Within the lateral succession order of the kaganate, members of the ruling clan are successively given possessions in accordance with their rank in respect to the ruling Kagan.

Accordingly, a succession of princes, or shads, occupies this position.

The principality of Böri Shad originates in 558 CE, when Kara-Churin (later named Tardu or Tardush), a brother of the ruling kagan, campaigns in the Ural and Volga regions.

From 576 through 583 CE Tardu fights with Constantinople, appointing as head of the campaign his cousin Böri Shad, whose possessions are in the North Caucasus.

According to Movses Kagankatvatsi, Böri Shad is a 7th-century Göktürk prince and an ishad or general in the army of the Western Turkic Khaganate.

He is the son of Bagha Shad, who may have been the yabgu or prince of the Khazars.

Böri Shad's uncle is Tong Yabghu Khagan, the khagan of the Western Göktürks.