Cultural and Literary Ties of Khorezm and the Volga Region in the 19th – Beginning of the 20th cс. (on the Example of the Manuscript Collections of the Southern Aral Sea Region)

Восток. Афро-азиатские общества: история и современность. 2022. No. 4. P. 125–131.

Anikeeva T.A

The paper is dedicated to the collection of manuscripts, lithographs and early printed books of the Karakalpak Institute of Humanities (Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan) that combines receipts from various sources (these are individual entries from individuals, and the receipts of whole collections associated with the name of a particular collector –for example the so-called “Chimbay collection”). The work on the description of the entire fund, its systematization and compilation of a general catalog of manuscripts was started by the staff of the Karakalpak Scientific Research Institute of Humanities, and subsequently the author of this paper. Many manuscripts and early printed books represent the area of reading of a Muslim of that epoch (19–first half of the 20th century) and are one of the illustrations of the close literary and cultural ties between the Aral Sea region and the Volga region. Among them are such works as “Fiqh” al-Kaydani, “Bakirgan kitabi” and many others that were printed or copied in the Volga region (Kazan) and came to the libraries of Karakum-ishans in Khorezm and used in the educational programs of mektebs and madrasahs. The print and manuscript copies of dastan epic texts (such as “Garip Aşik”, “Köroğlu”, local versions of the “Idige” epic cycle and many others) indicates that the oral tradition of performing dastans connected with the other Turkic folklore (including the Volga region), as well as their written existence, was preserved in Karakalpakstan the 20th century for quite a long time.

Ключевые слова: book culture, Turkic Studies, Collections of manuscripts, arabographic manuscripts and early printed books, Karakalpakstan, Chimbay