Oh, those strange Avars…. History of the Avars

The majestic strict Caucasus is an original nature, breathtaking landscapes, austere mountains and flowering plains. The peoples inhabiting its territory are just as strict, strong in spirit and at the same time poetic and spiritually rich. One of these peoples are people whose nationality is Avars.

Descendants of ancient tribes

Avars is the Russian name for the people who mainly inhabit the north of Dagestan. They call themselves "maarulal", which translates very simply and accurately: "highlanders". The Georgians called them "leks", the Kumyks - "tavlu". Statistics include more than 900 thousand Avars, including 93% of them live in Dagestan. Outside the region, a small part of this people lives in Chechnya, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan. There is also a community of Avars in Turkey. Avars are a nationality that is genetically related to Jews. According to the chronicle, the sultan of ancient Avaria was the brother of the ruler of Khazaria. And the Khazar khans, again according to the annals, were Jewish princes.

What does history say?

In the first mentions in historical manuscripts, these North Caucasian tribes are presented as warlike and powerful. Their place of settlement high in the mountains contributed to a number of successful victories over the Khazars, who settled on the plains. The small kingdom was called Serir, later renamed into Avaria after the king respected in the district. Avaria reached its peak in the 18th century. Subsequently, the Muslim state created the theocratic state Imamat, which existed in this form before joining Russia. Now it is an independent Republic of Dagestan with its own cultural, political and religious features.

The language of the people

Avars are a nationality with their own separate language, which belongs to the Avaro-Ando-Tsez subgroup of the Caucasian group. The southern and northern regions of the territory of residence are characterized by two dialects of their own, differing in some phonetic, morphological and lexical features. Both dialects have a number of dialects characteristic of individual regions of the republic. The literary Avar language was formed in the merger of the two main dialects, although the influence of the northern one still became significant. Previously, the Avars used the alphabet from the Latin graphics, since 1938 the Avar alphabet has been letters based on Russian graphics. The majority of the population is fluent in Russian.

Avar nationality: characteristics of the genotype

The isolation of the place of residence, the spread of warlike tribes throughout the East European Plain, up to Scandinavia, led to the formation of external signs of the Avars, which differ significantly from the main population of the Caucasus. For typical representatives of this mountain people, a purely European appearance with red hair, fair skin and blue eyes is not uncommon. A typical representative of this people is distinguished by high slim figure, wide, medium-profile face, high but narrow nose.

Strict natural conditions of survival, the need to win back from nature and from other tribes arable land and pastures have shaped the staunch and warlike character of the Avars over the centuries. At the same time, they are very patient and hardworking, excellent tillers and artisans.

The life of the mountain people

Those whose nationality is Avars have long lived in the mountains. The main occupation was and remains in these areas and now sheep breeding, as well as all crafts associated with the processing of wool. The need for subsistence forced the Avars to gradually descend to the plains and master agriculture and animal husbandry, which became the main occupations of the plains population. The Avars build their houses along the stormy mountain streams. Their buildings are very interesting and unusual for Europeans. Surrounded by rocks and stones, the houses look like their continuation. An ordinary settlement looks like this: one large stone wall stretches along the street, which makes it look like a tunnel. Different height levels contribute to the fact that often the roof of one house serves as a courtyard for another. Modern influences have not bypassed this nationality either: the current Avars build large three-story houses with glazed terraces.

Customs and traditions

The religion of the people is Islam. Avars are Sunni Muslims. Naturally, Sharia rules dictate all the traditions and family rules that the Avar strictly adheres to. The local people are generally friendly and hospitable, but they defend their beliefs and customs, issues of honor immediately. in these places - the usual thing to this day. The beliefs of the local population are somewhat diluted with some pagan rites - this is often the case in territories whose peoples have led an isolated lifestyle for a long time. In the family, the husband dominates, but in relation to his wife and children, his duty is to show respect and financially provide. Avar women have a persistent character, which they do not hide from their men, and always get their way.

Cultural values

Each Avar, whose people are very attached to their national traditions, reveres their ancestors. Cultural traditions go back centuries. Peculiar melodic songs, incendiary dances and wise tales of Caucasian centenarians were born in the mountainous expanses. Musical instruments of the Avar people - chagchan, chagur, paw, tambourine, drums. The traditional Avar culture is the source and foundation for modern Dagestan art and painting. Living in the distance, far from trade routes and centers, the inhabitants of Avaria made household items, clothes, decorations for themselves and at home with their own hands, from improvised materials. These handicrafts have become real masterpieces, the basis for today's craftsmen.

Avars who glorified their people

(nationality - Avar) - boxer, champion of Russia, prize-winner of the World Boxing Championship, WBA belt holder, champion of the International Boxing Organization.

Amir Amaev is a Dagestan nuclear scientist, the founder of a new scientific direction in the development of nuclear reactors.

Jamal Azhigirey is a master of sports of international class in wushu, a ten-time champion of Russia, a twelve-time champion of Europe.

Fazu Aliyeva - Dagestan folk poetess, was the editor of the magazine "Women of Dagestan".

Rasul Gamzatov is an Avar poet, a member of the Union of many famous and popular songs today.

The list of Dagestan celebrities with world-famous names takes up more than one sheet. They are the true glory of their small but stubborn people.

Avars are one of the numerous peoples of the North Caucasus, living in Dagestan, eastern Georgia and northern Azerbaijan. The total number of people in the world is about a million, more than 900 thousand of them live in Russia.

The ancestors of the Avars inhabited the territory of modern Dagestan from ancient times: one of the Georgian chronicles generally calls a certain Lekos, the great-great-grandson of Noah himself, the progenitor of the Dagestan highlanders.

The first mention of the territory of Serir, inhabited by the ancestors of the Avars, appears in the VI century, and the heyday of the so-called Avar Khanate fell on the XV - XVII centuries. Neither the invasions of the Tatar-Mongol hordes, nor the countless attacks of the Iranian shahs could budge the brave Avars: to this day, representatives of this people live on the lands of their ancestors. More than two hundred years - as part of the Russian state.

General way of life and folk crafts of the Avars

Today, the Avars profess mostly Sunni Islam. Although, perhaps, once the inhabitants of Serir, the ancient Avar state, adhered to Orthodoxy: in the mountainous regions of Dagestan, the ruins of structures similar to ancient Christian churches and chapels have been preserved. There is also an assumption that the cruciform foundation preserved on the territory of the Derbent fortress is the skeleton of a Christian church.

The life of the Avar people has long been determined by the rural community, where close relatives united in the so-called tukhums. Every Avar from childhood knows close relatives included in his tukhum, cousins ​​and sisters, old-timers-aksakals and kunaks of the family, as well as other people who are ready to support them in difficult times. Each Avar tukhum has a name, often coinciding with the name of the founder: grandfather, great-grandfather or more distant ancestor. At the head of the tukhum, as a rule, is the eldest relative in the family, whom the rest of the family must obey unquestioningly.

The features of the area had a great influence on the Avar culture and traditions. Avars have long been engaged in cattle breeding and arable farming. They live in rural villages, consisting of an average of 30-40 houses, on the banks of some mountain stream. However, in Dagestan there are also large settlements with 500 - 600 houses. The center of the aul is a small square with a mosque towering on it.

Among folk crafts, weaving, knitting and felt dressing are still popular among women. Since ancient times, men have been engaged in leather processing, wood and stone carving, blacksmithing and chased crafts. A special place was given to weaponry: craftsmen forged unique silver-plated daggers, gazyrs (receptacles for powder charges), sets for horse harness. At the same time, various women's jewelry, amazingly beautiful metal utensils were also made.

At the end of the 19th century, folk crafts brought world fame to the mountainous Dagestan village of Untsukul, most of whose inhabitants are Avars. Remarkable appearance pipes and cigarette cases, caskets and ink sets, dogwood canes with fine, elaborate copper or silver notches.

The national clothes of the Avars are interesting and original. Men wore a shirt in the form of a special tunic, pants, leather belts. Outerwear - Circassian, beshmet or sheepskin coat. Avar women's clothing includes a strict closed dress, trousers and chokhto - a special headdress in the form of a long cape with an elegant tubular forehead. Silver jewelry - earrings, bracelets, pendants and chains - often made up independent elements, sewn directly to clothes.

Life of the Avars

As among other Caucasian peoples, it is customary for the Avars to be very respectful of older people - especially the elderly, who were given a central place in any company unconditionally.

In a special way, the Avar society observes the traditions of hospitality. So, in each house a special room is set up for male guests - Kunatskaya, a special place in which there are all conditions for accepting a traveler at any time of the day or night. It is curious that before entering the house, the Avar guest must give up all the weapons he has (except for the dagger). This custom has a special symbolic meaning: a person entering the kunatskaya room completely entrusts himself to the owner, who is responsible for his safety.

Guests are seated in places of honor, following the rule of precedence: it is not customary to sit next to each other even father and son, father-in-law and son-in-law, older and younger brothers. At the table there is always a pleasant, polite conversation on common topics, while the owner does not have the right to ask the visitor "on the forehead" about the true purpose of his visit. The guests themselves are also bound by certain rules of etiquette: they cannot tell the hosts about their food preferences, they cannot refuse a gift, they cannot leave the table without asking the host's permission.

Particular attention is paid to the guest when he leaves the house: a ritual that has developed over many centuries requires the hosts to insist on a magnificent and lengthy farewell, and the guests to politely refuse them. In response, the guests sincerely invite the people who sheltered them to visit their house on occasion, and are very offended if there is no return visit: neglecting the invitation is tantamount to a personal insult to the head of the family.

Photo on the main page - panadori.ru

Faces of Russia. "Living Together, Being Different"

The Faces of Russia multimedia project has existed since 2006, telling about the Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together, remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of various Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs "Music and songs of the peoples of Russia" were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs have been released to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a picture that will allow the inhabitants of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a picture of what they were like for posterity.

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"Faces of Russia". Avars. "Wedding character"

General information

Avars- the people of Dagestan, inhabiting the mountainous part of this republic. According to the 2002 census, 758,438 people live here. In total, according to the 2009 census, 912 thousand 90 Avars live in Russia. In addition, about fifty thousand Avars live in the Zakatala and Belokan regions of Azerbaijan.

Avars are an ancient people, already in the 7th century they are mentioned in the “Armenian Geography” by Anania Shirakatsi. The Avar language belongs to the Dagestan branch of the Iberian-Caucasian family of languages. Until 1928, the Avars used the Arabic alphabet, using some additional signs for specific Avar consonants. In 1938, the current alphabet based on Russian graphics was adopted, which compares favorably with the previous ones in that it uses the letters of the Russian alphabet with the addition of only the “I” sign.

The poet Rasul Gamzatov, famous throughout Russia, wrote his works in the Avar language. Many of his poems have folklore roots. For example, those that are included in the popular cycle "Inscriptions on doors and gates." (“Don’t stand, don’t wait, passerby, at the door. You come in or go away quickly”).

Believing Avars profess Islam. For a long time it had to compete with local pagan beliefs. Gradually, some of them acquired a new Islamic coloring, while some survived only in the form of legends and superstitions. But they are also very interesting and can tell a lot about the Avar people. For example, bouduals are spirits patronizing hunting. On the hunt for a person who has committed some kind of sinful act, the spirits throw stones at him. On the contrary, they welcome and treat a normal hunter, that is, a righteous one.

Essays

The softness of the pencil overcomes the hardness of the saber

Avars are the people of Dagestan, inhabiting the mountainous part of this republic. According to the 2002 census, 758,438 people live here. In total, according to the same census, 814,473 Avars live in Russia. In addition, about fifty thousand Avars live in the Zakatala and Belokan regions of Azerbaijan. Avars are an ancient people, already in the 7th century they were mentioned in the “Armenian Geography” by Anania Shirakatsi.

Avars profess Islam. For a long time it had to compete with local pagan beliefs. Gradually, some of them acquired a new Islamic coloring, while others survived only in the form of legends and superstitions. But they are also very interesting and can tell a lot about the Avar people.

They brought the groom to the bride's family

There are legends about Avar wisdom. In general, the Avars know how to find a way out of very difficult situations. Let's listen to one Avar parable.

They brought the groom to the bride's family. He brought a ram and sweets as a gift. The bridegroom's brothers ask:

Why did you choose our sister as your bride?

And the bridegroom answered them with a fairy tale-parable.

A long time ago, a huge and terrible azhdaha dragon captured the only source in Avaria. People were left without water. Women were crying, children were moaning from thirst.

The bravest and strongest horsemen attacked the monster with sabers in their hands, but he swept everyone away with blows from his long tail.

Azhdha built a huge beautiful palace at the source. He fenced it with a palisade and planted the heads of the dead on it.

The people were in despair. Who will defeat the terrible dragon?

At that time, a son was born to a poor widow. He went to drink water from the spring at night. And he gained unprecedented strength, courage and prowess. He saw how ugly the dragon was at the source, and he hated him. And he swore before all the people to free the country from the monster.

His mother, relatives, neighbors and friends dissuaded him for a long time:

You just grew up. Still young. You will die in your prime. Have pity on yourself!

But the young man mounted his horse and went to fight the monster.

The azhdaha dragon sensed it from a distance and roared in a terrible voice:

Who dared to approach the source?!

I want to fight you, damned monster! The young man replied proudly.

The dragon cackled:

Insane! Don't you know that I don't fight with weapons? You must know that there is no one in the world equal to me in strength. To all my opponents, I ask only one question. If he can't answer it correctly, then I'll kill him with one blow of my huge tail!

And if you answer correctly, then I myself will die right there!

Ok, I agree! - the young man answers. - Ask a question!

The dragon roared loudly, and two women appeared in the window of his palace. One is an incredibly dazzling beauty, the other is an ordinary simple woman.

Which one is more beautiful? the dragon asked.

The young man looked at the women and answered:

Better than the one you like best!

You're right! - croaked the dragon and expired.

So Avaria was spared the monster.

The groom finished the fairy tale-parable and said: “I like your sister!”

You're right! exclaimed the brothers of the bride.

And they said the words of prayer for the newlywed:

May Allah bless you, and may He send His blessings to you, and may He unite you in goodness!

A wedding enriched with new customs

Once the conversation about the newlyweds came up in this Avar parable, then it's time to talk about the Avar wedding. Marriage is one of the oldest solemn and important events in a person's life, which marks the creation new family. The Avars have their own wedding customs and traditions that date back to ancient times. They are enriched with new rituals, amusements, ideological content, consonant with modernity, interests different peoples and young people.

But the main thing remains unchanged: weddings serve as a means of transferring cultural traditions, folklore knowledge, social experience and moral norms from generation to generation.

Until the last century, the Avars mainly lived in mountain villages, so folk wedding ceremonies were formed mainly there.

In the past, when concluding a marriage, it was required that the bride and groom come from families of equal nobility, influence and power. Back in the 19th century, the Avars, like many other Dagestan peoples, adhered to endogamy, that is, they tried to marry within their village. The Avars preferred to conclude such marriage unions between close relatives and namesakes.

The strongest was considered a marriage concluded between fellow villagers. Inter-aul marriages of the Avars were not numerous.

As for international marriages, they were extremely rare until the mid-40s of the twentieth century. In the past, the prerogative of concluding a marriage mainly belonged to the parents. And this was especially true for my daughters. Recently, these traditions are not preserved everywhere, for example, in cities there are much more liberties and innovations. But still, when concluding a marriage, nationality, village, region are taken into account.

Sharia marriage (magar) and divorce (talaq) continue to persist in our time and are complemented by civil marriage and divorce.

It is interesting to note that the collection of kalym for the Avars, as well as for some other Dagestan peoples, was not a typical custom. AT modern conditions Adat giving kalyma is increasing and spreading rapidly, which is explained by the improvement in the economic situation of people.

In rural areas, many positive aspects of customs and traditions are preserved to a greater extent, in particular, etiquette emphasizing the status of elders. According to this adat, the younger sister or brother does not marry before the older ones. Marriage between siblings is not allowed.

Currently, the Avars have two types of weddings. The first type, which is followed by the majority of the rural population, is traditional. It is practiced with only minor innovations. In the second type of wedding, modern elements predominate and traditional rites are partially observed.

And the men sing heroic songs

Well, where there is a wedding, there is music, there is singing. Avar music is distinguished by its bright originality. Experts have long noticed that natural minor modes predominate in the music of the Avars, most of all - Dorian. Two-part and three-part meter are widespread. One of the characteristic sizes is 6/8. There are also complex and mixed sizes.

Avar men sing epic-heroic songs. They differ in the three-part structure of the melody. The last parts play the role of introduction and conclusion. And in the middle (recitative warehouse) the main content of the poetic text is stated.

Typical female genre: lyrical song. The female style of vocal performance is characterized by "throat" singing. Solo singing with instrumental accompaniment also prevails.

There are also unison ensemble (female duet) and choral (male) singing. For ancient lyrical songs, a dialogic manner of singing is characteristic. Marching and dance melodies are used as independent works. Women's singing is often accompanied by a tambourine. In addition to national instruments, the Avars widely use the harmonica, button accordion, accordion, balalaika, and guitar. Traditional instrumental ensemble - zurna and drum. The first recordings of Avar folk music were made in the second half of the 19th century.

A few words about the Avar language. It belongs to the Dagestan branch of the Iberian-Caucasian family of languages. The Avars received their written language only after the establishment of Soviet power. Until 1928, the Avars used the Arabic alphabet, using some additional signs for specific Avar consonants. In 1938, the current alphabet based on Russian graphics was adopted, which compares favorably with the previous ones in that it uses the letters of the Russian alphabet with the addition of only the sign I.

Lettering on doors and gates

As you know, the poet Rasul Gamzatov, famous throughout Russia, wrote his works in the Avar language. Many of his poems have folklore roots. For example, those that are included in the popular cycle "Inscriptions on doors and gates."

Don't stand, don't wait, passer-by, at the door.
You come in or away go quickly.

Passer-by, don't knock, don't wake up the hosts,
With evil came - go away
come in with goodness - come in.

Neither early nor late
Do not knock on the door, friends:
And my heart is open for you
And my door.

I am a horseman, and there is only one
I request:
Do not enter if you do not praise
my horse.

But not only horse we want to praise. I would like to praise the anonymous author who composed the instructive Avar tale "The Fox and the Snake".

Once a fox and a snake became friends and decided to wander around the world. For a long time they walked through forests, fields, mountains and gorges, until they came to a wide river where there was no ford.

Let's swim across the river, - suggested the fox.

But I don’t know how to swim at all,” the snake lied.

Nothing, I'll help you, wrap yourself around me.

The snake coiled around the fox and they swam.

It was hard for the fox, but she did not show it and swam, exhausted.

Already at the very shore, the snake began to tightly squeeze the fox with its rings.

What are you doing? After all, you can choke! the fox screamed.

So you need it, - the snake answered.

Well, apparently, death cannot be avoided, - moaned the fox. - I only regret one thing. How many years we have been friends, but I have never seen your face up close. Do me one last favor - let me have a good look at you before you die.

Good. Yes, and I also want to take a last look at you, ”said the snake and brought her head closer to the fox.

The fox immediately gnawed off the snake's head and went ashore.

Here she freed herself from the dead snake and exclaimed:

Don't trust friends who squirm!

It is easy to guess that this thought very soon became an Avar proverb. Here are some more interesting proverbs of the Avar people that are worth winding up:

One word is enough for a good man, one lash for a good horse.

The bee and the fly don't work together.

While the game is still in the mountains, do not put the cauldron on fire.

From one man there will be no army, from one stone there will be no tower.

And here is a very interesting proverb that emphasizes the high role of education, as well as art in Avar society:

The softness of the pencil overcomes the hardness of the saber.

From myself we will add, but only if this pencil falls into talented hands.

Household and life

Traditional occupations are cattle breeding and arable farming. Archeol. and letters. sources testify to the antiquity of origin and developed forms of agriculture in A. In the mountainous regions and foothills, agriculture was combined with cattle breeding, in the highlands the leading role belonged to cattle breeding. They created arts, terraced fields, fortified with stone walls on dry masonry; terracing was combined with a drainage device. They practiced a three-tiered use of plots (corn was planted under fruit trees, beans, potatoes, and vegetables were planted between rows), crop rotation without fallow, and alternation of agricultural crops. cultures. The fields were fertilized with manure and ash. In the mountain valleys, an irrigation system was developed (canals, gutters, trees, self-pumping wheels).

Labor tools: a wooden plow with an iron plowshare, a hoe, a pickaxe, a small scythe, a sickle, threshing boards, shovels, pitchforks, rakes, vil. shovel; in the gardener x-wakh in mountain valleys used a special shovel for manual plowing. Barley, wheat, naked barley, rye, oats, millet, legumes, corn, and potatoes were cultivated.

From tech. crops were sown with flax and hemp. The grain was ground in water mills with a horizontal wheel. In the mountain valleys they were engaged in horticulture and viticulture; there were endemic varieties. Peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, pears, cherry plums, etc. were grown. 19th century - their processing at handicraft canning factories, as well as their export outside the Accident for sale and for exchange for grain. From the best varieties grapes were made to sell wine.

From con. 19th century began to grow onions, garlic, in owls. period - cabbage, cucumbers, tomatoes. In the owls time, zonal specialization has intensified, in a number of districts there are branches of prom. enterprises, canning factories.

It is believed that already in the Bronze Age, cattle breeding on the territory. A. had a sedentary character. Bred small (sheep, goats), as well as kr. cattle, horses, donkeys, mules. Sheep breeding prevailed, especially in the high-mountain districts, a cut already from the 16th century. developed as a commodity industry with geographic. division of labor.

Traditional sheep breeds are coarse-wooled (Andean, Gunib, Avar), in owls. time appeared and fine-fleeced. In the high-mountain zone, distant-pasture cattle breeding prevailed; Ancillary occupations are hunting (wild goats, deer, aurochs, foxes, etc.) and beekeeping (especially in gardening districts).

Home crafts and crafts: women. - weaving (cloth, carpets), wool knitting (socks, shoes), felting, felting, embroidery; husband. - leather processing, stone and wood carving, blacksmithing, copper chasing, weapons, jewelry, wooden utensils. Cloth has been made since antiquity (there are medieval archeological finds) and were considered the best in Dagestan, exported outside of it (especially white ones - in Tbilisi); cloth was replaced by factory fabrics only in the beginning. 20th century There are archeol. finds of the 8th-10th centuries. bronze openwork belt buckles, plaques.

Silversmithing stands out (masters worked for sale and to order), naib. cr. centers - Sogratl, Rugudzha, Chokh, Gotsatl, Gamsutl, Untsukul. They made daggers, gazyrs, harness sets, my husband. and wives. belts, women jewelry (bracelets, rings, chains, plaques, pendants, necklaces, earrings, etc.), in owls. time - also dishes, decomp. Houseware.

Products of the 19th century often repeated older designs. In Gotsatl in 1958 was the main. arts, combine. Metalworking technique: engraving, blackening, filigree (especially laid on), notch, granulation; inserts were used natural stones, colored glass, chains and other type-setting details. In modern In the art of Gotsatl, the blackening technique plays an important role.

From con. XIX - early. XX centuries Products from Untsukul are world famous: household items (pipes, cigarette cases, caskets, canes, sticks, ink sets, boxes, caskets, etc.) made of dogwood with a fine notch (geom. pattern) made of silver, copper, later and cupronickel; in owls time here is open thin. factory.

Main carpet production centers - Khunzakhsky, Tlyaratinsky districts, part of the village. Levashinsky and Buynaksky districts: tufted and lint-free double-sided carpets, smooth double-sided rugs, patterned felt carpets, chibta mats (marsh sedge is added to wool yarn), small carpet products (khurjina saddlebags, saddlers, blankets, pillows, etc. .).

Woodcarving was practiced in almost every village; it was used to decorate window and door frames, columns, poles, balconies, furniture, chests and other utensils and crockery. Main types of thread - contour, flat-silhouette, trihedral-shaped. Facades of residential buildings, mosques, tombstones were decorated with stone carvings. Carvers from it were especially famous.

Rugudzha, Chokha, Kuyadinsky farms (Gunibsky district). Traditional motifs of the ornament - stylized images of animals, astral symbols, geometric, floral, ribbon patterns, wickerwork.

One of the most numerous and most ancient peoples of the Caucasus is the Avars. They live in Dagestan, as well as in Chechnya, Kalmykia, eastern Georgia and Azerbaijan - about a million people in total. Avars are proud of their history: after all, their ancestors lived in the Caucasus in the Neolithic period, and the language of modern Avars, which existed from time immemorial, did not disappear, unlike many languages ​​​​of the Dagestan-Nakh group.

History of the Avars

The history of the emergence of the Avars is complex and has not been fully elucidated to date. One of the ancient Georgian chronicles tells the biblical version of the birth of this people: it names the great-great-grandson of Noah, Lekos, as the ancestor of all the highlanders of Dagestan. One of the sons of Lekos, Khozonih, founded a city in a mountain gorge and named it after himself, Khozanikheti. It is believed that this is a distorted word Khanzakh - the ancient capital of the Avar khans.

If you do not delve into the complex ups and downs of the history of numerous nomadic peoples living in Eurasia thousands of years ago and constantly forming new ethnic groups, then the history of the Avars can be briefly told like this. Thousands of years BC the ancestors of the Avars were nomads, but around the third millennium BC. they began to lead a settled way of life, raise cattle and engage in agriculture. The life of the Avar tribes (the ancient sources mention the Savars tribes, which, most likely, were the ancestors of the modern Avars) took place in the mountains, in relative isolation from other tribes and peoples, which made it possible to preserve not only the language and distinctive external features people, but also many traditions and customs.

In the first millennium of our era, the kingdom of Sarir is mentioned in the Arab chronicles, in its place a little later the Avar Khanate was formed. It was a union of independent tribes and societies, which united under the leadership of the khan only in case of military necessity. The Avar Khanate existed until the 18th century, being dependent on neighboring Iran for the last several centuries. By the time the khanate joined Russia in 1813, the Avars had their own script, similar to Arabic, and professed Sunni Islam. AT early XIX centuries, the Avars took part in the war, in which, under the leadership of Shamil, the highlanders tried to defend their freedom. However, the Avars began to actively consolidate as a people after the formation of the Dagestan ASSR in 1921.

Religion of the Avars

Today, the vast majority of Avars are Sunni Muslims. Interestingly, the already mentioned medieval state of Sarir in the Caucasus chose Orthodox Christianity as its official religion. There is an opinion that before the adoption of Islam, a small part of the ancestors of the Avars professed Judaism, but there is no sufficient evidence for this. Be that as it may, Islam began to penetrate the territory of modern Dagestan already in the 7th century AD, and finally settled here around the 15th century.

Modern Avars

The number of the Avar people is growing rapidly. The All-Russian population census of 2002 showed that over the last few decades of the 20th century, the number of Avars in Russia increased by 2.5 times. In Avar families, it is customary to have several children, so the birth rate is constantly growing. Increasingly, Avars are leaving villages for cities, but, interestingly, this people practically does not assimilate with other peoples: marriages of Avars with Russians or representatives of other Caucasian nationalities are very rare. Modern Avars, like their distant ancestors, are successfully engaged in agriculture, winemaking, bred goats and sheep. They honor their national and cultural traditions, many know the Avar language - in general, they do everything to ensure that the Avars as a people exist for many more centuries.

Avars. Who are they?

The peoples that have left the historical arena often did not leave behind memoirs, written monuments, even documents. Often the only evidence of their life is archaeological evidence. So it happened in the study of the history of one of the "disappeared peoples" - avar, a Hun tribe that was part of the tribal union of the Xiongnu, and then the Bulgars, Khazars and Pechenegs, in which much remains mysterious.

For the first time they are mentioned in the history of the Caucasus (Dagestan, "beyond the Caspian gates") in the VI century. together with the Bulgars, Savirs and Khazars. And almost two and a half centuries Avars, settled as a result Great Migration peoples in the area Carpathian basin(current Transdanubia, Central Hungary, Transylvania), possessed here a strong political power. In the ninth century they left the historical arena - they disappeared among other peoples. AT Hungarian there is absolutely no information about them in the chronicles. Determine the ancient territory of the settlement of this tribe and imagine it everyday life locals help us Byzantine and latin (Frankish) chronicles, as well as archeological data. They are also known to Russian chronicles and, in particular, to "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (IX century) in the following context: " Ovarian helmets are pierced with red-hot sabers: ", i.e. helmets made by the Avars - a tribe known in Russian chronicles under the name owre/owry.

Who were the Caucasian and European Avars?

About the names (ethnonyms) Avars

origin of name avar/awar remains undetermined to this day. There are different points of view.

Avaz/Abaz(M.I. Artamonov) - the name of the Khazar clan. It is possible that phonetically it represents a later version of the name avar, Similarly ogur - oguz; cm. avar.

Avar (Avyr/Abar/Augar/Havur/Aviyor/Agiyor/Avaz/Abaz) - the name of the Khazar and Bulgar clans according to Syrian and other sources (Artamonov, Tsegledi).

Of the existing etymologies, the most probable are the Old Turkic:

1) awa- "resist, resist, rebel" + -ar/-r-actor name affix -> awar"resisting, rebel" - the name of the genus by analogy bulgar with the same meaning: bulga-"mix, revolt" -> bulga-r"rebel" (Yu. Nemeth, Munkachi);

2) av- "destroy, devastate" + -ar/-r- affix of the name of the actor -> av-ar"destroyer, destroyer" (Pello);

3) qabar (qawar, habar, hawar, awar) - qap-"attack, grab" + ar- affix of the name of the actor -> qabar-hawar-awar"forward" - the name of the tribe (O. Pritzak).

It is also possible that the name Avar (Avyr, Khabyr) is a phonetic version of the name ogur (ogur). The Kipchak and Oghuz tribes could call Oghurs Avars. It is possible that variants of names of this genus -aviyor, agyor, augar- are intermediate forms of adaptation: ogur-agiyor-ovur-aviar(A.N. Baskakov).

Origin of the Avars

The origin of the Avars is a subject of debate. On the issue of their origin and identification, there are the following hypotheses:

a) Avars- these are the tribes that came out of Central Asia and are known under the name Juan-Juan;

b) they belonged to the Ural-Altaic (Finno-Turkic-Mongolian) tribe (Uslar);

c) Avars - a tribe of the Ural-Altai race related to the Huns, which appeared after the fall of the Huns' rule on the Don and on the coasts of the Caspian Sea, north of the Caucasus, about 555 penetrated the Danube and settled in Dacia (Encyclopedia of Brockhaus F.A.);

d) Avars are a tribal union, mainly of Turkic-speaking tribes who lived on the Volga and the Caspian Sea. One of the three branches of a single Turkic group (Avars, Khazars, Bulgars);

e) Avars (obry) - one of the three Turkic-speaking branches tribal union Avars, Khazars and Bulgarians;

f) Avars - Mongols (Pello);

g) Avars - a mixture of Turks and Mongols (I. Erdeli);

3) Avars - a Caucasian-speaking tribe, the ancestors of modern Avars (Yu. Klaprot, A.-K. Bakikhanov, T. Aitberov, M. Aglarov, M.G. Magomedov);

As we see, even in modern times opinions regarding the origin of the Avars are still very different. Therefore, one cannot claim a final solution of the question of the origin of the Avars on the basis of still insufficient facts, but these latter, undoubtedly, should be revealed for future researchers.

Avars in the Caucasus

The Avars are first mentioned here (the steppes of the Western Caspian Sea) in sources from the middle of the 6th century. We have in mind the testimony of the Syrian author Zechariah Rhetor (VI century). He names among the 13 Turkic tribes living "beyond the Caspian Gates" "Bulgars" (Burgars), Avars/Avgars/Avangurs ("people living in tents"), Sabirs, Khazars (N.V. Pigulevskaya). The Khazars themselves, according to the letter of Tsar Joseph, considered themselves related to other peoples and tribes of the “Hunnic” circle: Avars, Bulgars and Savirs, Barsils (Kokovtsov P.K. Jewish-Khazar Correspondence in the 10th century L., 1932. C .74). In this regard, the assumption of the historian M. Artamonov (History of the Khazars, p. 140-141) that Semender was originally a camp uar-hunnic tribe "zebender". This tribe was subsequently noted among the Avars in the Danube region. According to the American Turkologist P. Golden, the Avars in the Volga-Northern Caucasian steppes accepted some Bulgar (Oghur) tribes (clans) into their union.

According to Karamzin and other historians, the Avars were a powerful people. In 568, the possessions of the Avars extended from Elbrus to Ateli (Volga). The Avars did not have a numerical superiority over the local tribes, but it was not by chance that they had the opportunity to command other peoples ... The Avar cavalry was armed with excellent bows, and their arrows with narrow triangular tips struck to death at a distance of 500 meters. From 200 meters, Avar arrows even pierced armor made of metal and thick cowhide. It was difficult to survive under an avalanche of arrows - Avar archers were able to fire 20 arrows per minute!

Not only weapons, but also the armor of the Avar horsemen and horse harness were better than those of their enemies. Thanks to the iron stirrups, the Avars held firmly in the saddle, despite the heavy equipment. Although the Avars were a fairly strong tribal association, it left an insignificant mark on the Caucasus and the Ponto-Caspian steppes.

In science, the opinion was established that the Avars allegedly almost all of their mass went to Europe. This has never happened, a part, of course, left, a part (albeit insignificant) always remained. So, in all likelihood, it happened with the Avars. This is evidenced, in particular, historical facts, Thus, according to the source used by Ibn Rust, who wrote around 900, "malik (Sarira) is called Avar". Gardisi gives an option Avaz(see above). Based on these meager data, some scholars conclude that the dynasty of rulers (the ruling class) of one of the possessions here, namely Sarira, could consist of alien conquerors of the 6th century BC. those. from the Avars (V.F. Minorsky).

According to Rashid ad-Din, it is known that during the period of the Mongol invasion in Primorsky Dagestan, in the foothills there was "region of Avir". And the historians of Timur, speaking of his campaign in Dagestan in 1396, mention the region Auhar. And at the beginning of the XV century. (1404), along with the Kumyks, some Avars are mentioned here by John de Galonifontibus.

Perhaps indirectly related to the Avars in the Caspian Sea (Kumykia) is the information contained in the ethnogenetic legends of the Kumyk guens, who inhabited the lands between Chiryurt and Gamri with the center in Ikhran / Chiryurt during the Timur campaigns. So, "according to legend, at the same time as the Khazars, the guens appeared on the Kumyk plane, and then the tumens. The guens considered themselves descendants of the Khazars." P. Golovinsky believed that the gouins - descendants of the Aur-Huns. The Huns who settled on the lower reaches of the Kumyk plane, in his opinion, are guens. (From the manuscript of P. Golovinsky. Terek Gazette. 1873. No. 75). To this we add that, according to the Hungarian scientist K. Tsegledi, Ovar and Xonuvi were two tribal groups: var and xuni, which formed the state of Avar (Avar state). During the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols and Timur, these guens were driven back to the foothills. Then the guins occupied the territory of the foothills and constituted a large tribe, had their own princes" (Weidenbaum).

At the end of the XVI century. (1574-1586) Turkish sources mention for the first time: "Avar Hakimi Nusal" (ruler of Avara Nusal) and " Avar Hakimi Tucalav Burhanettin"(ruler of Avar Tujalav Burkhanettin). The latter was the brother of Chopan-shauhal (Ullu Shauhal) of Tarkovsky. In "Nusret-name" he is presented as "Avar Zabiti Tucalav Bek" ("the conqueror of Avar Tujalav Bek").

At an even later time (the end of the 16th - the beginning of the 17th centuries), in the documents of Russian-Kumyk relations, "Avar/Uvar owners", "Uvar big" and "Uvar small" possession. The carriers of the Turkic (Avar) ethnonym and the Turkic language in the XVI-XVII centuries. was the ruling elite of the Gumbetovites (Arguanians) and Chechens - the Turlov princes. But we will discuss this in more detail in another section.

Avars in Europe

Avar envoys came to Europe in 558. They turned to Alanian ruler Sarosiya to ask with his assistance Byzantine the emperor to let them into the territory of the empire. Soon Avar embassy headed by Kandikom, arrived in Constantinople. Appearance avar in the Byzantine capital aroused great interest, because colored ribbons were woven into the hair of men - a characteristic dress of nomads.

Appearing before the emperor, the ambassador said: "People have come to you avar, the largest and most powerful of nations. He can easily repel and destroy the enemy, so it is beneficial for you to make an alliance with Avars: in them you will find reliable defenders.

In the VI century. Byzantium was a powerful power and largely determined the course of European events. rival Byzantine Empire was a power francs. King Franks Theudebert in alliance with Lombards and Gepids wanted to oppose Byzantium. These intentions were not destined to come true because of the enmity between the Lombards and the Gepids.

At the same time this happened significant event like relocation to Carpathian swimming pool Slavic tribes that posed a serious military threat to Byzantium, especially after their merger with horse nomads-Kutrigurami who lived in Northern Black Sea region.

In the current Byzantine emperor of the political situation Avars were a useful ally. After concluding an agreement with them, he sent avar against kutrigur related to them utigur and eastern Slavs with which they fought successfully. After that, the emperor offered them land on the territory of modern Serbia. However, these lands did not like Avaram. They asked for themselves Dobruja lying along Danube coasts: the flat territory was more satisfying for the nomads. But here, too, they did not stay long. Making an alliance with Lombards against Gepids and having defeated them, they moved to Pannonia, for, under the terms of this alliance, in case of victory Lombards had to leave this area. And so it happened.

Byzantine the emperor was in the hands of defeat Gepids. After their fall, he immediately occupied their capital, which was located in the territory ancient Sirmium, which caused, however, a long Byzantine-Avar feud.

Avar Khaganate and its neighbors

By 567, the Avars were masters of Pannonia. Settled in new territory Avars created a new state association - Avar Khaganate.

Their leader was the first ruler kagan Accordion . He was subject to many tribes living here, including Slavs and gepids. Almost a century of power kagan spread to part of the territory of the southern Russian steppe inhabited by nomads. In addition, at the end of the VI century. in Avar Khaganate joined the persecuted Turks tribes Kutrigurs, tarniahs and zabenders.

At this time, the Byzantines in their eastern outskirts were at war with Persians. This circumstance favored the avar: together with Slavs they are in the 70-80s of the VI century. made devastating raids on the lands lying downstream Danube owned by Byzantium. The latter, however, after the victory over the Persians in 591, ousted for some time avar With Balkan territories.

Subsequently Avaro-Byzantine skirmishes took place with varying success. Troops Khagan Bayan reached Constantinople, but it happened that Byzantines turned them back, and part of the kagan's troops went over to the side of the enemy.

Western neighbors avar also were not peaceful. In 595, in alliance with Slovenians they had to fight Bavarian tribes, and then with francs.

The 7th century was no less turbulent. On the western border Avar lands Slavs headed by Frankish merchant Samo created a short-lived (623-658) state that united Czechs, Moravians, Slovenes etc. Their rebellion against avar was crowned with success. Moreover, in 631 they managed to defeat francs. But the state collapsed immediately after death Samo.

At that time Avar Khaganate is experiencing a severe internal crisis associated with the end of the dynasty Bayana. In order to seize the golden throne of the kagan Kutriguro-Bulgarians raised an uprising within the country, suppressed Avars. Thereby Kutriguro-Bulgarians were driven from the land kaganate.

At the end of the 70s of the 7th century. Proto-Bulgarians(not to be confused with modern Bulgarians - ed.) settled along the Danube and created their own state association, which supported until the 9th century. friendly relations with Avars. Moreover, as reported in one of Byzantine chronicle, one of the sons Bulgarian Khan Kuvrat(sometimes his name is pronounced Kubrat - ed.) after education in the southern Russian steppes Khazar Khaganate was forced to relocate with his people to Avar territory. This gives some reason to believe that Proto-Bulgarians ethnic type changed avar which is confirmed by the archaeological material.

Ethnogenesis of European Avars

It has already been said above that the Avars, according to one of the hypotheses, are the descendants of the Zhuan-Zhuan, whose nomadic empire at one time also included the Turks. According to another hypothesis, they came from Central Asia and their ancestors were Varhonites; the latest version is allegedly confirmed by the fact that on the territory of Hungary the names of some villages have the root "varkon". Overcoming in the middle of the VI century. vast territories, the Avars brought other ethnic elements with them to the Carpathians: Iranians from the Volga region, Bulgars (Kutrigurs) from the southern Russian steppes. Thus, the Avars themselves initially were not a "pure", but an ethnically mixed people. Customs to arrange large burial grounds, to bury horses separately from a person indicate that there were Mongoloids among the newcomers, while "partial" burials of horses (only legs and a skull) are about Iranian customs. Reconstruction of skulls from some burial grounds of the Avar era allows us to attribute them to the Mongoloids. But in other cemeteries, this type is rare, and in others belonging to the same era, it is completely absent: only Caucasoids (Northern European, Mediterranean, East Baltic types) were buried in them.

Among the ancient population of Central Hungary were the descendants of the Sarmatians and the population of the ancient Roman provinces, who lived here even before the arrival of the Avars - the Avars married with all of them. If we add to this the Slavic influence, it turns out that in the VI-IX centuries. an ethnically mixed population lived in the Carpathian basin, united by the name Avars or Obrovs, as they called themselves. This is the conclusion reached by Istvan Erdeli, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Head of the Archeology Sector of the Early Middle Ages at the Institute of Archeology of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. But this conclusion can hardly be considered final.

And what language did the Avars speak, and what kind of writing did they use? These are the questions without an answer to which it is hardly possible to correctly identify them ethnically.

Avars: language and writing

Very little is known about the Avar language. We can get some idea about it only by personal names and titles, although both names and titles could not be of Avar origin.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Avars knew the runic script, they carved and scratched out various spells to protect themselves from troubles, and nominal signs of property (tamgas) on various objects. However, we have no evidence that this script was used in correspondence or in the creation of literary monuments.

It has been established that the runic writing, well known from the Orkhon, Yenisei, Talas, Kazakhstan, North Caucasian, Volga-Don, Balkan and Danube written monuments, was used in ancient times by Turkic tribes living on a vast territory from Mongolia to the Balkans. In all likelihood, the Avars also used it. And that's why. In 1799, in the village of Nagy Saint Miklos on the Aronika River (Torontal region in northern Romania), in an area inhabited by a mixed Hungarian-Romanian-Bulgarian population, a treasure was discovered during archaeological excavations - an iron chest with 23 gold vessels with a total weight of 9 kg 945 g, some of which had runic and Greek inscriptions. The magnificent find was first dated to the end of the 4th - beginning of the 5th century and was declared a Hunnic or Hunnic-Bulgarian property, and more specifically, a service of the legendary Hunnic leader Attila (J. Hampel, 1885; Mladenov, 1934). Others, having dated the treasure to the era of the Proto-Bulgarians, put forward the opinion that these golden vessels were Bulgarian and were stolen from the tomb of the Bulgar king Asparuh (Dimitrov, 1929; Mladenov, 1934). Still others attributed it to the VIII-IX or later centuries and recognized it as the property of the Avars (Tsalani, 1956), Pechenegs (Thomsen, 1917) or, first, the Pechenegs, and then the Kumans (Nemeth, 1932).

The question of the ethnicity of the inscription on the bowl from the "Attila's treasure" was put to rest in our time in his recent article "The Avar inscription on the vessel from the treasure of Nagy-Saint-Miklós" (2007) by the Moscow scientist O. Mudrak, who on the basis of a thorough study, he established that it was written in the Avar dialect of the Bulgar (Turkic) language. However, back in 1916, the Hungarian scientist Z. Gombots was the first to come to the conclusion about the Türkic-speaking Avars, who subjected the Avar problem to a critical examination. This conclusion was subsequently documented by the Hungarian Turkologist J. Nemeth, who compiled a list of words that have survived from the language of the European Avars and have a reliable scientific interpretation.

Thus, we can state that "the Avars were of Turkic origin and spoke approximately the same Turkic dialect as the tribe of Attila, very close to the language of the Orkhon inscriptions" (Yu. Nemeth). In addition, scientists (O. Mudrak and others) came to another no less significant conclusion within the framework of the problem we are considering: a huge number of Bulgarisms in the Hungarian language (about 300 words) is not the result of a fleeting contact during the resettlement of Hungarians to a new homeland , but is a reflection of the Avar substrate in Transylvania and Pannonia. Indeed, from the 6th to the beginning of the 9th century, the main domain of the Avar Khaganate was located in these territories. The nomadic population of the main ethnic group that disappeared "like obras" simply joined the new community of Hungarian settlers and left more than a hundred words during the gradual assimilation.

Fall of the Avar Khaganate

On the internal situation of the Avar Khaganate from the end of the 7th century. until the end of the 8th century. there are almost no data in written sources. The growing power of the Franks, headed by Charlemagne in 768, gradually subdued an increasing number of the peoples of Europe to its influence. The Saxons and some Slavic tribes were conquered. Forced Christianization of the population was carried out.

The Avars were the most dangerous opponents for the Franks. Therefore, at first they tried to establish friendly relations with them. To do this, they exchanged embassies: in 780, Avar ambassadors arrived in Worms, and then the Frankish embassy visited the kaganate.

Nevertheless, in 788 the Bavarian prince Tassilo managed to conclude an alliance with the Avars against the Franks. However, their army was defeated. Then Karl developed a plan for the final reprisal against the Avars. To do this, he previously fortified a number of cities, including the border Regensburg.

In 791, the Franks opposed the Khaganate. Crown Prince Pepin, who led his army from Italy, captured one of the Avar fortresses. The main forces of the Franks, led by Charles, moved east along the Danube. At Regensburg, the Franks built a bridge across the Danube to constantly provide their troops from the rear. The defeated, but not completely conquered, Saxons decided to support the Avars, sent an embassy to them, and then raised an uprising in their homeland, in the rear of the Franks. However, this could no longer save the Avars, since strife began in the kaganate itself.

During the internal turmoil, the yugur was killed, and later the kagan himself. In 795, the Tudun was already trying to convert to Christianity, and in connection with this he sent ambassadors to the Franks. In 796, he personally arrived in Aachen - the capital of Charlemagne and swore allegiance to the king.

In the same year, the Frankish army, led by Pepin, captured the residence of the Avar Khagans, apparently located near the river. Yews. Many Avars fled for Tisa, but even more were captured. The Franks won a complete victory, which eliminated the political independence of the Avar Khaganate. Wagon trains with treasures accumulated by the Avars over the centuries went to Aachen.

In one Byzantine source of the ninth century. curious details about the reasons for the decay of the late Avar society have been preserved; these are the stories of old Avar warriors who were in Bulgarian captivity at Khan Krum. The Khan asked them: "What do you think, why were your masters and your people ruined?" They answered as follows: “At first, because of a quarrel that deprived the kagan of faithful and truthful advisers, power fell into the hands of wicked people. Then the judges, who were supposed to defend the truth before the people, were corrupted, but instead they fraternized with hypocrites and thieves; drunkenness, and the Avars, having weakened physically, also lost their minds. Finally, the passion for trade began, the Avars became traders, one deceived the other, brother sold brother. This, our lord, became the source of our shameful misfortune.

Nevertheless, the Avars did not resign themselves to defeat for a long time. In 797 they rebelled, and the Franks were forced to repeat the campaign, again crowned with success. At the end of 797, the Avar ambassadors again swore allegiance to Charlemagne. However, the uprising rose again in 799, and in 802 Frankish officials were killed. These were the last outbreaks: the Franks won not only by force of arms, but also by a new worldview. In 798, a bishopric was established in Salzburg, which preached the Christian religion to the Avars. In 805, the kagan himself accepted the new faith.

Avar (Turkic) heritage

The Avars actively contacted the Germanic tribes, the ethnonym "Bavarians" (German. bajuwaren), according to one version, literally means "white Avars" or " noble Avars", although the connection of the Avars with modern Bavarians is quite controversial and is usually denied. Medieval name for the Greek city of Pylos "Navarino" goes back to the combination "eis ton Avarinon" ("to where the Avars", "to the Avars"), a modern Albanian city Antivari was formerly known as Civitas Avarorum"(translated from Latin "community of Avars", "state of Avars"). Austrian historians regard the Principality "Avarenmark", formed after the collapse of the Avar Khaganate as the foundation of the Austrian statehood. Hungarian historians do not deny, as we wrote above, the significant role of the Avars, as well as the Hunno-Bulgars, Kuman, in the ethnogenesis of the Hungarians. The Hungarian scholar Thury considered, for example, the Hungarian-speaking population Transylvania , sekels ( shokei) used in the XV-XVII centuries. in runic writing, Avars, and as proof he cited the Avar names of their settlements Zala/Sala(compare with sala-ozdenler among the Kumyks and Salasuv, Salatav), Baramia, Vas, Vespren, Gilyagi, Arat. Another Hungarian scientist N. Balint considered them, like the Kuns, to be Türks from the "Huns of Attila". Russian ethnologist N.E. Rudensky (Hungarians // Races and peoples, Issue 14. M. 1984. P. 234) considers them (sekei, Hung. szekely, in it. Transcription - sekler) already as an ethnographic group of Hungarians. He also identifies a number of Hungarian groups that once separated themselves from the Székelys, now uniting under the common name chango (csango) and haydu (haydu). The last of them is close in origin and character to the Russian Cossacks, Yugoslav haiduks and kaitaks in Dagestan. Here on the Danube there is even an area Heidushag(Haidu homeland).

Not episodic, in all likelihood, was the appearance of Avars in the Caucasus, in Dagestan, as it may seem at first glance. In this sense, we should not be misled by the kaleidoscope of ethnic names, their frequent change in the North Caucasus and southern Russia in the early Middle Ages. It can be explained not so much by the displacement of some peoples by others, but by the spread of the name of the people who headed this or that union of Turkic tribes to the peoples that entered this union. So, under the name of the Khazars, whose power was established in the North Caucasus from the end of the 7th century. not only the Khazars could be hiding, but also the remnants of the Huns, Avars, Savirs, some of the Bulgars, etc. The same, obviously, was with the Polovtsy, who established themselves here in the 11th-12th centuries. In their composition, in all likelihood, were not only the Huns, but also the Khazars, Avars. Somewhat later, they, in all likelihood, became part of the Kumyks, Balkars, Karachays, taking part in their ethnogenesis. Moreover, it is obvious that they also played a peculiar role of "Varangians" in the historical destinies of some peoples of the Caucasus. For example, Avars (self-name - maarulal), Kabardians, etc. Let's try to understand some ethnic twists and turns and transformations.

Avars and Avars: the mystery of the ethnic name

Stable ethnopolitonym "avar/ovar/uvar" known in Russian historical sources in Dagestan since the end of the 16th century . But only at the beginning of the 19th century, it seems at the suggestion of the Russian Caucasian scholar Yu. Klaprot, a discussion arose among scientists about the possible relationship of the Dagestan Avars and "disappeared" avar . This scientist believed that the official name of the Avars is a memory of the medieval Avars, who, after the destruction of their kingdom, retired to the Caucasus, founded a new state and moved from local population, retaining only some names and words. This hypothesis was subsequently supported (some partially, and some with reservations) by a number of other researchers (P. Uslar. J. Markvart, K. Menges, O. Pritsak, V. F. Minorsky, M. G. Magomedov, T. M. Aitberov, M. Gadzhiev), who classify the ethnic term "awar ~ auhar", historically assigned to the Dagestan Avars, as part of the Avars' heritage, while recognizing the infiltration of part of the Avars into the mountainous Caucasian-speaking environment as quite acceptable. This may indicate, in their opinion, a direct connection between the two peoples. However, this assumption is not supported by historical data and is hardly justified. Language Danube Avars was, as already proven today (see above), Turkic , and at Dagestan Avars - a kind of Caucasian. ancient name Dagestan Avars - maarulal - also rejects the relationship of these two peoples. Let's not forget that the name Avars completely alien to themselves, the so-called Avars; so the Kumyks call them and from them the name passed to the Russians: The Avars themselves, not having a common native name for themselves, call themselves differently, depending on where someone comes from: "(See: N.V. A few words about the Avars / / Collection of information about the Caucasian highlanders. Issue II. Tiflis 1869. S.V.) Let us recall that J. Gildenstedt was still in late XVIII century, referring to the Khunzakh possession, noted that " Tatars and Persians call this district Auarom, the owner of his name in Lesgi (in Avar - ed.) Mutsal or Nutsal Aur Khan, Russians Awarian Khan"(DIRSEA, p.223). Academician P.K. Uslar also pointed out that "this name, alien to the highlanders ("Avars"), referred "exclusively to Khunzakh" (Uslar P.K. Ethnography of the Caucasus. Linguistics. Tiflis. 1889. P.7).

But a natural question arises: why did the Kumyks call this Caucasian people by this name, which until the beginning of the 20th century was itself. continued to name maarulal? If they are not Avars-Türks, then where and why did this ethnonym get attached to them, and the ethnopolitonym "Avaria" was attached to the Khunzakh possession? Reasonable! Why, then, in the Avar language, the abundance of Turkic toponyms and words, and rather archaic ones at that? Why did the Avars love and still love Turkic names and surnames - Karagishi, Aitber, Temir, Arslan, Alklych, and others? Where did the Oguzilal, Shamkhalov, Gunaev, Mazharov, Ataev, Alikhanov, Aldamov family come from? How did the name of the ancient Turkic deity "Tengri" (Dingir-Dangarchu) penetrate to them? How did they get the titles of beks and chunks, khans? And most importantly, how to explain the fact that the representatives of the ruling class and part of the population were the carriers of the actual Avar (Turkic) ethnonym (Avar) for several centuries (XVI-XIX) "Big Uvarskiy"(Khunzakh and Gumbet) and "Less Uvarsky"(later known as the Chechen possession, from the name of their main settlement) possessions in the North-Eastern Caucasus. Too many questions? Where and what is the mystery here?

The origin of this name, as the orientalist V.F. Minorsky, a difficult question. At first glance, it is easy to associate it with the name of the conquering Turks (Avars). This point of view was adhered to by the above-mentioned orientalist, leaning towards a kind of "Varangian" theory. But the question, in his opinion, is complicated by indications that the Avar rulers received their titles from the Sassanids. Of course, we are not talking about the people themselves ( ma'arulal), who has long lived in Dagestan, but only about the dynasty of its rulers, which, following the example of many countries, could be aliens(V.F. Minorsky. History of Shirvan and Derbend. M.1963. P.133.). The same version, obviously, was supported as early as the beginning of the 20th century. and E. Kozubsky, who pointed out that the Avars themselves knew this name "only in the political sense, to designate a resident of the former Avar Khanate, but not in the ethnic sense" (See: Kozubsky E. Dagestan collection. Temir-Khan-Shura. 1902 Issue 1. P.42).

As we see, exactly ethnopolitonym Avar, coinciding with our modern name, and is the basis for the assumption about the connection of the current Avars, or rather, their old ruling class with the conquering Turks. However, one cannot claim a final resolution of the issue of the origin of the name of the Avars on the basis of still insufficient facts, but these latter, undoubtedly, should be revealed for future researchers.

Today, it seems to us, the only reliable and indisputably documented genealogies of the Avar khans do not exist. As for their genealogical identification, there are the following versions:

a) they are descended from the Sasanian Shahs of Iran;

b) they are the descendants of the Khazars who settled near Chir-yurt (Inscription on the margins of an Arabic book owned by Gamzat Tsadasa);

c) they are descendants of the Huns (and Magyars) (Klaproth, Uslar, Moor);

d) they are the descendants of the Altai Avars (Bakikhanov, Uslar, Aitberov, Aglarov);

e) the sultans of Avaria were from the clan of Sultan Orus (M. Rafii, N. Yakovlev);

f) they descended from a descendant of the grandson of Orus Khan Dzhanibek (M. Tynyshpaev);

g) come from the Shauhal family of Tarkovsky (according to some information from Ottoman (Turkish) sources).

Thus, we see that the versions of the Turkic origin of the Avar khans are predominant. This is a kind of "Varangian" theory. You can not accept and challenge it, but given the scarcity of historical information, it is no less legitimate and vital than any other less plausible versions. Therefore, we can cautiously conclude that the Turkic Avars ruled directly among the Avars (maarulal) for several centuries. Naturally, over such a long period they could not but undergo assimilation, i.e. do not accept their language and customs. There are many such examples in history. A similar thing happened with the Kabars-Khazars among the Circassians, "whose language, mingling with the Turkic and transforming, became prevalent in Kabarda, since the Circassians many times outnumbered the Khazars who led them, who became princes and nobles of the newly formed people" (V. M. Atlykov). The same thing happened with the Bulgars of Asparuh, who founded the first Bulgarian state on the Danube and dissolved among the predominant Slavic population. There are many such examples.

After all of the above, the question arises: who are the current Avars? We can answer this way: the modern Avars, whose name is the name of one of the Hunnic (Turkic) tribes of the Avars, are a Caucasian-speaking people famous throughout the Caucasus, the ruling elite of which for several centuries were the Avar khans (up to the middle of the 19th century). It was in the middle of the nineteenth century. this people forcibly lost (this fact is recorded in history as the "extermination of the Avar khans") of their ancient aristocratic elite. It is believed that this is how the family of the Avar khans ended. The Russian proverb " perished like a find; and there was no tribe or clan left of them ... "? But that is another topic.

General remarks

We tried to analyze information from historical sources about the Avars in Dagestan in a previous publication. Now the task is different - to find out what trace the medieval ancient Turks, including the Avars, left in our toponymy and how they influenced the ethnic group and culture of the Caucasus.

We are, of course, primarily interested in socioethnonyms and ethnotoponymy. For it is they who can bear in themselves the names of not only modern, but also ancient ethnic groups that have disappeared "like obre" or have been transformed into living peoples. In some cases, these may be the names of peoples that have ever been encountered in ancient literature, but there may be ethnonyms and socionyms, recreated only by the names of geographical objects. As in any other history, in our Kumyk history we are witnessing the process of transformation into estates of tribes brought together by fate to live together in one state union, with the predominance of one tribe over others. This should not be surprising, because the transformation of tribes into estates is a natural process of history (V. Klyuchevsky).

There is a provision according to which peoples and tribes, replacing each other in a certain territory, do not disappear without a trace: each new tribe retains something from what it received from its predecessors. But there is another situation: the etymological nature of the name of the people does not always speak of its origin. Modern Bulgarians, for example, retain the Turkic ethnonym of their ancestors, but they are not Turks, but Slavs. Only three words remained in the language of the Bulgarian people from the Bulgar-Turks, the founders of the first Bulgarian state on the Danube, including the self-name.

To determine the essence of an ethnonym, the position put forward by academician B. A. Rybakov is of great importance: "The name of a nationality most often goes back to the name of the primordial union of tribes, and thus can go back to the name of a separate tribe if it was the core and hegemon of the whole union."

However, there is another regularity - as a rule, the ethnonym of the conquerors often becomes the name for the conquered peoples. We see examples of transferring the name of the conquerors to the conquered population among the Franks (France), the Normans (Normandy), the Lombards (Langobardia), the Bulgarians (Bulgaria), etc. But the question arises: were the ancestors of the modern Avars (maarulal) conquered by the Avars-Turks ? Such a thesis is not supported by historical data. In the literature, as we showed this in our previous analysis, the thesis is cautiously expressed about the possibility of penetration of some part of the medieval Avars into the historical area of ​​\u200b\u200bsettlement of the Avars (Khunzakh) and their influence on the ethnic group of the local Caucasian-speaking population, or transferring the name of the ruling class Avars to the subject population of Khunzakh and other adjacent territories (Gumbet).

Ancient Turkic ethnotoponymy and ethnogenesis

Ah. This is what the Kumyks called and call the Akin-Chechens. Name " goes back to the name of one of the Hunnic tribes of the North Caucasus augar-avgar(VI century) (G.-R. Huseynov). This ethnonym was deposited in the toponyms "Aktash-Aukh", "Kishen-Aukh", "Yurt-Avukh", "Yaman-suv-Aukh" (now in Kazbekovsky and Novolaksky districts of Dagestan).

Aur-guin. The self-name of one of the Hunno-Avar tribes was deposited among the Kumyks in the names "Guen-tala" (now in the Kazbek region), "Guen-kala" (one of the ancient names of Endirey - a Kumyk settlement in the Khasavyurt region, "Gyuntiymes" (Russian Gudermes ) "Guenler boyu gun tiimes" - which can be translated in two ways: Land of the guens (Guenler boy) or the shady side (gun tiimes). The land of the guens is the valley of the Guntiimes river (N. Dubrovin, N. Semenov, S.A. Belokurov, P. A. Golovinsky).

Accordion. Name of a village in Chechnya in the 19th century It is believed that it "came from the name of Bayan, the famous khan of the medieval Avars" (A.-K. Bakikhanov).

Varajan(the same - Burjan, the same - Borgan) - the "city of the Huns Varadzhan" in Dagestan was first mentioned in a short edition of the "Armenian Geography" of the 7th century). In the ninth century "Burjan" is mentioned by the astronomer al-Fargani in the list of lands and climates. And already ibn-Khordadbeh in 846-47 calls the kingdom Burdzhan, located on the western coast of the Caspian Sea and, moreover, subordinated to the Sassanids in his time.

It should be noted that the form of the Burjans almost completely coincides with the Armenian name of the Hunnic city "Varajan" (V.R.J.N). Arabic researchers quite rightly point out that the Arabic script gives four similar spellings of this ethnonym: Bulgar, Burgar, Burgaz and Burdzhan (See: T. Kalinina. Information of the early scientists of the Arab Caliphate. M. "Nauka", 1988, p. 92) . The third consonant in these words can convey the consonant sound "g". In the last two words, the third consonant conveys the sound "g" in foreign words. From this we can safely assume that the reading "Burdzhan" is erroneous, and the correct one is the form "Burgan" (see Polosin V.V. The ethnonym "Bulgars" in Arabic sources. Brief reports of the VII scientific session of the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Orthopedics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR. L. pp. 26-29). The forms "Bulgar", "Burgar" and "Burgaz" are dialectal forms of the common more ancient term "Burgan". The latter is easily correlated with the ancient Kumyk ethnonym "boragan". In the Kumyk historical vocabulary and toponymy, by the way, the forms Bulgar/Bulgur and Burgan/Boragan are represented quite fully and are found in a wide ethno-range of settlement of the Kumyk tribes from Derbent to Pyatigorye (see Orazaev G.M.-R. Bulgar ethnic element in historical toponymy of the North Caucasus: abstracts of the conference reports on the results geographical research in Dagestan. Issue. XX. M.-la, 1992. ss. 124-125; His own: On the interpretation of the North Caucasian toponym Boragan. Abstracts of reports on the results of geographical research in Dagestan. Issue. XXI. M.-la. 1993, pp. 93-95). The above is also confirmed by the fact that in the zone of localization of the "city of the Huns Varadzhan" and the "kingdom of Burdzhan" (the territory of modern Buynak, Karabudakhkent and Kizilyurt regions) we find "Buragan bash" - a tract between Karabudakhkent and the village of Adanak; "Boragan you" - the area near the villages. Gelli; "Boragan" - near the villages. Lower Kazanische; "Boragan bash" ("Buraganskaya mountain") - Buragansky ridge near the villages. Chirkey, etc.

Gumbet. The name of one of the feudal estates in Dagestan. Scientist naturalist I.A. Gildenshtedt (1770-1773) pointed out that "Gumbet, in Andean Mikhtelar, at the Gumbet River, which flows into the Koisu. Two days drive from Chechen. It is subject to the Kumyk prince, who is in Chechnya. (DIRZEA, p. 225). It is believed that that the name Gumbet received from the Kumyk word "gunbet", meaning "facing the sun" ("sunny side"), which seems to us not reliable. For such a designation, the Kumyks have another term "gun + zhuvak" (sun). We believe that the first component "gum" is possibly connected with the Hunnic ethnonym. gum widely represented in the substrate Hunnic (Turkic) toponymy of the Caucasus. And not only the Caucasus. So, this ethnonym was deposited in the name of a medieval settlement near the city of Kislovodsk. The Balkars, for example, have a proverb associated with this settlement: "Khrum-kala, Gum-kala, kurup kalsyn bu kala!", which means: "Khruma-fortress, Guma fortress, let this fortress disappear!". Historian I. Miziev believes that together with the name of the Bulgar Khrum (VII century) and the ethnonym Huns or Cumans (Gum) folk epic memory has preserved the memory of some kind of bloodshed near the walls of this fortress city. Later, the Balkars transferred the name of Gum-kala to the modern city of Mineralnye Vody. To this we add that, according to Acad. Pallas, the Circassians called the Kuma River and the "wooded valley of Podkuma" "Gum". The "river" was also known in this zone. Ata-Kum, which, after confluence with several streams, flows through a long swamp in the same direction as the Kuban, and finally flows into it on the left. "And the ethnotoponym Gumbet itself is also found in other regions of Russia, in particular in the Orenburg region, in Turkey and in other countries .

As for the second component of this name - bet/baht, then, according to scientists, it was widely used in the names of the Hun-Khazar and Hungarian cities in the meaning of "throne, throne" (See DTS.L.1969.S.116), "fortress" (V. Thomsen, Vambery Ilyinsky) . In many Turkic dialects baht has the meaning "strong, powerful": Bat-yr, Bat-Bayan, Kur-bat, Ar-pad (Brutskus). In this sense, Gumbet means "fortress of the Huns".

Bridles(the original Kumyk form is ozdenler). According to D.-M. Sheikh-Ali, "the word bridle in direct translation means a free man, but in practical terms this word marks a nobleman who owns land and is born pure from a mixture with a slave state" (Shikhaliev D.-M. Kumyk's story: Makhachkala. 1993. C .48). What was the ethnic basis for the formation of this social community?

As is known, the Kumyks and the Kumyk language were influenced by the Oghuz and the Oghuz language.. In this regard, we are interested in the possible connection of the socionim Uzden with the ethnonym Oguz (Uguz-uz) - one of the names of the Khazar clan and the name of the union of Turkic tribes - Oghuz, ancient bonds. The fact is that the origin of the word oguz and the proper names associated with it have not yet found a single, recognized solution. One of the explanations for this name was proposed by Markvart (1914), who saw in the name oguz word-concept oq"arrow", trans. "clan, tribe, division of the tribe" + uz"man", hence - oq-uz"arrow-man". In the Kumyk language with stem oq and, obviously, with the meaning "clan, tribe, division of the tribe" there are words "oksyuz", those. "having no family or tribe, an orphan" and "oktem"(ok-tem) in the meaning of "proud". Obviously, according to the latest word-formation model, the socionym is also formed "Ozden"(oz-den) in the meaning of "free man", "nobleman". The first component of this term "oz" possibly closely related to the ethnonym bonds, and the second component is den(-ten, -them) is obviously used in the sense of "free, free, self-sufficient". We needed such a short digression into Turkic ethnonymy in order to show that there is a possible genetic and ethno-social (transformation of tribes into estates) connection between the terms Uzden and Oguz (Uz).

The bridles of the Kumyks included: 1) older bridles, called sala-oozden; 2) harnesses of other surnames, which were called by a common name ullu-day; 3) free settlers, called in general dogerek-ozday(here I would only like to draw attention to the fact that the Oguzes were called by their Mongolian-speaking neighbors, the Jujans, in their dialect tegreg"carts", in the Chinese transcription of the body)

Sala, salalar. This term can rightfully be associated with the Hunnic ethnonym sal (hall) and the later name Salar, Salyr or Sala (Chinese Salazzu), which is one of the Oghuz ethnic names. Mahmud of Kashgar (XI century) indicates the oldest form of this name salgur among the Oguz tribal names (Tenishev E. R. The structure of the Salar language. M. 1976. P. 291-292).

Bearers of the ethnonym sal (hall)(see Ptolemy, III, 5, 10), according to Menander, they waged war in the North Caucasus in the middle of the 6th century with the Avars. As a result of the war, part of the Sals became part of them and, together with them, penetrated into Transcaucasia and South Azerbaijan (cf. Salian - in Azerbaijan, Salli - in Armenia, Salieti, lit. "country of Sals" and Salogly - in Georgia. [Geibullaev G.A To the ethnogenesis of the Azerbaijanis, Baku, 1991, p.352]).

In the early Middle Ages, one of the royal dynasties of Deylem in the south of the Caspian was called Kangarids, and its branch was called Salar (Salariler), so the first ruler of the Salarid dynasty was called Salar ibn Marzban ibn Muhammed ibn Musafir Kangari (mid-9th century). This suggests that the Kangar Huns (Salars) also lived in this area.

Noteworthy is the information from Iranian and Central Asian sources about the Turkic-speaking Chols, who, according to At-Tabari, were resettled in Azerbaijan. They lived in two regions - in northeastern Albania and in western Turkmenistan. VV Bartold wrote about "the Chols descended from the Western Turks". In the 50s of the 4th century, the Turkic-speaking Chols (or part of them) from the Aral Sea region advanced to the Caspian region and the region in the eastern Caspian region, where they settled, became known as Chor (Chol, Chul, Sul). V. Pigulevskaya noted that the name found in some sources chol, and in others Chor and Sul in the Caspian region, means the same thing, that in the second half of the 5th century, the residence of the Chol khan was located on the Balkhan peninsula, in the area where modern Krasnovodsk is located. The Chols disturbed the Shahs of Sasanian Iran with their raids, and therefore Ezdegerd I (399-420) built a border fortress in Khorasan to protect his state from them. Yezdegerd II (439-456) in 442-449 undertook a series of campaigns in the eastern Caspian region against the Chols, who at that time were in alliance with the Kushans. Khosrov I later sent his troops to the Caspian region inhabited by the Chols. There, many people from the Chol people were killed and taken into the plan and resettled in Azerbaijan. Among 18 out of 24 ethnonyms of the Oghuz tribes, preserved in the territory of Azerbaijan and Transcaucasia, there is the name Salur [S.B. Ashurbeyli. About the toponym "Aran"//History of toponymic research. Baku.1992.S.49]. The "people from the Sul tribe" resettled by Khosrov Anushirvan to Azerbaijan, along with the Bulgars, certainly settled in the North Caucasus and belonged to the suls (chuls).

However, the main habitat of the Sals, obviously, was the foothills and steppes of the North Caucasus, the Crimea and southern Russia, where they left numerous toponymic evidence (monuments). These, in addition to those noted above, undoubtedly include Salgyr (a hydronym in the Crimea). [AT. Bushakov Turkic ethnooikonymy of Crimea ] , the name of the Salsky steppes in southern Russia.

The foregoing indicates that the carriers of the ethnonym sal (sala, hall) were the most ancient tribal community of the Avars, which left a trace in the oikonyms not only of Central Asia, Azerbaijan, the North Caucasus, but also of Eastern Europe (see above about the Avars in Hungary). However, it seems to us that this Hunnic tribe, along with the Bulgars, Gyuens and Tyumens, left the deepest trace in the ethnopolitical history and ethnogenesis of the Kumyks. We can say that sals or salalar among the Kumyks were the descendants of the medieval Avars, who carried their original ethnic name through the millennium. Us in this case in no way should be embarrassed by the fact that by the XIX century. they have become one of the privileged classes of the Kumyk society.

The basis of "fat" is presented in the social term of the Kumyk language sala-uzden and, according to dictionaries, fat means "nobleman". In the language of the Chechens neighboring with the Zasulak Kumyks, the expression was used saluoin ale with the meaning "Salatav princes"; i.e. "Kumyk princes".

The transformation of tribes into estates is a natural process of history (V. Klyuchevsky). So in our Kumyk history, we are witnessing the process of turning into estates of tribes (for example, Sala, Chagar, etc.), brought together by fate to live together in one state union, with the predominance of one tribe over others.

M. B. Lobanov-Rostovsky argued that "the sala-bridles of the Kumyk plane constituted a special class, the first among the people after the princes, probably at the place of their original settlement on the Sala-su river." D. M. Shikhaliev in his famous work indicates the natives of which particular places they are: "Sala or Salatavs, natives of the village of Rikoni located behind the Gumbetovsky ridge, lived near the Sala-su river, which flows into Aktash .... In Andreev and now there is a quarter of Sala".

The term itself can be traced as the first component in the composition of a number of other toponyms: Sala-tav- the name of the oronym; Sala-su - hydronym name, Sala-yurt- the name of the oikonym in Kazbekovsky district; Sala-avul - the name of the microoikonym of the villages. Endireyaul, Khasavyurt district [Taimaskhanova T.G. The Turkic element in the Avar toponymy//Turkic-Dagestan language relations. Makhachkala. 1985.S.108].

Solak. The name of one of the two main rivers in Dagestan. Some scholars (F.Kirzioglu) associate with the name of the Hunnic tribe Sol(cf. Solaq - the name of the Avar ambassador to Constantinople in 580).

Chagar/Chakar - the name of the Hunno-Bulgarian clan from caq-"to sow enmity, incite, revolt" (DTS, 140) + ar - affix of the name of the character -> cak-ar"he who incites, sows enmity, rebel." This Kumyk ethnosocionic can be traced in several toponyms: Chagar-aul - the name of quarters in Tarki, Endirey, Aksai; Chagar yol - the name of the road laid along the slope of Tarki-tau and connecting Tarki-Kyahulay-Alburikent; Chagar-otar is the name of a settlement in the Khasavyurt region.

D.-M. Sheikh-Ali gives the following description of the Chagars among the Kumyks: "Constituting the most populous class in the population of the Kumyk possession, friendly, brave and obedient to their foremen, the Chagars in former times played an important role in the affairs of the people, patronized all the oppressed from the aristocracy and even the aristocrats themselves in their internecine In Andreev, Aksay, Kostek, Tarki, Braguny, and in general, where there are Chagars, the murderer was not safe; everywhere Chagars followed him. Sala -uzdens, representatives of the aristocracy, for their own benefit and to increase their property, were connected with chagars, representatives of the people, sworn brotherhood, and in turn also tirelessly and everywhere pursued their enemies" [Shikhaliyev D.-M. Kumyk's story: Makhachkala. 1993.S.63-64].

All of the above, we think, allows us to conclude that:

a) the medieval Avars had a certain relation to the formation of the ruling class of the Avars;

b) being, along with other Turkic tribes, ethnic components of the Kumyks, they played a decisive role in their ethnogenesis and the formation of the Kumyk feudal people in the 15th-19th centuries.

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