Dastan «The Death of the Cessation»: Variations and Historicism

Abstract

In the Kazakh folklore in the middle of the XIX century there were various songs-legends about the historical events reflected in the zhyre Death of the Jesuilar. They are known in several variants. The author of the article speaks about two variants, executed by Nurkhan Akhmetbekov. These variants are related to the historical reality of the time of Kenesary and, thanks to their ideological content, they have received a wide distribution in the Kazakh people. At the same time, the author of the article does not disregard the problems of research of folklore and historical samples, which tell about the khan of Kenesary and Nauryzbaev batyr. It is known that during the reign of the Soviet government it was for- bidden to publish works related to the era of Kenesary. At the same time, the works that denigrate the khan Kenesary and the work Death of the Cessation were repeatedly published from the press. So, for example, akyn-singer accuses Khan Kenesary of the death of an innocent biya from the genus Altybai Kobekov. Backed by archival documents, the author refutes such events, which have nothing to do with the personality of Khan Kenesary.