Dzheyrahovtsy – issues of origin and migration

Abstract

The subject of the research in this article is some questions of the history of the Ingush ethnoterritorial society – Dzheyrakhovtsy (ing. Zhiyrakhoi), localized in the sources of the XVI-XVIII centuries on the territory of the Dzheyrakh gorge, in the lower reaches of the Armkhi river, as well as in the gorge of the Terek River to S. V. Lars. The purpose of the article is to study the question of the origin of this society and to identify the reasons for its inclusion in the Ossetian tribe by some authors of the XIX century. And also to show the unreasonableness of such an assignment. As a theoretical basis, the works of researchers from different periods who studied the issue of the Vainakh population on the left bank of the Terek River and the origin of Ingush ethnoterritorial associations of the XVI-XIX centuries are involved. The analysis of information from historical sources related to the issue under study is carried out. Using the historical and systematic method, the processes that led to the formation of the Jeyrakh society and the reasons for their classification as Ossetians are studied. The relevance of the topic is determined by the fact that the Dzheyrakh society is one of the Western Vainakh ethnoterritorial associations that formed the modern Ingush people. Therefore, the history of this society is directly connected with the history of the entire Ingush people. In the course of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that the main reason for classifying the Dzheyrakhovs in some sources of the XIX century to the Ossetian tribe was that this Ingush society was formed by Vainakh settlers from the left bank of the Terek River, who underwent significant Iranization due to long-term cohabitation with the numerically predominant Ossetian population. The choice of a new place of residence by the settlers was determined, as a rule, by its geographical location, economic significance, as well as the attitude of the local population towards them. Therefore, in some cases, migrants settled in Ingush farms and completely dissolved among the indigenous inhabitants, while in others they founded new villages and societies. One of these societies, formed by them, was the Dzheyrakhov society.