Epic of Manas
The Epic of Manas (Kyrgyz: Манас дастаны, romanized: Manas dastanı, ماناس دستانی) is a very long and traditional epic poem of the Kyrgyz people of Central Asia, versions of which date to the 19th century and contain historical events of the 18th century; Kyrgyz tradition holds it to be much older. Manas is said to be based on Bars Bek who was the first khagan of the Kyrgyz Khaganate. The plot of Manas revolves around a series of events that coincide with the history of the region, primarily the interaction of the Kyrgyz people with other Turkic, Mongolic and Chinese peoples.
| Epic of Manas | |
|---|---|
Statue of Manas in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan | |
| Original title | Манас дастаны |
| Written | 18th century |
| Language | Kyrgyz |
| Subject(s) | The interactions of a Kyrgyz warrior and his progeny with neighboring Turkic, Mongolic, and Chinese people |
| Genre(s) | Epic poem |
| Lines | Approximately 553,500 |
The government of Kyrgyzstan celebrated the 1,000th anniversary from the moment it was documented in 1995. The mythic poem has evolved over many centuries, being kept alive by bards called manaschy or manaschi. The eponymous hero of Manas and his Oirat enemy Joloy were first found written in a Persian manuscript dated to 1792–93. In one of its dozens of iterations, the epic poem consists of approximately 500,000 lines.