Archaic layers and Islamic views in the Tatar version of Tulyak dastan

Abstract

The Tatar version of the archaic-heroic dastan about Tulyak and Susylu deeply reflects the worldviews of the Turkic peoples, while preserving the poetic significance of Tatar folk art in a peculiar way; contains laconism, heroism, adventure character; handwritten copies of Tulyak convey historical memory, the continuity of generations to the present day. The unexplored Tatar version of dastan as a source of the epic culture of the ethnic group determines the relevance of the stated topic. The article systematizes all known variants of the national version of this folklore piece. The purpose of the article is to determine the originality of the Tatar version of the Tulyak dastan as a whole. As part of the description of the variants, the author gives a detailed description of the texts of the Tatar variants of the dastan, determines that to date only six variants of the Tatar Tulyak have been found; notes the lexical, stylistic, semantic differences between the variants, the time and place of rewriting, etc. features of the texts. He emphasizes that each variant of the Tulyak dastan is equally valuable and has great scientific significance. In addition, the author's scientific interest includes clarifying the role of mythological and religious views of the ethnic group in the book version of the Tulyak dastan; revealing the specifics of Tatar variants of the dastan against the background of versions of other Turkic peoples, in particular, the Bashkir version. The article also notes the vitality of the plot not only in the form of a book version of the epic, but also in the oral work of the Tatars; using the example of the most complete texts, some mythological representations of the Tatars in this work are investigated; attention is drawn to the fact that in the texts, along with Muslim beliefs, traces of archaic elements of the traditional worldview of the ancient Turks are well preserved. The scholarly novelty of the study consists in a comprehensive analysis of all known Tatar variants of the Tulyak dastan, focusing on the reflection of the ethnic worldview in the epic. The source of the study was the Tatar-language texts of the Tulyak dastan, found in different years in places of compact residence of the ethnic group. In the study, the author applied structural-descriptive, textual, and germanicistic research methods. As a result, it is proved that the Tatar Tulyak dastan, expressing and transmitting the spiritual experience and creative consciousness of the people, has its rightful place in the continuous process of epic development. The potential of the topic for further study of the problem is very high.

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