Mogol-Khan and His Children
In general, medieval authors were often inclined to creatively process materials they knew from earlier sources, mixing them with various other reports and expressing their interpretations. For instance, Gardizi (11th century), based on information from an unknown work by Ibn Muqaffa (8th century) about the 'Eastern' Kyrgyz and data about the origin of the Kyrgyz from the Oghuz, provides his own interpretation, composing a legend about the origin of the Kyrgyz, which connects them with the Slavs. The same can be seen in Abul-Ghazi, who writes that the true Kyrgyz, who were linked by their origin to Oghuz Khan, were few in number. He could have come to this conclusion based on the fact that the "descendants of Oghuz" were part of the Kyrgyz union in the early 12th century, i.e., the right ("Ong") wing, while by the 17th century, the ethnic composition of the Kyrgyz had changed due to the inclusion of various clans and tribes from both Altai and Central Asia, Tian Shan.
Interestingly, according to Abul-Ghazi, "in this tribe (i.e., Mogol or Mongol — E. u. K.) nine people were kings: the first of them was Mogol-Khan, the last — Il-Khan. Sharaf ad-Din Yazdi in the introduction to the Zafarname states: in the Turkic people, there is a custom — to bring every matter to the number nine; this use of the number nine arose from the nine Mongol khans; also, at the beginning of the book, it was said: The Almighty God arranged all creation according to ranks; above nine, He did not create any rank. Mogol-Khan reigned for many years; he had four sons: the first — Kara-Khan, the second — Uz-Khan, the third — Kyuzi-Khan, the fourth — Gyur-Khan. Mogol-Khan, having appointed the eldest of his children, Kara-Khan, in his place, left this life." Apparently, Mogol-Khan here should be understood as the Khan of the Turks, and this information pertains to the Karakhanid era.