Baghatur

Baghatur (also Batur, Batyr, Baatar, etc.) is a historical Turkic and Mongolic honorific title, in origin a term for "hero", "valiant warrior", "brave". The Papal envoy Plano Carpini (c. 1185–1252) compared the title with the equivalent of European Knighthood. The word was common among the Mongols and became especially widespread, as an honorific title, in the Mongol Empire in the 13th century; the title persisted in its successor-states, and later came to be adopted also as a regnal title in the Ilkhanate and the Timurid dynasty, among others. In the Mughal Empire which was a successor state of the Timurids, the term was pronounced as "Bahadur". They were also respected elites in all subsequent Mongol states, including the Yuan dynasty, Dzungar Khanate, Kalmyk Khanate and even Mongolian People's Republic. The concept of the Baghatur is present in Turco-Mongol tradition, one instance is the Bashkir epic poem Ural-batyr. The Bogatyr of Eastern Slavic legends is derived from the Turkic term. Baghaturs were heroes of extraordinary courage, fearlessness, and decisiveness, often portrayed as being descended from heaven and capable of performing extraordinary deeds. Baghatur was the heroic ideal Turkic and Mongolic warriors strove to live up to, hence its use as a military honorific of glory. Baghatur, or its variant spellings, are today used as personal names and name components, such as the Turkish Bahadır, Tatar Batırşa (Батырша), Kazakh Batyrbek.