Ural Batyr

Ural-batyr (Bash. Ural batyr) is a Bashkir folk epic poem. It is a very important piece of Bashkir writing.
The central place in the epic is  the topics of life and death, immortality, the struggle of Good and bad.
The epic poetry contains of 4,576 poetic and 19 prose lines. The composition is divided into 3 parts.
 History of study 
Old people told the story to young people for many generations.  They told it orally, by saying the poem instead of writing it down. In 1910, two story tellers told this epic to Mukhametsha Burangulov. He wrote them down. After writing this epic, Mukhametsh Burangulov gave the storyteller his horse, and he returned home on foot.

There are other versions of the epic writed from other storytellers.

In 1968, the epic was published in the Bashkir magazine "Agidel". In 1972, the epic was published in a multi -volume compilation of "Bashkir folk art".
In 1975, the epic was published in the series "Library of World Literature" in the head of the "Epics of the peoples of the USSR".

There are several translations of the epic into Russian -  by literal translation and poetic.
In 2003, Ural Batyr was translated into English. In 2006, Ural Batyr was published in German. The epic "Ural Batyr" was also translated into other languages of the world (Abkhazian, Hebrew, Turkish, Chuvash and others).

In Bashkortostan, many events are held to popularize the epic. There is a tourist route "In the footsteps of the Ural Batyr". Theaters are performances, films are shot. A competition of readers of the epic is held annually.

The epic "Ural-Batyr" is one of the Seven Wonders of Bashkortostan. The epic is included in the TURKSOY (International Organization of Turkic Culture) List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

 Plot 
The plot of the epic about the struggle of the Ural Batyr for the happiness of people, the battle with the evil forces of nature. The main characters of the epic are people living on Earth. This is the life of three generations. The mythical bird Samrau is one of the main characters of the epic.

Epos tells about the Deluge myth, the first people - Yanbird and Yanbike. They have two sons of the Ural Batyr and Shulgen. Ural Batyr and Shulgan find out that death is stronger than man. They are sent in search of spring water of non -immortality. A dispute arises between the brothers. Shulgen entered into a conspiracy with the evil forces of nature sach Azhdakha. Ural Batyr fights for the happiness of people.

The epic presents ancient ideas about the structure of the cosmos, Earth, about the Underworld.

 References 

Other websites
  Folklore of Bashkortostan People: Encyclopedia / Scientific. Collegium: F. A. Nadrshina (chap. Ed.), S. I. Apsatarova, L. A. Afanasyeva, V. Ya. Babenko, F. G. Galieva, M. Kh. Idelbaev, I.E. Karpukhin, T. G. Minnihmetova, I. G. Petrov, R. R. Sadikov, U. G. Saitov (ed.), R. A. Sultangareeva, I.K. Fazlutdinov, G. R. Khusainova;. - Per. in English. Yaz.: LLC "Center for Intercultural Cooperation". -Ufa:  "Bashkir Encyclopedia", 2020.  . (en)
 The regional encyclopedic portal "Bashkortostan" (ru)

Category:Bashkir folklore