Barpy Alykulov was born in 1869 in the Achi region of the Suzak district and died in 1949. The overwhelming majority of his works were created before 1923 (before he became completely blind).
The poetic creativity of the famous akyn Barpy is characterized by the reflection of folk concepts about various phenomena of the surrounding world.
He critically approached many of these concepts that were prevalent among the people, rejecting their religious-mystical nature, and sought to provide an objective, realistic interpretation of natural phenomena.
In "Dialectics of Nature," Engels emphasized that "... all nature unfolds before us as a certain system of connections and processes. A materialistic worldview simply means understanding nature as it is, without any extraneous additions..."
Barpy generally correctly assessed the knowledge about nature that existed among the people.
Since the Kyrgyz had no special physical terms, they considered the Sun, which provides the strongest energy, to be the "strongest fire":
Kundun nuru белгилуу
Kuchtuu otton jaralgan
Kundun nuru zhetkenden vsumdutker zhan alghan,
Buu'dai vsup maisalap Azyq bolchu dan alghan.
Gul achilip, kep zhaynap vsumduktun baary vsup
Kundun nuru bolboso,
Ar bir turduu memelvr vzhu byshyp bak bolboyt .
It is clear to us that the sunbeam
Consists of strong fire.
Sun rays
Give life to plants.
Wheat ripens
And the harvest matures,
Flowers bloom,
Everything around is fragrant.
If there were no Sun,—
The Earth would not be fertile.
From these words, it is clear that the akyn understood correctly that it is the sun rays that are the direct source of growth and development of all living things on Earth. As F. Engels wrote, "People thought dialectically long before they knew what dialectics was, just as they spoke in prose long before the word 'prose' appeared."
Thus, Barpy's ideas were spontaneously materialistic. In plants, the energy of the Sun is transformed into chemical energy. Carbon dioxide from the air enters the green leaves of plants, which under the influence of solar energy decomposes into oxygen and carbon. Oxygen is released (evaporates) into the air, while carbon remains in the leaves.
Thanks to solar energy, the average annual temperature on Earth is 15 degrees Celsius. The following lines of the akyn are interesting:
Zharik kundun nurunan
Zhan-zhanibar nav alghan,
Kybyragan jandarga,
Al kirgizgen — chykkan Kun.
Aryk maldy semirtip,
Kan kirgizgen — chykkan Kun.
Adam menen aiybanga,
Zhan kirgizgen — chykkan Kun.
The rays of the rising Sun
Grant life to all living beings
Even tiny insects
Gain strength from the rays of the rising Sun.
Thin livestock fatten, filling with fat,
From the rays of the rising Sun.
People and beasts thrive
From the rays of the rising Sun.
It is known that all life on Earth is connected to the energy of the Sun. The energy of animals and humans is a transformed energy of the sun rays. In other words, the energy necessary for the existence of living organisms is captured, as if stored in the chemical bonds of organic substances by the green leaves of plants and then transferred to grains, root crops, vegetables, and fruits. The green leaf is a living factory of organic synthesis, operating on solar energy.
In his works, Barpy reveals many physical phenomena of nature.
Suuqtu aydap, ysytyp
Suungan boyun kyzytyp
Kuyup turgan-chykkan Kun.
Kysh childe'de bushman Kun,
Jai childe'de dushman Kun.
On gloomy winter days
The Sun is very pleasant.
On hot summer days —
The Sun is not very pleasant.
In these lines, the akyn expresses a spontaneously dialectical thought that under certain circumstances, the properties of objects can transition into their opposites, and a person's perception of a particular natural phenomenon largely depends on the state of the environment.
The akyn understood that due to the uneven heating of the earth by the rays of the Sun, winds, storms, and blizzards arise.
Some idea of the akyn's perception of space is given by his mention that the closest star to the Earth is the Sun and that in time, the Sun is eternal.
Nur kanattyc talykpay,
Sapar tartyp juresun.
Your rays' wings will not tire,
You are in eternal travel.
This thought of Barpy is directly opposite to the views and concepts of Islam that were widely spread at that time. The thought of the materialist akyn is deep and accurate:
Kun kyzyrap batkanda
Jaryk zherdi tun basat.
Karatsgynyn zharkytkan,
Aydyn nuru emespi.
Aydyn betin zharkytkan,
Kundun nuru emespi.
When the red Sun sets,
Night descends upon the earth.
Moonlight
Illuminates the night.
The rays of the Sun
Illuminate the Moon.
In these verses, Barpy emphasizes that day and night alternate with each other, and that the Moon illuminates the Earth not with its own light.
All changes occurring in the Universe are as if the result of changes in preceding phenomena. Of course, the materialistic understanding of the causal relationships of phenomena in nature by the akyn was spontaneous.
The akyn's thoughts regarding cosmology deserve attention. He believes that both in time and in space, the Aalam — Universe — is limitless, that stars are brightly visible only at night, while during the day, sunlight absorbs them. The main luminary of the Earth is the Sun, therefore, despite their countless numbers, stars cannot give life to living organisms and warm the Earth as the Sun does:
Tun surulup tan, atsa,
Kunduz bolot turbayby
Asman menen bir tuugan
Jyldyz bolot turbayby.
Zher zharigy kun menen
Countless stars in the sky...
With dawn, illuminated by sun rays,
They pale and disappear.
Day arrives...
Among the many stars in the sky, the akyn attached special significance to the star cluster — the Pleiades. He knew the time of the Pleiades' proximity to the Moon by heart, and by the change in the position of the Pleiades, he could accurately determine the time of night and in his verses compared the Pleiades to beloved people:
Asmandagy jyldyzdyn
Urkerusun., Ak-Zhildyz .
You, Ak-Zhildyz, are
The Pleiades of the heavenly stars.
In his works, Barpy devoted quite a bit of space to the morning star — Cholpon jyldyz:
Zhariktygy ayga okshoyt
Tanky Cholpon jyldyzdyn.
By brightness, it is similar to the Moon
The morning star Cholpon.
The spontaneously materialistic worldview of the akyn, on the one hand, contributed to the development of materialistic views on the environment among the people he interacted with, who listened to his poetry, and on the other hand, his creativity in a concentrated form reflected the spontaneously materialistic ideas prevalent among the people.