| Agony
for the Loss of Lands
The Hun Turks that had established the greatest and the most
powerful empire in the period and dominated for centuries had certainly a high
civilisation, culture and arts peculiar to them and verbal and written literatures.
Numerous documents that are the indicators of the traditions of the Hun arty are exhibited
in various museums of the world and particularly in the Ermitage (Ermitaj) Museum in
Leningrad. Actually, the most important works pertaining to Huns were found in Pazirik
Valley that was located within the environs of Balikgöl in the Eastern Altay region
within the borders of today's Russia.
Pazirik: The holy valley
where the tombs of Hun celebrities that had lived in the centuries IV and III BC were
found. This valley has also provided some examples of Hun arts that survived until
nowadays.
The sepulchres that were
found in the Pazirik valley (tombs pertaining to the Hun celebrities) pertain to the
centuries IV and III BC and they are full of examples and models that reflect the Hun art
and the documents that indicate the traditions of Hun people. The number of the sepulchres
that were found in the other regions apart from this valley is above 40. Unfortunately,
most of these sepulchres were plundered. Actually, the ancient Turks believed that the
life would go on in the next world. Therefore, the dead person would be buried together
with his/her clothes, the necessary materials, weapons, saddle horse, horse harnesses, and
women concubines in order to get use of them. The corpses would be mummified.
Since the sepulchres were
under ice, there were some corpses that were found without any decomposition or decay. The
wooden and leather materials are abundant. Nearly all of the metallic materials are made
of bronze. Additionally, some golden materials were also found.
The sepulchres that were
found in the course of the excavations that were carried out intermittently were in the
form of mounds or tumulus that were heaped with stones. The main tomb was located within a
big room under this tumulus.
It has been understood that the Huns had a literary language peculiar to them that can be
considered as the beginning point of the Gok-Turk alphabet. However, the long texts that
were written with this alphabet have not been found yet. The verbal literature (epics)
were narrated with the Turkish alphabets and language in the following periods.
It has been stated within
the Chinese records that the Hun Emperor Mete had written some letters to the Chinese
ruler in the century II BC. Similarly, there is a lament (threnody) or song quatrain that
was translated from Turkish into Chinese language in the year of 119 BC within the Chinese
resources. This quatrain can be considered as the most ancient example of the Turkish
literature following the couplet that was found in the tomb of the Golden Dressed Man. The
Hun Turks would cry and sing this lament in case that they lost a piece of land in a war
that they fought against Chinese people.
We enclose the quatrain of
that lament that was translated to Chinese language since it indicated the tragic sorrow
that the Hun Turks felt pursuant to any defeat by Chinese people. It is beyond doubt that
this quatrain was only the four lines of a long lament that the Hun minstrels would sing
in accompaniment with their one-stringed guitars. The Turks would sign this lament
pursuant to wars and in the yoğ (mourning) ceremonies and cry with it. The quatrain of
this lament that was translated into Chinese and then Turkish language that declared the
agony for the loss of lands is as follows:
Yen-çi-şan dağını yetirdik, (We lost Yen-çi-şan
Mountain)
Kadınlarımızın güzelliğini aldılar, (They took way the beauty of our women)
Silan-şan yaylalarını yitirdik (We lost Silan-şan plateaux)
Hayvanlarımızın otlağını aldılar. (They took away the pastures of our animals)
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