SACRED SPACES OF KAZAKHSTAN – A SOURCE OF PRIDE AND NATIONAL UNITY
Zhanna Kydyralina,
director of the Institute of the Assembly of people of Kazakhstan,
doctor of historical Sciences, Professor
In order to implement the programs "Sacred geography of Kazakhstan", "Туған жер", "Archive-2025", "Ұлы Даланың тұлғалары", initiated by Elbasy in his program articles, the Institute of the Assembly of people of Kazakhstan of Kh. Dosmukhamedov Atyrau University. participates in the scientific-research project "Sacred spaces in the modern culture of Kazakhstan: traditions and innovations" together with the national Museum of Kazakhstan "Қасиетті Қазақстан". The project recently completed a field expedition to the sacred sites of Atyrau, West Kazakhstan, Aktobe, and Mangystau regions by a group of scientists-historians, archaeologists, and ethnographers from the United States. Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Atyrau. The start of the expedition was given in Nur-Sultan, more precisely, in the historical and cultural reserve "Bozok", near the capital, which was visited by scientists.
On September 3, at an online video conference on the study of sacred loci of history and culture with the participation of Deputy akim of the region B. Khamenova, the project Manager, K. can.polit. Sc. B. Abdygaliuly and members of the research group: doctor of historical Sciences, Professor Zh. Artykbayev; doctor of historical Sciences R. Beknazarov; doctor of historical Sciences, Professor Zh. Kydyralina; doctor of historical Sciences A. Kalysh; candidate of historical sciences Z. Suraganova; master of history A. Ekimbaeva; archaeologist, doctoral student of Nazarbayev University A. Zhuniskhanov. Nurgali Nurtai, another young man who speaks Kazakh, Chinese, English, Russian, and Turkish, took part in the expedition and symbolized the new exemplary qualities of the nation, which the Head of state recently spoke about in his message to the people. Nurgali provided information support for the project, taking photos of the bizarre textures of sacred landscapes made by him with the help of a drone.
During the expedition a regional history museums and centers "Рухани жаңғыру" in length. Meetings were held in Uralsk, Aktobe, Aktau with scientists-historians, archeologists, local historians, journalists on the study and promotion of monuments that make up the spiritual belt of shrines in Kazakhstan. Accompanied by R. Kharipova and M. Kipiev, Directors of the Museum of local lore and the Inspectorate for the protection of historical and cultural heritage of Atyrau region, The expedition visited the Onay Ata memorial complex in Makat district. The Onay-ATA mausoleum is an object of obligatory worship for all travelers passing by the Holy place. Next to the Onay ATA necropolis, a modern monument made of red granite was erected in honor of one of the leaders of the anti - Soviet uprisings in the steppe-Kunyskerey Kozhakhmetov, a native of Taisoygan in the Kzylkoginsky district. In the Zhylyoy district, we visited the necropolis of the XIX century. White mosque, built by Beket ATA. This is the place where Beket Myrzagululy (1750-1813) was born and raised. Beket ATA's father, mother and brother are buried here. According to legend, Beket ATA at the age of 14 went on a pilgrimage to the grave of Saint Shopan ATA, near which he spent three days and found enlightenment, a thirst for knowledge. At the age of 40, Beket ATA became a Sufi, engaged in educational, spiritual and healing practices, taught children, and built four mosques. People have put together many legends about PIR (PIR – mentor) Beket ATA, the patron of the Kazakhs of the ADAI family.
The further route of the expedition along the dusty bumpy potholes led to the mausoleum of the poet, leader of the national liberation uprising of the Kazakhs Makhambet Utemissov, located 50 kilometers from the village of Zharsuat in the Inder district. According to R. Kharipova, this annual honoring winners of the poets and akyns devoted to Makhambet. Due to the pandemic, it has not yet been possible to build a road and improve the territory of the mausoleum.
In the West Kazakhstan region, a visit to the Dadem ATA sanctuary in the Syrym district of the West Kazakhstan region took place. On the 75th km of the Oral-Aktobe highway, the cemetery where Dadem ATA is buried is located off the road. According to tradition, travelers passing by this place visit the Saint's grave and taste the water from the healing spring. The sanctuary is revered by the local Kazakh and Russian population.
In the Aktobe region, a large-scale panorama of the review and infrastructure attracts tourists towering on the hill mausoleum of Yesset Batyr Kokiuly, undefeated in all 27 battles with the Dzungars. The participants of the expedition also visited the mausoleum of Yesset Batyr's father – Koke Batyr, the hero of battles, as well as the monument to the famous Batyr Yesset Kotibarov, the leader of the national liberation uprising against tsarist colonialism.
An exciting touch to the traces of centuries and millennia was waiting for us on the Peninsula of treasures and secrets. Mangystau is a mysterious region since ancient times. The landscape of Mangystau also fascinates those who have been here more than once. As they say, for many hundreds of millions of years this land was the bottom of the Tethys ocean. The modern lunar terrain of the Mangyshlak Peninsula and the Ustyurt chinks plateau is the result of Deep earth processes. Under the majestic creation of Nature, the legendary mount Sherkala, the valley of Airakty castles with spires and towers, the unique valley of Torysh balls, the deepest, as we were told from geography at school, in the USSR, and now in the post-Soviet space, the Karagie depression. When we drove it through the town of Zhana Ozen, everyone in the car had their ears stuck.
The geographically isolated location of Mangistau, bounded on the one hand by the Caspian sea and on the other by the Ustyurt plateau, contributed to the preservation of original religious cults and unique cultural traditions.
According to legend, 362 Sufis, who are considered saints by the people (Aulie), lived here, preached and were buried. The underground necropolises and mosques of Beket ATA, Shopan ATA, Karaman ATA, Shakpak ATA, Sultan EPE and other numerous complexes carved in caves and cut into the thickness of rocks fascinate with their grandeur and silent eternity. Among the unsolved mysteries of existence, one of the mysteries is nature and religion, something higher that exists inside and outside of us. Mystics of Islam – Sufis, people with a special perception of the world and thinking, not by chance chose these places. Sufism as a complex multi-faceted trend in Islam assumes an individual way of communion with God. From the Sufi point of view, being a hermit and staying in ruins, mountains, and caves strengthens fortitude, patience, and the habit of being content with little. The ideas of asceticism (exercises) of the mind, body, spirit, and will are known to be characteristic of a number of currents of philosophical and religious thought, from the ancient Stoics to the Eastern teachings.
Sufi monasteries and mosques were the centers of Islamic enlightenment, where the dogmas of Sufism were preached and dhikr was performed in quiet seclusion and detachment from worldly vanity. The missionaries of the Sufi brotherhoods (orders) Naqshbandiyah, Yasawiyah, and Qadiriyah played a Major role in the penetration of Islam into the Central Asian steppe in the middle ages. The predominant influence in the nomadic environment was unorthodox Islam, which organically combined elements of traditional pre-Islamic and Sufi beliefs. Our "popular" Islam, in contrast to the "normative" one, is organically intertwined with Tengrianism – the worldview of people of vast spaces. In the 19th century, the Sufi movement reached its peak in the Caucasus and among the Tatars of the Volga region. Sufism, as we know, was persecuted by the authorities in the XIX century and in the XX century. Sufis of the Naqshbandi order participated in anti-colonial uprisings. One of the leaders of the anti-Soviet Basma revolts, Junaid Khan, was known to be an enlightened man, a Sufi of the Naqshbandi order.
None of the socio-political systems could stop the mechanisms of spiritual and cultural reproduction of the nation. Working during the expedition and in the regional archives, we received more and more evidence that, despite the mass propaganda of atheism, the worship of Holy places, in which party and Soviet workers were also noticed, did not stop. According to secret reports of the special Agency, despite the repressive policy of the Soviet government, services were secretly held among the followers of Sufism among the population deported from the North Caucasus. In my book "Ethnos and religion in Kazakhstan: history and destinies" (Astana: El Orda, 2007), I mentioned one of the most active groups of Sufi communities in Atbasar, Akmola region, headed by Sheikh Bagautdin Denis Arsanov. Despite the ban and persecution, Chechen Sufis founded a new tariqa in Kazakhstan - "vis Haji" (white-capped people: they wore white headdresses during dhikr), in the late 50s. After the removal of the regime of special settlements, they moved their activities from Kazakhstan to Chechnya.
Mangystau has an ancient tradition when Kazakhs buried their dead near Holy places. As the elders say, they even traveled from long distances on camels, overcoming the difficulties of the way. Just above 6-7 m from the Beket ATA necropolis on a rocky hill, the author of these lines bowed to the grave of her paternal great-grandfather, Karabal bi.
One of the stops on our way was in the village of Taushik, the birthplace of my father, ethnographer Urkinbay Kydyralin, a researcher of the life and way of life of the Kazakhs of Mangyshlak. When I told my father about this on the phone, he spoke in a drawl, slowly passing on the memories of his childhood that came flooding back: "OO-Oh... it's the beginning of the war, all the fuss, I was in second-grade Shakhty high school, when the Secretary of the district Committee gathered us, young and old, on the wires going to the front, I raised high above his head the mighty Issatay Sueubaev and later in the battles of the legendary warrior promoted to the rank of Hero of the Soviet Union, about the glorious exploits and fearlessness which in the battle of Stalingrad, wrote to the commanders and marshals, and admonished me: "Жақсы оқы, сары бала!".
...The secrets and traditions of many centuries are hidden by the Sultan EPE complex, 30 km from the village of Taushik, a Sufi monastery with a multi-chamber underground mosque and stone slabs and tombs dug into the ground-repositories of the bones of the dead, which according to Zoroastrian tradition could not be desecrated. Passing up and down the rocks and caves, we saw altars for sacrifice and fire-making, stone boxes-sarcophagi with the remains of people. There are suggestions that this sacred place was originally a cult temple long before the Sufis appeared here. The complex also includes Nogai and Turkmen funerary monuments located at the bottom of the rocks on the plain. On the territory of the necropolis, there are numerous fragments of silicon rock – evidence of the Neolithic industry. A well of healing spring water was dug near the underground mosque. Striking terrain: a picturesque canyon, a steep cliff and deep valleys with dense thickets. As noted in the "Collection of information about the Caucasian mountaineers: ADAI traditions about the saints of the Hanafi sect who lived and died on Mangyshlak" (Issue 7, Tiflis, 1873), Sultan-EPE is the son of the mystic poet Hakim-ATA, a disciple of Khoja Ahmed Yassaui. According to legend, Sultan-EPE became invisible and was the ruler of the water element, the patron of people drowning in the sea.
The main attribute of the Saint's grave is a wooden pole. Seven poles are installed on the grave of Sultan-EPE. The tree serves as a kind of guide-the road by which the Holy spirit descends from heaven to earth. An old mulberry tree grows near the underground Shopan ATA mosque. According to legend, this tree grew out of the staff of Khoja Ahmet Yasawi, who threw the staff with the order: who of the students will find it, he will give a blessing. It is to the wooden pole on the Saint's grave that sacrificial rags of cloth are tied with pleas for help.
Especially informative was a visit to the Museum Of Serikbol Kondybay in the village. Shetpe, opened two years ago, where a strong impression was made not only by the exhibits of the exhibition about the life and work of a talented researcher of Kazakh mythology and Ethnography who passed away early but also by the halls of the second floor with an innovative exposition representing a person's journey through mythological worlds. Here are images of characters from Kazakh fairy tales, stylized by fashion house designers and artists, including beautiful peri like the fairy of darkness Malifesenta from Hollywood fantasy. Here is Kydyr ATA, who in Kazakh mythology and Muslim legend was represented as an old man dressed in all white. Kydyr ATA – PIR (Patron), the giver of happiness and material well-being, the steppe analog of The Roman deity fortune. Kazakhs say: "Қырықтың бірі қыдыр" - one of the people who accidentally met or forty guests who visited the house may turn out to be a Kydyr, this is the principle of hospitality: accept anyone as a dear guest, help each stranger on the way, treat him, even if he came in rags, because under them there may be a Kydyr ATA. Today the elders will give a blessing (бата), is going to the way: "Қыдыр ата жолдасың болсын!". As you know, having a syncretic nature, mythology is the source of humanitarian knowledge, culture and art. Images and plots of ancient Greek, Semitic, and ancient Germanic mythology formed the basis of many works of art, and gave rise to a common logic for the development of a number of phenomena in psychology, Ethnography, history, and other Sciences. I recall the lectures of our teachers at the Guryev pedagogical Institute's faculty of history by Lev Iosifovich Bely and Konysova on the symbolism of myths, the hierarchy of gods, titans and heroes, the "Oedipus complex", the Electra complex, and mythological archetypes in modern Times.
...In the village. Shetpe drew attention to the monument to Dosan Tazhiev, one of the leaders of the anti-colonial uprising of 1870. Not so long ago, a memorial complex "ISA-Dosan" was erected in Fort Shevchenko in honor of batyrs, independence fighters Isa Tlendiev and Dosan Tazhiev.
The expedition participants visited the historical and memorial complex "ADAI ATA-Otpan Tau", where the Amal holiday, the beginning of spring renewal, is celebrated annually. The sacred significance of the complex has increased and is being filled with national content. The celebration of Amal in the circle of relatives and friends, which has never been interrupted in Mangystau, takes on a new symbolic meaning and is widely celebrated as a holiday of strengthening the unity of the people. In the new building of the Abish Kekilbayev regional Museum of local history in Aktau, researchers met with public figure, poet Sabyr Aday. At a media briefing held in the regional akimat, members of the group shared their views on the significance of age-old spiritual traditions and sacred meanings of national history.
One of the tasks of the project is to study the practices of memory translation. The ancestral memory of generations of the author's family is supported by the practice of traveling annually in may to the Mangystau steppe to the graves of their ancestors (арғы аталар, ата баба), many of whom suffered from social experiments of the twentieth century: confiscation of livestock and property, collectivization of farms, famine and repression. This tradition as a tribute to the memory of our ancestors is an occasion for all members of our family to come together, from the youngest to the elders. Especially for this purpose, a house was built in the steppe. Family values, the warmth of the hearth, the energy of the family have a sacred meaning for any nation.
Numerous funerary and religious monuments of Mangystau are associated with several unique phenomena that go back to ancient times. This uniqueness lies in the metaphysical, deeply philosophical attitude to religion, which does not take priority, as is typical of Islamic society. As mentioned above, the Kazakhs, despite their adherence to Sunni Islam of the Hanafi madhhab, still retain relics of pre-Islamic pagan beliefs associated with the cults of ancestors, animals, trees and fire (аластау, ұшықтау etc.). Lighting tallow candles (fire on animal fat), spending the night (түндеу) at the grave of the Saint and the ancestors is a syncretisation of the act of sacrifice and receiving cleansing grace from the ancestors (аруахов).
The reasons for this lie, as always noted, in the fact that the culture and worldview of the people were strong traditional origins, existence in harmony with nature and vast space, Tengri worldview, knowledge of the laws and ethics of the way – the system of spirituality formed on our land. This helps us to be tolerant. Our history on this earth has more than 2 and a half millennia.
The common history, the memory of the tragedies of the twentieth century that affected every family, unites the people of Kazakhstan today.
The expedition provided an opportunity to touch the thickness of historical layers of times and cultures, to comprehend the rich resource of national memory in the implementation of the tasks of spiritual modernization of society. Elbasy's words are truly profound: "Sacred objects – especially revered monuments of natural and cultural heritage, secular and religious architecture, mausoleums, places associated with historical events - have an enduring value in the memory of the people of Kazakhstan, it is our symbolic protection and source of pride, an element of the framework of national identity, a symbol of national unity".
