Alymbek — ruler of Alai.
The city of Osh and the village of Kara-Suu were considered by the southern Kyrgyz feudal lords as their own stronghold. Here they owned real estate, and through Osh maintained contact with the Kokand governors and the central authorities of the khanate.
The largest feudal lords who left a significant mark in the history of the city were Alymbek-datka and his wife Kurbandzhan, who outlived him by almost half a century. Therefore, we will briefly focus on their biographies in connection with the history of the city of Osh.
Characterizing the political situation of the Kokand Khanate and the Kyrgyz in the late 1860s, English historians John and Robert Mitchell (who relied on the information of Valikhanov, Venyukov, and Bardashev) wrote that the influence of the Kyrgyz in the khanate was extremely great, as even the first khan's minister Alymbek was from the Kyrgyz tribe of adygen.
Central Asian sources — narrative ones ("Tarikh-i Jahannama," "Tarikh-i Shahrokhi") specify: he was from the bargy clan of the adygen tribe. "Alymbek, who destroyed (?) the city of Kokand (buzat), was from the bargy clan," wrote the author of "The History of Kyrgyz Freedom" Osmonaly Sydykov. "In the city of Osh, he built a magnificent madrasa modeled after those in Bukhara. The city of Osh is located in a prominent high place."
On December 5, 1860, while traveling from India to Kokand, the English agent Mulla Abdul Majid visited Alai. Almost at the same time, a little over two years later, his notes were published in Calcutta, in which he named the residence of the Alai ruler Alymbek-datka as Ghulcha. Later, the Russian traveler E. Markov characterized the position of the Alai tribal rulers Kurbandzhan and her husband Alymbek in his travel sketches about the Kokand Khanate: "This datka was almost an independent ruler during the time of the Kokand khans, and although her husband received his title of bek from Khudoyar-khan, this khan's investiture was more a matter of propriety than an actual right of the khan, as the Alai Kyrgyz highly revered the noble 'white bone' of their beks and followed them unconditionally, wherever they led, even without the sanctification of their rights by khan's authority."
In the summer of 1962, we met in Osh with the esteemed elder pensioner D. Zainabidinov. His father once served as a scribe for the famous "Alai queen" — Kurbandzhan-datka, and he himself managed the waqf department in Osh during the early years of Soviet power.
Zainabidinov shared with us his manuscript of memories about the clan of the largest Kyrgyz feudal lords of Alai and Osh — Alymbek — Kurbandzhan, about Alymbek's madrasa and his waqf estate. According to D. Zainabidinov (who, by the way, saw Kurbandzhan in his childhood), Alymbek effectively conducted an independent policy, and in a certain agreement — akhdakh, which conditioned Alai's dependence on the Kokand Khanate, it was even stipulated that Alymbek had the right to govern Alai independently. In Osh, Alymbek owned trading shops as real estate and had waqf land for his madrasa, which he built on the right bank of the Ak-Bura River.
Being a powerful Kyrgyz feudal lord and a sophisticated court dignitary who played a significant role in the khan's internal conflicts and palace coups, Alymbek was a typical representative of his class — a cruel despot who spared even the lives of his subjects if it served his personal interests. It was Alymbek, according to the traveler A. P. Fedchenko, who stood out for his "brutal murder" of the local population directly in the city of Osh during one of the anti-khan uprisings.
Having entered the political arena early, Alymbek received the title of datka — ruler of Alai from Madali-khan in 1831.
Here he met the twenty-year-old girl Kurbandzhan, with whom he tied his entire subsequent life. Kurbandzhan was born into the family of a simple nomadic herdsman Mamatbek in Kichi-Alai. Mamatbek was "an ordinary Kyrgyz from the mungysh clan and did not stand out from his relatives either in position or in particular wealth." From childhood, Kurbandzhan was betrothed and at the age of 17 was married to Kuly-Sad-Yarov — a Kyrgyz from the yuvash clan, whom she saw for the first time only on the day of the wedding. She did not like the groom, and for three years Kurbandzhan was considered the nominal wife of Yarov, remaining all the time in her father's yurt. In 1831, Alymbek, already being the datka of Alai, met Kurbandzhan, freed her from her husband, and the next year they got married. Kurbandzhan became a devoted assistant to Alymbek: during his absence in Alai on khanate affairs, she successfully replaced him, ruling the Alai Kyrgyz firmly and authoritatively.
Struggle for Power
There is mention that Alymbek actively participated in organizing the Osh uprising in 1845, and only thanks to the composure of his wife, who timely warned him of the danger, he managed to avoid the retribution brutally carried out by the Kokand minbashi Musulmanqul, who literally drowned the uprising in blood.
However, Alymbek did not just flee to the mountains; he organized a new conspiracy, as a result of which Sheraly-khan was overthrown and Murad-khan was placed on the throne in 1845. Then, during the reign of the new Kokand ruler Khudoyar-khan (who ruled three times: 1845—1858, 1862—1863, 1865—1876), Alymbek remained mostly behind the scenes of court intrigues, in the shadow of public life in Kokand. However, he was active in Alai, supporting the rebels of Eastern Turkestan against Qing oppression.
In 1847, one of the representatives and heirs of the former theocratic rulers of Kashgar, Khoja-Tyura, decided to take advantage of the discontent of the masses in Xinjiang with Chinese domination and lead a rebellion. He was supported by the Alai Kyrgyz, who always took an active interest in the fate of their compatriots under the yoke of Manchu feudal lords, led by Alymbek. The movement was organized against the will of the Kokand khan, even in opposition to his foreign policy interests. But it was precisely for this reason that the Kyrgyz acted as an active force and went to help the Xinjiang rebels.
The rebels acted successfully, even recapturing Kashgar from the Chinese. But soon the local Qing authorities received reinforcements, and the rebels along with Alymbek, as well as Khoja-Tyura himself, were forced to flee. They found refuge again in the pastures of Alai. Refugees — Uyghurs, Kyrgyz — fled from Kashgar into the cold, escaping hunger. A snowstorm caught them at the Terik-Davan pass, and women and children perished. The property of the refugees was abandoned or looted. The few survivors who reached Osh were forced to sell their children here to obtain food and avoid starving to death.
Upon his return, Alymbek organized a conspiracy against Khudoyar-khan in favor of his older brother Mallya. For this, he descended from Alai to Osh and Uzgen.
The coup was successful. Mallya-bek (1858—1862) ascended the throne. Khudoyar fled to Bukhara. All sources attribute the main role in these events to the southern, primarily Osh and Alai, Kyrgyz. Mallya-bek, we read in one of the informational messages sent to Russia at that time, "with the help of the generally Kyrgyz attacked Kokand and seized this city."
It was at this time that political power in the khanate practically passed into the hands of Alymbek and the Kyrgyz feudal lords, who showed their zeal in rivalry with the Kipchaks.
After the capture and destruction by the Russians with the help of Kyrgyz rebels in 1860 of the fortresses Pishpek and Tokmak, Alymbek-datka, under the orders of Mallya-khan, set out with the Kokand army (7 panzats and an Andijan detachment) into the Chui Valley. His route went through Central Tien Shan, and in Kurtka and Ketmen-Tube, he increased his army to 12,000 (mostly cavalry and only 1,000 infantry).
In the Chui Valley, Alymbek's troops met with Kokand detachments led by the Tashkent governor Kipchak Kanat-shah, who approached Pishpek by another route. The two rival feudal lords failed to share supreme power; neither wanted to recognize the supremacy of the other. Therefore, when Kanat-shah moved against the Russians in Uzun-Agach, Alymbek hesitated and did not support him. Apparently, this was influenced not only by personal rivalry but also by Alymbek's unwillingness to fight against the Russians with his Kyrgyz, who were also supported by the Semirechye Kyrgyz, while the Issyk-Kul Kyrgyz had earlier, in 1855, voluntarily accepted Russian citizenship. The matter ended with Alymbek not entering the battle and leading his troops away.
The Kokand court historian Mulla Niyaz Muhammad, disapproving of Alymbek's actions, bitterly wrote: "At this time, Alymbek the Kyrgyz and Kanat-shah the Tajik, presenting each other claims to supremacy and the right to command the troops, began enmity and quarrel. Because of this dispute, Alymbek took the Andijan army and the Kyrgyz, withdrew with them, leaving the matter of the battle, everything that entails honor or disgrace, to Kanat-shah, clinging to the hem of disgrace, [Alymbek] half glory and courage let slip from his hands."
Simply put, Alymbek had his own views on events. He intended to build his relations with Russia differently, through peaceful means, not war. Moreover, he had no reason to confront the Kyrgyz of Semirechye, who were not only not hostile to the Russians but, on the contrary, called for their help in the struggle against the Kokandis.
It is clear that after these events, Alymbek fell into the khan's disfavor, although he still remained the hakim of Andijan and the surrounding areas (presumably including the city of Osh). When the following year Mallya-khan decided to renew the campaign against the Russians, the Kyrgyz categorically refused to participate. Then the khan sent horsemen to arrest Alymbek, but he managed to flee to the mountains behind Ghulcha, and only his property was confiscated.
Alymbek organized a new conspiracy against the khan. According to Mulla Niyaz, the Kyrgyz feudal lords Alymbek and Kadyra, the Turk Khudai-Nazar "in agreement" with the Kyrgyz-Kipchak Alymkul organized a conspiracy and on February 24 (in Russian sources, March) 1862, killed Mallya-khan. One of Sheraly's grandsons — Khan Shah-murad ascended the throne. Alymbek became the first person — the chief vizier of the khanate.
But soon his rival Kipchak Alymkul managed to push the Kyrgyz aside and at different times physically eliminate Alymbek, Kydyr, and other prominent Kyrgyz feudal lords.
In one of the reports from the head of the Alatav district G. A. Kolpakovsky to the Siberian corps commander dated July 25, 1862, it was reported about the occupation of the Kokand throne by Khudoyar-khan with the help of the Bukhara emir and that "many of those who killed Khan Mallya were executed, including the famous Alymbek was killed by the common people."