The Arashans of Kyrgyzstan have been known to the local population for their healing properties since ancient times. This is evidenced by numerous stone monuments at the sites of thermal springs, as well as various legends associated with the names of mineral water deposits.
For example, in the center of the Issyk-Ata resort, there is a large granite boulder on which an image of Buddha sitting on a lotus is carved on the flat side facing the river, along with an inscription in Sanskrit of the Buddhist mystical formula "Om mani padme hum." Experts in deciphering ancient inscriptions note that there is no exact and meaningful translation of this text, and its approximate meaning is close to the phrase "There is no grace higher than the lotus." A great expert in ancient epigraphy of Kyrgyzstan, G. Zhumagulov, writes that the popularity of this mystical formula in Tibet and Mongolia is very high. It is written on paper, silk, wood, bone, and other items. Such inscriptions on stones of unusual shapes or on cliffs are often found in Mongolia. They can be seen near hot springs similar to the Issyk-Ata Arashan. Such places, once declared "sacred" by lamas, still exist today in Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva. Believers make pilgrimages, believing that the springs, arashans, and sacred places will heal them and free them from ailments, various diseases, and infertility.
According to archaeologist V. Mokrynin, the image of Buddha on the lotus indicates the existence of Buddhist traditions in Northern Kyrgyzstan in the 10th-12th centuries, and the traces of ancient "sculptors" at the warm springs presumably indicate the use of their waters for healing.
There is a legend about the origin of the Jalal-Abad thermal springs associated with the name of the prophet Ayyub, who supposedly healed himself from leprosy with the local water, and echoes of this legend are preserved in the name of one of the warm springs — Ayyub-Bulak. There are also legends about Ak-Su, Jety-Oguz, and other places where healing waters emerge.
The first real and objective information about the arashans of Kyrgyzstan was obtained and published in Russia in the mid-19th century based on the materials of the expeditions of P. P. Semenov-Tyan-Shansky.
A significant contribution to the study of mineral springs in the Tian Shan at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries was made by Russian geologists I. V. Mushketov, his son D. I. Mushketov, K. I. Argentov, analytical chemists N. B. Teikh, P. I. Pokrovsky, and many others. They collected and published interesting information about the conditions of distribution, temperature, flow rate, and chemical composition of the waters of many deposits in the Prnisykkul region, the mountainous framing of the Chui Valley.
A fundamental turning point in the study of mineral waters in Kyrgyzstan occurred after the Great October Socialist Revolution. Significant contributions to the research were made by hydrogeologists, analysts, and resort specialists V. N. Novikov, Z. A. Kanunnikova, M. M. Kononov, N. V. Zlatovratsky, N. M. Prokopenko, and others.
A new stage in the study of the mineral waters of the republic began with the drilling of two wells at the Ak-Su and Jety-Oguz resorts under the guidance of engineer D. P. Prochukhan in 1931. This resulted in the first information about the deep structure of the deposits and the distribution of thermal waters at depth.
Alongside field studies in the 1930s, significant work was done to inform the broad masses of workers and specialists about the hydromineral resources of the Kyrgyz SSR. In the monograph published in 1937 by B. S. Plotnikov and N. M. Prokopenko, "Resorts of Kyrgyzstan," all available materials at that time on the four resorts operating on mineral waters — Jalal-Abad, Issyk-Ata, Jety-Oguz, and Ak-Su — were compiled. This book is still interesting today, but over the past fifty years, it has become quite rare.
In the 1940s and 1950s, new materials on the thermal mineral waters of the republic were accumulated, which were summarized in production reports and scientific articles.
In 1969, a large monograph by a group of employees from the republican Institute of Resortology and Physiotherapy titled "Underground Mineral Waters of the Kyrgyz SSR" was published. Its authors summarized the results of scientific and production research on the mineral and thermal waters of the republic as of the end of the 1960s. In addition to a thorough description of the geology, hydrogeology of the deposits, and physicochemical properties of the mineral waters, the authors proposed a classification and zoning of the thermal mineral waters of Kyrgyzstan based on conditions of distribution and formation, identifying among 55 hydrochemical types of these waters both analogs of the well-known Kislovodsk, Matsesta, Borjomi, and other waters in the Soviet Union, as well as purely Kyrgyz independent types that have no counterparts in the country — Jety-Oguz, Jalal-Abad, and others.
A turning point in the study and use of mineral waters for therapeutic purposes in the republic was the discovery in the early 1970s of a large group of deposits of thermal saline and low-mineralized healing waters on the shores of Lake Issyk-Kul, in the Chui and Jumgal valleys, made by hydrogeologists of Kyrgyzstan during the drilling of deep (over 1000 m) wells. As a result, various types of healing waters highly valued by resort specialists and treating physicians were obtained in the resort zone of Issyk-Kul, in the center of Bishkek, and in several other locations in the current decade.
Work in this direction continues at a high pace and is the most promising for expanding the resort base of the republic, allowing for the provision of healing water in existing sanatoriums, rest homes, and boarding houses.
