Taspar Qaghan

Taspar Qaghan (Sogdian: t’asp’r γ’γ’n) or Tatpar Qaghan (Sogdian: t’tp’r x’γ’n, Rouran: Tadpar qaɣan; Old Turkic: 𐱃𐱃𐰯𐰺𐰴𐰍𐰣 Tatpar qaγan, 佗缽可汗/佗钵可汗, Pinyin: tuóbō Kèhán, Wade-Giles: t'o-po k'o-han), personal name Ashina Açu (Sogdian: "cw), was the third son of Bumin Qaghan, with princess Wei Changle (長樂公主), and the fourth khagan of the First Turkic Khaganate (572–581).

Name One passage of the Sogdian transliteration text on the Bugut stele has been read (in the standard scholarly edition) and can be tentatively rendered as: (Sogdian Transliteration: βγy wr-kwp-’r cr-’’cw mγ’’ t’tp’r x’γ’n, Transcription: Baġa Urkupär (Urkäpär) Črāču (Čor Aču) Maġa Tatpar Qaɣan) (mγ’’) is read as Maġa / Magha (an epithet/title attested in Sogdian contexts) ("t’tp’r x’γ’n) corresponds to Tatpar Qaɣan (the regnal name and the title "qaγan")

This reading treats the Sogdian text as a chain of epithets and titles (epithet + rank + personal name + epithet + regnal name + qaγan), rather than a single continuous birth-name. The reconstruction is tentative: the Sogdian orthography and the epigraphic damage permit several alternate readings, and editors note possible variant spellings and uncertainties in individual graphemes. He appointed his nephews Ashina Shetu as Erzhu khagan in the east and Börü khagan in the west as lesser khagans. by the Qi monk Huilin, for whom he built a pagoda. Taspar's death marked the beginning of a long decline and subjugation of the Göktürks to China. During his reign there was a flood of Sogdian Manichean refugees from Persia and Buddhist refugees from Qi and Zhou, both the result of pogroms. These Sogdians devised the Göktürk Runes to write the Turkic language, for translations of the sutras to Turkic, notably the Nirvana Sutra in 575.