Ashina She'er is recorded in Tang-era Chinese dynastic histories as a member of the Ashina royal house. Born circa 609, at about age eleven he was granted the title 'To shad' together with an appanage of Tiele and Xueyantuo tribes in the northern Gobi. After local deposition he fled to the Western Turkic Khaganate, later seized Beshbaliq and Karakhoja and claimed the title of Dubu Khagan (circa 628–634), before suffering a counterattack by Xueyantuo and taking refuge in Gaochang. In 635 he submitted to the Tang with followers and thereafter entered Tang service, marrying Princess Hengyang in 636 and serving as a Tang guard-general and commander in multiple western campaigns.
Contemporary summaries and dynastic histories cited in the available sources provide no detailed physical description of Ashina She'er. The documentary record focuses on his offices, military commands, titles, marriages, campaigns, honors (such as being made Duke Bi), requests regarding burial with Emperor Taizong, and his eventual burial alongside Taizong in 655 rather than on personal appearance or attire.
The sources characterize Ashina She'er by political and military capacities rather than supernatural powers. He exercised authority as a Turkic prince and claimant khagan, commanded large cavalry forces (attacks against Zhenzhu Khan with reported armies of tens of thousands and a Tang-led campaign against Kucha in 648 with a reported 100,000 Tiele cavalry), led frontier conquests (Turfan, Kucha), and conducted harsh punitive reprisals—after the murder of his deputy Guo Xiaoke he ordered the execution of eleven thousand Kuchean inhabitants and destroyed multiple towns. Within the Tang polity he served as a general of the left guard, later right guard, received noble title Duke Bi, and his descendants continued in military roles.
Weaknesses
- conditionloss of tribal or political support
- conditiondefeat in intra-steppe power struggles (e.g., Xueyantuo counterattack)
Wards
None recorded.
Abzar İyesi
A Turkic iyesi (possessive/guardian spirit) of the courtyard, outbuildings, and farmstead grounds; ambivalent in nature, it protects its domain but may harm livestock and cause mischief, often appearing in animal forms.
Ak Ana
Ak Ana (also Ağ Ana, Ak Ene) is the primordial water-mother of Turkic and some Siberian (Khanty, Mansi) traditions: a holy maternal creator principle associated with the pre-earth expanse of water, fertility of the land, and the threshold to the spirit world.
Akshobhya
Akshobhya is a transcendent buddha of Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhism, one of the Five Wisdom (Dhyāni) Buddhas. He personifies 'mirror knowledge' (ādarśa-jñāna), is conventionally placed in the East, and is lord of the eastern Pure Land Abhirati; in esoteric texts he is associated with the eastern Vajra division and invoked in mantra/mandala ritual contexts.
Al (Alı)
No folkloric or ethnographic evidence for a supernatural entity named "Al" or "Alı" is present in the supplied source set. The available materials are modern biographical, political, linguistic, and religious texts that do not describe a Turkish spirit, demon, or other supernatural being by this name.
Alaz
Alaz is the Turkic god of fire associated with hearths, flame, and the Great Fire (Ulugh Od). He is described as a powerful fire-being who sends protector-spirits (İye) to household hearths and can cause destructive fires when angered; fire under his authority is also a purifying force.
Alp Er Tunga
Alp Er Tunga is a legendary heroic ruler of Turan in early Turkic tradition, remembered as an ideal warrior-king and ancestral figure invoked in medieval dynastic genealogies. He also appears in Iranian epic tradition under the cognate name Afrosiyab/Afrasiab, where the figure is framed differently.
Amitābha Buddha
Amitābha is a principal Mahayana Buddha who presides over the Western Pure Land (the Land of Ultimate Bliss). Devotional practices—most centrally recitation of his name and chanting of Pure Land sutras—are presented in sources as the means by which Amitābha welcomes practitioners for rebirth in his hindrance-free realm.
Amrak
Amrak is not attested in the provided sources as a supernatural being. The lexical string "Amrak" appears across unrelated secular contexts — as a historical regnal name (Amrak Khagan / Ashina Anluo), a Turkish place-name (Çamrak / amrak), titles in modern Arabic-language music, an institutional name/acronym (AMRAK Institute), and as a modern brand/typeface/project name. No folkloric, ritual, or mythological descriptions of an entity called "Amrak" are present in the cited material.
Anantacāritra
Anantacāritra (Sanskrit: अनन्तचारित्र) is a bodhisattva figure in the Lotus Sūtra, identified as one of the four great perfected bodhisattvas who attend Gautama Buddha. The name is glossed as "Boundless Practice" and, in Tiantai commentary, is read as representing eternity.
Ao Guang (Dragon King of the East Sea)
Ao Guang is the Dragon King (Dragon God) who presides over the East Sea (Dōng Hǎi) in Chinese mythology, literature, and folk-religion. He is presented in sources as a regional aquatic deity associated with water and weather and appears as a named supernatural figure in classical vernacular novels such as Journey to the West and Fengshen Yanyi.
Ao Kuang
Ao Kuang (also attested as Ao Guang) is the Dragon King of the East Sea in Chinese mythology and folk religion, one of a quartet of sea-dragon sovereigns associated in folklore with the cardinal seas. He appears in classical literature and later popular media as a ruler of maritime waters whose favor or displeasure is connected to tides, rain, floods and storms.
Apa Qaghan
Apa Qaghan (阿波可汗, Ābō Kèhán) is an historical Ashina prince and mid-6th century claimant to the Göktürk khaganate. Sources portray him as a political and military actor involved in the succession disputes after Taspar Qaghan's death, ruling contested steppe territories and engaging with both western Turkic allies and Sui China.
Community Record
- [1]Ashina She'er — Wikipedia. Wikipedia contributors, 'Ashina She'er', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.wiki
- [2]Wikidata entry for Ashina She'er. Wikidata: Q10564930other