Editing Epic of Manas

{{Short description|Kyrgyz traditional epic poem}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox poem
|name                = ''Epic of Manas''
|image               = Manas Heykeli (yandan).jpg
|image_size          = 260px
|caption             = Statue of Manas in [[Bishkek]], [[Kyrgyzstan]]
|subtitle            = <!-- Subtitle or descriptor                      -->
|author              = <!-- Author(/s)                                  -->
|original_title      = Манас дастаны
|original_title_lang = ky
|translator          = <!-- Translator(s), if original not in English   -->
|written             = 18th century
|first               = <!-- First published in                          -->
|illustrator         = <!-- Illustrator used consistently throughout
                            (where illustrations are a major feature)   -->
|cover_artist        = <!-- Cover Artist                                -->
|country             = <!-- Country of original publication             -->
|language            = [[Kyrgyz language|Kyrgyz]]
|series              = <!-- Series (if any)                             -->
|subject             = The interactions of a Kyrgyz warrior and his progeny with neighboring Turkic, Mongolic, and Chinese people
|genre               = Epic poem
|form                = <!-- Form (i.e. Sonnet, Quatrain, Ode...etc)     -->
|meter               = <!-- Meter: (i.e. iambic pentameter)             -->
|rhyme               = <!-- Rhyme scheme: (i.e. ABBA CDDC EFFE GG)      -->
|publisher           = <!-- Publisher of main publication
                            (prefer 1st edition)                        -->
|publication_date    = <!-- Date published (1st edition). Use
                            {{Start date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}}, trimmed as needed. -->
|publication_date_en = <!-- Published in English (1st English edition)  -->
|media_type          = <!-- MMedia type (paperback, hardback)           -->
|lines               = Approximately 553,500
|pages               = <!-- Pages (prefer 1st edition)                  -->
|size_weight         = <!-- Size and Weight                             -->
|isbn                = <!-- [[International Standard Book Number|ISBN]] -->
|oclc                = <!-- [[OCLC]]                                    -->
|preceded_by         = <!-- Preceded By
                            Title of prior poem in series               -->
|followed_by         = <!-- Followed By
                            Title of subsequent poem in series          -->
|wikisource          = <!-- Title of work if in the public domain and hosted at English Wikisource -->
}}

The '''''Epic of Manas'''''{{efn|{{langx|ky|Манас дастаны|Manas dastany}}, {{smaller|[[Kyrgyz alphabets#Arabic|arabized]]:}} {{lang|ky-arab|ماناس داستانی}}, {{IPA|ky|mɑnɑ́s tɑstʰɑnɤ́|IPA}}; {{zh|瑪納斯}}}} is a lengthy and traditional [[Epic poetry|epic poem]] of the [[Kyrgyz people]] of [[East Asia|East]] and [[Central Asia]]. Versions of the poem which date to the 19th century contain historical events of the 8th century, though Kyrgyz tradition holds it to be much older. Manas is said to be based on [[Bars Bek]], the first [[khagan]] of the [[Yenisei Kyrgyz Khaganate|Kyrgyz Khaganate]]. The plot of Manas revolves around a series of events that coincide with the history of the region, primarily the interaction of the Kyrgyz people with other [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]], [[Mongolic peoples|Mongolic]] and [[Chinese people|Chinese]] peoples.

The government of Kyrgyzstan celebrated the 1,000th anniversary from the moment it was documented in 1995. The mythic poem has evolved over many centuries,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Terbish |first1=Baanjarav |title=The Sart Kalmaks in Kyrgyzstan: people in transition |journal=Central Asian Survey |date=February 2021 |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=313–329|doi=10.1080/02634937.2021.1884045 |doi-access=free }}</ref> being kept alive by bards called ''manaschy'' or ''manaschi''. The first written reference to the [[eponymous]] hero of Manas and his [[Oirats|Oirat]] enemy Joloy is to be found in a Persian manuscript dated to 1792–93.<ref name="auto">Tagirdzhanov, A. T. 1960. "Sobranie istorij". Majmu at-tavarikh, Leningrad.</ref> In one of its dozens of iterations, the epic poem consists of approximately 500,000 lines.

==Narrative==
[[Image:Kyrgyz Manaschi, Karakol.jpg|thumb|upright|A traditional Kyrgyz ''manaschi'' performing part of the epic poem at a yurt camp in [[Karakol]]]]
The epic tells the story of Manas, his descendants, and their exploits against various foes. The Epic of Manas is divided into three books.  The first is entitled "Manas", the second episode describes the deeds of his son Semetei, and the third of his grandson Seitek.
The epic begins with the destruction and difficulties caused by the invasion of the Oirats. Jakyp reaches maturity in this time as the owner of many herds without a single heir. His prayers are eventually answered, and on the day of his son's birth, he dedicates a colt, Toruchaar, born the same day to his son's service. The son is unique among his peers for his strength, mischief, and generosity. The Oirat learn of this young warrior and warn their leader. A plan is hatched to capture the young Manas. They fail in this task, and Manas is able to rally his people and is eventually elected and proclaimed as [[Khan (title)|khan]].

Manas expands his reach to include that of the [[Uyghur people|Uyghurs]] of [[Moghulistan|Raviganjn]] on the southern border of [[Jungaria]].  One of the defeated Uyghur rulers gives his daughter to Manas in marriage. At this point, the Kyrgyz people chose, with Manas' help, to return from the Altai mountains to their "ancestral lands" in the mountains of modern-day [[Kyrgyzstan]].  Manas begins his successful campaigns against his neighbors accompanied by his forty companions. Manas turns eventually to face the [[Afghan people]] to the south in battle, where after defeat the Afghans enter into an alliance with Manas. Manas then comes into a relationship with the people of [[Transoxiana|Mā Warāʾ an-Nahr]] through marriage to the daughter of the ruler of Bukhara.

The epic continues in various forms, depending on the publication and whim of the manaschi, or reciter of the epic.

==History==
Scholars have long debated the exact age of the epic, as it was transmitted orally without being recorded. However, historians have doubted the age claimed for it since the turn of the 20th century. The primary reason is that the events portrayed occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries. [[Arthur Thomas Hatto|Hatto]] remarks that Manas was <blockquote>"compiled to glorify the Sufi sheikhs of Shirkent and Kasan ... [and] circumstances make it highly probable that... [Manas] is a late eighteenth-century interpolation."<ref>Akiner, Shirin & Sims-Williams, Nicholas. Languages and Scripts of Central Asia. 1997, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. p. 99</ref></blockquote>

Changes were made in the delivery and textual representation<ref>{{cite book |title=Notes on the Cultural History of the Kirghiz Epic Tradition |date=2000 |publisher=Indiana University Press |location=Bloomington}}</ref> particularly the replacement of the tribal background of Manas. In the 19th century versions, Manas is the leader of the [[Nogais|Nogay]] people, while in versions dating after 1920, Manas is a Kyrgyz and a leader of the Kyrgyz.<ref>Akiner, Shirin & Sims-Williams, Nicholas. Languages and Scripts of Central Asia. 1997, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. p. 104</ref> Use of the Manas for nation-building purposes, and the availability of printed historical variants, has similarly had an impact on the performance, content, and appreciation on the epic.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Plumtree |first1=James |editor1-last=Thomson |editor1-first=S. C. |title=Medieval Stories and Storytelling: Multimedia and Multi-temporal Perspectives |date=2021 |publisher=Brepols |location=Turnhout |isbn=978-2-503-59050-9 |pages=239-301 (pp. 273-278) |chapter=A Telling Tradition: Preliminary Comments on the Epic of Manas, 1856–2018}}</ref>

Attempts have been made to connect modern Kyrgyz with the [[Yenisei Kirghiz]], today claimed by Kyrgyzstan to be the ancestors of modern Kyrgyz. Kazakh ethnographer and historian [[Shokan Walikhanuli|Shokan Shinghisuly Walikhanuli]] was unable to find evidence of [[Collective memory|folk-memory]] during his extended research in 19th-century Kyrgyzstan (then part of the expanding Russian empire) nor has any been found since.<ref>1980. 'Kirghiz. Mid-nineteenth century' in [Traditions of heroic and epic poetry I], edited by [[Arthur Thomas Hatto|A. T. Hatto]], London, 300-27.</ref>

While Kyrgyz historians consider it to be the longest epic poem in history,<ref>Урстанбеков Б.У., Чороев Т.К. Кыргыз тарыхы: Кыскача энциклопедиялык сөздүк: Мектеп окуучулары үчүн. – Ф.:Кыргы. Совет Энциклопедиясыныны Башкы Ред., 1990. 113 б. {{ISBN|5-89750-028-2}}</ref> the [[Sanskrit]] epic [[Mahabharata]] and the [[Tibet]]an [[Epic of King Gesar]] are both longer.<ref>Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian. Writings on Indian Culture, History and Identity, London: Penguin Books, 2005.</ref> The distinction is in number of verses. Manas has more verses, though they are shorter.

==Recitation==
Manas is the classic centerpiece of Kyrgyz literature, and parts of it are often recited at Kyrgyz festivities by specialists in the epic, called ''Manasçı'' ({{langx|ky|Манасчы}}). Manasçıs tell the tale in a melodic chant unaccompanied by musical instruments.

Kyrgyzstan has many Manasçıs. Narrators who know all three episodes of the epic (the tales of Manas, of his son Semetey and of his grandson Seytek) can acquire the status of Great Manasçı. Great Manasçıs of the 20th century are [[Sagymbai Orozbak uulu|Sagımbay Orozbakov]], [[Sayakbay Karalaev]], Şaabay Azizov (pictured), Kaba Atabekov, Seydene Moldokova and Yusup Mamay. Contemporary Manasçıs include [[Rysbek Jumabayev]], who has performed at the British Library,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gullette |first1=David |title=The Genealogical Construction of the Kyrgyz Republic: Kinship, State and 'Tribalism' |url=https://archive.org/details/genealogicalcons00gull |url-access=limited |date=2010 |publisher=Global Oriental |location=Folkestone |page=[https://archive.org/details/genealogicalcons00gull/page/n164 153]|isbn=9781906876104 }}</ref> Urkaş Mambetaliev, the Manasçı of the Bishkek Philharmonic (also travels through Europe), [[Talantaaly Bakchiev]], who combines recitation with critical study,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Plumtree |first1=James |title=A Kyrgyz ''Singer Of Tales'': Formulas in Three Performances of the ''Birth of Manas'' by Talantaaly Bakchiev |journal=Доклады Национальной академии наук Кыргызской Республики |date=2019 |pages=125–133 |url=https://www.academia.edu/41232534}}</ref> and [[Doolot Sydykov]], noted for lengthy performances (including a 111 hour recitation over five days).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Калыков |first1=Мундузбек |title=Манасчы Доолот Сыдыков установил рекорд — он читал эпос «Манас» пять суток |url=https://kloop.kg/blog/2021/09/06/manaschy-doolot-sydykov-ustanovil-rekord-on-chital-epos-manas-pyat-sutok/ |website=kloop.kg |language=Russian |date=6 September 2021}}</ref>       Adil Jumaturdu has provided "A comparative study of performers of the ''Manas'' epic."<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Jumaturdu|first1=Adil|title=A Comparative Study of Performers of the ''Manas'' Epic|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|date=2016|volume=129|issue=513|pages=288–296|doi=10.5406/jamerfolk.129.513.0288|s2cid=163241388 }}</ref> 

There are more than 65 written versions of parts of the epic. [[Arthur Thomas Hatto]] made scholarly editions with facing English translations of the Manas tales recorded in the 19th century by [[Shokan Valikhanov]]<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hatto |editor1-first=Arthur T. |title=The memorial feast for Kökötöy-khan (Kökötöydün ašı) : a Kirghiz epic poem |date=1977 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=9780197135938}}</ref> and [[Vasily Radlov]].<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Hatto |editor1-first=Arthur T. |title=The manas of Wilhelm Radloff |date=1990 |publisher=O. Harrassowitz |location=Wiesbaden |isbn=9783447030106}}</ref> An English translation of the version of Sagımbay Orozbakov by Walter May was published in 1995 as part of the commemoration of the presumed 1000th anniversary of Manas' birth (and re-issued in two volumes in 2004), and a substantial episode of this variant translated by Daniel Prior was published in 2022.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Orozbak uulu |first1=Sagymbaĭ |editor1-last=Prior |editor1-first=Daniel |title=The memorial feast for Kokötöy Khan : a Kirghiz epic poem in the Manas tradition |date=2022 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |isbn=9780241544211}}</ref>

==Legacy==
{{main|Manas Ordo}}
[[Image:Manas Mausoleum.jpg|thumb|The alleged burial site of the eponymous hero of Manas]]
Manas is said to have been buried in the [[Talas Ala-Too Range|Ala-Too mountains]] in [[Talas Province]], in northwestern [[Kyrgyzstan]]. A [[mausoleum]] some 40&nbsp;km east of the town of Talas is believed to house his remains and is a popular destination for Kyrgyz travellers. Traditional Kyrgyz horsemanship games are held there every summer since 1995. An inscription on the mausoleum states, however, that it is dedicated to "...the most famous of women, Kenizek-Khatun, the daughter of the emir Abuka". Legend has it that Kanikey, Manas' widow, ordered this inscription in an effort to confuse her husband's enemies and prevent a defiling of his grave. The name of the building is "Manastin Khumbuzu" or "The Dome of Manas", and the date of its erection is unknown. There is a museum dedicated to Manas and his legend nearby the tomb.

The reception of the poem in the USSR was problematic. Politician and government official [[Kasym Tynystanov]] tried to get the poem published in 1925, but this was prevented by the growing influence of [[Stalinism]]. The first extract of the poem to be published in the USSR appeared in Moscow in 1946, and efforts to nominate the poem for the [[USSR State Prize|Stalin Prize]] in 1946 were unsuccessful. Ideologist [[Andrei Zhdanov]], Stalin's "propagandist in chief", prevented this, calling the poem an example of "bourgeois cosmopolitanism". The struggle continued inside Kyrgyzstan, with different newspapers and authors taking different sides; one of its supporters was [[Tugolbay Sydykbekov]]. By 1952 the poem was called anti-Soviet and anti-Chinese and condemned as [[Pan-Islamism|pan-Islamic]]. [[Chinghiz Aitmatov]], in the 1980s, picked up the cause for the poem again, and in 1985 finally a statue for the hero was erected.<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m4pCCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171|pages=165–84|first=Marlene|last=Laruelle|title=Kyrgyzstan beyond "Democracy Island" and "Failing State": Social and Political Changes in a Post-Soviet Society|editor1-first=Marlene|editor1-last=Laruelle|editor2-first=Johan|editor2-last=Engvall|publisher=Lexington Books|year=2015|isbn=9781498515177|chapter=Kyrgyzstan's Nationhood: From a Monopoly of Production to a Plural Market}}</ref>

In 2023, the manuscript version of the epic was included by international organization [[UNESCO]] in the [[Memory of the World Programme]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=June 8, 2023 |title=The Manas epic manuscripts are included in the Memory of the World |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/manas-epic-manuscripts-are-included-memory-world |work= |location=UNESCO |access-date=June 28, 2023}}</ref>

==Influence==
* [[Liz Williams]]' ''Nine Layers of Sky'' (2003) writes a modern day account of Manas as a nemesis of the [[Baghatur|Bogatyr]] [[Ilya Muromets]].
* University of Manas - the name of university in the city of Bishkek.
* The main international airport of Kyrgyzstan, [[Manas International Airport]] in [[Bishkek]], was named after the epic.
* A [[minor planet]], [[3349 Manas]] was discovered by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] astronomer [[Nikolai Stepanovich Chernykh]] in 1979.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eHv1CAAAQBAJ&pg=PA439|page=439|title=Dictionary of Minor Planet Names|first=Lutz D.|last=Schmadel|edition=3|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|year=2013|isbn=9783662066157}}</ref>
* The highest award in Kyrgyzstan is the Order of Manas.
* ''Manas'' - opera, composed by [[Abdylas Maldybaev]]

==Translations==
''Manas'' has been translated into 20 languages. The [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]] poet [[Mirtemir]] translated the poem into [[Uzbek Language|Uzbek]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mirtemir (In Uzbek)|url=http://www.ziyouz.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=477&Itemid=49|work=Ziyouz|access-date=18 February 2012}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Music of Kyrgyzstan]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External literature==
* ''Manas''. Translated by Walter May. Rarity, [[Bishkek]], 2004. {{ISBN|9967-424-17-6}}
* Levin, Theodore. ''Where the Rivers and Mountains Sing: sound, music, and nomadism in Tuva and beyond''.  Section "The Spirit of Manas", pp.&nbsp;188–198. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2006
* ''Manas 1000. Theses of the international scientific symposium devoted to the 'Manas' epos Millenial [sic] Anniversary''. Bishkek, 1995.
* S. Mussayev. ''The Epos Manas''. Bishkek, 1994
* ''Traditions of Heroic and Epic Poetry'' (2 vols.), under the general editorship of [[Arthur Thomas Hatto|A. T. Hatto]], The Modern Humanities Research Association, London, 1980.
* ''The Memorial Feast for Kokotoy-Khan'', [[Arthur Thomas Hatto|A. T. Hatto]], 1977, Oxford University Press
* ''The Manas of Wilhelm Radloff'', [[Arthur Thomas Hatto|A. T. Hatto]], 1990, Otto Harrassowitz
* ''Spirited Performance. The Manas Epic and Society in Kyrgyzstan.'' N. van der Heide, Amsterdam, 2008.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Manas epic}}
*[http://www.manas.edu.kg] at the [[Manas University]], Kyrgyz Turkish Manas University
*[http://aton.ttu.edu/turkishlist.asp Manas] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120105194245/http://aton.ttu.edu/turkishlist.asp |date=2012-01-05 }} at the [[Uysal-Walker Archive of Turkish Oral Narrative]], Texas Tech University
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060207062235/http://www.silk-road.com/folklore/manas/manasintro.html In-depth site on Manas with translated sections of the epic]
*[http://www.china.org.cn/english/27142.htm Manas] at China.org.cn
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080221182107/http://www.sras.org/manas_kyrgyz_hero "Manas: The Kyrgyz Odysseys, Moses, and Washington"], article examining the place of Manas in Kyrgyz mythology and national identity
*[http://www.eposmanas.ru Epos "Manas"] Text of epic poems "Manas", "Semetey" and "Seytek", others kyrgyz epic poems.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMDklwoLf34#t=1m29s Video of Manas Epic recitations]

{{National epic poems}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Epic Of Manas}}
[[Category:Epic poems in Turkic languages|Manas]]
[[Category:Kyrgyzstani poetry]]
[[Category:Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity]]
[[Category:Turkic mythology]]
[[Category:National symbols of Kyrgyzstan]]
[[Category:Oral literature]]
[[Category:Fictional Kyrgyzstani people]]
[[Category:Epic of Manas|*]]
[[Category:Kyrgyz folklore]]