Ural-batyr or Oral-batır (, pronounced , from Ural + Turkic batır 'hero, brave man') is the most famous kubair (epic poem) of the Bashkirs. It is a telling of heroic deeds and legendary creatures, the formation of natural phenomena, and so on.
Plot Based on the Turkic and Iranic folk song traditions, the poem narrates about the heroic deeds of Ural-batyr. Ural is born to an elderly couple, Yanbike and Yənberði. Ural evinces from his very infancy all the features of a legendary hero, such as unflinching courage, honesty, kindheartedness, empathy, and great physical strength. Unlike his cunning and treacherous brother Shulgan, Ural is an eager enemy of the evil and of Death which personifies it. Having matured, Ural sets out on the quest for Death, with the desire to find and destroy Him. On his way, he meets with various people and legendary creatures and is often deferred by long adventures; in all cases, his actions serve to save lives or quell the evil. Riding his winged stallion Akbuthat (or Akbuz At 'White-Grey Horse'), he saves young men and women prepared for sacrifice by the tyrannical Shah Katil from imminent death, tames a wild bull, destroys an immense number of devs (), marries the legendary Humai (from Persian Humay), a swan-maid, and finally smites the chief dev (from Persian ) Azraka, whose dead body is said to have formed Mount Yaman-tau in the South Urals. Ural perishes in his final grapple with the devs, as he is forced to drink up a whole lake where they had hidden from him, but he leaves his sons to continue his initiative.
History The poem, originally existing solely in the oral form of a song, was set in the written form by the Bashkir folk poet Mukhamedsha Burangulov in 1910. This story is very ancient, and reminiscent of stories from Babylon and Sumer. There are traces of Iranian civilization in Bashkort culture, as some words and names of cities and people.
The epic was transmitted orally from generation to generation by storytellers – sėsėns. In 1910, Mukhamedsha Burangulov recorded an epic from two kuraist ('musician') and sesens ('poet'), Gabit Argynbaev (≈ 1850–1921) from the аul ('village') of Idris and Khamit Almukhametov (1861–1923) from the village of Malyi Itkul (volost Itkulskaya of the Orenburg province). Researchers believe that M. Burangulov came to sesens more than once, wrote down the epic in parts. Researchers found that both storytellers came from the Burzyan clan. Both sesen knew well the area around the Shulgan-Tash Cave and Lakes Shulgankul, Yylkysykkankul (they are described in the epic). Gabit-sesen's grandfather Argynbay moved from the highlands of Burzyan to the steppe region. Both sesen were in kinship.
There are known other versions of the epic. A fairy tale of the same name in prose was recorded in 1956 by Ismagil Rakhmatullin in the village of Imangul in the Uchalinsky district of Bashkorostan by researcher Akhnaf Kharisov (published by him in the same year). The version, conventionally referred to as an "etiological myth", was recorded in 1984 from Shamsia Safargalina in the village of Gabbas, Zianchurinsky district of Bashkortostan.
In 1968, the epic "Ural-Batyr" was published in the Bashkir language in the journal "Agidel" in 1968 with abbreviations (prepared by B. Bikbai and A. Kharisov). In 1972, the first full publication in the Bashkir language took place – in the first volume of the book series Bashkir Folk Oeuvre.
In 1975, it was published in the first volume of the collection Heroic Epic of the Peoples of the USSR in the series Library of World Literature (translation by A. Kh. Khakimov, I. S. Kychakov, A. S. Mirbadalev), and also in the series The Epos of the Peoples of the USSR (per. A. Kh. Khakimov, N. V. Kidysh-Pokrovskaya, A. S. Mirbadalev) in abbreviated form.
For the first time, the profound originality of the epic "Ural-Batyr" was announced in the works of A. A. Petrosyan. She was the first of the researchers to discover a plot similarity between the Bashkir epic and the Sumerian-Akkadian epic about Gilgamesh. But she came to the conclusion that there are deep differences in the ideological and artistic concepts of these works: "The main motive of the epic Ural-Batyr is that man is stronger than all that is, good is indestructible. The Babylonian epic rests on another idea – everything from the will of the gods."
The philosopher Damir Valeyev considered the epos "a source for studying the history of social consciousness and social thought of the Bashkirs".
There are several translations of the epic into Russian, both interlinear and poetic. Translations into Russian were made by several writers and poets. The prose arrangement of the epic was performed by the writer Aidar Khusainov; the poetic translation into Russian was done by the poet Gazim Shafikov.
In 2003, a gift edition of the epos was published in Ufa in three languages (Bashkir original, Russian translation by G. G. Shafikov and English translation by S. G. Shafikov). In 2006, "Ural-Batyr" was published in German, translated by the doctor of philology Aliya Taysina (Germany).Ural-Batir: Das baschkirische Volksepos in der Übersetzung von Alia Taissina mit Illustrationen von Rais Khalilov. Taschenbuch: 108 Seiten, Auflage: 1, Sprache: Deutsch, , )
The epos "Ural-Batyr" has also been translated into other world languages, such as Abkhazian, Hebrew, Turkish, Chuvash, and French.
In 2007, the original text of the Ural-Batyr was first publishedШакурова Ш. Р. «Башкирский народный эпос «Урал-Батыр». Архивный первоисточник и его текстологический анализ. Уфа: Гилем, 2007.
In 2013, the Ural-Batyr was published in three books, in Bashkir and Russian (translation by A. Kh. Khakimov), in Bashkir and French (translation by R. K. Garipov), in English and Bashkir (translation by Z. A. Rakhimova) languages.
All previous publications of the epic contained distortions. The reasons for the uncritical publication of the epic lie in the Soviet practice of distorting monuments of folk art, in the persecution of Bashkir scholars (Mukhametsha Burangulov was twice arrested and was in prison). The manuscript of the epic is lost.
The decisions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party on the Bashkir party organization banned a number of folklore monuments. However, despite the persecution of folklore collectors, the epic survived. After his returning from prison M. Burangulov fought for the right to be creative and defended the works of Bashkir folklore.
The original in a typewritten copy in Latin script (verses with prosaic inserts) with several handwritten corrections (probably by M. Burangulov himself) is stored in the Scientific Archive of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Scientists continue to study the epic "Ural-Batyr" in-depth at the intersection of archeology, ethnography, linguistic folkloristics. Along with folklorists, the Bashkir archaeologists, linguists, philosophers, and ethnographers also studied the epic "Ural-Batyr" (G.B. Khusainov, D.Zh. Valeev, Z.Ya. Rakhmatullina, A. Kh. Davletkulov, Z.G. Aminev, F. B. Sanyarov, G. Kh. Bukharova, V. G. Kotov).
In 2011, the bibliographic index "Bashkir National Cubair (Epic) 'Ural-Batyr'" was released, which presents a list of materials reflecting the results of a comprehensive study of the epic (publications from the publication of its text in a journal version in 1968 to our time).
In Bashkortostan, much is being done to popularize the epic. The performance Ural-Batyr was staged at the Bashkir Academic Drama Theater named after M. Gafuri, the popular science film In Search of Akbuzat was created, and the tourist project "The Golden Ring of Bashkortostan: the roads of the epic 'Ural-Batyr'" was developed. Every year, a contest is held for the best reciters of the epic in Bashkir and other languages. Performances based on the epic are included in the repertoire of the Bashkir State Puppet Theater (in Bashkir and Russian).
In 2010, by order of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the director and screenwriter A. Lukichev shot the animated film Ural-Batyr based on the Bashkir epic (14.01 min., Moscow).
The epic "Ural-Batyr" is one of the Seven Wonders of Bashkortostan. The epic is included in the TURKSOY List of Intangible cultural heritage.
Ural-Batyr (content)
The theme of the legend, despite a significant element of fairy-tale fantasy, is heroic-epic.
Introduction Ural-Batyr is clearly divided into several parts. In the introductory part of the work, the most ancient strata are preserved: echoes of the legends of the global flood, the revival of life on earth after the flood, the first couple that laid the foundation for the human race. The elderly couple Yanbirde and Yanbike, along with their sons Shulgen and Ural, settle on a small patch of land surrounded on all sides by the sea. Yanberdi and Yanbeke's assistants are animals: gyrfalcon, lion, and pike. Ural sometimes turns to birds and animals for advice.
Ural and Shulgen personify two opposing principles – good and evil – which lead an irreconcilable struggle between themselves. Before going hunting, both parents drink the blood of animals, which gives them strength. They forbid the children to do so until they become yigits (adults).
Ural learns about Death Shulgen goes against the ban of his father and drinks the blood of animals.
Yanberdi and Yanbeke return from hunting. Ural finds out that there is Death. But in these places Death does not appear. There is no power that can kill a person.
Yanbirde is terribly angry with his sons when he learns that one of them had tasted blood.
Ural delivers a speech in front of animals and birds. He offers to stop offending the weak and to stop eating each other's meat. Then Death will remain alone and it can be destroyed. The crow is not afraid of Death. It offers the weak themselves to hide in a safe place.
Ural learns about the Living Spring
How the white swan is caught Yanberdi and Yanbeke begin hunting together with their sons. Among the prey is a white swan. This is the daughter of the Sun, Humay; her father is the heavenly king of birds Samraw (Simurgh). The swan promises to show the path to the Living Spring (Yanshishma). Ural stands up for the bird.
But the old man and his sons do not know the way to the Living Spring. Yanberdi gives his sons powerful lions and sends them to look for the way to the Living Spring. If they meet Death on the way, they must cut off its head and bring her home. (There are many mineral springs, water, in the Urals.)
Part 1
Ural and Schulgen meet the old man and cast lots Years pass. The brothers have matured. Once he meets on his way an old man with a long staff. The brothers ask the old man to show them the way to the Living Spring. He indicates two roads: to the right is the land of King Samrau (the land of eternal happiness and good), and to the left is the land of King Katil (the land of eternal grief and evil). Shulgen decides to go to the kingdom of Samrau (although he falls to another lot). Ural has to go to the kingdom of Katil.
Ural-Batyr comes to the country of Padishah Katil In the kingdom of Katil, Ural meets unfortunate people who tell him about the atrocities of the cruel king (the old woman, her daughter, the old man). Then he himself sees Katil donate people to the lake and to the fire (perhaps these were the memories of the Bashkirs about the brutality of foreign invaders).
Ural-Batyr meets Padishah Katil's daughter Ural meets a huge crowd of naked people, and guards beat them with whips. Katil's daughter chooses Ural as her husband, giving him a golden apple. Ural refuses to become her husband. Slaves carry King Catilus, seated on a throne. He is very fat, like a fat boar. His eyes are bloodshot.