Khan (title)

Election of a Khan in an Independent Kazakh Khanate

The news of the upcoming elections of the khan ( khan saylau ) was announced in advance by the jasauyls (see Esaul ) to all the clans of the Kazakhs. On this occasion, women and children wore their best outfits. Men came to Maslikhat fully armed. Without him, they did not have the right to vote and could be oppressed by younger and stronger warriors.

The meeting was opened by the prayer of the Khoja , then the floor was given to the respected aksakal . Candidates for khans spoke before the people. They made a speech about their merits, and the right to the Khan's title. Then their supporters made a speech. Everyone could speak to the people. The people expressed their will with exclamations of approval or rejection.

After the khan was determined, his supporters spoke, a laudatory speech was made, where, along with his merits, they spoke of his shortcomings.

The ritual of “raising the khan” ( Khan Kөter ) was scheduled for Friday . At the top of the hill they covered a white nightmare. Two respected people planted a khan on her, facing Mecca . Then, four of the most respected sultans , biys , bais and batyrs raised the khan three times over his head in a nightmare. Khan was declared officially elected. This was followed by the congratulations of the Khan and his repeated raising above his head by his comrades-in-arms, applicants and elders.

They removed their outer clothing from the khan and chopped it into small pieces, they were carried away with them as a relic . Instead, they put on a new white coat and a cap tailored especially for him. The cattle of the elected khan were shared among all those present at the election in order to share with those who could not attend. This custom was called “Khan's gifts” ( khan sarygyt , cf. the custom of “ potlach ” among the North American Indians). He symbolized that the khan did not have his property. His wealth is the wealth of his subjects.

If the khan did not live up to expectations and oppressed his subjects, by the decision of the maslikhat they deposed him. All property was taken from the khan. He had no right to resist, if the khan or sultan resisted and people were injured, he was obliged to pay a ransom. And if the Tolenguts of the Khan suffered, they did not pay the ransom. This custom was called "robbery of the khan" ( khan talau ). Khan talau was also applied to the bays. The first and only khan to which it was applied is Tahir Khan ^[3] .

Election of the Khan of the Kazakh Khanate as part of the Russian Empire

The election by the khan of the Younger Zhuz Shirgazy , the son of Aishuak Khan :

Upon receipt of the news of the approval of the election as Emperor by the emperor, the military governor of Orenburg, Prince Volkonsky , appointed a day for the solemn erection and made known to both the khan and the most notable sultans , elders and elders of the Kyrgyz Republic, so that by the 23rd of August ( 1812 ) they would migrate from people to the left bank of the Urals .

On August 22, one headquarters officer with several chief officers and translators was sent to the steppe to announce to the Khan who was approaching the border that there would be a celebration the next day.

On the 23rd the start of the ceremony was announced at 7 a.m. with three cannon shots from the fortress. At 8 o’clock one head officer with two chief officers and an escort arrived to tell Shirgazy that the preparations were finished and that he was asked to go to the place of celebration.

Meanwhile, a carriage and two carriages were sent to him. He himself got into the carriage with one sultan, with the staff officer and translator sent to him, the strollers were filled with the most respectable sultans and close ones. In front of the khan's carriage were two officers with four officers , and behind it there were 50 Cossacks . Other crews were followed by crowds of mounted Kyrgyz.

At the same time, when the khan left his wagon, the military governor left the fortress on this sign. Upon the arrival of both to the place of celebration, the soldiers standing in the gun saluted, beat them in drums and began to play music. The army with this was the following: 200 Orenburg Cossacks , one Teptyar regiment, 300 Bashkirs , a garrison regiment of infantry and an artillery company .

Immediately upon arrival, the military governor, ascending with the khan to the prepared dais, announced to the whole people gathered the Highest Will of the Sovereign for the approval of Shirgazy and ordered him to read the imperial letter in Russian and Tatar .

Then the khan knelt on the carpet and solemnly swore an oath of allegiance to Russia before Al-Qur'an , repeating the words of it after the first from the Mohammedan clergy who read it in the approved form. In conclusion, he kissed the Qur'an, lifted it above his head and, rising, put his seal on the jury sheet.

After that 21 shots were fired from artillery guns that were in service, and 11 shots from six guns from the fortresses; a quick fire was fired from the guns, the drums sounded and the music began to play again. Meanwhile, they put on a khan a fur coat , a rich hat, and a golden saber with the inscription of his name, sent for him from the courtyard by a sable , rich brocade . A major general wore a hat on him, a colonel in a fur coat, and a lieutenant colonel in a saber. Finally, the military governor handed him the imperial letter of dignity and, having kissed her, he lifted him above his head.

Everyone dispersed here, but at 4 o’clock in the afternoon the military governor again sent the khan a carriage and carriages to invite him and his retinue to dinner. At his entrance, music began to play, at dinner, after the imperial family, they drank for his health with cannon firing; after dinner, a ball was given.

The next day, the Kyrgyz were treated to the steppes without ceremony. On the third day, a farewell dinner was made in the steppe and many gifts were distributed ^[4] .

To elect the Khan Bey four of the most notable Crimean clans ( Argyn , Kipchak , Shirin and Baryn ) gathered in Kurultai , where they made a decision on the candidacy. The newly elected khan was raised on a white felt cloth, Muslim prayers were read over him, and then solemnly enthroned. Candidates for the khan's post could be nominated only from among the descendants of Genghis Khan , and more specifically from the Heraev clan. Among these persons, in turn, there was also a sequence: the two younger brothers of the ruling khan were considered the most preferred candidates, and only then the khan's sons . Since 1478 , after the entry of Crimea into a union with Turkey , the result of the choice made by the beys was approved by the Ottoman sultan . Gradually, the decisive word in the appointment of the Crimean ruler passed to the sultans, and the ceremony of choosing the khan by Bey by the XVIII century. turned into a formality that symbolically confirmed the Sultan’s decree ^[5] .

In the Siberian Khanate in the last years of its existence, the Tibugids disputed power (did not belong to the Genghisides and did not have the right to the title of Khan) and the Shibanids. The latter won, but not for long, and lost it under the pressure of the Russian regular army. For about 200 years, the Kuchumovichi, with the support of nomadic peoples, tried to become local rulers, but finally left the historical arena. Part of the Kuchum family was captured and until 1718 retained the title in the Russian Empire. The secret chancery of Peter I, the members of the Siberian dynasty were deprived of the right to be called prince-prince, they remained only princely dignity. The October Socialist Revolution of 1917 made this decree legally void. The living descendants of Khan Kuchum, living in Iran and Russia, have a formal right of election to the khanate. As with the Crimean Khanate, the Kurultai’s decision of four genera - Argyn, Kipchak, breadth and lord - is enough.

The Kasimov Khanate had a vassal dependence on Moscow. Khans there were appointed by the Tsar of Moscow from among the descendants of Genghis Khan. They had destinations from the Kazan, Crimean, Kazakh, Bolsheordinsk and Siberian dynasties.

• Azerbaijani khanates