The image of Asan Kaigy in the culture of Turkic peoples

Abstract

For several centuries, the image of Asan Kaigy has been a spiritual heritage and an
integral part of the ethnic mentality of Kazakhs, Nogais, Kyrgyz, Karakalpaks, Bashkirs. Asan Kaigy as
a representative of the common Turkic history and culture is perceived, on the one hand, as a historical
person (epic poet, thinker), and on the other hand, as a folkloric hero (sometimes even mythologized). Over
the course of a century and a half, numerous empirical materials have been accumulated and published, and
many scientific studies on the poet have been carried out. Despite this, some questions of the image of the
folk sage remain open and require further comprehensive study.
This article attempts to summarize and systematically analyze the key concepts about Asan Kaigy
set forth in various publications of Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Nogai, Karakalpak, Bashkir, Russian researchers.
Moreover, textual sources are also analyzed, in which multifaceted facets of the image of a folk sage are
reflected. The article also sets out the position of the author himself on municipal issues of researching the
image of Asan Kaigy.