Karabalgasun inscription is a 9th century trilingual inscription located in Karabalgasun, the historical capital of the first Uyghur Khaganate, in Mongolia. The stele bearing the inscription is believed to have been erected during the reign of the eighth Uyghur ruler, Baoyi Qaghan (r. 808âÂÂ821). 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.
The fragments of the inscription were first discovered by the Russian explorer Nikolai Yadrintsev in 1889.
The first line of the stele, which is copied in the shield-shaped tablet on top, names the qaghan to whom it was dedicated:
This ruler was the eighth qaghan of the empire, and the inscription was established either during his reign or shortly after his death in 821. The wording of the first lines seem to indicate close parallel between the Sogdian and the Old Uyghur versions, from which the Chinese is independent.