Hero Epic: Manas of the Kirgiz
( 2005-09-13 )

The epicManasshould not only be recognized for its vast size, but should also be equally valued for exceptionally poetic language and rich content.

 The heroManas

The hero in the epic,Manas, is one of those legendary or ideal heroes who fights against external enemies and reunites all his scattered people. One of the fixed epithets in the epic describes him as "Chachilgandi jiinagan, chabilgandi kuragan (he united those who went astray and brought together those who were divided). The hero Manas is born with a clot of blood in his hand, which, according to ancient sayings, indicated the arrival or birth of a future hero and an intrepid warrior who would take over the entire land of Kirgiz.

Manasis not an ordinary man, but a hero of tremendous power and wrath. When filled with rage, his eyes turn red like fire. He was destined to "conquer the world" even before he was born. In addition,Manaswas always accompanied and protected by the spirits of powerful animals such as a black-stripedtiger. A lion is by his side, a giant black bird flies above him, and adragonin front of him. Traditionally, Turkic epic heroes, like the Mongolian heroes, were lonely. They fought with ogres or giants alone. When a hero was alone, he had to have some supernatural powers to defeat the enemy. Physical descriptions ofManasreflect the supernatural image of the ancient hero.

 Historical significance

The nomadic Kirgiz did not have their own written language or leave written accounts about themselves. However, they excelled in oral composition, which they artistically employed in their traditional poetry and epic songs to express their worldview, pride and dignity, battles and their hope for the future.

Composed and sung entirely in oral form throughout the centuries,Manasis regarded as the epitome of oral creativity. Although as yet not widely known, for want of adequate translations,Manasis considered to be one of the greatest examples of epic poetry, whose importance is not inferior to that of the Homeric epic.

The epic ofManascontains a significant amount of historical and socio-cultural information not only about the Kirgiz, but also about their nomadic and sedentary neighbors, tribes, states, and empires with whom they historically had interacted. It is not only the history of the Kirgiz people, it is a true epic drama which widely reflects all the aspects of their life, including their ethnic composition, economy, traditions and customs, morals and values, aesthetics, codes of behavior, their relationship with their surroundings and nature, their religious worldview, their knowledge about astronomy and geography, and artistic oral poetry and language.

China has begun the preservation work ofManassince the 1960s, in which more than 80manashc?s (singers ofManas) have been discovered. Today there are about 60 versions of the epicManasrecorded from various epic singers and oral poets. InXinjiangAutonomous Region, one of the great living manashcis, Jusup Mamai, recites the epicManasup to the 17th generation.

The epic is the classic centerpiece of Kirgiz literature, and parts of it are often recited at Kirghiz festivities, in a melodic chant accompanied by a three-stringed komuz.