The term "mankurt" was coined by Chingiz Aitmatov in his famous novel "And the day lasts longer than a century." In this work of art, mankurt is a person who has been captured, with the help of brutal torture, turned into a slavish, soulless creature that has forgotten everything about his past life and carries out any orders of his master. The word has become widely used in a figurative sense, has become a household name. The contemptuous nickname "mankurt" goes to those who forget the national language and neglect the culture of their people.
Etymology of the word
There are several versions of the origin of the word. Presumably, Chingiz Aitmatov, inventing the term "mankurt", took the ancient Turkic adjective mungul, meaning "stupid, unreasonable, devoid of reason." In Kyrgyz modern language, the word munju is used to refer to a mutilated person. Taking into account the mutual influence of the Mongolian language and Kyrgyz, it can be assumed that the noun "mankurt" comes from "manguu" - a form of the word that has the meanings "stupid, stupid, moronic" and "idiot". It is possible that the lexeme "mankurt" is formed by merging the ancient Turkic roots gurut - "dried up" and man - "gird, put on a belt".
Tribe of zhuanzhuan
In the fourth or fifth century AD, East Asia was embraced by the process of relocation. During the period of turmoil in the steppes of Turkestan, Western Manchuria and Mongolia, a union of nomadic tribes arose, which included runaway slaves, impoverished peasants, deserters. United by a common unenviable fate, people were forced to eke out a miserable beggarly existence, so they went astray in gangs who hunted by robbery. Gradually, a bunch of bandits turned into a nation that went down in history under the name of Ruanzhuan. This tribe was distinguished by primitive laws, lack of written language and culture, constant combat readiness and fierce ruthlessness. Ruanzhuani controlled the land north of China and became a real curse for nomadic Asia and neighboring states. Mankurt is a man enslaved by this terrible people.
Description of torture
It is no coincidence that in the legend described by Aitmatov it is specifically about the zhuanzhuan. Only this rootless, merciless, barbaric people was able to invent such a sophisticated, inhuman torture. This tribe was especially cruel to the prisoners. In order to turn a person into an ideal slave, not thinking about rebellion and flight, he was robbed of his memory by putting breadth on him. For the procedure, young and strong warriors were chosen. At first, the unfortunate people shaved their heads, literally scraped every hair. Then the camel was slaughtered and the most dense, outland part of the skin was separated. Dividing into parts, it was jammed on the heads of prisoners. The skin, like a plaster, stuck to the freshly shaved skull of people. This meant putting on the breadth. Then, future slaves were put on pads around the neck so that they could not touch the ground with their heads, bound their hands and feet, taken to the bare steppe and left there for several days. Under the scorching sun, without water and food, with a gradually drying skin, a steel hoop clutching its head, captives most often died from unbearable torment. Within a day, the hard straight hair of the slaves began to sprout, sometimes they penetrated the rawhide, but more often they bent and stuck into the scalp, causing burning pain. At this moment, the captives finally lost their minds. Only on the fifth day did the Zhuanzhuan come for the unfortunate. If at least one of the captives survived, it was considered luck. The enslaved was freed from bonds, allowed to get drunk, gradually restored strength and physical health.
Mankurt slave value
People who do not remember their past were valued very dearly. They had a number of advantages from an economic point of view. Mankurt is a creature not burdened with consciousness of its own "I", attached to the owner, like a dog. His only need is food. He is indifferent to other people and never thinks of flight. Only mankurts, who do not remember kinship, could withstand the endless deserts of the Sarozeks, were not burdened by wildness, did not need rest and help. And they could for a long time, steadily, monotonously carry out the most dirty, boring, painful work. Usually they were assigned to a camel herd, which they vigilantly guarded day and night, in winter and summer, without complaining of deprivation. The master's command was above all for them. Mankurt was equivalent to ten healthy slaves. It is known that for the accidental killing of such a slave in internecine wars in order to compensate for the damage, the guilty party paid a ransom three times as much as for the destruction of a free fellow tribesman.
The legend of mankurt
In the novel "And the day lasts longer than a century," one chapter is devoted to an ancient legend. Aitmatov tells about the unfortunate fate of a woman named Naiman-Ana in his legend. Mankurt, whom the heroine of the story accidentally heard about, turned out to be her missing son in battle. Usually, even if the relatives of the mutilated captive found out about his terrible fate, they never tried to save him. A man who does not remember kinship retained only the outer shell. Nayman-Ana judged otherwise. She decided at all costs to return her son home. Having found him among the endless sarozeks, the woman tried to return the memory to the young man. However, neither the warmth of her mother’s hands, nor her persistent speeches, nor lullabies familiar from childhood, nor food prepared under her native shelter helped the prisoner to remember his past. And when the treacherous Ruanzhuani inspired a mankurt that Naiman-Ana wants to deceive him, take off his hat and steam his tormented head, the slave with an unwavering hand fired an arrow into his mother’s heart. A white shawl fell from the hair of a dying woman, turned into a Donenbai bird, which continued to scream, reminding mankurt of his father and his forgotten native land.
Folklore source
The author of the legend, as already mentioned, is the famous writer Chingiz Aitmatov. The legend of mankurt, in turn, comes from a real folklore source. The writer in an interview says that in the epic "Manas", one of the greatest legends of the Kyrgyz people, there is a mention of the threat of one of the warriors to the other in case of victory to jam on his head the breadth to take away his memory. The author found neither other folklore nor literature other information about this brutal violence against the human mind. Researcher K. Asanaliev, studying the epic "Manas", found in it lines in which the enemies are trying to put on young Manas width.
Historical accuracy
Shiri is the rawhide of cattle, from which nomadic peoples in ancient times made dishes. The Kirghiz also had a funeral custom associated with the use of breadth. If, due to adverse circumstances, it was necessary to postpone the funeral of the deceased in another locality, his body was wrapped in width and hung on a tall tree in compliance with all the prescribed rites. In the spring, the deceased was taken to the family cemetery and buried there. There is a mention of the lexeme "breadth" in the meaning of "rawhide cap worn on the head of the punished." This type of torture was widely used among nomadic peoples. The drying skin of an animal shrank, causing unbearable pain to a person. Mankurt is a person who has lost his memory under the influence of such torture, according to Aitmatov. If we assume that the term “breadth” is of Mongolian origin, then its meaning is “skin, skin, raw”. In the Kyrgyz language, along with the lexeme “width”, derivatives are used: “shiresh” - “to grow together, stick together” and “width” - “to put on the head of the breadth”.
The meaning of the legend
The legend of mankurt is closely connected with the main theme of the story of the novel "And the day lasts longer than a century." It describes modern mankurts. Chingiz Aitmatov sought to convey to his readers the idea that a person deprived of historical memory becomes a puppet, a slave to concepts and ideas imposed on him. He does not remember the instructions of his father and mother, forgets his real name, loses touch with the national culture of his tribe and loses his identity. Of particular importance in the legend is the fact that the unfortunate mankurt, who has lost information about his human nature, has retained the memory of how to shoot from a bow, which means to kill. And when the enslavers turned the youth against his mother, he destroyed her with his own hands. Historical memory is the basis of the human soul, a vaccine against immorality and immoralism. Nyman-Ana is a symbol of this memory, reminding people tirelessly of the lessons of the past.
Word use
According to the journal Science and Life, mankurt is an example of a token introduced recently in Russian. Currently, the meaning of this word has narrowed to the concept of a person who does not remember kinship, who has forgotten about his ancestors. Information that this loss occurred as a result of external influence on the psyche and turns the subject into a slave of his master, in the meaning of the noun "mankurt" is gradually lost.
The term gained great popularity in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan. In these countries, the word "mankurt" has a negative meaning, they call people who forget the national language and culture.
Other authors
Publicist Vertiporoh Lilia calls the mankurt a man, "whose empire removed his heart and brains, leaving only his stomach." Konstantin Krylov describes the use of the term “mankurt” in the eighties of the last century as an unfair and contemptuous description of a person who is not very interested in “the day before yesterday news” about Stalin’s repressions and other events in Russian history, but who thinks more about the present and future of his country. The publicist and journalist Vladimir Solovyov calls mankurts citizens who scornfully speak of their homeland. He considers people for whom respect for the memory of their ancestors - empty words, a genetic mutation.