Tatar myths and legends. History of the Siberian Tatars Legends of the Siberian Tatars
In history Kazan there are many unsolved mysteries. Therefore, legends and traditions preserved in people's memory are of great importance and value. These are stories about the emergence of the city, about its symbol - the snake Zilant, about treasures Lake Kaban, about underground passages under the Kremlin hill, about Queen Syuyumbika, about people and phenomena.
According to one of the many legends, “in 1003, a certain khan chose a place on the Volga and founded a settlement here - the future Kazan. The settlement became a trading center with a warehouse of goods. After a long time, Khan Gazan took possession of the city. After his name, the city began to be called Gazan. And then the people themselves renamed it into a more convenient form - Kazan.” Scientists may object that there was no mythical Khan Ghazan...
Legends about the founding of Kazan
Cities, like people, have their own destiny. And, like people, they are not always lucky with chroniclers. Kazan is a happy city in this regard. A large number of scientific works are devoted to her biography.
Currently, sixteen versions of the origin of the name Kazan are known. All of them are based on the interpretation of one or another meaning of the word “kazan”, widely used in Turkic languages in general, and in Tatar in particular.
The first, in all likelihood the most ancient, legend says: when they were choosing a place for the city, they turned to a sorcerer for advice. He said: “Build a city where a pot of water dug into the ground will boil by itself.” We were looking for such a place for a long time. Finally, where the Bulak River flowed into the Kazanka, the cauldron began to boil by itself, without fire. This is where the city was founded. This is where the name Kazan came from (“kazan” means “cauldron” in Tatar).
The second legend is also associated with the word “cauldron” (cauldron). It tells that the eldest son of the last Bulgar khan Gabdulla Altynbek, fleeing the persecution of the Mongols, found himself on the bank of an unknown river, flowing among green meadows and forests, and decided to set up a parking lot. Altynbek sent a servant to fetch water with a golden cauldron. The bank of the river was very steep, and the servant, trying to scoop up water, accidentally dropped the cauldron into it. After this incident, both the river and the city founded on its banks were named Kazan.
Literary critic and writer Rafael Mustafin argues, citing the research of historians, that “among the ancient nomadic tribes, including the Kipchaks, the cauldron, in addition to its direct purpose, was a kind of symbol of power. The entry of a ritual “golden” cauldron into a particular area meant the ethnographic penetration of a given people into this region. Thus, calling river "Kazan"“, the first Turkic nomads thereby marked the boundaries of their possessions.
A number of scientists are of the opinion that the name Kazan is associated with the peculiarities of the landscape of the area, with the presence of basins (kazan, kazanlak - basin) at the location of the city. However, both New (modern) and Old Kazan do not suffer from any special basins. Moreover, as a rule, basins are inherent in mountainous terrain. Therefore, the names of settlements associated with the geographical nomenclature term “kazanlak” - hollow, are usually noted in mountainous areas.
More than two hundred years ago, P. Rychkov, in his work “The Experience of the Kazan History of Ancient and Middle Times,” first suggested that the name of the city of Kazan was taken from the name Kazan River), and “it was given to it, perhaps, from many basins and whirlpools, that is, deep pits, of which there are quite a lot of rivers in these places.”
In the 19th century, this guess was shared by N. Bazhenov, M. Pinegin, Professor S. Shpilevsky, and today by Professor E. Bushkanets. Supporters of this version may be right when they connect the origin of the name Kazan with the name of the Kazanka River. However, the explanation of the origin of the name by the presence of whirlpool basins in the river is not entirely convincing, because, as is known, a similar bottom topography is characteristic of many rivers that have completely different names.
In the same work, P. Rychkov shares another consideration, linking the name Kazan with the name of the Golden Horde khan Kazan-Soltan or another Tatar prince who bore the name Kazan and built a city named after him. K. Fuchs, A. Dubrovin, Sh. Marjani, P. Zagoskin shared the same opinion.
In the archives of the famous Bashkir linguist Dzh. Kiekbaev, who studied Turkic toponymy, there is a record in which the origin of the name Kazan associated with the word “kaen” - birch. To confirm his hypothesis, the scientist refers to the name of the village of Kazanly in Bashkiria, believing that it goes back to the word “kaenly” - birch (the village is located among birch groves). In some dialects of the Khakass language, the word “kaen” is actually used in the form “kazyn”, which is phonetically close to “kazan”. However, this fact does not provide sufficient grounds for the conclusion that the name of the capital of Tatarstan comes from the word kazyn - birch.
The famous Tatar ethnographer G. Yusupov in his article “Anthroponyms in Bulgaro-Tatar epigraphy” writes that the toponym Kazan is widespread in the Kuban, southern Ukraine, on the northwestern shore of the Caspian Sea and even in northeastern Turkey. The author of the article associates its origin with the Turkmen tribe “Kazansalor”. He believes that the Kazan tribe came to the Northern Black Sea and Azov regions from Turkmenistan, and came to the Middle Volga from the Azov region, subsequently forming the Kazan Principality. This point of view is expressed by G. Yusupov in his other article “Bulgaro-Tatar epigraphy and toponymy as a source of research into the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars.”
An interesting version is put forward by the Bashkir writer Yusup Garay, who claims that “Kazan is the name of a person or the name of a genus, and if not, then I would like to assume that it is the name of a herb.” Indeed, the word “kazan” in some Turkic languages was once used to mean “water grass” (coltsfoot or fragrant quinoa). However, the author of the version does not give examples of the use of the word “cazan” in our region in the meaning of the named herbs.
Based on the historical and linguistic analysis of the geographical names of the region, some researchers, including the author of these lines, associate the name of the city with the name of the river (hydronym) “Kazan”, which, in turn, is traced to the name of the tribe (ethnonym) “Kaz” - a goose that lived in ancient times in the basin of this river. The hydronym “Kazanka” consists of the components kaz-an-ka. The first part - “kaz”, as already noted, refers to the ancient Turkic ethnonym “kaz”, the second - “an” - means a river, and the third - “ka” - is a suffix of the Russian language, which was added to the hydronym “Kazan” in the 16th century century.
According to Professor A. Khalikov, in the times of the Bulgars the word “kaz” was used only in the meaning of “border”, “edge”, and in its more ancient form - “kash”. Believing that the name Kazan means “border city” (on the border of the Bulgar state), the author of the version does not provide compelling historical and linguistic data confirming that the Volga-Kama Bulgars used the word “kaz” to denote the concepts of “border” and “edge”. "cough") The possibility of the transition from “kash” to “kaz” (“sh” to “z”) has also not been proven.
V. Egorov in the article “On the time of occurrence Kazan“believes that the city was founded by the Bulgar prince Hasan and bears the name of its founder. I. Dobrodomov and V. Kuchkin, supporting this version, proceed from insufficiently substantiated and verified historical and linguistic data on the development of the Bulgaro-Tatar language. Their explanation boils down to the following: “Etymologically, the Bulgarian name of the city Khazang (and the name of the Kazanka River, Kazan, which goes back to it) can be derived from the most common Muslim personal name Hasan (or rather, Hesen) of Arabic origin.” However, the phonetic patterns of the Bulgarian, Chuvash and Tatar languages do not give any reason to believe that the name of our city is based on the Arabic name Hasan.
On January 13, 1983, the history teacher of the secondary school in the village of Shali, Mukhammat Sadykov, spoke in the Pestrechinsky regional newspaper “Alga”. He connected the names of the villages Kazile, Kazy, the hydronym Kazanka and the name of the city of Kazan with the word bela-kaza - disaster. Allegedly Kazanka River in ancient times it was considered a river of disasters, and the territory on the other side of the river (the author does not indicate which side is meant by “that”) was considered the side of disasters.
Why? Because the Chuvash, Mari, Tatar tribes, who lived in dense forests, were pagans, that is, they worshiped goblins, devils, snakes, and wolves.
In addition, quarrels constantly occurred between the tribes. All this was the reason for calling this area the side of disasters - “bela-kazly yak”. It must be said that M. Sadykov’s considerations cannot be proven either by historical or linguistic facts.
As evidenced by numerous facts of toponymy, river names (hydronyms) are the most ancient among all other types of geographical names. Therefore, in most cases, coastal cities bore the names of rivers: Moscow, Voronezh. Volkhov, Tobolsk - from the hydronym Tobol, etc. According to the same principle, it must be assumed that the name of the city of Kazan was formed. We find confirmation of this in historical chronicles, in the notes of Prince Andrei Kurbsky, a participant in the siege of Kazan, who wrote: “This city stands... not on the Volga, but the river below it, Kazan is named, and is named after it.”
In the “Kazan History”, in Russian chronicles and scribe books of the 15th-17th centuries, it is noted that the Kazanka River may have once been called Kazan or Kazan River.
The “Kazan History” says: “Kazan is a city along the same river.”
Tatar historian G. Akhmerov also wrote: “In our opinion, the name Kazan was first the name of a river and was borrowed from the Turkic language: if at the end of the names of rivers there is an ending (suffix, formant) “zan”, “san”, “shan”, then they are all of TURKIC origin.” The author of this article shares the same opinion.
The hydronym Kazan consists of the root “kaz” and the suffix “an”, meaning the passive voice of the past participle. It is known that the word “kaz” in the ancient Turkic language was used in the meaning of “dig, excavate, dig up.” Having analyzed the origin of numerous hydronyms starting with the word “kaz”, we come to the conclusion that the name of the river Kazan means “a river that has dug through the earth”, or “a river that digs the earth”. This name once had the forms Kazygan elga - Kazgan elga - Kazan elga.
Having undergone a number of natural phonetic changes, as well as as a result of the gradual truncation of the hydrogeographic term “elga”, this name acquired the form Kazan.
In the 12th century, the Bulgarian ancestors of the Tatar people founded a city named after the river on the banks of the Kazan River flowing into the Volga in its middle reaches. Consequently, the name of the capital of Tatarstan comes from the hydronym Kazan(ka).
(G.Sattarov, professor of KSU, chairman of the republican toponymic commission).
Legends about the emergence of the coat of arms of the Republic of Tatarstan.
The modern coat of arms of the Republic of Tatarstan depicts a winged leopard, and the legend associated with this coat of arms tells about an orphan boy who was found, saved from enemies and fed by the winged White Leopard. The leopard is a symbol of fertility, the patron saint of our people and state.
There is another beautiful ancient legend about the “Tatar Atlantis”, which is now located at the bottom of Lake Kaban. When the hordes of Tamerlane conquered the ancient Bulgar, not many managed to escape. Including the prince, whose name was Kaban, that is, Kaban - bek. Fleeing from persecution, he fled to the north, where he found his refuge among dense forests on the shores of a large and beautiful lake. The people who came with him and the fabulous Alp the batyr, who defeated all the dragons and predators around the lake, began to settle in this region. A village arose with a princely palace, which was buried in the Garden of Eden, which was called Bustan. The lake was named after the elder settlers - Kaban. But after the conquest of Kazan, this city with mosques, a golden-domed palace, a garden and stone buildings sank to the bottom of the lake. And if in very calm and clear weather you take a boat to the middle of the lake, you can see beautiful buildings in the depths and hear the adhan from the underwater minaret.
Since I had to say, I’ll show you the bottom,
I’ll tell you briefly about underwater secrets.
You will see copper villages there,
Cities made of gold are of wondrous beauty.
In the kingdom of hundred-headed snakes, water guards -
Frisky herds of marble deer...
Kaban is not just a large lake, but an entire water system consisting of three large lakes - Near, Middle and Upper Kaban, the straits between them and the Bulak channel. An ancient legend says that many years ago the first settlers were brought to these places by a holy elder named Kasym - a sheikh. There were only swamps and dense bushes around. And the people grumbled: “Why did you bring us to a place where there are many mosquitoes and no clean water?” And then the holy elder, spreading his beshmet, prayed to Allah, took hold of the edges of the beshmet and dragged him along with him. And where he dragged the beshmet, a fertile lake with clean and healing water appeared. If viewed from above, the Near Boar indeed reminds us of a spread out beshmet with two sleeves - Bulak and Botanical Channel. True, the lake does not owe its origin to beshmet. Scientists believe that the lakes are the remains of the ancient bed of the Volga and the age of the lake system is estimated at 25 - 30 thousand years.
On the founding of a new Kazan
Once upon a time, one of the residents of Kazan had a beekeeper behind the Zilant forest. On beautiful summer days he spent pleasant time with his children in this beehouse. Going to the beekeeping brought great pleasure to both himself and his children.
This beekeeper was in a large pine forest. This forest was so beautiful that it involuntarily attracted everyone. And in the summer, many different berries were found here. This man had a daughter, known to everyone for her beauty. Everyone, young and old, knew about her beauty.
The daughter was married off. One day she went to get water from Kazanka. There was no convenient bridge near the river. With great difficulty she took water out of the river and carried the water also with great difficulty along the steep bank. The absence of a bridge near the river, the difficulty of delivering water, and the steep bank of the river did not please the young woman: she began to complain, said a lot of words about this and was angry with the man who founded the city near such a steep bank. The young woman’s complaints and her words about the founder of the city reached the ears of Khan Galim-bik, the founder of this city.
Galim-bik called the woman to him and asked why she was so angry with him. This young woman was a brave and intelligent woman, therefore, without fear and without hiding anything, she told Galim-bik everything that she said at the river. She told the khan: “My khan and my sultan! - so she began.
I didn’t scold you, I only said that this city was built on an inconvenient place. May your life be long! May your enemies be defeated! If I tell you my words, you should like them. If pregnant women were to climb such a steep mountain with water on their shoulders, what would their situation be? I spoke my words only out of pity for these poor things.”
Galim-bik liked the clever words of this woman. He found all her words reasonable and asked her to speak out about where it would be better to locate the city. She proposed to found a city near Zilant Mountain, where her father’s beekeeper is located, by the way, she informed the khan that their beekeeper was also located there.
I liked her smart advice to the khan. Khan said that it was possible to locate a city near this mountain, but since there were many kinds of snakes there, it would be difficult for the people to live there. But she indicated one remedy for this trouble.
She advised Galim-bik in the fall, when the ground freezes a little and the snakes enter the ground for the winter, to pile more firewood and straw in that place, and when the spring sun warms the ground a little, the snakes will come out of the ground and climb under the stacked branches and straw, then and it is necessary to set fire to this entire flammable mass along with all the snakes located there.
Galim-bik liked this advice from the young woman. Khan himself did not like the location of Old Kazan. He just didn't know how to get rid of this inconvenience. Having heard excellent advice from a young woman, the khan decided to carry it out.
Galim-bik then sent two aristocrats and his son with old military men to see the site of the future new city. After examining the place, they returned and told the khan that they liked it very much.
But this place was inconvenient, according to them, in the sense that there, like on Zilantova Mountain, there were many snakes. To destroy these snakes, they began to use the remedy indicated by the young woman: in the fall, a lot of straw and twigs were piled up in that place.
Winter passed, spring came, and the sun warmed the earth, snakes came out of the ground and gathered under the straw. When the snakes finally came out of the ground, one day in dry windy weather, at the behest of the khan, a hero on horseback rushed to set fire to this straw.
The hero set fire to the straw. A large pile of wood and straw caught fire, and the remains of the snakes perished in the ashes. And the two-headed huge snake escaped the fire and remained alive and well. This huge dragon rushed at the hero and wanted to kill him, and the hero ran away from the Dragon on his best horse.
When the hero traveled a distance of fifty miles from the city of Kazan, the dragon overtook him, because the hero’s horse was very tired. The dragon attacked the hero and cut him into six pieces. But the hero did not succumb to the dragon’s power so quickly. The hero pierced the dragon's body several times with his poisoned spear. The dragon, they say, died from that poison.
This ravine is located further from the village of Churillino and is still called Alty-kutar, that is, six pieces. When this place was finally cleared of snakes, present-day Kazan was founded there. Then, they say, there was a strange custom: before building a new city, they performed some great deed in memory of this event. According to the custom of that time and at the founding of this city, something had to be done.
Galim-bik forced lots to be cast between one of his close associates and his son. Whoever the lot was drawn on had to be buried alive in the foundation, in memory of the city being built.
The lot fell to the lot of Galimbik Khan's own son. The matter became more complicated; it was difficult for the khan to abandon his son, and the city elders did not agree to such a sacrifice. They searched for a long time for some trick by which they could get rid of such an unpleasant matter. We searched and searched and finally found it. There was a dog buried under the first foundation.
Then, when they asked what was done in memory of the city under construction, he answered how and what was done.
Galim-bik, having heard that a dog was buried under the city, thought and remembered that this was not a good thing. Fearing that the city would one day remain in the hands of dogs, Galim-bik gathered learned people and asked them about the future of the city. Although the scientists answered differently, but then, joining the opinion of one learned man, they explained this by the fact that this does not bode well, but on the contrary, the enemies will soon be weakened, and the fact that the khan’s son remained alive - this is a sign that on this foundation the state, albeit in fits and starts, will prosper for a long time.
These words pleased Galim-bik, and he made a vow that he would restore the Caliph’s mosque so that it would be possible to pray in it. Through the prayers of Galim-bik, Muslims continue to live in the city of Kazan and will live like this forever.
Urban legends of Kazan
About Syuyumbik
They say that Ivan the Terrible, having heard about the fabulous beauty of Queen Syuyumbike, sent his matchmakers to Kazan. The proud beauty refused the Russian Tsar. Then Ivan the Terrible decided to use force - he went to Kazan with a huge army and besieged the city. Syuyumbike, in order to save the inhabitants, agreed to get married on the condition that the Russian Tsar built a high tower in Kazan in seven days. The queen's conditions were accepted and construction began. By the end of the seventh day the tower was ready. Then Syuyumbike climbed to the top tier of the tower and threw herself headfirst. So she died, not wanting to fall into the hands of the hated king. In memory of their glorious daughter, the Tatar people named the tower after her.
However, this is just a beautiful legend, it is known for certain that Syuyumbike was married to Khan Safa-Girey, and after the expulsion of Safa-Girey from Kazan, Shah-Ali was placed on the khan’s throne, who took the queen to the city of Kasimov, where she quietly and unnoticed lived out its life.
About Lake Kaban
Old people say that at the bottom of the Kazan Lake Kaban there are countless Khan's treasures, hidden from human eyes by a layer of water and bottom silt. Shortly before the moment when the troops of Ivan the Terrible approached the walls of Kazan, the khan's treasury was taken to the lake and flooded in a secret place. To find it, according to legend, you need to stand at the stream that flows into the Kaban not far from the source of Bulak and measure the distance in one or two archery shots (no one knows more precisely). The treasures lie at such depths that, even knowing the location, but not knowing another secret, it is impossible to raise them. Many brave souls tried to find the Khan's treasures, but it was all to no avail. So they rest at the bottom of the Boar, deep in the silt, where even the fish cannot see them.
Lake Kaban is a favorite vacation spot for many Kazan residents, although swimming is not allowed here. However, this is not why it is so widely known. The most important secret of Lake Kaban is that, according to legend, a huge treasure lurks at the bottom of this lake; according to legend, its size is so enormous that to bring it out would require the power of all companies whose specialization is cargo transportation Kazan. According to legend, when the troops of Ivan the Terrible were on the approaches to Kazan, the khan's treasury was lowered to the bottom of the lake at night, approximately in the northern part. They say that in order to find treasures, you need to stand at the stream near the source of Bulak, measure the distance with one or two shots from a bow. Then you will need to find a noticeable place on the ground, and from there go to another noticeable place on the other side. Here, according to legend, gold rests at a distance of several tied reins. According to legend, the treasury consisted of several parts: 1) The contents of the mint: (gold and silver bars), bars of precious metal and the coins themselves. 2) The monetary part of the treasury. These were gold and silver coins of the most diverse origin: Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Egyptian, European, Russian. 3) Treasury. The total weight of the Khan's treasury was more than a ton.
Unfortunately, there is no documentary evidence that all of the Khan’s countless treasures still rest at the bottom of Lake Kaban or that they even once were there. All this is just for now beautiful legend about treasure In the lake. One thing is certain: in the inventory of material assets taken by Ivan the Terrible in Kazan, the khan’s treasury is not mentioned.
One way or another, this story has its continuation. In 1950, during the search for the body of a man who drowned in the lake, one of the iron “cats” used to check the bottom got caught on something very heavy. Having made a lot of effort, people still managed to lift the load to the surface of the water. It turned out to be a small barrel, but incredibly heavy. Only one thought came to mind - there was most likely gold inside. But when all that remained was to throw the loot over the side of the boat, the barrel slipped out and disappeared under the water. No matter how they tried to pick it up again, even divers were invited to inspect the bottom, a thick layer of silt reliably preserved the secret of this unusual find. It is noteworthy that the barrel was found approximately in the place of the lake that old man Azimov pointed to.
However, even this incident, which occurred practically in our day, in comparison with the remoteness of the events described above, raises many doubts. Despite the fact that Rafael Mustafin found witnesses to the lifting of the mysterious cargo, experienced people do not believe that simple “crampons” could be used to pick up an ancient barrel: the dense layer of silt at the bottom reaches several meters, it is impossible to find anything under it, even something that has just fallen , not to mention treasures from centuries ago. Some, engaged in a detailed study of the events associated with the capture of Kazan, all the conditions and circumstances, suggest that the Khan’s treasury could have been hidden in some other, more convenient place.
It is clear that such “finds” of ancient treasures and precious coins happened quite often, both before the described incident and after. Thus, interest in the legend was maintained. It even got to the point where one rogue managed in the 20s to create an underground joint-stock company for the extraction of treasures and subsequently successfully escaped with the money allocated to search for the treasure.
Even abroad were interested in the lost Khan's treasury. At the beginning of the 20th century, one American company offered the Kazan City Duma for one and a half million dollars to clean Lake Kaban from the silt that had accumulated over many centuries, but with one condition: everything found at the bottom became the property of the company. It is clear that such a “generous” offer did not come from noble motives; most likely, one of the secret keepers of the Khan’s treasury went abroad and reported secret information there. As one would expect, the offer was not accepted - we need the treasures ourselves.
The leadership of the republic refused to respond to other similar proposals from different countries. However, such “patriotism” did not lead to anything good: the treasure was never found, and the lake, as it was incredibly dirty at the beginning of the 20th century, when large factories and combines opened on its shores, remains so to this day. Moreover, the ecological situation is only getting worse: water, due to the fact that algae, multiplying excessively, consume almost all the oxygen, and when they die, release large amounts of hydrogen sulfide, loses the ability to self-purify. As a result, the lake is gradually dying. And one fine day, if people do not solve this environmental problem soon, it may simply disappear, and with it the beautiful legend about the sunken Khan’s treasures.
About the snake Zilant
The legend about the ancient coat of arms of Kazan is associated with a fairy-tale creature - a winged dragon that lived in the surrounding area. People drove him out, covering the mountain with straw and brushwood and setting it on fire. Zilant, after destroying the nest, flew to another mountain and took revenge on the inhabitants of Kazan for a long time, settling in a cave on this mountain. Until now, he flies over the city and drinks water in Lake Kaban, sometimes dives to the bottom of the lake and pulls unwary swimmers to the bottom.
According to another legend, the functions that, according to ancient beliefs, the dragon performed boiled down to three tasks: guarding borders, harvesting crops, and protecting the people in all matters. There are many similar legends, and each one tells about this colorful creature, somewhat reminiscent of a fossil flying lizard.
Today, only Zilantova Mountain, which rises above the old bed of the Kazanka, reminds us of the prototype of the Kazan coat of arms. Under Ivan the Terrible, a convent was built on this mountain.
The image of Zilant was very popular in the architecture of Kazan. Rare in its exoticism, it provided great scope for the imagination of craftsmen and artists. They depicted him in stone, plaster, iron, wood, cast iron.
According to legends, the place of modern Kazan was abundant with snakes, and one snake was winged and lived on Snake Mountain (Zhylan-Tau) in the vicinity of the city (now Zilantova Mountain, on which the Zilantov Monastery is located); the city builders had to exterminate the snakes by burning them with straw; during the extermination of snakes, the winged dragon flew away from Snake Mountain and drowned in one version - in Lake Kaban, in another - in Black Lake. Legends about monstrous and flying snakes exist in several places in the Kazan region: similar legends include
1) to the mouth of the river. Zlya, where there was an ancient settlement of the Bulgarians, but “one dragon named Baradsh began to torment the inhabitants of this city, who were unable to defeat him; Then, abandoning their city, they moved and founded a new city, which they gave the name Byular.”
2) to Zmeiny Klyuch near the village. Rozhdestvensky-Yamashi, where “in a mountain cave lived a huge flying snake, which for a long time devastated the surrounding area, devouring not only livestock, not also people, until finally the ancient inhabitants of these places, watching for it in the cave, lined it with straw and brushwood and burned it”
3) to s. Churilin, where, during the extermination of snakes in Kazan, the winged dragon chased the fighter-hero and overtook him at the Altykutar ravine and tore him into 6 parts
4) to the Devil’s settlement near the city of Elabuga, from where, before the capture of Kazan, “a great, fiery serpent flew out, and flew to the west, to all of us who saw and marveled, and was invisible from our eyes.”
Personally, we managed to record in the village. Kotlovka of Yelabuga district has a story showing that the residents of this village believe in the existence in this area of huge snakes the size of a log. The legend “about the snake’s dwelling” on the site of Kazan was first recorded by the author of the “Kazan Chronicler” (P.S.R.L. XIX, pp. 10-11). Both Tatar and Russian scribes put an allegorical meaning into this legend about snakes, and Muslims tried to see in the snakes expelled from Kazan paganism defeated by Islam, and Christians meant Islam supplanted by Christianity.
Another legend is also given about a snake on the territory of the future Kazan. “This place, which is well known to all the inhabitants of that land, has been a nest of snakes for a long time. Various snakes lived here in the nest, and among them there was one snake, huge and terrible, with two heads: one head of a snake, and the other of an ox. With one head he devoured people, animals and livestock, and with the other head he ate grass. And other snakes of various kinds lay near him and lived with him. Because of the snake whistle and stench, people could not live near that place.
King Sain looked at that place for many days, walked around it, admiring it, and could not figure out how to drive the snake out of his nest in order to build a city here, large, strong and glorious. And one sorcerer was found. I, he said, will kill the snake and cleanse the place. The king was glad and promised to reward him well if he did this. And the sorcerer, by his magic and sorcery, gathered all the snakes living in that place, from small to great, around the big snake into one huge pile and drew a line around them so that not a single snake would crawl out beyond it. And by demonic action he killed everyone. And he surrounded them on all sides with hay, reeds and wood, dry willow, pouring sulfur and resin over it all, and set them on fire and burned them with fire.
Having thus cleared this place, Tsar Sain established the city of Kazan. And the city of Kazan stands there to this day, visible and known to all people.”
About underground passages
Another legendary and mysterious structure of our city is underground passages or catacombs. The first mentions of underground Kazan are found in the description of the legendary tunnels under the Kremlin walls made by the army of Ivan the Terrible. The digging was carried out from the bank of the Bulak canal. Having dug a gallery of one hundred fathoms, the besiegers heard the voices of residents walking underground for water and rolled barrels of gunpowder into the tunnel.
One of the legends says that under this city there is also an underground kingdom in which a fire-breathing dragon lives.
Historians have repeatedly found legends about an extensive network of corridors under the Kremlin.
Ivan the Terrible’s army also dug a tunnel from the Dairova bathhouse, using its stone walls for shelter. Then, when they reached the Kremlin walls, they heard women’s laughter and conversations. The women went to fetch water. It was then that they rolled a barrel of gunpowder right under the walls. The following passages have been officially confirmed: the dungeon of the Gostinodvorskaya Church, the remains of which are located in the courtyard of the State Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, - the passage from the church led towards the Kremlin, another, large dungeon is located nearby on the street. Chernyshevsky. There is also a third one - under the Boratynsky estate.
Historians have more than once recorded legends that the hill on which the Kremlin is located and the adjacent part of the ridge, on the crest of which Kremlevskaya Street lies, are cut by underground passages. Several addresses in this area are known for certain. This is the dungeon of the Gostinodvorskaya Church, the remains of which are located in the courtyard of the National Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan. Another large dungeon is located nearby on Chernyshevsky Street. Another large one is under the Boratynsky estate. There is an underground passage in the form of a round pipe-shaped gallery under the 1 May Square. There are huge multi-tiered basements under some houses with ancient foundations on Kremlevskaya Street, but the passages leading from them are almost all blocked and it is difficult to determine the direction and extent of these underground catacombs.
UNNAMED TOWER KAZAN KREMLIN
1. Is there an underground passage under Kazanka?
Historians and archaeologists have repeatedly refuted these rumors in the press, explaining that digging such a long passage under the Kazanka riverbed is practically impossible, and there is no point in doing so. But nevertheless, these rumors turned out to be very tenacious. Where did they come from?
In August 1836, Emperor of All Rus' Nicholas I visited Kazan. On August 19, he met with Archimandrite Gabriel of the Zilantov Monastery, and he, in the presence of a large retinue, told the tsar that the crypt of the Church of the Image Not Made by Hands, located in the monument, is connected by an underground passage to the Kremlin. The monument to the fallen soldiers was built just 13 years before this meeting, in 1823, according to the design of architects Alferov and Pyatnitsky.
Rumor adds that the archimandrite’s message interested the emperor so much that he wanted to personally inspect this passage, visited the monument and went down into the dungeon.
In my student years, even before the creation of the Kuibyshev Reservoir, I also descended into the underground tiers of the ancient structure. The uncertain light of a flashlight picked out from the darkness damp stone vaults covered in mold. In one place I came out to piles of yellowed skulls half-buried with earth. Of course, I didn’t find any underground passage. I just became convinced once again that it’s not that simple. Now these underground tiers remain under water due to the fact that the level of the Volga and Kazanka has risen.
It is quite possible that an underground passage was dug from the tent in case of a surprise attack, even if it was of short length - only 20-30 meters. Such secret exits for royalty were not uncommon then.
It was from this side of the Kremlin, at the direction of the formidable Tsar, that undermining was carried out under the Tainitskaya Tower. True, he was led from the Dairova Tower, which stood under the Kremlin. But since the work was carried out secretly and even almost none of the attackers knew about it, when a powerful explosion occurred, everyone was convinced that the digging was carried out from the royal tent itself. This is how, I think, this legend was born, which has survived four and a half centuries.
KAZAN KREMLIN
2.Going to an underground spring
Unlike the mythical mine under Kazanka, this move has been described many times in historical and local history literature, so there is no doubt about its existence. He was first mentioned by Prince Kurbsky, a participant in the Kazan campaign.
Judging by numerous evidence, the secret passage went from the famous Tainitskaya tower of the Kremlin (which is why it received such a name) to an underground spring located outside the city wall, on the banks of the Kazanka. It is useless to look for the beginning of the passage in the basement tiers of the current tower, since it was built later, after the conquest of Kazan. And the ancient tower (the Tatars called it Nur Ali Manarasy, the Russians called it Muraleevskaya) was wooden and stood 20-30 meters higher on the slope of the Kremlin hill. It was completely destroyed by the explosion.
The stone steps went down steeply. Then a horizontal underground gallery with stone vaults began. The gallery led to an underground reservoir, also lined with stone. Judging by the fact that almost the entire besieged Kazan drank water from this spring, the spring was quite abundant in water. After all, there were about thirty thousand troops in Kazan alone and about the same number of civilians.
The traitor-defector (it is believed that it was Murza Kaimai) revealed the secret of the underground passage to the besiegers, and it was decided to blow up the secret road using another tunnel.
This important operation was led by Prince Serebryany - the same one who, a year before, had taken Khansha Syuyumbike to Moscow. The digging, as mentioned above, began from the Dair Tower - its powerful stone arches made it possible to hide from prying eyes. The breakthrough was about 80 fathoms (more than 160 meters), the attackers heard the voices of people going for water - it was always crowded and lively, like on a city street. At this point, the passage was widened and 10 barrels of gunpowder were rolled in (according to other evidence - 20). If we assume that there were 5-6 pounds of gunpowder in each barrel
(about 100 kg), then the charge was quite powerful.
The explosion occurred on the morning of September 4, 1552. Ivan the Terrible himself closely watched him from the hill on which the current monument stands. Legend claims that the explosion was carried out like this. A burning candle was placed among the scattered gunpowder and at the same moment exactly the same control candle was lit in the tent of Ivan the Terrible. The candle in the tent burned out, but there was no explosion near the Kremlin. The angry tsar ordered to cut off the head of the “German-rozmysl,” i.e., a foreign engineer. But as soon as the head of the thought fell to the ground, an explosion was heard - the king did not take into account that a candle in a remote dungeon burns much slower than on the surface.
Is this how it really happened? From historical sources it is known that the “German” (i.e., a foreigner, in fact he was an Englishman) who led the explosive work, Butler, was treated kindly by the tsar, awarded rich estates near Kazan and remained here forever. It was from him that the famous Butlerov dynasty came,
Which later gave the world a brilliant chemist. By the way, a monument to the great chemist stands at the entrance to the Lenin Garden not far from the place where another mine was carried out under the leadership of his ancestor.
The chronicler describes the explosion at the Tainitskaya Tower in the following way: “at early dawn, the cache with the Kazan people who were walking about was blown up, and the city wall floated and collapsed, and many in the city of Kazan stoned and stoned logs falling from great heights, hedgehog potions (i.e. e. gunpowder) exploded.”
After this, Kazan began to experience an acute shortage of clean drinking water. The besieged were forced to use the rotten, unclean water of the Chernoozersk cascade. Epidemics began in the city. People, as chronicle sources testified, “swelled and died.” This largely determined the outcome of the siege.
However, the explosion only destroyed the passage to the spring. The spring itself, revered as a saint by the Tatars, survived until the beginning of this century. A pavilion was erected above the place where the spring came to the surface, standing on the bank of the Kazanka thirty fathoms upstream (from Taynitskaya Tower). This pavilion was destroyed already in the Soviet years. The spring was filled up, and an asphalt road was laid in its place.
It has been repeatedly suggested that the secret passage under the city wall led not only to the spring. Probably some branch from it came to the surface so that the besieged could get out of the city unnoticed. After all, it was in this direction that some of the surviving defenders of the city tried to flee after the fall of the city. Most of them died, but some managed to escape pursuit.
It is possible that the same passage led to hiding places where Kazan residents could hide part of their treasures. In case the city was captured by enemy troops, it would be most logical to arrange such hiding places just outside the city wall.
The explosion, no matter how powerful it was, could not destroy the entire passage, which stretched for many tens of meters. And this is not just an assumption. In the mid-thirties of the 19th century, under the leadership of the architect P. Pyatnitsky, the restoration of the Taynitskaya tower was carried out. There is information that during these works the builders came across the remains of an underground gallery that ran inside the Kremlin.
A hundred years later, during the heavy flood of 1926, Kazanka approached the very walls of the Kremlin. According to documents, at the moment of the highest rise in water, a gap appeared at the northwestern corner of the Taynitskaya tower, into which water rushed noisily. Historians even then suggested that the water went into the remains of an ancient underground gallery.
Here's what a former garage worker says: Kazan Kremlin K. Akhmetzyanov:
“My brother and I were born in a house on the territory of the Kremlin. They grew, one might say, on its towers and walls. I remember very well how, as a child, I repeatedly climbed into the gap under the Tainitskaya Tower. True, I walked no more than 200 meters: it was very dark, it was hard to breathe, and I had to walk over scattered bones. For some time, in memory of these “travels” of mine, I kept a stump of an ancient saber found in the dungeon. Later he got lost."
It seems that K. Akhmetzyanov is exaggerating somewhat. It is unlikely that the move was more than 200 meters. However, fear has big eyes, it could just be imagining it. It is likely that it was this passage, going towards the monument to fallen soldiers, that served as the source of rumors about an undermining under the Kazanka riverbed.
The most surprising thing is that this passage has not yet been discovered or described by archaeologists. We can only hope that someday in the future the mystery of this underground passage will be completely resolved.
The underground passage from the Tainitskaya Tower towards Kazanka is the most famous, described many times, but far from the only one. In any medieval city, even during the laying of defensive walls, a whole system of underground communications was envisaged. Secret passages provided communication with the outside world in the event of a siege. Through them, sorties were made and surprise attacks were carried out on the enemy in the event of a siege. Only too many people used the access to the spring, so the whole of Kazan knew about it. Other moves were kept in the strictest confidence, and only a select few could know about them.
3.Where were the forays made?
Sources mention that during the siege of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible, the besieged often made forays from the fortress. Through their underground passages - "burrows" - they first got into the defensive ditch surrounding the city wall, and from it - into the location of the enemy troops. To reduce the damage caused by such attacks, mainly at night, the besiegers had to keep special sentries in the ditches. About this, in particular. It is reported in the “Royal Book”:
“I place trash (that is, Tatars, infidels - R.M.) in my ditches, but the king’s warriors are beaten in the ditches, and they put their holes in the city of Utikakha.”
Where were these “holes”? Bibliographer of the scientific library of KSU A. Frolov discovered in the archives a letter from the former mayor S. Dyachenko, written on September 11, 1895 addressed to the chairman of the Society of Archeology, History and Ethnography at the Kazan Imperial University N. Firsov:
“During preparations for the opening of the monument to Emperor Alexander II, an underground gallery under a brick vault was accidentally opened on Ivanovskaya Square (the current May 1 Square near the State Museum - R.M.), completely accessible for inspection. In informing your Excellency about this, I have the honor to humbly ask you to report to the society presiding over you whether it would like to carry out a study of this interesting, undoubtedly ancient structure.”
Scientists soon explored the part of the passage that led to side of the Kremlin, and came to the conclusion that it was very old, probably dating back to the times of the khans. True, they could not advance far, since the air in the dungeon was very heavy, stale, unsuitable for breathing. In addition, after walking less than ten meters, they ran into an earthen blockage. At this point the study ended, and the passage was filled up so as not to interfere with the construction of the monument.
Half a century later, already in the fifties of our century, the famous historian, Professor N. Kalinin, became interested in this move. He carried out excavations and found that the underground gallery leads from the Kremlin towards the former Gostiny Dvor. The passage had the shape of a semicircular vaulted tunnel lined with brick. True, the historian was unable to go through this passage to the end and establish the place where it came to the surface, since he constantly came across rubble.
In local history literature, the opinion was expressed that the underground gallery from the Kremlin through the basements of Gostiny Dvor leads to the St. Nicholas (or Gostinodvorskaya) Church (now there is an archival school there). In particular, the famous local historian N. Zagoskin in his famous “Companion to Kazan” claims that an underground gallery leads from the basements of the St. Nicholas-Gostinodvorskaya Church towards the Kremlin. True, he does not specify whether he himself studied this move or relies on the descriptions of others. But if this is so, then the passage (or part of it) was dug at a later time, after the capture of Kazan, since both Gostiny Dvor and the church were erected much later.
Unfortunately, study the moves. Walking under the former Gostiny Dvor is not so easy, since they are either filled to the top with earth and debris, or are carefully walled up. Meanwhile, one of the first directors of the State Museum, V. Dyakonov, recorded the story of an eyewitness who, using these basements and ancient passages, back in the 20s, passed almost the entire Voskresenskaya (now Kremlin) street underground.
Over time, other passages were discovered. So, in 1924, local historian V. Smolin discovered an underground passage on the territory of the Kremlin, going towards Bulak in the courtyard opposite the Annunciation Cathedral. Unfortunately, due to the lack of funds, this move could not be studied more thoroughly, and subsequently it was simply forgotten.
4. Nakhodka on Grivka
About 7-8 years ago, a resident of one of the private houses located on Grivka behind the Youth Center (Poperechno-Grivskaya St.) came to me. They then dug a potato storage cellar (underfloor) under the house and came across underground brick vaults. They began to hammer with a crowbar... Under the arches they discovered a void, going in both directions, some kind of underground passage, apparently very old.
Of course, I immediately went to Grivka. Having gone underground, I saw a very peculiar hole. Not tall, about seventy centimeters in height and the same width, it resembled the gaping mouth of a Russian stove. The brick with which the hole was lined was different from the modern one - wider and flatter. The mortar was also unusual, resistant to either time or moisture. But the most interesting thing is that the hole was double: next to it there was exactly the same one, closed up by the owners as unnecessary. And between these two passages there was a third one - very narrow, only 30 centimeters.
What kind of move is this? What is its purpose? The owners just shrugged their shoulders. Remains of an ancient water pipeline? Some kind of sewer? It doesn’t look like it... No pipes, no cables, no smell or residues of organic substances... A clean, dry floor and the same clean, evenly plastered vaults...
Before this, I had the opportunity to visit ancient fortresses in Daugavpils (Latvia) and Deblin (Poland). But I saw the same underground passages from the fortress to far-off fortified forts: double ones with a ventilation passage between them. Exactly the same vaults, lined with brick, only higher. It was possible to walk at full height along the passages. And here - only crawling or on all fours.
The course on Grivka runs parallel to Dekabristov Street. Judging by the fact that a fresh breeze blew into the face, shaking the candle flame, the passage has an exit to the surface. According to the owners, one spring during a flood, when the water in Kazanka and the Volga rose especially high, the water along the way reached the very basement. This means that on one side the move goes towards the cauldron. And on the other - towards the Kizichesky Monastery.
What if it leads to some treasury, underground treasure?
The owner of the house, consumed by curiosity, once started to climb along it, but, having advanced a few meters, he did not dare to crawl further - he succumbed to the persuasion of his crying wife and returned back. The cat runs freely along this path, in both directions, and does not return soon.
The length of the passage can also be judged by the fact that, as the owners said, exactly the same hole on the same line was discovered under another house on Grivka. It turns out that it stretches for more than one hundred meters.
When I told the famous historian Professor A. Khalikov, now deceased, about this, he became very interested and wanted to see the move with his own eyes. I brought him to Grivka. But the owners filled the cellar to the top with potatoes, and it was impossible to see the progress. Based on the nature of the area, the professor only made a cautious assumption that somewhere in these dry and elevated places there could be ancient fortifications, a kind of forward line of defense of the city. However, archaeologists have no information about this.
It would seem that nothing could be simpler: there is a passage - crawl along it and explore! You can even defend your dissertation on this material! But it's not that simple. We need special equipment: gas masks, a field telephone, special clothing... we need specially trained people. We need funds... There are people who want it, but here's the money...
Together with the historian, we outlined a plan for exploring this passage and Kazan dungeons in general. They planned to create a special fund for this purpose. But there were no sponsors ready to bury the money in the ground. And the death of the scientist that followed soon interrupted these plans.
And yet it can be suggested that those underground “holes” through which the besieged made forays and “flowed” back to the city looked approximately the same: they moved there along one hole, and back through the other. Between them is a ventilation duct. If the enemy discovers a passage, it will still not be possible to penetrate the fortress along it: the passage is too narrow, you can only move along it one at a time. A heavy stone, an iron door or one sentry is enough to prevent an invasion. IN Kremlin and everything around it was dug up a long time ago, but to the side of the fortress, outside the city, the passage remained intact.
The possibility cannot be excluded that it leads to some kind of hiding place, a secret shelter. Be that as it may, it needs to be carefully examined...
5.The biggest move
I remember that during my student years, Volodya Chebaev, my friend and roommate, and I went to a shooting range located under Profsoyuznaya Street. Volodya was an avid shooter, ready to shoot without rest for days on end. I was more attracted by the very atmosphere of this mysterious dungeon, which stretched almost under the entire street. Cars rumbled overhead and unsuspecting people walked around. And here there was a thick, echoing emptiness that went in both directions as far as the eye could see. Dim electric lighting picked out from the semi-darkness brick vaults streaked with dampness, firmly sealed vaulted niches, thick iron gratings browned with rust.
They said that if you follow this passage to the end, you can stumble upon half-filled pits and wells in which skeleton bones can be seen. Allegedly, someone found fragments of ancient weapons here, others - ancient coins and jewelry... And they also said that this passage has several branches - both towards the Black Lake and towards the Kremlin.
In the early fifties, outsiders were no longer allowed there - the vaults began to collapse in some places, and it was unsafe to walk. For this reason, the shooting range was soon closed, and today only old-timers remember it. Meanwhile, if you strengthen the vaults, remove the rubbish and carry out restoration - what a tempting place for tourists, lovers of antiquity, romance and exoticism! Even with a minimal entrance fee, the costs will pay off handsomely...
When and how did this move appear?
Unfortunately, I have not received an answer to this question either in the local history literature or from construction specialists. Most likely, when along the steep southern slope Kremlin Hill They laid out a roadway, erected a retaining wall on the Bulak side, laid out the vaults with bricks, and made a pavement on top. Some of these works were obviously completed in the 19th century, some in the early thirties of the 20th century 9 in the area adjacent to the Printing House on the street. Bauman, 19), and part. Adjacent to the Kremlin, it was completed in the post-war years. Old-timers still remember the underground cafe opposite the current building of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan (the former House of Political Education), located under the street. Trade union.
Bibliographer A. Frolov expressed an interesting version. In his opinion, one of the streets of old Kazan is hidden under Profsoyuznaya. Semicircular arches and walled-up entrances, in his opinion, are nothing more than the windows and doors of the former street, now found under many meters of earth. Is it so? The final answer can only be given by additional research by historians and archaeologists.
6. Cave under Aleksandrovsky Passage
According to experts, the old part of the city on Bogyl-tau (Kremlin Hill) is riddled with underground passages and voids like a honeycomb. Not all of them are specially dug passages; some are of karst origin. The most striking of them is the failure under the building of the Alexander Passage.
How was it formed? Having built the building, the builders did not bother themselves with the construction of sewer collectors. They brought the drains under the house into the voids discovered during the construction of the foundation, and that was the end of it. For more than a hundred years, sewer waters actively eroded the fractured limestones and gypsum-containing rocks located under the house. As a result, the cave under the house reached such a size that almost the entire northern span of the building from the foundation to the roof went into it.
For many years, a specially created company tried to strengthen the foundation of the building by pumping concrete underground. And everything disappeared like water into sand. (And along with this - many millions of rubles). So this ancient and beautiful building stands, dilapidated, as if after a bombing. It is believed that the void under the Aleksandrovsky Passage is connected to other cavities, which is why everything disappears into a hole...
The fact is that building stone - dolomite - has been mined at Bogyl-Tau since time immemorial. The stone was used for the foundations of buildings, for strengthening the Kremlin walls, and for the construction of “walled”, that is, stone, palaces and squares. Over the course of a thousand years, a whole system of adits, underground galleries, and wells was formed near Kazan (as well as under many other medieval cities). Some of them collapsed, some have survived to this day. For the most part, they are mistaken for specially dug underground passages.
Sometimes basements in old buildings or foundations from the Khan's era are mistaken for underground passages on the Kremlin Hill. However, many of them were connected to each other, and perhaps once represented a single network of underground communications. The fact is that after the conquest of Kazan, new houses were often built on the same foundations, which were quite strong and well buried. Years passed. New pavements were laid, first end roads, then cobblestones, the cultural layer gradually grew, and the basements went deeper and deeper into the ground. Local historian N. Zagoskin, in particular, writes about this in the already mentioned work:
“Research indicates that from the old basements of the houses of Misetinkov (now Kremlevskaya, 13 - R.M.) and Boratynsky (same street, building 7/1 on the corner of Mislavsky Street - R.M.) there are underground galleries in the direction to the Kremlin. In 1894, the persistence of such rumors prompted the Kazan Society of Archeology, History and Ethnography to inspect the basements of one of these houses, namely the Misetnikov house. Although it was not possible to find underground passages, the result was quite interesting. It turns out that this house was built on an incomparably older foundation, has three tiers of basements, representing, so to speak, an entire underground vaulted house with many rooms, passages, descents and ascents. The lower tier of the premises is deepened into the bowels of the earth by at least five or six fathoms (that is, 10-12 m. - R.M.). Judging by the size of the bricks and the method of laying, the walls bear traces of very venerable antiquity, which (that is, the walls - R.M.) can be attributed to the Khan’s era. In the outer wall of this lower tier, some kind of sealed arch is noticeable. Unfortunately, the rooms and passages were almost half filled with rubble, preventing the inspection of these catacombs.”
Relatively recently, in the late eighties of the 20th century, some of the houses along Kremlevskaya Street were demolished. It was then that all three underground tiers, connected to each other by secret passages and arched ceilings, were clearly exposed. I don’t know if archaeologists have managed to study this part of underground Kazan...
Underground capital of the Tatars, Underground city of Kazan
Uzbek archaeologist Sarkam Vakhlab claims to have discovered the mythical underground city of Tau-Tishek, to which the surviving inhabitants of Kazan moved after its fall in 1552. In April 1999, Vakhlab’s group had evidence that in the upper reaches of the Kazanka River near Old Kazan (details are encrypted), for a long time local residents had come across walled-up manholes in limestone rocks. In the vicinity of the mountains, traces of human activity were found: fragments of ceramics, weapons, women's jewelry, elements of horse harness, etc. Vakhlab's main goal was the Khan's treasury, which has not yet been found.
Therefore, the archaeological expedition was kept as secret as possible; archaeologists and excavators were recruited from among Vahlab’s closest friends or his relatives (the exception is the author of this article, taken as the “chronicler” of the expedition, who, three years after its end, was to publish a detailed report about it ). Naturally, the excavations were preceded by painstaking work in the archives, special storage facilities and libraries of Samarkand, Ulaanbaatar, Alexandria, Tehran, Berlin and Moscow.
One of the books that “inspired” Sarkam Wahlab to go on an expedition was the “List” of the recovered scrolls of the Iranian traveler and diplomat Arqibun with topographic maps of Azi Sabran. Arkiboon arrived at the ruins Kazan Kremlin in the summer of 1554, he was captured by the Tatars who were partisans in the local forests, gained the trust of their leader, Khan Sahib, and was led along secret paths to the underground city of Tau-Tishek.
“They showed me an abandoned well,” wrote Arkibun, “into which the Tatars descended one after another. I followed their example, for which I was forced to climb into an oak barrel and find myself in the “underworld.” For some time I walked ankle-deep in the water that flowed down the walls of the cave... and suddenly I saw a brightly lit city square in front of me! The Tatars used oil to illuminate their city in the dark, and during the day, using a system of silver mirrors installed on the tops of mountains and trees, they drove the sun's rays into the caves. (...) It was a real underground city with its own Maidan, baths and residential buildings. It reminded me of a huge termite mound!”
Sarkam Vahlab believes that Tau-Tishek existed for about a hundred years. Moreover, it was not the punitive expeditions of the Russians who destroyed it, who were very annoyed by the raids of the “cave” people, but the mineral springs... “By endlessly breaking through passages in breadth and depth,” says the Uzbek archaeologist, “the inhabitants of Tau-Tishek violated the natural channels of underwater rivers, which subsequently flooded the underground city. In addition, frequent landslides in these places blocked almost all the entrances to the caves, thanks to which Tau-Tishek was unusually well preserved! At one time I participated in the excavations of Pompeii, so I can say that landslides and collapses played the same role with Tau-Tishek as volcanic lava did with Pompeii.”
Every day of excavation brought the participants new finds. Among the significant ones that can really surprise archaeological circles (and not only Russia!), we can note the discovery of three volumes from the Khan’s library. These are “Treatise on Morality” by Mun-Buljar Ahmed Yori, “Song of the Shaitan” (a forbidden book in the Kazan Khanate) and “The Treatment Book” by Ashby von Carlos (a book that was still considered Goethe’s fiction). In addition, chess pieces made of high-grade gold, decorated with sapphires (the amber board was destroyed by water), can be read as an invaluable find; the height of the pieces reaches 30 cm! Each of them bears the mark of Khan Ulug-Bek himself...
“I think no less interesting,” says Vakhlab, “are children’s chess made of bronze. The figures represent Tatar nukers and the squad of Ivan the Terrible, while the Tatars (black) are all on horseback, and the Russians (white) are on foot, but seated on cannons! Children's chess was played differently. With the help of a spring, the black “hands” could throw spears, and the “cannons” could shoot cherry pits. Thus, the children learned the basics of military strategy.”
The expedition has not yet reached the Khan's treasures, if, of course, they are walled up in the underground city. Looking at the countless covered corridors, storehouses and arsenals, I think that there will be work for the diggers here for years! But having already taken their first steps along the street, which archaeologists called “Khanskaya,” the diggers came across a dangerous find: shells from the First World War, scattered around two skeletons in decayed uniforms of the tsarist army.
Maybe in 1918 some of the underground passages of Tau-Tishek were used as a headquarters by the White Guards? And isn’t this where the traces of the mysterious convoy that carried the “gold reserves” of the Kazan bank to Crimea end?
This is another secret of the underground city, which the ancient labyrinths stubbornly keep to this day.
Adel Khairov
About the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God
It is difficult today to find a person in Russia who has not heard about the icon of the Kazan Mother of God. This icon is one of the most revered and, perhaps, the most famous in the world. In different, most unexpected corners of the globe, its lists are kept in churches. There is even one on a small island in Venice, whose population consists of fishermen and their wives who weave the famous Venetian lace. However, not everyone knows that today only copies of it have survived, and the miraculous icon itself, whose miraculous discovery and fate are replete with amazing episodes, disappeared without a trace on the night of June 29, 1904. According to legend, she was supposed to die in the flames, just as she was found. Not one of the many icons revered in the Russian Orthodox Church is distributed in as many copies as the Kazan icon, because it is to it that our people most often appeal to for help, mercy and intercession in difficult moments of life.
On June 23, 1579, a fire broke out in the house of archer Daniil Onuchin, which stood at the beginning of what is now Bolshaya Krasnaya Street, which then incinerated most of the city. Soon after this, the Mother of God appeared to the archer’s daughter Matryona in a dream and told her that her Most Pure Image was hidden on the site of the burnt house. The adults did not take the girl’s story seriously, although she had the dream twice more. And then ten-year-old Matryona, together with her mother, began the search on their own. In the place where the stove had previously stood, at a depth of two inches, she found an image of the Mother of God with a baby in her arms, wrapped in an old cherry-colored sleeve, but the colors on it shone with pristine brightness. Representatives of the clergy, city authorities, and townspeople gathered - the news of the found icon spread around Kazan. The priest Ermolai took the icon from the ground into his own hands, who later became a monk with the name Hermogenes and then became the Metropolitan of Kazan, and later the Patriarch of Moscow. The image was taken with all honors to the nearest church of St. Nicholas of Tula, and then transferred to the cathedral. Soon her miraculous power began to manifest itself. Later it turned out that the found icon was a copy of the Mother of God, called Hodegetria, that is, a guide. The fame and significance of Hodegetria was great at that time, and this miraculous icon also disappeared without a trace during the years of repression of the twentieth century.
The copy of the miraculous icon was sent to Moscow, to Tsar Ivan the Terrible. He ordered a church to be built at the site where the icon was found and a nunnery to be established next to it. Matryona took monastic vows, taking the monastic name Martha. She became the first of forty nuns of this monastery, and then its abbess. The “found”, that is, the original icon never left Kazan. But the list from it in 1612 (during troubled times) remained in Moscow. During the siege of the Poles, who occupied Moscow in 1612, the Russian militia could not achieve success for a long time. The “gentry freemen,” who were engaged in robbery and robbery, were waiting for help from Poland, and the threat of continuing the master’s slavery was very great. Patriarch Hermogenes, who was present at the miracle of the discovery of the icon in Kazan in 1579 and who wrote the well-known troparion “The Diligent Intercessor,” was then in the dungeon of the Chudov Monastery, where the Poles starved him to death. The patriarch was the only one who decided to raise his voice against the impostor. Therefore, the copy of the image was handed over by the Kazan residents to Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. After a strict three-day fast throughout the Russian land, when even babies and domestic animals did not eat food, and prayers before the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, the Venerable Sergius of Radonezh, shining with Divine light, appeared to Archbishop Arseny in a dream at night and announced that “tomorrow Moscow will be in the hands of Pozharsky " The news was announced to everyone, and the next morning, inspired by heavenly intercession, the Russians drove the Poles out of Kitay-Gorod, and then liberated Kremlin. Thus ended the era of great unrest.
The celebration of the icon has already been established twice a year - on July 21 - on the day of its discovery and on November 4, when the Russian army won. When the Time of Troubles ended and Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov ascended the throne, the copy of the miraculous icon that was on the campaign was placed in the Moscow Kazan Cathedral. Under Peter 1, it was moved to St. Petersburg, where it was kept in the Kazan Cathedral built in his honor. More than once the icon saved Russia, the Battle of Poltava, the war with Napoleon... The role of the miraculous icon in the Great Patriotic War was especially great. In besieged Leningrad, a procession of the cross was held and the prophecy told to Peter 1 by Saint Mitrophan that “as long as the icon is in the city, the enemy’s foot will not set foot in it” came true. In the battles for Stalingrad, the icon defended Russia on the last patch of land; she was also near Konigsberg and in other sectors of the front, where things were especially difficult.
So, Ivan the Terrible was not the only tsar who deeply revered this icon. His son, Fyodor Ioannovich, ordered the foundation of a new stone church on the territory of the monastery, and the number of nuns to be increased to 64. By his order, the icon itself was removed with precious stones. The icon had two vestments: everyday and festive. The everyday robe was made entirely of pearls of various sizes. The festive one was made of gold, on the crown of the Mother of God there was a silver crown with a cross, decorated with diamonds, the same crown on the crown of the Savior. During the visit of Empress Catherine II to Kazan in 1767, the empress donated a diamond crown to the Mother of God's crown.
In 1810, a large stone cathedral was founded on the territory of the Mother of God convent, and after its construction was completed, the icon of the Kazan Mother of God was transferred here with all honors. Here, at the beginning of the twentieth century, a tragedy took place. Someone with incredible tenacity began to hunt for the icon - the abbess of the monastery more than once discovered traces of break-in. She contacted the police and city authorities and, as in the story of the discovery of the icon, the woman’s words were not taken seriously. One day, those who came to the temple saw that the icon was no longer there... After some time, a certain Fyodor Chaikin, aka Bartholomew Stoyan, 28 years old, a professional thief, was arrested, who admitted that he had committed this crime ordered by a group of people. He cut the robe and burned the icon. He was sentenced to 12 years of hard labor, where he quietly went crazy and died. The case was closed. But the city was still agitated for a long time and filled with various rumors, the most persistent of which said that the icon was not burned, but was sold for a lot of money to the Old Believers and the church watchman was considered a mediator in this matter. But the abbess of the monastery behaved very strangely in this story. After the icon was stolen, she, so nervous in the months leading up to the sad events, suddenly... calmed down. The nuns more than once heard a strange phrase from her: “Believe me sisters, the Mother of God is with us.”
The cell attendant of the last abbess, who returned from the Gulag, shed light on this secret, saying that the abbess, anticipating the kidnapping, ordered an exact copy of the icon. And every evening, when she was the last one to leave the temple, she quietly replaced the original icon with a copy. The original was kept in her cell until the next morning. Thus, it can be assumed that Chaykin stole a copy.
It is difficult to say now what is true in the legend and what is fiction. How difficult it is to believe that the miraculous image was destroyed. It seems that he is still somewhere waiting in the wings to appear to the world again. Icons such as Kazan's do not disappear without a trace. Like all miraculous images, they are given to people as a consolation and reward. And on the site of the once destroyed monastery, which was given life in its time by a miraculous icon, a new youth community has recently emerged, which may provide answers to the mysteries of the abduction of the early twentieth century.
In the summer of 2005, a copy of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which had been in the possession of the late Pope for a long time, was transferred to Kazan. Now the icon is in the Holy Cross Church.
The subtlety of the East, the modernity of the West, the warmth of the South and the mystery of the North - all this is about Tatarstan and its people! Can you imagine what an interesting historical path the people have gone through, living on such an abundant and rich land, being the first to defend Rus' from the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars and building such magnificent cities as Kazan, Sviyazhsk and Yelabuga. And, of course, all this was reflected in the legends and traditions of the Tatar people. This section contains the most interesting and mysterious legends, stories, myths and legends of Tatarstan.
In general, Tatar fabulous creatures can be divided into the following two groups:
1) creatures that live in water, and 2) creatures living on land.
Creatures that live in water: su-babasy, su-iyasi, su-anasy, yuha;
Under the name su-babasy Tatars mean the lord of water, the water grandfather, who lives in the water (namely in the lake). But no one saw this grandfather ever come out of the water and relate directly to people; for this, apparently, he has a being related to him, like a servant, speaker and executor of his commands, this is Su-iyashi.
Su-iyashi- (that is, the “water master”) appears to the Tatar in the form of a lively boy, an intermediary between the Tatar and his master, the water grandfather, - and in the form of a stupid, cowardly, inexperienced intermediary, who does not know the Tatar well, but is stronger than the Tatar and less, than a bear.
Su-anasy- “water mother”. Su-anasy is the mother of Su-iyashi and the wife of Su-Babasa, and is sometimes visible to a Tatar who accidentally approaches the water in the form of a woman scratching her hair with a comb - visible both day and night.
Juha- a dragon turned into a yuha maiden. The dragon can take on various sensual images and appear to the Tatar in them in order to harm him in every possible way; By the way, he sometimes takes on the image of a maiden of extraordinary beauty who is combing her hair while sitting on the shore of a lake. Having turned into a girl, Yukha can become a wife or get married. At the same time, the husband will certainly passionately love his wife; but at the same time it will become more and more thin. This is what Yuha-kyz is, Yuha-maiden!
Creatures living on land: Ubyr, Albasty, Uryak, Bichura, Uy-iyase, Abear-iyase, Chyachyak-anasy, Chyachyak-iyasi, Shuryali, gin and diu-peri.
Ubyr – always exists in one person, who is therefore called ubyrlykshi (“human vampire”). Old women (ubyr-karchyk) are often called ubyrs in fairy tales. A Tatar can easily recognize a human ubyr because under his armpit there is a hole in the inside of his body through which the ubyr enters the person. Ubyr, like the Russian “brownie,” can crush a Tatar and even appear to him in reality. When the Ubyr crushes the Tatar, the latter cannot move; but if only he manages to somehow bite the ubyr, then the face in which the pressing ubyr has his presence will certainly be bitten on the same member in which the crushing Tatar gnawed the ubyr. Ubyr old women always live in the wilderness and far from Tatar dwellings, where a Tatar can only get if he has lost his way - when he is walking or driving. They live in huts. However, there are cases when Tatars, having a need to find out about the loss of something important, themselves try to find an old woman; but these are the lucky ones, worthy people, strong men, cunning people.
Albasty. The name of Albasta is used by the Tatars to name a force or an evil creature that lives and appears to people mainly in non-residential houses, wastelands, fields and meadows. Albasty appears to people in the guise of a person, and most of all in the form of a large cart, a haystack, a haystack, a stack, a fir tree, etc. Albasty is dangerous because he can crush a person to death, and sometimes also drinks his blood. When Albasty crushes a person, he feels a strong heartbeat and suffocation.
Uryak (“to blow") - a creature that appears to a Tatar somewhere in the forest or on the road above someone who died a violent death. He is seen by a passing Tatar, according to legend, in the form of a man or a haystack, waddling and walking forward. Uryak can transform into a cloud. If a passing Tatar had not immediately seen a dead body on the way, then the tearing cry of the asshole would certainly have drawn his attention to this body. If at the same time a person wanted to look at the screaming urik, visible from afar, up close, then the urik would become invisible. Out of fear of seeing an incomprehensible and mysterious creature and hearing its soul-tearing voice, the Tatar is careful not to stumble upon a dead body on the way at night. When a Tatar gets too scared of something, he says: “My idiot has risen!” Every Tatar has a Uryak.
Bichura- the same as the Russian kikimora or “neighbor”. This creature appears in the form of a woman - from one and a half to two arshins in height. On her head is an irnaq, an ancient Tatar headdress. Bichura lives in residential premises - on the ceiling, in the underground and in the baths, but not for everyone, but only for some owners. Others set aside a special room for the bichura, where she is watered and fed. A plate of food and a few spoons are left overnight. The next morning the plate is empty, Bichura leaves nothing. And if she gets angry with the owner for something, she will break the cup in which she is served food and scatter everything that comes to her hand. Bichura often crushes a person in a dream, likes to suddenly scare him and generally plays pranks on people. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a brick or a piece of wood flies by. It is unknown who threw the log. Because of Bichura, people sometimes leave their homes; it can be impossible to live, especially if you are alone.
Uy iyase - fabulous creatures, according to the belief of the Kazan Tatars, live everywhere - in houses, in the field, in the forest, and in the water. Among those who live in houses and courtyards, next to a person, the place of honor is occupied by Iyase, or the owner of the house, the brownie. He usually chooses underground as his home, from where he comes out at night. He appears to be an old man with rather long hair. The brownie is a caring owner and even a useful creature: he protects the house, in anticipation of trouble he walks around all night, worries and sighs. If some misfortune happens at night, he wakes people up, shakes their legs or knocks. With good relationships with people, the brownie can be a complacent, caring owner. It is useful to appease him sometimes. To appease the brownie, the head of the family must give alms, called “yakshambe sadakasa”. When a brownie is angry, and the owner does nothing to please him, various misfortunes can happen to those living in the house, scabies, boils and other diseases can appear. Livestock deaths also occur, although the culprit is more likely to be another creature, Abzar iyase. The brownie, on the other hand, is occupied only with animals that live in the house itself, for example, a cat.
Abzar iyase - In addition to the brownie, according to the belief of the Kazan Tatars, there is also Abzar iyase - the owner of the stable, who lives in the yard or in the stable. The Russians do not have a corresponding name for Abzar iyase, since his “responsibilities” are borne by the same brownie. Abzar Iyase is primarily the ruler of cattle. Sometimes Abzar iyase appears to people in the form of a person or animals, but only from a distance and at night. He is closely related to cattle. The barn owner braids his favorite horse's mane and brings him food. A horse that Abzar doesn’t like for some reason, he tortures it all night, rides it all night, takes away its food and gives it to his favorite horse. Disgraced horses become boring and thin; it is best to sell them out of the yard as soon as possible so that they do not die.
Chyachyak-anasy and chyachyak-iyasi (“smallpox mother” and “smallpox host”) - According to Tatar belief, when a child suffers from smallpox, the creatures mentioned above are present in the large pockmarks.
Shuryali - a fabulous creature like the Russian goblin. Shuryali are found in forests, and not one at a time; are visible to the Tatar in human form. They all have very large breasts, of which one is thrown over the right shoulder and the other over the left. If they meet a Tatar in the forest, they invite him to play tickling, but if he agrees, they tickle him to death. But the Tatar can outwit the shuriali; but as? He invites Shuryali to play in the crack, and he, out of his stupidity, agrees and dies. What kind of game is this? The Tatar, with a blow of an ax along a thick tree, makes a crack in the tree, and to make it wider, he hammers a wedge into it, and when the shyuryali puts his finger into the crack, the Tatar instantly snatches his wedge from there and thus pinches the shyuryali. Shuryali would scream in pain in a wild voice so that creatures like him would come running and, freeing him from trouble, would take revenge on the Tatar by tickling him to death. But if before a Tatar asked: “What’s his name?” guessed to answer: “my name was byltyr” (last year), then, having pinched the shuryali and rushed to run, he is saved, because the shuryali will then shout in a hurry: “last year has been pinched!” They will laugh at the poor fellow: “You won’t find anything to look for last year!” Apparently, the shuriali was very stupid!” - they will then tell him in response.
Genie. Before man, there were Jinns, or geniuses, on earth. Just like people, they were born and died, but like angels they also lived in the air. The genies sought to penetrate the secrets of the sky, but each time they were driven away by the “protective flamers.” Once upon a time, it was the Jinn who dominated the earth. We created, says the Koran, man from clay, and before that we created geniuses from the fire of simoom. After some time, the Jinn became proud and decided to weaken the power of God on earth, and became subject to many errors. To punish them, God sent Iblis with the angels, who defeated the Jinn in battle, and the survivors were driven from the earth to islands and mountains. After the expulsion of the Jinn, God turned to the angels for advice on the creation of man. According to folk stories, Jinns do not cause much harm to people. But, distinguished by their intrusiveness and taking on carved guises, they frighten a person, and meeting them is, at least, undesirable.
Diu-peri – divas usually appear to Tatars in forests and fields, and in various forms: sometimes as a haystack, sometimes in the form of a maiden, and they can marry a Tatar. They live in their own special cities, have kingdoms under the earth and sea, and invisibly on earth. They live and own those places where the treasure is located. And the treasures themselves, usually poorly acquired, from a long stay in the ground give birth to marvels, similar in all respects to their ancestors. It should be noted about the divas that they are irreconcilably hostile to the Tatar:
1) they kidnap girls; they keep them until they are old enough and then they marry them;
2) divas curse at the Tatar: for example, in the guise of some acquaintance or good-natured person, the divas take the Tatar to his city and treat him in his house; but if a Tatar says: “bismillu” (in the name of God!) before eating food, then it will clearly be seen that this is not food, but horse droppings;
3) the div will certainly try to drive the Tatar invited to visit him off the face of the earth, and usually like this: he will order his wife to heat the bathhouse, lead the guest into it, and when he undresses, the div will offer him his services with visible cordiality - to wash, steam, and when the Tatar exposes his back, the diva will beat him to death with the butt of a broom and bury the dead man under the shelf of his bathhouse.
Literature:
Kayum NASYRI “Beliefs and signs of the Kazan Tatars”
Tatar myths and legends Completed by: Daria Tyugaeva, 7a grade student of the Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School 1 r.p. New Burasy, Novoburassky district, Saratov region” Head: Alferyeva M.K. Completed by: Daria Tyugaeva, student of grade 7a, Municipal Educational Institution “Secondary School 1 r.p. New Burasy, Novoburassky district, Saratov region” Head: Alfereva M.K. Network project “Multi-colored round dance”
The hero Idel and the beautiful Akbike On the banks of the Shirbetle River there once stood a large city, where a rich khan lived happily in a luxurious palace. His wife Fatima was known as a skilled sorceress. The parents' joy was their only daughter, the beautiful Akbike. Many young men were secretly in love with her, but they avoided the palace, fearing the sorceress Fatima. The khan's daughter fell in love with the hero Idel. One day he plucked up courage and stole the beautiful Akbike so that he could always be with her. Fatima demanded that her daughter be returned to the palace. But Idel and Akbike did not listen to her. The sorceress became angry, blew and spat at the kidnapper and drove Idel-Volga away from her eyes, to where the current river bed is. Since then, the lovers have never been separated.
Big people In ancient times, people were completely different - tall, powerful. We made our way through spruce forests as if through large grass, ravines and gullies, and easily stepped over lakes. Once the son of one of these giants was playing and frolicking and saw a very small man plowing the ground. With a horse, with a plow. The boy put the little man, along with the horse and the plow, in his palm and wondered for a long time: where did such wonders come from? And then he put them in his pocket and took them home. Tells his father; “When I was playing, I found this toy man,” and showed the find. The father looked and said: “Son, don’t hurt him.” Wherever you found it, take it there. This is one of those people who will live after us. The boy carried the little man, along with the horse and plow, to their original place.
The dogs were scared. They were guarding the felled trees. Suddenly they hear someone walking along the branches with a crash, walking straight towards them. In the moonlight you can see: long, thin, covered with fur. - Is there a woof or woof? - asks. “No,” they answer him. - Is there a chug-chug? - No. One of the sons hides the dog behind his back. She is torn, about to jump. And shurale is getting closer. - Shall we play tickle? - speaks. At this point they let the dog go - where did the shurale come from, he rushed wherever his eyes looked. The next morning we got up and saw: where the shurale had fled, the trees had fallen in stripes. He turns out to be afraid of the dog and the whip. The deceased father said that in our village there lived a man named Persiam Satdin. One day he and his two sons spent the night in the forest and saw a shurale.
Albasty The Tatars name Albasty as a force or evil creature that lives and appears to people mainly in non-residential houses, wastelands, fields and meadows. Albasty appears to people in the guise of a person, and most of all in the form of a large cart, a haystack, a haystack, a stack, a fir tree, etc. Albasty is dangerous because he can crush a person to death, and sometimes also drinks his blood. Once, a student of the Kazan madrasah once told me, in the month of Ramadan at night after dinner I went to bed. In a dream I saw that I was going to the mosque to pray. When I entered the mosque, the mullah and the people were already praying. Suddenly I see a hefty old beggar man who comes up to me, roughly grabs me and begins to crush me. He pressed so hard that it was impossible to breathe. I was suffocating and losing consciousness. I wanted to scream, but my voice wouldn’t come out of my throat. After some time, Albasty disappeared and I, screaming in horror, woke up exhausted, tired, and fell ill the next day.
However, Albasty does not always crush a person; sometimes he gets off with a slight fright, and the mysterious creature does not cause much harm. A man was driving in winter from the city of Kazan to his village at night. Before reaching the village some two or three miles, he sees two haystacks moving on either side of him, and near these haystacks something is glowing. Having looked more closely, the man was horrified, recognizing Albasta in the stacks. He began to urge his horse, but no matter how much he urged it, he could not get past the glowing haystacks. He was finally convinced that Albasty was pursuing him, and began to whip the horse even harder. But it's all to no avail.
He heard the roosters suddenly crow, and both haystacks and the light near them immediately disappeared. After this, the horse, feeling relieved, no longer ran at a trot, but took off straight at a gallop, so that it was impossible to restrain it. Finally, the man found himself in an unfamiliar village and could not figure out where he was. I thought for a long time and guessed that this was the same village through which he had passed during the day. After two or three hours of racing, he arrives at a dark forest, the likes of which have never been seen in this area. He hears the sounds of music, distant human voices, the mooing of cows, the neighing of horses... The man became even more frightened and moved on with prayer. And the luminous haystacks do not lag behind even a step, they all accompany him. I looked around - the same haystacks and the same extraordinary light around them. The man lost all hope of deliverance. He will attack, he thinks to himself, Albasty and crush him. Well, come what may! He lay down in the bag and let go of the reins...
Gathering his last strength, the man went to his village. Meanwhile, it had already become light. As he rode, he kept looking around, marveling at the tracks of his sleigh and remembering the night journey. In the end, he recovered and, feeling liberated from Albasta, arrived safely in his native village. However, after this incident the man fell ill and barely survived. If the roosters had not crowed on time that dark night, his death would certainly have been inevitable.
Star Zukhra Once upon a time there lived a girl named Zukhra. She was pretty, smart, and had a reputation for being a great craftswoman. Everyone around her admired her skill, efficiency and respect. They also loved Zukhra because she was not proud of her beauty and hard work. Zukhra lived with her father and stepmother, who envied her stepdaughter, scolded her for every trifle, and burdened the girl with the most difficult housework. In front of her father, the evil woman held her tongue, but as soon as he crossed the threshold, she began to harass her adopted daughter. The stepmother sent Zukhra for brushwood into a terrible dense forest, where there were many snakes and ferocious animals. But they never touched the kind and meek girl.
Zukhra worked from dawn to dusk, trying to do everything she was ordered, trying to please her father's wife. Where is it? The stepdaughter's humility and patience completely infuriated her stepmother. And then one evening, when Zukhra was especially tired from incessant work, her stepmother ordered her to fetch water from the river into a bottomless vessel. Yes, she threatened: “If you don’t fill it to the brim before dawn, you won’t be able to set foot in the house!” Not daring to contradict, Zukhra took the buckets with the rocker and set off into the water.
She was so tired of sleep during the day that her legs could barely carry her, her arms were taken away, and her shoulders bent even under the weight of empty buckets. On the shore, Zukhra decided to rest at least a little. She took the buckets off the yoke, straightened her shoulders, and looked around. It was a wonderful night. The moon poured silvery rays onto the earth, and everything around basked in sweet peace, illuminated by its rays. The stars twinkled in the mirror of the water, connecting with their round dance in the heavenly ocean. Everything was full of mysterious captivating beauty, and for some moments Zukhra forgot, her sorrows and hardships went away.
A fish splashed in the reeds, and a light wave rolled onto the shore. Memories of her sweet childhood came flooding back with her, as if the affectionate words of her beloved mother were heard again. And this made the unfortunate girl, who woke up from a moment of oblivion, even more bitter. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks, falling like large diamonds to the ground. Sighing heavily, Zukhra filled the buckets, and the yoke laid an unbearable weight on the girl’s shoulders. And the stone lay even heavier on my heart. Zukhra looked at the moon again - she still floated freely along the heavenly path, shining and beckoning. And so Zukhra wanted to forget herself again, like a heavenly wanderer, to know neither grief nor worries and give kindness and affection...
At this time, a star fell from the sky. And as she fell to the ground, it became lighter and lighter. Zukhra’s soul suddenly felt lighter, the heavy stone stopped pressing on the girl’s heart. A sweet languor overwhelmed her, she felt joyful and at peace. Zukhra felt the buckets of water become almost weightless. Her eyes closed of their own accord. And when Zukhra opened her long eyelashes again, she saw herself on the moon, which she had been peering at for so long. She was surrounded by a dance of many stars, one of which shone especially brightly.
It turns out that this star has always been watching Zukhra. She saw her suffering, which did not embitter the girl against her evil stepmother. This same star embraced Zukhra with its rays and lifted her up, right up to the moon. No one on earth saw this, nothing disturbed her nightly peace. Only the surface of the river near the shore began to ripple and again became clear, like a mirror. And with the morning dawn both the moon and the stars disappeared. Zukhra's father came to the shore, searched for his daughter for a long time, called and called her beloved and beloved. But I saw only two buckets filled to the brim with water. And either it was his imagination, or it really was - as if a small clear star flashed and disappeared in the clear water. It got dark and started to appear in my father’s eyes. He touched the buckets with his hand - the water stirred, sparkled, and began to play. As if the buckets were not full of her, but with many precious diamonds...
List of references and sources tatarstana/skazochnyie-suschestva-tatar.html tatarstana/skazochnyie-suschestva-tatar.html Myths of the Ancient Volga: myths, legends, stories, life and customs of the peoples who inhabited the banks of the great river from ancient times to the present day / comp. V. I. Vardugin; ill. G. M. Panferov. - Saratov: Nadezhda, p. : ill.
A long time ago, when there were no forests or swamps in Baraba, but only steppes, the Sybyry people lived here. It is unknown where they came from or how many years they lived here. And no one remembers how many years have passed since then - a lot.
But then one day clouds moved in from the north and it began to rain. Trees began to grow from the ground. Forests, lakes and swamps appeared, and now there were many mosquitoes and midges, the bites of which the Sybyrs were unaccustomed to. Life became unbearable for them.
Then some of the Sybyrs decided to leave their homeland and go somewhere to the south - no one knows where. Others stayed, not wanting to leave their homes. But life became more and more unbearable. And then the remaining Sybyrs threw themselves into the lakes and drowned themselves, and Siberia was named after this people.
(Minenko N.A. History of the Novosibirsk region from ancient times to the end of the 19th century. Novosibirsk, 1975, pp. 18-19).
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Previously, the people of Siberia lived here in Baraba - these are the Baraba Tatars. The nomadic people of Siberia were walking, but only one hunter and his family remained from them. From him came the Baraba Tatars.
Gradually people began to gather, and they called this steppe Barabinskaya.
(MEE Omsk State University. 1975. vol. 4-22. l. 9-10.)
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Tall, tall people lived here for a long time. There were no trees or bushes, there was a steppe. These people were engaged in pottery making. They fled south, to the Kazakh steppes, when trees began to grow out of the ground.
(MEP OmSU. 1978. vol. 21. l. 295.)
_________
Wars of the Chulym Turks with the Ugrians.
There used to be nine brothers. They lived on a cliff a kilometer above Kuyanov. There was an old Tarlagan (village), but now there is no one there. They were all killed by the Ostyaks; they lived on Keti. Their father and two sons went to Yul. Yule is a river. They went there, a beaver lived there. An old Ostyak with two sons arrived there earlier. The Khakass father told his sons that the Ostyak guys were chasing us and would probably kill us. The old man went first. The sons hid the sledge. The Ostyaks caught up, and they killed two sons of the Ostyaks and gouged out the eyes of the old man and said: come, we are 9 brothers.
The old Ostyak reached his people. In the summer the Ostyaks came. All 9 Khakass brothers were killed. One of the youngest daughter-in-law hid in the ground. When the Ostyaks left, the woman came out; she was pregnant. She got into the car and drove to the mouth of the Chulym. There she got married, and then she was pregnant and gave birth to two sons. The sons grew up and decided to go to their homeland. They went to Kichka-Yul, from Chichka-Yul they came to Chulym. They came - no one was there. They began to live. They got married somewhere. When the note was received, each was given a territory: the eldest Kuleev began to live in Kuyany, the youngest son of the Tarlags lived in Tarlagany. Previously, where there were a lot of fish, that’s where they lived. They ate only meat and fish.
Shumilovo Lake is a dugout on the lake, Tutyshkabyrga himself lived there. On a gray cliff in Staro-Tarlagany, there is a dugout, overgrown with pine trees, now they have cut it down. The width of the street, the height is about twenty meters. The Ostyaks conquered, killed nine sons, this city, they say. One younger brother was a hero. He puts on chain mail and kuyak, it’s hot like it was today. There was a mountain and a lake below, like a seventy-pound ball catching a toy.
They, brothers, went to Chichka-Yul in the winter, there were Ostyaks, there, maybe four of their sons went hunting. The old Ostyak's eyes were pierced, the grandmother's arm was broken, and the others were not at home. The Ostyaks came and saw: a blind man was sitting.
In the summer, the Ostyaks gathered in a herd to conquer. We came to a cliff, there was a stream there, half a kilometer away. We came there, on Mount Kyshtak - there was a dugout. Previously, they were afraid of each other, they only lived in dugouts. He (the youngest son) rises from the lake, it’s a good day, it’s hot, he took off his kuyak - if only there were Ostyaks. They shot from the stream, about half a kilometer away, they hit.
Eight married sons told their daughter-in-law not to go out, not to open it to anyone. She couldn’t resist, she looked out, and (arrows) began to hit. The mother buried one woman under the threshold; she was pregnant: “Watch, they will kill us all. If it’s quiet, come out.” She (the woman) rises quietly, everything is quiet, she descends along Chulym. She stopped in Ust-Chulym and gave birth to two children there. She got married again and accepted a husband for herself.
Everyone teases the children: “You abandoned your father’s land, where do you live!” The brothers agree: “Let’s leave along Chichka-Yul.” How long does it take to dig up a hole and bury it - it’s not complete yet. He buried it on the cliff, buried it, the hole became full...
(MEE TSU, 1969-170 (raw)).
Legends about the struggle of the peoples of Western Siberia with the Tatar-Mongol conquerors.
The village of Mal[aya] Tebendya (Ust-Ishim district of the Omsk region) arose when Prince Uguly brought 17 relatives here. Uguly fought with Genghis Khan.
Uguly's son, Ilikai, ruled over the 17 families who lived there. He was under the patronage [first] of Genghis Khan, and then of Batu. But other princes took up arms against him. He was defeated, but soon, taking advantage of the discord in the camp of the victors, he returned his lands. However, Batu found out about this, [who] unfairly accused Ilikai of inciting civil strife and executed him.
(Loseva Z.K., Tomilov N.A. Legends and historical traditions of the Irtysh Tatars // Spiritual culture of the peoples of Siberia. Tomsk, 1980, pp. 18-33)
_________Even before the formation of the village [Malaya Tebenda], the Nenets and Khanty lived here. Then the Mongols came, then the Tatars came.
(MEP OmSU. 1978. vol. 1. l. 297.)
About 700 years ago, on the territory of modern Ashevan (Ust-Ishim region), 17 families lived in dugouts. These people came here from Lake Mutki. These were Tatars from among the people who were under the patronage of Genghis Khan, and then Batu. Over time, the population increased. The area was ruled by Prince Ilikai, the son of Muğla. Ilikai had a fight with other Tatar princes, and when there was high water, they crossed the Ishim and attacked Ilikai, who did not expect them, because. it was dangerous to cross. Ilikai was defeated, but the victorious princes quarreled among themselves. The internecine war lasted a long time and exhausted the strength of the rivals. Ilikai took advantage of this and managed to regain his lands.
Batu found out about what happened, he accused Ilikai of inciting an internecine war between the Tatars and executed him and took his lands and people for himself.
(MEP OmSU. 1978. vol. 1. l. 299-301).
_________Previously, there was no permanent population in this territory (Malaya Tebendi). Cattle breeders roamed here and grazed horses. Then they settled in this territory.
Then there was a big flood of the Irtysh, and people were forced to move to a new territory and found Greater Tebenda. This was even before the arrival of Genghis Khan. Uguly fought with Genghis Khan. He brought 17 relatives with military detachments to this territory. At the head of one of the detachments was Ilikai, the son of Uguly.
(MEP OmSU. 1978. vol. 15. l. 22-23).
_________(Recorded in the village of Ayalutsk, Chanovsky district, Novosibirsk region)
They used to talk about heroes. They lived, they fought, but now there are no such people. There was one hero Hazratgali. He is not from Kazan, he seemed to be from Samarkand, Bukhara. His residence was Arabia. The city of Mecca was there, they lived there, but they traveled. Baraba also had his own heroes. Here under Genghis Khan there was a hero. He didn't have a gun, he only had a wooden bow. He was a sharp shooter, which means he shot far and straight. They used to hunt with bows; in general, all the drums hunted with bows. I heard before that the arrow was like a pitchfork - two prongs, and a wooden shaft.
...They say that beyond the Irtysh there lived Kazakhs, Kalmyks. And here, approximately, there are two houses, 50 km further - 3 houses - this is how they lived forever, that is. It was this hero who guarded them. But these Kazakhs, Kalmyks came in a large group on horseback. Good, beautiful girls, impudent women were taken from the baraba. This hero's name was Bulat. One time, I think he lived here or not far away. He drove another 50 km from his residence to a wedding. And at that moment, which means it was in the summer, 500 mounted Kazakhs appeared. They asked him if he was not at home. And they came to fight. One old man somehow hid, broke free and ran there. He came to him there and told him that the Kazakhs had appeared. And then Bulat said: “Okay, he says, I’ll go alone, continue the wedding.” He mounted his horse alone and rode off. When he began to drive up a kilometer, he already saw the Kazakhs. And they saw him that someone was coming. So they sent one senior Kazakh - go, they told him. He just moved away a little. Damask steel once with an ax, and this one fell. After some time, the Kazakhs see that the person sent is not there, and again they send another. And again Bulat once killed him. And let's shoot at them - several people are shot through. The Kazakhs think something is wrong. We jumped on our horses and let's run away. And Bulat began to chase them and shoot. He drove 500 horsemen to the Irtysh, and only 25 horseman Kazakhs left for the Irtysh. He killed everyone else. What a hero he was! He was the only one in this area.
(MEE Omsk State University. 1975. vol. 1. l. 63-64).
_________
We (i.e. the Barabins) are Mongolian Tatars, we differ from the Kazan Tatars, because came here with Batu. Our name is “paraba”.
(MEE Omsk State University. 1975. vol. 1. l. 87).
_________
Under Genghis Khan there lived the hero Ispulat. As soon as it shoots, the man is gone. Guarded the baraba. He protected from the Kalmyks and Kazakhs who lived beyond the Irtysh. They came, robbed cattle, horses, good girls and took everyone away. Ispulat and guarded.
(MEE Omsk State University. 1975. t4-16. l. 9-10).
Our ancestors (Chat Tatars) fought with the Mongols, they defeated us. Then Catherine I gave us land from Kolyvan to Baturin and freed us from the army. ...Our ancestors came here from the west, approximately from the Urals, so the old people said.
(MEE TSU. 1972. t. 505-1. l. 7).
Baraba is a remnant of the Mongol invasions.
(MEE TSU. 1973. t. 542-4. l. 27).
The beginning of the Taibugin dynasty.
...In the Siberian Chronicle, called by Karamzin the new Siberian chronicle of an unknown author, it is narrated that the Mongol Khan Genghis, who conquered Bukharia, according to legend, ... ceded into hereditary possession Taibuda or Taibuga - the prince of the Cossack horde (Kyrgyz-Kaisaks), the son of Mamet Khan, according to others data - Mamyka - places along the rivers Ishim, Tura, Irtysh and Tobol. Until that time, Khan Onsom roamed along the Ishim River, then his son Irtyshak, whom Chingis defeated and captured, and annexed his land to his possessions... The son of the murdered khan, and according to other sources, the grandson of Taibug, was saved from death by the devotion of his former servant Murat-biy, his teacher. Subsequently, having learned about the existence of Taibuga, Genghis sent him to fight the miracle. Taibuga performed a number of glorious feats in this war and led the Chud, as well as the Tatar tribes along the Irtysh and Tura rivers, to submission to Genghis.
In gratitude for Taibuga's military services, Chinggis returned his freedom, according to his wishes, and Taibuga with several fellow countrymen... went along the Tura River and there, at the request of his wife, built a city for himself, which he named Yashil-Tura. After the death of Genghis, Taibuga's possessions increased. The Kazan khans had friendly relations with him, which did not stop even under his son Khoja. Khoja's son Umar even entered into family ties with the Kazan Khan Upak, marrying his daughter... Upak treacherously killed his son-in-law Umar, and took his sons Abdera and Abalak with him as hostages to Kazan, where they died... Already his grandson, Abdera's son Sibir , returned to the former possessions of his grandfather..., made new conquests and built a city on the banks of the Irtysh, calling it by his own name - Siberia-Tura.
(Abramov N. Siberian Tatars // Tobolsk Provincial Gazette. 1861. No. 35).
_________Legends about the Russian settlement of Siberia before Ermak.
One day, a pestilence began in the country of Sibur, and the wise men began to prophesy that only those who were baptized would escape death. Local residents asked a Russian cleric, and he baptized them, but because of his negligence, everyone soon became pagans again.
(Markov S.N. Earth Circle. M., 1976, P. 67).
_________As the Barabinsk Tatars say, the settlement of Siberia by Russians began with Genghis Khan - he settled Russian Polonyaniks here. That's where it went from there.
(MEE Omsk State University. 1976. vol. 51-1. l. 7)
In Ashevany (Ust-Ishimsky district), Russian settlements appeared in the 1300s - 1400s.
(MEE Omsk State University. 1978. vol. 6. l. 834-839).
_________The name of the village of Tokhtamyshevo (Tomsk district) comes from the fact that Prince Tokhtamysh once lived in the village; he died, but his descendants remained here. And the village began to be named after this Tokhtamysh.
(MEP TSU. 1971. vol. 5. l. 203).
Tukhtamysh was the first to come to this place (from where and when is unknown)... People also say that Tokhtamysh existed, but he was a khan.
(MEE TSU. 1971. vol. 4. l. 204).
About the religious wars of Sheikh Bagautdin against the foreigners of Western Siberia.
According to Muslim chronology, 797 AH. (October 27, 1394 – October 15, 1395) was a year filled with true friendship with Islam. In Holy Bukhara, during the time of Khan Abul-Leisi, with the highest instructions and permission of the dervish order of Naqshbandiya, Mr. Imam Haji Bagau-l-Hakkochad-Din, 366 sheikhs, gathered from all kinds of cities in the eastern and western countries of the world, became sincere after his miracles and conversations by his followers. But these saints lived, splitting into 3 parts in different years:
One part was under the sheikhs and dealt with the secrets of the divine.
Another part in the Bukhara region and in its villages taught people science.
The third part fought with the pagans for the faith.
When the time came for the war for faith, the followers gathered before the bright eyes of the Reverend Sheikh Bagauddin and began to wait in which direction the direction would follow. After the morning prayer, Khoja, turning his blessed face to the sheikhs, said: “In large historical books I saw this: “At the time when the ruler of the faithful, Ali, having gone and penetrated through Hindustan, planted Islam in the countries of Chin and Machin, he converted half of China in faith, and imposed tribute on the other. But a certain number of the rebellious were indignant, fled from the country of Tarlai Khan and escaped from the sword of the ruler of the faithful, Mr. Ali, and ran to the flow of the river, known among the Turks as the Irtysh, and in Tajik Abi-Dzharul and flowing to the west. Nomads lived there:
- the people of Khotan (the name “Khotan” is generally used by the Irtysh Ostyaks to refer to the Tatars);
- the Nogai peoples (tribes between Emba and the Urals and brought by Nogai, the grandson of Taval, the grandson of Genghis Khan; currently the Kyrgyz-Kaisaks call all Muslim Tatars Nogai);
- Kara-Kypchak (as an independent people disappeared and became part of the Uzbeks and Kyrgyz-Kaisaks).
Having entered their midst, those who fled from China from the sword of Caliph Aliy stopped and began to live with them, but did not have true faith and true concepts - all of these were Tatars who worshiped idol dolls.”
Now my order to you is: invite you to confess Islam; if they do not accept your invitation, then start a great war with them for the faith.” When the high order followed, the mentioned 366 sheikhs came to Khan Sheybani in the steppes of the Mrednets Horde and became his guests. Having learned about the circumstances of the lives of the saints and expressing his unanimity, he armed 1,700 of his heroes and, for the purpose of a great war, going with them on horseback, went down to the Irtysh River and there waged a great battle for the faith. At that time, the Irtysh had 3 different peoples: Khotan, Nogai, Kara-Kypchaks, and then others appeared - the fleeing rebels of Tarkhan Khan - and began to live with them; the Kets - the Ostyak people - also helped them by participating in the battle, because they were of the same faith with them. The sheikhs mentioned here, joining forces with Sheybani, fought like true brave men.
They destroyed a great number of pagans and Tatars, fighting so that along the banks of the Irtysh there was not a stream or river left where they had not fought, and did not give those pagans the opportunity to escape, but from among them 300 sheikhs won the crown of martyrdom, having fallen on on land, some on the water, some in the swamp. Tarkhan's fugitives returned to China. The Ostyak people fled into the forest, some of the Khotan, Nogai and Kara-Kypchak peoples professed the faith of Islam, and some, although they were saved, healthy and unharmed, nevertheless, having encountered the wrath of the sheikhs, they became partly weakened, partly went mad and, frightened, also converted they could not flee further to the faith of Islam. The Ostyaks subsequently became pagans and lost their faith. The heroes of Khan Sheybani, numbering 1,448 people, fell and won the crown of martyrdom. Khan Sheibani went with the remaining 252 heroes to the people of the Middle Horde in the steppe places, and began to be called Vali Khan, i.e. holy khan, because together with the saints he fought for the faith, and from among the sheikhs, 300 horsemen achieved the degree of martyrdom. Of the 66 horsemen, three remained here and began to teach the basics of faith to those of the Nogai, Khotan, Kara-Kypchak peoples who professed Islam. Their descendants include the Khojas and Sheikhs in Tobolsk, Tyumen, Tara and Tomsk. 63 horsemen went to sacred Bukhara and reported to Mr. Bagauddin about their affairs. Since then, the Islamic faith was discovered here and paths were opened, so that caravans began to pass along the Irtysh and various khojas and imams came here to teach the faith; most of them were people who could work miracles. In addition, Mr. Imam-Devlet-khan-Khoja, the son of Shah Abdu-Valgab from Astechan, passed through this region from sacred Bukhara. He visited the Kalmyk nomads and led the Kalmyk Khan Khuptaychzha to the Islamic faith, and also ordered the opening of 18 mausoleums on the banks of the Irtysh. Many believers turned to him and became his faithful followers. Then Sheikh Iskander from Minlyan arrived from Khorezm and opened 9 mausoleums. One of the first sheikhs who remained here to learn the faith was the venerable Sheikh Sherpeti, the younger brother of Sheikh Nazar and Sheikh Biriya. Having opened 12 mausoleums, he lay down at the feet of his elder brothers. Of the 39 mausoleums mentioned in this genealogy, 30 over men, women and girls are described in this genealogy letter along with their names. And with the names of the places where they rest.
- Among the saints who rest on the banks of the Irtysh is the venerable Sheikh Aikani in Isker.
- Sheikh Biriy is also there in front of Isker.
- Sheikh Nazar.
- Sheikh Sherpeti (all three were siblings of the grandchildren of Zengi Baba, who lived in the Shash region, died in 658 = 1258).
- Sheikh Musa in Kucha Yaman, was one of the children of Imam Malik (Abu-Abdilla Malik ben Akas lived in 712 (1315) - 795 (1394), he established Malikat jurisprudence).
- There is a lord Sheikh Yusuf on the hills, he was one of the grandsons of Imam Abu Yusuf (Abu Yusuf Yaqub al Apsary died in 798, a lawyer, a student of the famous Abu Kanafa, who among the Tatars and other Muslims bears the name Imam-Azam - “the greatest imam” ).
- On Basht, Mr. Hakim Sheikh was one of the children of Imam Shafni (Abu Abdila Muhammad Ali Shafni lived in 797-820, lawyer, founder of Shafni jurisprudence).
- Inside Vagai (Vagai is the name given to the steppe irrigated by Vagai, the left tributary of the Irtysh, originating from the Yalutorovsky district. In the old days, the Vagai steppe was densely populated by various foreign tribes) there is the venerable Hakim Sheikh. He was one of the children of Imam Ahmed (Abu Abdillah Ahmed ibn Hambal died in 855, Hambalist jurisprudence).
- On Sobra, on the right side of Irtyshp, Sheikh Ahmed-Ali.
- On the left side of the Irtysh is Sheikh Dervish Ali.
- In Uvat, Sheikh Turazi-Ali.
- Near the Vagaya River on Yuruli, Sheikh Devlet-Ali (Ahmed-Ali, Dervish-Ali, Tursun-Ali). All four are the sons of one father from the grandsons of Abul Hasan Harimaki (925-1033).
- In Tebenda, Sheikh Anjetan was one of the grandsons of Sheikh Ba-Machin.
- At the mouth of the Ishim, in the village of Big Burgan, the mausoleum of Sheikh Binel-Ata, he was the grandson of Jallil (Nur Ed-Din Abdu-r-Rahman Jallil - 1492), the Founder of the Mevlevi Order, his companions with 3 stones lay on the shore of the lake.
- In Vagai, the venerable old man Sheikh Bayram.
- On the banks of the Vagai, the venerable Sheikh Nazar, they were siblings from the grandchildren of Seid-Ata (Khoja Seid Akhmet Ata died in 710 AH = 1310).
- In Bikatun, Sheikh Mur-Kemal.
- In Karagai Khojat-Sheikh, they are siblings of the children of Bakhshi-Ata.
- Near Lake Mochyuk the venerable Natsf.
- In Atyan, the venerable Alaf, they are siblings from the children of Sultan Bayezid (Bayezid-Tayfuri Bastami Khoja lived in 774-845 AH)
- In Burbar, Daud from Kandahar (died in 765 AH), according to the Tatars, all oracles lead from this person (Saryn).
- In the village of Kat, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz.
- In Kan-Shubari (Kashgari) Sheikh Abul-Melasr, both siblings from the children of the wise Suleiman (Khoja-Hakim-Ata (d. 582 = 1186), follower of the mystic Khoja-Ahmed Yasawi, who died in 1166).
- In Erum-Jin, the venerable Sheikh Daud from the grandsons of Imam Hussein (grandson of Muhammad, died in 670)
- In Karbin, Sheikh Omar Ali.
- On a hill in the old village of Karagai, near Krasny Yar, on the ground. Both are Baktari in the village of Kuneshli, Sheikh Kepesh-Agi, both are siblings, were from the children of Omar Al-Faruk (the second caliph, ascended the throne in 634).
- In Il-Tashal - Akyl-Bibi.
- In Yurusha - Khadija Bibi.
- Sheikh Muslihu d-Din from Kerman with 2 daughters, he participated in the war for faith. The eldest - Salikha-bibi - fell in a ravine called Charby (Dzharby) near the village of Saurgach and lay down.
- The youngest Afifa-bibi, she fell in the Aput ravine, coming out of Vagai, and lay down.
Mr. Sheikh himself, having finished off all the infidels, went to Kyzym and was the ruler of Ak-Gisar there. The wives of these same mentioned sheikhs, some with daughters and some with sons, were in the battle for the faith together. That is why in those places there are mausoleums over women, girls, boys; here, they say, there is nothing surprising, for they - mothers and children - were all together, and all were saints. The 30 pious mausoleums listed in this table were collected in one table by Judge Abdul-Kerim, Akhun of Tobolsk and Tomsk and one of the khan’s descendants Harsha Lebiv-Yashin.
The 9 mausoleums that were opened here by Mr. Sheikh Iskander, from the residents of Melmen in the department of the city of Khorezm, and the mausoleums that were opened by the 2 reverends mentioned above, are not mentioned here, since there are special tables about them. Information about those nine was collected in this table and sent by Sheikh Iskander from Turkestan, sent through the mediation of the Sultan’s late neighbor, i.e. Bagauddin, Khoja Mir-Sherif to the Tobolsk Akhuns, and they also say that from the city of Sairam, the venerable Imam Sheikh Yusuf visited the banks of the Irtysh and Siberia with the manifestation of miracles, opened 10 mausoleums. Having collected them in a genealogy, he sent them and handed them to his brother, Sheikh Alina. All this became a secret, known only to the Akhuns of the city of Tara. 49 mausoleums have been discovered, and in addition, along the banks of this Irtysh, the remains of another 251 people remain undetected. Then 300 monks are mentioned: Mr. Imam Khoja Devlet, Mr. Imam Iskander, a Khorezmian from Melkish. The 39 mausoleums they discovered were sent to sacred Bukhara (in the description) with a request for the publication of the venerables of sacred Bukhara, treating them with favor as the secrets of divine revelation, they believed so much that they even confirmed and certified and gave each possible blessing and also bequeathed: “We humbly ask , so that holy graves are strictly protected, whether they are on rivers flowing into the Irtysh, whether along the banks of the Irtysh itself or in swamps. 251 people, without showing up, remained hidden. Pious men, women, girls, if anyone in a secret relationship with the Lord Almighty receives his instructions regarding hidden men, or if these men give any hints about themselves, then let them not be negligent in declaring graves and building mausoleums, in order so that the sheikhs do not become angry with them and so that neither they nor their descendants are disgraced.”
Having made such a will, affixing seals to the mausoleums opened by all three, and laying hands, they sent in sympathy to show these high favors and mercy. In the Tobolsk district on the banks of the Irtysh, on the elevated side of the Karagay area, in the village of Kyumyunli, on the Aba Bakir hill on the mausoleum of Sheikh Kefish Ali. The name of the closest to him is Sheikh Burai, his son is Sheikh Safar, his sons are Sheikh Uras and Sheikh Ir-Setet. The son of Sheikh Uras is Sheikh Ramazan, his son is Sheikh Abul Hassan, his son is Sheikh Mohammed Sherif.
This legend was written by Sad Vakas Rejebov Memet Alakulov.
(Katanov N.F. About the religious wars of Sheikh Bagauddin against foreigners of Western Siberia // Yearbook of the Tobolsk Provincial Museum. 1904. Issue XIV. pp. 18-28).
[The village of Saurgachi in the Ust-Ishim region is named] after the hunter Saurgan... When the village was being built, some army came from Bukhara. There were 360 of them. Anyone who did not want to accept their faith was killed. They were buried in the grove, and the grave remains there. Many Tatars died. They say 300 people. 60 people returned back to Bukhara.
(Loseva Z.K., Tomilov N.A. Legends and historical traditions of the Irtysh Tatars // Spiritual culture of the peoples of Siberia. Tomsk, 1980, pp. 18-33).
Previously, a hunter named Saurgan lived here. He chose a place for a village and founded it. And then the Tatars came, cut down most of the forest, and began raising livestock. [Then] some army came from Bukhara. They killed everyone who did not accept their faith. 300 of them died, and 60 returned to Bukhara.
(MEP OmSU. 1978. vol. 3. l. 283)
Legends about Kuchum and Ermak.
(Recorded among the Tatars of the Vagai district of the Tyumen region).
It’s been a long time since my brother found the place where Kuchum hid his wealth from Ermak. This is in the Tobolsk region, there is a swamp there, overgrown with forest. The Tatars knew this place, but did not tell anyone. Then the Russians got wind of it, came from Tyumen and decided to search. But the Tatars didn’t show them. The old people said: whoever points it out, trouble will happen to him.
The brother said that Kuchum hid his wealth in a deep hole. If you throw a stone at it, a lot of time will pass before the stone hits the bottom.
The Tatars lived in Tobolsk, Ermak came and began to fight. They went to another place, he followed them. Then they arranged a battle for him and killed him. He swam wounded down the Irtysh. Everyone started shooting at him and killed him. They pulled me out and buried me at the Baishevskoye cemetery.
(Blajes V.V. Ural and Trans-Ural legends about Ermak // Materials and research on the folklore of Bashkiria and the Urals. Ufa. 1974. Issue 1, pp. 240-250)
...Yes, Tsar Kuchum did not want to listen to the old people, he did not want to - and he destroyed his kingdom... Ermak fled to him, he fled from the Russian Tsar... He killed a lot of people there, the Russian Tsar wanted to hang him, well, he fled to our Tsar... Accepted his Kuchum. Ermak was a good blacksmith, an intelligent man, our king loved him. The old people say: don’t trust Ermak, [but] Kuchum didn’t listen to them, he let him go everywhere. Ermak lived with him for a year, saw everything and ran away. And then, a little later, our [old men] came to the king and said: it’s bad, king, wood chips are floating along the Tobol, a lot of wood chips are floating, it’s going to be bad, gather an army! Again Kuchum did not listen to the old men. And there the Russians on Tobol built ships for themselves, built them, boarded them, came and took the kingdom from Kuchum, it was like that, it’s written in all our books.
(Katanov N.F. The town of Makhmet-Kula // Tobolsk Provincial Gazette. 1881. No. 17).
Text – Sitnyansky G.Yu. 1989.
Application.
“Legends of the Tobolsk Tatars about the arrival of Muhammadan preachers in the city of Isker in 1572.”
article one
(This article was written in the dialect of the Ishim Tatars of the Sargatsky volost by academician V.V. Radlov and placed in his collection “Samples of folk literature of the Turkic tribes” Part IV. Sib. 1872, pp. 212-215. In the same year he translated it into German. This Russian translation is made from the Tatar original, dictated to V.V. Radlov by Mullah Ilyas.).
We heard from our fathers and grandfathers that in former times there lived a khan named Akhmet-Kirey in Tobolsk Isker ( see about this khan in issue V. “Yearbook of the Tobolsk Provincial Museum” in the article by N.F. Katanov.). During his time, Sheikh al-Islam died ( head of the Muslim clergy.) of the Isker land, and Khan Akhmet-Kirey sent a man to the Khan of the city of Bukhara to tell him: “Send us some great sheikh of Islam.” After this, the Bukhara Khan sent a man with a letter in which he ordered: “send some sheikh of al-Islam to the Isker land.” At that time, the Khan of Urgench was a certain man named Alagul ( “Alagul” is the Khiva Khan Alla-Kuli, the son of Agatai Khan and the grandson of Aminek Khan, who was related to Genghis Khan (in the 13th generation).). At that time, there was one great sheikh al-Islam in Urgench. Alagul asked this sheikh al-Islam, saying: “go to the Isker land.” Sheikh al-Islam agreed. Alagul had a grand vizier named Mullah Musa ( “Musa” - Russian. Moses.), this mullah Moussa had 9 sons, of which the eldest, named Yakup ( “Yakup” - Russian. Yakov.), was a very learned man. The above-mentioned sheikh "l-Islam began to ask Mulla Mussa for his eldest son, Mulla Yakup, to take him with him to the Isker land. Mulla Musa also agreed to let [his son] go. After this, the sheikh "l-Islam and Mulla Yakup with the Akhuns ( “Akhun” is a senior Muslim priest.), Mirzas ( “Mirza” is a clerk.) and servants went to sacred Bukhara ( [in Tat. original] “Bukhara and Sheriff”.) among 500 people. Ab-leys was the Khan of Bukhara. The Bukhara Khan received Sheikh "l-Islam and Mullah Yakup with great honor and a few days later, adding a number of scientists to them, he sent everyone, including 1000 people, to the Isker land. Khan Akhmet-Kirey, having shown great honors to the Sheikh "l -Islam, Mullah Yakup and other mullahs, gave each a position. The name of the sheikh "l-Islam was Shirbet-sheikh. A year later, Khan Akhmet-Kirey died, and Khan Kuchum sat in his place. Mulla Yakup, the son of the vizier Mussa, who arrived with Shirbet-sheikh, went to the mouth of Ishim, to the Sargatsky volost near the Irtysh River to teach children to read and write, and the people built a house at the mouth of the Ishim; there he spent his life. Mullah Yakup had a son, Mullah Yunus ( “Yunus” - Russian. And she.), Mullah Yunus had a son also named Mullah Yakup; this [Mullah Yakup] had a son, Kasmak. During Kasmak from Moscow ( in Tat. in the original – “Meskeu”.) Ermak came ( in Tat. original – “Yarmak”.) and took Siberia without war and without a fight. Khan Kuchum with a number of people fled to the upper reaches of the Irtysh. Kasmak and the rest of the people, not following Khan Kuchum, became loyal subjects of the White Moscow Tsar and began to live here. At that time, the Tsar's Majesty had few troops here. .
Kyrgyz ( in Tat. in the original – “Cossack”, as the Kyrgyz call themselves.) and the Kalmyks came and, fighting, took captive young people - boys and girls. Kasmak was a very strong man who knew how to wield a sword, hold a spear and shoot a bow. At that time, there were very strong people in other villages and other places. Kasmak, having become the head of these people, went to war against the Kalmyks and Kirghiz who came for the boys and girls, and began to exterminate [the enemies] in order to return [the captives]. The then Tsar of Moscow gave Kasmak a sword, a horse and a salary. They say that there was once a decree from the king about this. Kasmak had only one brother, named Izenmet, a very strong and brave warrior. The old people said: “Once on the banks of the Irtysh we came across a large larch!” And the mullahs said: “Show us some kind of spectacle!” And Izenmet went to the shore and uprooted the larch. During Kasmak, one piece of news came: “A Kalmyk chief with 1000 people is walking along the Ishim River, quickly recruiting 350 heroes from both the top of the Irtysh and the bottom.” and opposed the Kalmyk chief and his 1000 people. At that time there was no population at all in the steppe - the Russian people arrived here much later and settled only some places Kasmak and his 350 people met with 1000 Kalmyks in an area called the Vikilyanskaya Sloboda. " and immediately fought. They began to fight immediately after the sun came out with swords, spears and arrows and in the afternoon they defeated the Kalmyks and put them to flight. He had one daughter, 18 years old, who was very beautiful and captured her. He took him away, put his scarf around the girl’s neck, and threw one arrow from the girl’s head ( As a sign that she belongs to him.) and, bringing it to his brother Izenmet, entrusted it to him. [Kasmak] said to his brother: “Keep watch over this girl until I return!” Then Kasmak himself set off to pursue the Kalmyk commander. He caught up with him at the place where now stands the city of Ishim, and killed. The rest of the Kalmyks fled. From there Kasmak went back. Izenmet remained on guard. The son of a Kalmyk chief with 40 comrades swam across the Ishim River and went hunting. During the hunt, having crossed the Ishim River, [the Kalmyks] saw that their army had suffered a severe defeat: the dead were lying, and the rest had run away. The son of the Kalmyk chief saw that some Muslim was guarding his sister. Forty people surrounded Izenmet, and Izenmet began to fight alone with 40 Kalmyks. He killed 31 Kalmyks, and 9 Kalmyks survived. Izenmet's powers have weakened. At that time, the hero Eite-Bulum, a resident of the village of Yyk-Syngyr, was not at home, and therefore he fell behind those who went against the Kalmyks. Arriving home and hearing about the departure, he went after them and saw Izenmet alone fighting with 9 Kalmyks. Coming closer, he drew his sword and cut off the Kalmyks' heads. Having come to his senses, Izenmet saw that he had saved him from the death of Eite-Bulum. At this time Kasmak also returned and, seeing this, said to Eite-Bulum: “I would give you cattle, but you have cattle, for your kindness I will make you a son-in-law!” So he made a promise and, upon returning, made Eite-Bulum his son-in-law: he had a beautiful sister named Aibat, whom he married off. The daughter of the Kalmyk chief fell ill for three days and died.
Kasmak's son is Tileumet, Tileumet's son is Konai, his son is Bikene, his son is Aitpaga, his son is Raimbaki. The son of this mullah Raimbaka is me, mullah Ilyas ( those. the narrator who told V.V. Radlov this story). My father Raimbaki mullah died a hundred years old. I reported the words I heard from my father.
Genealogy of Mullah Ilyas.
Ilyas (19th century) in relation to Musa (16th century) was in the 12th generation of kinship .
| Musa | ||
| Yakup | 8 sons | |
| Yunus | ||
| Yakup | ||
| Abd"ullah | ||
| Salar Sufi | ||
| Ey-Bulum + Aybat | Kasmak | Isenmet |
| Tileumet | ||
| Konai | ||
| Bikene | ||
| Aitpaga | ||
| Raimbaki | ||
| Ilyas |
article two
(This article was recorded under dictation from a handwritten book by academician V.V. Radlov in the village of Saurats in the dialect of the Tobolsk Tatars and placed in his “Samples of Folk Literature of Turkic Tribes” Part IV. Sib. 1872, at pp. 210-220. Translated into Russian from the Tatar original. The German translation was made by V.V. Radlov himself in 1872.).
The son of Tobytsak-seid was Alau-din-seid ( “seid” (in the Tat. original “seit”) means “descended from the line of the prophet Muhammad himself, from his father Abdullah, grandfather Abdur-Luttalib and great-grandfather Hashim (in the Tat. original “Hashym”).), this Alau-din-seid there were two sons: the eldest Yarym-seid and the younger Myrali-Khoja, the son of Myrali - Din-Ali-Khoja. This Din-Ali-Khoja came from Tara to Tobolsk and said: “our genealogical sheet during Ermak ( in Tat. original – “Yarmak”.) drowned in the Irtysh; Now, if you need to get a pedigree sheet, you have to go to Urgench.” At that time, I, Khojan Shukur, son of Yusuf Biy, was an akhun in the city of Tobolsk. Din-Ali-Khoja asked me for advice, and I, Akhun Khojan-Shukur, answered this Din-Ali-Khoja: “The journey for us is long and now dangerous, it is very difficult for you to travel, and if you get there safely, it will be difficult to return ; There is no need for you to go, and you are a person well known to us. All the people know that the Bukhara Khan Abdullah sent Khan Seid from Urgench to the Isker Khan Kuchum to teach the Siberian people Islam. According to the testimony of the people and according to the words of the Sherbeti Sheikh who was with you, we will write you a genealogical sheet here.” Din-Ali -Khoja approved these words and canceled the trip to the city of Urgench. After that, we invited Sherbeti-sheikh and the old people. There was also a man, our father Yusuf-biy, during the time of Khan Kuchum, he is no longer alive, but we heard from his father. Akhun Khojan-Shukur that Din-Ali Khoja came to teach the children the Islamic religion. Then we asked Sherbeti-sheikh and the people present. Sherbeti-sheikh gave the answer: “If you ask, I will tell you the truth that I know and that I saw it. [t] Din-Ali-khoja came from Khashym ( “Hashym” - in Ar. “Hashim” - the great-grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad, i.e. ancestor of the seids.
He is a Sayyid by origin. From his family in Bukhara and Urgench imams ( “Imam” is the same as “akhun”, i.e. senior muslim priest present during prayer) great people. Young men [seids] wear hair in front of both ears; this is the sign of those descended from the Seids. Seeing this sign, both princes and princes, standing still, say: “Peace and blessings to the prophet!” Us and this Din-Ali-Khoja Bukhara Khan Abdullah sent both of them to Sultan Akhmet-Kirey, the elder brother of Khan Kuchum. We came here to Khan Kuchum together.” Those present all confirmed what was said. After that, Sherbeti-sheikh and 40 people reported what we described below, how Din-Ali arrived from Urgench. Khoja and how Khan Abdullah sent him.
They convey it like this:
“In 980 Gijra ( those. according to Russian chronology in 1572) Isker Khan Kuchum sent an embassy to Bukhara Khan Abdu'lla with a request to send another sheikh. After this, Khan Abdu'lla said to Khoja Yakup: “Send one descendant of the seid and one descendant of the sheikh to the Siberian people to instruct them in the faith.” Then the Bukhara hekim ( “hekim” means ruler, which is what they now call district chiefs in Turkestan.) said: “Who should I send? In the city of Urgench there is a certain Yarym-seid, the Urgench hekim is a khan-khoja. Yarym-seid is a scientist and knowledgeable [person] - shouldn’t we send him?” Then Khan Abdu'llah said to the hekim: “Where will we send the sheikh from?” Hekim Khoja Yakup said: “And send the sheikh from Urgench, send Sherbeti-sheikh. Khan Abdullah said: “Okay, so be it!” Then Khan Abdullah ordered the hekim: “Send one letter to the Urgench hekim Khan-seid: let him send Yarym-seid, who comes from the seids, and who comes from the sheikhs ( “Sheikh” - in Tat. in the original “shaikh” means the same here as “khodja”, i.e. descendant of one of the 4 caliphs; “Sheif”, “Khoja” and “Seid” are often used arbitrarily in the sense of “chief”, “master”, “head”.). Sherbeti Sheikh for teaching the Islamic faith!” After this, [Mullah] Yakup wrote a letter to the hekim and sent ambassadors who arrived from Khan Kuchum to Urgench. In this letter he wrote:
“By the sacred command and order of the muftis, let it be known to you, the Urgench hekim Khan-seid, upon receipt of this letter with this hekim, entrust the ambassadors of Khan Kuchum, the Siberian Khan, Yarym-seid and Sherbeti-sheikh! Khan-seid-khoja May he see off the descendants of the seid and sheikh with good honor and respect, and let him pay them out of the treasury as much as necessary! In addition, let him give them 10 good people as companions! Let the people sent be middle-aged!”
The ambassadors of Khan Kuchum delivered a letter from Khan Abdullah to the Urgench hekim Khanseid, and delivered the letter from Khan Abdullah with great respect and politeness. And they, having received the letter, read it to the end. This hekim Khan-seid-khoja went to the administration and sent for two Yarym-seid and Sherbeti-sheikh. “Read this letter that has arrived now!” - said Khan-seid-khoja and handed the letter to Yarym-seid. Yarym-seid read it and passed it on to Sherbeti-sheikh. Sherbeti Sheikh also read it. They said: “If Khan Kuchum requires the descendants of the seid and sheikh for instruction in the faith, and if Khan Abdullah orders, then we will go to teach the Islamic faith.” Then we prepared everything we needed for the road and went to Isker, the city of Siberian After a certain number of days, we approached Isker, on the banks of the Irtysh, and the ambassadors who came with us sent news, saying that the descendants of the seid and the sheikh had sailed with his servants across the Irtysh and, having gone out to meet us, met us. came to Isker with the khan. After that, Khan Kuchum ordered Yarym-seid to be hekim and stay with him. Then Yarym-seid stayed here for two years, and after these 2 years, we, Sherbeti-sheikh, died. from this Isker we returned to Urgench. When we arrived in Urgench, Khan Kuchum again sent ambassadors to Bukhara, asking him to convey: “Yarym-seid has died, and Sherbeti-sheikh has returned to his place in Urgench; nor for instruction in the faith - let them send more descendants of the seid and sheikh!” Khan Abdullah ordered the hekim: “Send a descendant of the seid and one sheikh!” Hekim Khoja Yakup said: “Yarym-seid went before, now Ali-Khoja went again ( those. Din-Ali-hoja.) , son of Myrali-Khoja ( “Myrali” is the same as “Mir-Aliy”, “Mir-Ali”.), younger brother [Yarym-seid], let him go with Sherbeti-sheikh! So order them!” After this, Khan Abdu'lla ordered Hekim Yakup: “Go to the department, write a paper: let the Urgench Hekim Khan-seid send him, according to my order, - let him send Sherbeti-sheikh in the place of the deceased Yarym-seid!” Then Khoja Yakup wrote a paper.
The ambassadors also went to Urgench and the letter was presented to the Urgench hekim Khan-seid with respect and decency. Khan Seid called Din-Ali Khoja and Sherbeti Sheikh to the administration. We, Sherbeti Sheikh, were at home and came to the office, but Din Ali Khoja did not come. They asked the messengers: “Where is Din-Ali-Khoja?” The people sent said: “He gives lessons at school.” Then they sent another person: “Wait for him at home and, as soon as he gets out of school, bring him here!” Coming from school, Din-Ali-Khoja was brought into administration. Khan Seid Khoja said: “What answer will you give?” Then Din Ali Khoja replied: “We will consult, and in a week we will give an answer.” A week later we gave an answer: “Send us along with these ambassadors to Bukhara; We won’t go anywhere except Bukhara!” The Urgench hekim said: “So be it!” Then we prepared our travel supplies, took money from the treasury for expenses and set off for Bukhara, where we arrived a few days later. We reported our arrival, and Khan Abdullah said: “I told you to go there beyond Urgench! Why did you come here?” We, Din-Ali-Khoja, gave an answer, saying: “The road is currently dangerous, give us Akhmet-Kirey Sultan, the elder brother of Khan Kuchum, as our companion!” After that, he sent Akhmet-Kirey Sultan and 100 more people with us. Then, together with the ambassadors of Khan Kuchum, we arrived here in Isker. Then Khan Kuchum betrayed his khan’s place to Akhmet-Kirey Sultan. four years, and then he was killed by Khan Shigai, his own father-in-law, Khan of the steppe Kirghiz. Then Khan Kuchum. again began to rule Isker. Khan Kuchum gave his daughter Leyla-Kanysh to Din-Ali-Khoja. We stayed in the city of Isker for several years, then the people rebelled, and Khan Kuchum died. The son of Khan Kuchum - Arslan Sultan - was sent to the White Tsar, the Great Tsar of Moscow. This great king gave Arslan Sultan the Kirmen land. In the city of Isker, Khan Kuchum married Lelipak-Kanysh, daughter of Khan Shygai, khan of the steppe Kirghiz. From the marriage of Khan Kuchum with Lelipak-Kanysh, one son named Arslan-Sultan was born, and one daughter named Leile-Kanysh, whom he married to Din-Ali-Khoja ( Miller (History of Siberia, Vol. 1, §79) and Fisher (Siberian History, §86, p. 46), saying that Kuchum was the first to establish the Mohammedan faith in Siberia, both are based on Tatar legends they heard from local Russians residents. Remezov (Siberian Chronicle, p. 24) says that Kuchum obtained “Abyzov” (clergy) from Kazan.).
Translation and comments by N.F. Katanov, 1897, Kazan.
The text is reproduced from the publication: Legends of the Tobolsk Tatars about the arrival of Muhammadan preachers in the city of Isker in 1572 // Yearbook of the Tobolsk Provincial Museum, Vol. VII. Tobolsk. 1897
History of the Siberian Tatars. Siberian elders and the oldest mosques of the Trans-Ural region Monday, October 25, 2010 Tags: Muslims, Tobolsk In the village of Toboltura, Tobolsk district, Tyumen region, the anniversary of the mosque was celebrated last weekend. The guests who came to the event said with a smile that they had come to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the oldest (!) mosque in Siberia. “The tenth anniversary of the restoration and rebirth of the mosque,” local activists specified. Hint Photo as a souvenir before the start of the celebration Until recently, the residents of Toboltura were proud that it was in their village that the first stone mosque beyond the Urals was located. According to legend, it was built during the reign of Catherine II. The Tobolsk provincial authorities at that time did not allow Muslims to build mosques, and then a local elder named Kupshan-babai went on foot to St. Petersburg to seek the truth. He was on the road for about two years and brought home the joyful news of permission to build a stone mosque. After the mosque was built, the aksakal went on hajj, from which he did not return. So says the legend, which, as it turns out, somewhat contradicts archival documents. Recently, the imam of the Tobolturin mosque, Khamit Khalilov, received copies of documents from the archives of the funds of the Tobolsk district police department for 1908. The presented “Gazette of Mohammedan parishes in the Tobolturinsky foreign volost” indicates a different date for the construction of the mosque in Toboltur - 1833. Hint The iron on the ground floor indicates this means that it is not the first stone mosque in Siberia. Because at that time a stone mosque was already functioning in the city of Tara, Tobolsk province (now a city in the north of the Omsk region). In the plan of Tara for 1802, the mosque is already marked as active. At the last annual conference “Suleyman Readings”, historian Sergei Tataurov, head of the archeology sector of the Omsk branch of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS, announced data on the plan of the city of Tara for 1775, where there is already a mark about the stone mosque under construction. The famous Siberian, famous Muslim politician, “Japanese mufti” Aburashid Ibragimov, who was from Tara, wrote in his memoirs that in 1799, the Tara akhun Gabderashid and the leader of the Ayalan clan, Said Baba, built a stone mosque in Tara. Local historians specify that it was financed by the Aitikin merchants. Hint The imam of the mosque, Abdulganiy Iskhakov, shot in 1938 (in the center) with his relatives At the anniversary in Toboltur last weekend, local residents agreed that their mosque was the second stone one in Siberia, but immediately added that it was the oldest surviving Siberian mosque of the first half 19th century. Unfortunately, the Tara Mosque was dismantled during the Komsomol subbotnik in 1935, and a vocational school was built from its bricks. Many residents of Toboltur call themselves descendants of Kupshan-babai. The rural mosque bears the name of the legendary aksakal, who, as it now turns out, may not have gone to St. Petersburg, since the mosque in Toboltur was built 37 years after the death of Catherine. - Or maybe he did? - the Tobolturians ask themselves. - Who knows! It probably took twenty years to coordinate the construction with the Tobolsk provincial bureaucrats, and another ten to fifteen years for the construction itself. Brick in those years was not so easy to get. There is also a legend in Toboltur that many bricks for the mosque were collected thanks to Tatar cab drivers, who delivered building materials on their carts for the churches under construction in the “capital city of Tobolesk,” the center of the Siberian province, abolished under Catherine. The cab drivers dropped the bricks at a designated place along the Tobolsk Highway, from where they were then quietly delivered to Toboltura. Legends about walkers seeking truth to the good Tsar-Father are quite popular in Siberia. Another such story tells about Chapatai Babai, who walked to St. Petersburg during the period of forced baptism. As the legend says, in the capital the Siberian elder was handed the royal decree, but was ordered not to read it, but to convey it to the Tobolsk governor as it was. However, Chapatai Babai could not stand it; curiosity took over when he was already approaching the banks of the Irtysh. He unfolded the decree and read the word “Baptize.” Then the elder turned back to the west and again appeared before the royal eyes. Chapatai told the emperor that it would be better if they killed him, but he would not carry such a decree to Tobolsk. The Tsar then allegedly said to the Siberian: “So, I will help your people, but what will you give me in return? The elder replied that he was a poor man and had no other wealth except his wife and three daughters. It all ended with Chapatai giving his youngest beloved daughter as a wife to the Tsar; in return, the autocrat issued a decree that the Tatars of Siberia should remain in Islam. Hint Festive meal in a rural club Today one can treat such legends with irony, but it is precisely such stories that reflect the aspirations of the common people, the inhabitants of the Tatar villages of the Tobolsk province, who found themselves in the clutches of the New Epiphany Commission in the mid-18th century. Siberian Muslims who survived the mass demolition of mosques under Metropolitan Sylvester Glowacki, presumably, like Russian peasants, lived with the dream of a good king. The fact that the campaign from Siberia to the banks of the Neva actually took place is confirmed by a report from a collection of documents based on materials from the history of Siberia by I. Potanin: “In 1751, at the choice of the Tara Yurt Bukharians and Tatars, Alim Shikhov was sent to St. Petersburg to complain about the forced baptism of the Tatars by the former Metropolitan Sylvester. Due to ignorance of literacy, Shikhov took with him, for translations and notes to income and expenses, Tarsky Yurtovsky Bukharetin Venyamin Hansentov. Hint A folk ensemble from the village of Turbinskaya, Tobolsk region, is performing. The former director of the Toboltura school, pensioner Iskhak Iskhakov, collected rich material on the history of the rural mosque, copied from the archives information about the imams of Toboltura, starting in 1896, wrote down memories of the mullahs, and donated the books of his grandfather to the mosque. , mullah of the Abdulganiy Iskhakov mosque, who was executed in 1938 on a standard charge. For several years after his retirement, the mullah's grandson Ishak Iskhakov headed a Muslim organization. Under the leadership of him and the imam of the mosque, a relative of Vagap Iskhakov, the stone mosque was restored ten years ago. The reconstruction almost completely changed the appearance of the building; now the fact that the mosque is almost 200 years old can be guessed only by the internal walls. The anniversary in honor of the 10th anniversary of the “second birth” of the Tobolturin mosque, after the ceremonial part and collective prayer, moved to the village club. At the festive table, the head of the Kazyyat Muslim Department of the Tyumen Region, Fatykh Garifullin, presented memorable gifts to activists of the Muslim community, and a gift copy of the Koran to the new imam, Khamit Khalilov. A concert prepared by artistic groups from Tobolsk and villages of the Tobolsk region took place. Siberian elders and the oldest mosques of the Trans-Urals
