The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and Karachai

During their many centuries of history, the Balkars and Karachays have created an extremely rich folklore. The heroic Nart epos occupies the central place in their oral poetic works; it is one of the national versions of the general Caucasus Nartiad. Among the Balkars and Karachays, as well as among...

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Main Author: Tanzily M. Khadzhieva
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Russian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature 2020-06-01
Series:Studia Litterarum
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Online Access:http://studlit.ru/images/2020-5-2/Khadzhieva.pdf
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author Tanzily M. Khadzhieva
author_facet Tanzily M. Khadzhieva
author_sort Tanzily M. Khadzhieva
collection DOAJ
description During their many centuries of history, the Balkars and Karachays have created an extremely rich folklore. The heroic Nart epos occupies the central place in their oral poetic works; it is one of the national versions of the general Caucasus Nartiad. Among the Balkars and Karachays, as well as among other bearers of the Nartiad, the legends consist of a series of large and small cycles. Each cycle is a group of small (in bulk) legends and songs about the appearance of the Nart tribe on earth; about the various stages and events of the epic life of the heroes (birth, heroic childhood, the first exploit, marriage, and the struggle with mythical monsters, with a blood enemy, etc.). In the epos of the Balkars and Karachays, there are original individual songs and legends without parallels in any other national version of the Nartiad. They date basically from the archaic layer of the epic, since there is a predominance of motifs connected to the totemistic, animist, magic, and religious ideas of these peoples who, right up to the 19th century, had some survivals of primitive forms of religion and Christianity, alongside Islam. The Nart epos also reflects the fact that the Balkars and Karachays used to worshiping the sky, fire, water, heavenly lights, animals, trees, stones, etc., and that according to their ideas, each phenomenon and thing had its own Teyri (Tengri).
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spelling doaj-art-a9b621fae177465284f00d16c0a0c7e82025-08-20T03:39:10ZengRussian Academy of Sciences, A.M. Gorky Institute of World LiteratureStudia Litterarum2500-42472541-85642020-06-015241242310.22455/2500-4247-2020-5-2-412-423The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and KarachaiTanzily M. Khadzhieva0A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of SciencesDuring their many centuries of history, the Balkars and Karachays have created an extremely rich folklore. The heroic Nart epos occupies the central place in their oral poetic works; it is one of the national versions of the general Caucasus Nartiad. Among the Balkars and Karachays, as well as among other bearers of the Nartiad, the legends consist of a series of large and small cycles. Each cycle is a group of small (in bulk) legends and songs about the appearance of the Nart tribe on earth; about the various stages and events of the epic life of the heroes (birth, heroic childhood, the first exploit, marriage, and the struggle with mythical monsters, with a blood enemy, etc.). In the epos of the Balkars and Karachays, there are original individual songs and legends without parallels in any other national version of the Nartiad. They date basically from the archaic layer of the epic, since there is a predominance of motifs connected to the totemistic, animist, magic, and religious ideas of these peoples who, right up to the 19th century, had some survivals of primitive forms of religion and Christianity, alongside Islam. The Nart epos also reflects the fact that the Balkars and Karachays used to worshiping the sky, fire, water, heavenly lights, animals, trees, stones, etc., and that according to their ideas, each phenomenon and thing had its own Teyri (Tengri).http://studlit.ru/images/2020-5-2/Khadzhieva.pdfkarachays and balkarsthe nart epicmythological charactersmythological motifs.
spellingShingle Tanzily M. Khadzhieva
The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and Karachai
Studia Litterarum
karachays and balkars
the nart epic
mythological characters
mythological motifs.
title The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and Karachai
title_full The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and Karachai
title_fullStr The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and Karachai
title_full_unstemmed The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and Karachai
title_short The Religious-mythological characters and motifs in the Nart epic Balkars and Karachai
title_sort religious mythological characters and motifs in the nart epic balkars and karachai
topic karachays and balkars
the nart epic
mythological characters
mythological motifs.
url http://studlit.ru/images/2020-5-2/Khadzhieva.pdf
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