Alpamysh
Encyclopedia
Alpamysh, also spelled as Alp-amish or Alpamish (Uzbek language
: Alpomish/Алпомиш, , Kazakh Cyrillic script
: Алпамыс, , , , Kazan Tatar
: Алпамша), is an ancient Turkic epic
or dastan
— ornate oral history, generally set in verse — and one of the most important examples of the Turkic oral literature of Central Asia. Among the Uzbeks
the epic is known as "Alpamish", Kazakhs
and Karakalpaks
as "Alpamis", Altay mountaineers as "Alip-Manash", Bashkirs
as "Alpamisha and Barsin khiluu", and Kazan Tatars as the tale of "Alpamşa". It is also known among other Turkic people, as well as Tajiks and Central Asian Arabs. According to scholars Borovkov, Hadi Zarif and Zhirmunskiy, as well as earlier writings by academician Bartold, all specialists in Oriental and Turkic studies, the dastan Alpamysh "existed probably in the foothills of the Altai as early as the sixth-eighth centuries at the time of the Turk Kaghanate." The tale of Alpamish was supplanted in ninth-tenth centuries from Altay mountains
to Syr-darya river by the Oghuz Turks
, where the story line continued on independently and became part of the Salor-Kazan tale, one of the main characters in the Book of Dede Korkut
. The epic acquired its final form between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Alpamish is one of the best known Turkic epics from among a total of well over 1,000 recorded epics among the Mongolian and Turkic language families by international scholars.
According to Turkish historian Hasan Paksoy
, the dastan Alpamysh, like other dastans (e.g., Book of Dede Korkut
) were suppressed and otherwise discouraged from studying in the Soviet Union
, culminating in the 1950s in what has come to be known as the "Trial of Alpamysh". Despite all the repressions, Alpamysh was printed no less than 55 times between 1899 and 1984. For example, it was published in the Soviet Union in 1939, 1941, and 1949, 1957, 1958 and 1961. The entry in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
, second edition (1952), praises the epic as "a national saga of valour, courage and detestation of the enemies", "one of the best examples of Uzbek heroic epos", "rich in aphorisms, expressive metaphors and proof of the wealth of the Uzbek popular poetic language".
In 1999, at the request of Uzbekistan
delegation to the UNESCO
, the "Thousandth anniversary of the popular epic Alpamysh" was held.
The Kongrat tribe, which is the tribe that Alpamys belongs to, is currently within a Kazakh nation and belongs to Middle Juz of Kazakhs. Belonging to a certain tribe was and remains to be an essential part of nomadic self-identification, which is proven by the fact that the Alpamys poem begins with following words:
(in kazakh:)
Жиделі Байсын жерінде,
Қоңырат деген елінде.
Байбөрі деген бай бопты,
Төрт түлігі сай бопты...
which approximately translates as:
In the lands of Zhideli Baisyn
Among people of Kongrat tribe
There was a man called Baibori
Who has both noble and wealthy...
The first part tells about Alpamys and his bride Barchin (sometimes known as Gulibairsen in the Siberian and Mongolian variants), with whom he is engaged since childhood. Their fathers, Bayburi and Baysari, were from the Kongrat tribe and were childless for a very long time, until their pleas were heard by God, and Baysari had one daughter, whilst Bayburi had a daughter and a son. After an argument, Baysari and his family moved to the Kalmyk
country. There Barchin, by then a very pretty young lady, attracted the attention of the pehlivans (strongmen) of Kalmyk shah, Taycha-khan. In order to avoid an involuntary marriage to any of the hated by her pehlivan, Barchin declares that she will marry anyone, who wins all four contests: horse race ("bayga"), archery skills, target shooting from a bow, and wrestling.
Baychin is secretly hoping that the winner will be her beloved Alpamys, after whom she sends several people (ambassadors). One of the Kalmyk pehlivans, Karajan, turns from an opponent and enemy to a friend of the hero. Karajan outruns all the competitors on Alpamysh's horse, Baychibare, despite all the tricks by Kalmyks, who initially tie him in ropes and maim his horse by inserting nails into the horse's hooves. Karajan enters the wrestling competition with Kalmyk pehlivans, after which Alpamysh emerges victorious by beating the strongest of pehlivans, Kokaldash.
Together with Barchin, who is now his wife, they return back to Kongrat. The only person to stay in Kalmyk country is Baysari, who is still angry at Bayburi.
In the second part, Alpamysh, finding out about the hardships caused to Baysari by the Taycha-khan, once again travels to the Kalmyk country, and falls captive to his tricky enemies.
He then spends seven years in zindan (underground prison) of the Kalmyk khan. He is being fed by a choban (shepherd) Kaykubat, who accidentally discovered his location. The daughter of the Kalmyk khan visits Alpamysh in his cell, falls in love with him and helps to free him from captivity. The freed Alpamysh then confronts Taycha-khan, kills him, and puts shepherd Kaykubat on the throne.
During his seven year absence, the leader of the Kongrat tribe becomes his youngest brother Ultantaz. The new ruler is persecuting his people, dishonors the old father of Alpamysh, and harasses the young son Yadgar, whilst forcing Barchin to marry him. Alpamysh, by switching clothes with his old shepherd servant Kultay, undetected, comes to the marriage celebration of Ultantaz, frees his wife Barchin and kills Ultantaz. The epic ends with Barchin's father, Baysari, returning from voluntary exile and re-unification of the previously divided Kongrat tribe under the leadership of heroic Alpamysh.
The Siberian Turkic nations' version of the epic can be summarized as follows:
There is also a lesser-known sequel to Alpamish, about the heroic adventures of Yadgar (Yadigar), the son of Alpamish and Barchin (Gulibairsen).
Uzbek language
Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...
: Alpomish/Алпомиш, , Kazakh Cyrillic script
Kazakh language
Kazakh is a Turkic language which belongs to the Kipchak branch of the Turkic languages, closely related to Nogai and Karakalpak....
: Алпамыс, , , , Kazan Tatar
Tatar language
The Tatar language , or more specifically Kazan Tatar, is a Turkic language spoken by the Tatars of historical Kazan Khanate, including modern Tatarstan and Bashkiria...
: Алпамша), is an ancient Turkic epic
Epic poetry
An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. Oral poetry may qualify as an epic, and Albert Lord and Milman Parry have argued that classical epics were fundamentally an oral poetic form...
or dastan
Dastan
The Dastan , is an ornate form of oral history from Central Asia, the most famous of which is Dede Korkut - which may have been created as early as the beginning of the 13th century....
— ornate oral history, generally set in verse — and one of the most important examples of the Turkic oral literature of Central Asia. Among the Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...
the epic is known as "Alpamish", Kazakhs
Kazakhs
The Kazakhs are a Turkic people of the northern parts of Central Asia ....
and Karakalpaks
Karakalpaks
The Karakalpaks are a Turkic speaking people. They mainly live in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya and in the delta of Amu Darya on the southern shore of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. The name "Karakalpak" comes from two words: "qara" meaning black, and "qalpaq" meaning hat...
as "Alpamis", Altay mountaineers as "Alip-Manash", Bashkirs
Bashkirs
The Bashkirs are a Turkic people indigenous to Bashkortostan extending on both parts of the Ural mountains, on the place where Europe meets Asia. Groups of Bashkirs also live in the republic of Tatarstan, Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Samara and Saratov Oblasts of...
as "Alpamisha and Barsin khiluu", and Kazan Tatars as the tale of "Alpamşa". It is also known among other Turkic people, as well as Tajiks and Central Asian Arabs. According to scholars Borovkov, Hadi Zarif and Zhirmunskiy, as well as earlier writings by academician Bartold, all specialists in Oriental and Turkic studies, the dastan Alpamysh "existed probably in the foothills of the Altai as early as the sixth-eighth centuries at the time of the Turk Kaghanate." The tale of Alpamish was supplanted in ninth-tenth centuries from Altay mountains
Altay Mountains
The Altai Mountains are a mountain range in East-Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. The Altai Mountains are known as the original locus of the speakers of Turkic as well as other members of the proposed...
to Syr-darya river by the Oghuz Turks
Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion....
, where the story line continued on independently and became part of the Salor-Kazan tale, one of the main characters in the Book of Dede Korkut
Book of Dede Korkut
The Book of Dede Korkut, also spelled as Dada Gorgud, Dede Qorqut or Korkut-ata , is the most famous epic stories of the Oghuz Turks The stories carry morals and values significant to the social lifestyle of the nomadic Turks and their pre-Islamic beliefs...
. The epic acquired its final form between the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries. Alpamish is one of the best known Turkic epics from among a total of well over 1,000 recorded epics among the Mongolian and Turkic language families by international scholars.
According to Turkish historian Hasan Paksoy
Hasan Paksoy
Hasan Bülent Paksoy is a Turkish historian who earned his doctoral degree at St. Antony's College of the Oxford University in England with a grant from the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom. The WorldCat lists 16 entries under his name...
, the dastan Alpamysh, like other dastans (e.g., Book of Dede Korkut
Book of Dede Korkut
The Book of Dede Korkut, also spelled as Dada Gorgud, Dede Qorqut or Korkut-ata , is the most famous epic stories of the Oghuz Turks The stories carry morals and values significant to the social lifestyle of the nomadic Turks and their pre-Islamic beliefs...
) were suppressed and otherwise discouraged from studying in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, culminating in the 1950s in what has come to be known as the "Trial of Alpamysh". Despite all the repressions, Alpamysh was printed no less than 55 times between 1899 and 1984. For example, it was published in the Soviet Union in 1939, 1941, and 1949, 1957, 1958 and 1961. The entry in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Great Soviet Encyclopedia
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia is one of the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedias in Russian and in the world, issued by the Soviet state from 1926 to 1990, and again since 2002 .-Editions:There were three editions...
, second edition (1952), praises the epic as "a national saga of valour, courage and detestation of the enemies", "one of the best examples of Uzbek heroic epos", "rich in aphorisms, expressive metaphors and proof of the wealth of the Uzbek popular poetic language".
In 1999, at the request of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan , officially the Republic of Uzbekistan is a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia and one of the six independent Turkic states. It shares borders with Kazakhstan to the west and to the north, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the east, and Afghanistan and Turkmenistan to the south....
delegation to the UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
, the "Thousandth anniversary of the popular epic Alpamysh" was held.
Brief synopsis of the story
The Alpamys dastan, in its Uzbek variant of ashiq Fazil Yuldashogli, which is the largest recorded version with 14 thousand verses, consists of two parts (other scholars have divided the epic into four parts). There are regional variations of this story. The first part deals with the hero's wooing, the second (much longer) with the vicissitudes which he undergoes as a result of attempting to assist his father-in-law and his return home after seven years just as his wife is about to be forced to marry a usurper.The Kongrat tribe, which is the tribe that Alpamys belongs to, is currently within a Kazakh nation and belongs to Middle Juz of Kazakhs. Belonging to a certain tribe was and remains to be an essential part of nomadic self-identification, which is proven by the fact that the Alpamys poem begins with following words:
(in kazakh:)
Жиделі Байсын жерінде,
Қоңырат деген елінде.
Байбөрі деген бай бопты,
Төрт түлігі сай бопты...
which approximately translates as:
In the lands of Zhideli Baisyn
Among people of Kongrat tribe
There was a man called Baibori
Who has both noble and wealthy...
The first part tells about Alpamys and his bride Barchin (sometimes known as Gulibairsen in the Siberian and Mongolian variants), with whom he is engaged since childhood. Their fathers, Bayburi and Baysari, were from the Kongrat tribe and were childless for a very long time, until their pleas were heard by God, and Baysari had one daughter, whilst Bayburi had a daughter and a son. After an argument, Baysari and his family moved to the Kalmyk
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
country. There Barchin, by then a very pretty young lady, attracted the attention of the pehlivans (strongmen) of Kalmyk shah, Taycha-khan. In order to avoid an involuntary marriage to any of the hated by her pehlivan, Barchin declares that she will marry anyone, who wins all four contests: horse race ("bayga"), archery skills, target shooting from a bow, and wrestling.
Baychin is secretly hoping that the winner will be her beloved Alpamys, after whom she sends several people (ambassadors). One of the Kalmyk pehlivans, Karajan, turns from an opponent and enemy to a friend of the hero. Karajan outruns all the competitors on Alpamysh's horse, Baychibare, despite all the tricks by Kalmyks, who initially tie him in ropes and maim his horse by inserting nails into the horse's hooves. Karajan enters the wrestling competition with Kalmyk pehlivans, after which Alpamysh emerges victorious by beating the strongest of pehlivans, Kokaldash.
Together with Barchin, who is now his wife, they return back to Kongrat. The only person to stay in Kalmyk country is Baysari, who is still angry at Bayburi.
In the second part, Alpamysh, finding out about the hardships caused to Baysari by the Taycha-khan, once again travels to the Kalmyk country, and falls captive to his tricky enemies.
He then spends seven years in zindan (underground prison) of the Kalmyk khan. He is being fed by a choban (shepherd) Kaykubat, who accidentally discovered his location. The daughter of the Kalmyk khan visits Alpamysh in his cell, falls in love with him and helps to free him from captivity. The freed Alpamysh then confronts Taycha-khan, kills him, and puts shepherd Kaykubat on the throne.
During his seven year absence, the leader of the Kongrat tribe becomes his youngest brother Ultantaz. The new ruler is persecuting his people, dishonors the old father of Alpamysh, and harasses the young son Yadgar, whilst forcing Barchin to marry him. Alpamysh, by switching clothes with his old shepherd servant Kultay, undetected, comes to the marriage celebration of Ultantaz, frees his wife Barchin and kills Ultantaz. The epic ends with Barchin's father, Baysari, returning from voluntary exile and re-unification of the previously divided Kongrat tribe under the leadership of heroic Alpamysh.
The Siberian Turkic nations' version of the epic can be summarized as follows:
"Alpamis, recounts the story of its hero’s life and the events before his birth with rich description and intriguing stories. Its basic plot, however, can be classified into four parts. First, Alpamis’ parents pray for a son, make a pilgrimage, and experience the miraculous pregnancy of Alpamis’ mother. Alpamis is eventually born and grows up. Second,
Alpamis marries the beauty Gulibairsen after a heroic battle. Third, after returning home with his wife, Alpamis fights his enemy Taishik Khan, who has ransacked his herds and property; Alpamis kills him and recovers everything that was lost. Fourth, after returning home again, Alpamis conquers Urtan—a very destructive demon and son of the charwoman of
Alpamis’ family—who attempted to possess his wife Gulibairsen."
There is also a lesser-known sequel to Alpamish, about the heroic adventures of Yadgar (Yadigar), the son of Alpamish and Barchin (Gulibairsen).
External links
- "Alpamysh" at the Uysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral NarrativeUysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral NarrativeThe Uysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative is a searchable archive of oral Turkish literature. The archive is housed in the Southwest Collection/Special Collections Library of Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, United States. It includes links to numerous audio recordings in MP3...
, Texas Tech University - Central Asian Identity Under Russian Rule