SHEZHERE

SHEZHERE, the genealogical history of a tribe, clan, family of Turkic, Mongolian and other peoples, recorded in oral or written form; the historical and functional genre of oriental literature. The compilation of Sh. was associated with ancestral exogamy. Bashkirs had nominal (generational enumeration of the names of the male lineage from the ancestor or the compiler) and narrative (also contain information about historical events, people, the texts of documents, etc) Sh. Originally, genealogic tree was transferred from generation to generation verbally; in the 14—16th centuries the first written Sh. appeared. They contain the description of genealogic trees of the tribes and clans, their leaders, famous batyrs, biys, princes, murzas, tarkhans, and khans. They include information on the settlement of tribes and clans, boundaries of ancestral lands, tribal organization of Bashkirs, land policy, everyday life, customs, the copies and translations of zhalovannaya gramota, yarliks, legends, lore, etc. There are about 150 Bashkir. Sh., mainly preserved in the copies of the 18—19th centuries, less often – in earlier lists, mainly of south‑east. and south. tribes. The best examples of narrative Sh., characterized by the depth of ideological and aesthetic content, the complexity of the structure, interesting from the point of view of language and style, represent an original phenomenon of the Bashkir literature (Shezhere of the Burzyan tribe, Shezhere of the Min tribe, Shezhere of the Tamian tribe, Shezhere of the Usergan tribe, Shezhere of the Yurmaty, etc). 25 Sh. of large tribes and families were published by R.G.Kuzeyev in the collection Bashkir Shezhere (1960), 27 genealogic trees — by R.M.Bulgakov and M.H.Nadergulov in the collection Bashkir Genealogic Trees (2002). They are kept in the Collection of arabographic manuscripts and early printed books named after G.B.Husainov at the Institute of History, Language and Literature, at the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the National Library named after A.-Z.Validi, at the Scientific Archive of the USC RAS, and at the Central Historical Archive of the RB, etc (ref. Collections of Books and Handwritten Documents).