Recording and Collection of Genealogical Traditions of the Kyrgyz
In the mid-19th century, some influential manaps, realizing the significance of the sanjyr, began to record its content on paper. However, their first handwritten versions did not gain widespread distribution. Such records were essentially the genealogy of a specific ruler, manap, or biy, and in rare cases, of a clan. B. Soltonoev recalls a sanjyr record that has not survived to our time, made at the behest of the supreme manap of the Kara-Kyrgyz, Ormon-khan. The manap invited a literate mullah from Namangan and instructed him to record the sanjyr of the Kyrgyz of the right and left wings. The author, who personally saw this manuscript, describes it as a scroll about 2-2.5 meters long and two palms wide (Soltonoev, 1993, p. 86). A similar appearance is attributed to the preserved genealogy of the manap Baigazy-baatyr and the rulers of Kokand (Shajaratu-nasab name ilatiya // RF IYAL NAN KR. No. 148). Thus, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, proactive individuals recorded a considerable amount of material from the mouths of sanjyrchy on paper. Literate sanjyrchy themselves wrote and disseminated it among the people.
Starting from the second half of the 1920s, a targeted collection of folklore and ethnographic materials began. With the establishment of scientific centers and the Academy of Sciences of the republic, this work continued. It was during this period that a wealth of material on oral sanjyr was collected. These materials mainly cover the genealogical traditions of the right and left wings and serve as the primary source base for studying the sanjyr. Handwritten versions of the sanjyr have been acquired by the Academy of Sciences over the years, and sometimes citizens themselves brought valuable copies for safekeeping. A significant collection of sanjyr is now stored in the manuscript fund of the Ch.T. Aitmatov Institute of Language and Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of the Kyrgyz Republic. These manuscripts date from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries, mainly from the 1920s and 1930s.
Alongside Belek Soltonoev, whose typewritten copy of his work is stored in two copies in the manuscript fund of the National Academy of Sciences, the collection of sanjyr was also undertaken by Bala Aiylchy (Bala Aiylchy's sanjyr. 1994. p. 177), Nasirdin Boombaev (RF IYAL NAN KR. No. 808), Umet Moldoo (RF IYAL NAN KR. No. 47), Mukhammed Ali Kypchaki (RF IYAL NAN KR. No. 47), and other researchers. The handwritten materials of these authors, based on genealogical information, allow for comparative studies of different versions of the sanjyr, including regarding the relationships of the Kyrgyz with neighboring peoples.
Reflection in the sanjyr of the history and genealogy of the Kyrgyz people
