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Dagestan – the Land of Myths and Legends. Compiled by E. Yakubov, Director of the Сity Library in Khasavyurt. www.daglegenda.blogspot.com Translated by M. Nokhov

Dagestan – land of Myths and Legends

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Page 1: Dagestan – land of Myths and Legends

Dagestan – the Land of Myths and Legends.Compiled by E. Yakubov,

Director of the Сity Library in Khasavyurt.

www.daglegenda.blogspot.comTranslated by M. Nokhov

Page 2: Dagestan – land of Myths and Legends

Many legends and epics are scattered about the land of Dagestan like gold seeds and placers of precious stones. They preserve the people’s wisdom, their love to home place. They depict in their particular way the life, family life, traditions and customs of our ancestors.

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Tzada different heavenly bodies

and meteors. There preserved oaths to the “Heavens which are above us”, “to the Land”, “to the Sun”, “to the Moon”, “to the Star”, which are sure to be the relics of the pagan religions as according to the canons of Islam one can swear only by the name of the Allah. Pretty girls were compared with the Sun, the Moon, the Stars and the Heaven – “As beautiful as the Sun”, “Moonfaced”.

People believed that the treasure was hidden in the place where the ends of the rainbow were. The grown ups sent the girls there to look for golden scissors. Some marks were connected with the colors of the rainbow.

In spite of centuries-old influence of ideology and culture of monotheistic religions (first Christianity then, starting from the XVIII century Islam) there have preserved a lot of pagan characters of the former pantheon in home life and culture of the villagers of the mountainous village of Tzada which is situated in Khoonzakh region. The oldest pagan Gods were the personified : the Sky, the Earth,

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If the red color prevailed in the rainbow that meant that the summer would be droughty, the blue color meant that there would be heavy rainstorms, the green meant a good harvest.

Up till now people believe that if you set a wish when the rainbow appears in the sky it will come true. If the rainbow is spread above somebody’s house all the sins of its inhabitants will be forgiven.

“Mother wind” personified the wind for the Tzadies. The people believed that there was “The Mother wind, a woman with long flowing hair inside the hurricane, who usually tries to saddle the windy horse and ride to the sky on it. By the way if there was a tornado or whirlwind they would also say that it was a dragon who was going out of the earth and trying to reach the sky.

More over they scared the children saying :”Mother

wind is coming. Quickly run home –she is angry”. In spite of the damage brought by the strong wind they didn’t scold it but took as God’s prescription. The wind was considered to take away all misfortunes and troubles.

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The old women seeing the beginning of the strong wind would always say “to the good” or “to the happiness”. They addressed the God with the following words: “Oh, Allah, give patience to the wind which obeys your will”.

The lighting was fancied as a flying fire ax. They

believed that they could find a gold ax in the place where the lightning stroke.

“The Rainy donkey” was a personified God of Rain who was usually performed by a masked boy in the custom of calling the rain. He was decorated with bushes branches in the form of a hut tied with the rope. He was going from house to house accompanied by the children and teenagers where the people poured water on him and gave the accompanying crowd different kind of cereals. After they visited all the houses in the center of the village they went to a roads crossing or to the nearest spring, made a fire and cooked the ritual porridge from all the cereals they had been given. All the passers by and the participants of the ritual tasted it. In the evening the grown ups organized a collective praying where they mentioned Allah’s name from whom they asked the rain.

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Dyurk.

Worshiping of the mountains – is a widely spread phenomenon, which derives its roots from pre-monotheistic religions. The Tabasarans (nation in the Caucasus) consider the mountainous cave Dyurk which is situated near the village of Khustil the most esteemed and sacred place.

Many famous scientists and writers wrote about this cave. There is a poem devoted to it written by Dagestan poet Abumuslim Dzhafarov. The cave is shrouded in the mist of mysteries and there are many legends about it. . Some legends say that the cave was the place of living of the ancient people . Other legends say that the sword of the first spreader of Islam in the Southern Dagestan – Arabian military leader Masalama is still kept there. According to the old residents the people called “the erellers” lived in it and only godly people could go there as the others hadn’t been able to come as the rocks at the entrance to the cave would usually close in and crush them.

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They say that previously the cave consisted of seven living quarters situated one above another. Up till now only two have preserved, the rest were filled with the stones during the earthquakes which are very often there. The floors are covered with thick layer of carpets and rugs brought by the pilgrims. The kerosene lamps standing in the corners of the cave illuminate it. You can get into the other room using a narrow staircase. According to the local people’s words if you listen attentively you can hear the roaring of the river flowing beneath the cave. The cave has got one more peculiarity: sometimes in a calm weather it starts roaring and the roar is heard in the far away villages. On hearing it the people say that the cave demands sacrificing. And they really sacrificed to propitiate the spirit of the cave.

Even now the Dyurk is a sacred place for the people not only in Dagestan but in the neighboring Azerbaijan too. People come here to pray and ask for recovering of their close people, the sterile women pray for becoming mothers, etc. During the disasters – a long drought or heavy rainfalls earthquakes and hails, people come here and pray in large groups. They perform the Muslim ceremony, the so called “Zikr”, kill the sacrificial bull and distribute charity. People bring the carpets, rugs and kerchiefs as presents to the cave.

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Bai-Tobe

To the East from the village of Aksai in Khasavyurt region there is a small hill Bai-Tobe (a rich hill in Turkish languages). The name of this hill attracts attention of local adventures. The local teacher found out that there was a manuscript in the neighboring village of Chagarotar in which there was some information about the hill. He visited the owner of the book but the latter said that he would give him the book in exchange for the cow. On hearing this, the teacher decided to get the book at all costs and finally the book had become his property.

The book written in Arabic language said: “ Once upon a time there lived two brothers. The younger brother owned the land in Bai Tobe and the elder one in Karanagai steppe. The young brother’s wife gave birth to a son. He informed his elder brother about this happy event. The elder brother hurried to Dagestan to participate in the feast. He took horses, sheep, and valuable things as presents. There was a gold cradle for a newly delivered baby among those things. But as soon as the brother arrived the baby died. He was buried in a gold cradle. That’s why the hill got the name Bai-Tobe”.

The teacher excavated the hill from top to bottom. He found the cradle but it was not made of gold. He found a lot of horns, bridles, and other objects but they were not of great interest to him.

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Shalbuzdag

Shalbuzdag is the main natural place of interest in Dagestan. This is one of the highest mountain picks in the South–east part of the main Caucasian mountain ridge. It is 4142 meters higher sea level. There are several versions of the origin of this name. According to one of them - Shalbuzdag is a Turkish word which means Shalbus mountain.

The legend says Shalbus was a name of Nadirshah’s much beloved wife, that’s why the mountain got its name. The scientists dealing with place-name study prefer another version: the word Shalbus stands in one row with the ancient place names with the root “Alp, Alb). You can meet it in the name of the ancient Caucasian state of Albania, the name of the mountain Alprus (Elbrus).

In comparison with other highest peaks in Dagestan Shalbuzdag stands by itself, being a lonely pyramid crowned with a battlement. Thanks to such position Shalbuzdag makes an impression of being the highest mountain peak in the Southern part of Dagestan, though the neighboring peaks Bazardyuzyu and Shahdag are higher.

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From the top of the mountain you can see a wonderful panorama of the Eastern part of the Main Caucasian ridge. In clear weather one can see the icy caps of Bazardyuzyu, Shahdag, Bogoss mountain range, Dyulydag and other peaks. At the bottom of the mountain in the valley of the Samur river there are numerous mountainous villages, surrounded by beautiful gardens and in the distance you can see the blue line of the Caspian Sea.

The mountain slopes are covered with alpine and subalpine meadows. There are lots of different beautiful flowers of all colors here. For example: the blue-bonnets are white here, the lilies are yellow, the violets are light blue, and the camomiles are pink. Such flowers as rhododendrons, saxifrages, and buttercups have bright flowers too.

The highest mountainous village in Europe Kurush (2560 meters above the sea level) is situated on one of the mountain slopes.

Still in ancient times people went on pilgrimage to the mountain peak. During the last thousand years this pilgrimage has become part of the local Muslim religious ritual. Shalbuzdag has become one of the most important natural sacred places for the Muslims of the whole world.

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Edighe

There is a village of Edighe in a steppe Dagestan. It bears the name of Nogai national hero, the legends of whose heroic deeds are spread from one generation to another. One of them is the following: The last powerful khan of the Golden Horde, whose name was Taktamysh, was famous for his hunting falcons, which jaundiced of his neighbors.

The lame Timur had wanted to get the falcons’ posterity for a long time and made a secret agreement with the khan’s falconer Kutly-kaya, who sold him secretly one falcon egg.

Once the both khans went hunting. Timur’s young falcon was much quicker in getting the prey. Taktamysh, having understood the reason of his failure, ordered to chase away Kutly-kaya from his khanate.

He went to live in thick forests but secretly returned to his homeland many years later with his son Edighe. The boy grew up strong, clever, and brave.

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Taktamysh gave him the job as a horse-herd, but having learnt whose son the boy was told his men to kill him. But luckily Edighe managed to run away from the khan’s palace.

To escape Taktamysh’s anger Edighe and his nine friends decided to run to Timur’s khanate. On their way they met Alyp-batyr with his army that was coming back to their homeland after their raid on Timur’s territory. They had Timur’s daughter Akbilek as a captive. Using his strength and ruse Edighe gained a victory over Alyp –Batyr, set free his army and having taken the daughter of the lame man went on his way. Timur was very glad that his daughter returned home and let Edighe marry her.

Fifteen years passed. During this period Edighe learnt the art of waging war, how to rule the khanate, keep a large house, and brought up his son Nuradin. Once when the boy won chuck-a-luck game he was insulted by his opponent who told him: “You play chuck-a-luck very well, but I wonder if you will be able to revenge Taktamysh -khan upon your father?” Nuradin told his father Edighe about this conversation. They began to muster a troop. Timur helped them too.

And soon they started on their way. When they reached the Edil (the Volga) river the father and the son got off the horses to kiss their native white steppe dust. On hearing about the approach of Edighe and his son’s army old Taktamysh got very frightened and escaped from his palace.

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The son decided to follow the fugitive, and Edighe returned to his hometown Sarai which had been ruined and robbed by the enemies while the khan was away. Edighe punished the offenders, built a new town, raised a strong army, formed the Nogai Horde – the state with exactly defined borders.

Some time passed and Nurudin returned to Sarai and brought Taktamysh–khan’s head. But evil people caused a quarrel between the father and the son. Then Edighe left the town and his son became the ruler of the khanate. It was difficult for the boy to rule the khanate as he lacked his father’s wisdom and living experience. He began to look for his father to apologize. Edighe excused the boy but refused to come back to Sarai point blank.

Meanwhile Kadyr-Berdy- the son of the diseased Taktamysh–khan raised his army and unleashed the war against Nurudin to revenge upon his father. Using his ruse Kadyr-Berdy killed Nurudin and took the thrown. But one thought that Edighe was still alive tortured him. He went to look for him with his army, found him and called him for an honest battle and they began to fight. Edighe managed to kill his enemy with the club but he was severely wounded himself. Takhtamysh’s alliances Baryn-murza and Shirin-murza meanly attacked the bleeding courageous hero, stabbed their daggers into the body, killed him and cut off his head.

This great loss united the Nogai people, with whom even the most powerful armies were afraid to fight for many years. The memory about the fearless hero Edighe lives in the heart of every Nogai man. And every year there are usually lots of poppies in the field where the battle was.

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Amuzghy

The mountain village of metal craftsmen which is difficult of access is mentioned for the first time in the papers in the XII century. Damask steel daggers and swords Amuzghy lies in ruins nowadays and only the tourists, the photographers and the archeologists sometimes bother the majestic calmness of this “eagle’s nest”.

There was time when Amuzghy was part of the medieval state Zerihgeran. The craftsmen of Amuzghy drained and hammered the famous Damask steel from which they made the blades for daggers, swords and sabers. And the craftsmen from the neighboring village of Kubachy mage the handles and sheath for them and decorated them with engravings and cutting. People say that Chingiskhan, Tamerlane, Nadirshakh, Napoleon, Alexander I, and Imam Shamil possessed their blades.

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Vatzilu

The sacred Luck mountain Vatzilu is situated in the surroundings of the village Khury. According to the legend only sinless people can pass through a very narrow passage between the two rocks situated very close to each other on the top of Vatzilu. Sterile woman who manage to pass through the stones on Vatzilu can pray to the God and ask him to give them a chance to give birth to a baby and these prays are usually successful.

For a long period of time the mountain has been a place of praying to God for the rain, the sacrificing took place here, the great peoples’ feasts were celebrated here.

The great Russian scientist L.I. Lavrov thinks that the name of the mountain is derived from the Ossetia name Uatzille to whom both Lucks and Osetians prayed during the droughts and other unfavorable for the agriculture events. In it’s turn Uatzula is associated by the scientists with the Saint Ilea who rides the fire chariot across the sky, and who changed the pagan god Thunderer Perunus. But the people’s legends connect the mountain with the myth about the hercules Barhhu, who was in love with Perry. Perry asked him to make a sea near the place of her living and he decided to do so. He dug the foundation pit and the earth gathers into a hill and put some salt on it. In Luck language the word Vatzilu means – what lies under salt.

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Bakhargan

Various mythological characters of the peoples of Dagestan take their roots in the ancient times and tell us about the connections of the local tribes with nature. Ancient spirits, and gods possessed one common relic feature - they personified the fertility and profusion. Rare archaic legend about the brothers’ transformation into the rock there preserved in an Andean Myth, written by H. Saipuev in the village of Rickvany in Botlikh region.

This miracle myth tells us about the supreme God Tzobe and his twin sons Bakhargan and Modu, who were immaculately concepted from the virgin woman. Because of the cruel envious people’s slander the cruel gods turned both brothers into rocky mountains Bakhargan and Modu , covered with rich flora. After their mother’s death her heart was buried in the center of the mountain Modu and one eye at the foot of it. The other eye was buried at the foot of Bakhargan mountain. The tears are still running from the mother’s eyes – the cold water from the rocky mountain and the warm curative water from the picturesque mountain Modu.

Both mountains Modu and Bakhrgan were turned by the Andeans into specific religious centers. According to the mythological plot a community of Gods whose life resembled the life of the local people lived on the top the mountain Bakhargan.

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Untzuk

ul The legends tell us about

famous craftsmen Gooseyn and Martal, whose names bare the Untzukul ornaments nowadays. Craftsman Gooseyn lived more than three hundred years ago and his ornament resembles the dagger. The ornament of craftsman Martal looks like a sequence of sea waves. These and many other elements used either separately or in different combinations, determine the unusual ornamental richness of Untzukul goods. As the legend says the first artistic object of the local craftsmen was a whip handle made from the cornelian tree and decorated with rich inlay. Later the craftsmen began to use white silver, copper, and silver for engraving the walking sticks, pipes, snuff boxes, candlesticks, desk sets, dishes, peaces of furniture, the best sample of which are exhibited in the largest museums of the world.

The regional center Untzykul, the homeland of the unique decorative art, is situated among the high forbidding mountains. The origin of the craft dates back to the XVII century. The elderly people in the village still remember a large wooden ring engraved with silver which was hanging on the door of the local Mosque.

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Lakes of Kaitag

At the very border between the Kaitag and the Tabasaran region people can see two beautiful lakes connected by a canal. Local people say a very interesting instructive legend about this picturesque place which got the name “Gignila Sherby”.

Once upon a time there were two villages here in which there lived the people who were busy with improper deeds. They didn’t show their respect both to the Sun and to the Moon. More over they usually insulted them, and shot into them with their arches. And one day when one licentious man approved by the smiles of the surrounding people boastfully declared that that he could marry the heavenly bodies it was the last straw that broke the Heaven’s patience. They severely punished the people for such an unprecedented impudence – the gulf devoured the wicked people and two lakes appeared in those places.

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Gotzatl

The art of metal processing appeared in the ancient mountainous village of Gotzatl, which is situated in the surroundings of the village of Khunzakh, more than three hundred years ago. Before this it was difficult to find a family where they used metallic dishes for cooking- the food was cooked in wooden cauldrons.

Even well-to-do villagers warmed the water for ablution by throwing heated in the fire stones into the earthenware vessels

In order to have their own copper-smith the people of Gotzatl made a raid on a rich village of copper-smiths and took several men as prisoners. But none of the prisoners confessed that he could process copper. Then one of the local elderly men proposed a cunning thing. The legend says that the villagers scattered charcoal mixed with pieces of copper, which were valued more than gold at that time, on a mountainous road.

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They thought that a real smith would certainly pick up those precious pieces from the road. The idea was a success. In this way the first copper-smith whose name was Akhkubek appeared in the village.

Later the deposits of sulfur and saltpeter were discovered in the neighborhood and they were used in the process of processing the goods from silver. A huge stone with a large hole for pounding sulfur and charcoal is still on the local meeting place.

Time went on and the village grew. There appeared a group of craftsmen who made Gotzatl famous around the world. By the end of the XIX century only the poorest bridegroom had not been able to give his bride elegant bracelets and delicate ear-rings and there had not been practically any mountainous girls who would marry without a water jug with a certain engraved design.

Nowadays the craftsmen from Gotzatl produce table sets, horns for drinks, decorative dishes, souvenir daggers, and various filigree decorations for women with mounting from the precious stones such as turquoise, nephrite, lapis lazuli, agate, and obsidian. The handicrafts made in Gotzatl are exhibited in the famous museums both in Russia and abroad. They are shown at the International and All Russian exhibitions bringing fame to Dagestan.

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Pushkin Tau

The town of Isberbash is situated on the shore of the Caspian Sea at the foot of a mountain ridge Isberg tau, 65 kilometers to the south from the capital of Dagestan. The height of Isberbash anticline reaches 500 meters above the sea level. The upper part of Isberg-tau is formed from hard limestone of neogenic age which served as a base for making a natural very surprising monument.

Situated at the height of 220 meters combination of several rocks following one another form the profile of the Great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, which can be clearly seen only from the definite place. Still in the ancient times this rocky formation served as a reference point for the ships sailing in the Caspian Sea. But only in the XX century people noticed that those mountains looked like A. Pushkin. In 1978 the rock Pushkin-Tau was proclaimed the natural monument of republican significance.

There are some legends in Dagestan saying how this miracle appeared. Here is the most popular one. It says that during the duel between A. Pushkin and G. Dantes there happened an earthquake in Dagestan and part of a huge rock broke in a form a Pushkin’s profile. But to tell the truth the scientists haven’t found any traces of the earthquake at that time up till now.

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Derbent

There are several cities baring this name on the map but only one of them is more than 5000 years old, famous for its historical monuments and has always been a very important city in people’s history. We can find information about this city in the works of famous historians, geographers and travelers of the past:

Gekatey Miletsky, Hares Mitilensky, Gerodot, Cornelius Tatzit and many others.

Many times it was mentioned in medieval times. It is known that in those numerous works the city had different names and its contemporary name appeared only in the VII century and meant “Closed Gates”.

Derbent is situated on the western coast of the Caspian Sea in the place where difficult to access mountain ridges of the Main Caucasian range come too close to the sea leaving only a narrow seashore line. From the ancient time there laid a famous Pry-Caspian way from Europe into the Front Asia.

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The ancient Aryans used this way while going from the steppes of Eastern Europe onto the territory of Iran plateau. In the VII century it was used by the numerous nomadic tribes in their attempts to get to the regions with rich lands in the South to rob and devastate them.

The history of the city is lost in the centuries. And though ancient written sauces give a lot of information about this famous city, they don’t provide us with any information about the time of its origin. People came to live here not only because of its convenient geographical position and exclusive strategic position but mostly because of favorable climatic conditions. Many settlements appeared here in the early period of the history of mankind and even at that time they were very well fortified.

Powerful fortification works in Derbent amaze us with their magnificence and have become the subject for numerous legends and stories. Profuse imagination of the inhabitants in their attempts to glorify their mysterious city referred its foundation either to the fire-spitting giants who lived on the earth before the appearance of mankind or to the fantastic people Yadzhuh-Madzhuk (in the Bible – Goga and Magoga). In the X century the Arabian historian Masudy in his book “Golden Meadows” tells us a story of the son of the king Gishtaspa prince Isfendiyar who build the fortress Naryn-Kala.

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Decembrist A. Bestuzhev – Marlinsky, who had been sent in exile to Derbent and spent many years there, writes: “The citizens say that their city was built by the devil. The Devil had been building in the darkness and was in a hurry. He kneaded stones in his paws, smashed them to pieces, spit on them, through the ready houses one on another and built the streets as his tail lay. By the morning the city had been built.”

The local historian Mirza-Hedir Vezirov in the XIX century writes that the city was founded by shah Lehrasib from the dynasty of the Cyanides – contemporary of the king Salomon. Old Georgian chronicles tell us about the dreadful invasion of the Khasars. The Persian Tsar Afridon sent his commander Ardon to pacify them. With a numerous army Ardon came into Khazar’s country, defeated them, built a city near the sea gate and called it Darubandy, which in the translation means “Closed Gates”.

There is another legend that says that the city was founded by Alexander Mecedonian. He built a wall with towers between the sea and the mountains and closed it with the gates bind with metal so that the people who lived on the other side wouldn’t be able to do them any harm. It is only a legend. The great warrior had never been to Dagestan but the existence of numerous legends shows how important were the Derbent passage and the system of fortifications built there.

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Sharvily Sharvily is the most

respected national hero in Southern Dagestan. He was a fearless defender of his Motherland, tireless grain-grower. His image symbolizes the century long fight of Lezghy people for freedom and justice. The hero had only one weak point: like Antes he didn’t have to tear off the ground. Just in the place where the bridge of Idris connects two banks of the mountainous river Akhty-chai hostile people asked Sharvily who had gained lots of victories before in the most difficult fights with the enemies, if he would have been able to jump from one bank of the river to the other

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The hercules didn’t suspect that the enemies spread the pees around the place from where he had to jump and covered them with a thin rug. The whole village came to see him jump - his friends- poor villagers and his enemies-rich villagers. Sharvily began running but slipped on the pees, fell down from the edge of the bank, struck against the rock and died.

They say that he was buried in his native village of Akhty, but nobody knows where his grave is. In commemoration of the great hero people in Dagestan have celebrations. Thousands of men make pilgrimage to the foot of the mountain on top of which according to the legend there had been buried the hero’s sword. Recently the thankful villagers built a beautiful rotunda with six white columns and silver dome in memory of Sharvily. Here the young men compete in strength and adroitness, amateur artists sing old songs and dance old traditional dances, and the children enjoy eating sweets.

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Balkhar

The village of Balkhar where the people of the Luck nationality live is situated in the foothill Dagestan. This mountainous village is famous for its original pottery decorated with elegant white clay.

There is a legend in Balkhar about the first potter, the man called Kalkuchchy. One day this poor man sitting in a gloomy mood on the shore of the lake thinking how to earn his living. Involuntarily he paid attention to the boys who were making simple toys from clay. Kalkuchchy decided to sculp something from clay too. So he sculped the water jug. The first jug paved the way to the famous homecraft in the village. Kalkuchchy began teaching the villagers pottery handicraft. But the life showed that the most delicate and beautiful vessels were made by the women. In this way there was born the art of the famous women potters who great skills are known all around the world.

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Kubachy

In Dagestan the village of Kubachy is considered a miracle that has come to our times from the medieval ages. The village is situated at the height of 1800 meters above the sea level,

but according to Dagestan measures it is situated in a Foothill region.

The village is not small, but in good times there lived 7-9 thousand villagers there and this fact let the villagers consider their village a small state. A row of houses runs down the mountain slope and it is compared with the stone waterfall or with the ladder to the sky. The houses are situated one above another. They are spacious, well built, having two or three stores with numerous rooms. Every house has got a room for meeting guests, for the rest, having meals, and what is more important – a room for jewelry shop, and private museum collection.

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In Persian chronicles the village is mentioned even in the IV century as Zerihgeran (Armory) which means Kubachy in the Turkish language. Another name of the village is Ugbug which means “people’s blighters”. It is easy to find out why they were called so. It was a village of weapon makers, and what are weapons made for? For killing people. Though it is quite clear that in medieval times the smiths were busy with making swords, sabers and amours. The most expensive goods were decorated with jewelry which gave the goods additional value. Among the most famous goods produced by them are the two-horned helmet by Alexander the Macedonian, Prince Alexander Nevsky’s shield, the saber of Nadir Shah, and the set of cold weapons in Victoria and Albert museum in London which was presented to Queen Victoria by the Russian tsar Alexander III. The Kubachy sabers were very popular within the dragoons in Russian army.

When peaceful time came they became familiar with

the new job- they began producing jewelry and refined silver dishes. During the Romanov’s ruling and in Soviet times it was considered a good taste to have at home silver wine glasses, jugs, and vases made by Kubachy craftsmen. The ladies wore famous bracelets, rings and earrings with great pleasure. .

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Every family in Kubachy had its own design which was

used only by this craftsman and this design was kept a secret as the women keep the recipes of making adzhika and baking bread. As we know the Islam prohibits depicting living beings that’s why all the designs were of natural character. The craftsman invented very interesting designs of the leaves, flowers, stalks even those that would never be able to grow on a stony land of the Foothill Caucasus.

The technique of the craftsmen of Kubachy is very difficult and variable.

There is a legend about gold smiths from Kubachy. Once upon a time the gold smiths from Persia having decided to humiliate them sent to the village a very thin wire with the following message: “Try to make the same and send it to us”. They were greatly astonished when some time later got the same wire but drilled inside. The gold smiths from Kubachy mockingly wrote: “we make pipes from such wire”.

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The Fortress of Seven Brothers.

On a small hill at the distance of 3-4 kilometers from the village of Khuchny, the regional center of Tabasaran region, there are ruins of the former fortress which was known as “ The Fortress of Seven Brothers”. The legend says that previously seven brothers lived there with a very beautiful sister. People say that the girl’s silky hair was so long that when she wanted to get the water she tied the water jug to her plaits and let it down into the river. Her brothers were known as brave herculeses and

skillful warriors.

Once during one of the enemy’s sieges the sister fell in love with the commander of the enemy’s army. He persuaded her to pour secretly salty water into the smooth bores of brothers’ rifles and into the sheath of their swords so that not only to save them but to praise them.

But on seeing unarmed defenders of the fortress the commander of the enemies broke his word. He ordered to execute brothers one after another and finally to kill the girl because he thought that girl who betrayed her brother couldn’t be trusted as she could betray again and she deserved death. The villagers made a stone hill over her tomb.

Even nowadays one can see a stony hill not far from the road near the fortress. It is considered to be a grave of the sister of the brave brothers. Every man passing by the hill throws seven stones at it as a sign of contempt to the traitor. But every woman passing by the hill takes one stone from it in respect to the force of love.

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Sleeping Beauty

The gigantic rocks rise in the North and North-West sides above Dagestan village of Gunib. If to look attentively at their ridge one can see in the background of the evening sky a profile of a lying girl. One can see a chokhto - a head-dress, put on a broad forehead, long eyelashes covering her eyes, a nice chin, high breast.

The people call this rock “Sleeping Beauty” or “Shamil’s Daughter”.

The legend say: Once upon a time there lived a khan and he had a very beautiful daughter. A village herder fell in love with her. The girl loved him too. But they couldn’t even think about marriage. Wicked people told the khan about their feelings. The khan got very angry. He called his daughter and told her to go to the mountain and think about her feelings the whole night long and in the morning tell him if she had changed her mind to marry the poor herder. The girl went to the mountain and sat down on a rock.

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She didn’t want to think and change her mind as she loved the young man very dearly. It became cold. The cold wind was blowing. She lay down and fell asleep.

When the khan’s servants came to the mountain in the morning they didn’t find the girl there because she turned into a stone and became part of that rock. On seeing this her beloved who was shepherding the sheep on the Kegher mountains had become so sad that turned into the stone.

When you see the profile of the sleeping beauty in the background of the evening sky turn around and you’ll be able to see behind the river Kara Koisu on Kegher rocks the head of the stark young man.

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Sarykum

There is a very surprising natural place of interest on the border of the steppe and foothill Dagestan.

It is a sandy Dune Sarykum, a piece of Asian desert in the hart of mountainous region. The world learnt about its existence in the XIX century when the great French writer Alexander Dumas-the father who had visited Dagestan before described its beauty in his book “Caucasus from Prometheus to Shamil”.

The name Sarykum in Kumik language means –Yellow sand. There are several dunes here but they don’t occupy a large territory – approximately 10 kilometers in length and 3-4 kilometers in width.

The height of the dune changes all the time but the average height is 260 meters. It is the highest sandy dune not only in Russia but in Eurasia. Its age is more than several hundred thousands years.

Because of the wind the dune changes its form very often but its foot always remains in the same place, at the edge of Kumtorkala mountain range where the mountains meet with the steppe.

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There are many legends about its origin. According to one of them before intending to go to fight with Tohtamysh khan Aksak-Temir decided to check how many warriors he had got in his army. Every warrior was ordered to put sand into his helmet and then pour it out in one place. When every warrior emptied his helmet Aksak-Temir saw a mountain of sand. On seeing it he believed that he would be able to conquer the greatest state of their time The Golden Horde, Northern Dagestan being part of it at that time.

Here is another legend but this time it is a love story. In the village of Kumtorkala there lived a man called Ibrahim. He had a very beautiful daughter Bariyat. Many young men wanted to marry her but she loved only one man- Bulat. Many time Bulat came to Ibrahim and asked him a permission to marry Bariat but Ibrahim refused all the time. But the girl was stubborn and didn’t want to marry any other man. And then Ibrahim told Bulat to do the following: “Bring from the sea and throw up such a large sandy mountain behind the river Shura-Ozen that you would be able to see our house from its top. Only then I will believe that you love my daughter.” And Bulat agreed.

Months passed, years passed but the mountain grew very slowly. It became more and more difficult for Bulat to bring sand from the sea. He was very tired.

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Once having climbed the mountain he saw his native village. He noticed a woman’s figure on the roof of familiar house. And though it was difficult to see the face he recognized his beloved. Bulat ran down the slope, crossed the river and ran to the village. Finally he could marry his beloved Bariyat. But who did he see? A crooked old grey haired woman was looking ruefully at the approaching man. Her cheeks had become hollow; her eyes had lost their color because of constant tears.

What an awful picture! Only then he paid attention to his long white beard. The youth had past away and the whole life had passed away… But the monument to unhappy love of Bulat and Bariyat stands near Kumik village of Kumtorkala.

But the real reason of the formation of the Dune is

connected with the winds. During centuries they had been destroying the neighboring mountains and brought the sand into one place. In this way the Sandy Dune was formed. The winds in this place blow in such a way that they only change the image of the dune, but the dune itself remains in the place where it is.

Sarykum is the hottest place in Dagestan. In summer the temperature on the southern slopes can reach +60 degrees Celsius and sometimes it comes up to + 90 Degrees. In such conditions only typically desert inhabitants such as cobras, ground squirrel, and scorpions can survive.

The Sarykum Dune is a natural monument and is protected by the state.

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Hercules’s Columns

To perform his twelve heroic deeds the legendary hero unconquerable Hercules had to travel a lot. According to the Myths he erected a giant stone in every place he had performed his heroic deed. Hercules’s columns were scattered all over the world. People found them in French Britain, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, in Greenland, in northern part of Istanbul and in the Urals.

The Myths of ancient Greece say that he liberated chained to the rock Prometheus somewhere in the Caucasian mountains.

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The scientists still dispute about the place of this heroic deed but the librarians of Khasavyurt city library are sure that they have found it in the surroundings of the Dagestan mountainous village of Burtunai.

First of all in this place high mountain river banks look like conglomeration of huge columns which are very much alike Hercules’s Columns, which have preserved in other parts of the world. Secondly, the local people mark strange unusual phenomenon which takes place occasionally in this area. The same event happens near the Hercules’s columns in other parts of the world where the apparatus mark vertical flows of energy. And finally it is known that all the Hercules’s Columns were connected with one another by the system of underground catacombs. Evidently like those not studied yet caves near Burtunai.

If we are right or wrong it is for the scientists to decide. But this place is sure to have its special energy which gives strength to the youth of Dagestan who go in for Fee Style Wrestling since their childhood.