tarkhan

plural tarkhans · alternative Tarkhan

1. historicalAn ancient Central Asian title used by various Turkic, Mongolic and Indo-European (Scythian and Tokharian) peoples, especially in the medieval era, and prominently among the successors of the Mongol Empire; it generally conferred exemption from taxation.

   The tarkhan, leader of the Khazar army, meets Amram, Zelikman and a green-eyed young person who claims to be Alp, the brother of Filaq.

   2007 May 6, Michael Chabon, “‘Gentlemen of the Road’”, in New York Times

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   Already by the time of Genghis Khan, tarkhans were exempt from taxes and various economic services; they later became a privileged estate or class. In the Kazanian society, the tarkhans constituted a privileged, landowning, and conditionally hereditary nobility which was exempted from taxes and most other obligations.

   1980, Manfred Späth, “Beiträge zur 4. Internationalen Konferenz über Altrussische Geschichte. Begunov, "Weisse Rus".”, in Forschungen zur osteuropaischen Geschichte, Bd. 27, page 164

1. a carpentry caste in Punjab