Epic Heroine Kyz Saikal

KYZ SAYKAL - MAIDEN-WARRIOR

In the memory of the Kyrgyz people, the name of the fearless woman—warrior from the Ketmen-Tyubinskaya valley in southern Kyrgyzstan, Saykal, the wife of the manap Ryskulbek Narbotoev, has been preserved. At a critical moment for her tribesmen, Saykal, dressed in male military armor, managed to organize a defense against a squad of foreigners who came to capture her wounded husband. In 1864, the Sayak tribe, numbering 10,000 families, led by manap Ryskulbek Narbotoev, joined Russia.

It is possible that the image of the warrior became the prototype of the maiden-warrior Saykal and later organically merged into the heroic epic of the Kyrgyz people "Manas" as a character of the same name.

In the epic "Manas," Saykal is a maiden-warrior, the long-awaited daughter of the Kalmyk khan of the Noigut tribe, Karachan, and his wife Zuurabyubyu, and the granddaughter of the king Tekes, who joined during one of Manas's campaigns. From childhood, she was taught hunting skills, and the rumor that she had slain two tigers spread throughout the region. That is when she was nicknamed Kyz Saykal.

Raised as a warrior, she did not yield in bravery and agility in battle to many male heroes.

In Uch-Turfane lived Karacha –
A glorious elder of the Kalmyks.
The old man was very proud
Of his beautiful daughter Saykal.
But that she was a girl,
No one in the whole region knew.
Hiding her hair under a helmet,
She, like a true jigit,
Wore a sword, spear, and shield.

The storyteller-manaschi Sagymbay Orozbakov sings of Saykal:

Slender, like a willow twig,
Dressed in men's clothing,
Her teeth are amber, her brows are wide,
A broad forehead, a small head,
Her face is white, her cheeks are red,
Her eyes are clear,
Her rosy face radiates light,
Her body is whiter than colostrum,
A slender, long neck, chiseled arms—
Among all beauties, she is the beauty!

Seventeen-year-old Saykal was distinguished by her heroic strength and courage. She bravely enters into a duel with Manas.

Hero Manas! My peer!
I want to fight you!
And if I knock you down,
I will not take your horse,
But you will leave Uch-Turfan
And swear that you will never
Return to us with your troops!
And if you knock me down,
I will give you my horse!
Take me as your slave,
Or if you wish, here in front of everyone
Execute me in the square!

According to S. Orozbakov's version, while competing at a feast with Manas, Saykal manages to wound him, and only the intervention of the hero Chubak, who jumped out of the circle of spectators and struck the horse of the heroine (thus breaking the rules of combat), forces the elders to stop the duel. Saykal refuses to continue the competition, and the Kalmyks redeem Manas with a horse.

However, according to the version of the storyteller Sayakbay Karalaev, the duel between Saykal and Manas occurs twice. In the first, she wins the battle, and Manas has to flee. But in the second duel, Manas defeats Saykal and demands that she become his wife. Saykal refuses him, explaining this by her fear of Kanykey—a woman possessing the magical power of a curse. The heroine believes that Manas's faithful wife might inadvertently take offense at both of them and, in her anger, utter words of a curse that usually come true. For her freedom, Saykal promises to marry him in the afterlife of Manas, after his death.

About how a thousand years ago
A Kalmyk girl and a Kyrgyz-burut
Fell in love in a battle,
Descendants do not want to forget,
They pass it from mouth to mouth.

Saykal becomes one of Manas's loyal companions. Smart and brave, she stands against the unjust treatment of women, against the ideology of patriarchy, against the unlimited power of men over women.

She always defends the interests of her native tribe, her native land. The warrior Saykal is recognized by the people as a hero.

Kyz Saykal made it to the top of the most inspiring women according to BBC's 100 Women 2016.

Women of Kyrgyzstan