Story 38. Konggrat and Korras tribes who fled to Balhae after Wang Geon's court revolution and then fled to Balhae and then fled to the northwest again after Balhae's fall

 

Story 38. Konggrat and Korras tribes who fled to Balhae after Wang Geon's court revolution and then fled to Balhae, and then fled to the northwest again after Balhae's fall

Kaljiday Khan of the Konggrat tribe, the grandson of "Agorae (Churluk Mergen)", the eldest son of Geumkhan (Altun Khan, 金汗), or "Golden Jar", entered Gung Ye's Later(Hu) Goguryeo-Majin-Taebon together with "Barga Baatar Taisang Noyon", the grandson of Bohwalri (Tusbuda), the third son of Altun Khan, and participated in establishing the regime, but then fled somewhere after Wang Geon's coup.

In this process, we saw that the “Kaljiday Khan” mentioned in the <Garden of Fortune>, the “Golden Book” of the Kongrat Khans, was the same person as the “Kajidae (阿志泰, Ajitae)” of the “History of Goryeo.”

That “Kajidae (Ajitae)” was punished by Wang Geon’s indictment. Four years later, in 918, Wang Geon took over Gung Ye’s Later(hu) Goguryeo=Majin=Taebong through a palace revolution. However, a year later, in 919, “Kajidae Khan” and his fellow countrymen, the “Cheongju people (North Hamgyong Province Bukcheong people)”, rebelled against Wang Geon. This rebellion was soon suppressed and the ringleaders were executed, but Kaljiday Khan disappeared somewhere around the time of the incident.

However, <The Garden of Fortune> describes the situation of the Kongrat tribe around the same time as the era of the Kaljitai, which was said to be 914-919, as follows:

“People with detailed knowledge of history say that during the time of Dobun Bayan, the grandfather of Alan Goa, the residence and living place of the Kongrat tribe belonging to the Moghol il was located on the banks of the Qula River.

At that time, the king of all the Kongrats was Kaljiday Khan, who was of the “Balghali” clan.” Where was the “Qula River” where the party of Kaljiday Khan (Kajtai 阿志泰) took refuge?

Regarding the “Qula River,” Yuri Bregel, who translated and annotated the <Garden of Fortune>, misunderstood it as the “Tula” River of today’s Mongolia.

That area is a river in Dunhua County, Jilin Province, where the early capital of Balhae is located today, the Korean Autonomous Region. The old name for the river was “Kolo-ha(Kolo-river)” or “Goryeo-ha(Goryeo-river),” which was exactly the same as “Qula River,” and that was the “Olu River.” This was also written as Olal River (兀剌江) since the Qing Dynasty. It was also called “Khura River.”

The old sound of this “Oruha (奧婁河)” was “Koru (qauh-lu)ha”, <The Garden of  Fortune> wrote it as “Kula River” according to its old sound.

We  learn about this river through the <Encyclopedia of Korean Culture> about “Dongmo-san(mt) (東牟山)” in the same region.

“Dongmo-san(mt) (東牟山)

The capital of the Balhae era in Dunhua County, Jilin Province, Manchuria. It also meant Dongmosanseong (東牟山城 Dongmo Mountain Fortress), and it was the capital of Balhae for 56 years after Dae Jo-yeong (大祚榮) founded Balhae in 698 until the third king, King Mun, moved the capital to Sanggyeong Yongcheonbu (上京龍泉府). Dongmo-san(mt) is located about 300 li(75km) north of Baekdusan, and is surrounded by rugged mountain ranges on all sides. 4 km east of Dongmo-san(mt), the upper reaches of the Mudan River flow from south to north, and along the north side of the mountain is the Oru River, which is now the Daeseok River, which flows from west to east. These rivers were the northern defense line of the capital.

Dongmo-san(mt) was originally the base of Suksin, Holhanju, but after it became Balhae territory, it became Junggyeong Hyeondeokbu. Hyundeok-bu(county) included six districts to: Noju (蘆洲), Hyeonju (縣主), Cheolju (鐵州,  Ansi Fortress in Goguryeo), Yeongju (榮州), and Heungju (興州), and had jurisdiction over 26 districts including Baekam (白巖).

Dongmo-san(mt) was called Oraseong (烏喇城 Ora Fortress) during the Qing Dynasty, and was also related to the title of the Qing representative when the Baekdu Mountain boundary monument was erected.

The Dongmo-san(mt) area was not only a defensive mountain fortress, but also had the Yukjeongsan (六頂山) tumuli group where Balhae royalty and commoners were buried in the Yeongseung (永勝) ruins across the Mokdan River.”

The “Qula River” where the “Balgali (Malgal) clan” Kaljidai Khan lived in the <Garden of Fortune> was this “Koruha=Oruha(奧婁河)=Oralha(兀剌河)=Oralha(烏剌河)”, which is the river where the original “Goryeoha” was written in different Chinese characters. The old pronunciation of this “Oru-ha(奧婁-河)” was “Qauh-lu(qauh-lu)-ha(河)”.

However, considering the characteristics of the Goguryeo-Malgal language, which pronounces double vowels in Chinese characters as single vowels, “Qau-lu” is “Koru.”

This “Koru” is exactly the same as “Kura”, or “Qula” in Turkic-Persian. During the Goguryeo period, this area was called “Kera (桂樓, 계루)”,or “Keul-ra (大野)”. Judging from the water there, “Koru-ha (奧婁河 Koru River)”, otherwise, “Koru-ha (桂樓-河) = Koro-ha” and “Koro-mul (鴨綠-水, Amnok-su)”, or “Goryeo-ha”.

Also, the fact that “Koru-ha”, or “Oru-ha (奧婁河)” is the current “Dae-seok-ha (大石河)” proves that this river was the “Kula (Qula) River”, which was the “living place of the Konggrat tribe”. Because their surname was “Dae-ssi (大氏)” and “Dae-seok-ha (大石河)” sounds like “Dasi-heo” and means “Dae-ha (大氏-河)”.

This river flows north of Dongmosanseong Fortress, which is located about 300 li(75km) north of Baekdu Mountain. Dongmosanseong Fortress was the capital of Balhae for 56 years from the time of Dae Jo-yeong, who founded Balhae in 698, to the time of Dae Mu-ye, the second king who fought the “Mogol-Tatar War”, and until the third king, King Mun, Dae Heum-mu, moved the capital to Sanggyeong Yongcheon-bu (上京龍泉府).

So to speak, <Garden of Fortune> was the water at the center of the “Balgahali clan” that “the grandfather of Alan Koa, the king of all Kongrats during the era of Dobun Bayan, Khaljidai Khan, was the ‘Balgahali’ clan.” That center was none other than “Dongmosanseong Fortress.” In the local language of the Qing Dynasty, it was “Kora-seong/Ora-seong (烏喇城, Manchurian ‘Ula’seong, Mt fortress)”, but this fortress was “Kora-seong(fortress)”, or “Goryeo (Balhae)-seong(fortress)” in more ancient times.

Yuri Bregel was a pioneer in translating the “Garden of Fortune,” the “golden book” of the Uzbek Kongrat dynasty that lasted until 1923, but although he was a world-renowned scholar on the history of the Kongrat dynasty, he did not know anything about the history of Balhae, the ancestors of the Uzbek Kongrat tribe, or the geographical background of that historical nation. Because of this, he mistakenly viewed the “Qula” river as the “Tuula river of Mongolia,” based on his preconceived notion that the Kongrat tribe was the tribe of Burte, wife of Genghis Khan, the “Mongols.”

Unlike this, the place mentioned in <The Garden of Fortune> is the old Holhanju (忽汗州), or “Goryeo Khanju”, which is interpreted as the current Dongmosanseong(Dongmo Mt. Fortress) in Donghwahyeon, Gilimgol, today, “Koro-ha=Oruha (烏婁河)” flowing north of “Kora-seong,Mt.fortress (烏喇城, Oralseong, Mt fortress)”.

This place name is written in <The Secret History of the Mongols> as “Alan Gowa” of the Korirar clan, a branch of the Kongrat people, who moved with his father Korirardai Mergen to find a person called “Sinchi Bayan of Uryanghai” of the “Burhan Bosaksan (Bulham Boskur, Bulham Malgal, or Baeksan Malgal)” tribe.

It also provides detailed geographical background of the story in verse 8. This is because right next to this Kula River, or “Koro-ha,” is “Burkan-san(mt),” or “Bulham-san(mt).”

It has been revealed that Kaljiday Khan=Kajitai (Ajitae) left Gung Ye’s Later(Hu) Goguryeo and lived in “Oruha.” If we now read the article on “Kajiday” in <History of Goryeo> in conjunction with the record of Kaljiday Khan in <Garden of Fortune>,

“Kajitai” fled from Goryeo to Balhae before and after the death of “Kajigei” (阿次貴), a Cheongju man who had rebelled, especially in 918 when Wang Geon came to power through a palace revolution. And then he moved to “Kura (兀剌, Olal)” in front of “Dongmosanseong(Dongmo Mt. Fotress)” in Yanbian, the Korean Autonomous Region today, and lived on the “Kula (Qula) River”.

Also, according to “Buryat Tradition,” at this time, Alan Koa’s grandfather “Barga Baatar (Dibun Bayan in <Saguksa,Four Khan History>)” also moved to “Bargajin” in Balhae, or “Byeolhaejin (別海津)” with him. He did not go straight to “Bargujin Tokom” in today’s Russian Buryat Republic. He went there later. “Byeolhaejin (別海津)” is also recorded as “Byeolhaejin (別害津)” in later historical records, which can be called “Balhaejin (渤海津)”. Varga Baatar, who settled there, later gave birth to two sons, “Boriadai” and “Koridoi (Koriardai Mergen).” These two sons became the ancestors of the “Buryat (夫如) 2 tribes and the “Kori (高麗)-Buryat (夫如) tribe” respectively.