud-tengri in the land of the Shir Turks is the legal formalization of this union" [Zuev and Agelov, 1998, p. 106].

It is difficult to say whether they adopted the experience of the Huns or came to Tengri - the patron saint of power - independently, but the new supreme deity was harmoniously associated with a new political and social phenomenon - the phratric division of power.

Ethnographic evidence suggests that the deities Tengri and Umai were consorts in ancient Turkic times, and, apparently, this was supposed to symbolize the dual essence of the highest state power in Turkism [Klyashtorny, 1981, p. 133].

The ancient Turkic Khagans, like the Xiongnu Shanyu, called themselves the sons of Heaven-Tengri and those born from this deity: "The Heaven-born great Tukyue, the wisest and holiest of the celestial Empire, the Son of Heaven, or Gylu-she Mohe Shybolo Khan..." [Bichurin, 1950, p.237].

Since the sixth century, the religion of the ancient Turks has been a holistic religious picture of life systematized by the Ashinaids, subordinated to the idea of justifying state power.

The main, dominant divine multifunctional force becomes the one Tengri, personified and dissolved in the blue infinite sky. Tengri is everywhere, but its main location is Mount Khan-Tengri, which leads an independent mountain cult [Tokarev, 1990, p. 604]. Among the Altaians, the Khan-Tengri mountain completed the system of ancestral peaks, that is, it is another visible reflection of the power of the Ashinaids, who carry a part of Tengri and are his sons, placed over the clans of the Turk El [Potapov, 1969, p. 190].

Bud-Tengri did not completely define the life of the Turks. Other deities also took part in the fate of man. For example, at birth - the goddess Umai [Tokarev, 1990, p. 20], in the course of life - the spirits of ancestors [Toleubaev, 1991, p.18], after death - the god Erklig.

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But Bud-Tengri predetermined the main features of a person's life, belonging to a class, family, death in battle, success in hunting and acquiring wealth, etc.

Bud-Tengri did not have a sacred form. Form is a limitation both in external boundaries and in content, so Tengri does not have clear canonical contours, but other deities of the Turkic pantheon, having specific forms and functions, became subordinate to Tengri.

The change in the worldview of the ancient Turks was reflected in the funeral rite. In the middle of the sixth century. among the Turkyuts, there is a transition from cremation to the laying of corpses and the cult of the horse, the construction of special shrines for kagans with fences, stelae and sculptures, and the widespread introduction of burial mounds that were adopted in external forms from Teles, Sogdians and other neighbors [Gavrilova, 1965, p. 21; Grach, 1968, p. 211-212].

At present, most of the large and medium-sized burial mounds of the Turks of the V-VIII centuries have been identified.The small number of burials, compared to the theoretical number of ancient Turks, and the practical absence of women's burials lead to the idea that not all Turks were buried according to the rite of corpse laying.

Most of the burials, judging by the set of accompanying equipment, belong to soldiers. Apparently, this honor was awarded to the most brave, strong-willed, noble soldiers.

The similarity of Indo-Iranian and Turkic mounds can be traced in the external appearance of mounds and differs in semantics. Arias were prepared for future reincarnation and placed in the center of the model of the universe with an artificial (earthen or stone) vault of heaven, with symbols: the forces of life (ochre), purity (chalk), sadness (sulfur), the head oriented clearly in one direction of the world (often west or east). Depending on the position and nobility of the deceased, the model is different, and therefore the size of the embankment could be from 1 to 18 m high.

The mounds of the ancient Turks are usually small and almost identical. The orientation of those buried in the same burial ground to the cardinal directions varies in three out of four directions (Gavrilova, 1965, p. 28). Armed men lie in the graves, and the mound is a model of a yurt and at the same time a model of the universe. The dwelling is the opposite of the earthly chaos and symbolizes order and organization.

The orientation of the deceased's head to the cardinal directions is related to the position of the person in the family. Each member of the family had their own place in the yurt, depending on their gender, age and marital status. The door of the yurt was opened by the Turks to the east, this circumstance allows us to reconstruct the marital status of the buried. The vast majority of them are married men-heads of families.

Since the sixth century, the cult of Ashin - the supreme political power, the kagan-has become an innovative part of the Tengri cult. The cult of El-Khan Boumouni becomes an integral part of it. This cult is associated with the ancient Turkic statehood. Researchers correlate it with the Ashinaids and note that among the Turkyuts, religion existed in two forms - royal and folk [Potapov, 1991, p. 271].

The cult of the Ashina family has a morphological connection with the everyday cult of ancestors, characteristic of any ancient society. However, with the change in the role and place of the Ashina clan, this cult is hypertrophied, turning into a "royal" cult with appropriate ceremonies and rituals. The main contact points of this cult were the worship of the personality of the kagan, the cave of ancestors, and the worship of the wolf (Klyashtorny, 2003, p. 249).

The Kagan ruled because, according to P. B. Golden, he was sent to earth by Tengri, having planted a divine spark in him [Golden, 1980, p. 36]. In his opinion, the kagan's person was sacred. His blood could not be spilled, so if the kagan was killed, it was not allowed.

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otherwise, by strangulation. He was guarded by special bodyguards - Bori. The Kagan was considered a bulwark of law and justice [Golden, 1980, p. 37]. The kagan was associated with luck-kut, personified in the form of sunlight. A khagan suspected of losing kut could have been killed [Golden, 1980, p. 43]. M. Macao believes that the original meaning of the word "kut" is not "royal fate", "happiness", "good luck", these meanings represent a secondary meaning, but "charisma", which is used by Tengri it empowers people, especially rulers. Having charisma means that a person is endowed with a special spiritual, divine power, power granted by Heaven [Macao, 1981, p. 43]. He also notes that the khagans had to possess wisdom (bilge) and courage (alp). In the absence of these qualities, the Kagan and his advisers could have perished [Macao, 1981, pp. 47-48, 75]. In the popular consciousness, kut was associated with love for the ancestral homeland-Otyuken, with sacrifices to the ancestral mountains, with the choice of landscape zones similar to Otyuken as their pastures on new lands. The Arabic author al-Jahiz notes that the Turks "have a great desire for the motherland and a great love (for it)" (Mandelstam, 1956, p.295). Only in their native land can a Turk be accompanied by kut-luck, and a kagan - by kut-charisma. It is significant that the kagans were chosen on the land of Otyuken. The Turks believed that the one who lost contact with Otyuken, luck and happiness will turn away, and he will inevitably die.

In the ritual form, this was expressed in the form of offering abundant and rich sacrifices once a year in the sacred Ashina cave, on the Otyuken land, not excluding human sacrifices. The significance of Otyuken is clearly expressed in the Tonyukuk stele, where it is written in his name: "It was I, the Wise Tonyukuk, who led the Turkic Khagan and the Turkic people to the land of Otyuken. Upon hearing the news that the Turks had returned to the land of Otyuken, all the peoples living in the south, west, north, and east submitted" (Sertkya, 1989, p. 290).

The new cult was also embodied in visible, monumental forms: construction of funerary complexes borrowed from China in the form of fences made of stone slabs, statues depicting the deceased , with the installation of balbals symbolizing slain enemies, and stelae describing the deeds of the deceased [Sher, 1963, p.10]. Emerging political power urgently required new forms of self-expression.

Tombstone epitaphs and sculptures of kagans became an integral part of the emerging cult and ideology of the supreme power. Writing emerged as a new type of religious activity in its political aspect and became widespread during the state period. Responding to the new requirements of public life, literacy is becoming the norm for most ancient Turks, without losing its sacred character. The Kagans used borrowings from a foreign culture for additional argumentation and justification of their power over society [Vasiliev, 1983, p. 11].

At the funeral of the kagan, all families had to personally witness their grief, this also extended to foreign guests and ambassadors. Communities that were far away and could not personally pay homage to the late kagan sent an "important dignitary" whose task was to perform a sacrifice (Malov, 1951, p. 43). Thus, the society in the face of eternity had to prove its loyalty to the highest authority.

The cult-forming myth of the Ashinaids was the well-known story of a mutilated boy and a she-wolf and their progeny-the ancestors of Ashin, as well as the story of the smelting of ore iron, the formation of a passage in the rock and the cave of ancestors.

The central part of the myth includes the deeds of such historical figures as Asyan-shada, Tu-e, Bumynya and Istemi, as well as Kara-Eske, Mugan-kagan and others (Klyashtorny and Livshits, 1978, pp. 56-57). The last part was formed, apparently, after the death of the first generation of Ashinaids, at the beginning of the seventh century.

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Cults are dynamically developing religious and ideological structures that are mutually permeating and enriching each other, and have a fairly strict link to the social organization of society. With their help, the original dogma is supplemented and changed, and the entire religious system adapts to the changed external and internal political situation in the khaganates.

In the story of the wolf, there is a physical connection between the earthly and the heavenly, a person with a part of Tengri - the wolf. The whole unusual nature of the event is a confirmation of the will and desire of the supreme deity [Akhinzhanov, 1995, p. 279]. The young man Ashina carries the aura and a part of Tengri, so he becomes the ancestor of the supreme clan and dynasty of half-people-half-deities, dedicated to the essence of power, who have the right to power and have united ten clans into a people for this purpose - the Turks. The banner of the Turks - the golden head of a wolf on a blue canvas-reflects this ideological postulate in the language of symbols. Kinship relations between the main deity Bud-Tengri and the Kagan clan are the main justification for the God-chosen Ashin and his right to rule over the Turkyuts and all the peoples they conquered. As we know from the text of the Bugut stele, the kagan, as a high priest and mediator, turned to the gods for advice on important state issues. Then the suggested decision was agreed upon with the council of nobles, and then the kagan again turned to the spirit of the Bumba, and only after that the final decision was made.

Even during the formation of statehood, the Turks faced the need to justify their claims to power. They managed to change the traditional religious picture of medieval Altai ethnic groups in their favor. Taking into account the conservatism and inertia of societies, we come to the conclusion that the future Turkic society at the turn of the V-VI centuries may have experienced a strong social and political breakdown, a crisis. This made the society flexible and receptive to external and internal changes, and strengthened the adaptive properties of their culture. On this basis, a state-religious ideology was formed, which is closely related to the innovative aspects of the new system.

The cult of Tengri and the complementary cult of Ashin were a natural consequence of the process of state formation among the Turkyuts. The strengthening of monotheistic ideas met the needs of society for centralized power and the concentration of material resources to get out of a deep social crisis. The systematization and unification of the old tribal cults, interspersed with some new subjects, pursued the goal of raising a separate tribal, perhaps even family, cult to the level of a national one. The cult of the ancestors of a particular family turns into a cult of supreme, central power, reflecting a new understanding of the very nature of power. The unification of various tribal cults made it possible, through byakhs priests, not only to sacralize and justify the power of the Ashin khagans, but also to unify the system of government in the state. It is not surprising that the kagan was also the main white shaman-Bakhsa. They receive new forms and related cults: the horse, fire, mountains, as well as the institute of Tengri - bakhsa servants.

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