The Legend of Mahmud of Barskhan - the Great Scholar of the Middle Ages
MAHMUD BARSKHANI
In these mountains, an unheard-of event occurred: a poor young man, an orphan, dared to raise his gaze to the younger wife of the clan leader, the powerful bek-tarkhan Ogul-bars. Even more unprecedented was the fact that this gaze met with complete sympathy from seventeen-year-old Burul. Outraged by the sacrilege, the relatives wanted to act according to the old custom — to stone the offenders. But a third unheard-of event occurred: Ogul-bars forbade it. "I will think of a punishment for them myself," he said. The bek-tarkhan thought for a whole week. Then he took and sold both to a traveling merchant from the distant city of Barskhan. Rather, he exchanged them for a whole bundle of goods. The delighted merchant, who became the owner of two young and beautiful slaves, set off that same day, rubbing his hands together. The bek-tarkhan also rubbed his hands. If he had acted on the advice of his relatives, what would he have gained? A pile of stones over the bodies of the executed. But now his yurt was filled with wealth...
This story was told to Mahmud the wanderer by his guide Temir as they crossed the pass.
Mahmud listened with excitement, but it was not the twists and turns of someone else's ordinary love that moved him, but his native places. He began to recognize the mountains, the stones, the grass, the air...
The pass was not steep. At its summit, two stone mounds were erected: one enormous, the other barely noticeable. The caravan was coming from the land of the Kyrgyz on the great river Kem (Yenisei). In the bundles were carefully pressed furs of sable, marten, squirrel, fox, and fluffy northern dogs — arctic foxes. In baskets woven from willow, lay the "horns of the Hutu bird" (fossil mammoth tusks), which were highly valued in Samarkand, Isfahan, Baghdad, and Damascus. Some camel packs had a pleasant fragrance — they contained the best Kyrgyz musk in the world, while other packs held sharp swords, beautiful silver bowls, copper sets for decorating bridles and belts, made by skilled Kyrgyz craftsmen.
Finally, Temir said:
— The young man was named Satuk, he was my best friend. Take me with you, my lord! I will find that merchant and redeem my brother-friend!
— For that, you will have to work very hard, — said Mahmud. The guide pulled out a small leather pouch from his bosom:
— Here is money. They were collected by friends.
Agush, Mahmud's servant and constant companion in all his wanderings, replied to the guide:
— My lord is a participant in all noble deeds, and he will certainly take you with him. Moreover, it will be easier to fend off in case of an attack by the robber Ozar and his men.
— Hey, Agush! Climb up this mountain and tell me what you see to the west, — ordered Mahmud.
Agush struck the stallion with the whip and soared up the hill to the right of the road.
— I see a blue-blue sea, and behind it a chain of white-headed mountains, — he shouted.
— Allah is great! — Mahmud ran his hands over his face and beard. And here is my native Upper Barskhan...
It was already night when the travelers knocked on the gates of a small fortified caravanserai, consisting of an inn, a pen for livestock, and two or three yurts.
Tired, they entered the room, greeted those present, and took a modest place in the corner. A servant served them meat, cut into pieces and boiled with vinegar and spices. The guide Temir, now without fear, sat down at a low table next to Mahmud. Even on the way, he was amazed that such a large man ate with his servant at the same dastarkhan. High beks never did that. Temir never even thought that the prince from the ruling house of the Karakhanids, Mahmud-tegin, in his endless wanderings had to eat from the same pot even with "kara bash" — the slaves who performed the dirtiest work. In the ascetic life that the scholar led, there was no place for arrogance. Loud titles and noble lineage only suited him if they helped achieve the main goal of life — the study of numerous Turkic dialects...
Thus, the great scholar of the Middle Ages, a native of the city of Upper Barskhan on Issyk-Kul, Mahmud Barskhani, better known by the name Kashgari (he matured in Kashgar, finished medrese there. This was his second native city) returned to his homeland from a journey to the Kyrgyz on the Yenisei, where he collected a lot of material on the language, songs, riddles, and customs of this northern Turkic people. He could not even think that in about 400 years, both Issyk-Kul and Chu, and Talas, and Kashgar would be named after the "Kyrgyz".
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