REFLECTION OF INGUSH-GEORGIAN RELATIONS IN THE NOVEL OF IDRIS BAZORKIN “DARK AGES”

Abstract

In the 60s of the 20th century, Idris Bazorkin wrote the cult novel “Dark Ages”, which actually defined the cultural and national identity of the Ingush people. The novel had a great influence on the development of Ingush culture, which is why literary critics rightly recognized the author of the novel as a classic of Ingushian national literature.

The main action in the novel takes place in the highlands aul Egikala, dotted with towers, ancient temples and charnel. Each place had its own mythological past, stories about which were still remembered by the Ingush people at that time. The main protagonists of the novel are the Ingush people living in this exotic village Egikala in Ghilgho, known to Georgian readers from Vazha-Pshavela’s poems, Gabriel Jabushanuri’s poetry, and Alexi Ochiauri’s folklore-ethnographic notes.

In the novel, the writer paints many exciting pictures of the neighborhood of Ghilghvian and Georgian mountaineers, which are based on real stories. One such episode in the novel is the departure of Muhajirs from Vladikavkaz to Ottomanity. According to the novel, when a convoy of thousands of emigrants stopped at the village of Stepantsminda at night, the Mokhevians rang the bells in the Gergeti Trinity to announce the great calamity; Khevisbers (rulers of the Ravine) performed prayers and hymns in the temple in the name of Muhajirs; at each wagon, there was a one mokhevian, who with heartache was taking away the doomed brothers and sisters in the “Country of Allah”.

The semi-historical novel of Idris Bazorkin “From the Darkness of Ages” is an extremely important literary work for familiarizing Georgian-Ingush relations, as well as the events that developed in and around Ingushetia in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. Traditional elements, mythological archetypes and folklore motifs play an important role in the artistic perfection of the novel. Their representation in the literary work creates a highly impressive and unforgettable artistic image. Some of the traditional motifs and folklore stories depicted in the novel are also familiar to the Georgian mountaineers oral creativity, who are neighbors of the Ingush, which is due to their long and continuous historical mutual neighborliness, the same conditions and style of life, and the constant mutual sharing of cultural values.

Although I. Bazorkin’s novel is mainly limited to showing the problems and spiritual and moral values of one culture, one people, but it must be said that the writer’s artistic generalization of the hidden abilities of this people is at the same time a private manifestation of the general human culture, which is based on humanism, freedom, love of people.

Key words: Ingush novel, Folklore, Georgian motifs