MERGEN AND MAYANKHYLU

“MERGEN AND MAYANKHYLU”, a monument to Bashkir literature, epos. Registered in 1917 by M.A. Burangulov in Srednee Babalyarovo village, Orenburg District, Orenburg region (Kuyurgazinskiy District, RB) from Gatiyatulla Bikkuzhin; the manuscript didn’t survive to the present day, the typewritten text is kept in the Scientific Archive of URC RAS. It has a poetic-prose form. Its dominant idea and theme are similar to the series of Bashkir eposes such as “Idukay and Muradym”, “Yek-Mergen” and others. The epos is dedicated to the fight of the Bashkir people for independence. According to the plot, a Nogai khan disproportionately raises taxes for the Bashkirs as they refuse to allow beautiful Mayankhylu to be his bride. The old Kurbashi (“leader” in Bashkir language) is Nadyrshi, Mayankhylu’s father asks the Bashkirs to elect a new Kurbashi – a young batyr named Mergen (“precise archer” in Bashkir). He gathers an army and confronts the Nogai khan. Mergen cut the khan’s head off and destroys his khanate, then he sets the people free. In 1940 the Theatre of Opera and Ballet performed an opera called “Mergen” based on the epos (libretto by M.A. Burangulov, music by A.A. Eichenwald, conductor P.M. Slavinskiy, director B.G. Imashev, choreography by N.G. Zaytsev).