About the Azerbaijani miniature of the XVI century in the light of the dictionary of Mahmud Kashgari and Karachay-Balkar language

Glashev Akhmed

The article deals with the issue of interpreting the mythological plot in the miniature of the 16th century artist Muhammedi using materials from the Karachay-Balkarian language and mythology, as well as the data from the 12th century monument “The Dictionary of Turkic Dialects of Mahmud al-Kashgari’. The author studies the opinions of the researchers who described and tried to explain this plot in the miniature. The article analyzes the terminology of the pre-Muslim pantheon in the Karachay-Balkarian language (words ‘choppa’, ‘elliri-choppa’), in the language of the Huns of the North Caucasus according to the “History of the Caucasian Albanians" by Moses Dasxurantsi, "The Dictionary of Turkic words of Mahmud al-Kashgari" (the words ‘elri’, ‘eldri’), Codex Cumanicus and the ancient religious and mythological customs of the Karachay-Balkars. As a result of this study the author comes to the conclusion that the miniature depicts an ancient Turkic religious and mythological plot.

Keywords:Miniature of Muhammedi, Dictionary of Mahmud al-Kashgari, thunder deity Choppa, Karachay-Balkarian language, Codex Cumanicus, The History of the Caucasian Albanians by Moses Dasxuranci, Azerbaijani language and folklore.