Faces of Russia. "Living Together, Being Different"

The Faces of Russia multimedia project has existed since 2006, telling about Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together, remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of various Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs "Music and songs of the peoples of Russia" were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs have been released to support the first series of films.

Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a picture that will allow the inhabitants of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a picture of what they were like for posterity.

General information

TURKMEN, Turkmen (self-name, in Russian literature of the 18th - early 19th century - Trukhmyan, Truhmen), the Central Asian Turkic people in Turkmenistan (numbering 2538 thousand people), also live in Uzbekistan (122 thousand), Russia (39.7 thousand), Tajikistan (20.5 thousand), Iran (975 thousand), Afghanistan (about 400 thousand), Iraq (250 thousand), Turkey (200 thousand), Syria and Jordan. The total number is 4600 thousand people. According to the 2002 population census, the number of Turkmens living in Russia is 33 thousand people, according to the 2010 census. - 36,885 people.

They speak the Turkmen language of the Turkic group of the Altai family (belongs to the Oghuz subgroup of the Turkic languages). By religion, traditionally Sunni Muslims.

Some Turkmen live in Iran, Afghanistan and Russia (Northern Caucasus). They are related to Turks and Azerbaijanis. They were formed at the turn of the 2nd millennium as a result of the assimilation of the local Iranian-speaking population by the Turks.

In the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens, the earliest layer was made up of the ancient Iranian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes (Dakhs, Massagets, later Ephthalites and Sarmato-Alans), who lived on the territory of modern Turkmenistan, as well as the settled Iranian-speaking agricultural population of Western Khorezm, the middle Amu Darya and Northern Khorasan. This population, especially the semi-nomadic ones, began to undergo Turkization already from the 4th-6th centuries. The Oguzes, who in large numbers penetrated the borders of Turkmenistan in the 9th-11th centuries, played an important role in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens, determining, in addition to many cultural features, their language and, to a large extent, their physical appearance. The bulk of the Oghuz, who came from the northeast with the Seljuks in the 11th century, settled here and gradually merged with the local population. The formation of the Turkmen language took place. The Turkmens later also included Turkic tribes of neo-Guz origin - Kipchaks, Dzhelairs, etc., at the beginning of the 13th century - part of the Tatar-Mongols. The process of formation of the Turkmen people was completed in the 14th-15th centuries, when, after the Mongol conquest, new tribal associations formed that formed the core of the Turkmen people: Chovdur (Chovdurs, Igdyrs, Abdaly, Arabachi), "external" (Teke, Yomuts, Saryks, Ersari) and " internal "(actually salyrs) salyrs, as well as gokleny.

In addition to them and the smaller tribes of Turkmens - the Yazyrs (karadashly), Emrelis, Bayats, etc., quite a large Iranian-speaking population remained in the oases on the territory of Turkmenistan, and nomads from other Turkic and Iranian tribes lived in the steppes. In subsequent centuries, this population was assimilated and became part of the Turkmen. In the 16-18 centuries, there was a mass migration of many Turkmen from Western Turkmenistan to the southern regions and the Khorezm oasis (largely due to the drying up of the Sarykamysh Lake, on the shores of which they lived). The movement was accompanied by tribal strife, which weakened the Turkmen tribes. Political and economic disunity, constant wars and raids by the rulers of neighboring countries hindered economic, cultural and social development and contributed to the conservation of archaic social institutions. Almost until the 80s of the 19th century, the Turkmens had patriarchal slavery; the archaic division into ig - "purebred", gul - "slaves", gyrnak - "slaves" and ardent - descendants from mixed marriages of free with slaves was preserved. In addition to these main social categories, there were also gelmishek (gonshi) - newcomers from other tribes and tat - descendants of the conquered and not yet fully assimilated Iranian-speaking peoples.

Among the customs developed kalym - a ransom for the bride.

In the 18-19 centuries, the traditions of the tribal system in social relations and strong remnants of tribal customs were preserved; extensive nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralism contributed to the preservation of the patriarchal way of life. Until the 30s of the 20th century, the Turkmens still retained the division into tribes with a multi-stage tribal division in each of them. The largest were the Tekins (Teke), Yomuts, Ersaris, Salyrs, Saryks, Goklens and Chovdurs. Tribal and tribal ties played an important role in the past and were used by tribal leaders to exploit their relatives. In the conditions of constant movements, conquests, military clashes, which continued until the very accession to Russia, in the society of the Turkmen, the tribal structure was a historically determined phenomenon, a form of social organization of the people. The tribal community during this period constantly developed and transformed.

In the 80s of the 19th century, Turkmenistan was annexed to Russia and the process of economic and political life began to rise on its territory, despite the fact that the Turkmens were divided into three parts (not counting the Turkmens of Iran and Afghanistan): in the Transcaspian region (the bulk ), later included in the Turkestan region, as part of the Khiva Khanate and the Emirate of Bukhara. After November-December 1917, the main part of the territory became part of the Turkestan ASSR. The Turkmen SSR was formed in 1924, and in December 1991 the Supreme Council of the Republic adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Turkmenistan.

The traditional occupation of the Turkmens was irrigated agriculture combined with nomadic and distant pastoralism. The Turkmens led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, in which the inhabitants of one aul were divided into cattle breeders (charva) and sedentary (chomur) farmers. Western Turkmens were mainly nomadic pastoralists (sheep, camels, horses), and some of the Turkmens living in oases were dominated by agriculture (wheat, dzhugara, melons, cotton) and cattle breeding. Household trades were almost exclusively female. By the middle of the 19th century, carpet weaving, silk weaving and felt felting acquired commercial importance.

In recent decades, Turkmens have created a diversified industry and large-scale mechanized agriculture (cotton growing, especially fine-fiber cotton growing, melon growing, horticulture and viticulture). In animal husbandry, along with traditional camel and sheep breeding (mainly astrakhan breeding), dairy farming plays an important role. In the 1990s, farms appeared. Rent is a big deal. Folk art crafts continue to develop - carpet weaving (which has also become a professional art), the production of patterned felts, jewelry, embroidery, etc.

The family and everyday life of the Turkmens was characterized by many ancient remnants of patriarchal tribal life, traces of maternal kinship, many archaic customs and beliefs. Marriage bans were strictly individual in nature, relating to certain categories of relatives. Tribal endogamy was strictly observed: marriages between representatives of different tribes were condemned by society.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Turkmens were dominated by a large patriarchal family, which was especially strong in areas where an integrated economy was preserved. A large family included several generations of relatives or families of undivided brothers. Families consisting of a married couple with children, and sometimes one of the husband's parents, were less common. Members of a large family ran a common household, had a common boiler and cash register. It was headed by an older man - a father or older brother. Women were dominated by the wife or widow of the elder. The power of the head of the family was unlimited: he disposed of all its property and the fate of its members.

The traditional dwelling of the Turkmen was the yurt (gara oy). In the oases, along with the yurt, there was a dwelling of a permanent type, most often a 1-3-chamber adobe or mud-brick house (there) with a flat roof and several small windows. In Serakh and Kaahka districts, houses with domed ceilings were quite common. Wooden houses on piles were widespread among the Caspian Turkmens. Nowadays, a rural dwelling is usually a 3-4-chamber house made of mud or baked bricks with a 2-4-pitched slate or iron roof, large windows. A covered veranda (ivan) is preserved, which serves as a place for rest and sleep in the summer. Utility rooms are moved to the back of the courtyard. At present, the yurt exists in many areas as a summer dwelling on the estate or as a dwelling for shepherds on remote and seasonal pastures. Modern cities are characterized by high-rise buildings; well-maintained one-story houses with estates are also preserved.

Modern clothing combines traditional elements with urban pan-European forms. The men's costume, preserved by the elderly Turkmen, consists of a shirt and trousers; put on a robe or overcoat. The headdress is a high lambskin cap (telpek) with long soft curls, under which an embroidered skullcap (takhya) is worn. Shepherds have national shoes (charyk, chokay) made of bull skin. Red silk robes (gyrmyzy don) in combination with telpek are also worn on holidays by young men. Women in rural areas, less often in cities, wear ankle-length tunic-shaped dresses (koinek), usually red, short vests (engsiz), long trousers (balak) that are narrow at the bottom; the head is covered with a large silk or woolen scarf. In many regions, a girl's headdress is an embroidered skullcap (takhya, borik) with silver decorations. Among the urban youth there is a long dress that fits the figure at the waist. In rural areas, dressing gowns are preserved. The national women's costume is characterized by a significant amount of silver jewelry.

The modern food of Turkmen retains national specifics. The most common meat soup (chorba) with various seasonings, fried meat (govurma), pilaf (palov), various lactic acid products (gatyk, suzme, agaran) from cow, goat, sheep and camel milk, rice porridge. Flatbreads (chorek, gatlama, chelpek) are baked from flour, dumplings, noodles, etc. are made. Green tea (gok tea) is drunk in large quantities.

Literature and various forms of folk and professional art flourished among the Turkmens, and a national intelligentsia was formed.

G.P. Vasiliev

UZBEKI, Uzbek (self-name), Sarts (obsolete Russian name), people in Uzbekistan (numbering 14,145 thousand people). They also live in Tajikistan (1198 thousand people), Kazakhstan (332 thousand people), Kyrgyzstan (550 thousand people), Turkmenistan (317 thousand people), Russia (289 thousand 862 people). In Afghanistan, 1.78 million, in China, 15 thousand people. According to the 2002 Population Census, the number of Uzbeks living in Russia is 123 thousand people, according to the 2002 Population Census - 127 thousand people.

They speak the Uzbek language of the Turkic group of the Altaic family. Adverbs: Karluk (or Karluk-Chigile Uigur), Kypchak, Oguz and numerous transitional dialects and dialects. Russian and Tajik languages ​​are also widespread. Writing based on Russian graphics. Believers Uzbeks are Sunni Muslims.

The ethnogenesis of the Uzbeks proceeded in the Central Asian interfluve and adjacent regions. The ancient peoples of Central Asia, who spoke East Iranian languages, took part in the formation of the Uzbeks - Sogdians, Bactrians, Khorezmians, Fergana, Sako-Massaget tribes. Turkic-speaking tribes began to penetrate into the Central Asian interfluve around the turn of our era, in connection with the advances of the nomadic tribes of Northeast and Central Asia. Since the entry of Central Asia into the Turkic Khaganate (6th century), the number of the Turkic-speaking population began to increase. In subsequent centuries, the main ethno-cultural process was the rapprochement and partial merging of the Iranian-speaking and Turkic-speaking population. The process of formation of the ethnic group, which later became known as the Uzbeks, was especially intensified in the 11-12 centuries, when Central Asia was conquered by the unification of Turkic tribes headed by the Karakhanid dynasty. A new wave of Turkic as well as Mongol tribes joined the population of Central Asia after the Mongol conquest of the 13th century. The completion of the formation of the ethnic group is associated with the reign of Timur and the first Timurids (2nd half of the 14th-15th century). The ethnonym Uzbeks established itself much later, after the assimilation of the Deshtikypchak Uzbeks (the name of the nomads of the Golden Horde since the time of Khan Uzbek, 14th century), who came at the end of the 15th-16th century led by Sheibani Khan from the steppes of Kazakhstan.

By the beginning of the 20th century, three large sub-ethnic groups were distinguished among the Uzbeks: the Sarts, the ancient settled population of the oases; the Turks - the descendants of the pre-Mongolian Turkic tribes of the Central Asian interfluve who preserved a semi-nomadic life, mixed with the medieval Oghuz and Turkic-Mongolian tribes who came as part of the troops of Genghis Khan; Uzbeks are the descendants of the Deshtikypchak tribes, whose transition to settled life was completed only by the beginning of the 20th century. The first group prevailed numerically, inhabiting most of the cities and large villages. The second group was significantly inferior in number to the other two. After the accession of the Central Asian khanates to Russia in the 19th century, the process of national consolidation of the Uzbeks intensified significantly. The Uzbek SSR was formed in 1924, and the Republic of Uzbekistan since 1991.

The traditional occupations of the Uzbeks in the oases were diversified irrigation farming, crafts and trade. In agriculture, agricultural technology that had reached a high level was combined with primitive tools (omach, ketmen, etc.) and archaic irrigation. Cultivated mainly cereals (wheat, barley, rice, sorghum, corn, millet), legumes (mung bean, lobia, peas, lentils), vegetables (carrots, radishes, turnips, beets, radishes, onions, red pepper, coriander, etc.). ), gourds (melon, watermelon, food and table pumpkin), oilseeds (sesame, flax, safflower), garden (apricot, peach, fig, quince, pear, apple tree, pomegranate, grapes, tut, walnut, etc.), fodder (alfalfa), technical (cotton). Apricot, grapes, tut, melon, along with cereals and legumes, were of great importance in the nutrition of the population. They were consumed both fresh and dried and dried. These products were widely sold in local markets, especially among the semi-nomadic population. Dried apricots and raisins were exported to Russia and Siberia. The commercial crop was cotton to an even greater extent. Sericulture was also a commodity industry, which was mainly carried out by women. Agricultural work was carried out mainly by men. The women participated in the cotton picking, harvesting and processing of fruits, grapes and mulberries, and melons. In the foothills and steppes, on lands of irregular irrigation and non-irrigated, wheat, barley, millet, sesame, flax, melons, and alfalfa were cultivated. Rainfed wheat, famous for its taste, was widely sold in the cities.

Cattle breeding in the oases, due to the lack of food, had only a consumer value; here they kept (mainly in stalls) working and transport cattle (oxen, horses, donkeys), at least dairy (one or two cows per large family) and meat (several fat-tailed rams were fattened). In the Bukhara and Karshi oases, rich people, hiring shepherds, bred karakul sheep on distant pastures in the steppe, the skins of newborn lambs were exported. The livestock merchants, as well as large merchants, were mainly from the sedentary population - Uzbeks and Tajiks. In the foothills and especially in the steppe zones, cattle breeding was one of the main occupations of the semi-nomadic Uzbeks. Sheep breeding and partly horse breeding had a commodity direction. Goats, cattle, in some places and camels were bred mainly for their own needs. Camels were also used for merchant caravans. Livestock grazing was a man's business, and women's was dairy farming (butter and cheese harvesting), processing wool and skins and making various products from them (felt mats, carpets, rugs, sacks, bag bags, tablecloths, blankets, etc.).

In cities and large trade and craft villages, various types of crafts were represented (blacksmithing, weaving, pottery, jewelry, leather, soap making, confectionery, baking, etc.), and in small villages only certain types. In the families of artisans, women helped their husbands, performing certain operations, preparing semi-finished products. Women's crafts were also widespread (spinning, sewing clothes, embroidery, carpet weaving, etc.).

Since the 1960s, the results of the reorganization of agriculture have been controversial. The mechanization and chemicalization of agriculture, the introduction of new varieties and new agricultural technology, although they increased labor productivity and productivity, led to the loss of many achievements of agricultural technology and selection developed by the people for centuries. The monoculture of cotton in the agriculture of the irrigated zone had a negative impact on other crops and livestock, which led to a sharp deterioration in the nutrition of the population.

The construction of large reservoirs in the Golodnaya steppe, Central Ferghana, Karshi and Sherabad steppes made it possible to expand the area under cotton crops, but at the same time had grave consequences: it accelerated the death of the Aral Sea, reduced the area of ​​​​pastures for grazing sheep, and forced the mountaineers to relocate to the sultry steppes to develop new lands . Their adaptation to the new conditions was difficult. The resettlement of the highlanders entailed the loss of their traditional culture, their economic skills. Just as the cotton monoculture had a negative impact on other branches of agriculture, so the primacy of astrakhan breeding (for the sake of exporting astrakhans) in sheep breeding led to the loss or deterioration of valuable meat and tallow breeds of sheep (Hissar, Jaidari), bred by the labor of many generations of Uzbek sheep breeders, and also sharply worsened standards of living.

The formation of the peculiarities of the life of the Uzbeks was deeply influenced by communal traditions - the skills of organizing collective work developed over the centuries, firm rules for land and water use. In the cities and large trade and craft villages, quarterly communities and associations of artisans by profession were formed. The members of the community were connected with each other not only by neighborhood, but also by family ties. Among the semi-nomadic Uzbeks, who retained the tribal division, the community outwardly had the form of a tribal community. However, both the neighboring and the "tribal" community were characterized by deep social stratification. The stability of communal traditions was facilitated by an undivided family, when, in an effort not to split up land and livestock, sons were not singled out after marriage. To avoid the cost of bride price and dowry, cousin marriages were practiced, and, moreover, early ones. Relations in the family were based on the subordination of the younger to the elders, on the authority of the head of the family (usually the father) and his wife. Lack of rights and seclusion of women were characteristic, especially among settled Uzbeks. However, in regulating the internal life of the family and the neighborhood community, especially in the conduct of life cycle rites, individual women (the wife, widow of the head of the family or clergyman, or a woman distinguished by special abilities) played a prominent role and enjoyed authority.

The dominant form of the modern family is a small family, consisting of parents and children. However, after marriage, sons tend to settle near their father's house in order to constantly help each other and their parents, with whom the youngest son usually stays. Well-established broad family ties, each family still considers its own.

heritage and therefore pays great attention to the education of kindred feelings in children. The tradition of living in close communion at the place of residence is also preserved, regardless of kinship [kishlak, in large villages and cities - quarter (mahalla)]. This tradition has become one of the features of the national culture of the Uzbeks, their character and psychology. Therefore, in every family, great importance is attached to public opinion.

In housing construction, especially in villages, the features of traditional building art are used: an earthquake-resistant wooden frame, a covered terrace, niches in the walls of houses for bedding, dishes and other utensils.

Uzbek men's and women's clothing consisted of a shirt, trousers with a wide step and a dressing gown (quilted with wadding or simply lined). The robe was girded with a sash (or folded scarf) or worn loose. From the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, outerwear in the waist - a camisole - spread. Hats for men - skullcaps, felt caps, turbans, fur hats, for women - scarves. Leaving the house, women (in the cities) threw a cape over their heads - a veil, covered their faces with a net of horsehair - chachvan. Girls and women before the birth of their first child braided their hair into small braids (up to 40), the rest of the women - into two braids. Traditional footwear - leather boots with soft soles, which were worn with leather, later - rubber galoshes.

In the clothes of Uzbeks, one can now trace all stages of the development of its forms over the past century - from the deeply traditional, consisting of a loose tunic-shaped shirt and dressing gown (without a seam on the shoulders) and trousers with a wide step, to a suit of modern European fashionable styles. Along with the spread of European standards, another process can be traced - the erasure of local differences and the addition of national forms (for example, a men's straight-backed robe and a black skullcap with a white pattern, a women's dress with a short yoke, with fees on the chest and back, a turn-down collar, often combined with harem pants ). The veil and chachvan have long gone out of use. Now the main headdress of women is a headscarf.

Uzbek food consists of vegetable, dairy and meat products. An important place in the diet is occupied by bread baked from wheat flour in the form of flat cakes. Ready-made bread products are also common. The range of dishes is varied. Dishes such as noodles, soups and cereals made from rice and legumes are seasoned with vegetable or cow butter, sour milk, red pepper and various herbs. Favorite dish - plov. A large place in the diet is occupied by vegetables, fruits, grapes, watermelons, melons. The main drink is tea, often green. Dishes and table etiquette preserve the national flavor.

Family rituals retain national specifics. However, many of them have lost their former magical significance and are now performed only for entertainment purposes or have disappeared altogether and new ones have arisen and taken their place (for example, the annual birthday celebration, solemn registration of marriage, etc.). Traditional types of folk art (embroidery, pottery, chasing and engraving of copper utensils, carving and painting on wood and ganch, stone carving, etc.) have reached a high development, retaining their originality in certain historical and cultural areas (Khorezm, Ferghana, etc. ). Oral folk art flourishes (epics, dastans, various songs and fairy tales). Folk theater and circus are popular - performances by wits, puppeteers, tightrope walkers. A professional culture is developing.

B.H. Karmysheva

Essays

Uzbeks. "Myths about ourselves" - "Rush Hour" newspaper

wide chapan
won't wear out
free union
won't fall apart.
Uzbek proverb

As you can see, the Uzbeks foresaw the “main tragedy” of the twentieth century many years ago. So it fell apart, because it was not free. For some it's bad, for some it's good. Here in St. Petersburg, there were much fewer foreign students, but there were a significant increase in laborers. Why did it happen - let's try to understand the next series of our project "Legends of the peoples".

Indeed, how many Uzbeks live in St. Petersburg, why do they come here, what kind of work do they do? And how, finally, do they manage to cook such an amazing pilaf?

Yes, by the way, a chapan is such a caftan, according to Dahl's dictionary.

Publications"Peak Hour" newspapers dedicated to Uzbeks
(clickable, ~ 990 Kb, .pdf format)

Turkmens of various tribes make up the bulk of the native population in the region. Their number extends to 246,500 people, which is 79% of the total indigenous population of the region.
The word “Turkmen”, according to the explanation of the only historian of the Turkmen people Abul Ghazi Bogadur Khan, given in the book “Genealogy of the Turkmens” written by him 250 years ago, comes from the Persian word “Turkmanend”, i.e. similar to a Turk. This name was given by the Tajiks of Merv to those Turkic tribes who, during the time of Salor Kazan and the Abbasids, migrated here from Turkestan. “Those Turkmens,” says Abul Gazi, “who ended up in Maverannahr, the Tajiks first called the Turks. After five or six generations, they changed under the influence of earth and water ... their eyes became large, their faces small, and their noses large. “Obviously” noted by Abul Gazi Bogadur Khan, the change in the type of Turkmens occurred due to the mixing of their blood with Aryan blood.
Others say that the Turkmens who lived in Persia, when asked by the Persians about their origin, said “Turkmen”, which means “I am a Turk”, which is why this nickname remained with them.

Origin and history of Turkmens. Salors and their resettlement in Merv, Iraq and Mangishlak

The Salors, from whom most of the Turkmen tribes living in the region originated, were one of the branches of the Oguz tribe. This branch is of ancient origin: it originates from Salor, the son of Tag Khan and the grandson of Oguz Khan, this mythical hero of the Turkic tribes, a contemporary of Keyumers, who lived 6000 years before the present on the banks of the Issy-Kul.
The Turkmens teke, yomud and saryk, who make up the bulk of the Turkmens of the region, consider Salor Kazan as their ancestor and, as it seems, quite thoroughly. The history of the Turkmens, as an independent people, different from the rest of the Oguz tribe, must begin with the resettlement of the Salors from Turkestan to Maverannahr, i.e., to the left bank of the Amu Darya and to the district of Merv. This resettlement was the result of stubborn hostility and uninterrupted wars for 5-6 generations with the Turkic Bejne tribe, which drove them out of the places they had occupied until now and forced them to flee for the Amu Darya. This event happened during the lifetime of Salor Kazan's father, Enkesh, who was the foreman of the Salor tribe during the rule of the Abbasid dynasty in Merv in 300 years of the Muslim calendar, i.e. about 1000 years to the present.
From that time, that is, from the time of Salor Kazan, the change in the type of Turkmens mentioned by Abul Gazi began, separating them into a separate ethnographic group.
With this resettlement, Abul Gazi almost ends the coherent history of the Oguz tribe, which soon broke up into small parts and ceased to exist as a separate monarchical state.
How and where the Salors lived from this time on, Abul Ghazi gives us little indication.
Obviously, some of them continued to live in Merv during the following dynasties; we see this from the fragmentary indications of the Arab writers of that time.
After internecine wars during the reign of Ali-Khan, many tribes of the Oguz tribe, including the Salors with the tribes of Imr, Ikdyr and others who joined them, migrated to Mangishlak and the Hissar mountains.
At the same time, 10,000 Salor wagons led by Dingli Bek left for Khorasan, where they remained for many years; from there they migrated to Iraq and Fars, and "there they settled down, as in their homeland." When Sultan Melik Shah, the father of Sultan Sanjar, conquered Iraq and Fars and moved his capital to Isfahan (about 1070), part of the Salors received permission to migrate from Iraq to Mangishlak.
“In the old days they used to say,” writes Abul Ghazi: “the Oguz tribe wandered. Are there camps for him, are there camps for him?

Bogatyr Salor Ogurdzhik and further Salor migrations. Origin of the Yomud, Teke, Saryk tribes

During the stay of the Salor in Iraq, among this tribe, the hero Salor Ogurdzhik appeared among this tribe, to whose offspring all the main Turkmen tribes living in the region belong. Abul Ghazi says that Salor Ogurdzhik, not feeling able to resist the nomadic Bayander tribe in Iraq, fled to Shamakhi with 1,000 wagons. From there, fearing the persecution of the Bayanders, he went to the Crimea, and then, through Atel (Volga) he went to Yaik (Ural). Having lived here for several years, Ogurdzhik quarreled with the khan of the Kanly tribe who roamed there, named Gek Tonli, and was forced to leave with 300 wagons to Mangishlak and Abul Khan (Balkhan Mountains).
Further, Abul Gazi gives a detailed enumeration of the closest descendants of Salor Ogurdzhik and the Turkmen tribes that descended from them. Most of these tribes do not currently live within the region, which is why we will not list them here. We will only say that he produces the Yomud tribe from the grandson of Salor Ogurdzhik - Kulmi, Tekins and Saryks from the Salor - Toy Tutmaz.
This is the limit of all the information about the Turkmens that we could draw from the writings of Abul Gazi Bogadur Khan. Taking into account that this work was written in the middle of the seventeenth century, it is not surprising that it is said so few.

Fragmentary information on the further history of the Turkmens

Some information on the further history of the Turkmens during their settlement within the current Trans-Caspian region can be found in the history of the Khiva Khanate, under whose citizenship, sometimes nominally, they were. In the absence of other data, we will here use scattered indications in the writings of later historians. On this subject, we find some fragmentary information from Veselovsky (Veselovsky, an essay on the history and geographical information about the Khiva Khanate, ed. 1877), which indicates that under Sophiar, Khan of Khiva, at the beginning of the tenth century, the Turkmens occupied Mangishlak, the Balkhan mountains, and lived along the banks of the Amu-Darya and in Degistan and paid tribute to the Khivans.
At that time, along the Amu River, which flowed to the Caspian Sea, from Urgench to Balkhan there were continuous settlements of Turkmens: from Pishgah to Kara Kichit (black ford) the Adakly Khyzyr tribe roamed, from it to Balkhan the Ali tribe, and from there to the Tiveji Sea.
Abul Gazi Khan in 1637 pacified the Turkmens, who took power into their own hands. They lived in Tejen, Bami, Beyurm and on the banks of the Atrek and Gyurgen.
Around 1736, Nadir Shah defeated Khiva and ordered the Teke and Yomud living there to be settled in Khorosan.
According to the testimony of Gladyshev and Muravin, who were in Khiva in 1741, there were 4 Turkmens: Teke Yomud, Chovdur, Mangishlak and Tejen, and in total up to 30 thousand people, and all of them were under the rule of Khiva.
Philip Eremov, who was a prisoner in Khiva around 1785, indicates that the Teke and Salor roamed the Amu down from Chardzhuy; the nomad camps of the Turkmens west of Khiva began in the 25th century. from the villages Barn.
At the end of the eighteenth century, the Turkmens were the scourge of the Khiva Khanate. In the 90s of the same century, under Avyaz Inak, there were 4 indignations of the Yomud Turkmens, who, with any change of khan, caused unrest in the country.
In 1813, Muhmed Rahim Khan undertook a campaign against Persia. The Teke and Goklan tribes refused to go with him. Returning to Khiva, he went to punish them and completely defeated the Turkmen Teke; their arable lands were taken away and many prisoners were taken. The Tekins under the command of Murad Serdar hid in the mountains. Hunger forced them to pay tribute to the Khan of Khiva, and some of them migrated to Khiva. He also called to Khiva the generation of Chovdor and Essen-ili (Goklans), who roamed in Mangishlak, which prevented trade between Astrakhan merchants and Khiva. The Ata generation, which roamed near the Caspian Sea, was forced out of the Balkhan Mountains by the Yomuds and came running under the protection of Khiva.
In 1832 Alla Kul Khan of Khiva took Merv and Serakhs. The Tekins paid an indemnity. In 1839 there was again a campaign to punish the Teke Turkmen for disobedience.
In 1846, the Bukharians incited the Tekins to take possession of Merv, which belonged to Khiva, and they attacked and slaughtered all the Khivans. Since that time, the annual campaigns of the Khiva Khan against the Turkmens began, but the latter hid in the sands.
In 1858, the Turkmens with their khan fought against the newly appointed Khan Seyid Mukhamed in Khiva and laid siege to several cities. In the same year, the Yomuds, invited to help the Kungrad Bek Mukhamed Fenal, proclaimed him Khan of Khiva.

Occupation by the Tekins of Akhal, Tejen and Merv

Petrusevich (Zap. Kavk. Det. Imp. R. G. O. book XI issue I, 1880) reports that according to the stories of the Budzhnurd and Kuchan rulers, the Tekins occupied Akhal 163 years ago, during the time of Shah Tahmasp; from then until the present century they were limited to the confines of the oasis. But the increase in population and the limited amount of water forced the Tekins to look for new places suitable for settlements. Under the leadership of Oraz Khan, part of the Tekins left the Akhal oasis and settled along Harirud, 80 versts directly east of the village of Gyaursa.
Oraz Khan, having moved to Herirud, arranged a Ukrainian on its right bank. Tejen or Oraz-Kala, as a result of which the entire river Harirud from Ukrainian. Serakhsa until its end was called Tejen-Darya. Having settled along Tejen, the Tekins got the opportunity to raid the northeastern provinces of Persia, until the ruler of Khorasan, Asifud-doule Alla-Yar-Khan, who was driven out of patience by the robberies of the Tekins, attacked them in the 40s of this century and destroyed their settlements.
The Tekins again gathered in Akhal, but the lack of water and land made them again look for new places for settlement. Then the same Oraz Khan with other elected representatives from the Tekins came to the ruler of Khorasan with a request to be allowed to settle in old Serakhs, on the right bank of the Harirud River, and occupy the area around it. At that time, the space near the old Serakhs on both sides of the river was free. Having received permission, the Tekins at first lived peacefully with the Persians and turned to the north for robbery in Bukhara and Khiva and to the nomad camps of the Saryks and Salors. Muhamed Emin, who was Khiva Khan at that time, twice went to pacify them and was killed on his second campaign in 1855, since then the Tekins in Serakhs became even bolder and began to rob not only the Bukhara, Khiva, Saryks (who lived in Merv), but also the weight of the province of Khorasan.
Finally, the ruler of Khorasan (Sultan Murad Mirza Khyssamus Sultane) decided to finally pacify the Tekins; Persian troops appeared in old Serakhs, all the settlements were devastated, and the Tekins fled to Merv to Murgab (This was in the 50s of the 19th century). But the Saryks lived here. Between the Tekins and the Saryks, a struggle began for the possession of Merv and the lower reaches of the Murgab. The Saryks were defeated, and they went upstream to the tracts of Elotan and Pende, displacing, in turn, the Salors from Elotan (We preserve the ancient name of the tribe everywhere, instead of the current “Salyr”), who moved with the permission of the Persian government to the ruins of the city of Zur -Abad, lying on the left bank of the Gerirud, 120 versts south of Serakhs. Since that time, the Tekins became in Merv the full owners of all the lands at the end of the river. Their raids and robberies became even more terrible for the northeastern provinces of Khorasan and the northern outskirts of Afghanistan. All this forced the Persian government to move on Merv in order to completely ruin it. Previously, in 1860, a fortification was built on the left bank of the Harirud River, against the old Serakhs, called the new Ssrakhs, and in 1861 the Persian army moved through Serakhs to Merv; having suffered a complete pogrom (Numerous artillery taken by the Tekins in this battle is stored at the Merv Uyezd Administration), the Persians finally abandoned the idea of ​​​​acting against the Tekins of Merv and limited themselves only to protecting their provinces from their raids. The Tekins, after such success, became completely independent, because until that time they either recognized themselves as Khiva, or Persian subjects, depending on whose side the power was.
In the 1870s, the Tekins of Merv attacked the Salors at Zur-Abad by surprise, seized all the herds and many families and invited the rest to follow to Merv, where they settled them among all their clans in small groups, in 10-12 families.
It should be added to this that in 1884 the Tedzhen oasis was again occupied by the Tekins, who came from Merv, when the Karry-bend dam was restored by order of General Komarov.

Recent history of salors

We will supplement the above information with the oral traditions of the Salor Turkmens. They report that in the last century and at the beginning of the present they inhabited the Iolotan and Pendinsky oases. Approximately in 1780, the Salors from the Kichiaga tribe moved to Serakhs, where they built the Kizil-Kaya dam, which still exists. In 1830, for the Alamans in Persia, the Salors were defeated by the Persian prince Abbas Mirza and up to 900 families were taken prisoner, but a year later they were ransomed by their relatives, the Iolotan Salors, and taken back to the Murghab River. Here, under the rule of the Emir of Bukhara, the Salors lived peacefully for up to 20 years, and then again began to rob neighboring Persian possessions together with the Tekins. Around 1850, the Persians again went to war on the Salors, defeated them, took 200 hostages and pushed them back to Penda; however, on the way to Mashhad, the captive Salors fled to their own. From Pende, the Salors migrated to Meruchak, but, pressed here by the Saryks, they migrated to Meimen and Kara-Tepe (near the Kushkin post); it was about 1854. However, the Saryks also ousted them from the last settlement. Then, on the advice of Berda Murad Khan (father of Lieutenant Mengli Khan), the Salors migrated to Persia to Zurabad, but after three years the lack of water forced them to return to the old ashes, to Serakhs. 40 days after their resettlement, Kaushut Khan attacked them with his Merv Tekins and took them to Merv, where he forced them to cultivate the land from the share of the crop in favor of the Mervs.
After the occupation of Askhabad by the Russians, part of the Salor with Mengli Khan left in small parties to the left bank of the Tejen River in Kala-i-Nou (12 versts from the Persian fortress of Serakhs-i-Nasiri); those who remained in Merv secretly from the Tekins sent Teke Khan to the Russians for negotiations.
In Sarakhs, the Persians offered Mengli Khan a choice: either leave the Persian possessions altogether, or move to Zurabad, where Mengi Khan moved with 100 families. Soon Teke Khan came there with 2000 families. Upon the arrival of General Komarov in Rukhnabad, Salor envoys came to him with a request to accept them as subjects of Russia and allow them to occupy land near Sepaxca, on the right bank of the Tejen River. General Komarov agreed to this and from July 1884 the Salors settled in Serakhs.

Genealogy of the Turkmen tribes according to local legends

The oral traditions of the Turkmens about their origin do not go back to the depths of time and, moreover, are characterized by incompleteness and the absence of any chronological indications. Therefore, it is not possible to establish a continuous connection between the later tribal divisions and the more ancient ancestors of individual tribes. Tekins and Saryks consider as their ancestors Salor Kazan and Teke Magomed, as well as a number of persons whose names are now existing tribal groups.
Therefore, the genealogical tree of the Turkmen tribes is very instructive for getting acquainted with their modern tribal structure.
The genealogy of the Tekins and Saryks, in general terms, is as follows; Teke Magomed had 3 sons: Tokhtamysh, Otamysh and Elkomysh. Tekins descended from the first two, and Saryks from the last. Otamysh had children: Bakhshi and Sychmas, Tokhtamysh had Bek and Vekil, Elkomysh had Falaja, Alash and Amansha. Subsequently, Amansh's mother married Tokhtamysh, and his family joined the Tekins.
The Tekins of the Bakhshi clan were subdivided into genera: Mirish, Chaltek, Yasman, Salykh, Ak-Dashayak, Kara-Dashayak; the genus sychmas was divided into: ak-sufi i khodzha-sufi; the Bek clan was divided into genera: Kongur and Geokcha; genus vekil on bukuri, kahshal, kanjik and yusuf.
The family of the Saryks Falaja was subdivided into bayrach, khorosanly, arkhaks and sukhts; clan Alash - for childbirth: Alnysh and Hadji-Nazar. Each of these divisions broke up into numerous, smaller generic groups, the enumeration of which we do not give here.
The Yomud tribe, according to oral tradition, produces itself from the Salor Kalami. He is followed by Yomud with his sons Kutly Temir and Etli Temir (the latter's descendants live in Khiva). The descendants of the first were: Chony, from whom the Ak, Atabay and other tribes originated, and Sheriff-Jefarbay, whose offspring, in turn, divided into two groups: Yarali and Nurali, each of which gave many small tribal divisions.
Salors were also subdivided into three genera: Karaman, Kichi-Aga and Elovach.

Khan power, Serdars and Alamanism

Before the occupation of the region by the Russians, the Turkmens did not have any state structure. The principle of brotherhood, equality and freedom was put into practice by them more fully and consistently than in any of the modern republics. It was a free Cossacks, where the weights were completely equal and there was no holding power. They did not have any hereditary khan power, and they gave the title of khan from time to time with the general consent of one or another of their more meritorious members, and no power was connected with this title.
The Khan was elected not by a whole tribe, but by a separate generation or a group of auls, who did not pay him any maintenance or taxes, but only gave 2 horsemen from each aul to pursue the robbers, who often came from Persia and stole Turkmen cattle.
Serdars enjoyed no less honor and importance than the khans.
Serdar, this is a military leader who led the Turkmen freemen during alamans (robber raids), or other military enterprises. Raids and robberies in the neighboring districts of Persia were the main occupation of the Turkmens of Akhal, and partly of other oases; were a trade, a means of subsistence. Cattle breeding and agriculture, in particular the latter, were only a secondary, controversial occupation.
From time to time one or another serdar, and there were quite a few of them, informed the villages about the alleged raid. Everyone wishing to take part in it gathered to him at the appointed time, or joined on the road.
Up to 1000 or more riders gathered to the serdars, known for their art. They always traveled light, not taking much food with them. Ease and speed were their main tactics. They suddenly flew into the village, grabbed and tied the inhabitants, put them on the croup of their horses and quickly disappeared.
The main prey of the Turkmens were people, and therefore they tried to use weapons as little as possible. After the alaman, the booty was distributed equally by the number of participants, while the serdar received twice.
The Turkmens did not like to keep captives, and therefore they quickly sold them to buyers who sent them to the markets of Bukhara and Khiva.
Robbery and raids on the Shia Persians, whom the Turkmens considered the worst of the infidels, were considered a charitable deed and did not prevent the people from remaining highly honest and moral in their mutual relations.
Such is the turbulent historical past of the Turkmen tribes inhabiting the region.

(folk forms of Central Asian Sufism)

Atins are among the Turkmen ovlyads (***) - honorary groups or, as it was customary to write before, "holy (sacred) tribes." Along with the Atins, Khodjas, Shihs, Seyids, Makhtums and Mudzhevurs were also considered Ovlyads.

It has already been noted in the literature that the privileged position of ovlyads in Turkmen society was associated with the veneration of saints, to whom the beginning of ovlyad groups was erected. The ancestor of most groups of ovlyads of tradition is called one of the four successors of Muhammad - the caliphs Abu Bekr, Omar, Osman and Ali. In addition, over the centuries, many people from among the Ovlyads themselves were recognized as saints by folk tradition. According to the beliefs of the Turkmen, the descendants of these saints could also perform miracles, or at least enjoyed the protection of the spirits of their ancestors.

Atins are the most numerous group among the Turkmen ovlyads. They live in several villages of the Kizyl-Arvat region (in particular, in the village of Tutly), make up the main population of the village of Ata in the Serakh region and two collective farms in the Tedzhen region (named after Lenin and "Lenin Yoly"), and are also scattered in small groups in many places of these two districts and in the vicinity of the cities of Mary and Bairam-Ali. Most of them are in the Dargan-Ata region. Outside Turkmenistan, the Atins live in the Turtkul region of the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and, according to the stories of the old people, in Iran (the ubyk-ata group).

Nevertheless, the Atins were not the most influential group of Ovlyads. From some old men of the Atins one can hear stories about their ancestor Gozli-ata, who allegedly showed his “strength” ( ceramic mat) to the hodge who was visiting him: he forced the dragon to descend from the mountains ( ajdarha). Khoja was frightened, and the saint's wife took a stick and, sitting in place, drove the dragon away. However, such stories meet with sympathy only among the Atins themselves and, perhaps, among the Western Yemuds, among whom many shrines are considered the graves of prominent representatives of the Ata tribe. In Turkmenistan, the palm among the ovlyads firmly belongs to the Khojas. Moreover, many Tekins and Salyrs do not consider the Atins an honorary group (ovlyad).

The origin of the Atins, like other ovlyads, has not yet been clarified. Folk traditions are almost the only source on this issue, and first of all we have to turn to them. Oral legends consider Saint Gozli-ata, a descendant of the third “righteous” caliph, Osman (who, as is known, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad), to be the ancestor of the Ata tribe. The real name of Gozli-ata is Khasan-ata.

The earliest point of view on the origin of the Turkmen-ata is based on complete trust in the legends of the Atins: they, like other ovlyads, were considered Turkmen descendants of the Arabs. Comparatively recently this opinion has rightly been rejected. Another point of view was expressed by G. I. Karpov. Having abandoned the Arabic version, G. I. Karpov found it possible to bring the Atins closer to the Atasians, the ancient tribes that were part of the Massagets and Saks. This hypothesis has no other arguments than the similarity of names.

This story can be understood as a recollection of some participation of the Kazakh component in the formation of the Atins. Apparently, the assumption that the Atins have dissolved some Kazakh groups in themselves will not raise objections. But in general, the past of the Atins can hardly be separated from the history of many other Turkmen groups. References to Turkestan are also found in the legends of other Turkmens about the resettlement from the banks of the Syr Darya, which legends associate with the name of St. Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.

The history of the resettlement of the Atins can be reliably restored only from the beginning of the 18th century, when the Turkmen-ata began to leave the Balkhans, migrating to the Amu Darya. Some data on the movements of individual groups of this tribe is already in the literature, but they do not give a clue to the solution of the question of where the Ata tribe came from.

Who are these Atins? Our point of view on the emergence of ata has already been expressed. We believe that the very formulation of the question should be different - not “in terms of studying ethnic interactions, but in terms of studying the fate of Islam in the Turkmen environment. The Ata tribe was created not by ethnic transformations, but by the separation of part of the Turkmen population into a religious community. The beginning of the Ata tribe (as well as some other groups of ovlyads) must be sought in Sufism.

The article contains material in which, as it seems, one can find arguments in support of such a point of view. This is, firstly, the text of handwritten genealogies of the Atins and, secondly, ethnographic information collected by the author since 1958 in different regions of the Turkmen SSR and in 1970 in the Chimkent region of the Kazakh SSR.

The oral traditions of the Turkmen-ata have already been recorded by various researchers. Of the European authors, A. Borns was the first to retell the legend of the Atins about their origin. The Ata tribe, he wrote, “comprises, as they say, the seids and descends from Caliph Osman” (the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad are called the Seyids among the Arabs and Persians). Then G. I. Karpov gives information about the ancestor of the Atins in his works. In one of them, the version is completely different: “The Ata tribe considers Ali-Ishran, one of the first followers of Mohammed, to be their ancestor.” In another publication, G. I. Karpov is close to A. Borns: the Atins are “a group that considers itself descendants of Mahomet” .

In the notes of G.P. Vasilyeva, the name of Osman appears again: “According to legend ... ata are the descendants of the first of the four imams of Mohammed - Osman”; the ancestor of the Atins, "according to one version ... was Gozil-ata, according to another - Chil-Mamed". In the stories that G. E. Markov heard, the beginning of the Atins is from the prophet Muhammad or "from the Arabs or Turks." According to one of these legends, the prophet Isa forced to read the book that had fallen from the sky of “the pious man Khizret Osman (he is also called Khesen-Ata). The Prophet liked his reading, he gave him the nickname Gozl-ata (Big-eyed) and gave him his daughter as his wife. Their children were the ancestors of the Atins."

The given information does not give a clear idea of ​​the genealogical tradition of the Atins. The relationship between the figures of Osman and Gozil (Gözl)-ata is not clear. In some cases, these are heroes of variants of legends independent of each other (G.P. Vasilyeva), in others they are one and the same person (G.E. Markov). Ya. R. Vinnikov retells the legends of the Atins in the most general terms: “The legends connect the origin of the Turkmen-Atas with the name of Muhammad.”

The name of their ancestor Gozli-ata is well known to the Atins; this is confirmed by the materials of S. M. Demidov and S. P. Polyakov, as well as the testimony of the outstanding Turkmen poet Makhtumkuli, who, referring to another poet, Durdyshahir from Atin, said: “If you are a [descendant] of Gyozli-ata, then we [from] the people (a) of the Herkezes". Nevertheless, other versions formally have the right to exist, because the common version of the legend is not always the most ancient and reliable. And in the presence of several versions of the legend, a correct interpretation can only be counted on if it is possible to establish whether the legend has long existed in the form of a number of independent (parallel) versions or whether the discrepancies appeared as a result of the distortion of the ancient tradition. A manuscript outlining the genealogy can help to understand this. One should not think, of course, that the legend written down by someone many years ago reproduces the original version. No, even the writings of Abu-l-gazi, which are, in fact, a retelling of folk legends, show that the ancient records of legends were edited from time to time. But the handwritten genealogy is clearly older than the oral versions recorded in our time, therefore, the facts reflected in the legends are less distorted in the manuscript.

I managed to see two lists of the genealogy of the Ata tribe. Both documents are written on paper scrolls, which are kept rolled up into a tube, tied with cloth on top. The owner of the first one is Yari Tuvokov, born in 1930, a resident of the village of Tutly in the Kizyl-Arvat region. The owner of the second one is Aman Emirov, born around 1900, a resident of the village of Ata in the Serakh region. Both of them belong to the Atin "kind" myomin. With the kind permission of the owners, I photographed the manuscripts.

Below is the translation. The numbers in the margins correspond to the line numbers of the original. A vertical stroke marks the beginning of each line, two strokes the beginning of every five lines. In square brackets - my explanations, in round brackets - words that are absent in the original text, supplemented by me. The language of the manuscripts is Turkic, close to the so-called Chagatai, interspersed with phrases, lines and even paragraphs written in Arabic (occasionally in Persian). The Arabic text of the original is in italics. I take this opportunity to thank P. I. Petrov, professor of the Institute of Oriental Languages ​​at Moscow State University, for translating the Arabic text.

The beginning of the first scroll is torn off and lost, so the ordinal designation of words is conditional. The first line (of the remaining ones) is not completely preserved, the last words in it are “ Allah, Merciful, Merciful". There is no end in the second line, but it is not difficult to restore it, because the whole line reproduces the saying of the Koran: “ Verily, Allah has chosen Adam and Nuh and the family of Ibrahim and the family of ‘Imran before the worlds.» .

3 | “This is Our argument which We gave to Ibrahim against his people. We raise in degrees those whom we desire. Verily, your Lord is wise, knowing! And We gave him Ishaq and Yakub; all We led 5 in a straight path; || and We led Nuh before, and from his offspring - Daud, Sulaiman, and Ayyub, and Yusuf, / and Musa, and Harun. This is how we reward those who do good! And Zakaria, and Yahya, and Isa, \ and Ilyas - they are all from the righteous. And Ismail, and al-Yas, and Yunus, and Lut \ - and all We exalted above the worlds. And from their fathers, and their descendants, and their brothers. \ We chose them and led them to a straight path.. What follows is a nonsensical four-word phrase. Then:

10 || “From his reverence to the prophet Adam - (let it be on him) God's blessing!- from Adam and Hava was | five hundred souls of children, (who were born) twins: one male child, the other female. | But Shish was the first peace be upon him! The Almighty God sent him from paradise | in wife Guria. Adam's son is Shish, his son is Anush, | his son is 15 Kaniya, his son is Mala'il, his son is Yarda'il, || his son is Ukhnuh, his son is Mathushaleh, his son is Idris | prophet- peace be upon him! His son is Malik, his son is Anas, his son is | Nuh prophet. Nuh had four sons: Ham, Sam, | Jafes, Kan'an. The children of Ham trampled on the scripture | and were unrighteous, therefore they were slaves of (other) descendants of 20 Adam. || The Arabs and Persians are the descendants of Sam. Myself | was a prophet, in his face was clear the light [of the religion revived later by the activity] of Muhammad. Son of Sama - | Hashim, his son is Salih, his son is ‘Abuz, his (son) is Balkh, his son is | Ashruh, his son is Basur, his son is Ashur, his son is Tarkh | nicknamed Azar, because (he) was the vizier of Nimrud. His son is Ibrahim, friend of god. || The Almighty 25 god in the scripture (about him) memory (left): “ So follow his faith!» « Religion of Ibrahim Hanif» \ - so called his religious teachings [tarikat]. His son is Isma'il destined to be a sacrifice to God, his son - | Layan, his son is Kaidar, his son is Hamalmuluk, his | son - Nabatmulyuk, his son - Salarmulyuk, | his son is Yemshekhmuluk, his son is Yeisikhmuluk, his son is Adarmuluk, his son is Madad || muluk, his son is ‘Adnanmuluk, his son is 30 Ka’admuluk, | his son is Hazimamulyuk, his son is Kinanamulyuk, his | son - Nasrmuluk; (tribe) Qureish - his descendants.

At Nasrmuluk | had two sons. One is Davmalik, the other is Almalik. Son of Almalik - | Fakhar, his son is Ghalib, his son is Loy, his son is Ka'ab, his || son - Mert, his son - Kilab, his son - Kusai, his son | — ‘Abd al-Manaf. ‘Abd al-Manaf had two sons: one was Hashim, the other was Abd ash-Shems. | The son of Hashim is ‘Abd al-Muttalib, his son is Abdallah, his son is | Muhammad - peace be upon him! Presentation about Loe. (His) son is Ka'ab, his son is Omar, his son is ‘Amr, | his son is ‘Osman, his son is Kuhafa, his son is Abu Bekr Siddyk [Truthful] — may Allah be pleased with him! || 40 Account of Loe. His son is Ka'ab, his son is Aziz, his son is Ruach, his | his son is ‘Abd al-Aziz, his son is Nufl, his son is Ibn Khattab, his son is ‘Omar.

An account of ‘Abd ash-Shems. His son is Umayya, his son is Abu L'as. | His son is 'Affan, his son is khazret [his reverend] 'Osman Zinnurayn [possessing two lights] - let him be pleased | im Allah! His son is 'Abdallah Akbar, his son is Harun, his son is \\ 'Abd al-Jabbar, 45 his son is 'Abd al-Qahar, his son is 'Abd al-Karim, his son is | Shahab ad-din, his son is Najm ad-din. Najm ad-Din had two sons. | The name of one is Sa'd | nicknamed Ismahmud-ata, | the name of the other is Ma'ruf-ata, his [i.e. e. Ma'ruf-ata] son ​​- Daud, his son - Hasan, his || son - Hussein, 50 his son - My'min, his | son - | Bayezid, his son is Isa, his son is Khoja, his son is Badr-| Khoja, his son is Sadr-Khoja, his son is Iskander, his son is | Yahya, his son is Kaisar, his son is Murad, his son is Suleiman.

| Suleiman had two sons: the name of one was Sujuk-luk ||-ata, the name of the other was Mahab-ata - may 55 have mercy on him (Allah)! Son of Sujukluk-ata - ! — | Sultan, Pole of Poles Hakim-ata Suleiman - (let it be) on it a little (God!). | Saying: "Hakim" [i.e. e. wise], (they meant that he) saw wisdom in the teachings [tarikat] of his reverend Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. | Therefore, he was called Hakim-ata. Hakim Suleiman had four sons: | one - Asgar-Khoja, one - 60 Kodzhkar-Khoja, one - Mahmud-Khoja, one - || Sultan Khubbi-Khoja - May Allah have mercy on him and welcome (his,)! - (who) disappeared in a blessed way [it is not known where during his lifetime - gayib buldi]. | (His) son is Sheikh Sa'd Nefes. Another [inisi] Sultan Sanjar Mazi | was the son of Abu Sa'id.

Description of the Mahab-ata. (His) son is Hasan-ata. | Since in the field of religious teaching [tarikat] difficult circumstances were (and he saw a way out of them), so he was called Kuzlyuk-ata. | From the Pole of Poles, a descendant of the family (prophet) - may his ashes be pure! — 65 murshid walking || on the path of knowing the immutable truth, the best of friends(God's), His Rev. Khoja Ahmed Yasawi | permission (for this) was. His reverend Kyuzlyuk-ata had three sons. | The name of one is Nur-ata, the name of the other is ‘Omar-ata, the name of the third is Ibrahim-ata. | ‘Omar-ata had two sons: the name of one was Otada-ata, | the name of the other is Odamysh-ata. Otada ata had six sons: one - 70 Chin || Muhammed-ata, the other - Musa-Khoja-ata, the third - Ahmed-ata, the fourth - Mu'min-ata, the fifth - | Abdal-ata, the sixth - Selim-ata.

An account of Mu'min. The son of Mu'min is Abdurazzak, | his son is Abdulkarim, his son is Tangryberdy. At Tangryberda | had two sons: one was Yarmesid, the other was Culmesides. Son of Yarmesid - | Odamysh, nicknamed Okly Tokum. Okla 75 Tokuma had four sons: || one is Alifkara, the other is Kodzhkara, the third is Mollakara, the fourth is Kara-baba.

Son of Mollakar - | Mollakarry, his son is Mollaferim, his son is Karadja | Hafiz. Karaj Hafiz had two sons: the name of one was Muhammedyar, the name of the other was | Mollaferim. The son of Muhammadyar is Nurali. Nurali had two (sons): one - Yarveli, | the other is Mukhammedveli. Yarveli 80 had four sons: one - Muhammedyar, the other - || Safar-kylyj, the third - Adynasahad, the fourth - Mukhammedberdy. Mukhammedveli had two sons: | one is Halym, the other is Buvdakyzyl. The son of Buvdakizil is Oraz. | Oraz had three sons: one - Akmuhammed, the other - Amanmuhammed, | the third is Muhammadan. The son of Amanmuhammed is Oraz. Muhammademin had two sons: | one is Adynagafar, 85 the other is Adinasatar. Son of Adinasahad - || Otuz. Otuz had three sons: one was Mukhamedyar, the other... , | the third is Adinasahad.

An account of Kara-baba. The son of Kara-baba - Sheikh Behlil, | his son is Karayarseyid. Karayarseyid had three sons: one - | Janseyyad, the other - Nurseyid, the third - Babysh. Janseyid had two sons: | one is Yarseyid, the other is Yarmuhammed. The son of Yarmukhammed - Hallimukhammed || 90 nicknamed Halli-Kovak. Halla-Kovak had five (sons): one - Bagmukhammed, the other - | Yarmukhammed, nicknamed Koja [old man], the third - Janseyid, the fourth - Sahadmukhammed, the fifth - Adinamukhammed | nicknamed Karabay. Bagmukhammed had two sons: one was Muham, the other was Ataniyaz. | Muham had four sons: one - Dzhumabay, the other - Ishimbay, the third - Shikhimbay, | the fourth is Adynabay. Adynabay had two sons: one was Muham, the other was Bagmukhammed.

|| Koca had four sons: one - 95 Hallimukhammed, another - Karakhan, the third - Nurmukhammed | nicknamed Nuri-Cherre [bug-eyed], the fourth is Akmukhammed. Hallimukhammed had two sons: one - Orazmukhammed, | another - | Agamuhammed. Orazmukhammed had two sons: | one is Halli-Kovak, the other is Hassan, nicknamed Akhund. | Nuri-Cherre had three sons: one was Koja, the other was Kel-bay, the third was Barmukhammed, nicknamed Bar-Cherre. | Kelbai had two sons: one was Tajmuhammed, the other was Velimuhammed. The son of Bari (sic!)-Cheppe is Nur-Cherre.

|| The son of Janseyid is Tekemuhammed. Tekemukhammed 100 had three sons: one - Mukhammedovez, the other - | Atamuhammed. the third is Mukhammedkurban. The son of Atamuhammed is Tekemukhammed. | Sahadmuhammed had two sons: one was Halnefes, the other was Oraznefes. At Halnefes | had two sons: one was Sakhadmukhammed, the other was Nazarmukhammed.

Karabay had five sons: | one is Kutlymurad, the other is Sultanmurad, the third is Adinamurad, the fourth is Berdymurad, the fifth is Mukhammedmurad. || The son of Kutlymurad - 105 Yakhshimuhammed, nicknamed Kerman. The son of Kerman is Kutlymurad. At Sultanmurad | there were two sons: one - Adinamurad, the other - Karabay. The son of Berdymurad is Ashirmukhammed. | Muhammadmurad had two sons: one was Berdymukhammed, the other was Mukhammedniyaz.” There are 107 lines in the first list, not counting the lost beginning.

The second list has been preserved in its entirety, but, unfortunately, the photographs were unsuccessful, and it was not possible to repeat them. Therefore, about two dozen lines were left without translation.

The lists are not identical. Some information from one document is missing in another, and in the same pieces of text there are discrepancies. Thus, in the first list Malik, the son of Idris (line 16), and Asur, the son of Basur (line 23) are named; in the second, these names are omitted. In the second list (lines 63-64) the son of Suleiman ata is named more extensively: Sujukluk-Ibrahim-ata; in the first (lines 54-55) he is only Sujukluk-ata. In the second list (lines 73-74) the named sons of Otada-ata are listed in a different order than in the first (lines 69-71). In the second list (lines 75-76) three sons of Chinmukhammed-ata are named; The first one does not have this information. The number of such examples can be increased, however, it is already clear that the discrepancies are insignificant and are mostly due to errors or omissions in the correspondence. In this regard, only those lines of the second list that are not in the first are given below.

The second list begins with the words: In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Merciful!» The following lines (from the 1st to the beginning of the 13th), written in Arabic, are not translated; from about half of the 13th line follows the phrase: "... I resort to God (for help) from the stoned shaitan." Next, on line 27 inclusive, comes the text corresponding to lines 2-27 of the first list (however, the name of Kaydar's son is written illegibly), then (line 28) the names are given in the following sequence: “Basih, his son is Madavmalik, his son is ' Adnan. From the end of line 28 to line 33 inclusive, there is an Arabic text, information about the Qureish tribe is given: the name Qureish is borne by all the descendants of Nasrmalik, the son of Kinan, a descendant of Hashim; from this tribe came the caliphs Abu Bakr, Omar and Osman, as well as the messenger of God Muhammad himself.

Lines 34 and 35: “Son of ‘Abdallah. Description of Adnan. His son is Ka'ab, his son is Basr, his son is Nasr, his son is Ilyas, his | son - Madrak, his son - Hazima, his son - Kenana, his son - Nasrmalik, his descendants - (tribe) Qureish. Further text on line 39 inclusive corresponds to lines 32 - 38 (from the words: "At Nasrmuluk ..." to the words: "... Muhammad - peace be upon him!) of the first list.

Below, in five circles arranged in a row, is placed the genealogy of Muhammad and the four "righteous" caliphs. Then the text comes again: line 40 and part 41: “ and the best of people after our prophet - Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, then 'Omar al-Farouk, then 'Othman Zinnurayn, then 'Ali al-Murtaza and their successors; | in that order also ... from himself". From the middle of line 41 almost to the end of line 42 follows a text repeating lines 42-44 of the first scroll (from the words: “Abd ash-Shems...” to the words: “... may Allah be pleased with him!»).

From line 43 comes the text in Persian, which is not in the first document: “... In the introduction of the book (?), it is said that his reverend Osman - may Allah have mercy on him! - from her reverend Rukayi there were nine sons: | ‘Abd Allah Akbar, ‘Abd Allah Asghar, ‘Omar, Aban, Khalid, ‘Amr, Sayyid, Magbara and ‘Abd al-Malik, || and six 45 daughters: Maryam, Subad, ‘Aisha, Umm ‘Omar, Umm Aban and Umm al-banin. Also (written) in the book "Al-Maqbara" and | it seems - in the book "Al-Kazbad": his reverend 'Othman had ten sons. Some died before him. The best son was named | 'Abdallah Akbar - his mother was Ruqaiya - and the next son was named 'Abdallah Asghar. And Osman had six daughters. And since that time [i.e. e. further] (quoted) "History" | Tabari: (one) who denies the descendants of 'Uthman - and he is cursed; and (one) who lies(?) about the descendants of 'Uthman - and he is a hypocrite in his soul. Firuzshahi (writes): | The children of Kulsum and Zeinab - they do not have the title of sayyid, because they were born before the prophecy, and Fatima and Ruqaiya were born after the prophecy ... "

Lines 50-53 are written in Turkic: «|| An account of his 50 reverend ‘Osman. He had nine sons, but according to another legend - eleven: | ‘Abdallah Akbar, ‘Abdallah Asghar, ‘Omar, Khoja Aban, Khalid, ‘Amr, Sayyid, | Magbara, ‘Abd al-Malik, Ataba and Anaba. Their birth mother is Umm Ruqayya and their stepmother is Umm Kulthum. The descendants of Abu Bekr and ‘Omar and ‘Othman are noble, and as for the children of ‘Ali (they), apart from Hasan and Hussein, were not (?) preferred | due to its origin. Such an order was beautiful; Allah (makes) excellent of || 55 of his slaves, whoever he wants. Pearls of fatwas: The prophet said - peace be upon him! - that ... Allah does not accept repentance, except ... The prophet said - peace be upon him! - who hates 'Uthman ... Messenger of Allah."

The further text from line 56 to the beginning of 83 corresponds to lines 44-80 of the first list (from the words: "His son is 'Abdallah Akbar ..." to the words: "... the fourth is Mukhammedberdy"), except for the fact that that the second list (lines 75-76) lists the sons of Chinmukhammed-ata (Khoja-'Osman-ata, Ibrahim-ata and 'Abyskhoja-ata) and does not name (line 82) the second son, Nurali.

The text continuing the 83rd line up to the middle of the 84th line corresponds to the text of the first list on lines 86-88 (from the words: "An account of Kara-baba ..." to: "... the third one is Babysh"). Further and to the very end (i.e., lines 84-99) there is a text that is missing from the first scroll:

The compilation of a genealogical document, one must think, was primarily caused by the need of the Atins to “confirm” the nobility of their origin, and not to keep the names of their ancestors in the memory of their descendants. This need is strongest when the genealogical tradition is just beginning to be established. Probably, by the time the earliest version of the manuscript was compiled, the relationship with Osman still required proof. Hence our interest in the question: when were the handwritten Sejre compiled?

According to the owners, both documents were written at the end of the last century, but it is not known whether they were copied from ancient manuscripts or not. Dating documents will help internal analysis of the text. Consider the order in which generations are listed. It is better to start counting generations from Gozli-ata: although the genealogy is traced back to Osman, the beginning of the “tribe” of the Atins was put by Gozli-ata. Here is the general scheme:

In both lists, a list of the descendants of Mollakar is given (in the first - more complete). Let's reproduce the general scheme of one branch without going into details.

The 21st generation can also be added here: the son of Oraz, Chara, nicknamed Narchi, was born in 1913.

But more attention in the genealogies is given to the descendants of Kara-baba. Here is one of the branches (according to the first list): 10. Kara-Baba, 11. Sheikh Behlil, 12. Karayarseyid, 13. Janseyid, 14. Yarmukhammed, 15. Hallimukhammed, 16. Yarmukhammed, 17. Nurmukhammed, 18. Kelbai, 19. Tajmuhammed.

The genealogy also details the descendants of other sons of Hallimukhammed, but the list does not go beyond the 19th generation from Gozli-ata. Let's continue it ourselves: 20, Tuvak, son of Tajmukhammed (Tachmyammed, born around 1900), 21. Yari, son of Tuvak (born in 1930), owner of the list.

The second list details the line of descendants of another son of Karayarseyid. Here is one of the branches: 12. Karayarseyid, 13. Babysh (Kara-baba second), 14. Karaheyran, 15. Adynadovlet, 16. Kara-baba (fourth), 17. Bakhbud-ata; 18. Amansahad, 19. Mollakarov, 20. Emirsahad. Let's add the 21st generation: Emirsahad's son, Aman (born around 1900), the owner of the list.

The first list first gives an enumeration of the descendants of Mollakar up to the 20th generation (that is, until the end of the last century), then passes to the descendants of the great-grandson of Kara-Baba, Janseyid (13th generation). Information about the sons of Hallimuhammed (16th generation) is interesting here. First, the descendants of the first son are listed, up to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, then the line of descendants of the second son is reproduced, etc. In other words, the generations are listed as follows: 16, 17, 18, 19; 16, 17, 18, 19; 16, 17, 18, 19; 16, 17, 18; 16, 17, 18, 19. It was possible to present information in this order only during the lifetime of the 19th generation, that is, not earlier than in the last decades of the 19th century.

In the second list, the offspring of Mollakar is brought up to the 17th generation. Then follows a branch formed by the descendants of Kara-baba. The sons of Babysh (13th generation), grandchildren from one of them and great-grandchildren are listed; the score was brought to the 16th knee. Further, the offspring of another grandson of Babysh is captured. His sons are named, grandsons from the eldest son and great-grandchildren from the eldest grandson (Dovletshikh, Bakhbud, Oraz), then the son and grandson of Dovletshikh (18th and 19th generations), sons of Bakhbud and Oraz (18th generation) and grandchildren of Bakhbud - first the children of the eldest son, then the second, etc. The list ends with the 20th generation - the children of the grandson of Bahbud from the eldest son.

It seems that here, starting from the 16th-17th generations, the names are named in the order in which they should have been attributed to the genealogy over time. Perhaps the second document is based on a manuscript compiled during the lifetime of the 16th-17th generation, that is, at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. But it is possible that the main text of the second list was formed later. So, in the second manuscript, four sons of Yarveli are named, but there is no his younger brother, Mukhammedveli (known from the first list). Does this mean that Mukhammedveli (16th generation) was born later than the children of his brother, and the list was compiled before his birth? Unlikely. Most likely, the scribe, who was not interested in the branch formed by the descendants of Mollakar, decided not to reproduce it in all details. The suppression of the line of descendants of Mollakar at the 17th generation and the descendants of one of the grandsons of Babysh at the 16th generation cannot serve as a sufficiently convincing sign for dating the document, which was the original for the second list.

Thus, both genealogies were not only written, but also compiled recently (the first typo is in the last decades of the last century, the second, obviously, a little earlier). But they were compiled on the basis of some old manuscripts. Neither of the two lists serves as an original for the other (this is evidenced by the nature of the discrepancies), apparently, both documents were rewritten from different copies of the genealogy.

Two unequal lists allow to some extent to make up for the lack of old records (“originals”) of the pedigree. Comparing the register of generations, one can find out what information of the Atin Sejre can be considered reliable. The first scroll has twenty generations along the line of the descendants of Mollakar and nineteen generations along the line of the descendants of Kara-bab. The second list lists twenty generations along the line of descendants of Kara-Baba, but of a different branch than in the first list. The coincidence of the number of generations of different genealogical branches (a difference of 1-2 generations is acceptable) gives reason to think that real persons are named in the manuscripts and in the correct order - starting from the stage when the single stem of the genealogy is divided into different branches. This stage falls on the 9th-10th generations - Otly Tokum and his sons. Apparently, since that time, the owners of the Sejre attributed information about new generations to the pedigree. This means that during the lifetime of the 9th-10th generations, the initial version of the handwritten genealogical legend of the Atins already existed. How long ago was that? “Sixteen generations pass in four hundred, at most four hundred and fifty years,” writes Abu-l-gazi, based on the calculation that new generations appear on average after 25 years. The 20th generation from Gozli-ata was born in 1890-1900, therefore, the 9th-10th generations lived about 250 years ago, and the handwritten Sejre of the Atins was already circulating (by the middle, or maybe by the beginning of the 17th century).

As for the first eight generations, their reliability is doubtful. Gozli-ata is named in the document as a contemporary of the famous Sufi Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, who died in 1166-1167. . Oral legends add that Gozli-ata was killed by the Kalmyks (Mongols). If we count how many centuries 20 generations should have been replaced, then the life of Gozli-ata falls at the end, at the earliest - at the beginning of the 14th century. . The difference is too big. Abu-l-gazi would not be surprised by this: “only the person who gained fame in the silt was entered into the record, unknown people were not recorded.” But on the example of the last 10 generations of the ancestry of the Atins, we could be convinced of the opposite. The obvious discrepancy between the internal chronology of the genealogy and the historical date suggests that the Sejre was recorded, of course, not during the life of Gozli-ata (if we believe that this is a real person) and not immediately after his death. Most likely, the manuscript was first compiled at the time from which reliable information begins (the first half of the 17th century). The list of the first 8-9 generations after Gozli-ata was reproduced according to oral traditions, and the period from Adam to Gozli-ata - according to literary sources. Apparently, the very genealogical tradition of the Atins took shape close to the time of compiling the first version of the Sejre, which reinforced the genealogical scheme that needed substantiation with a “document”.

Finally, handwritten genealogies indicate the connection of the Atins with the Yasawiya Sufi order. The text, in contrast to oral legends, does not directly say that Gozli-ata was the murid of Sheikh Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, but there is no doubt about this: Gozli-ata received his nickname after resolving some difficulties in the field of "tarikat" (Arabic path - a Sufi term denoting the teachings of one or another sheikh), and with the permission of the feast Haji Ahmed Yasawi. Only in order to emphasize the connection with the Yasawi order, the genealogy also mentions the imaginary relative of Gozli-ata - the saint Hakim-ata, who “saw wisdom” in the “tariqa” of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. The genealogy is extremely laconic, most of it is just a dry enumeration of names, and the phrases introduced into the text about the proximity of two persons to Sheikh Khoja Ahmed Yasawi speak of the importance attached to this proximity.

The ethnographic material presented below gives new evidence of the connection of the Atin Turkmens with the Order of Yasaviya.

From the manuscripts of the genealogy, it remains unclear why the saint received his nickname Gozli (health All-Seeing). Oral legends explain this. One person seemed to ask: “Hasan, why is your name Gozli?” “I see the whole face of this world by looking at my fingernail,” replied the saint. Legends also tell of the case when his miraculous abilities allegedly manifested themselves. Among the Atins, there is a story about the competition of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi with another pir (some narrators say the name: Shih-Sheher-Ganji or Shikhi-Ganji). Both feasts were not on friendly terms. Shikhi-Ganji suspected Yasawi of witchcraft. To confirm his guesses, he sent his novice ( sops) with some thing; Yasawi had to find out what the messenger brought. According to one version, it was a snake hidden in a box. Yasawi ordered murid Gozli-ata to unravel the secret. Gozli-ata left the house, looked around and said: "Everything in the world is in its place, only one snake does not have a mate." Then Yasawi sent a vessel to the hostile feast, in which there were water, burning coal and a piece of cotton together. Cotton was not ignited by fire, and fire was not extinguished by water. This finally convinced Shikhi-Ganji that he was dealing with a sorcerer. He ordered his murids to shoot an invisible arrow at Khoja Ahmed Yasawi ( batyl ok). Yasawi, of course, having learned about this, turned to Gozli-ata: “My all-seeing one, look (gozlim, mountains).” Gozli-ata reported on the approaching arrow. Then Yasawi said to another murid named Suzyuk (from the word suzmek- strain): "My Suzyuk, strain." And Suzyuk moved the pir sitting on the prayer rug to another place. An arrow pierced where Yasawi had just been sitting. Pir said: "If it is an arrow of friendship, honey will drip from it, if the arrow of enmity is blood." The novices saw blood on the arrow, and Yasawi ordered them to send the arrow back. Shih-Sheher-Ganji, realizing that the arrow was returning to him, ordered the murids to go out into the street, to see how far it was. But his feet didn't see anything. Meanwhile, the arrow was approaching with a terrible noise. “I need my Gozli to see and my Suzyuk to push back,” said the feast. Those were the last words: the arrow had pierced his chest. In one of the stories, an arrow knocked out the eye of a hostile feast, but did not hit to death.

This unusual legend has preserved another evidence that the Atins are involved in the world of legends and characters associated with the figure of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. Saint Suzuk-ata is unknown to Turkmen beliefs, but his revered grave (Suzuk-ata) is located in the vicinity of the village of Sairam (near Chimkent), which is considered here the birthplace of Yasawi; among the Sairam shrines, the graves of the father (Ibrayim-ata) and mother (Karasach-ana) of the famous mystic stand out. In the handwritten drawing about Sairam, Suzuk-ata is called the favorite grandson of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi.

The legend of the competition of feasts is also interesting for its ancient non-Muslim features. Why neither one nor the other saint, knowing about the danger, could not move on their own?

"This would violate the will of God"; "Pir can not run from the arrow"; “The feast should not leave the place where he reads prayers,” the old people of Atin explain.

But such an explanation of the strange immobility of both Sufis cannot satisfy us. According to Muslim beliefs, a Sufi saint does not need to get up at all to stop an arrow, he just needs to read a prayer (spell). Nevertheless, in the Atinian legend, the feast is, in fact, defenseless against an arrow, and only the efforts of outsiders can save it. Apparently, this feature of the feast is older than Sufism. We have already seen that some Central Asian legends about Sufi saints go back to myths about deities incarnated in living people (kings). It seems that in the above legend, the prohibition to move can be explained from the views that strictly regulated all the actions of the kings-priests or kings-gods. “The slightest gesture of the king is considered capable of directly influencing this or that element and seriously disturbing it ... The slightest violation on his part can upset the whole balance of the world ...” .

Once upon a time, the Japanese mikado was forced to sit for hours on the throne, frozen like a statue: in this way he maintained peace and tranquility in his empire. The Guinean priest-king could not even "leave his seat, on which he must sleep while sitting: if he stretched out, there would be no wind and navigation on the sea would stop." There is another detail in the legends about Khoja Ahmed Yasawi that can be compared with the taboos that restricted the freedom of deified kings. Yasawi allegedly spent the second half of his life in an underground cell. Some peoples did not allow their priest-kings to leave their homes, because they saw in them gods whom "the earth is unworthy to wear, and the sun is unworthy to illuminate." In some places in Africa, the king was allowed to leave the house only at night.

The voluntary stay of Yasawi and some of his followers (for example, a Tajik ishan in the village of Urangai, Turkestan region) in the dungeon was explained by imitation of Muhammad: the prophet died at the age of 63, therefore, he stopped life on the surface of the earth. However, this Muslim interpretation does not explain why underground premises were arranged in the Uzbek villages, in particular in the Chimkent region. chilla khana for prayers for 40 days (chilla utirish). So, underground chilla-khana were at the Khyzra mosque and at the grave of Suzuk-ata in Sairam. And one Sairam akhun He spent 40 days in prayers in the mausoleum of St. Belagardan-ata. Prayers, during which it was not supposed to communicate with people and without extreme need to leave the premises, were performed both for the salvation of the soul and for the sake of society (for example, in order to make it rain). This custom is generated by the belief in the ritual benefits of solitary retreat in underground cells. Some other beliefs of the Uzbeks in the Chimkent region are also forced to recall ancient taboos: for example, a mullah who scolded a madman for several days had to sleep no more than 2-3 hours, and sitting (recorded in the village of Urangai).

Let's return to the Atin legend. Sheikh Ganji, not without reason, suspects Yasawi of witchcraft, but he himself is no better than his opponent - he is the first to send a fatal enchanted arrow. Whatever the origin of the plot of the legend, both holy feasts appear in it as rival sorcerers. The story of a peculiar duel of famous Sufis is very far from the ideology of Sufism.

The fate of dervish zeal speaks of the extreme degeneration of Sufism ( dhikr) in the environment of the Turkmen-ata. Atatins zyakir (zykir, zikir or Jaher) was preserved as a folk custom, the connection of which with Sufism in the minds of the Atins themselves was practically lost. Here is how the linguist S. Arazkuliev explains what a zyakir is, based on the testimony of informants in his definition: “Jaher is (a rite that) is performed with the participation of several people. Sick people, seizures, etc. are brought to the jaher. (Women and children are present as spectators). 8-10 people become a ring, holding each other tightly by the arms, around the seated Shih and, in order to excite him, they shout out in one voice: O:-oo-o: o: ... ". This definition cannot be considered exhaustive and clear enough, but it is indicative of the fact that there is not a word about Sufism.

The stories of my informants describe the zakir as follows. This is a rite performed primarily for the healing of people who were harmed. genies(crazy, etc.), in cases where the prayers of the mullahs turned out to be in vain. As a mass phenomenon, the zyakir disappeared in the 20-30s of the 20th century. For the duration of the rite, felt mats were removed from the yurt so that a crowd of curious people could see what was happening inside. Sometimes it was as if two yurts, devoid of doors, were linked by bars. The action could begin both in the morning and in the evening. There were cases when the zyakir lasted several days, and in the village of Tutly I heard about the zyakir, which lasted intermittently for about a month. Required participants in the ritual: falling into a trance shih; reciter of spiritual verses ghazalchy, ghazal aidyan or khapyz) and people conducting zakir ( zekir chekyen). Some informants say that a zakir should have a boss ( zekirin bashi) - a representative of the higher clergy, akhun or ishan. He recalls the goals of the ritual, blesses the main performer of the ritual - shikha (“May Allah, prophets, saints help you”) and suggests raising hands for a prayer movement: “Blessing of the ladies ( Pata bereyin)". Zakir begins. The reader in a singsong voice recites from memory the verses of the Sufi poets Divan-i Mashrab (Meshreb-divana), Hakim-ata, Durdy-shikha; some of the old people also call Navoi. A prominent place is also occupied by the poems of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. There is no musical accompaniment in the ceremony. There could be several readers who participated in the action, but only one read; when he got tired, he was replaced by another. From reading religious verses comes into an excited state of shih - the central figure of the rite. This is facilitated by the cries of people conducting the zakir. In the right places, in between verses, they rhythmically shout out “Oh-Oh!” in hoarse voices. and sway. Their voices rise and fall; they are led by khapyz.

Shih loses his temper ( ozuni yitiryer). He makes body movements, which in Turkmen are transmitted by the word fall ( yikylmak). He seems to be falling and getting up all the time. In his strange dance, the Shih beats his head against the bars of the yurt.

One of my informants saw for himself how a fat shih deftly climbed up the pole of the dome through the chimney to the top of the wagon, and the pole did not even bend. Another old man in 1920 saw in Tedzhen during the zakir the famous sheikh from Kizyl-Arvat, nicknamed Kebelek (Butterfly). Shortly after the hapiz sang the verses of the Divan-i Mashrab, the shih fell unconscious. Then, to the singing of verses and the guttural cries of the participants in the zakir, he jumped up and began to run inside the wagon, “like a fly”, along the bars. His dressing gown fluttered, and even those who stood outside the yurt felt the movement of air. People said: if the Shih, having fallen unconscious, does not rise to the singing of religious verses, the mullahs should read the surah of the Koran "Yasin" over him.

During the zakir, Shih did not leave the patient unattended. Shikh beat the patient in the face, on the back, threw him on the bars of the yurt. By this, according to some old people, he frightened the patient, and according to others, he drove away the spirits that sent the disease. However, in some stories Shih did not even touch the patient. So, at the grave of Gozli-ata, where several old men from the village of Ata in the Serakh region once went to worship, the yomud pilgrims allegedly asked the Atins to heal the demon-possessed woman, who was lying right there, bound hand and foot. Among the Atins were both Shih and Khapyz. Khapiz began to sing, and Shih soon began to grab the burning coals with his hands in a frenzy. Three butterflies circled above the girl. Shih rubbed the burning coals with his palms, and one butterfly fell dead. Shih rubbed the coals again, and a second butterfly fell to the ground. Shih again squeezed the coals with his palms - and the third butterfly lay motionless at his feet. The girl recovered immediately (recorded in the Tejen region). It is believed that the Shih saw the jinn of the sick, fought with them, calling on the help of the saints, finally defeated and drove them away forever.

According to the stories, Shih, who fell into ecstasy, lost his sensitivity. He could fall from the dome of the wagon to the ground, throw himself into a fire lit on the street for cooking, pour boiling water over himself from a samovar, but remained unharmed. In fact, he was no longer an ordinary person. Odamysh, noted in the genealogy, acquired his nickname Otly Tokum (Fire grain) by the fact that sparks fell from his mouth during the zakir, scorching the hair of the participants in the ceremony (the story of the owner of the first list). During the zakir, Shih seemed to be able to predict the future. If someone asked, for example, if he would have children, Shih allegedly gave the correct answer. He found out what gifts they brought him. So, one Turkmen from Mary was visiting a Tejen Atin. At this time, a zyakir was held with the participation of Balla-Molla-shih. The guest said: “I don't believe in the power of the Shih, I want to test it. I promise to give him such and such a quantity of tea. Will he know?" Balli-Molla, seeing the Turkmen, said to him: “Hurry, bring the promised tea!” Both the participants of the zakir and the spectators must be clean - to perform a ritual bath. If someone did not fulfill this condition, they supposedly recognized and drove them away. "Don't you have one pitcher of water?" - Shih once reproached one of the spectators.

If every literate person can be a reader, then his unusual properties are given to the shihu from above. These properties are usually denoted by the same word as the "power" of the saint, - ceramic mat. However, the majority of believers, recognizing that there were saints among the shikhs in the old days, do not put the shikh on the level with the saint. One can hear the reasoning that the shih of his ability is given by Allah, that the shih must “give his hand to the feast”, be “pure” religiously and firmly adhere to the old traditions, collectively called Turkmenchilik. But the most common explanation endows the Shih with helper spirits, “comrades” ( oldash). Some believers do not consider themselves entitled to determine what kind of spirit helps the shihu: "Who can know if this is a peri, a deva or a (deceased) saint?" Shih himself does not talk about his "comrades", otherwise, according to legend, he will lose strength or they will kill him. Shih doesn't even say, "I have comrades." Nevertheless, usually the spirits - assistants of the Shih are called "jinn", "arvah" (they are one and the same) or "al" (the latter was reflected in the phrase al-oldash). Some Atins think that the Shih has only one jinn or al (there is no clear distinction between these spirits) in the form of a camel, bull, tiger, snake, dog, etc. But this is not a common belief: one of the informants, for example, represented spirit of a girl whom the future Shih met somewhere in the steppe; Shih should pull out her hair, put it in bread and always carry it with her.

The spirits (or spirit) of the shih tell him about the future, they also help him drive away the genies of the sick person, entering into a fight with them. Spirits that cause diseases that harm people are "infidels" ( kapyr) genies. Jinn shiha are Muslims. Healing of the patient is possible only if the "comrades" of the Shih turn out to be more powerful than the jinn who caused the disease. If the Shih decides to engage in single combat with spirits that are stronger than his assistants, then he may be harmed, he will become crazy or die (however, none of my informants heard that the Shih died or lost his strength after the zyakir). If it is assumed that the jinn of the patient are stronger, several shihs can participate in the zakir - one replaces the other.

Thus, the shih has much in common with the shaman. He falls into ecstasy, he is helped by spirits that appear in animal form, and his ritual practice, as S. M. Demidov has already noted, repeats the actions of a shaman during a ritual. Turkmen shamans also drove away spectators who did not take a bath, acted as soothsayers and allegedly guessed what this or that person brought as a gift. Such a similarity could not but be reflected in popular views. Although there are no shamans among the Atins, the Turkmens - Tekins, Emuds and Salyrs, as a rule, believe that shamans come mainly from the Ata tribe.

The shikha is also close to the shaman’s mental illness (or insanity), as if it appeared when he was “joined” ( yolukdy) genies. Attacks of mental disorder continued even when the connection with the spirits was already firmly established. From time to time Shih felt a breakdown. He lay at home, wrapped himself in blankets chillily and did not want to eat or drink. Such a malaise was called by the Atins payiz-kesel (payiz minute, moment; Kesel disease) or shykh-kesel. To cure a shikha, it is necessary to arrange a zakir. Under the singing of spiritual verses and the womb sounds of the performers, the zakira shikh became animated, soon fell into ecstasy, took red-hot coals in his hands or in his mouth, walked on the coals with bare feet - in short, he did everything that he usually performed in the ritual. After the zakir, Shih felt healthy.

Thus, it was a necessity for the shikh to participate in the zakir from time to time, and sometimes the ceremony was performed only in order for the shikh to take his soul away. One Tekin from the Tejen region told me that he worked together with an Atin. Sometimes, even during field work, this Atinian fell into a trance and began to sway, making hoarse sounds. The special excitability of the Shikhs is noted even by the elderly, who do not share the belief in spirits-"comrades". A person who could become a shikh was found at festivities during the performance of songs to the words of Navoi, accompanied by a dutar: he did not sit still. It could be recognized even in those moments when before the third prayer in the mosque 2-3 literate old men read religious verses, and, of course, during the zakir. It does not follow from the stories of the informants that the Shih's abilities were inherited. However, Khodjamurad, the father of Shih Allamurad-Khapyz, was also a Shih (recorded in the village of Tutly).

Sometimes the Shihs seemed to compete, checking who was stronger. Shih genies began to fight with each other. The Shih whose genie is defeated must obey another (recorded in the village of Tutly).

In the past, women also acted as shikhs. The old people remember a Shikha woman named Tetyevi, who died in 1937. There was a time when she "fell" under the singing of poetry. Once (in 1916) she became very excited, ran out of the yurt, and the clergy who were present at the zakir said to her: “Sit, sing poetry, but don’t fall - it’s inconvenient for a woman when her body is exposed” (recorded in the village of Tutly). Since women did not participate in the dervish rejoicing together with men, this case should be explained in the light of the traditions of female shamanism known in Central Asia.

The bright shamanistic features of the degenerate Ata zakir add a new touch to the still unclear picture of common Central Asian Sufism, testifying to the strong influence of shamanism on local Sufism. The word "shih" (from Arabic. sheikh- the elder, the leader of the Sufi community), assigned to the raging healer of the sick, confirms the idea of ​​S.P. Tolstov that among the Turkmens in a number of cases "the role of the shaman ... is performed by the ishan" . The traces of connection between the Ata zakir and the dhikr of Sufism have almost disappeared. So, far from all Atins believe that the “chief of the zakir” should be an ishan or akhun. Some people think that the rite is led by a khapyz reader or shih himself, who do not need the blessing of the higher clergy. The emergence of the custom of arranging zakir is traced back to the prophet Zakariya. Once the prophet fled from the "infidels" and hid in a tree, which, on his orders, split and then closed. But the string from the shirt was sticking out, and the magpie, screaming at the braid, drew the attention of the pursuers to it. The "infidels" cut off the top, began to cut the tree lengthwise, and the teeth of the saw cut into the head of the prophet. The participants in the rejoicing, uttering the womb sounds “oh-oh”, imitate the groans of Zakariya and thereby mourn him. This legend, apparently associated with zeal due to the similarity of the prophet's name with the word "dhikr", shows that the Sufi interpretation of dhikr has disappeared from popular notions. Only once did the author hear that Khoja Ahmed Yasawi somewhat modified the custom left by Zakariya. Many old people explain the originality of the Ata traditions by the fact that the “tribe” Ata was given by God to have shihs in their midst ( atalara hudaydan berylen pie).

The further fate of the zyakir is curious. Brought by the Atins to the south-west of Turkmenistan, by the end of the XIX century. has already begun to be performed by the Yemud Turkmen, but as a secular youth dance; in the post-war years, this dance began to move to the east and is now already known in Ahal. Nowadays, the dance is usually accompanied by ditties that are far from religious themes; but the population also remembers the spiritual verses that were shouted out by the dancers. A comparison of individual couplets recorded by ethnographers with the poems of the Ferghana mystic Divan-i Mashrab will leave no doubt that the degenerate Sufi zeal has become a dance.

So, the ethnographic material supplements the scarce data of handwritten genealogies about the connection of the Turkmen “tribe” Ata with the Sufi order of Yasaviya. Oral legends depict Gozli-ata as the favorite murid of the founder of this organization. The custom of arranging zakir or jaher goes back to Sufi zeal in a loud form ( jahr), accepted among the followers of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. It is curious that the zyakir is also known to other groups of Turkmens, in particular in Western Turkmenistan, but only the Atins and, in some cases, the Makhtums, another group of Ovlyads, also genetically related to Sufism, could perform it (we are talking about a “healing” rite). An echo of Sufi traditions among the Atins is the figure of the poet Durdy-shikha, who is depicted in legends as a mystic fleeing "from the world."

Now it is impossible to establish whether Gozli-ata was a real historical person or whether it was a collective legendary character that combined several generations of sheikhs (ishans) of the Yasawi order. Theoretically, it is quite possible that the descendants of some sheikh of this Sufi order for more than 20 generations have multiplied so much that they formed a populous “tribe”. But it is hardly worth it for us to obediently follow the traditional genealogy. Over time, the whole community of Turkmen-Murids of the sheikh could become a special “tribe” as well.

Subsequently, with the decline of Sufism, the reason for the unity of the Sufi community, separated from the rest of the population by a number of peculiar customs, began to be explained in the spirit of ancient Turkmen traditions: the Sufi community began to be regarded as the offspring of Sheikh Gozli-ata, who received initiation from Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. How plausible is this interpretation? The text of the genealogy manuscripts itself contains an example of the intrusion of the kinship principle into the sphere of religious ties. Gözli-ata in handwritten sejras is represented by the cousin of the famous Sufi poet Hakim-ata, also supposedly a descendant of Osman. But in printed Muslim editions of the legendary life of Hakim-ata there is not a word about his ancestor, Caliph Osman, although, from the point of view of the publishers of the legend, it would be unreasonable to neglect such a detail decorating the saint. It seems that Hakim-ata first became a relative of Gozli-ata and a descendant of Osman in the Atin Sejra (in which information about Hakim-ata differs from the printed version of the legend and the number of sons). Where does the idea of ​​kinship come from? Both Hakim-ata and Gozli-ata are murids of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi. With the barbarization of Sufism, spiritual kinship was understood as physical. Under the dominance of traditions, which attached great importance to noble kinship and nobility of origin, it was natural to include Osman in the genealogy. Thus, indications of genealogical legends and zyakir, which has become a tribal custom of the Atins, suggest that the basis of the Ata tribe is an unification brought to life by the organizational needs of religious ideology. Apparently, the core of the Ata tribe was made up of Turkmens who separated into a community of followers of one of the Sufi sheikhs of the Yasawi order. By the way, why does Abu-l-gazi not say a word about the Atins? With his excellent knowledge of what was happening in the Balkhan region, it cannot be that he did not know anything about them. Rather, he did not mention them because he knew their genealogy well and did not consider the Atins, along with other groups of sheep, a tribe.

When did the formation of the Atins as a “tribe” take place? The genealogy was compiled approximately in the first half of the 16th century. We repeat that its appearance was most likely caused by the need to establish a previously unknown genealogical tradition. Consequently, the Atins became a special tribe in their imagination and neighbors close to this time. Where was this new tribe born? The graves of Gozli-ata, his wife and son Omar-ata are located on the Balkhans. Of course, these graves could appear in any place where admirers needed them, but they speak of a stable folk tradition to consider Balkhans the ancestral home of the Atins. Toponymy in the vicinity of Balkhan also retained other names known to the written genealogy: Mollakara: (lake, now a resort), Chinmamed (Chilmamedkum sands). This circumstance deserves attention.

In the XIV-XV centuries. “The resettlement of Turkmen tribes from Maverannakhr to Mangyshlak and Ust-Urt continued,” partly due to the temporary flooding of Uzboy, and the appearance of Ishans of the Yasawi order here is understandable. The general economic, political and cultural decline of Turkmenistan in the period from the 16th to the middle of the 18th century. explains when and why that degeneration of Sufism took place, which gave the Turkmens a new "tribe". The presence in the sejra of the popular Khorezm saints Hakim-ata and his son Khubbi-Khoja also indicates that the genealogy of the Atins was compiled in the areas of cultural influence of Khorezm. Some versions of the oral legend call Khan Dzhanybek the father of the Aksil-mama girl, but more often Bugra Khan, a famous character in Khorezm historical legends (in the book life of Hakim-ata, Bugra Khan acts as the father-in-law of the saint).

It is not yet clear from which tribe (tribes) the Turkmens, who formed the ethnic basis of the Atin group, were from. There is no indication of this in the legends, perhaps due to the fact that the new group - the Sufi community - was organized on a principle that ignored tribal ties. Only a thorough study of the traditional culture of the Atins will make it possible to establish which Turkmen tribe they are closest to. This path is the most promising, because in the customs of the Atins there is some originality that has nothing to do with Sufism. So, one of the rituals for making rain is called among the Atins (as well as among the Khojas living in the villages of Khoja-kala and Dzhanahir of the Kizyl-Arvatok region) tyui-tatyn, in contrast to the Yemud name suite gazan and Göcklen suit khatyn.

The name of the tribe "ata" most likely goes back to the word father (ata), applied in Central Asia to the names of many saints. It was in use among the followers of Yasawi almost like a title: this was the name, for example, of the holy “mystic fathers”. One of the old streets of the city of Turkestan bore the name Etti-ata-kochesi (Street of Seven Ata) because of some seven saints buried there. Apparently, the word “ata”, which was apparently also used in addressing the descendants of saints, became the name of a whole tribe in the Turkmen environment. This is typical for the Turkmens: the honorary title of ancestors was assigned to descendants (for example, “birth” beg and vekil among the Tekins, yuzbashi and dabashi among the murchali, etc.). And the fact that the Sufi community has turned into a tribe is also natural in the conditions of Turkmenistan. Under the dominance of tribal traditions, both social strata became tribes here (for example, former slaves became the Gara-Yilgynly group among the Yemuds and Taz-Gongrad among the Chovdurs), and territorial associations. Abu-l-gazi also wrote about the formation of the Khizr-ili and Alili tribes from a heterogeneous mixed population. “Even the old population of many southern Turkmen cities, which had long since lost their tribal organization, began to be regarded as special “tribes”. Such, for example, is the origin of the tribes of Anauli (inhabitants of Anau), Mehinli (inhabitants of Mekhin), Murchali (inhabitants of Murch), etc.” .

The material presented in the article gives a new and striking example of the interweaving of Central Asian Sufism with local shamanism, and in such a form that, again, allows us to speak of the degeneration of Sufism. In itself, the saturation of Sufi ritual practice or mythology with elements of shamanism is the result of the adaptation of a religious trend to a specific ethnic environment and does not yet indicate a decline. However, what we see among the Atins testifies precisely to the degeneration of Sufism: in the Atin zakir, only some external forms of Sufism remained, and in essence shamanism, rooted in ancient folk traditions, prevailed.

The significance of the information presented is not limited to showing the ethnographic specifics of one of the groups of the Turkmen people. The barbarization of Sufism, which we see in the traditions of the Atins, is only a particular example of a general pattern. For several centuries, Sufism has been steadily approaching its decline, if by this we mean the decomposition of the former ideological foundations and organizational structure. Among other peoples of the “Muslim world”, Sufism also took on vulgar forms, which also have certain features noted among the Turkmen-ata. So, in Turkey, small ethnic groups are known, apparently due to their isolation to Sufism. In a number of places, the dervish dhikr by the 19th century. lost its obligatory connection with belonging to the Sufi brotherhood and turned into a folk custom. In Checheno-Ingushetia, for example, the zyakir has become an element of a religious celebration, sacrifice or commemoration; even while riding a long-distance bus, pious old men sing verses of the zakir. In some regions of Azerbaijan, dhikr became part of the funeral ritual. And the Uzbeks of Khorezm (Khiva, the village of Khanki) during weddings, on the day Uly-Toya, before the bride leaves the parental home, women stand in a circle, in the center of which they sit bi-halfa(reciters of sacred texts) and reproduce the jahr accepted in the local Sufi communities.

The strong influence of shamanism on Sufism has been noted more than once in Central Asian material. Almost everywhere, certain Sufi terms are used in new meanings. So, the word "sops" ( Sufi) Uzbeks, in particular, in the Chimkent region, in the Ferghana Valley, call muezzina ( Azanchi). Finally, even the influence of certain Sufi traditions on folk dances is noted not only among the Turkmens: in the Azerbaijani rural round dance, the leader is called, like the head of the Sufi community, murshud .

A generalization of various data on the specific manifestations of Sufism in the life of various "Muslim peoples" will make it possible to better understand the ways in which this complex religious trend declined.

Turkmens live in the Tajik SSR (over 7 thousand people) and the Russian Federation - in the Stavropol Territory (“Stavropol Turkmens”, or, as they are called there, Truhmens), in the Dagestan ASSR and in the Astrakhan region - 11.6 thousand people.

All census-recorded Turkmen speak Turkmen, with the exception of small groups settled among Uzbeks who speak Uzbek.

Outside the USSR, part of the Turkmen lives in the northwestern provinces of Iran - about 330 thousand people, in northern Afghanistan - 270 thousand people, in Turkey, Iraq and other countries of Western Asia - a little more than 180 thousand people.

Until recently, the Turkmens were divided into tribes, the most significant of which were the Teke - with a total number of over 270 thousand people, the Ersari - over 150 thousand people, the Yomuts - over 100 thousand people, the Salyrs - over 35 thousand people, the Saryks - over 32 thousand people. The number of other tribes, of which the Goklen and Choudory were considered the largest, ranged from more than 20 thousand to several hundred people. Each tribe was divided into clans and smaller divisions.

Due to various political and economic circumstances, the placement of individual tribes has repeatedly changed over the course of a number of centuries. In the 19th century (starting from its middle and ending with the last decades), the most important Turkmen tribes settled on the territory of the modern Turkmen SSR as follows. The Yomuts occupied a more or less continuous territory to the east of the Caspian Sea; the boundary of this territory is a line running from the southwest to the northeast: r. Atrek - Kizyl-Arvat - Kunya-Urgench. The Tekins settled in the basins of the Murgab and Tejen rivers and foothill oases along the northern slopes of the Kopet-Dag to Kizyl-Arvat in the west; in the north, the Zaunguz Karakum served as the border of their pasture territories. Ersari are located on the left and partly on the right bank of the Amu Darya, between the cities of Kelif and Chardzhou; salyrs - in the central part of the Chardjou region and in the Serakh region; Saryks - in the basin of the middle reaches of the Murgab (Iolotansky and Takhta-Bazarsky districts); goklen - mainly along the rivers Sumbar and Chandyr (Kara-Kalinsky district); chowdory - in the Khorezm oasis (Kalinin district); ali-ili (alili) - in the foothills of the eastern Kopet-Dag (Kaakhka district); Karadashly and Emreli - in the western part of the Khorezm oasis (Ilyalinsky and Leninsky districts) and in small groups in the south of Turkmenistan, etc. Yomuts, Goklen, Emrelis, Alilis, Saryks, Salyrs settled in Iran; in Afghanistan - Ersari, Alili, Saryks.

Living closed on their territory and weakly connected economically with the outside world and with their neighbors, sometimes separated by large, difficult spaces from each other, the Turkmen tribes lived an isolated life.

This isolation was reflected not only in the difference in the historical fate of each of the largest Turkmen tribes, but also in many aspects of folk life.

As a result of the often repeated at the end of the XVII century. and the first quarter of the predatory raids of the Khiva khans on the Mangyshlak Turkmens, part of the Turkmens moved from the Mangyshlak Peninsula to the North Caucasus - to the basin of the Manych and Kuma rivers, where their descendants live to this day. The connection of these so-called Stavropol Turkmens with their relatives living on the territory of the Turkmen SSR is extremely insignificant, and their way of life and language were strongly influenced by the Nogais neighboring them. The main mass of the Stavropol Turkmen separated from the Chowdor and Igdyr tribes, whose descendants still live in Turkmenistan.

The life of the Turkmens living in the Nurata region of the Samarkand region and in the Karakul region of the Bukhara region of the Uzbek SSR differs little from the life of the surrounding Uzbek population.

Anthropologically, the Turkmens differ sharply from all other peoples of Central Asia in their dolichocephaly. In all likelihood, the Turkmens inherited this feature from the most ancient inhabitants of the country. Mixing with the Turkic peoples, primarily with the Oghuz, was reflected in the appearance of some Mongoloid features, but in general, the ancient Caucasoid long-headed type remained little changed.

The Turkmen language belongs to the Oghuz-Turkmen subgroup of the Oghuz group of Turkic languages; it was based on the dialects of the western Oghuz tribes and the tribes that were part of the Seljuk Union (XI century). The literary language of the Karakhanid state (X-XI centuries) had a significant influence on it, and in a later period it acquired some features of the Kypchak languages.

In the XV-XVII centuries. an important role in the formation of the Turkmen literary written language was played by the old Uzbek language. The spoken language of the Turkmens is divided into many dialects.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

The origin of the name "Turkmen" is not precisely established. According to the interpretation of Mahmud of Kashgar (XI century), this term means "Turkic-like", "similar to a Turkic".

For the first time the name "Turkmen" occurs at the end of the 10th century. in the Arabic-language geographical literature: was this the name given to part of the Turkic tribes (Oghuz, Karluks, etc.)? living on the border of the agricultural zone of Central Asia or in its depths, among the Iranian-speaking agricultural population. According to Marvazi, the author of the beginning of the 12th century, the part of the Oguzes that converted to Islam began to be called Turkmen. It can be assumed that the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Aral-Caspian steppes and partly the Semirechie were called in this way, in contrast to the Turkic-speaking tribes of Central Asia.

From the XI-XII centuries. the term "Turkmen" spread more and more widely and gradually became the name of the nationality that developed in the western part of Central Asia. In addition, many cattle-breeding tribes of Oguz origin, who settled in the 11th century, were called Turkmens. in Asia Minor, Azerbaijan and northern Iraq, and later included in the Azerbaijani and Turkish nationalities.

In science, until recently, the point of view prevailed, according to which the Turkmens (Oguzes) appeared on the territory of the Turkmen SSR only in the first half of the 11th century. in connection with the Seljuk movement, before that they allegedly met here only in small groups as temporary newcomers during periods of raids on Khorezm or Khorasan.

However, there is no reason to fully identify the Turkmen people with the Oghuz and reduce the entire history of its formation to the arrival of the Oghuz from the Aral Sea region to the Trans-Caspian steppes during the period of the Seljuk movement.

In fact, the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens goes back to the tribal unions of the autochthonous population of the Aral-Caspian steppes (Dakhs and Massagets) and to the ancient settled agricultural population of southern Turkmenistan and Khorasan; the Parthians also took part in this process.

The Turkification of the ancient Iranian-speaking population of the steppes and oases of Turkmenistan began long before the penetration of the Oghuz into these areas. Before them in the IV-V centuries. n. e. Chionites and Ephthalites penetrated into these areas of Central Asia, whose presence in Turkmenistan is convincingly confirmed by the latest archaeological and paleoanthropological data, and in the 4th century. already significant groups of Turkic tribes lived here, which is noted in written sources. A large number of Turks at the end and beginning of the 8th century. lived in the region. Atrek and the city of Dihistan (now the ruins of Mashhad-i-Misrian). Arab historians report that the Turk Sul was the ruler of Dihistan in 716, and that during the campaign of the Arab commander Yezid, 14 thousand Turks were killed in Dihistan and its environs.

Partial resettlement of the Oguzes to Turkmenistan also began much earlier than the 11th century; one of them was connected with the events of the 9th century - the clash of the Oguzes with the Pechenegs in the region of the Dzhurdzhan (Aral) Sea. After the resettlement of the Pechenegs to the west, some Oguz groups captured the areas located from Ustyurt in the direction of the river. Embe, adjoining Khorezm from the north-west; from here a significant number of Oghuz began to move south. However, despite the fact that the Oguzes, who first came to Turkmenistan, did not appear out of nowhere and were not the first Turks in this territory, their role in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens is extremely great. The most important stage in the formation of the Turkmen people was undoubtedly the movement in the 11th century. Seljuk tribes from the Syrdarya regions to the west, when significant masses of Oguzes flooded into Turkmenistan and Khorasan, settled here and merged with the local population.

The Mongol hordes, who came to Central Asia at the beginning of the 13th century, attacked the settled population of northern Khorasan with particular force. Cities were devastated, many irrigation facilities were destroyed and abandoned, and the entire ancient agricultural culture was dealt a heavy blow. Nomadic and semi-nomadic cattle breeding came to the fore in the economy. The Turkic-speaking part of the local settled population in the XIII-XV centuries. finally received the common name "Turkmen", and the name "Turkmenistan", i.e. the country of Turkmens, began to be gradually assigned to the territory of their settlement.

The completion of the process of formation of the Turkmen nationality apparently dates back to the 14th-15th centuries, when in the oases of modern southern Turkmenistan there was already a merger of the settled steppe tribes (Yazirs, Oghuz) with the settled northern Khorasans and when in the steppes and deserts of northern Turkmenistan from parts of the ancient Oguz and other pastoral tribes (Alans, Kipchaks, etc.), as well as from a part of the Khorezmians, new tribes developed on the basis of a territorial community that retained their names until the recent past. In the XIV-XV centuries. the Turkmen language was taking shape (which included a number of tribal dialects and local dialects). Its basis was the Oguz language (or the languages ​​of the Oguz tribes), which was enriched with many words and even some grammatical forms of Persian, Tajik, Khorezm and other languages ​​of the indigenous agricultural population of Central Asia.

At the turn of the XV and XVI centuries. Central Asian Turkmens inhabited the entire eastern coast of the Caspian Sea, the Mangyshlak Peninsula, the shores of the huge Sarykamysh Lake, the Karakum, the northwestern outskirts of the Khorezm oasis and the oases of southern Turkmenistan, where, along with the Turkmens, a rather large Iranian-speaking population remained, mainly in cities. In the steppes and deserts of southeastern Turkmenistan, in addition to the Turkmens, there lived many nomads from various other Turkic and Iranian tribes (the so-called Chagatai and aimaks), there were quite a lot of Arabs in the Chardzhou region.

The main sources from which we learn about the settlement of Turkmens in the 16th century are the works of the Khiva historian of the 17th century. Abul-Gazi Khan "Shedzhere-i-Turk" ("Family Tree of the Turks") and "Shedzhere-i-Terakime" ("Genealogy of the Turkmens"), chronicles of Khiva historians of the 19th century. Munis and Agehi "Firdaus-ul-Ikbal"x, archaeological research of the Khorezm archaeological and ethnographic expedition in the Sarykamysh region and Turkmen legends that are still common among the people.

The northernmost of the Turkmen tribes in the XV-XVI centuries. there were Choudors and related Abdals and Arabachis who inhabited Mangyshlak and the northern part of Ustyurt. This group of Turkmen tribes and clans bore the common name of Esen-Khani (Hasan Eli). All other Turkmen tribes belonged to the Sain-Khani group.

To the south, on the shores of Lake Sarykamysh and on the Greater Balkhans, there lived Teke, Salyrs, Saryks, Yomuts. This most powerful and numerous grouping of Turkmen tribes was apparently headed by the Salyr feudal tribal nobility, since the Salyrs were considered the "senior" tribe; Teke, Yomuts and Saryks were called "outer salyrs" (tashki-salyr), in contrast to the actual salyrs, who were called "internal salyrs" (ichki-salyr).

In addition to the Salyr group, the Ersari tribe lived on the Great Balkhans, which was also previously part of it; Adakly-Khyzyr lived on the eastern bank of Sarykamysh, and Alili, Duechi, Karaoil lived on Uzboi. Obviously, most of the Goklens, as well as Eimurs and Ata lived in the same area at that time (there is no exact information about their settlement at the beginning of the 16th century).

The Turkmen tribes Yazyr (karadashly), Emreli, Nokhurli, as well as part of the bayats lived in southern Turkmenistan, the bulk of which lived to the south, on the territory of eastern Iran. It is difficult to say exactly since when the Murchali, Mehinli, Makhtum, Anauli, Mejeur and many other, smaller tribes descended from the indigenous Iranian-speaking settled population of southern Turkmenistan, assimilated by the Turkic-speaking steppe tribes, into the composition of the Turkmen people. In any case, the inclusion of these tribes in the composition of the Turkmen people took place several centuries ago, judging by how deeply they assimilated the common Turkmen culture and way of life.

Part of the Salyrs also lived in southern Turkmenistan. It is known that in the XV century. villages existed. Salur near Nisa. Turkmen-salyr Gulal Salyr-baba, who lived in Nisa, in the 60s of the 16th century. translated into the Chagatai language for the Khorezm Ali Sultan the "Collection of Chronicles" by Rashid ad-Din. It is possible that this part of the salyrs was called the "Khorasan salyrs".

The main occupation of most of the northern Turkmen tribes was cattle breeding. The Turkmens bred fat-tailed sheep, camels and horses. At the same time, all Turkmen tribes were engaged in agriculture to some extent; it had the least importance in Mangyshlak and the Bolshiye Balkhans, but here, too, a few small springs were used to irrigate the fields. But in the vicinity of Sarykamysh Lake, the Turkmens, primarily Adakly-Khyzyr, created a complex system of artificial irrigation, which made it possible to develop at least 50 thousand hectares of land. Traces of Turkmen primitive agriculture were also found in the western part of the Khorezm oasis. The southern Turkmen tribes had an old and developed agricultural economy (the Yazyrs - from the 12th century), although cattle breeding also played an important role among them.

Most of the Turkmen tribes in the 16th century, as well as later, were characterized by a combination of irrigated agriculture with nomadic or distant pastoralism and the associated semi-nomadic lifestyle, in which part of the same population groups (charva) roamed along with herds, and the other part (chomry) lived settled, doing agriculture. Abul-Gazi tells about the semi-nomadic way of life of the Turkmens in the “Family tree of the Turks”, emphasizing that only those who had cattle, i.e., the richer, wandered.

The handicraft of the Turkmens was poorly developed, there were almost no cities; only the fortified city of Adak, which belonged to the Adaklykhyzyr tribe, the Yazyr fortress Durun, and several rather significant Turkmen settlements on the islands of the Caspian Sea are known.

In general, the Turkmens of the XVI century. in terms of economic development lagged behind the population of Iran, Maverannahr and Khorezm with their high agricultural culture, large craft and trading cities. The backward and scattered Turkmen tribes were unable to create their own state and found themselves under the heavy yoke of the feudal rulers of the Middle East - the Shahs of Iran, the sultans and khans of Khorezm and Bukhara.

In the XVI-XVIII centuries. there was a mass migration of northern Turkmen tribes to southern Turkmenistan. This process was caused by the gradual drying up of the Sarykamysh Lake, which forced the Turkmen tribes living on its shores to look for new arable lands. As a result, the Teke, Salyrs, Saryks, Ersaris, Goklens, Alilis and partially Yomuts settled in the oases and steppes of southern Turkmenistan, displacing or subjugating and assimilating many southern Turkmen tribes (Yazirs, Emrelis, etc.), as well as the remnants of the Iranian-speaking population. These movements of tribes were accompanied by endless intertribal strife, which was kindled by neighboring feudal rulers and further weakened the Turkmen tribes.

In the XVI century. On the territory of Turkmenistan, a fierce struggle unfolded between the Shahs of Iran and the Khans of Bukhara. Taking advantage of this struggle, which weakened both sides, the Uzbek khans of Khorezm subjugated most of the Turkmen lands, including Akhal, Merv, Bolshiye Balkhany and Mangyshlak. Many of the Uzbek khans relied not only on the Uzbek, but also on the Turkmen feudal-tribal nobility. Despite this, the establishment of the power of the Khorezm khans met with desperate resistance from the Turkmen tribes. In the 20s of the XVI century. there was a mass uprising of the Turkmens of the Salyr group. The uprising was brutally suppressed, the Turkmens were imposed with a huge indemnity, which later turned into a permanent tax.

The Turkmens, who settled along the banks of the Gurgen and Atrek, fell under the yoke of the Iranian shahs and their governors. In 1550, there was a major uprising of the Turkmens led by Aba-serdar. The Turkmens, who received help from Ali Sultan, Khan of Khorezm, defeated several Iranian armies, but later, as a result of the treacherous, capitulation policy of the Turkmen nobility, Iranian power was restored in this area.

By the beginning of the XVII century. the entire Kopetdag strip and Merv were conquered by Iranian pshkhs; the middle course of the Amu Darya was held by Bukhara. The entire northern Turkmenistan - from the Great Balkhans to Mangyshlak remained under the rule of the Khorezm khans. A fierce struggle unfolded here between the Turkmen and Uzbek feudal-tribal nobility. In the 20s of the XVII century. the Turkmen nobility succeeded in placing their henchman Isfendiar Khan (1623-1643) on the Khorezm throne, but later the Uzbek nobility took over; her victories were accompanied by predatory raids on the Turkmen camps, which intensified the resettlement of Turkmens to the south. In the middle of the XVII century. Ersari settled on the coast of the middle reaches of the Amu Darya, Saryks and partially Teke and Yomuts moved to the south. In the 17th century wars continued between Iranian shahs, Bukhara and Khiva khans for possession of the oases of southern Turkmenistan; in addition, the territory of Turkmenistan was subjected to devastating raids by the Kalmyks.

Since the 20s of the XVIII century. Turkmen lands became the object of attacks by Nadir, a major Khorasan feudal lord, who in 1736 became the Shah of Iran. Fleeing from robbery and extermination, part of the Turkmens (Yomuts, Teke, Ersaris and Saryks) returned to Khorezm for a while, and after 1740, when Nadir Shah conquered the Khiva Khanate, the Turkmens went to Mangyshlak and the Big Balkhans. Most of the Turkmen tribes were forced to formally submit to the conqueror, but in fact, the uprisings of the Turkmen against the bloody power of Nadir Shah did not stop for a single year, until his death in 1747 and the collapse of his empire.

After the death of Nadir Shah, the Turkmen tribes, who temporarily left to the north, again rushed to southern Turkmenistan. The Teke finally settled Akhal, displacing the Alilis (who left for Atek), Emrelis and Karadashly (who left for Khorezm), the Salyrs occupied the Merv oasis, the Yomuts of the Choni Sheref unit settled the coast of Atrek and Gurgen. At the same time, in Khorezm, the Yomuts of the Bayram-Shali unit again entered into a fierce struggle with the Uzbek feudal lords and even temporarily captured the entire oasis, but the Uzbek nobility managed to provoke a clash between the Yomuts, Teke and Salyrs and regained power in the Khiva Khanate. The Yomuts, as well as the Karadashlys and Emrelis who came to Khorezm, were settled on the western outskirts of the oasis, a little to the north of them there was a part of the Choudors, displaced by the Kazakh feudal lords from the northern Ustyurt and Mangyshlak; the other part of them submitted to the Kazakh sultans. Merv was at the end of the 18th century. captured by the troops of the Emir of Bukhara Shah Murad. By his order, the dam on the Murgab* was destroyed, which led to the decline of the old Merv; Salyrs moved to Serakhs, the Merv oasis was inhabited by Saryks and Teke, who created a new settlement on the banks of the Murghab.

And in the XIX century. endless wars, mutual predatory raids and internecine strife continued on the territory of Turkmenistan. In the first half of the 19th century. The Khiva khans took possession of the rich Merv oasis and the Kopetdag strip and forcibly resettled the Goklen and Alili tribes in Khorezm. At the same time, the territory of southern Turkmenistan was repeatedly attacked by Iranian troops, who destroyed fortresses, stole cattle, and took the inhabitants into slavery; Thus, in 1832, the Iranians destroyed Serakhs, forcing the Salyrs to move to Iolotan. The Serakhs area was temporarily settled by the Tekins.

Experiencing feudal oppression and a heavy foreign yoke, the Turkmen tribes repeatedly raised uprisings. In 1800, the Merv Saryks and Teke rebelled, in 1801, the Kerkin Ersaris, in 1802-1803. a real war broke out on the borders of Khorasan: Goklen and Yomuts raised an uprising on Gurgen, while Teke rose in Tejen, and Salyrs rose in Serakhs. In 1804, the Emrelis and Yomuts revolted in the Khiva Khanate; in 1813, the Yomuts revolted again on Gurgen; continued the struggle against the Emir of the Bukhara Ersari, who then partially moved to Merv; in 1827, the Merv Saryks again rebelled against the Khan of Khiva.

The main driving force of these uprisings was the peasantry, so they all aimed to achieve a mitigation of feudal exploitation, in particular the abolition of taxes. Usually, the nobility also participated in these uprisings, which sought to use popular indignation in their own interests: to ensure themselves the opportunity to receive as much income as possible from “their” peasantry, without giving a significant share to the Shah of Iran or the Khan of Khiva.

But the same nobility, fearing its people, easily went over to the side of the enemy. Therefore, the uprisings of the Turkmen tribes, for the most part, were relatively quickly suppressed by the feudal rulers.

The most stubborn was the uprising of the Saryks, Teke and Salyrs of southeastern Turkmenistan against the Khiva khans, which lasted from 1842 to 1855. Neither the annual trampling of crops, nor the destruction of dams on the Murgab, nor the theft of cattle and the plunder of the property of the rebels, nothing could suppress the resistance of the people . In 1855, the Tekins, who concentrated in Serakhs, utterly defeated the Khiva army, and Khan Muhammad-Rahim was killed. Following this, a mass uprising of Turkmens began in Khiva itself.

Seeing the weakening of Khiva, the Iranian shahs intensified their aggression against the Turkmens, who managed to capture Akhal, Atek, oust the Tekins from Serakhs and settle there the Salyrs, who recognized the authority of Iran. The Tekins rushed to Mary and pushed out the Saryks, who were forced to move to Iolotan and Pende, located upstream of the Murgab. Nov 1858 and in 1861 Tekins inflicted crushing defeats on the Shah's troops near Kara-Kala and Merv. In the battle near Merv in 1861, the 30,000th Iranian army was completely destroyed, the Tekins captured 30 cannons, the treasury and thousands of prisoners. However, the Tekins, who achieved independence from Iran, were still forced to at least formally submit to Khiva.

For the purpose of profit, the Turkmen nobility organized predatory raids (alaman) on neighboring countries. The main participants in these raids were ordinary Turkmens. When organizing the Alamans, the nobility used the hatred of the people for foreign rulers; to the participants of the Alamans, she inspired hope for an improvement in the economic situation as a result of a successful raid.

Constant wars and raids, which have tormented the Turkmen people for centuries, led to the destruction of the productive forces of the country and hindered the economic, social and cultural development of the Turkmen tribes, reinforced their extreme backwardness, doomed them to poverty and suffering.

Russian-Turkmen relations, primarily trade, began to develop in the second half of the 16th century, after the entry of the Russian state to the shores of the Caspian Sea. Astrakhan and the piers on the Mangyshlak peninsula became the most important centers of Russian-Turkmen trade. Turkmen guarded Russian trade caravans going deep into Central Asia through Mangyshlak and Ustyurt. Russian-Turkmen trade was constantly developing on the shores of the Caspian Sea; Turkmens bought bread, wooden utensils, cast-iron boilers, sold fish, sheepskins, wool. In the first half of the XVII century. Turkmen merchants have already traveled to Moscow. Russian-Turkmen relations were especially strengthened under Peter I. The representative of the Caspian Turkmens Khoja Nepes, having arrived in St. Petersburg, asked Peter I to accept the Turkmens into Russian citizenship and turn the waters of the Amu Darya into the Caspian Sea to irrigate the Turkmen lands. In 1715-1717. a Russian expedition led by Bekovich-Cherkassky was sent to the Khiva Khanate, and three Russian fortresses were built on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. However, when trying to penetrate into the depths of Central Asia, Bekovich's detachment was exterminated by the Khivans and the fortresses turned out to be abandoned. Under the successors of Peter I, Russia's activity in Transcaspia weakened, although the Caspian Turkmens later more than once turned to the Russian government with a request to accept them into Russian citizenship.

At the end of the XVIII and the first half of the XIX century. the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea was visited by a number of Russian expeditions - Voinovich, Muravyov, Karelin and others. Russian fishermen penetrated here; Russian goods were increasingly distributed in Turkmenistan, up to Merv. By the middle of the XIX century. about 115 thousand Caspian Turkmens voluntarily accepted Russian citizenship. A Russian fortification was built on Mangyshlak - Fort Aleksandrovsky. The Atrek Yomuts participated in the Russian-Iranian wars of 1804-1813 and 1826-1828. on the side of Russia. The most prominent role in strengthening the political ties of the Caspian Turkmens with Russia in the first half of the 19th century. the Yomut leader Kiat Khan played. On the acceptance of Khorezm Yomuts into Russian citizenship in the 50s of the XIX century. The leader of the uprising of the Turkmens against Khiva, Ata Murad Khan, also asked. The idea of ​​voluntary accession to Russia, the most powerful state capable of ending feudal wars, ensuring peace in the Turkmen lands and supplying Turkmenistan with bread and industrial goods, was becoming more and more widespread among the Turkmens.

It was already the time of strengthening the colonial expansion of tsarism in Central Asia. In 1869, a detachment of Russian troops landed on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea and founded the city of Krasnovodsk. In 1874, the Trans-Caspian department was formed from the annexed Turkmen lands, subordinate to the Caucasian governorship. In the same period, Bukhara (1868) and Khiva (1873), together with the Turkmen tribes living on their territory, submitted to Russia.

The Caspian Turkmens (Yomuts, Goklens, etc.) greeted the Russian troops in a friendly manner and rendered them all possible assistance. But soon the rude and violent actions of the tsarist colonialists began to offend and irritate the local population. When trying to penetrate deep into Turkmenistan, Russian troops met stubborn resistance from the Akhal Tekins. In 1879, a Russian detachment1 attempting to storm the fortress of Geok-Tepe was defeated and retreated with heavy losses. In 1880, the tsarist government sent a significant force of Russian troops to Ahal, led by General Skobelev. On January 12, 1881, the Geok-Tepe fortress was taken by storm, and Akhal was annexed to Russia. In 1884, the Merv Tekins voluntarily accepted Russian citizenship, in 1885 the Salyrs of Serakhs and the Saryks of Iolotani and Pende.

In 1881, the Trans-Caspian region was created on the territory of Turkmenistan, since 1898 it has been included in the Turkestan region. The Khorezm Turkmens remained part of Khiva, the Amu Darya - on the territory of Bukhara, the vassal states of Russia. Thus, the Turkmen people turned out to be politically and administratively divided into three parts (not counting the Turkmens living in Iran and Afghanistan).

A cruel military-colonial regime was established in the Transcaspian region. The supreme power was concentrated in the hands of the Russian military administration. The lower positions (aul foremen, aul judges, etc.) were filled by representatives of the Turkmen feudal nobility, who willingly went to the royal service. Tsarism tried in every possible way to delay the economic development of Turkmenistan, preserve it as an agrarian appendage of central Russia, and prevent the penetration of Russian democratic culture and revolutionary ideas into Turkmenistan.

However, contrary to the colonial policy of tsarism, the accession of Turkmenistan to Russia had objectively progressive consequences for the Turkmen people. The feudal wars that devastated the Turkmen lands stopped. Turkmenistan began to be drawn into the economic system of Russian capitalism.

In 1880-1885. The Trans-Caspian (Central Asian) railway was built through the territory of Turkmenistan, which, according to V.I. Lenin, “began to“ open up ”Central Asia for capital” A river shipping company was created on the Amu Darya. In the Trans-Caspian region, cities appeared with a newcomer (Russian and Armenian) population, industrial enterprises arose - railway workshops in Kizyl-Arvat, ship repair workshops in Chardzhou, cotton-cleaning and oil mills in Bairam-Ali. The working Turkmens began to draw closer to the Russian workers and took part in the struggle against tsarism and capitalism.

With the emergence of industry and the emergence of the proletariat in Turkmenistan, a revolutionary movement began in the 1900s, led by circles and groups of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, which appeared initially in Ashgabat and Kizyl-Arvat. Under the leadership of the party, the working people of the Transcaspian region, together with the revolutionary workers of the entire Turkestan region, took an active part in the revolution of 1905-1907. Six organizations of the RSDLP operated in Transcaspia, which created the Transcaspian Regional Committee of the Party in February 1907, there were five underground printing houses, illegal social democratic newspapers Molot and Soldat were published, Bolshevik newspapers and the writings of V. I. Lenin were distributed. Workers' strikes took place in the cities, which gained a special scope in October-November 1905. In the summer of 1906, soldiers' uprisings took place in Ashgabat and Krasnovodsk, Soviets were created in some cities.

Revolution 1905-1907 played a huge role in the political awakening of the Turkmen peasantry. Daikhans (the so-called Turkmen peasants) refused to pay taxes, demanded the return of lands previously seized by the tsarist government, established contact with urban revolutionary organizations, and sheltered revolutionaries. A few Turkmen workers actively participated in strikes, rallies and demonstrations.

In 1911-1913. the oil industry of Cheleken Island grew rapidly, where there were quite a few Turkmen workers. Here, under the leadership of I. T. Fioletov, a strong Bolshevik organization was formed, which held a number of strikes and distributed the newspaper Pravda.

Colonial oppression in Turkmenistan especially intensified during the First World War. After the publication of the royal decree on the recruitment of workers from the local indigenous population for rear work in the Transcaspian region, as well as throughout the Turkestan region, a mass movement of daikhans began, which reached its peak in July 1916. This movement was spontaneous, since it did not receive proletarian guides. In some, mainly backward, regions, the popular movement was taken advantage of by the most reactionary part of the feudal nobility, which organized anti-Russian feudal-nationalist uprisings under pan-Islamist slogans. These uprisings were brutally suppressed by the tsarist punitive detachments.

The social system of the Turkmens, even after joining Russia, was characterized by deep backwardness, retaining the remnants of patriarchal-clan social institutions.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries. tribal division was still fully preserved. In the names of many Turkmen tribes and clans, the ethnonyms of the Oghuz and other, sometimes very ancient, groups that participated in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens have been preserved. In addition to large tribes (taipa, il) - teke, emut, ersari, saryk, salyr, chovdur, gvklets. and others, there were still many smaller tribes that retained their independence or gradually merged with larger ones. Among them are Emrely, Alili, Garadashly, Nokhurly, Mehinly, Enevli, Murialy, Sunchaly, Arbachy, Ata, Khoeua, Magtym, Shykh, Sayat, Muschevur, Bayat, Eski, Mukry, U Lama, Gorshchaly, Abdal Tribes divided into many smaller tribal divisions - dash, urug, kovum. So, the Teke tribe was divided into two tribes - Otamysh and Tokhtamysh; the Tokhtamysh tribe was divided into smaller subdivisions: beg and vekil, bek - into goshchr and amangia-gvkche \ sometimes the last subdivision was divided into two independent ones; kongur - on ak-gotzur and gara-gotzur. The Yomuts were divided into large generations of bayram-shaly and gara-chok, or chopy-sheref; the latter - into chony-atabay and sheref-shafarbay, which in turn broke up into smaller subdivisions. Ersari were divided into ha/zh and bekovul, gunegs and ulug-depe; salyrs - in kichi-aga, garaman, yalavach; gokleny - on gayg and do-durga; alili-na onbegi and yuzbagi.

All the tribal divisions of the large Turkmen tribes mentioned above were not the last in the chain of tribal division: such tribes as the Teke or Yomuts numbered up to 5-6 steps. Smaller tribes, although they did not have such a complex multi-stage structure, also consisted of many genera; so, for example, nokhurls were divided into two tribes: nokhurls and zertls, which in turn consisted of a large number of clans with a total number of up to 24.

The existence of this branched complex tribal system gave some authors reason to talk about the “tribal system”, which allegedly survived among the Turkmens until the beginning of the 20th century. In fact, the tribal system of the Turkmens was destroyed many centuries ago. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. only his traditions in the social system and strong remnants of tribal customs were preserved; extensive nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralism contributed to the preservation of the patriarchal way of life. But the Turkmen "kinds" were no longer primitive kinship groups, but were a conglomerate of the most diverse ethnic elements, often even of non-Turkic origin.

This is evidenced even by the generic names found among the Turkmens: ovgan, arap, gullar, gurd, gurama, tat, kypchak, aimaklar, girey, gazak, galmyklar, garamugol and many others. These names reflect only the last stage of the ethnogenesis of the Turkmen people, which took place in a class society, when the existence of the tribal organization of the Turkmen was already a relic. Many clans and tribes arose for one reason or another from associations that developed around a large steppe feudal lord, and even retained the name (ersari, hyzrili) or the honorary title of their founder: bek, vekil (honorary representative), yuzbashi (centurion), onbegi (ten's manager). Some were made up of the population of some town or aul, which, under the dominance of patriarchal life, began to be regarded as a special “tribe” (Anauli, Mehinli, Nerazymli). Sometimes even one or another class group (seid, khoja, mejeur) turned into a tribe. The formation of these late forms of "kinds" and "tribes" was due to the fact that in the process of ethnogenesis of the Turkmens, the leading role was played by nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoral tribes (for example, Oghuz) with stable traditions of tribal division, which influenced the revival of the agricultural strip among the ancient settled population. tribal organization that has long disappeared from him.

Before joining Russia in Turkmen society there was patriarchal slavery. There were not particularly many male slaves - they preferred to be sold to Bukhara and Khiva or released for a ransom; slave concubines were of greater importance in the household.

The presence of remnants of the tribal system and, in particular, the tribal organization led to the preservation in the Turkmen society of an archaic division into ig - full-fledged members of the tribal community ("purebred") - slaves, grnak - slaves and ardent - descendants from mixed marriages of free with slaves. These main social categories should be supplemented with gelmishki - aliens who belonged to other clans and tribes, and tat - descendants of those conquered sedentary tribes who have not yet been fully assimilated (for example, part of the Tajik-speaking population in the Amu Darya delta). But this division did not correspond to the real situation, since there was no equality among the yogs themselves.

Turkmen tribes, especially the largest ones, rarely acted as a single entity. The Khorezm Yomuts, for example, more often performed together with the Khorezm Emrelis than with the Gurgeno-Atrek Iyomuts. Many clans were scattered even more than the tribes. Parts of the Teke clan sychmaz, for example, lived in Bakharden, and in Meana, and in Merv, kyzyl-gyoz - in Akhal and Chaacha. At the same time, many auls had a mixed population. So, representatives of eight different Teke clans lived in Keshi, in Bagir - Teke, Makhtums, etc. Cases when the whole clan lived in one village were very rare; as a rule, the clans were scattered over several auls, and sometimes over different oases.

The long-term preservation of the tribal structure among the Turkmens is explained, among other reasons, by the conditions of their political life. The absence of their own state forced the tribe, and sometimes the clan, to take on the functions of defending tribal or clan property on land and water, to organize the people to protect it in case of military danger. Almost until the annexation of Turkmenistan to Russia, the military organization of the Turkmens consisted of all the men of the tribe capable of bearing arms.

In the XVIII-XIX centuries. The basis of the Turkmen army was detachments of nukers (warriors) of feudal tribal leaders and tribal militia. Usually the army consisted of horsemen (atly) armed with sabers, light guns, spears, and foot shooters-hunters (mergen), armed with heavy rifled guns (khirly) on the pods. The Turkmens especially appreciated sabers and daggers made of damask steel (euovkher-gylych and shovkher-pychak). Protective equipment (chain mail, helmets, shields) was rarely used; bows and arrows, which were in the XVI-XVII centuries. favorite weapon of the Turkmens, from the middle of the XVIII century. also almost fell into disuse, although occasionally met even on the eve of the accession of Turkmenistan to Russia.

Turkmen horsemen, who had excellent horses, quickly and easily moved across the steppes and deserts. Their raids, which were usually organized by khans and serdars (military leaders), were a thunderstorm for the population of neighboring countries. Mergens in battle were located on the crests of hills and dunes, camouflaging themselves in grass and bushes, and the cavalry majestic, trying to lure the enemy under the fire of archers, in order to then vigorously attack and overturn him. Turkmen warriors were known for their unstoppable onslaught in hand-to-hand combat and the art of wielding cold weapons, as well as the ability to make surprise attacks and raids.

In those cases when the enemy attacked the Turkmen villages, the whole population, even women and teenagers, took up arms. This popular militia was armed with shears for shearing sheep tied to long sticks, knives, clubs studded with nails, or even just clubs; however, it has repeatedly shown mass heroism and decided the outcome of battles.

In almost every Turkmen village in the agricultural zone there were small fortresses (gala) with towers in the corners and at the gates, built from. pakhsa or raw brick. The arrows were placed in the towers and fired through small loopholes. Sometimes walls with towers and loopholes surrounded the entire village. The Teke tribe in the second half of the 19th century. began to build huge fortresses (Koushut-Khan-Kala, Geok-Tepe), where, in case of war, tens of thousands of people with property and part of their livestock took refuge.

By the end of the XIX century. in fact, the social organization of the Turkmens was not a clan, but both - a territorial (rural) community, an aul, sometimes inhabited by representatives of one clan, sometimes - several clans; both were the owners of irrigated land and water, the organizer of agricultural and other public works. Family ties (garyndashlyk), in the broad sense of the word, were firmly preserved in the minds of people, but in economic and social life they were partially supplanted and replaced by territorial ties (obadashlyk).

The Turkmen community annually (and sometimes twice a year) redistributed arable land and water among full members of the community; this order was called sanashyk. Almost every aul had its own local rules, on the basis of which such redistributions were made.

However, initially, before the formation of the territorial community, the owner of land and water was the clan, which acted as an independent primary unit in the field of land and water use. At the end of the XVIII and in the first half of the XIX century. when occupying the lands of the current settlement, the Turkmens settled in whole clans, seizing the land from the former inhabitants and clearing the old or breaking through new ditches, which they called by their generic name. So it was in the Akhal, Atek and Merv oases, so it was in the middle Amu Darya when the lands were occupied by the Ersarins and other Turkmen tribes who came from the west. In the Khorezm oasis, the Turkmens received land from the Khiva khan, also in most cases for an entire tribal group, and then the leader divided it among individual families.

Members of the clan led ditches to their fields and periodically cleared the irrigation network of silt that irrigated their lands, and in case of military danger they stood up to protect their auls and lands. That is why plots of land and shares of water - suv - initially (in the 18th century and at the beginning they were endowed with all adult men capable of bearing weapons, later only married men began to be endowed with them. How and when this transition took place is unknown, but it was of considerable importance for economic stratification villages, as the bai (rich people) got an additional opportunity to concentrate irrigated land in their hands.They married young sons and received one sou for each, while many poor people, who were unable to pay kalym for a wife, remained single and landless "Women did not have the right to land and water, as well as newcomers from other auls. Aul foremen (yagiuls) usually received several sous. Thus, sanashik land tenure did not ensure complete equality of land allotments, although it made it difficult to concentrate land and create a large land property.

Along with the sanashik form of land use, mulk, private land ownership, was widespread (especially in Akhal, Murgab and Amu-Darya). Mulk land and water were inherited and sold, although the sale was hampered by a number of restrictions and formalities. The sizes of the mules were different. So, the Teke families who seized the irrigated land of the villages. The Keshi of the Kurds divided this land and water among themselves as a mulk. Almost always, the lands of the clan that was the first to seize water sources were considered mulks. These were relatively small peasant holdings. But there were also large mulks that arose on the basis of the grant of land and water to the Turkmen leaders by neighboring feudal lords. This type of mulk represented a typical feudal property that served as the basis for various feudal forms of exploitation of the peasantry.

In the Turkmen regions of Khorezm, there was another type of feudal landownership - service holding (atlyk). The Khiva khans accepted part of the Turkmen for military service as nukers, who received land plots, usually 20-50 tanaps (8-20 hectares), through tribal leaders. For this, the nukers came to war on their horse, with their weapons and food. The feudal tribal leaders concentrated 20-50 atlyks in their hands and kept entire squads.

The situation was somewhat different in the pastoral regions. Formally, the pasture territories belonged to the entire tribe and could be used by any Turkmen. But wells and water-collecting pits (kak), without which livestock farming in Turkmenistan is impossible, belonged to those who built them, i.e., as a rule, bays, large cattle owners, in whose hands the overwhelming majority of livestock, especially sheep and camels, was concentrated. The poor peasants, who did not own wells and had several or no livestock, could not in practice exercise their purely formal right to own communal pastures. In fact, pastures were in the hands of rich owners of herds and wells. Some of them, with thousands of sheep and hundreds of camels, owned tens of thousands of hectares of grazing land and exploited many shepherds and other poor people associated with pastoralism.

In Turkmenistan, part of the land and water was vakhim (waqf) - plots of land donated by individual owners in favor of mosques, madrasahs and spiritual orders, as well as sylag-suv - plots of land that the communities allocated for the use of the clergy.

The rulers of Iran, Khiva and Bukhara, relying on Muslim feudal law (Sharia) and considering themselves the supreme owners of the Turkmen lands, demanded that the Turkmens pay rent-tax: zekat from cattle and kharashch from cultivated land. Thus, all working Turkmens, including personally free community members who owned land as a sanashik and even a mulk (peasant, not granted by the sovereign), were subjected to cruel feudal exploitation. The Turkmen tribes fought especially stubbornly against this, raising dozens of uprisings. The Akhal, Merv, Atrek and Balkhan Turkmens sometimes managed to get rid of the payment of rent-tax, but the Khorezm Turkmens, who sat on the so-called subshalych (belonging to the Khan) lands of the Khiva Khanate, as well as the Amu Darya Ersari and other small tribes, who received from the Emir of Bukhara plots on aml - kovy (state) lands, almost always paid high taxes. The only thing that the Khiva and Bukhara Turkmens usually managed to achieve was that taxes from the Turkmen tribes were collected not by khan and emir officials, but by Turkmen foremen and feudal tribal leaders.

As a result of the uneven distribution of ownership of the means of production in the Turkmen society itself, primarily land, water and livestock, there was also exploitation, most often covered by patriarchal forms, but no less rude and cruel.

In the agricultural oases, one of the most common forms of exploitation was sharecropping. Not all peasants had enough land, water, and implements to run an independent household. What was missing had to be rented from the bai from a share of the harvest. Most often, the tenant received half of the harvest (yarpachy, yarymchy), sometimes one quarter or even less (cheryekchy, corresponding to the Uzbek-Tajik “chairakar”).

In livestock farming there were various specific forms of exploitation. The poor man, who did not have a well, had to graze the Bai cattle and clean the well for using the bay well; the poor man, who had few livestock, could join it to the Bai herd, but for this he had to cultivate the land of the Bai in the oasis or graze the Bai cattle; poor households could receive a certain amount of dairy products or wool from the bai, but for this, women from the poor households had to “help” the wives and slaves of the bai to process dairy products, spin wool, and felt felt. Thus, different forms of working off predominated in the pastoral economy of the Turkmens.

A very archaic form of exploitation, common among the Turkmens, was working off a kalym (ransom) for a wife; the poor man was forced to work off what was borrowed from the bai to pay the kalym, sometimes he simply worked for the agreed number of years in the house of his father-in-law.

The labor of hired workers - gullukchi, hyzmatker - was quite widespread. But this was not a capitalist hire - the bai formally provided "beneficence" to an impoverished relative and, in the order of "tribal mutual assistance", gave him work in his household. In fact, the “beneficial” relative paid for this with years of hard work for grubs and cast-offs.

For selfish purposes, the bai also used the remnants of the collective labor of the community members, preserved in the form of the customs of yovar and um, similar in type to the Russian “help”.

Despite the fact that the Turkmen society had a class structure, the Turkmens retained significant vestiges of patriarchal tribal relations.

The exploiting top of the Turkmen society was made up of feudal lords - the leaders of the tribes (khans, beks), military people (nukers), the higher clergy (pir, ishan, kaz). These were large landowners, owners of huge herds of cattle, wells. They were, as a rule, slave owners and slave traders, conducted other trade operations, were engaged in usury, were organizers of alamans - predatory raids. The leaders of clans and tribes skillfully used their traditional rights and authority to oppress the exploited poor.

An intermediate position between feudal lords and working peasants was occupied by bais - rich peasants who exploited the labor of sharecroppers, farm laborers, and often slaves. However, according to the methods of exploitation, the bais differed little from the large feudal lords.

The working peasantry consisted of full-fledged community members leading an independent economy, and of land-poor or landless sharecroppers. Completely impoverished and ruined, the peasants passed to the position of farm laborers. The lowest stratum of the exploited masses were the slaves. The presence of numerous remnants of the patriarchal-tribal system among the Turkmens under the dominance of feudal relations, in particular, the preservation of the tribal organization and patriarchal slavery, makes it possible to determine the social relations of the Turkmens of the 16th-19th centuries. as patriarchal-feudal.

Due to the predominance of patriarchal-feudal relations among the Turkmens in the XVIII-XIX centuries. Turkmen society did not have a hereditary and closed feudal class. In the public consciousness of the Turkmens, their society was divided not into classes, but into clans and tribes. Class division among the Turkmens was associated not so much with classes as with tribal affiliation, with the “purity” of blood (ig, ardent, hum).

This, undoubtedly, obscured class contradictions and made it difficult to develop the class struggle within the Turkmen society. And if there are many facts that speak of the struggle of the Turkmen tribes against foreign enslavers, then almost nothing is known about the struggle of the Turkmen poor against their khans and bais. However, there is no doubt that class contradictions in Turkmen society have become very acute. This is evidenced by the works of the Turkmen democratic poets Makhtumkuli, Zelili and especially Kemine, who not only denounces the greedy rich and their patron - a corrupt judge (kaziy), but directly threatens the latter with reprisal from the poor. And the Turkmen legends tell about the uprising of the Turkmen population of the Durun region against the Teke Khan Kara-oglan.

The Turkmen feudal-tribal nobility played a prominent role in the political life of the states where there was a Turkmen population (especially the Khiva Khanate), and was sometimes the main support of one or another ruler. Turkmen leaders often acted as governors of the Khiva khan or the Iranian shah in the Turkmen lands, which allowed them to use the power of state power to oppress the Turkmen peasantry.

At the same time, the Turkmen tribes retained the remnants of communal-tribal self-government, partially adapted to the needs of feudal society. The feudal-tribal leaders were not sole rulers, they were forced to reckon with the opinion of the council of tribal elders and clergy (maslakhat or get\esh). The gengesh stood even higher than the khan, since the khans were chosen and displaced by him. However, the most important body of community-tribal self-government - the people's assembly - no longer existed among the Turkmens. Only the remains of it were preserved in the form of aul gatherings.

In the legal superstructure, the remnants of the pre-feudal order were more strongly retained, in particular, the court of elders (yashuli), which judged on the basis of customary law (adat), was of great importance. It enjoyed greater prestige than the Qazi court, where legal proceedings were conducted on the basis of Sharia. Legally responsible for the misdeeds or crimes of a particular person, according to customary law, was not only an individual, but also a tribe, a clan to which he belonged. If the offender was unable to pay the fine imposed on him, his relatives, first of all the next of kin, had to pay it. According to adat, the person who committed the murder was supposed to be killed. If the killer managed to escape, the representatives of the injured party took revenge on one of his relatives. Later, as a result of the weakening of tribal ties, as well as due to the intervention of the Russian administration in cases decided by adat, a fine (khun) was increasingly awarded for murder, which had long existed along with blood feuds.

The Turkmen adat actually protected the interests of the prosperous elite of society, protected its private property, power over slaves, the lack of rights of women, and therefore could satisfy the needs of the feudal-tribal nobility to a certain extent. But at the same time, it retained the principle of communal land ownership and personal freedom of peasants, preventing development of feudal relations.

On the eve of the October Revolution, in the social structure of the Turkmens, along with patriarchal-feudal relations, capitalist relations played a significant role. In connection with the growth of commodity-money relations, the value of land increased, especially in the cotton regions, the importance of mulk land property greatly increased, a large number of sanashik lands actually moved to the position of mulks, seizures and appropriation of communal lands by khans, tribal elders, as well as ishans and executions became more frequent. . They became the actual managers of water. The peasants were forced to cultivate the fields of their khan for free - otherwise they could lose the insignificant share of water they received. The land ownership of some khans and other influential persons reached 700-800 hectares per farm, with an average peasant allotment of 0.25 hectares - 0.5 hectares. In addition to the free labor of dependent peasants, large khan and feudal-bay farms also used the cheap labor of farm laborers.

Having lost his livestock or land, a Turkmen poor peasant was forced to work as a farm laborer or shepherd (chopan) in the bai's household; sometimes he went to the city in search of work, where he entered workshops or a factory, and often subsisted on the meager earnings of a day laborer. Some part of the peasantry in need of earnings was hired for agricultural work in the large estate of the royal family - the Murghab "state estate" or became repair workers on the railway.

In the western, coastal part of Turkmenistan, the surplus of workers was partly absorbed by local fisheries. Not having their own nets and other necessary equipment, the Turkmens were hired as workers in merchant fisheries; sometimes they united in small artels and fished on their own, but, deprived of working capital, were forced to sell their products for a song to creditors-buyers. Part of the Turkmen population of the eastern coast of the Caspian Sea was employed in oil, ozocerite and salt fields on the island of Cheleken, near the lighthouse Kuuli-Mayak, as well as on Uzboy in the area of ​​Molla-Kara and in other places.

The Turkmens have long been engaged in a fairly lively trade with neighboring countries. They came to the bazaars of Khiva, Bukhara and Iran, selling livestock products, carpets and slaves there, they themselves bought bread, as well as weapons, fabrics, dishes and other handicrafts. The Turkmens were so in need of this trade that the ban on visiting the bazaars was one of the means to pacify the recalcitrant Turkmen tribes, and this means was repeatedly used by the feudal sovereigns of the Middle East. There were also large bazaars in the Turkmen oases, in particular in Merv, Kunya-Urgench and in the Ersar villages along the middle reaches of the Amu Darya.

Part of the Turkmen tribes, as noted above, already from the 18th century. conducted quite a lively trade through the Caspian Sea with Russia. The city of Merv played an important intermediary role in trade with neighboring countries of the East.

After joining Russia, trade in Turkmenistan has received significant development. Cotton, astrakhan skins, wool and raw hides were the main export items to Russia. Tea, sugar, textile, metal and other industrial products, as well as bread, timber were imported from Russia.

The main centers of trade were the cities of Krasnovodsk, Ashgabat, Merv, Chardzhui and Kerki.

Drawing Turkmenistan into the economic system of Russian capitalism led to the rapid development of commodity production in the village. Of particular importance was the development of cotton growing, which began in the mid-1990s. By 1915, cotton in the Merv district, for example, already occupied over 50% of all sown areas. Cotton was bought from farmers by Russian textile firms through local bais and usurers. A complex system of contracting and issuing cash advances for cotton forced the farmers to pay off their debts to give cotton to buyers at a price half the market price. The land was increasingly concentrated in the hands of feudal lords and bais. Turkmen peasants were suffocating from lack of land, 60.8% of the peasant farms of the Transcaspian region had no more than 2 acres of sowing per farm.

Along with the impoverishment and ruin of the broad peasant masses, the development of the bourgeoisie from the environment of the Turkmen bayst began, especially in cotton-growing areas. Bai began to start steam mills, brick factories and other enterprises. At the same time, agricultural machinery remained still primitive - in 1914, the Turkmens of the Transcaspian region had only 64 factory plows.

A characteristic feature of the economy of pre-revolutionary Turkmenistan, as well as other outskirts of tsarist Russia, was the almost complete absence of a manufacturing industry with a low level of agriculture, adapted in most areas to the production of raw materials for the industrial centers of the metropolis. Semi-handicraft enterprises for the primary processing of agricultural raw materials and the production of building materials prevailed, with 10-15 workers. The largest detachment of the proletariat in Transcaspia was the railway workers, who numbered up to 4 thousand people. The number of industrial workers did not exceed 1 thousand. Among them, there were only 200-300 Turkmens, and they were mostly laborers.

At the beginning of the XX century. in the Transcaspian region, the development of capitalist relations intensified. The production of cotton grew, the sale of wool, astrakhan fur. In connection with the development of commodity-money relations, money rent began to develop, the monetary form of payment for the labor of farm laborers. The national bourgeoisie (mostly rural) grew stronger, and a local bourgeois intelligentsia was born. Along with the economic development of Turkmenistan, the formation of the Turkmen bourgeois nation began, but this process did not have time to complete before the Great October Socialist Revolution.

The news of the victory of the February bourgeois-democratic revolution roused the working people of Turkmenistan to fight. As a result of mass demonstrations by Russian revolutionary workers and soldiers, together with the Turkmen labor daikhanate, in March 1917 the tsarist administration of the Transcaspian region was overthrown.

In Transcaspia, as in all of Russia, dual power was established. Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries settled in the Soviets. Turkmen feudal lords and bourgeois nationalists created their own bodies - "Turkmen executive committees", trying to tear the Turkmen working people away from the alliance with the Russian revolutionary proletariat. Daikhans demanded the return of land and water seized by the tsarist government and Russian planters, in the villages widespread re-elections of old judges and foremen began; these re-elections took place in an atmosphere of acute struggle, often accompanied by bloody clashes. Strikes and massive political demonstrations continued in the cities; Turkmen workers took an active part in the demonstrations. The revolutionary struggle of the working masses of Turkmenistan was led by Bolshevik organizations; defeated by tsarism during the years of reaction and the world war, they were again restored in the cities of Transcaspia in the autumn of 1917.

The provisional government continued the colonial policy of tsarism, which caused discontent among the workers and helped to strengthen the militant alliance of the Turkmen peasantry with the Russian revolutionary proletariat. Turkmen workers took an active part in the Great October Socialist Revolution. against them with weapons in their hands, drove them out, and in some places began to take land and water from the feudal lords by force.

From December 1917, the IV Regional Congress of Soviets proclaimed Soviet power in the Transcaspian region. The Turkmen khans and bourgeois nationalists tried to organize a counter-revolutionary coup, but the Daikhanate did not follow them, remaining loyal to the alliance with the Russian proletariat, led by the Communist Party.

Turkmens photo, Turkmens look like
Turkmenler

Number and range

Total: 8 500 000
Turkmenistan Turkmenistan: 4,248,000
Iran Iran: 1,328,585
Afghanistan Afghanistan: 932,000
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan: 152,000
Pakistan Pakistan: 60,000
Russia Russia: 36 885 (2010)

• • Stavropol Territory Stavropol Territory: 15,000
  • Moscow Moscow: 2 946 (2010)
  • Astrakhan Region Astrakhan Region: 2,286 (2010)
  • Moscow region Moscow region: 1,448 (2010)
  • St. Petersburg St. Petersburg: 1,287 (2010)
  • Tatarstan Tatarstan: 968 (2010)
  • Bashkortostan Bashkortostan: 783 (2010)
  • Krasnodar Territory Krasnodar Territory: 667 (2010)
  • Samara region Samara region: 634 (2010)

Tajikistan Tajikistan: 15 171 (2010)
Ukraine Ukraine: 3,709 (2001)
Belarus Belarus: 2,685 (2009)
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan: 2,234 (2009)
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan: 2,037 (2012 est.)
Latvia Latvia: 46 (2010 est.)
Turkey Turkey 500,000 (2013 est.)

Language

Turkmen

Religion

Sunni Muslims

Racial type

Transcaspian type of a large Caucasoid race with an admixture of Mongoloid elements

Origin

Iranian

"Turkmen" redirects here; see also other meanings. Not to be confused with Medieval Turkmens. Not to be confused with Iraqi Turkmen. Not to be confused with Syrian Turkmens. Turkmen-Yomud Turkmens (Photo by S. M. Prokudin-Gorsky)

Turkmens(Turkm. Türkmenler) is a Turkic-speaking people of ancient Oguz origin, who make up the main population of Turkmenistan, and also traditionally live in Afghanistan and northeast Iran. They speak the Turkmen language of the Oguz subgroup of the Turkic languages. By religion, traditionally Sunni Muslims. The total number is over 8 million people.

• 1 Ethnogenesis
• 2 Genetics
• 3 Society
• 4 Tribal division
• 5 Settlement
  • 5.1 Turkmens in Iran
  • 5.2 Turkmen in Afghanistan
  • 5.3 Turkmen in Russia
• 6 Ethnographic groups
• 7 Anthropology
• 8 See also
• 9 Gallery
• 10 Notes
• 11 See also
• 12 Literature
• 13 Links

Ethnogenesis

The earliest basis in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens was the ancient local Iranian-speaking, Sako-Massagetian and Sarmatian-Alanian tribes of the steppes, as well as the inhabitants of the ancient states - Margiana, Parthia and Khorezm. In the middle of the 1st millennium, early Turks appeared in the Caspian steppes, and in the 9th-11th centuries, the Oguzes (Seljuks), who played a major role in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens. The process of formation of the Turkmen people was basically completed in the 15th century, when the new tribal associations formed after the Mongol conquest included Turkic tribes of non-Oguz origin, in particular the Kypchaks.

The self-name of the Turkmens is first found in the Sogdian documents of the 8th century, found on Mount Mug (northern Tajikistan).

In the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens, the earliest layer was made up of ancient nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes (Dakhs, Massagets, later Ephthalites and Sarmato-Alans), who lived on the territory of modern Turkmenistan, as well as the settled agricultural population of Western Khorezm, the middle Amu Darya and Northern Khorasan. This population, especially the semi-nomadic ones, began to undergo Turkization already from the 4th-6th centuries.

The Oguzes, who in large numbers penetrated the borders of Turkmenistan in the 9th-11th centuries, played an important role in the ethnogenesis of the Turkmens. The bulk of the Oghuz, who came from the northeast with the Seljuks in the 11th century, settled here and gradually merged with the local population. The formation of the Turkmen language took place.

Genetics

Genetic studies of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) restriction fragment length polymorphism confirmed that Turkmens are characterized by the presence of local Iranian mtDNA lineages similar to East Iranian populations, but Turkmens and East Iranian populations with a frequency of over 20% had a high value of the male European genetic component. This most likely points to an ancestral combination of Iranian groups and Turks, which was inherited by modern Turkmens, and which seems to be consistent with historical records that indicate that numerous Iranian tribes existed in the region even before the migration of Turkic tribes, which, as they are believed to have mixed / merged with the local population and passed on their language and created something like a hybrid / mixed Turkic-Iranian culture.

Society

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, noted that the Turkmens "in terms of language are most related to the Ottoman Turks and Azerbaijanis."

The traditional occupation is carpet weaving, agriculture, nomadic cattle breeding, felt felting, silk weaving. Turkmens are known for horse breeding, especially Akhal-Teke horses.

Tribal division

Main article: Turkmen tribes

Like other Central Asian peoples, the Turkmens for a long time retained the division into tribes and clans. The largest Trukmen tribes are the Ersars, Yomuds, Alilis, Salyrs, Chovdurs, Goklens and Tekins (Teke) who proved to be brave warriors and skillful riders in Russian and world history.

resettlement

Turkmens in Iran

Main article: Turkmens in Iran

Turkmens in Afghanistan

Main article: Turkmens in Afghanistan

Turkmen in Russia

Main article: Turkmen in Russia

According to the 2002 census, 33,000 Turkmens live in Russia.

Historically, several Turkmen clans live in the northeast of the Stavropol Territory (see. Trukhmeny) and in the Astrakhan region (the villages of Atal, Funtovo-1.2), see Turkmens of Atala.

Ethnographic groups

In the Turkmen ethnos, several ethnographic groups have developed:

• alieli
• arabachi
• Astrakhan Turkmens
• bayats
• Gauquelin
• ermeli
• yomuds
• Karadashly (yazyry)
• kyrkyns
• makhtums
• muddy
• purred
• nohurli (nuhur)
• Nurata Turkmens
• ovlyady:
  • hoja
  • sheikhs (sheikhs)
  • sayyids
  • magtymy
  • mugeuvres
• ogurjali
• olams
• sakars
• salors (salyrs)
• saryks
• sayats
• Stavropol Turkmens (Truhmens)
• Tekins (teke)
• hasari
• khatab
• chovduri (chaudor)
• emreli
• ersari

Anthropology

According to the anthropological classification, the Turkmens belong to the Turanoid race as part of the great Mongoloid race; with an admixture of European elements

The Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, published in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, gives the following description of the anthropology of the Turkmens:

Despite the undoubted Turkic origin, attested by language, historical data and folk legends, the type of Turkmen can least of all be called purely Turkic. “Nomads,” says Vamberi, “from time immemorial, systematically engaged in raids and robbery, who were in the most lively communication with the Persians, Afghans, Tajiks, Uzbeks, Cossacks, Karakalpaks and Caucasians, very little could keep the original type clean, which currently represents mixture of Old Turkic with Aryan. The purer type was preserved by the Chaudars, who are distinguished by a weaker physique and a smaller head than the Kirghiz, a more conical than a round skull, and a height of 5-6 feet. As we approach the southern borders of the Trans-Caspian lowland, the features of Iranian admixture stand out all the more, the facial hair becomes more abundant, the protrusion of the cheekbones is less noticeable, and only small, somewhat obliquely located eyes indicate a Turkic origin. Among the Tekkins, a real Caucasian type already appears, as well as among the Ottomans related to the Turkmens. The same can be said in general about the Turkmens, more or less neighboring to Northern Iran, although their skin color is whiter than that of the Persians, and their physique is stronger than that of a thin Iranian. In women, the Turkic type is more noticeable, despite a significant percentage of Persians among them: the cheekbones are more protruding, and the hair on the head is relatively sparse. Beautiful female types resemble beautiful Ottomans. Prof. Yavorsky, who carried out anthropometric studies among the Turkmens, mainly among the Tekke, gives the following data on the type of this numerous branch of the Turkmens. Body composition is dominated by thin, but there is a significant% of moderately well-fed and full (26 out of 59). Growth is high, average: 1,694, in particular, tekke 1,700. Chest circumference 862, height ratio 50.88. Skin color in open areas: predominant - bronze tanned (in 31 people), then yellowish-pale (in 15 people), but there is also light (in 4 people); in closed places it is generally lighter. Hair color: predominantly dark on the head and beard, but there are also dark chestnut. The hair on the head is shaved, on the beard it is often smooth, occasionally curly. One subject has a beard length of 97 cm. The color of the ray is dark (brown), but there is a large percentage of light gray (24%). The lips are moderate, rather full, straight. The shape of the skull is characteristic: it looks like a pusher, elongated backwards and upwards, towards the crown, sometimes quite flat. The head is rather large, wider than tall. The shape of the forehead is predominantly rounded. Ears are large, protruding. The direction of the palpebral fissure is predominantly horizontal. The facial angle, according to Camper, ranges between 70°-80°. The head index fluctuates between 68.69 and 81.78; dolichocephals predominate; average: 75.64 (subdolichocephalic). The largest anteroposterior diameter is average - 193, the horizontal girth of the head is average - 548. The facial line is average 185, the facial index is average 69.73, the nasal index is average 66.66.

see also

• Syrian Turkmens are a people in Syria.
• Turkomans (Turkmans or Iraqi Turkmens) are a people in Iraq.
• Turkish Turkmens (Turkish) Russian is an ethnic group in Turkey.
• Turkmens of Atala

Gallery

• Image gallery

Turkmen in national clothes on Akhal-Teke horse

Turkmen, camel driver. Photo by Prokudin-Gorsky taken in 1904-1916

Turkmen wedding

Turkmen girl

Yomut grannies

Turkmens in national dress at the Independence Parade

Turkmen children in national clothes at the Independence Parade

Turkmens in national clothes present bread to the President of Russia

Turkmen aksakal

Turkmen fan of FC "Rubin" in national clothes

Notes

1. CIA World Factbook Turkmenistan
2. CIA - The World Factbook
3. CIA - The World Factbook
4. Ethnic atlas of Uzbekistan. Tashkent - 2002
5. http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=SUBSITES&page=SUBSITES&id=434fdc702
6. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation according to the 2010 census
7. Stavropol made a rating of nationalities living in the region
8. Volume 3. Ethnic composition and language skills, citizenship of the population of the Republic of Tajikistan
9. &n_page=5 All-Ukrainian population census of 2001. Distribution of the population by nationality and native language. State Statistics Committee of Ukraine.
10. Population census of the Republic of Belarus in 2009. POPULATION BY NATIONALITY AND NATIVE LANGUAGE. belstat.gov.by. Archived from the original on February 3, 2012.
11. Agency of the Republic of Kazakhstan on statistics. Census 2009. (National composition of the population.rar)
12. National Statistical Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic 2009.
13. Distribution of the population of Latvia by national composition and state affiliation as of 01.07.2010 (Latvian)
14. At one's own risk. How Turkmen illegal immigrants live in Turkey
15. 1 2 M. B. Durdiev. Turkmens:. - "Harp", 1991. - S. 23.
16. Alekseev, 2007, p. 187
17. http://books.google.ru/books?id=93gkAAAAMAAJ&q=%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8B+%D1 %81+%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0% B9+%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%8C%D1%8E&dq=%D1%82%D1%83%D1%80%D0%BA %D0%BC%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8B+%D1%81+%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B3%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE% D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9+%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%8C%D1% 8E&hl=ru&sa=X&ei=2gSPU8C8E67S4QSnr4D4CA&ved=0CDwQ6AEwBA
18. Turkic Peoples
19. Turkmens - TSB
20. Turkmens (Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Russia) - Etnolog.ru
21. 1 Russian Journal of Genetics, Mitochondrial DNA Polymorphism in Populations of the Caspian Region and Southeastern Europe
22. Russian ethnographic museum. Glossary. Turkmens
23. Sergey Demidov Turkmen ovlyads and Prophet Mohammed.
24. V. P. Alekseev Geography of human races // Selected in 5 vols. T. 2. Anthropogeography. - M.: "Nauka", 2007. - S. 187. - ISBN 978-5-02-035544-6
25. Peoples of Western Asia, Linguistic and anthropological results of the ethnogenesis of the peoples of Western Asia Linguistic and anthropological results of the ethnogenesis of the peoples of Western Asia. - “The Turkmens belong to the so-called Transcaspian (in the terminology of JI. V. Oshanin) type of the Indo-Pamir group and are characterized by long-headedness (dolichocephaly); it is a Caucasoid type with a slight admixture of Mongoloid elements; there is enough evidence to assert that this anthropological type developed on the spot and that the Turkmens are the descendants of ancient Iranian-speaking tribes, later Turkified in language, and anthropologically slightly Mongolized. Retrieved September 24, 2012. Archived from the original on October 15, 2012.
26. Turkmens. Brockhaus-Efron. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012.

see also

• Turkmen language
• Oghuz
• Yuryuks - Anatolian Turkmens

Literature

• Vasilyeva G.P. The history of the ethnographic study of the Turkmen people in domestic science (the end of the 18th - 20th centuries): Essays / Ed. ed. V. I. Bushkov; Reviewers: R. Sh. Dzharylgasinova, O. B. Naumova; Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology. N. N. Miklukho-Maklay RAS. - M.: Nauka, 2003. - 200 p. - 520 copies. - ISBN 5-02-008906-0. (in trans.)
• Turkmen // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. - M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. - ISBN 978-5-287-00718-8.
• Turkmens // Ethnoatlas of the Krasnoyarsk Territory / Council of Administration of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Public Relations Department; ch. ed. R. G. Rafikov; editorial board: V. P. Krivonogov, R. D. Tsokaev. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - Krasnoyarsk: Platinum (PLATINA), 2008. - 224 p. - ISBN 978-5-98624-092-3.

Links

• Turkmen diaspora

Turkmens in America, Turkmens in Syria, Turkmens in Turkey, Turkmens appearance, Turkmens look like, Turkmens of Turkey, Turkmens photo

Turkmen Information About