The intellectual life and conception the universe around the steppe culture (From the beginning to end of Gök-Türk period )

The thought of the Turks concerning the universe was established upon the belief of harmony and coherence between elements of the earth and the sky. Turks did not have such an understanding where the sky brought goodness and the earth brought evilness. Turks had noticed that there was an order and system in the universe and presumed Tengri as being the reason for this order and system. Therefore, all phenomena in the sky and earth, which are the two fundamental elements of the universe, ultimately followed a single power and thus the sole Tengri ensures this order. Efforts to obey this order that is present in the universe is a striking point in the life of the Turks. It is notable that there is a constant effort to obey this order in military activities, the states established by the Turks and their daily life. Directions, colors, and seasons have always been associated to a certain order and meaning.According to Turkish thought, for the purpose of maintaining the belief in Tengri and maintaining the order and system of Tengri among humans on earth, there is a need for a mediator. According to this belief that has continued throughout history, alongside the belief that Tengri intervenes in the lives of humans with natural incidents and Tengri creating and killing, Tengri can also intervene in the lives of humans through the Khan. As the Khan is the representative of Tengri on earth and as he has been assigned by Tengri he is noted for being a charismatic power. The fact that the Turks believed that Tengri assigned the Khan, has caused the Turks to consider themselves as the army of Tengri on earth. Enemies considered them to be the punisher of Tengri. The Khan possesses the support of his people, the necessary material power and faith in order to maintain order, peace and security in the world. Thus, the feeling of restriction cannot be observed n Turkish states. The earth belongs to the Turkish state. In Turkish thought, in addition to the Turkish Khan being the sole authority and power on earth, his tent represents the universe. In this respect, the Kahn in the Turkish system of thinking is also a cosmic element. His state and homeland is in the center of the universe.Although there is not a struggle and conflict between the earth and the sky in the Turkish thought, they are not independent of each other. Some elements on earth make the contact possible between the earth and the sky. In the Turkish thought the sky is imagined as a dome and the North Star as the mast of the sky. As a manifestation of this understanding, trees and sacred (holy) mountains are thought as an axis between the earth and the sky and they are placed just below the North Star, namely, at the center of the universe. This belief is also well understood by the example, in which the Turks choose the mountains with the forests as their homeland and sanctify these entities. In that case, the cosmic elements and religious understanding in the Turkish thought are not different and independent of each other. The intellectual life is also the merge of these elements. So, the concepts of Nizam-I Alem (universal order) and the dominance on universe find their own places in the sense of religion by referring to the cosmic elements. The elements of the sense of religion and that of the intellectual life converge with one another and the system called by the cultural historians as Universalism appears.Key Words1............................Steppe2............................Üniversalism3............................Tengri4............................Khan5............................Cosmology