Prince of Kucha, Prince or governor of Kucha

Kucha, the old Buddhist kingdom of the northern road and home of the Kucha language, is a Turkic oasis in 1200 with a ruling prince whose name is not known.

In the eleventh century Mahmud al-Kashgari called it the frontier of the Uyghurs; it sent twelve tribute missions to the Song court between 1001 and 1096, the last with a jade Buddha, under a king the Chinese called an Uyghur of Kucha. After that the sources go silent until the Mongol age. The likeliest reading is a local Uyghur or Turkic prince who is a Buddhist or friendly to the Buddhists, pays the gurkhan, and has ties of religion and language to the idiqut of Qocho without being his officer.

A Muslim shrine near Kucha claims that Islam came only under the Song emperor Lizong (1224 to 1264): the town is not Muslim in 1200.

Who he is

Title: Prince or governor of Kucha (an Uyghur line is likeliest; not pinned)
Since: not pinned
Born: not known
Family: Not known. Chinese records of 1096 call the Kucha envoys 'Qiuci Uighurs'.
Confidence: low

Iranica 'Kucha' (no named ruler 9th to 13th century; last tribute to China 1096, a jade Buddha), Chinese Wikipedia on Xinjiang history (12 tribute missions from Kucha, 1001 to 1096), Wikipedia 'Qocho' (Kucha lost to the Kara-Khanids by 1096) and 'Barchuq Art Tegin' (Kucha and Karashahr in his realm after 1208), Hudud al-Alam as quoted in Wikipedia 'Kuqa' (982: Kucha on the Chinese border). No ruler for 1200.

Overlord

The gurkhan; possibly through, or beside, the idiqut of Qocho. Not pinned.

What it holds

Kucha city and the oasis of the Kucha river, with Xayar and Xinhe
The Kumtura and Kizilgaha cave temples and the Subashi monastery, the abbey lands of the sangha (record Kucha sangha)
The northern-road tolls between Bay and Luntai

How it was acquired

Not recorded. Uyghur since the 9th century; independent tributary of the Song c. 1001 to 1096.

Allies and rivals

Neighbours: Bay and Aksu to the west (Muslim side of the frontier), Luntai and Karashahr to the east, the idiqut of Qocho beyond. The Buddhist sangha of Kucha is his religious ally.

How things stand that morning

Quiet; nothing recorded. The prince's relation to the idiqut (equal, vassal, or none) is the open point for tau and tab together.

Wealth

Grain, fruit, vines and wine; copper, iron and sal ammoniac of the hills (attested for the Tang); the northern road tolls; the pilgrim trade to the caves.

Military

Household and town militia; nothing recorded.

Threats

The gurkhan's tax-gatherers
A Muslim advance from Aksu, slow and unrecorded
Later: Kuchlug and the Mongols

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

606 AH (from 6 July 1209)If Kucha is within the idiqut's reach, it follows Barchuq when he kills the commissioner and submits to Chinggis. Wikipedia lists Kucha and Karashahr in Barchuq's realm after 1208; the date is not pinned.Depends on: Barchuq's revolt. Stopped by: Kucha being independent of Qocho.
1224 to 1264A later Muslim shrine inscription places the coming of Islam to Kucha in these years (Iranica 'Kucha').Depends on: Local tradition. Stopped by: Nothing.

Places of note

Kucha: The oasis town.
Kumtura caves: 112 cave temples, 5th to 11th century.

Where the sources disagree

Wikipedia 'Kucha' says the Subashi monastery was abandoned in the 13th century; 'Subashi Temple' gives no date. Not pinned; treated as possibly still in use in 1200.

Evidence: Frontier status and tribute to 1096 are attested; the 12th century is a gap.

On the map: Allegiance open; shown as a Tarim lordship.

Primary sources for Tarim oases

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

History of the Liao, chapter 30, on the Western Liao, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1344). The only Chinese official notice of the Qara Khitai, a few pages at the end of juan 30. Read online
History of the Song, the chapters on Xia and on foreign states, Toqto'a (脫脫) and the Yuan history office (1343 to 1345). The Song court's accounts of its neighbours, each arranged as an annal of embassies and wars. Read online
History of the World Conqueror: the Qara Khitai (Gur Khans) and the Uyghurs of Beshbaliq, Ala al-Din Ata-Malik Juvayni (begun about 1252 to 1253, ends with 1260). Juvayni's chapters on the Uyghur kingdom (its origin legend, Beshbaliq and Qocho, and the idiqut Barchuq's murder of the Qara Khitai resident before his submission to Chinggis Khan in 1209) and on the Gur Khans of the Qara Khitai are the fullest Muslim account of the Tarim and Zhetysu around 1200: the gurkhan Zhilugu's court at Balasagun, his tax collectors in the oasis towns and in Samarkand, his relations with the Khwarazmshah Tekish and then Muhammad, and the arrival of the Naiman prince Kuchlug in 1208. Read online
Old Uyghur contracts, land sales, loans and administrative documents from the Turfan oases (mostly thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, with some earlier; dated by animal years and rarely to a reign). Sale deeds, loans, leases, slave sales, wills and tax lists from Turfan, Qocho and Beshbaliq, the only internal evidence for everyday life, land tenure, prices and officials in the Uyghur kingdom whose idiqut was a vassal of the Qara Khitai in 1200.
Journey to the West of the Perfected Changchun (Qiu Chuji), Li Zhichang (李志常) (about 1228, from the journey of 1220 to 1224). A dated eyewitness itinerary across the steppe and the Tarim twenty years after 1200: the Kereyit country and the Ongud frontier, the Naiman mountains, the Uyghur towns of Beshbaliq and the Tarim with their Buddhist and Christian communities, Almaliq of the Qarluq, and Samarkand. Read online

Sources and studies

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.