Karabalgasun Yazıtı

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Karabalgasun inscription is a 9th century trilingual inscription located in the Karabalgasun, the historical capital of the first Uyghur Khaganate, in Mongolia. The stele bearing the inscription is believed to be erected during the reign of the eighth Uighur ruler, Baoyi Qaghan (r. 808-21 CE). Written in Old Uyghur, Sogdian, and Chinese, the inscription marks the qaghan’s military accomplishments and those of his predecessors, as well as their adoption and support of the Manichean religion. Encyclopædia Iranica describes it as "one of the most important sources for the history of the Uighur Steppe Empire (744-840 CE) and the study of Manicheism in China and Central Asia", citing many of the historical events recorded in the inscription are only known from it.^[1]

The fragments of the inscription were first discovered by the Russian explorer Nikolai Yadrintsev in 1889.^[1]