Epic Poetry in Kyrgyzstan

We followed our ablutions with another interesting dinner of potato soup flavoured with lumps of bacon fat and had an early night; when the fire died down it was just too damn cold to stay up without it. The next morning was beautifully clear and I took my book out to enjoy in the fresh air. After finishing it I found myself disinclined to return to the lodge and content to just contemplate stuff whilst gazing down the valley. This was a revelation and a sure sign of having removed myself from London life. At home I am constantly rushing – trying to get things done and pack as much as possible into every hour. I never spend time actively doing nothing or giving myself time to think – but it was wonderful.

I’ve always thought that having the sort of life where you spend all day out herding sheep etc would be incredibly boring, but this has changed my mind. Once you are out of the mindset of having to be doing something every moment of the day I think it would be very peaceful and give rise to other possibilities. If you aren’t constantly stressed about work/catching the tube etc then how much more possibility is there for art and poetry? It can’t be a lack of coincidence the prevalence of the oral tradition in places like this, with spectacular traditions of verse, epic stories and music being passed through the ages.

Kyrgyzstan has its own version of the traditional epic poem. Manas, a Kyrgyz folk hero, is immortalised in stories handed down in the oral tradition. He personifies the unique power, freedom and unity of the people. These stories are, even today, recited by highly respected ‘manaschy’. As a nomadic people the Kyrgyz have very little written history. Much of what is known about their origins has been gleaned from this epic – the longest poem in the world (over 500,000 lines) and easily comparable to the Iliad of Odyssey.

The Mamas epic describes the great struggles in the battle for independence, chronicling the hero’s brave actions and incredible feats. Nicely echoing the recent split from Russia these ancient battles for freedom are equally relevant to Kyrgyz today as to those 10 centuries earlier, and most generations in between. In Post Communist Kyrgyzstan the government has grasped the ancient figure of Manas as a means of embodying and encouraging the virtues of the Kyrgyz they wish to see: justice, honesty, dignity, love, patriotism, respect, tolerance, hope and peace.

As valuable to historians are the accounts of the minutiae of life in ancient Kyrgyzstan, including facts about states, geography and ethnicities etc. The epic names over 530 cities, villages, rivers in Europe, Asia and Africa. The Talas valley is synonymous with the epic poem with many of the events in its lines taking place there. By tradition the valley is seen to be Manas’ last resting place with the 14th centuary Mausoleum of Manas being the focal point. It is a popular belief that this was built by Manas’ wife, Kanikey, who was ordered to write on the walls the name of a woman to deceive Manas’ enemies and protect his body from defilement.