ALPAMYSH Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule BY H. B. PAKSOY Association for the Advancement of Central Asian Research Monograph Series Hartford, Connecticut First AACAR Edition, 1989 --------- ALPAMYSH: Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule COPYRIGHT 1979, 1989 by H. B. PAKSOY All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Paksoy, H. B., 1948- ALPAMYSH: central Asian identity under Russian rule. (Association for the Advancement of Central Asian Research monograph series) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) Includes index. 1. Soviet Central Asia--History--Sources. 2. Alpamish. 3. Epic Literature, Turkic. 4. Soviet Central Asia--Politics and Government. I. Title. II. Series. DK847.P35 1989 958.4 89-81416 ISBN: 0-9621379-9-5 ISBN: 0-9621379-0-1 (pbk.) AACAR (Association for the Advancement of Central Asian Research) Monograph Series Editorial Board: Thomas Allsen (TRENTON STATE COLLEGE) (Secretary of the Board); Peter Golden (RUTGERS UNIVERSITY); Omeljan Pritsak (HARVARD UNIVERSITY); Thomas Noonan (UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA). AACAR is a non-profit, tax-exempt, publicly supported organization, as defined under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, incorporated in Hartford, Connecticut, headquartered at the Department of History, CCSU, 1615 Stanley Street, New Britain, CT 06050. The Institutional Members of AACAR are: School of Arts and Sciences, CENTRAL CONNECTICUT STATE UNIVERSITY; Nationality and Siberian Studies Program, The W. Averell Harriman Institute for the Advanced Study of the Soviet Union, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY; Mir Ali Shir Navai Seminar for Central Asian Languages and Cultures, UCLA; Program for Turkish Studies, UCLA; THE CENTRAL ASIAN FOUNDATION, WISCONSIN; Committee on Inner Asian and Altaistic Studies, HARVARD UNIVERSITY; Research Institute for Inner Asian Studies, INDIANA UNIVERSITY; Department of Russian and East European Studies, UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA; THE NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SOVIET AND EAST EUROPEAN RESEARCH, WASHINGTON D.C. Manufactured in the United States of America, 1989. ABOUT THE AUTHOR H. B. PAKSOY has earned his doctorate at Oxford University (England) with a Grant from the Committee of Vice- Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom, after studying in the Turkish Republic and taking his first two degrees at Trinity University and University of Texas-Dallas in the United States. To date, Dr. Paksoy published five volumes: INTERCULTURAL STUDIES (Co-Editor with David Sconyers) (Simon and Schuster Education Group, 1998). 529 pp. ISBN 0-536-01769-7 TURK TARIHI, TOPLUMLARIN MAYASI, UYGARLIK (Izmir: Mazhar Zorlu Holding, 1997) Kultur Sanat Yayini. 165 pp. ISBN 975-96079-0-5 CENTRAL ASIA READER: The Rediscovery of History, (Editor, Translator) (New York: M. E. Sharpe, 1994) 201 Pp. + Index. ISBN 1-56324-201-X (Hardcover); ISBN 1-56324-202-8 (pbk.) CENTRAL ASIAN MONUMENTS, (Editor) Table of Contents: H. B. Paksoy (Kuyas Ham Alav); Peter Golden (Codex Comanicus); Richard Frye (Narshaki's History of Bukhara); Robert Dankoff (Adab Literature); Uli Schamiloglu (Umdet ul Ahbar); Kevin Krisciunas (Ulug Bey's Zij); Audrey Altstadt (Abbaskuluaga Bakikhanli's Nasihatlar); Edward Lazzerini (Gaspirali Ismail Bey's Tercuman); David S. Thomas (Yusuf Akura's Uc Tarz-i Siyaset). (Istanbul: Isis Press, 1992). 174 Pp. ISBN 975-428-033-9 ALPAMYSH: Central Asian Identity Under Russian Rule (Hartford, Connecticut: Association for the Advancement of Central Asian Research Monograph Series, 1989). 171 Pp. + Bibliography, Index, Appendix. ISBN 0-9621379-9- 5 (Hardcover); ISBN 0-9621379-0-1 (pbk.) Over the past two decades, his papers have appeared in over forty periodic journals and scholarly collections, published in eight countries, on the European, Asian, and North American continents. Dr. Paksoy was a Faculty Associate of the Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies and taught at the Departments of History, Central Connecticut State University, and at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. _ TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements i Preface iii Chapter One ALPAMYSH and the Turkic Dastan Genre 1 Chapter Two Attempts to Destroy and Save Alpamysh, Phase I 18 Chapter Three The Alpamysh Dastan 50 Translation of Divay's 1901 Alpamysh 57 Commentary 98 Chapter Four Attempts to Destroy and Save Alpamysh, Phase II 120 Soviet Offensive 120 Composite Synopsis of Alpamysh 127 Alpamysh and the dastan genre in perspective 151 Select Bibliography 160 Index 163 Appendix Divay's 1901 Alpamysh 165 TO THE MEMORY OF ABUBEKIR AHMEDJAN DIVAY (1855-1933) AND TO HIS INTELLECTUAL HEIRS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work has been produced over a span of seven years, with research conducted on three continents, ten countries and almost two dozen cities. I offer my sincere gratitude to the libraries and librarians of a host of institutions situated in almost as many geographic locations. Among them, the following bore the brunt of my incessant queries: Bodleian (especially the Oriental Reading Room); Oriental Institute; St. Antony's College; the St. Antony's Middle Eastern Center libraries -- all of Oxford University; School of Oriental and African Studies of London University; British Library; Slavic Reading Room of University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana; University of Wisconsin- Madison; Widener Library of Harvard University; Seminar fur Sprach und Kulturwissenschaft Zentralasien of Bonn University; Bibliotek National, Paris; Helsinki University; University of Washington, Seattle; Istanbul University; Regenstein Library of University of Chicago; Indiana University; UCLA; Library of Congress. In addition, several Libraries in the USSR provided material. In due course, I have received advice, access, comments, criticism, editorials, materials, permits and permissions, recommendations, suggestions, specific items and encouragement, and more, from a multitude of individuals. I thank them all: Thomas Allsen, Audrey L. Altstadt, A. Altay, Edward Allworth, Bugra Atsiz, C. E. Black, J. Bailey, D. Barrett, the late Alexandre Bennigsen, Y. Bregel, R. Campbell, Marianna Tax Choldin, Ilse Cirtautas, Robert Dankoff, M. Daly, Remy Dor, R. Dunnell, Turhan Gandjei, R. N. Frye, W. Feldman, Peter Golden, H. Halen, Gavin Hambly, A. T. Hatto, K. H. Karpat, Edward L. Keenan, D. E. Kline, Rahman Kul Kutlu, Habib Ladjevardi, Harold Leich, Geoffrey L. Lewis, Mrs. R. Lewis, A. Lord, A. Mango, David Montgomery, Roy Mottahedeh, D. Nalle, H. Oraltay, Omeljan Pritsak, Nicholas Poppe, D. Ring, Klaus Sagaster, Nazif Shahrani, M. Mobin Shorish, Denis Sinor, Sinasi Tekin, Wayne S. Vucinich, S. Enders Wimbush. Obviously, especially at the latter stages, some of these individuals have suffered more than others. Profs. Geoffrey L. Lewis and Audrey L. Altstadt have read and reread the manuscript, commented, re-interpreted and alternately caused me to view life from different perspectives with their observations. At certain points, Mrs. R. Lewis lightened the weight. Rahman Kul Kutlu calmly and pleasantly withstood a thorough and impatient interrogation, weeks on end, while I re-examined the 1901 text with him. He divulged much, not the least of which was his wisdom and experience. Prof. A. T. Hatto very kindly ii made time to check the translation; moreover, he took a special interest in the progress and the scholarly welfare of the author. Prof. R. Dor, with a special trip, made himself available to discuss problematic passages. Profs. Allworth, Cirtautas, Dankoff, Dunnell, Lord, Montgomery, Poppe and Pritsak asked the necessary questions and pointed in the direction of solutions. D. Barrett, M. Daly and H. Leich did not hesitate to don their dust-masks before entering the stacks on my behalf, bringing otherwise unavailable or unknown materials to my attention. S. Enders Wimbush always lent an eager ear, allowed himself to be the sounding board. Thomas Allsen and Peter Golden, with characteristic care and attention, and with their magisterial command of sources, made certain that no undesirable loose-ends remain in the text. I could probably carry on in this vein, but for fear of causing embarrassment. Any remaining errors are due to my insistence. During the years of 1983, 1984 and 1985, I received ORS Awards from the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the United Kingdom. In 1984, a grant from the Society for Central Asian Studies (Oxford), facilitated field research among the Kirghiz. As a 1986 Associate of the Summer Research Lab of the Russian and East European Center, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I have benefitted both from the Center resources and the stimulating seminar discussions. Permanent International Altaistic Conferences in Chicago, Valberberg, Venice and Bloomington, Indiana were amicable and fertile grounds to further research and discussion on the topic, in part with the hospitality extended by the PIAC Secretariat. Six different Central Asian Conferences, held between 1982 and 1988, three at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, in collaboration with Association of Central Asian Studies (Wisconsin), two at the W. Wilson Center-Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Smithsonian Institution (Washington . C.), one in Munich, with funds conributed by the organizers towards the travel and maintenance of the author, provided forums of discussion, public and private, and afforded feedback from a conglomeration of scholars. The small but potent gatherings of the Society for Central Asian Studies were of no less value. I was able to maintain