Alpamish (Turkic epic of Central Asia)

Alpamish is one of the most famous Turkic epics of Central Asia, an Uzbek heroic poem about the Kungrat tribe. ²

The hero repairs to Kalmyk territory in search of his fiancee and cousin, Barchin. He triumphs over his Kalmyk rivals, marries her and brings her back to his tribe. In the second part he goes to rescue his wife's father, is captured and held prisoner for seven years by the Kalmyk khan, and is finally helped to escape by the khan's daughter. He returns on the very day his wife is about to marry, against her will, the son of a slave who has usurped his authority; Alpamish kills the usurper and regains his position as head of the tribe. ¹

The poem cannot be earlier than the 16th century or later than the 17th. The main theme, the struggle of Muslim Turkish nomads against the infidel Kalmyks, fits the period when the Kalmyks raided Central Asia. All the Central Asian versions are in verse, with prose only at the divisions. The Uzbek version of the bakhshi Fazil Yuldash (born 1873) is the best known and the longest, about 14,000 stanzas; the Kazakh and Karakalpak versions have about 2,500 and 3,000. ³