Arabay Uulu Eshenaly (Arabayev Ishenaly) (1882-1938) - a representative of science and culture at the beginning of the 20th century.
He was born in the village of Kun-Batys in the Kochkor Valley. He studied in Kochkor, at the "Medrese Kuseyni" in Kazan, and at the "Medrese Galiya" in Ufa. He contributed to the publication of works by other Kyrgyz authors in the Kyrgyz language using Arabic script. In 19XX, under his editorship, the poem "The Tale of the Earthquake" by Moldokylych was published in Kazan. In 1912, he published a book titled "Samples of Cursive Writing" in Orenburg. His work "Alifba yaki tote okuu" - "Alphabet or Simplified Reading," co-authored with the Kazakh educator A. Baytursonov and published in 1911, elevated the education of the Kyrgyz and Kazakh populations to a new level.
According to Tynybek, he recorded an excerpt from the epic "Semetey." After the defeat of the national liberation uprising in 1916, he fled to China, from where he returned in 1917.
In 1917, he was one of the organizers of the Kyrgyz branch of the national liberal-democratic party of Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and Bashkirs - the "Alash" party. From 1918 to 1922, he was a member of the Zheti-Oguz Revolutionary Committee and a delegate to the 9th Congress of the Councils of Russia. He advocated for the restoration of Kyrgyz national statehood in the form of Kyrgyz autonomy within the Russian Federation. After the establishment of Soviet power, he continued his work as a scholar and educator. From 1922 to 1924, he worked in the People's Commissariat of Turkestan ASSR, heading the scientific commission. Under his leadership, the recording of the epic "Manas" began. He is the author of a new Kyrgyz alphabet based on Arabic script and the educational manual "Alphabet for Adults." He translated the biography of V. Lenin into Kyrgyz. He was repressed on charges of nationalism and was shot in 1938.
Cover of the textbook by E. Arabay Uulu "Kyrgyz Alphabet," published in Arabic script in Tashkent (1924).
