The Heroic Epic of Manas and Mukhtar Auezov’s Role in Its Popularization

Abstract

heroic epic of Manas and the publication of its parts in the twentieth century. The purpose of the article is to determine the place of the famous monograph “The Kyrgyz heroic epic of Manas” by M. O. Auezov in a series of works on epic studies. Objectives of the article: to describe M. O. Auezov’s research dedicated to the Kyrgyz epic of Manas from the standpoint of defining the functions of manaschi (storyteller, poet, shaman) and the preserved pre-Islamic cult of ancestors among the Kyrgyz; to substantiate M. O. Auezov in the aspect of Kyrgyz studies and Manas studies. The relevance of the work consists in summarizing the contribution of M. O. Auezov to Kyrgyz and Manas Studies in connection with new trends in education in the Republic of Kyrgyzstan, caused by the adoption of the Law “On the Manas Epic” in 2011. The scientific novelty of the work lies in a new approach to understanding the works by M. O. Auezov in the aspect of theory of mentality, that is practically not involved in literary practice. M. O. Auezov introduced into scientific circulation the terms associated with the performers of the epic, yrchi and zhomokchi. He was the first to describe the history of Kyrgyz manaschi ‒ storytellers: from a contemporary of Manas Keldibek to Sagymbay Orozbаkov, a contemporary of M. O. Auezov. Manas himself chooses those who will perform the epic dedicated to him. The text of the epic keeps the spirit of the people, i. e. the heroic epic of Manas contains the spiritual basis of Kyrgyz culture, its mentality. M. O. Auezov summarized the data on manaschi and outlined their main functions: a storyteller, a poet, a shaman. The scientist pointed to the pre-Islamic cult of ancestors that has come down to us among the Kyrgyz people. Keywords: the epic of Manas, manaschi, pre-Islamic Turkic spiritual culture, works by M. O. Auezov, mentality, myth, cult of ancestors, the Kyrgyz language picture of the world