Kumyks Dagestan. Kumyks: characteristics, main occupations. Eastern Caucasus. Kumyks

Johann Blaramberg

Topographic, statistical, ethnographic and military description of the Caucasus

EASTERN CAUCASUS. Kumyks

The origin of the Kumyks and a brief summary of the history of this people

There is no single point of view on the origin of the Kumyks. According to the scholar Klaproth, they are the descendants of the Khazars, so famous in medieval historical chronicles; one of the Kumyk tribes is still called "Shezary". According to other scientists, the Kumyks are Tatars who have long settled in the Caucasus and transformed into a powerful tribe called "Kumyks" and "Kazi-Kumyks" (we will talk about these latter later).

When the famous Tamerlane appeared, the Kumyks submitted to this conqueror, as did the Mam-Kat tribes, as Sheref-ad-din tells, speaking of Tamerlane's last campaign against Khan Tokhtamysh. From this we can conclude that the Kumyks, who acted on the side of Tamerlane, may have been descendants of the Kipchaks or one of the tribes of the Golden Horde. Ptolemy mentions the Kama people, or Kamaks, who lived in those places where the Kumyks are now settled.

Modern Kumyks speak a Turkic dialect, which is different from the dialect of the Nogais; for a long time they profess Sunni Islam and, although in manners, customs, clothes they look like mountaineers, as a result of mixing with them, they consider themselves Tatars by origin.

The first contacts of Russia with the rulers of the Kumyks date back to 1614, the archives mention a certificate of loyalty related to this year, sent by Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich to the Kumyk Khan Girey and his brothers; the following year, another document is dated containing information about the subordination of the Kumyks to Russia. In any case, it can be assumed that even before that time, some Kumyk tribes were already dependent on Russia, in particular in 1594, when a city was founded near Koisu during the reign of Fyodor Ioannovich, as well as in 1604, when fortresses were built on the Sunzha, in Enderi and in the vicinity of Tarka under Boris Godunov.

In the same year, the Kumyks rebelled and, uniting with the Circassians and Lezgins of Dagestan, forced the valiant governor Buturlin to retreat beyond the Terek and leave the aforementioned fortresses. Nevertheless, the Kumyks continued to maintain friendly relations with Russia until 1722, when Peter I undertook a campaign in Persia; then the Kumyks rebelled again, they attacked the Russians, but were defeated and punished for their betrayal by plundering the settlement of Enderi, in which there were then up to three thousand houses. Since that time, the Kumyks have been loyal to our government and have been calm and submissive all the time.

The territory of the Kumyks is located between the rivers Terek, Aksay, Koysu and the Caspian Sea, which is its eastern border. To the north, it is separated from the Kizlyar region by swamps in the lower reaches of the Terek; in the west, it is located on both banks of the lower reaches of the Aksai to the fortress of Amir-Adzhi-Yurt, located on the right bank of the Terek; in the south it borders on Dagestan and areas occupied by the Salatavs, Aukhs and Kachkalyks. The southern branch of the Sulak River, called "Kuru-Koysu" (Dry Koysu), separates the Kumyks from the territory of the Tarki Shamkhals.

The greatest extent of the territory of the Kumyks from west to east, from the Amir-Adzhi-Yurt fortress to Cape Agrakhan, is 120 versts; from north to south, from the ancient Terek (meaning the old channel) to Sulak - 60 versts, which is a total area of ​​7200 square versts.

Once Gudermes was the western border of the territory of the Kumyks, it flows into the Sunzha fifteen miles above the place where it flows into the Terek. But when the Chechens descended from their mountains, the Kumyk khans settled some of them on their territory at the foot of the spurs of the Caucasus, between Sunzha and Aksay. The Chechens, who settled down under certain conditions, began to be called kachkalyks (six villages). Then, with the advent of new tribesmen, their numbers increased, and although the Kumyk khans still consider them their vassals, in fact, the Kachkalyks, taking advantage of the later weakening of the Kumyk khans, regained their independence. Thus, the entire territory between Gudermes and the Amir-Adzhi-Yurt fortress can be considered as component territory occupied by Chechen tribes.

Rivers, territory and soil quality

The territory of the Kumyks is irrigated by such rivers: Aksai (White Water), both banks of the Aksai belong to the Kumyks from the old settlement of Aksai to the confluence of Aksai with the Terek. The streams Yamansu and Yaraksu flow into Aksai. The small river Kasma, or Aktash, crosses the central part of the territory of the Kumyks, it flows down from the Lezgin mountains, from the Salatav ledge, and at the foot of the Khana-Kaitau and Saukh-Bolak mountains many small streams flow into it; when it flows into the Caspian Sea, it is lost in swamps. Left bank of Koi-su (Lamb Water) ( Koiyun - ram, su - water (Turk.) ) from the settlement of Chir-yurt also belongs to the Kumyks. Sulak and Agrakhan - two branches of Koysu - are rich in fish, significant catches are noted here.

The territory of the Kumyks consists mainly of vast plains, turning closer to the Caspian Sea into swamps; the southern part is mountainous, represents the spurs of the Lezgin and Dagestan mountains, known here as the "Tavlinsky mountains". Valleys and plains serve as pastures for numerous herds; villages are located near streams. The soils of this region are considered the most fertile in the entire North Caucasus. The climate here is warmer than in other areas located at the same latitude; grapes ripen well in orchards, in the forests there are many wild fruit trees of all kinds, and. finally, rice is cultivated in the fields. Both banks of the Koisu are covered with forest.

The lowlands at the mouth of this river are overgrown with reeds, but there are also fat pastures, with which this region generally abounds, as well as lands suitable for agriculture.

Kumyks are divided into three tribal groups: Aksai Kumyks, Andreevsky and Kostek Kumyks. In addition to the Kumyks themselves, the Nogais also live there. The Kumyks live sedentary, the Nogais lead a nomadic life, and all their wealth consists of numerous herds of rams. To pay taxes to their masters, the Kumyk khans, the Nogais earn the money necessary for this by selling sheep and wool; in addition, as a tribute, they give annually 2-3 sheep from every hundred. These Nogais are the remnants of the Great and Small Hordes of the Nogais, whom we have already spoken about above and will speak about later.

There are also many trading Armenians and Georgians on the territory of the Kumyks.

The main settlement of the Aksai Kumyks is Aksai, numbering 800 houses, it is located on the right bank of the river with the same name, 20 versts from the Terek and 70 versts from Kizlyar. The territory of the Aksai settlement belongs to five ruling families of the same kind, their names are Alibekovs, Akhmatkhankaplanovs, Eldarovs, Utsmiyevs and Arslanbekovs. Last family- the most ancient and once owned a small state division of kachkalyks, who later became independent. Many Chechens and other highlanders come to the Aksai settlement to do business. The dwellings of the khans were once surrounded by stone walls with towers and adapted for stubborn defense. Opposite Aksai on the left bank of the river is the fortress of Tash-Kichu.

The main settlement of the Andreev Kumyks is Enderi, or Andreevka, a large village with 1,500 houses, 30 versts from Aksai and 90 versts from Kizlyar, located on the right bank of the Aktash in the place where it flows down from the mountains. The place is very picturesque, there are several mosques built of stone; the houses of the khans are also built of stone, they are surrounded by stone walls with towers for defense. The location of this village is very convenient: it is located between the Aktash River and its two tributaries - the Acha and Chumli rivers. Endery, one might say, closes the mountain pass. In the vicinity of this village there are also several convenient places that were used to build the Vnepnaya fortress to the north-west of Enderi on the left bank of the Aktash. This fortress is of great importance, as it guards the exit from the mountains and inspires respect for the Circassians.

The most powerful khan families in Enderi are Kazanalipovs, Aydemirovs, Temirovs, Alishevs, Murtazali-Adzhievs. About the emergence of the village of Andreevka (Enderi) they tell as follows. After the collapse of the Cossack army of Yermak, a significant part of the Cossacks, united by Ataman Andreev, took refuge in the Caspian Sea, where they engaged in piracy. Later, this ataman Andreev, with three hundred Cossacks, discovered the remains of an ancient fortified city; he stayed there with his comrades, strengthened the means of protection, and by this stay there he gave the name to the settlement - Andreevka (Enderi). In vain did the Kumyks and Highlanders try to drive them out, the Cossacks stayed there until 1569, until by decree of Tsar Ivan Vasilievich the Terrible they were transferred to the Terek, where their descendants, called the Grebensky Cossacks, still live.

Until now, you can still find the remains of an earthen fortress opposite the village of Enderi on the left bank of the Aktash at its exit from the mountains - this indicates that the advantageous position of this place was noticed by those who once occupied it.

Before the Russian conquest, the village of Enderi was the main market for the sale of prisoners of war, which the highlanders brought there. We will return to this trade in a separate section.

Kosteki, or Kostyukovka, is the main settlement of the district with the same name; this is a large village of 650 houses, located on the left bank of the Koisu River, which abounds here with all kinds of fish; even Kizlyar herring (shamakhi) is found here.

The Kumyk khans of the Alishev family, who own the area, make the most of their income from fishing, which is mostly rented by Armenians and Russian traders. Not far from the village of Kosteki, sulphurous thermal waters were found. Dozens of different sources have been spotted on the territory of the Kumyks.

Kazi-yurt is located on the left bank of the Koisu, where the river begins to fork. This village serves as a transit point on the way from Kizlyar to Tarki.

Chir-yurt is located on the right bank of the Koysu, it is located on the ledge that the river forms, turning to the west; Chir-yurt is a transit point on the way from Enderi to Tarki.

The Amir-Adzhi-Yurt fortress stands on the right bank of the Terek and is the extreme western point of the border of this territory.

Population

Here is the population of these three regions: Aksai settlement - 8 thousand souls; Enderi settlement - 28 thousand souls; settlement Kosteki - 2 thousand 800 souls.

Total: 38 thousand 800 souls, which can put up 4 thousand 500 armed foot soldiers.

Ethnographic details

The Kumyk rulers occupy a place immediately behind the Kabardian ones and, with the exception of these latter, are the most prominent in the Caucasus. Persian Shahs and the Russian tsars once chose the shamkhals of Tarki among them, and the Aksaev khans still maintain family ties with the Tarki shamkhals and khans of Avaria.

Without exception, the entire territory of this region is the property of the families of the Kumyk khans. These khans have their own peasants who have passed to them by inheritance, but they do not dare to sell them, but annually receive a load of timber from each family and worker for one day during sowing, reaping and haymaking; except for this, the peasants pay no tax. The Uzdens, who have subjects, consider themselves subordinate to the khan in whose territory they live, but nevertheless they do not pay any dues, just like the peasants.

Peasants have the right to leave one owner in order to come under the protection of another. It follows that the richest khan is the one with the largest territory and the largest number of peasants. Uzdens and peasants are obliged to accompany their khan during predatory campaigns and to war.

Kumyk khans can marry the daughters of the Uzdens and even the daughters of their subjects, but in this case their children have no right to inherit. Khan's daughters marry only khans. Kalym is also their custom, following the example of other mountain peoples. The most revered khans have 2-3 wives, while the law allows you to have up to 7 wives.

All Kumyks are Muslims of the teachings of Omar (Sunnis). The clergy enjoys special respect among them, especially from the people; it is represented by two groups - qadis (there are only three of them) and mullahs. Qadis receive annually from every family in their district two measures of millet or wheat and one sheep out of every hundred; mullahs contain qadis. Those who have been to Mecca are treated with special respect, as in the entire Caucasus, these people are called "hajiis", or "pilgrims".

Internecine strife and quarrels are considered megkema - the church court, in which the clergy sit, sometimes there are khans.

The income of the khans is replenished by the rent for the land, which is given to the use of the Lezgins, who graze their cattle there during the cold season. Taxes from transit trade also go to the treasury of the khan.

We have already mentioned the excellent quality of the soil and its remarkable fertility. The Kumyks grow mainly wheat and millet, preferring millet, which gives them excellent harvests. Everywhere there are fields sown with millet, crossed by numerous irrigation canals, called here “tatauli”. Barley is grown in smaller quantities; rice is also cultivated in the area where the Kostek Kumyks live. Vegetable crops, although they grow successfully here, provide mostly a small income.

The Kumyks are rich in numerous herds of cattle bred for wool; flocks of sheep and goats are sent to the mountains for the whole summer. Kumyks keep huge herds - several hundred horses each, their best breed is called "Chepalovskaya", it is very much appreciated in the Caucasus. Herds of Chepalov horses belong to the Aksaev Khan Kaspulat. A huge number of horses are sold annually to Russians.

Kumyk men are prone to laziness and inactivity; they are only slightly engaged in trade, which is mainly concentrated in the hands of the Armenians. Their women are more industrious and make excellent carpets called "burmet"; linen woven from single-color coarse cotton, and silk fabrics for own use.

In Kizlyar, Kumyks sell timber and firewood, as well as poles for vineyards. They extract salt from Lake Turali, located on the territory of Shamkhals, and exchange it for millet and wheat. The Kumyk khans maintain close relations with the Chechens, in addition, they have long established trade relations with the Kabardians and Lezgi tribes living in the snowy mountains of the North Caucasus.

The Kumyks are on the whole more civilized than their neighbors, and only surreptitiously take part in their robberies.

Like other mountain peoples, the Kumyks also sometimes give their sons to be raised by foreigners - atalyks. From the age of 7-8, the young khan offspring makes long horse rides with his guardian; the saddle is made in such a way that the child cannot fall. The boy, together with his atalyk tutor, spends whole days in the saddle in order to contrive to steal a horse or a cow; if he succeeds and the owner of the cattle does not immediately catch him, he keeps the animal for himself and the next day he can no longer hide his theft; if the owner manages to catch it, the thief must return the animal. Then he only feels ashamed of his awkwardness.

The custom common to the whole Caucasus - to give children into the hands of foreigners - pursues a political goal of great importance, since the atalyk educator then becomes a member of the family of the legal father and these kinship relations extend not only to representatives of the same clan, but also to all representatives of the people to which the atalyk belongs, throughout the Caucasus, so that among the enmity reigning between them, they always seek and find means to receive support and help.

Kumyks never go on military campaigns for a long time, like other highlanders, and are not absent from home for more than two or three weeks. They do not follow any order in the campaign, but gather in small groups, each of which follows its own leader. In the camp, they also settle down at their own discretion, without, however, moving too far from their khan. The latter is accompanied by a herd of sheep or several heads of cattle to feed the khan himself and his retinue; the rest are required to have - each their own - food supplies, which, as a rule, are a small bag of millet or wheat tied to the saddle. Although the Kumyks have a reputation as good riders and brave people, they are still nowhere near as brave as the Kabardians and Chechens.

Kumyks make their own gunpowder and weapons. Daggers made in the village of Enderi are in great demand throughout the Caucasus; they buy lead from the Russians.

There are some obstacles on the roads of this region: the rivers, descending from the mountains, spread over vast valleys, which are then replaced by swampy areas; most of the rivers have muddy and clay bottoms and can only be crossed by bridges. In addition, the whole area is indented with an incredible number of irrigation canals - tatauli, especially in the vicinity of settlements; finally, the forests found there are very dense and overgrown with thorny bushes, which makes them practically impassable, there are only narrow paths along which one cannot go far into the depths for fear of tearing clothes or injuring themselves. Forests cover a significant part of the lowlands and valleys.

On the sale of captives in the Caucasus

We have already said, when talking about the settlement of Enderi (Andreevka), that this place is famous for the trade in captives, and although this trade stopped there already 20 years ago, as well as the export of slaves to Turkey, thanks to the harsh measures of our government, it will be interesting to consider some details regarding this trade, and give some idea of ​​\u200b\u200bhow it happened.

The trade in prisoners was carried out in the Caucasus according to the law of war: they sold those who were captured in battles, and since the highlanders still live in constant friendship with some and in a state of ongoing war with other neighbors, there was always something to support this trade, which, apparently, existed there from a very long time. During the reign of Emperor Justinian I, the Abkhazians deliberately stole boys from their neighbors for sale in Constantinople, where they were sold at a very high price, in connection with which the traffickers literally flooded Constantinople with these victims of oriental voluptuousness, which then led to the prohibition of this trade by Justinian. At a later time, there is no longer any information that any mountaineers of the Caucasus themselves brought slaves to Constantinople for sale.

The custom of turning prisoners of war into slaves and selling them as property is not only very ancient, but also, in general, very common in many countries. Only with the advent of Christianity in Europe did this shameful trade disappear, with the exception of Russia, where this practice passed to the descendants of prisoners of war, known as serfs and serfs, who, before the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich, were never mixed with peasants or even with bonded serfs; these two categories of the population were regarded in Russia as free. Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible, after the conquest of Kazan, forbade the peasants to change their place of residence and move from one place to another, as a result of which the slavery of the peasants gradually began to be established in Russia. But still, in the Russian Empire there is no primitive law that allows the master to sell his peasants separately from the land to which they are attached. Boltin clearly proved that personal slavery and the sale of peasants were established in Russia out of the habit of observing custom, which was later enshrined in law ( Boltin. Notes on the history of Russia Leclerc. T. 1. S. 328-337, 474-475; T. 2. S. 206-213.).

The slight digression that we made about the former position of the Russian peasants explains to some extent what we observed on this occasion in the Caucasus, since, comparing the position of the Russian peasants with the Caucasians, we see that the demarcation line between peasants and yasyrs (slaves) in the Caucasus is much less erased than in Russia. Although the masters of the highlanders can also abuse the right that they have over the peasants, they can nevertheless sell them only if they want to punish them for some crime, for example, for theft, murder, and this is done with the consent of their neighbors and the khan, to whom they obey; therefore, the bridles of this region very rarely sell their peasants, especially since, according to custom, this action is considered reprehensible.

Quite rare at first were cases when parents sold their children out of poverty or, more rarely, out of cruelty. However, as evidenced historical facts However, some victims of parental abuse were then able to achieve high positions in the countries where they were trafficked - in Egypt or Turkey. Such examples are quite numerous. Sultan Barkok was of Circassian origin, he founded in 1382 the second dynasty of the Mamluks, called the dynasty of the Borgites, or Circassians, which ruled until the 16th century.

Part of the Egyptian rulers and many of the Turkish pashas were of the same origin. If we take into account what a fortune the amount of 100-200 ducats was for the highlanders, which they received for especially beautiful boys and girls, it is not surprising and understandable that such a temptation could not be resisted. In addition, fathers often sold their children in order to feed the younger ones and so that they would not be kidnapped by neighbors, which could always happen and was to be feared if the children were beautiful and well built. Nevertheless, it must be admitted, for the consolation of mankind, that these two sources of trade - the sale of peasants by their masters and the sale of children by their parents - were not the basis of the slave trade. This trade was carried out by other means, which we will now focus on.

During the strife between the two tribes, the custom allowed mutual raids on the territory of the enemy, which were carried out either in small detachments or alone with the aim of kidnapping people and animals in retaliation for the insults suffered; the highlanders call it "baranta". This Civil War supplied many captives; the richest and most famous were bought by their relatives, the rest were sold or left as domestic slaves, in the latter case they were used in the household or they worked as shepherds. These raids are still going on, and since the Highlanders can no longer sell their prisoners to the Turks, they sell them to each other if they do not want to keep them as their own slaves. Our captured soldiers were treated exactly like this: they were either forced to work as shepherds, or used to cultivate the fields, collect brushwood and other work.

Highlanders raided the territory of their Christian neighbors, especially Georgia. Their main task was to capture prisoners; their raids on the right bank of the Kuban and the left bank of the Terek pursued the same goal, and we have already talked about how they captured individuals and transported them to the mountains (see the section on the Chechens).

In Mingrelia and Guria, mountain princes and Uzdens obtained captives for themselves by the ram method and, in order to satisfy their passion for gold, even sold their own slaves. King Solomon I legally forbade the sale of prisoners in Imereti, and since the establishment of the Russian protectorate over Georgia, the Lezgins could no longer capture many prisoners in this country.

The secret abduction of people in peacetime from neighbors or even acquaintances was considered commendable for a brave mountaineer, so long as this theft was by no means known. Otherwise, retaliatory measures were taken and a blood feud was declared, which ended in the death of one of the two opponents. Quite often there were cases when a friend abducted his son or daughter from a friend in order to sell them in Anapa or Sukhum-Kala, and this theft became known only many years later, when fate returned the kidnapped to his homeland.

Thanks to these three sources, which we have just talked about, a large number of captives were obtained, who, passing from hand to hand, ended up in Anapa, Kodos, Isgauri, Sukhum-Kale, Poti and Batum for sale to Turkish merchants who took them to Constantinople, and from there to Egypt and the ports of the Levant.

For Egypt, the most well-built men were chosen to replenish the number of Mamluks. The most beautiful girls were sold at a high price to the rich for the pleasures of the harem, and ugly or poorly built captives of both sexes were sold at fairly moderate prices as simple slaves for domestic and hard physical work.

Volney says that the price of men changed in Egypt depending on their nationality and decreased in this order: Circassians, Abkhazians, Mingrelians, Georgians, Russians, Poles, Hungarians, Germans, etc. The highlanders themselves adhered to approximately the same order, and, based on the physical strength, beauty and good physique of a person, the price of a captive decreased in this order: Circassians, Mingrelians, Georgians, Abkhazians.

Among women, preference has always been given to beautiful Circassians. The Mamluks did not marry Coptic girls, they bought their compatriots for themselves, but, according to Volney, due to the Egyptian climate, the Mamluks degenerated in the second generation, so the beys were forced for a long time to understaff this military militia with young people from the Caucasus in order to have a brave cavalry, thanks to which they could maintain their power. The French invasion of Egypt and later the betrayal of Mehmet-Ali led to the disappearance of this purchased militia.

Since most of the captives were too far from the shores of the Black Sea and sending them to one of the ports of this basin was associated with great difficulties, two large markets for the sale of slaves were arranged in the Caucasus itself, namely: in Enderi (which we have already mentioned above) and in Dzhari, the main settlement of the Djaro-Belokan region inhabited by Lezgins. It was to these two markets that the captives were brought, who were then bought by Turkish merchants and sometimes Armenians. From Enderi, the prisoners were transported chained in two by hand through the lands of the Chechens, Ingush, Circassians, along the Russian posts to Anapa. This path was made under the protection of a convoy with a sufficient number of soldiers and passed along secret paths. The carefully guarded women rode horses, while the men walked; on the road they were well fed to maintain their strength on the way. Once the captives were transported in this way from Enderi to the Crimea through the Kuma and Kuban steppes and Taman, from there they were taken to Constantinople, but this road was closed to them when the Crimean peninsula became part of Russian territory.

The Lezgins transported the captives from Dzhari through Georgia along secret mountain paths and through forests to Akhaltsikhe, and from there to Batum and Poti. In order to increase the number of their captives, they were divided, passing through Georgia, into several groups, one of which escorted the prisoners, and the rest scattered around Georgia in order to capture new captives. As a rule, they tried to return to their homes before the onset of winter, otherwise, if the cold season caught them in Akhaltsikhe, they entered the service of the pasha of this pashalik:!, but on the condition that they would be allowed to raid Georgia, Imeretia, Mingrelia to kidnap people; they were never denied permission to do so. Thus, the friendly relations of the Lezghins from the Jaro-Belokan region and the Akhaltsikhe Pashalik were maintained to the death of Georgia, until its admission to Russia. These ties were completely interrupted only when Russia took possession of this pirate lair (Akhaltsikhe was taken by storm on August 15, 1828, the Jari region was annexed to the Russian Empire on March 1, 1830). At three thousand people, the number of slaves annually sold to the Turks in the ports of the eastern coast of Pontus Euxinus is estimated before the admission of Georgia to Russia. Later, this number was significantly reduced as a result of the fact that the highlanders began to encounter obstacles, passing through the military lines in the Caucasus and along this chain. This shameful trade finally stopped after the conclusion of the Adrianople peace treaty, according to which Russia received the possession of Akhaltsikhe and the entire eastern coast of Pontus Euxinus. Turkish ships approaching these shores from time to time for trade are in most cases detected and driven off or destroyed by our ships before they can receive cargo.

Having given some information about the sale of slaves in the Caucasus, we will say a few words about how this trade was conducted in Endery until 1818 - the time when General Yermolov captured this settlement, built the Vnepnaya fortress nearby and put an end to this trade.

The Russian government, which until that time could not completely prevent the sale of slaves in Enderi, nevertheless adopted several laws that tried to alleviate the lot of Christian slaves.

The inhabitants of Enderi, having bought the captives brought by the Chechens, Lezgins and other highlanders, sold them at the same place to the inhabitants of Kizlyar or took them to this city to be sold there on certain conditions that applied to all captives, whether they were Christians or not (Russian subjects were an exception).

A resident of Kizlyar, buying one of the prisoners, wrote down his name and the name of the prisoner in the city police and indicated the amount of the ransom. From that moment on, 24 silver rubles were deducted from the total amount annually as payment for the work of the prisoner, in addition, the owner was obliged to feed and clothe him; the captive remained in the service of the owner until the full amount of the ransom was paid. After that, the prisoner became free and could choose the way of life that he liked, he enjoyed all the rights of a nonresident settler. Thus, if his price reached 240 silver rubles, he had to work for 10 years to become free.

Most of these captives were Georgians, Mingrelians, Armenians, but there were also highlanders captured during baranta, or children sold by their parents because of poverty. Since the usual price of a prisoner was about 150-200 silver rubles, the prisoner received freedom after 6-8 years. This trade greatly enriched the inhabitants of Endery, and the inhabitants of Kizlyar also benefited greatly from this trade, as they took advantage of the current state of affairs in order to obtain workers for their vineyards for very moderate wages.

The history of the origin of the Kumyks (G.S. Fedorov-Guseinov, Makhachkala, Dagknigoizdat, 1996, 163 pages)

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Among a large number problems of the history of the peoples of Dagestan, questions about the origins of the peoples, their kinship, common features and characteristics await a priority solution. In other words, the problem of ethnogenesis and ethnic history is the most acute and topical, requiring an urgent solution. Among them, the problem of the origin of the Kumyks is especially complex.

When solving it, scientists are divided into two groups, some of which consider the Kumyks as aliens, others as local in origin. The latter consider the local ethnos as the basis of ethnogenesis, into whose environment the Turkic element penetrated. Some of them consider the admixture of the Hunno-Savir-Bulgarian and Khazar tribes to be decisive, others - the Kypchaks. Both of them need a more solid source base. This circumstance brought to life the work of researchers Kadyradzhiev K.S. /Kadyradzhiev K.S., 1992/, Adzhiev M. /Adzhiev M., 1992/, Kandaurova A. /Kandaurov A., 1994/, who are looking for the ancestors of the Kumyks among the Sumerians, Cimmerians, Scythians, Huns, Khazars, Kypchaks.

I understand that these works are written with good intentions in order to answer the question: "Who are the Kumyks ?»

Although I do not share many of the points in their work, however, they contain valuable observations. For example, Kadyradzhiev quite reasonably claims that the Kumyks formed as an aboriginal population.

Of particular note are the studies of P.M. Magomedov and S.Sh. Gadzhieva, however, in their works, the ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Kumyks are given a small part or section of large studies devoted to the ethnogenesis of all the peoples of Dagestan /Magomedov R.M., 1968.S.8/, or a historical and ethnographic study of the Kumyks /GadzhiyevaS.Sh., 1961.S.33-44/. The problem of ethnogenesis and the ethnic history of the Kumyks was most fully studied in the work of Fedorov Ya.A. / Fedorov Ya.A., 1959.S. 104-116/.

Kumyks: origin

However, until now there has been no special work that would cover all the problems of the origin of the Kumyks. Many fundamental questions are debatable: what language did the population of North-Eastern Dagestan - Jndana speak in the II-VIII centuries, did the population of this region speak the Turkic language, as some researchers claim / Kadyradzhiev K.S., 1992 /, who were the first Turkic-speaking tribes settled in Primorsky Dagestan, and what role did these alien tribes play in the material culture of the ancestors of the Kumyks.

These and many other questions are waiting to be answered. Our monograph is intended to fill this gap, without which it is impossible to start compiling the history of the Kumyks. It explores for the first time the issues of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Kumyks as an integral part of the ethnic history of the autochthonous peoples of Dagestan in such a broad perspective.

In the course of writing, another task arose before me - to refute those encountered in historical, especially in last years, in journalistic literature tendentious conclusions about the ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Kumyks.

For example, that the Kumyks, Nogais, Karachays, Balkars, Karaites, Gagauz and other Turkic-speaking peoples, and the Cossacks of the Terek, Kuban, Siberian - from the Polovtsian clan - are blood brothers / Adzhiev M., 1992 / The Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, Kipchaks are the direct ancestors of the Kumyks, Karachays, Balkars Kh. H. Bidzhiev /Bidzhiev H.Kh., 1993/.

The book devotes a lot of space and partially settled on the territory of North-Eastern Dagestan for a whole millennium, entering into socio-economic and cultural-political contacts with the ancestors of the Kumyks and other indigenous people of Dagestan.

The author put the methods of complex study of the problem as the basis of the research. Moreover, archaeological materials obtained as a result of both their own work and the work of various authors were used. As a result, the author managed to create a complete, integral, generalizing study, which solves many large and small problems on the origin and development of the Kumyk ethnos. A significant part of the work is devoted to the history of early medieval Dagestan, where the idea is substantiated that the kingdom of Dzhidan was a large early medieval formation of the Kumyks, which included settlements, the ruins of which we see in the vicinity of Urtseka, Achisa, Karabudakhkent, Sutaykutan, Geli, Tarkov, etc. Fundamentally new in the work is also the fact that the author for the first time identifies archaeological materials associated with the Kypchaks in Dagestan.

The author expresses special gratitude to fellow countrymen-Karabudah-Kents: Abdullagatov. S.Kh. - Director of the state farm "Rassvet", Gadzhiev U.G. - Director of the Republican newspaper and magazine printing house, Kanzitdinov R.M. - Director of the small enterprise "Gereytuz", Nasrutdinov U.I. - to the head of the administration of the Karabudakh-Kent region for his contribution to the publication of the book.

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Kumyks are the indigenous population of the flat part of Dagestan. They live compactly in seven districts of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic: Khasavyurtovsky, Babayurtovsky Kizilyurtovsky, Buynaksky, Karabudakhkentsky, Kayakentsky and Kaytagsky, in six villages in the vicinity of Makhachkala and cities: Makhachkala, Khasavyurt, Buynaksk, Izberbash and Derbent. A small group of Kumyks live in the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Finally, several Kumyk villages are part of North Ossetia. The total number of Kumyks according to the 1959 census is 135 thousand people.

The neighbors of the Kumyks in the north are Nogais, in the northwest and west - Chechens and Avars, in the southwest and south - Dargins, Tabasarans and Derbent Azerbaijanis. The territory inhabited by the Kumyks is washed by the Caspian Sea in the east. The most significant in the water system of the Kumyk lands are the rivers Terek, Sulak, Ulluchay, Gamriozen, Shuraozen, Manasozen and the canal named after October revolution. The climate here is moderate.

The Kumyk language belongs to the northwestern (Kypchak) troupe of Turkic languages ​​and is divided into three fairly close dialects: northern (Khasavyurt), middle (Buinak) and southern (Kaitag). The basis of the literary language of the Kumyks is the Khasavyurt dialect. At present, the differences between these dialects are being erased - the literary language is spreading everywhere.

Before the Great October Socialist Revolution, it was customary to divide the Kumyks into three groups, respectively, with a dialectal division. The first group consisted of residents of the so-called Kumyk plane (the space between the Terek and Sulak, the upper reaches of the Aksai river, the Caspian Sea and the spurs of the Aukh and Salatov mountains) - modern Khasavyurt, Babayurt and partially Kizilyurt regions. The main part of this territory was previously part of the former Terek region.

The second group, the most significant, were the Kumyks of the Shamkhalate of Tarkovsky, which in 1867 entered the Temir-Khan-Shurinsky district of the Dagestan region. This is the territory of modern Buynaksky, Karabudakhkentsky and partially Kizilyurtsky districts. Finally, the third group was represented by the Kumyks of the former possession of the Kaitag utsmiya, later transformed into the Kaitago-Tabasaran district. Now the territory of this group of Kumyks is included in the Kayakent and partially Kaitag districts.

The self-name of the Kumyks is kumuk 1 . Its etymological meaning this time is not clear. Some historians associated this term with the geographical conditions of the residence of the Kumyks. Thus, the author of the article “A Few Words about the Kumyks” believes that the name of the Kumyk plane, mostly consisting of sandy soil (kumluk), was also transferred to its inhabitants 2 . Others compared the terms Kumuk and Cuman, that is, the Cumans. Neighbors of the Kumyks in the past called them differently. Dargins - jandar (etymology unknown) and dirkalanti (inhabitants of the plain), Avars - larigial (inhabitants of the plane), Nogais, Kabardians, Ossetians, Chechens, Balkars - just Kumyks.

The formation of the Kumyk people began in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. The decisive role in the ethnogenesis of the Kumyks belonged to the ancient tribes - the aborigines of flat Dagestan. Along with them, alien Turkic-speaking tribes, especially the Kypchaks (Polovtsy), whose language was adopted by the local tribes, took part in the formation of the Kumyk people. The decisive role of the indigenous population in the formation of the Kumyk people is confirmed both by the main features of the culture and life of the Kumyks, and by anthropological data. Soviet anthropologists attribute the Kumyks to the European type and talk about the anthropological similarity of the Kumyks with other peoples of Dagestan, opposing them to the Mongoloid peoples.

Mainclasses

Contemporary Agriculture Kumyks, which is based on agriculture, corresponds to the conditions of the flat and foothill areas. Due to the fact that agriculture has long been the main occupation of the Kumyks, the people have accumulated great economic experience, developed their own methods of agricultural labor. The Kumyks from time immemorial knew the three-field system and artificial irrigation of fields. Despite this, agriculture among the Kumyks before the revolution retained a relatively backward form. Along with the three-field, for example, a more primitive shifting system was also used. The main tools of labor were wooden plows with an iron plowshare 3 (in addition, a plow in the foothills), wooden harrows, threshing boards with stones (flint), sickles, etc. Weeding was carried out with a special hoe or hands; they threshed grain on an earthen current, previously compacted with a roller. Iron plows, steam threshers, seeders, etc., which began to appear here from the middle of the 19th century, were found only in landlord and kulak farms.

Poor farming technique, lack of water for irrigation predetermined low yields. In addition to all this, the Kumyks, in contrast to other peoples of Dagestan, almost did not apply soil fertilizers. The average yield on irrigated fields in many areas did not exceed 4-5 cm, and on non-irrigated fields - 3 cm.

In the past, the mutual assistance of relatives or neighbors played a significant role in the organization of agricultural work of the Kumyks. This custom was called among the Kumyks bulka (collection, teamwork). There were chop-bulka (chop - weed, i.e. collection for cleaning crops from weeds), orak-bulkya (orak - sickle, i.e. collection for harvest), gabizh-dei-bulka (gabizhdei - corn, i.e. collection for cleaning or threshing corn), etc. Wealthy relatives often used this custom for the purposes of exploitation, forcing poor relatives to work on their farm just for food. The poor and weak peasants united for the time of plowing in two or three households, and jointly used draft animals and agricultural implements. This form of mutual assistance was called ortak. Often the need for working cattle and tools forced the poor to borrow them from the kulak on extortionate terms.

The victory of the collective-farm system opened up the broadest possibilities for the development of agriculture. Thanks to a number of activities - the development of new lands, the drying of wetlands, the construction of canals, including the Powerful Canal. October Revolution - the area of ​​arable land of the Kumyks 4 increased significantly. The Kumyk regions have become regions of large grain farming in the Dagestan ASSR. Most of the lands of the Kumyk collective farms are irrigated. A system of temporary channels is widely used, which allows water to be supplied to the desired area of ​​the field and at the same time not to be crushed into separate parts by permanent channels.

In the large-scale collective agriculture of the Kumyks, the former narrow specialization, based on the cultivation, as a rule, only of grain crops, has disappeared. Now agriculture is developing diversified; however, the leading industry in almost all Kumyk regions is field crops, especially the cultivation of grain crops. Of the cereals, wheat occupies the first place, the second - corn and barley. Rice is also grown in some areas (Khasavyurtovsky, Kizilyurtovsky).

Kumyks have been engaged in horticulture and viticulture since ancient times. However, in the past, in the conditions of small scattered peasant farms, where soil cultivation was carried out in a primitive way, horticulture and viticulture could not get great development. Mass planting of fruit trees and vines, as well as the introduction of Michurin varieties, unfolded only under conditions of collective farming. Now, in the Buynaksky district alone, 2362 hectares are occupied by gardens. Kolkhoz im. Ordzhonikidze (village Nizhnee Kazanishche) of this district has gardens on an area of ​​about 450 hectares.

Horticulture and viticulture among the Kumyks in pre-revolutionary times had almost no commercial value. Fruits, as a rule, were preserved, dried and soaked for the winter, mainly for their own consumption. Partially they were exchanged in neighboring villages for grain and other products. At present, when the collective farms have every opportunity to sell their products, the export of fruits and grapes, as well as winemaking, have gained wide scope. Collective farms take out fresh fruits, grapes and vegetables for sale in their own vehicles. An important role in the economy of the Kumyks is gradually acquiring horticultural crops. Kumyks have long grown watermelons, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, various varieties of beans, onions, garlic, peppers, fragrant herbs, etc. However, in pre-revolutionary conditions, the cultivation of these crops was not properly developed. Currently, the sown area under them has increased significantly. In 1958, the collective farms of the Khasavyurt district alone sowed 1,362 hectares of vegetable and melon crops. Along with well-known crops, new crops are also grown - tomatoes, cabbage, eggplants, potatoes, etc. The fruit and canning industry is developing on the basis of horticulture, viticulture and vegetable growing. The Khasavyurt and Buynak fruit and canning factories are among the largest in the republic.

In all branches of the agricultural economy of the Kumyk collective farms, machine technology is widely used. Its role is especially great in field farming, where all the main processes are completely mechanized. Old agricultural implements (heavy plow, threshing boards, wooden harrows) have given way to powerful tractors, combines, threshers, seeders, etc.

Kumyks are also engaged in animal husbandry, raising large and small cattle. Considerable attention is paid to the breeding of buffaloes, which are valued as strong working cattle, and buffaloes - for good milk yields and high quality milk. Animal husbandry among the Kumyks in the past was poorly developed. The life of a shepherd and herdsman was full of hardships. Now residential buildings and livestock buildings, veterinary and medical stations, etc. have grown on pastures. Winter kutans and summer pastures in the mountains are visited by propaganda teams and amateur art groups; trade organizations supply livestock breeders with food, cultural and industrial goods.

Poultry farming, beekeeping and sericulture are also of no small importance. These branches of the economy existed among the Kumyks for a long time, but now they have received great development.

Kumyk collective farms have a variety of vehicles. The main ones were motor vehicles, which serve both for the transportation of people and for the transfer of goods. Vans and carts are also used to transport goods over short distances. Bidarkas, carts and riding horses are used to service field brigades. The use of motor vehicles became possible thanks to the large road construction carried out during the years of Soviet power. New well-maintained roads have been created on the territory of the Kumyks, connecting all the villages with the regional centers and cities of the republic, as well as the Kumyk plain with the mountainous regions of Dagestan. Of great importance for the economic relations of the Kumyks is the railway line, which runs from north to south through the coastal part of the Kumyk territory, and the line Makhachkala - Buynaksk.

From year to year, the number of power plants in the Kumyk collective farms is increasing. Many settlements fully electrified. In addition to the energy of their power plants, (many Kumyk villages receive cheap electricity from nearby cities - Makhachkala, Izberbash, Kaspiysk, Khasavyurt, Buynaksk, which makes it possible to electrify some labor-intensive processes in the economy.

If before the main production unit was the family, in which the gender and age division of labor was strictly observed, and the main burden of work fell on women, now the collective farm has become the production unit, and its members form a single friendly team. When distributing work between women and men in collective-farm brigades, they proceed from the expediency of using male labor in more labor-intensive work. The collective-farm division of labor, therefore, has nothing in common with the past. The socialist principle of payment ensures the continuous growth of labor productivity. Socialist competition is assuming an ever broader scope. Party and Komsomol organizations, being the initiators of the most important undertakings, widely popularize the experience of advanced collective farmers and collective farms. The names of the Heroes of Socialist Labor, who achieved high production rates and became famous for their selfless labor, are widely known among the collective farmers.

The growing social economy contributes to a change in the nature of the personal economy of the Kumyks. At the present time, collective farmers cultivate garden and gourd crops on their household plots and keep meat and dairy cattle. Income from personal farming began to play an auxiliary role in the family budget, only supplementing the main income received from public farming.

In some villages (Kumtorkale, Kayakent, Lower and Upper Kazanshtsy, Andreyaule, etc.), women, in their free time from collective farm work, "are engaged in weaving carpets. They weave both nap and lint-free carpets, saddlebags, etc. Of the carpet products of the Kumyks, lint-free one-sided carpets, known as sumak, are especially famous. The ornament of carpets is mainly geometric The northern Kumyks make, in addition, felt rugs decorated with geometric and floral ornaments.

In the past, almost every Kumyk village had its own skilled craftsmen, many of whom became famous throughout the Caucasus for their products. The name of the master Bazalai from the villages. Upper Kazanishche, who lived in the first half of the 19th century, became a household word. This name began to be called the blades made by him, which were distinguished by great strength. Upper and Lower Kazanischa and Andreyaul were centers of blacksmithing. In these villages, as well as in Erpel, Kafir-Kumuk, Sultan-Yangi-Yurt and others, goldsmithing was also widespread, in which engraving, niello, filigree, and silver casting were used. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. in the villages of Erpeli and Andreyaul, pottery flourished, which fell into decline at a later time due to the wide distribution of factory products.

The environment of economic occupations of the Kumyks is one of the main places now occupied by work in industry. The first industrial enterprises on the territory of the Kumyk regions arose in the pre-revolutionary period (oil and fishing industries, enterprises for the processing of local agricultural raw materials). However, they were of a semi-handicraft character, and the number of Kumyk workers employed in them was very small 5 . The percentage of the Kumyk population of the cities of Port-Petrovsk (now Makhachkala), Temir-Khan-Shura (now Buynaksk), and the settlement of Khasavyurt (now the city) was extremely insignificant.

IN Soviet time the situation has changed radically. The transformation of Dagestan into a developed industrial-agrarian republic also affected the economic life of the Kumyk people. Along with the creation of powerful industrial centers in the rapidly growing cities of the republic, a number of industrial enterprises in rural areas, including Kumyk. Kumyks now make up a significant part of the Dagestan working class. A third of the Kumyk population of the Dagestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic lives in cities and workers' settlements. This fact vividly reflects the grandiose changes that have taken place in the life of the Kumyk people during the first ode to Soviet power.

Republic of Dagestan Tourism is rapidly developing, offering extensive opportunities for recreation and sightseeing. Tourists are attracted by numerous monuments of nature, architecture and history, as well as the culture of the ethnic community. The republic is located in the northeastern part of the Caucasus, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. The world's largest lake has been called the sea because of its size. It has become one of the most popular holiday destinations on the island due to its warm climate and magnificent sandy beaches. Tourist bases, hotels and sanatoriums are constantly being upgraded, so vacation in Dagestan in 2019 year were almost full.

Tourist opportunities in Dagestan

One of the unique corners of Dagestan is Mount Shalbuzdag. It is one of the highest peaks in the southeastern part of the Main Caucasian Range. The mountain has a unique cone-shaped peak, resembling a volcano with its outlines. Tourists often climb Mount Yarydag, which is located in the Dokuzparinsky district. This place is ideal for lovers of extreme sports and mountaineering. planning rest in Dagestan, it is worth visiting the Khuchninsky waterfall, located in the Tabasaran region. After relaxing at the waterfall, you can go to the legendary fortress of the Seven Brothers and Sisters, which was built in the 17th century.

The unique monument of nature is also the Karadakh gorge, called the "Gate of Miracles". Tourists are also recommended to visit the Sulak Canyon, the Tobot waterfall, the Sary-Kum sand dune, etc. Dagestan Tourism allows visitors to the republic to get acquainted with numerous objects cultural heritage. There are more than 6,000 monuments of culture, architecture and history on the territory. Going to Kaspiysk in Dagestan, rest can be organized on the coast of the Caspian Sea, as well as get acquainted with the sights of the city. Tourists will also be attracted ancient city Derbent, impressive architectural and landscape ensembles.

Choice of travel routeDagestan

Tourist portal Welcome Dagestan will help visitors to choose places for recreation in Dagestan, hotels, restaurants, excursions and events. Users will become familiar with reviews tourists and make sure security selected tour. The tourist portal WelcomeDagestan.ru presents helpful information about the places and sights of the republic.

P. Kalininsky, Kirzavod and Yangi-yurt microdistricts of Mozdok in the Mozdok region) and in Chechnya (Grozny and Gudermes regions - the villages of Vinogradnoye and Braguny). They make up the second largest national minority in the Chechen Republic (after the Russians) and the fourth in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania (after the Russians, Ingush and Armenians).

503.1 thousand people live in Russia in 2010, of which 431.7 thousand people live in Dagestan.

Number and settlement

The Kumyks are the second largest Turkic-speaking people in the Caucasus after the Azerbaijanis, while being the largest Turkic people in the North Caucasus and the third largest people in Dagestan. The territory of their traditional settlement is the Kumyk plane, the western coast of the Caspian Sea and the foothill regions of Dagestan.

Number of subjects of the Russian Federation

The subject of the Russian Federation	2002	2010
	population	population
Dagestan	365 804	431 736
Tyumen region	12 343	18 668
Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug	9 554	13 849
Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug	2 613	4 466
North Ossetia	12 659	16 092
Chechnya	8 883	12 221
Stavropol region	5 744	5 639
Moscow	1 615	2 351
Moscow region	818	1 622
Astrakhan region	1 356	1 558
Rostov region	1 341	1 511
Volgograd region	895	1 018
entities with more than 1000 Kumyks are shown

Ethnonym

The origin of the ethnonym "Kumyk" ("Kumuk") is not completely clear. Most researchers (Bakikhanov, S. A. Tokarev, A. I. Tamai, S. Sh. Gadzhieva, etc.) produced the name from the Polovtsian ethnonym Kimaks or from another name for the Kypchaks - Kuman. According to P.K. Uslar, in the 19th century. in the North Caucasus, the terms Kumyk or Kumuk were used to refer to the Turkic-speaking inhabitants of the plain. In Dagestan, Chechnya and Ingushetia, only Kumyks were called the terms Kumyk and Kumuk. B. A. Alborov derived the ethnonym "Kumyk" from the Turkic word "Kum" (sand, sandy desert). In turn, Ya. A. Fedorov, based on written sources of the 8th-19th centuries, wrote that the ethnonym "Gumik - Kumyk - Kumukh" is a native Dagestan toponym associated with the Middle Ages.

In the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, based on the works of the famous ethnographer and specialist in the Caucasus Sakinat Khadzhieva, the following version of the Kumyk ethnogenesis was indicated:

Ancient tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Kumyks - the natives of North-Eastern Dagestan and the newcomer Turkic-speaking tribes, especially the Kipchaks, whose language was adopted by the natives.

Great Soviet Encyclopedia: in 30 volumes / Ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M.: Sov. encycl., 1969 - 1978

The most famous Caucasian scholar Leonid Lavrov questioned the version of the "turkishness" of the Kumyks:

It is unlikely that the Kumyks were Turkicized Dagestanis, as some claim. Rather, the Kipchaks, Khazars and, perhaps, other Turks of the early Middle Ages should be considered their ancestors. It would be desirable to find out whether the Kamaks, who lived in Northern Dagestan at the beginning of our era, are related to them

The great Russian orientalist Vladimir Minorsky put forward his version of the origin of the Kumyks:

The final formation of the Kumyk ethnos took place in the XII-XII centuries.

On the territory of the settlement of the Kumyk people, there were several states, of which the most famous were the Kingdom of the Huns, Dzhidan, Tarkov Shamkhalate.

Anthropological type

Anthropologically, the Caspian subtype of the Caucasoid race is represented among the Kumyks. This also includes Azerbaijanis, Kurds of Transcaucasia, Tsakhurs, Muslim Tats. The Caspian type is usually regarded as a variation of the Mediterranean race or the Indo-Afghan race.

Ancient tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Kumyks - the natives of North-Eastern Dagestan and the newcomer Turkic-speaking tribes, especially the Kipchaks, whose language was adopted by the natives. According to anthropological features and the main features of culture and life, the Kumyks are close to other mountain peoples of Dagestan.

20th century research

Soviet anthropologists attributed the Kumyks to the Caucasoid race and pointed to the anthropological similarity of the Kumyks with other peoples of Dagestan, contrasting them with the Mongoloid peoples. As noted by the Soviet and Russian anthropologist Valery Alekseev, the Caspian type, whose representatives include the Kumyks, in Dagestan almost always appears in a mixed form, and therefore the peoples of central Dagestan cannot be included among the typical representatives of this species. Regarding the Kumyks, he writes that they "have the darkest pigmentation, which, in all likelihood, indicates the intensive participation of the Caspian type in the formation of their anthropological features" .

Language

Among the dialects of the Kumyk language, Kaitag, Terek (Mozdok and Bragun Kumyks), Buynak and Khasavyurt stand out, the latter two forming the basis of the literary Kumyk language.

The Kumyk language is one of the oldest written literary languages Dagestan. During the 20th century, the writing of the Kumyk language changed twice: the traditional Arabic script in 1929 was replaced first by the Latin alphabet, then in 1938 by the Cyrillic alphabet.

The closest to the Kumyk language are the Karachay-Balkarian, Crimean Tatar and Karaite languages. .

The Russian language is also common among the Kumyks.

Religion

Believing Kumyks profess Sunni Islam. Most of the Kumyks belong to the Shafi'i madhhab, and some to the Hanafi. In February 1992, as a result of a split in the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Dagestan, the Kumyk Spiritual Administration of Muslims was formed in Makhachkala.

Economy

The Kumyks are a people of a settled agricultural culture. Traditional for them are arable farming, horticulture, viticulture, cultivated since the 8th-9th centuries. Historically, they were engaged in cattle breeding. The land of the Kumyks can rightly be called the breadbasket of the whole of Dagestan; more than 70 percent of the republic's economy is concentrated here. Almost the entire industry is concentrated here (instrument making, mechanical engineering, canning, winemaking, etc.). Developed rice cultivation, fishing. The bowels are rich in oil, gas, mineral springs, raw materials for building materials(glass sands, gypsum, gravel, pebbles, etc.). There are considerable recreational resources (the Caspian coast, mud and mineral springs of medicinal properties). Among them are hydrogen sulfide (Talgi), hydrocarbonate-sodium (Kayakent), chloride, lime, etc..

culture

18th century European traveler Johann Anton Gildenstedt gave a description of the life of the Kumyks of that time:

Everyone is engaged in agriculture and some cattle breeding. Their grain crops: wheat, barley, millet, oats and mainly rice, they also cultivate cotton quite often, while silk is mostly only for their own needs. Fishing is more important to them than to other Tatars, and they facilitate their subsistence by catching sturgeon and other fish. Many Armenians live among them, in whose hands there is a small trade in supplies [necessary] for life - Kumyk products and other necessary [things]. Their dwellings and villages, like the rest of the Caucasian ones described many times, are from a light checkered building with willow wickerwork.

Literature and theater

In the folk memory of the Kumyks, samples of epic (heroic, historical and everyday songs, songs of didactic content (yyr’y), fairy tales, proverbs, riddles) and lyrical (quatrain song (“saryn”) and “yas” (mourning, lamentation) or “yas-yyr”) poetry have been preserved. In the pre-revolutionary period, Kumyk literature was influenced by Crimean Tatar and Tatar literature, and after the revolution of 1917, the influence of Azerbaijani literature increased somewhat. In the early years Soviet power Kumyk literature continued traditional themes: the emancipation of man, the spiritual awakening of the people, the fight against ignorance, etc.

Cloth

Men wore thin tunic shirts, pants, Circassian, beshmet and sheepskin coats, and women - dresses, leather shoes, galoshes and socks, and clothes were decorated with silver buckles, buttons, belt. Dresses "polsha", consisting of a bottom dress made of thin plain silk and an upper dress made of dense fabric with embroidery, embroidered scarves made of fine wool and silk scarves - "gulmelds" with a characteristic pattern. Modern clothes are mostly urban.

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Notes

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11. . State Committee Ukrainian statistics.
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13. . belstat.gov.by. .
14. (Latvian.)
15. see Terek Kumyks
16. :
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30. Uslar P.K. Ethnography of the Caucasus. Linguistics. 4. Lak language. Tiflis, 1890, p. 2.
31. G.S. Fedorov-Guseinov. The history of the origin of the Kumyks. - Makhachkala: Dagestan book publishing house "Kumyk" - in Turkic (Kipchak) "expelled"., 1996. - S. 138-139.
32. N.G. Volkov. Names of Kumyks in Caucasian languages ​​// Ethnic onomastics. - M .: Nauka, 1984. - S. 23-24.
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36. G.S. Fedorov-Guseinov. The history of the origin of the Kumyks. - Makhachkala: Dagestan book publishing house, 1996. - S. 18.
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38. Vasily Vladimirovich Bartold. Works. - Nauka, 1968. - T. 5. - S. 213.
39. Sakinat Shikhamedovna Gadzhieva. Kumyks: historical and ethnographic research. - Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1961. - T. 5. - S. 44.
40. Lavrov L. I. Historical and ethnographic essays of the Caucasus. Leningrad. 1978. C. 37-38.
41. V.F.Minorsky. History of Shirvan and Derbend X - XI centuries. - Publishing House Eastern literature, 1963. - S. C.145.
42. . Peoples of Russia. Encyclopedia. Moscow, Great Russian Encyclopedia 1994. .
43. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron
44. . "Demoscope". .
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51. Alekseev V.P. Favorites. Origin of the peoples of the Caucasus. - Nauka, 2009. - V. 5. - S. 228-229. - ISBN 978-5-02-035547-7.

    original text(Russian)

    The distribution of the Caspian group of populations in Dagestan falls on the central, eastern and southern regions. In other words, it is represented among the Lezgin-speaking peoples, among the Dargins-Kaitags and Kumyks. However, it has already been noted that neither the color of the hair and eyes, which is lighter than in the Azerbaijani groups, nor the size of the zygomatic diameter, which is noticeably larger than in Azerbaijan, can the peoples of central Dagestan be included among the typical representatives of the Caspian type. In Dagestan, this type almost always manifests itself in a mixed form, revealing either by pigmentation, or by the width of the face, or by both of these features taken together, a certain approximation to the Caucasian group of populations. Thus, the territory of Dagestan is the periphery of the range of the Caspian type, and, consequently, the formation of the anthropological composition of the listed peoples is the result of a different degree of mixing of representatives of the Caspian and Caucasian groups of populations. This, apparently, explains the local differences in the anthropological type of the Kumyks, Dargins and Lezgin-speaking peoples. Kumyks have the darkest pigmentation, which, in all likelihood, indicates the intensive participation of the Caspian type in the formation of their anthropological features, some Lezgin-speaking groups are moving closer to the Caucasian peoples.

52. Pieter Muysken.. - John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2008. - V. 90. - S. 74. - ISBN 9027231001, 9789027231000.

    original text(Russian)

    Languages ​​used at present or in the past as lingua franca in the Caucasus
    Azeri in Southern Dagestan
    Kumyk in Northern Daghestan
    Avar in Western Dagestan
    Nogay in Northern Daghestan
    Circassian in Western Dagestan
    Russian across the Caucasus (since the second half on the 19th c.)
    ...
    Until the beginning of the 19th century Turkic Kumyk, beside Avar and Azeri, served as one of the Lingua francas in foothill and lowland Daghestan, whereas in Northern Daghestan this role was sometimes played by Nogay.

53. Kumyk language // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov. - 3rd ed. - M. : Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978.
54. Kumyk encyclopedic dictionary. Makhachkala. 2012, p. 218.
55. (rus.), Institute of Religion and Politics.
56. Yarlykapov A. A. Religious beliefs // Peoples of Dagestan / Ed. ed. S. A. Arutyunov, A. I. Osmanov, G. A. Sergeeva. - M .: "Science", 2002. - S. 68. - ISBN 5-02-008808-0.
58. Johann Anton Gildenstedt.. - Petersburg Oriental Studies, 2002. - S. 255.
59. // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
60. KUMYK LITERATURE // Literary Encyclopedia.
61. (Russian), Literary Encyclopedia.
62. Nina Stepanovna Nadyarnykh.. - Science, 2005. - S. 164.
63. (Russian), kino-teatr.ru.
64. Lev Mironovich Mints.. - Olma Media Group, 2007. - P. 276. - ISBN 5373010537, 9785373010535.

Links

Literature

• Adzhiev A. M., M.-R. A. Ibragimov. Kumyks // Peoples of Russia. Encyclopedia. M .: Scientific publishing house "Big Russian Encyclopedia", 1994. S. 214-216. ISBN 5-85270-082-7
• Kumyks // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. - M .: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. - ISBN 978-5-287-00718-8.
• // / Council of Administration of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Control public relations; ch. ed. R. G. Rafikov; editorial board: V. P. Krivonogov, R. D. Tsokaev. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - Krasnoyarsk: Platinum (PLATINA), 2008. - 224 p. - ISBN 978-5-98624-092-3.

More than 10 million people From 1 to 10 million people From 500 thousand to 1 million people From 200 thousand to 500 thousand people From 100 thousand to 200 thousand people From 30 thousand to 100 thousand people From 10 thousand to 30 thousand people

An excerpt characterizing the Kumyks

- Well, I'll tell you now. You know that Sonya is my friend, such a friend that I would burn my hand for her. Here look. - She rolled up her muslin sleeve and showed on her long, thin and delicate handle under her shoulder, much higher than the elbow (in the place that is sometimes covered by ball gowns) a red mark.
“I burned this to prove my love to her. I just kindled the ruler on fire, and pressed it.
Sitting in his former classroom, on the sofa with pillows on the handles, and looking into those desperately animated eyes of Natasha, Rostov again entered that family room, Child's world which made no sense to anyone but him, but which gave him some of the best pleasures in life; and burning his hand with a ruler, to show love, seemed to him not useless: he understood and was not surprised at this.
– So what? only? - he asked.
- Well, so friendly, so friendly! Is this nonsense - a ruler; but we are forever friends. She will love someone, so forever; but I don't understand it, I'll forget it now.
- Well, so what?
Yes, she loves me and you so much. - Natasha suddenly blushed, - well, you remember, before leaving ... So she says that you forget it all ... She said: I will always love him, but let him be free. After all, the truth is that this is excellent, noble! - Yes Yes? very noble? Yes? Natasha asked so seriously and excitedly that it was clear that what she was saying now, she had previously said with tears.
Rostov thought.
“I don’t take back my word in anything,” he said. - And besides, Sonya is so charming that what kind of fool would refuse his happiness?
“No, no,” Natasha screamed. We already talked about it with her. We knew you would say that. But this is impossible, because, you understand, if you say so - you consider yourself bound by a word, then it turns out that she seemed to have said it on purpose. It turns out that you are still forcibly marrying her, and it turns out not at all.
Rostov saw that all this was well thought out by them. Sonya struck him yesterday with her beauty. To-day, seeing her for a glimpse, she seemed even better to him. She was a lovely 16-year-old girl, obviously passionately loving him (he did not doubt this for a minute). Why should he not love her now, and not even marry her, thought Rostov, but now there are so many other joys and occupations! "Yes, they thought it up perfectly," he thought, "one must remain free."
“Very well,” he said, “we’ll talk later.” Oh, how glad I am for you! he added.
- Well, why didn’t you cheat on Boris? the brother asked.
- That's nonsense! Natasha screamed laughing. “I don’t think about him or anyone, and I don’t want to know.
– That's how! So what are you?
- I? Natasha asked, and a happy smile lit up her face. - Have you seen Duport "a?
- No.
- Did you see the famous Duport, the dancer? Well, you won't understand. I'm what it is. - Natasha, rounding her arms, took her skirt, as if dancing, ran a few steps, turned over, made an antrash, beat her leg against her leg and, standing on the very tips of her socks, walked a few steps.
- Am I standing? behold, she said; but she couldn't stand on tiptoe. "So that's what I am!" I will never marry anyone, but I will become a dancer. But do not tell anyone.
Rostov laughed so loudly and merrily that Denisov felt envious from his room, and Natasha could not help laughing with him. - No, it's good, isn't it? she kept saying.
- Well, do you want to marry Boris anymore?
Natasha flushed. - I don't want to marry anyone. I'll tell him the same when I see him.
– That's how! Rostov said.
“Well, yes, it’s all nonsense,” Natasha continued to chat. - And why is Denisov good? she asked.
- Good.
- Well, goodbye, get dressed. Is he scary, Denisov?
- Why is it scary? Nicholas asked. - No. Vaska is nice.
- You call him Vaska - strange. And that he is very good?
- Very good.
“Well, come and drink some tea.” Together.
And Natasha stood up on tiptoe and walked out of the room the way dancers do, but smiling the way happy 15-year-old girls smile. Having met Sonya in the living room, Rostov blushed. He didn't know how to deal with her. Yesterday they kissed in the first moment of the joy of meeting, but today they felt that it was impossible to do this; he felt that everyone, both mother and sisters, looked at him inquiringly and expected from him how he would behave with her. He kissed her hand and called her you - Sonya. But their eyes, having met, said “you” to each other and kissed tenderly. With her eyes, she asked him for forgiveness for the fact that at Natasha's embassy she dared to remind him of his promise and thanked him for his love. He thanked her with his eyes for the offer of freedom and said that one way or another, he would never stop loving her, because it was impossible not to love her.
“How strange, however,” said Vera, choosing a general moment of silence, “that Sonya and Nikolenka now met like strangers. - Vera's remark was just, like all her remarks; but, like most of her remarks, everyone became embarrassed, and not only Sonya, Nikolai and Natasha, but also the old countess, who was afraid of this love of her son for Sonya, which could deprive him of a brilliant party, also blushed like a girl. Denisov, to Rostov's surprise, in a new uniform, pomaded and perfumed, appeared in the living room as dandy as he was in battles, and so amiable with ladies and gentlemen, which Rostov did not expect to see him.

Returning to Moscow from the army, Nikolai Rostov was adopted by his family as the best son, hero and beloved Nikolushka; relatives - as a sweet, pleasant and respectful young man; acquaintances - as a handsome hussar lieutenant, a clever dancer and one of the best grooms in Moscow.
The Rostovs knew all of Moscow; the old count had enough money this year, because all the estates had been remortgaged, and therefore Nikolushka, having got his own trotter and the most fashionable trousers, special ones that no one else in Moscow had, and boots, the most fashionable, with the sharpest socks and small silver spurs, spent time very cheerfully. Rostov, returning home, experienced a pleasant feeling after a certain period of time trying on himself for the old conditions of life. It seemed to him that he had matured and grown very much. Despair for an examination that was not consistent with the law of God, borrowing money from Gavrila for a cab, secret kisses with Sonya, he recalled all this as about childishness, from which he was now immeasurably far away. Now he is a hussar lieutenant in a silver cape, with soldier George, preparing his trotter for a run, along with well-known hunters, elderly, respectable. He has a familiar lady on the boulevard, to whom he goes in the evening. He conducted the mazurka at the ball at the Arkharovs, talked about the war with Field Marshal Kamensky, visited an English club, and was on you with one forty-year-old colonel, whom Denisov introduced him to.
His passion for the sovereign somewhat weakened in Moscow, since during this time he did not see him. But he often talked about the sovereign, about his love for him, making it feel that he still did not tell everything, that there was something else in his feeling for the sovereign that could not be understood by everyone; and wholeheartedly shared the feeling of adoration common at that time in Moscow for Emperor Alexander Pavlovich, who at that time in Moscow was given the name of an angel in the flesh.
During this short stay of Rostov in Moscow, before leaving for the army, he did not get close, but, on the contrary, parted ways with Sonya. She was very pretty, sweet, and obviously passionately in love with him; but he was in that time of his youth, when it seems that there is so much to do that there is no time to do it, and the young man is afraid to get involved - he values ​​\u200b\u200bhis freedom, which he needs for many other things. When he thought of Sonya during this new sojourn in Moscow, he said to himself: Eh! there are still many, many of these will be and are there, somewhere, still unknown to me. I still have time, when I want, to make love, but now there is no time. In addition, it seemed to him that something humiliating for his courage in women's society. He went to balls and sororities, pretending to do so against his will. Running, an English club, a revelry with Denisov, a trip there - that was another matter: it was decent for a young hussar.
At the beginning of March, the old Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov was preoccupied with arranging a dinner in an English club for the reception of Prince Bagration.
The count in a dressing gown walked around the hall, giving orders to the club housekeeper and the famous Feoktist, the head cook of the English club, about asparagus, fresh cucumbers, strawberries, calf and fish for Prince Bagration's dinner. The count, from the day the club was founded, was its member and foreman. He was entrusted from the club with organizing a celebration for Bagration, because rarely anyone knew how to organize a feast in such a big way, hospitably, especially because rarely anyone knew how and wanted to invest their money if they were needed for arranging a feast. The cook and housekeeper of the club, with merry faces, listened to the count's orders, because they knew that under no one, as under him, it was better to profit from a dinner that cost several thousand.
- So look, scallops, put scallops in the cake, you know! “So there were three cold ones? ...” the cook asked. The Count considered. “It can’t be less, three…mayonnaise times,” he said, bending his finger…
- So you will order the big sterlets to take? the housekeeper asked. - What to do, take it, if they do not yield. Yes, you are my father, I had and forgot. After all, we need another entree on the table. Ah, my fathers! He grabbed his head. Who will bring me flowers?
- Mitinka! And Mitinka! Ride on, Mitinka, to the Moscow region, ”he turned to the manager who had come in at his call,“ jump to the Moscow region and tell the gardener to dress up Maximka’s corvée. Tell them to drag all the greenhouses here, wrap them in felt. Yes, so that I have two hundred pots here by Friday.
Having given more and more different orders, he went out to rest with the countess, but remembered something else he needed, returned himself, returned the cook and housekeeper, and again began to give orders. At the door was heard a light, masculine gait, the rattling of spurs, and a handsome, ruddy, with a blackening mustache, apparently rested and well-groomed by a quiet life in Moscow, entered the young count.
- Ah, my brother! My head is spinning,” said the old man, as if ashamed, smiling in front of his son. - If only you could help! We need more songwriters. I have music, but can I call the gypsies? Your military brethren love it.
“Really, papa, I think Prince Bagration, when he was preparing for the battle of Shengraben, was less busy than you are now,” said the son, smiling.
The old count pretended to be angry. - Yes, you talk, you try!
And the count turned to the cook, who, with an intelligent and respectable face, looked observantly and affectionately at father and son.
- What kind of youth is it, Feoktist? - he said, - laughs at our brother old people.
- Well, Your Excellency, they only want to eat well, but how to collect everything and serve it is none of their business.
- So, so, - the count shouted, and merrily grabbing his son by both hands, he shouted: - So that's it, I got you! Now take a twin sleigh and go to Bezukhov, and say that the count, they say, Ilya Andreevich was sent to ask you for fresh strawberries and pineapples. You won't get anyone else. It’s not there yourself, so you go in, tell the princesses, and from there, that’s what, you go to Razgulay - Ipatka the coachman knows - find you there Ilyushka the gypsy, that’s what Count Orlov then danced, remember, in a white Cossack, and bring him here to me.
“And bring him here with the gypsies?” Nicholas asked laughing. - Oh well!…
At that moment, with inaudible steps, with a businesslike, preoccupied, and at the same time Christian meek air that never left her, Anna Mikhailovna entered the room. Despite the fact that every day Anna Mikhailovna found the count in a dressing gown, every time he was embarrassed in front of her and asked for an apology for his costume.
“Nothing, Count, my dear,” she said, meekly closing her eyes. “And I’ll go to the Earless,” she said. - Pierre has arrived, and now we will get everything, count, from his greenhouses. I needed to see him. He sent me a letter from Boris. Thank God, Borya is now at headquarters.
The count was delighted that Anna Mikhailovna was taking part of his orders, and ordered her to pawn a small carriage.
- You tell Bezukhov to come. I'll write it down. What is he with his wife? - he asked.
Anna Mikhailovna rolled her eyes, and deep sorrow expressed on her face ...
“Ah, my friend, he is very unhappy,” she said. “If it’s true what we heard, it’s terrible. And did we think when we rejoiced so much at his happiness! And such a high, heavenly soul, this young Bezukhov! Yes, I feel sorry for him from the bottom of my heart and will try to give him the consolation that will depend on me.
- Yes, what is it? both Rostovs, the elder and the younger, asked.
Anna Mikhailovna sighed deeply: “Dolokhov, Marya Ivanovna’s son,” she said in a mysterious whisper, “they say he completely compromised her. He took him out, invited him to his house in St. Petersburg, and now ... She came here, and this rip off her head, ”said Anna Mikhailovna, wanting to express her sympathy for Pierre, but in involuntary intonations and with a half-smile showing sympathy for the head, as she called Dolokhova. - They say that Pierre himself is completely killed by his grief.
- Well, all the same, tell him to come to the club - everything will dissipate. The feast will be a mountain.
The next day, March 3, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, 250 members of the English Club and 50 guests were waiting for dinner for the dear guest and hero of the Austrian campaign, Prince Bagration. At first, upon receiving the news of the battle of Austerlitz, Moscow was perplexed. At that time, the Russians were so accustomed to victories that, having received the news of the defeat, some simply did not believe, others were looking for explanations for such a strange event in some unusual reasons. In the English Club, where everything that was noble, having the right information and weight, gathered, in the month of December, when the news began to arrive, nothing was said about the war and about the last battle, as if everyone had agreed to keep silent about it. People who gave direction to conversations, such as: Count Rostopchin, Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, Valuev, gr. Markov, Prince. Vyazemsky, did not show up at the club, but gathered at home, in their intimate circles, and the Muscovites, who spoke from other people's voices (to which Ilya Andreevich Rostov belonged), remained for a short time without a definite judgment on the cause of the war and without leaders. Muscovites felt that something was not good and that it was difficult to discuss these bad news, and therefore it was better to remain silent. But after a while, as the jurors were leaving the deliberation room, the aces appeared, giving opinions in the club, and everything spoke clearly and definitely. Reasons were found for that incredible, unheard of and impossible event that the Russians were beaten, and everything became clear, and the same thing was said in all corners of Moscow. These reasons were: the treachery of the Austrians, the bad food of the troops, the treachery of the Pole Pshebyshevsky and the French Langeron, the inability of Kutuzov, and (they spoke quietly) the youth and inexperience of the sovereign, who trusted himself to the bad and insignificant people. But the troops, Russian troops, everyone said, were extraordinary and performed miracles of courage. Soldiers, officers, generals were heroes. But the hero of the heroes was Prince Bagration, who became famous for his Shengraben affair and retreat from Austerlitz, where he alone led his column undisturbed and fought off twice as strong an enemy all day. The fact that Bagration was chosen as a hero in Moscow was also facilitated by the fact that he had no connections in Moscow and was a stranger. In his face, due honor was given to the fighting, simple, without connections and intrigues, Russian soldier, still associated with the memories of the Italian campaign with the name of Suvorov. In addition, in giving him such honors, the dislike and disapproval of Kutuzov was best shown.
- If there was no Bagration, il faudrait l "inventer, [it would be necessary to invent it.] - said the joker Shinshin, parodying the words of Voltaire. Nobody spoke about Kutuzov, and some scolded him in a whisper, calling him a court turntable and an old satyr. recollection of past victories, and Rostopchin's words were repeated that the French soldiers should be excited to fight with high-flown phrases, that the Germans should be logically argued, convincing them that it was more dangerous to run than to go forward; but that the Russian soldiers should only be restrained and asked: be quiet! From all sides were heard more and more stories about individual examples of courage shown by our soldiers and officers at Austerlitz. 5 Frenchmen, he alone loaded 5 guns. They also talked about Berg, who did not know him, that he, wounded in his right hand, took a sword in his left and went forward. Nothing was said about Bolkonsky, and only those who knew him closely regretted that he died early, leaving his pregnant wife and eccentric father.

On March 3, in all the rooms of the English Club there was a groan of talking voices and, like bees on a spring flight, they scurried back and forth, they sat, stood, converged and dispersed, in uniforms, tailcoats and some others in powder and caftans, members and guests of the club. Powder-coated, stockinged and clogged footmen in livery stood at every door and tried hard to catch every movement of the guests and members of the club in order to offer their services. Most of those present were old, respectable people with broad, self-confident faces, thick fingers, firm movements and voices. This kind of guests and members sat in well-known, familiar places and met in well-known, familiar circles. A small part of those present consisted of random guests - mostly young people, among whom were Denisov, Rostov and Dolokhov, who was again a Semenov officer. On the faces of young people, especially military ones, there was an expression of that feeling of contemptuous respect for the elderly, which seems to say to the old generation: we are ready to respect and honor you, but remember that the future is still behind us.
Nesvitsky was right there, like an old member of the club. Pierre, on the orders of his wife, let go of his hair, took off his glasses and dressed in fashion, but with a sad and dejected look, walked through the halls. He, as elsewhere, was surrounded by an atmosphere of people who bowed before his wealth, and he treated them with the habit of kingship and absent-minded contempt.
By age he should have been with the young, by wealth and connections he was a member of the circles of old, respected guests, and therefore he moved from one circle to another.
Among the most significant old men formed the center of circles, to which even strangers respectfully approached to listen famous people. Large circles were formed around Count Rostopchin, Valuev and Naryshkin. Rostopchin talked about how the Russians were crushed by the fleeing Austrians and had to make their way through the fugitives with a bayonet.
Valuev said in confidence that Uvarov was sent from St. Petersburg in order to find out the opinion of Muscovites about Austerlitz.
In the third circle, Naryshkin spoke about the meeting of the Austrian military council, in which Suvorov crowed like a rooster in response to the stupidity of the Austrian generals. Shinshin, who was standing right there, wanted to joke, saying that Kutuzov, apparently, could not learn from Suvorov even this easy art - shouting like a cock; but the old men looked sternly at the joker, giving him the feeling that here and on this day it was so indecent to talk about Kutuzov.
Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov, anxiously, hurriedly pacing in his soft boots from the dining room to the drawing room, hastily and in exactly the same way greeting important and unimportant faces, whom he knew everyone, and occasionally looking for his slender young son with his eyes, joyfully fixed his eyes on him and winked at him. Young Rostov stood at the window with Dolokhov, whom he had recently met and whose acquaintance he cherished. The old count went up to them and shook hands with Dolokhov.
- I beg your pardon, here you are with my good fellow ... together there, together we were heroes ... A! Vassily Ignatich… very old,” he turned to the old man who was passing by, but before he had finished his greetings, everything began to stir, and the footman who came running, with a frightened face, reported: welcome!
There were calls; the foremen rushed forward; the guests scattered in different rooms, like shaken rye on a shovel, crowded into one heap and stopped in a large drawing room at the doors of the hall.
Bagration appeared at the entrance door, without his hat and sword, which, according to club custom, he had left with the porter. He was not in a cap with a whip over his shoulder, as Rostov had seen him on the night before the battle of Austerlitz, but in a new narrow uniform with Russian and foreign orders and with a St. George star on the left side of his chest. He apparently now, before dinner, cut his hair and sideburns, which unfavorably changed his physiognomy. There was something naively festive on his face, which, combined with his firm, masculine features, even gave a somewhat comical expression to his face. Bekleshov and Fyodor Petrovich Uvarov, who had come with him, stopped at the door, wishing that he, as the main guest, would go ahead of them. Bagration was confused, not wanting to take advantage of their courtesy; there was a stop at the door, and finally Bagration still went ahead. He walked, not knowing where to put his hands, shyly and awkwardly, along the parquet floor of the waiting room: it was more familiar and easier for him to walk under bullets on a plowed field, as he walked in front of the Kursk regiment in Shengraben. The foremen met him at the first door, saying a few words to him about the joy of seeing such a dear guest, and without waiting for his answer, as if taking possession of him, they surrounded him and led him into the living room. At the door of the living room it was impossible to get past the crowded members and guests, crushing each other and trying over each other's shoulders, like a rare beast, to examine Bagration. Count Ilya Andreich, the most energetic of all, laughing and saying: “Let me go, mon cher, let me go,” pushed the crowd through, led the guests into the living room and seated them on the middle sofa. Aces, the most honorable members of the club, surrounded the newcomers. Count Ilya Andreich, pushing his way through the crowd again, left the living room and appeared a minute later with another foreman, carrying a large silver dish, which he offered to Prince Bagration. On the dish were poems composed and printed in honor of the hero. Bagration, seeing the dish, looked around frightened, as if looking for help. But in all eyes there was a demand that he submit. Feeling himself in their power, Bagration resolutely, with both hands, took the dish and angrily, reproachfully looked at the count who was offering it. Someone obligingly took a dish out of Bagration's hands (otherwise he would have seemed to intend to keep it like that until the evening and so go to the table) and drew his attention to the verses. “Well, I’ll read it,” Bagration seemed to say, and fixing his tired eyes on the paper, he began to read with a concentrated and serious look. The writer himself took the verses and began to read. Prince Bagration bowed his head and listened.
"Glory to Alexander
And protect us Titus on the throne,
Be a terrible leader and a kind person,
Ripheus in the fatherland and Caesar in the battle field.
Yes, happy Napoleon,
Having learned through experiments what Bagration is,
He does not dare to trouble the Alcides of the Russians more ... "
But he had not yet finished his poems, when the loud butler proclaimed: "The meal is ready!" The door opened, a Polish rumbled from the dining room: “Thunder of victory resound, rejoice, brave Russian,” and Count Ilya Andreich, angrily looking at the author, who continued to read poetry, bowed to Bagration. Everyone got up, feeling that dinner was more important than poetry, and again Bagration went ahead of everyone to the table. In the first place, between the two Alexandrovs - Bekleshov and Naryshkin, which also mattered in relation to the name of the sovereign, they put Bagration: 300 people were seated in the dining room according to rank and importance, who is more important, closer to the honored guest: just as naturally as water spills deeper where the area is lower.
Just before dinner, Count Ilya Andreich introduced his son to the prince. Bagration, recognizing him, said a few awkward, awkward words, like all the words that he spoke that day. Count Ilya Andreich joyfully and proudly looked around at everyone while Bagration spoke with his son.
Nikolai Rostov with Denisov and a new acquaintance Dolokhov sat down together almost in the middle of the table. Opposite them, Pierre sat next to Prince Nesvitsky. Count Ilya Andreich sat opposite Bagration with other foremen and regaled the prince, personifying Moscow cordiality.
His labors were not in vain. His dinners, lean and modest, were excellent, but he still could not be completely calm until the end of dinner. He winked at the barman, gave orders to the footmen in a whisper, and, not without excitement, awaited each familiar dish. Everything was amazing. On the second course, together with the gigantic sterlet (on seeing which Ilya Andreich blushed with joy and shyness), the footmen began to clap corks and pour champagne. After the fish, which made some impression, Count Ilya Andreich exchanged glances with the other foremen. - "There will be a lot of toasts, it's time to start!" - he whispered and took the glass in his hands - he stood up. Everyone was silent and waited for what he would say.
- The health of the sovereign emperor! he shouted, and at the same moment his kind eyes were moistened with tears of joy and delight. At the same moment they began to play: “The thunder of victory is heard.” Everyone stood up from their seats and shouted hurray! and Bagration shouted hurray! in the same voice with which he shouted on the Shengraben field. The enthusiastic voice of young Rostov was heard from behind all 300 voices. He almost cried. “Health of the Sovereign Emperor,” he shouted, “hurray! He drank his glass in one gulp and threw it on the floor. Many followed his example. And the screams continued for a long time. When the voices fell silent, the lackeys picked up the broken dishes, and everyone began to sit down and, smiling at their cry, talk. Count Ilya Andreich got up again, looked at the note lying beside his plate, and proclaimed a toast to the health of the hero of our last campaign, Prince Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration, and again the count's blue eyes were moistened with tears. Hooray! again the voices of 300 guests shouted, and instead of music, choristers were heard singing a cantata composed by Pavel Ivanovich Kutuzov.
“All obstacles are in vain to the Russians,
Courage is a pledge of victory,
We have Bagrations,
All enemies will be at their feet,” etc.
The choristers had just finished, when more and more toasts followed, at which Count Ilya Andreevich became more and more emotional, and even more dishes were beating, and still more shouting. They drank to the health of Bekleshov, Naryshkin, Uvarov, Dolgorukov, Apraksin, Valuev, to the health of the elders, to the health of the manager, to the health of all club members, to the health of all club guests, and finally, separately, to the health of the founder of the dinner, Count Ilya Andreich. At this toast, the count took out a handkerchief and, covering his face with it, completely burst into tears.

Pierre sat opposite Dolokhov and Nikolai Rostov. He ate a lot and greedily and drank a lot, as always. But those who knew him briefly saw that some great change had taken place in him that day. He was silent all the time of dinner, and, screwing up his eyes and wincing, looked around him, or stopping his eyes, with an air of complete absent-mindedness, rubbed the bridge of his nose with his finger. His face was sad and gloomy. He did not seem to see or hear anything going on around him, and he thought of one thing, heavy and unresolved.
This unresolved question that tormented him was the princess's hints in Moscow about Dolokhov's closeness to his wife and this morning the anonymous letter he received, in which it was said with that vile jocularity that is characteristic of all anonymous letters that he sees poorly through his glasses, and that his wife's connection with Dolokhov is a secret only for him. Pierre resolutely did not believe either the hints of the princess or the letter, but he was now afraid to look at Dolokhov, who was sitting in front of him. Every time his gaze accidentally met Dolokhov's beautiful, insolent eyes, Pierre felt something terrible, ugly rising in his soul, and he rather turned away. Involuntarily recalling all the past of his wife and her relationship with Dolokhov, Pierre saw clearly that what was said in the letter could be true, could at least seem true, if it did not concern his wife. Pierre involuntarily recalled how Dolokhov, to whom everything was returned after the campaign, returned to St. Petersburg and came to him. Taking advantage of his revelry friendship with Pierre, Dolokhov came directly to his house, and Pierre placed him and lent him money. Pierre recalled how Helen, smiling, expressed her displeasure that Dolokhov was living in their house, and how Dolokhov cynically praised him for the beauty of his wife, and how from that time until his arrival in Moscow he was not separated from them for a minute.
“Yes, he is very handsome,” thought Pierre, I know him. It would be a special charm for him to dishonor my name and laugh at me, precisely because I worked for him and despised him, helped him. I know, I understand what salt in his eyes this must give to his deceit, if it were true. Yes, if it were true; but I do not believe, have no right, and cannot believe.” He recalled the expression that Dolokhov's face assumed when moments of cruelty were found on him, like those in which he connected the quarterly with a bear and let him into the water, or when he challenged a man to a duel for no reason, or killed the coachman's horse with a pistol. This expression was often on Dolokhov's face when he looked at him. “Yes, he is a bully,” thought Pierre, it doesn’t mean anything to him to kill a person, it should seem to him that everyone is afraid of him, he should be pleased with this. He must think that I am afraid of him. And really I am afraid of him, ”thought Pierre, and again with these thoughts he felt something terrible and ugly rising in his soul. Dolokhov, Denisov and Rostov were now sitting opposite Pierre and seemed very cheerful. Rostov was talking merrily with his two friends, one of whom was a dashing hussar, the other a well-known brat and rake, and occasionally looked mockingly at Pierre, who at this dinner struck with his concentrated, absent-minded, massive figure. Rostov looked unkindly at Pierre, firstly, because Pierre in his hussar eyes was a civilian rich man, the husband of a beauty, in general a woman; secondly, because Pierre, in the concentration and distraction of his mood, did not recognize Rostov and did not answer his bow. When they began to drink the health of the sovereign, Pierre, thinking, did not get up and did not take a glass.