Tengrism

Historical Tengrism

The first time the name Tengri was recorded in Chinese chronicles was in the 4th century BC as the sky god of the Xiongnu, using the Chinese form 撐犁 (chēnglí, Old Chinese ).

Tengrism formed from the various Turkic and Mongolic folk religions, which had a diverse number of deities, spirits, and gods. Turkic folk religion was based on animism and was similar to various other religious traditions of Siberia, Central Asia, and Northeast Asia. Ancestor worship played an important part in Tengrism.

The cult of Heaven-Tengri is fixed by the Orkhon, or Old Turkic script used by the Göktürks ("celestial Turks") and other early khanates during the 8th to 10th centuries.

Tengrism most probably existed in medieval states in Eurasia, such as the Göktürk Khaganate, Western Turkic Khaganate, Old Great Bulgaria, Danube Bulgaria, Volga Bulgaria, and Eastern Tourkia (Khazaria) Turkic beliefs contain the sacral book Irk Bitig from the Uyghur Khaganate.

Tengrism also played a large role in the religion of the Mongol Empire as the primary state spirituality. Genghis Khan and several generations of his followers were Tengrian believers and "shaman-kings" until his fifth-generation descendant, Özbeg Khan, turned to Islam in the 14th century. Old Tengrist prayers have come to us from the Secret History of the Mongols (13th century). The priests-prophets (temujin) received them, according to their faith, from the great deity/spirit Munkh Tenger.

Tengrism was probably similar to the folk traditions of the Tungusic peoples, such as the Manchu folk religion. Similarities with Korean shamanism and Wuism as well as Japanese Shinto are also evident.

According to Hungarian archaeological research, the religion of the Magyars (Hungarians) until the end of the 10th century (before Christianity) was a form of Tengrism and shamanism.

Tengrists view their existence as sustained by the eternal blue sky (Tengri), the fertile mother-earth spirit (Eje), and a ruler regarded as the chosen one by the holy spirit of the sky. Heaven, earth, spirits of nature, and ancestors provide for every need and protect all humans. By living an upright, respectful life, a human will keep his world in balance and perfect his personal Wind Horse, or spirit. The Huns of the northern Caucasus reportedly believed in two gods: Tangri Han (or Tengri Khan), considered identical to the Persian Esfandiyār and for whom horses were sacrificed, and Kuar (whose victims are struck by lightning).

Traditional Tengrism was more embraced by the nomadic Turks than by those residing in the lower mountains or forests. This belief influenced Turkic and Mongol religious history since ancient times until the 14th century, when the Golden Horde converted to Islam. From then on, Tengrism was mostly submerged by other religious ideas. Traditional Tengrism persists among the Mongols and in some Turkic and Mongolic-influenced regions of Russia (Sakha, Buryatia, and Tuva), in parallel with other religions.

Orkhon inscriptions

According to the Orkhon inscriptions, Tengri played a big role in choices of the kaghan and in guiding his actions. Many of these were performed because "Heaven so ordained" (Old Turkic: Teŋіri yarïlqaduq üčün).

Arghun's letters

The Mongol ruler Arghun expressed the association of Tengri with imperial legitimacy and military success. The majesty (suu) of the khan is a divine stamp granted by Tengri to a chosen individual, through which Tengri controls the world order (the presence of Tengri in the khan). In this letter, "Tengri" or "Mongke Tengri" ("Eternal Heaven") is at the top of the sentence. In the middle of the magnified section, the phrase Tengri-yin Kuchin ("power of Tengri") forms a pause before being followed by the phrase Khagan-u Suu ("majesty of the khan"):

Under the Power of the Eternal Tengri. Under the Majesty of the Khan (Kublai Khan). Arghun Our word. To the Ired Farans (King of France). Last year you sent your ambassadors led by Mar Bar Sawma telling Us: "if the soldiers of the Il-Khan ride in the direction of Misir (Egypt) we ourselves will ride from here and join you", which words We have approved and said (in reply) "praying to Tengri (Heaven) We will ride on the last month of winter on the year of the tiger and descend on Dimisq (Damascus) on the 15th of the first month of spring." Now, if, being true to your words, you send your soldiers at the appointed time and, worshipping Tengri, we conquer those citizens (of Damascus together), We will give you Orislim (Jerusalem). How can it be appropriate if you were to start amassing your soldiers later than the appointed time and appointment? What would be the use of regretting afterwards? Also, if, adding any additional messages, you let your ambassadors fly (to Us) on wings, sending Us luxuries, falcons, whatever precious articles and beasts there are from the land of the Franks, the Power of Tengri (Tengri-yin Kuchin) and the Majesty of the Khan (Khagan-u Suu) only knows how We will treat you favorably. With these words We have sent Muskeril (Buscarello) the Khorchi. Our writing was written while We were at Khondlon on the sixth khuuchid (6th day of the old moon) of the first month of summer on the year of the cow.

Arghun expressed Tengrism's non-dogmatic side. The name Mongke Tengri ("eternal Tengri") is at the top of the sentence in this letter to Pope Nicholas IV, in accordance with Mongolian Tengrist writing rules. The words "Tngri" (Tengri) and "zrlg" (zarlig, decree/order) are still written with vowel-less archaism:

... Your saying "May [the Ilkhan] receive silam (baptism)" is legitimate. We say: "We the descendants of Genghis Khan, keeping our own proper Mongol identity, whether some receive silam or some don't, that is only for Eternal Tengri (Heaven) to know (decide)." People who have received silam and who, like you, have a truly honest heart and are pure, do not act against the religion and orders of the Eternal Tengri and of Misiqa (Messiah or Christ). Regarding the other peoples, those who, forgetting the Eternal Tengri and disobeying him, are lying and stealing, are there not many of them? Now, you say that we have not received silam, you are offended and harbor thoughts of discontent. [But] if one prays to Eternal Tengri and carries righteous thoughts, it is as much as if he had received silam. We have written our letter in the year of the tiger, the fifth of the new moon of the first summer month (May 14th, 1290), when we were in Urumi.

Tengrism in the Secret History of the Mongols

Tengri is mentioned many times in The Secret History of the Mongols, written in 1240. The book starts by listing the ancestors of Genghis Khan, starting from Borte Chino (Blue Wolf), born with "destiny from Tengri". Bodonchar Munkhag, the 9th-generation ancestor of Genghis Khan, is called a "son of Tengri". Genghis Khan is said to have encountered Tengri in the mountains at the age of 12, and the narrative subsequently mentions Tengri or alludes to Genghis Khan invoking the deity on numerous occasions.

Contemporary Tengrism

A revival of Tengrism has played a role in the search for native spiritual roots and a Pan-Turkish ideology since the 1990s, especially in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, some autonomous republics of the Russian Federation (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Yakutia, and others), as well as among the Crimean Karaites and Crimean Tatars.

After the 1908 Young Turk Revolution, and especially after the proclamation of the Turkish republic in 1923, a nationalist ideology of Turanism and Kemalism contributed to the revival of Tengrism. Islamic censorship was abolished, which permitted objective study of the pre-Islamic religion of the Turks. A number of figures, while they did not officially abandon Islam, adopted Turkic names, such as Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Atatürk – "father of Turks") and the historian of religion and ideologist of the Kemalist regime Ziya Gökalp (Gökalp – "sky hero").

The Turkish writer and historian Nihal Atsız was Tengrist and an ideologue of Turanism. The followers of Tengrism in the paramilitary organisation Grey Wolves, mainly inspired by his work, replace the Arabic designation of the god "Allah" with the Turkish "Tanri" in the oath and pronounce: "Tanrı Türkü Korusun" (Tengri, bless the Türks!).

Prominent modern ideologues and theorists of Tengrism include Murad Adji (1944–2018), Sabetkazy Akatai (1938–2003), Aron Atabek, Nurmagambet Ayupov (1955–2010), Rafael Bezertinov, Shagdaryn Bira, Firdus Devbash, Yosif Dmitriev (Trer) (1947–2018), Mongush Kenin-Lopsan, Auezkhan Kodar (1958–2016), Choiun Omuraliyev, Dastan Sarygulov, and Olzhas Suleimenov.

The poet, literary critic, and Turkologist Olzhas Suleimenov, eulogist of the Kazakh national identity, in his book AZ-and-IA, which was banned after publication in 1975 in Soviet Kazakhstan, presented Tengrism ("Tengrianstvo") as one of the most ancient religions in the world.

Tengrism's revival of an ethnic religion has reached a larger audience in intellectual circles. Former presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan have called Tengrism the "natural" religion of the Turkic peoples. During his 2002 visit to Khakassia in Russia, Akayev said that seeing the Yenisei Inscriptions was 'like a pilgrimage to a holy place for the Kyrgyz people', drawing a comparison with the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca.

Between 1990 and 1993, the Yakut philologist Lazar Afanasyev-Teris founded the Tengrist organisation Kut-Siur, which later became Aiyy Faith. The headquarters of the International Fund of Tengri Research is also located in Yakutsk. In Tatarstan, a Tengrist periodical, Beznen-Yul, appeared in 1997.

Several Kyrgyz politicians have advocated for Tengrism as a way to fill a perceived ideological void. Dastan Sarygulov, secretary of state and former chair of the Kyrgyz state gold-mining company, in 2005 established Tengir Ordo—a civic group promoting the values and traditions of Tengrism.

The Soviet and Ukrainian artist and public figure David Rebi (1922–2019) was a proponent of Tengrist revival among Crimean Karaites and Krymchaks.

A related movement known as Burkhanism arose in 1904 in the Altai Republic, whose proponents include the painter Grigory Gurkin and the poet Paslei Samyk) Among the Chuvash people of Russia exists the revivalist religion known as Vattisen Yaly, which is considered a form of Tengrism.

Some Bulgarians identify as descendants of the Turkic Bulgars and practice a modern version of Tengrism. They are part of the Tangra Warriors Movement (Bulgarian: Движение "Воини на Тангра").

In 2003 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Tengir Ordo held the first international scientific symposium on Tengrism. In 2005, the French Institute for Central Asia Studies organized a conference on Tengrism in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Since 2007, biennial scientific conferences on Tengrism have been held in Russia, Mongolia, and other countries.

Beliefs

Tengrism is an animistic, all-encompassing system of belief that includes medicine, religion, a reverence of nature, and ancestor worship. Tengrism as a monotheistic religion developed only at the imperial level in aristocratic circles.

Gods

Tengrism is centered on the worship of Tengri gods and in particular, the sky deity Gök Tengri (Heaven, God of Heaven). It is known as Tangara to the Yakut. While Gök Tengri always remains abstract, never depicted in anthropomorphic or zoomorphic forms, other deities are often personified.

Itugen, an earth or fertility deity, often accompanies Tengri.

The total number of deities believed to exist within Tengrism varies from population to population. Deities may be related to natural aspects of the world, such as earth, water, fire, the Sun, the Moon, stars, air, clouds, wind, storms, thunder and lightning, and rain and rainbows. Animals were thought to be totemistic symbols for specific gods, like sheep being associated with fire, cows with water, horses with wind, and camels with earth.

Other deities include:

• Umay ("placenta, afterbirth") is the goddess of children and babies' souls. She is the daughter of Tengri.
• Kayra is the primordial god of highest sky, upper air, space, atmosphere, light, and life, and is a son of Gök Tengri.
• Ülgen is the son of Kayra and Umay and is the god of goodness.
• Mergen is the son of Kayra and the brother of Ülgen. He represents mind and intelligence and sits on the seventh level of the sky.
• Erlik is the god of death and the underworld, known as Tamag.
• Ay Dede is the moon god.
• Natigai is the god of pregnancy, children, livestock, wives, and health.

The highest group in the pantheon consisted of 99 tngri (55 of them benevolent or "white" and 44 terrifying or "black"); 77 "earth-spirits"; and others. The tngri were called upon only by leaders and great shamans and were common to all the clans. After these, three groups of ancestral spirits dominated: The "Lord-Spirits" were the souls of clan leaders to whom any member of a clan could appeal for physical or spiritual help. The "Protector-Spirits" included the souls of great shamans. The "Guardian-Spirits" were made up of the souls of smaller shamans and were associated with a specific locality (including mountains, rivers, etc.) in the clan's territory. Nonhuman beings (İye), neither necessarily personified nor deified, are revered as sacred essences of things. These beings include natural phenomena such as sacred trees or mountains.

Three-world cosmology

The Tengrist cosmology proposes a division between the upper worlds (heaven), the Earth, and the world of darkness (underworld). These worlds are inhabited by different beings, often spirits or deities. A shaman (kam) can communicate with these spirits using mental powers. The worlds are not entirely separated, and they have constant influence on the Earth.

In Turkic mythology within Siberian Central Asian religious systems, there is the "celestial world", the ground to which "earth-water" (yer-su) belongs, and the "underworld", ruled by spirits beneath the earth. They are connected through the world tree in the center of the worlds.

The celestial and subterranean worlds are divided into seven layers, although there are variations (the underworld sometimes has nine layers and the celestial world 17). Shamans are able to find entries to travel into these realms. In the multiples of these realms, there are beings, living just like humans on Earth. They also have their own respected souls and shamans and nature spirits. Sometimes, these beings visit the Earth but are invisible to people. They manifest themselves only in a strange sizzling fire or a bark to the shaman.

Heavenly world

The heavens are inhabited by righteous souls, the Creator, and protector deities. The celestial world has many similarities with the Earth, but it is undefiled by humans. It contains a pristine, untouched nature, and the natives have never deviated from the traditions of their ancestors. This realm is much brighter than the Earth and is under the auspices of Ulgen, a son of Tengri. Shamans can also visit this world.

On some days, the doors of this heavenly world are opened, and the light shines through the clouds. During this moment, the prayers of the shamans are most influential. A shaman performs his imaginary journey, which takes him to the heavens, by riding a black bird, a deer, or a horse, or by changing into the shape of these animals. Otherwise, he may scale the world tree or cross a rainbow.

Subterranean world

The underworld is the abode of wicked souls, devils, and evil deities. There are many similarities between the Earth and the underworld, and its inhabitants resemble humans, though they have only two souls instead of three. They lack the "Ami soul", which produces body temperature and allows breathing. Therefore, they are pale, and their blood is dark. The sun and the moon of the underworld give far less light than the sun and the moon of the Earth. There are also forests, rivers, and settlements underground.

Erlik Khan (Mongolian: Erleg Khan), one of the sons of Tengri, is the ruler of the underworld. He controls the souls there, some of them waiting to be reborn. Extremely evil souls are believed to be extinguished forever here. If a sick human is not dead yet, a shaman can move to the underworld to negotiate with Erlik to bring the person back to life. If he fails, the person dies.

Souls

It is believed that people and animals have many souls. Generally, each person is considered to have three souls, but the names, characteristics, and numbers of the souls may differ among tribes: For example, Samoyeds, a Uralic tribe living in the north of Siberia, believe that women have four and men five. Since animals also have souls, humans must respect them.

In addition to these souls, Jean-Paul Roux draws attention to the "Özkonuk" spirit mentioned in the writings from the Buddhist periods of the Uyghurs.

Julie Stewart, who devoted her life to doing research in Mongolia, described the belief in souls in one of her articles:

• Amin: Provides breathing and body temperature. It is the soul that invigorates.
• Sünesün: Outside of the body, this soul moves through water. It is the soul that reincarnates. After a human died, this soul moves to the world tree, before entering a newborn child.
• Sülde: The soul that provides personality. If the other souls leave the body, the person loses consciousness, but if this soul leaves, the human dies. This soul resides in nature after death and is not reborn.

Anthropology

Humans are the product of (father) Heaven and (mother) Earth. Records of Old Turkic inscriptions tell about the beginning of humans as follows:

"When the blue Heaven above and the brown Earth beneath arose, between them twain Mankind arose."

By that, Tengrism favors an ecocentric theological system over an anthropocentric one. Tengrism sanctifies human relationship with nature (which might be personified or not) and their relationship with the sky. Contrary to the Abrahamic account on anthropogeny, Tengrism does not place humans above nature, rather considering mankind as part of nature, without any special rank assigned by God.

Creation story

There is no unified creation myth within Tengrist beliefs. However, it is possible to reconstruct beliefs by narratives handed down orally. According to the "Fire Prayer", it is implied that Heaven and Earth were once one but separated later, giving birth to fire (Od). After this separation, life on Earth came into being: rain fell from the heavens, and from the Earth sprouted various lifeforms.

Tengrism and other religions

Tengrism differed from transendentalist religions, to whichTengrism later assimilated to, by an immanentist framework. While transcendentalist religions commit to universal laws, moral truths, and final salvation, immanentist theological approaches are concerned with pragmatic and empirical concerns, such as healing the sick, conversing with supernatural forces or victory in battle. Tengrists welcomed religious and ritual innovations without identfying them as anything new, but considering them as part of continuity with their belief-system. For example, the Buddhists, introduced the cosmic ruler and protector of the dharma Cakravartin, who was then identified with Ghenghiz Khan.

Tengrist Khans frequently arranged intellectual discussions and religious debates to educate the ruler, whereby given the representatives of the religion in question a chance to convert the Khan and ensure political support. The outcome of such religious contests were viewed as guided by heavenly support. As such, Tengrism remained flexible, willing to adapt to new informations and integrate new ideas, if appeared to be beneficient. The contenders often relied on rational arguments, while, following the immanentist theology of Tengrism, the Khan favored empirical or spiritual evidence for a claim.

One such example, is found in the theological discussion between Hülegü and a Sufi Shaykh. When the Shaykh laid out the rational arguments in favor of his theological position and scriptural evidence, Hülgeü rejected them on grounds of lack of practical application. Instead, Hülegü demanded empirical proof achieved through supernatural intervention on behalf of the Sufi, which was accomplished when the dervish walked through fire unharmed.

Tengrism and Buddhism

Tengrism was assimilated into Mongolian Buddhism, while surviving un-assimilated only in far-northern Mongolia. Tengrist formulas and ceremonies were subsumed into the state religion. The 17th-century Mongolian chronicle Altan Tobchi contains the following prayer at the very end:

Aya gaihamshig huvilgaan bogdos haadiin yazguuriig odii todii tuuhnees
Ayag ha tehimlig shashnaa dara Luvsandanzan guush beer
Ahui ih uls zalgan uztugei hemeen hicheen bichuulsen tuugeer
Amitan buhen tsagaan buyanaar ezlen, amin nasan urt bolood
Amgalan jargalantan boltugai
Erht Tengerees isht haadiin sahiusan beer saitar tetgen ivgeej
Evedchin, zud, totgor, tsag busiin uhel ustan amarlij
Ed tavaar delgeren, ur taria arvidan, nasan buyan nemj
Enh esen amar jargalan, osge hur met olzii hutag orshtugai

Translation:

Aya! (This is) the origin of the marvelous divine Khans from miscellaneous histories,
Collected by the faith-professing monk Luvsandanzan guush [Buddhist title],
Written with effort so that the great nation may read for generations.
By it, may all beings rule through white virtue, living long lives
And become possessors of peace and happiness
With the spirits of the Khans descended from mighty Tengri blessing thoroughly!
May sickness, zud, obstacles, and untimely death be removed and pacified!
May merchandise spread, crops flourish, and longevity increase!
May peaceful health and happiness prevail and auspicious luck come like rain!

The figure of the Mongolian god of war (Daichin Tengri) was iconographically depicted in Buddhist-influenced form and carried into battle by certain armies. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Kalmyk prince Serebzhab Tyumen (1774–1858) and 500 Kalmyks from his second cavalry regiment, as well as 500 Kalmyks of the first regiment of Prince Jamba-Taishi Tundutov, carried the yellow banner of Daichin Tengri through the battles of Borodino, Warsaw, Leipzig, Fère-Champenoise (1814) as well as the capture of Paris. In early 1921, the Buddhist baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg (1886–1921) was reportedly recognized as Daichin Tengri by the Bogd Khan of Mongolia. James Palmer, in his book The Bloody White Baron, quotes Ferdynand Ossendowski who claims that Ungern-Sternberg's imminent death was foretold on three separate occasions:

As the bones blackened, she began to examine them and then suddenly her face took on an expression of fear and pain. She nervously tore off the kerchief which bound her head and, contracted with convulsions, began snapping out short sharp phrases. 'I see...I see the God of War...His life runs out...horribly...After it a shadow...black like the night...Shadow...One hundred thirty steps remain...Beyond darkness...Nothing...I see nothing...the God of War has disappeared.' Baron Ungern dropped his head. The woman fell over on her back with her arms stretched out. She had fainted, but it seemed to me that I noticed once a bright pupil of one of her eyes showing from under the closed lashes. Two Buriats carried the lifeless form, after which a long silence reigned in the yurta of the Buriat Prince. Baron Ungern finally got up and began to walk around the brazier, whispering to himself.

Tengrism and Islam

Conversion

The most likely route of conversion to Islam for the Turks has been via Sufism, identifying Dervishes as something akin to shamans. In the writings of Ahmad Yasawi, both Tengrist elements as well as Islamic themes can be found. For example, Muhammad features as the prototype of humanity's way to unite with God, and the Turks simultaneously refer to God as both kok tangir (Gök Tengri) or Allah. Turkic and Mongolic peoples in Central Asia largely converted to Islam during the fourteenth century, with a strong focus on inwardly and personal experience. Thus, many scholars have argued for a syncretism between Orthodox Islam, Sufism, and pre-Islamic Turkic religion. The sociologist Rakhat Achylova studied how aspects of Tengrism were adopted into a Kyrgyz form of Islam.

More recently, the syncretism theory has been challenged. Some scholars have argued that an orthodox Islam simply did not exist during the Medieval period but has instead been a product of Modernization, thus, there was no strong distinction between Islam and pre-Islamic Turkic beliefs when the first Turkic empires converted. First contact between shamanistic Turks and Islam took place during the Battle of Talas against the Chinese Tang dynasty. Many shamanistic beliefs were considered genuinely Islamic by many average Muslims and are still prevalent today. Turkic Tengrism further influenced parts of Sufism and folk Islam, especially Bektashism, whose affiliation to Islam became disputed in the late Ottoman period.

The Medieval Syriac historian Michael the Syrian (1166–1199) describes the Turk conversion from Tengrism to Islam in one of his surviving text fragments. He mentions three reasons for Turkic conversion:

First: as we said above, the Turks have always proclaimed one God, already in their land of origin, even though they considered the invisible firmament as God. [...] They think in fact that the sky is the unique God. So when they heard the Arabs speak about one God, they adhered to their religion. The second way: the Turks who came first and went to the land of Margiana [the region of Merv in today's Turkmenistan] and settled there arrived at the time of the Persians. After a while Muhammad appeared and was accepted by the Arabs, and then by the Persians too. [...] So the Turks who had migrated to the land of Margiana joined Islam, just like the Persian people and the race of the Kurds. And when the new Turks who arrived afterwards met their people and those who spoke their language, they also turned to the customs they found the others had taken up, following their lead. The third way of the Turks' union with the Tayyaye [Arabs] was the following: since the Arabs used to take the Turks with them as mercenaries in the war against the Greeks, and they would enter these prosperous regions and feed on the booty, they would listen to the Arabs and accept the word of Muhammad who said that by giving up the worship of idols and other created things [...]."

Jonathan Z. Brack noted that Muslim debaters and mystics convinced the Khans of their divine appointment as predicted within Islamic tradition as a mujaddid, one who restores the religion. However, since reviver still ranks beneath the prophets, the converting Khans lost the freedom of religious ambiguity to an interpretative framework set by religious scripture. For example, Rashid-ad-Din's concept of Öljeitü's divine knowledge, places him above the common people, an Islamic legitimacy and even sacred aura, but attached his kingship to monotheistic concepts of a transcendental religion, which led "ultimately to the rejection and displacement of the Chinggisid's affinity with Tenggeri".

Contemporary views

Tengrism is based on personal relationship with gods and spirits that cannot be set in writing. Thus, it can have no prophets, holy scriptures, place of worship, clergy, dogma, rites, or prayers. In contrast, orthodox Islam is based on a written corpus. Doctrines and religious law derive from the Quran and are explained by hadith. In this regard, the two belief systems are fundamentally distinct.

Others, on the other hand, assert that Tengri is indeed synonymous with Allah and that Turkic ancestors did not leave their former belief behind but simply accepted "Allah" as a new expression for "Tengri". Shoqan Walikhanov wrote that only the names but not the thoughts became Islamic. Thus, Gök Tengri was called Allah, and Tengrist demons became div, peri, or jinn, but the idea behind them remained shamanic.

Tengrism and Christianity

Hulegu Khan sent a letter in Latin to King Louis IX of France on 10 April 1262, from his capital of Maragheh, in Iran. Kept in the Vienna National Library as MS 339, it is both an invitation for joint operations against the Mamluks as well as an imperious command to submit. The letter provides key insights into the Mongols' understanding of Tengrism's relationship to Christianity as well as furnishing one of the first Latin transcriptions of Tengri. Only a few sentences from the lengthy letter are shown below (those with relevance to Tengrism):

Deus...locutus est auo nostro Chingischan per Temptemgri (nomen quod interpretatur propheta dei)
eiusdem cognatum futuros euentus miraculose temporum reuelans eidem per dictumi Teptemgri nunciando
significans: "In excelsis ego sum deus omnipotens solus et te super gentes et regna constitui dominatorem
Nos igitur per uirtutem Mengutengri (id est dei uiui) Huyleu cham, dux milicie Mungalorum
illustri regi Francorum Ludwico uniuersis et singulis tocius regni Francie Barachmar (id est salutem)
Nunciando predictam reuelationem notificamus ut nobis mandatum dei uiui exegentibus eo indubitancius
acquiescere uelitis quo potestatem nostram ab ipso Mengutengri collatam diligencius consideretis

papam Francorum regem uel imperatorem fuisse credidisse, sed postea
diligentiori inquisitione habita intelleximus ipsum esse uirum sanctum deum iugiter orantem
pro nationibus uniuersis ipsius Misicatengrin (id est filii dei uiui)

Mangutengri (id est in uiuo deo) eternaliter sine fine ualete
Datum in ciuitate Maraga anno decimo, Nochoe, die decima mensis Aprilis

Translation:

God...spoke to our grandfather Genghis Khan by Teb Tengri (meaning Prophet of God)
His relative, miraculously revealing the future through the same Teb Tengri
Saying: "On high, I alone am God Almighty and made you lord over peoples and kingdoms"
We, by the power of Mengutengri (living God), Hulegu Khan, leader of the Mongol army
To Louis, illustrious King of the Franks and to all France, Barachmar (greetings)
Revealing the above revelation we notify you to follow the command of God
Considering well that we received our power from the same Mengutengri

We thought the Pope was a King of France or an emperor, but later,
After diligent enquiry, understood he is a holy man who prays to God incessantly
On behalf of all the nations of Misicatengrin (that is, the son of the living God)

Mangutengri (that is, the living God) eternally without end farewell
Given in the city of Maragha the tenth year, Nochoe (dog year), 10 April

The letter largely propounds the usual Mongol ideology and understanding of Tengrism, with mentions of the supreme shaman Kokochu Teb Tengri. All meanings of Tengri including the sky, the most high God, and "a god", are implied in the letter. Jesus Christ is called Misicatengrin or Messiah-Tengri in the letter. The Misica is from Syriac mshiha (Messiah, Christ) as opposed to Arabic masih. Another Syriac word in the letter is barachmar (greetings). This points to the Nestorian heritage within the Mongol Empire, which used Syriac as its liturgical language. The Mongolian letter of Arghun Khan to Pope Nicholas IV (1290) also uses the word Misica for Christ. William of Rubruck reported that Ariq Böke, brother of Hulegu Khan, used the word Messiah near Karakorum in 1254 (Then they began to blaspheme against Christ, but Arabuccha stopped them saying: "You must not speak so, for we know that the Messiah is God"). There are elements of syncretism between Tengrism and Nestorian Christianity, with overlapping notions of monotheism and a traditional view of Christ as Misicatengrin probably dating back to the Keraite conversion in 1007. In Hulegu's letter, Tengrism takes the overarching, non-dogmatic role and contains Nestorianism as a compatible subset, in line with the religious pluralism practiced by the Mongols. Hulegu himself was not strictly a Christian, although his wife, his general Kitbuqa, and his mother were Nestorians. He was a Tengrist whose Nestorian interests were of the Mongol, syncretic type. His successor, Abaqa Khan, would take part in the Ninth Crusade with the future King Edward of England in 1271 and also storm the Krak des Chevaliers in February 1281, with the Hospitallers of Margat.

Due to the claim that there is only one eternal Tengri in heaven, many Christians believed Tengri refers to the Christian God. However, it is clear from a letter by Güyük Khan, sent to the Pope, that the Mongols would not convert to Christianity, because they would not obey the word of Möngke Tengri (Eternal God).

Contemporary era

Mongolia

In Mongolia, Tengrism continues to be practised by a small percentage of the population.

Modern revival

Tengrism, as a form of Central Asian shamanism, has experienced a revival following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. In Kyrgyzstan, Tengrism was suggested as a pan-Turkic national ideology following the 2005 presidential elections by an ideological committee chaired by state secretary Dastan Sarygulov. In 2014, an attempt was made by Tengrist followers to get recognition of the religion by collecting 5,000 signatures and submitting them to the government, though the motion was ultimately not recognized.

Murat Auezov, former head of the National Public Library of Kazakhstan, regards Tengrism as a manifestation of a worldview in which humankind is identified with nature, in contrast to anthropocentric religions.

According to Kazakh writer Ulyana Fatyanova, Tengrism does not have a specific set of laws—Tengri's laws are the laws of the universe (which might include physics, karma, spirits, gods, and so on).

In 2022, the lawyer Burhanettin Mumcuoğlu became the first person in Turkey to officially change his religion from Islam to Tengrism.

Demographics

In 2024, there were over one million people following Tengrism in Kazakhstan. However, it has not been recognized as one of the official religions there.

In Kyrgyzstan, there were about 50,000 people following Tengrism in 2014. It has also not been recognized as a religion there.