Baghatur

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Baghatur (Mongolian: ᠪᠠᠭᠠᠲᠦᠷ Baghatur/Ba'atur (Khalkha Mongolian: Баатар), Turkish: Batur/Bahadır, Russian: Boghatir) is a historical Turco-Mongol honorific title,^[1] in origin a term for "hero" or "valiant warrior". The Papal envoy Plano Carpini compares the title with the equivalent of European Knighthood.^[2]

The term was first used by the steppe peoples to the north and west (Mongolia) of China as early as the 7th century as evidenced in Sui dynasty records.^[3][4] It is attested for the Köktürk khanate in the 8th century, and among the Bulgars of the First Bulgarian Empire in the 9th century.

The word was common among the Mongols and became especially widespread, as an honorific title, in Genghis Khan's Mongol Empire in the 13th century; the title persisted in its successor-states, and later came to be adopted also as a regnal title in the ilkhanate, in Timurid dynasties etc.

The word was also introduced in to many non-Turkic languages as a result of the Turco-Mongol conquests, and now exists in different forms such as the Bulgarian language "Багатур (Bagatur)", Russian Богатырь (Bogatyr), Polish Bohater (meaning "hero"), Persian and North Indian Bahadur, and Georgian Bagatur.

It is also preserved in the modern Turkic and Mongol languages as Turkish Batur/Bahadır, Tatar and Kazakh Батыр (Batyr), Uzbek Batyr and Mongolian Baatar (as in Ulaanbaatar) as well as in Hungarian Bátor. Also cognate is the Tibetan dpa' rtul or "warrior," as in th the dpa' rtul sum cu of the Tibetan Epic of Gesar.^{[citation needed]}

List of individuals with this title

The term Baghatur and its variants – Bahadur, Bagatur, or Baghadur, was adopted by the following historical individuals:

• Modu, the founding shanyu of the Xiongnu empire.
• Baghatur Khagan, Khagan of the Khazars, c. 760.
• Bagatur Bagaina Sevar, 9th century commander in Bulgaria
• Yesugei, the father of Genghis Khan, is called Yesugei Baghatur
• The Mongol general Subutai is referred to in the Secret History of the Mongols as baghatur.
• Ilkhan Abu Said took the title Ba'atur after his name for his victory over the rebellion of the Mongol Keraits in Iran.^[5]
• Bayan of the Merkid, the Grand councillor of the Yuan Dynasty, was awarded Baghatur for his merit during the Ogedeid-Yuan conflict.^[6]
• Two Mughal emperors were named Bahadur Shah: Bahadur Shah I and Bahadur Shah Zafar II.
• Banda Singh Bahadur, great Sikh warrior and general
• Stephen IX Báthory (1533–1586), Prince of Transylvania and King of Poland.
• Erdeni Batur, founder of the Zunghar Khanate.
• Abulghazi, ruler of the Khanate of Khiva, had the title of Bahadur Khan. He wrote the famous epic of the Mongols called the genealogical tree of the Mongols (or General history of Tatars).
• Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, the second Indian soldier to be so honored, was known as "Sam Bahadur."

See also

• Alıp
• Alpawıt
• Bahadır
• Mete
• Metehan

Notes

References

• Brook, Kevin Alan. The Jews of Khazaria. 2nd ed. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2006.
• Grousset, R. The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia. Rutgers Univ. Press, 1988.
• Saunders, J. The History of the Mongol Conquests. Univ. of Penn. Press, 2001.