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KARAKALPAK FOLKLOR STUDIES
Turdibayev Q., Keruenov T.,
Gayliyeva O., Dosimbetova A.
Аннотация:
Устное
народное
творчество
является
основным
отражением
национального духа, культуры и социального мышления. На протяжении веков
каракалпакский народ передавал свою жизнь, мышление, традиции и ценности из
поколения в поколение через устное творчество. Это богатое фольклорное наследие
служит не только культурным памятником, но и важным источником для изучения
исторической мысли и духовного мира народа. Каракалпакское фольклороведение,
сформировавшись именно с этой точки зрения, продолжает развиваться как
самостоятельная наука. В данной статье рассматриваются источники формирования
каракалпакского фольклора с научной точки зрения.
Ключевые слова:
литературно-фольклорное наследие, каракалпакский фольклор,
фольклористика, сказочные письменные памятники, научные исследования.
Annotation:
Oral folk art is the main reflection of the national spirit, culture and social
thinking. For centuries, the Karakalpak people have passed on their lives, thinking, traditions
and values from generation to generation through oral creativity. This rich folklore heritage
serves not only as a cultural monument, but also as an important source for studying the
historical thought and spiritual world of the people. Karakalpak folklore studies, having been
formed precisely from this point of view, continues to develop as an independent science.
This article examines the sources of the formation of Karakalpak folklore from a scientific
point of view.
Keywords:
literary and folklore heritage, Karakalpak folklore, folklore studies, fabulous
written monuments, scientific research.
Just as the history of the Karakalpak people traces back to ancient times, their oral
folklore heritage also originates from early eras and has been shaped within the framework of
the people's consciousness, worldview, spiritual world, and way of life. Folk oral creativity
is an artistic reflection of national spirituality, culture, and social thought. For centuries, the
Karakalpak people have passed down their lifestyle, ideas, traditions, and values from
generation to generation through oral creative expression. This rich folklore heritage serves
not only as spiritual values but also as a primary source for studying the historical mindset
and spiritual worldview of the people. Karakalpak folklore studies, emerging from these
perspectives, continues to develop as an independent discipline. This article examines the
origins of Karakalpak folklore studies from a scholarly standpoint. Despite the existence of
several works on the emergence and history of folklore studies, scholarly research on the
formation of initial perspectives on folk oral heritage, starting from early literary sources, has
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not yet been conducted. This underscores the relevance of the topic we have chosen for our
article.
The creation of such works by our people, their shaping, collection, preservation in
memory, oral transmission from generation to generation, and recording in special writings -
all of these demonstrate the people's exceptional respect and creative approach to the
spiritual and cultural heritage and values accumulated over centuries. If such efforts had not
been carried out, our folk oral creative works that emerged in the early periods of history
would not have reached us today. This itself indicates that the roots of studying folk
creativity date back to ancient times, and that the initial collection and study of these works,
even in a simple form, belonged to the people themselves, to renowned wise individuals
from among the people, and to talented individuals capable of creative work.
When we look at the history, literary heritage, and written monuments of the
Karakalpak people, we can see that folk art reflects very valuable information and
perspectives for modern history, literary studies, and philosophical sciences.
Examples of folk art have appeared in various forms in ancient written records
concerning the history, language, and literature of the Karakalpak people. On one hand,
known sources cite myths, legends, tales, poetic lines, and proverbs, while on the other hand,
authors use these as examples in their research discussions. The rich content of folk art,
which has persisted in consciousness and language, is systematically compiled in literary
monuments, and they continue to serve as valuable artistic and aesthetic sources for literary
heritage from century to century. Therefore, written monuments and manuscripts serve as a
driving force in the historical development of folk art. They act as a bridge between pre-
existing folk creative content and subsequently emerging and developing content. However,
not all information found in these written sources can be considered pure examples of folk
art. This is because, as we all know, in the early stages of human consciousness, perspectives
on objects and phenomena were in a unified, syncretic state. Folk art is not yet independent
from the philosophical, religious, historical, and scientific content layers in public
consciousness, but it coexists with them.
The Orkhon-Yenisei inscriptions, considered a historical and literary written
monument of our people, emdiv the characteristics, features, and content of folk art. These
inscriptions, carved in ancient runic script on stone steles, provide information about the
events of the era, the biographies and struggles of certain khans and beks, their governance
of the state, and their heroic deeds in defending the country from external enemies. The
preservation of words imbued with patriotism and heroism, reflecting the multifaceted
aspects of human life, lifestyle, and living conditions in a special form of writing, can be
considered a source of early perspectives on history, traditions, literature, and folklore. This
is also noted in the scientific works of the first Karakalpak folklorists N. Davkarayev, K.
Ayimbetov, O. Kozhurov, I. Sagitov, B. Ismailov, Karakalpak writers A. Begimov, M.
Daribayev, Zh. Aymurzayev, N. Zhapakov, A. Shamuratov, scientists S. Akhmetov, K.
Maksetov, S. Bakhadyrova, K. Allambergenov, Zh. Khoshniyazov, K. Palymbetov, Zh.
Nizamatdinov, T. Keruenov, I. Allambergenova, A. Bekimbetov and others.
The renowned scholar Q. Maqsetov provides the following information on this topic in
his work "Karakalpak Folkloristics." "If we look at the ancient sources of Karakalpak
folklore, we see that it is connected to the culture of the Saka-Massagetae tribes who lived
on the shores of the Eastern Aral Sea in the 7th-5th centuries BC, considered the ancestors of
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most of the peoples of Central Asia. Archaeological research conducted by S. P. Tolstov
revealed traces of the Saka-Massagetae tribes along the banks of the Inkar River along the
middle reaches of the Akcha River and Syr Darya. It was determined that they engaged in
animal husbandry, fishing, and hunting. Among the items excavated from Tagesken and
Uygaraq, dating back to the 6th-5th centuries BC, were bronze horse harnesses, arrow points
for bows, knives and daggers made of bronze and iron, and long iron swords. Additionally,
objects found in the graves of Uygaraq and Tagesken featured depictions of waterfowl, saiga
antelopes, horses, deer, wild boars, lions, leopards, camels, and other animals. [2. 3]
Furthermore, in his work, the scholar notes that the heroic epic "Tumaris," based on the story
of how the Iranian king Cyrus conquered many parts of Central Asia in the 6th century BC,
and how the people of Central Asia, especially the Massagetae tribes led by Tumaris, fought
fiercely against Cyrus, and how Cyrus's armies were defeated and he himself died in battle,
has not survived to our time. However, the content of the epic is presented in the book
"History" by the Greek historian Herodotus. Scholar K. Maqsetov, continuing his
observations, states that the heroism of women in the kingdom of women can be observed in
the role they played in society in past eras through the image of Tumaris, presented in the
content of the legend. He emphasizes that the tradition of proclaiming women as heroes and
portraying women as heroes is considered one of the epics formed in Karakalpak folklore.
"It should be connected to the tradition of the Thracian-Massagetae culture and the
Karakalpak epic “Forty Girls” . In "The Forty Girls," the Amazonian plot related to the
emergence of classes from Amazonia is quite clearly visible, with the preservation of details.
In it, one can see echoes of the Massagetae epic about Tumaris... In the 6th century,
Byzantine envoys encountered Turkic tribes led by women on the northern shores of the
Aral Sea in Khorezm. [2, 4] At the same time, based on ethnographic materials collected
among the Karakalpaks, it is appropriate to recall that T.A. Zhdanko noted that the battle cry
of the Muytens, Aksholpan, is also a female name. As we all know, oral information about
the origins, spread, and countries of origin of these peoples was created in numerous legends
and stories widely spread among the Turkic peoples, and later their content expanded, their
examples multiplied, spread across vast territories, and permeated the pages of many ancient
books in various languages. Information is also provided in the works of our scholars that
the authors of these books collected and comprehensively studied such legends and stories,
and then instilled their own perspectives in them, revised them to a certain extent, and used
them to convey historical and other meanings. The collection of folk oral art by these wise
and learned individuals, along with their interest and creative approaches, represents the
initial stages of studying folk art.
Of course, although the information in early written sources does not provide
complete information about the study of oral folk art, a simple example of such research can
be seen in them. However, in our literary past, we can also see efforts undertaken
purposefully and systematically to collect and study folk art. For example, although
Mahmud Kashgari's "Devonu lug'atit turk," written in the 11th century, provides information
on the linguistic features of Turkic peoples, this work can be considered the first book on the
collection and study of folk art. This is also mentioned in the works of Karakalpak scholars
Q. Ayimbetov's "Folk Wisdom" and Q. Maqsetov's "Karakalpak Folkloristics." Scholar Q.
Maqsetov, in his aforementioned work, presents information on a specific topic: "Mahmud
Kashgari and Folklore." One of the main information gleaned from the scholar's works is
that M. Kashgari, along with explaining the meaning, origin, and changes in the meanings of
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words, also included in his book a large collection of works of folk art, such as proverbs,
poetic lines, and legends of Turkic peoples. The book contains about 300 proverbs and
sayings, more than 200 verses of poems, and many legends of various content. The majority
of literary and folklore examples in the "Devonu lug'atit turk" (Compendium of Turkic
Dialects) testify to the fact that Kashgari was not only a linguist but also a scholar who
studied folk art. The scholar E. Bertels confirms this point by stating that Mahmud Kashgari
was "the first researcher of Turkic folklore."
Mahmud Zamakhshari, a scholar who lived in the 11th-12th centuries, is another sage
who collected examples of folk art and left them as a legacy in book form. He/She had a
book titled "El-ustaksa fil-emsal" ("The Analyst of Proverbs"), which contains 4,461 ancient
proverbs, and a book titled "Sevairul-emsal" ("The Ring of Proverbs"), which deals with
proverbs. The book "Nuzxetul-mutenis" ("Journey with Friendship") contains literary stories,
poems, hadiths, and some literary fragments. The book titled "Nevabig'il-kalim" ("Words of
the Famous") also consisted of short wise sayings and literary fragments. The book "Words
of Wisdom" contains 253 eloquently expressed words of wisdom. The scholar has a large
collection of historical, literary, and scholarly works, "Rabigul-abror" ("Spring of the
Righteous"), which retains a folkloric character. The scholar gathered the information in this
book, which encompasses the wisdom, teachings, proverbs, sayings of elders, and short
stories of prominent figures, from the books written by scholars before him, as well as from
the general public.
Thus, the information contained in Mahmud Zamakhshari's mentioned works is a
collection of wise sayings, stories circulating among the people, that is, a collection of folk
art. Taking this into account, Mahmud Zamakhshari can be considered a scholar who
collected wise words from the pages of old books and the people, enriching them anew,
forming them scientifically, and compiling them in special books. This is also noted by
Turkic folklorists. Of course, Mahmud Zamakhshari's works were written in Arabic, but
scholars also note that not all of his collected literary and folklore information can be
attributed to the Arab people. Among them are examples of the literary and folklore of the
Turkic peoples. Among them are examples of the literary and folklore of the Turkic peoples.
Uzbek scholars also note that Mahmud Zamakhshari often disregarded national
characteristics when collecting artistic and spiritual values. [3]. The main thing is that the
scholar worked to prevent the disappearance of works of folk art, collected them, wrote
about them in his books, and accomplished great things in history.
When we examine the works of any representative of our medieval and classical
literature, we can see that folk art plays a significant role in them. Our wise poets, having
heard from the people or read from various sources, studied examples of folk art and used
them in their creative work. Using their plot, motif, image, and other artistic traditions, they
created their own works. Folk elements were used for artistic purposes in their works. Many
such examples can be found in the history of our literature. For example, Yusuf Khass Hajib
Balasaguni's "Kutadgu Bilig" and Ahmad Yugnaki's "Hibatul Haqoyiq," which emdiv
didactic content, creatively apply the content of folk proverbs and sayings, wise sayings, and
the didactic spirit, idea, composition, and methods of folk art. Nasiruddin Rabg'uziy, who
lived in the 13th-14th centuries, wrote "Qisasi Rabg'uziy" based on religious legends.
Furthermore, when considering the emergence of Karakalpak national folklore studies,
scholar Q. Maqsetov's [2. 61-80] provides valuable information on the relationship of
Karakalpak poets to folklore in the 18th-19th centuries, as well as the emergence and
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development of Karakalpak folklore studies. Therefore, we did not intend to dwell on this
specifically in the article.
In general, this information in our literary and cultural history indicates that attitudes
towards folk art have emerged, formed, and developed since ancient times. Of course, in
those times, folklore was not studied theoretically, on a scientific basis. Of course, this
cannot be demanded from those times. However, we can say that with the emergence and
development of folklore, its study also spontaneously emerged among the people, sometimes
in a unique form, sometimes gradually, sometimes actively, by well-known authors. From
this perspective, when analyzing the history of the study of Karakalpak folklore, we must
take these phenomena into account.
References:
1.Айымбетов Қ. Халық даналығы. Нөкис, «Қарақалпақстан», 1968.
2. Мақсетов Қ. Қарақалпақ фольклористикасы. Нөкис, «Қарақалпақстан», 1989.
3. 1. Жўраев М. Фольклоршунослик асослари. Ўқув қўлланма. Тошкент: Фан, 2009.
