PLOT AND THEMATIC DIVERSITY OF LEGENDS OF THE AVARS-KHUNZAKHS

Maindurova R. M.

An important place in the spiritual heritage of the Avars is occupied by legends and traditions, which are one of the most interesting genres in the folklore of the peoples of Dagestan, in particular the Khunzakh Avars. The plots of Avar legends contain events that have gone down in history, and the characters are historical characters: khans, rulers, robbers. The article examines the main thematic cycles, motifs, images, plot features and other artistic techniques of historical legends in the oral folk art of the Avars-Khunzakhs. The work involves extensive material that has not previously been subjected to special research from the point of view of considering the genre nature and compositional and stylistic features in them. The subject of this study is the historical legends of the Avars-Khunzakhs as a genre of artistic depiction of reality. The purpose of this article is an attempt to comprehensively study legends based on folklore material from the villages of the Khunzakh region (Tanusi, Arani, Batlaich, Kharikolo, Genichutl, Kakh, Baitl, Itlya, Oboda, Khini, Tsada, Shotoda, Chondotl), their genre originality, ethnic specifics and artistic features . The relevance of the topic is due to the need for a comprehensive study of the genre features of the non-fairy tale prose of the Avars-Khunzakhs people and the identification of their main artistic techniques. Scientific interest in Avar legends is caused by the educational nature of works of epic genres. They concentrate the people's views on their cultural and historical past. The novelty of this research lies in the fact that traditions and legends are of great interest and have not been sufficiently studied to this day. Many works of oral folk art, which were recorded at one time and were extremely popular among the people, did not receive due attention from folklorists. The research methodology is based on textual analysis using comparative typological, comparative historical and variable methods. The practical significance lies in the fact that the main provisions, results and conclusions can be used in the development of theoretical materials on the history of Avar folklore and its genres, in the study of problems of ethnogenesis, history, ethnography, and cultural history of the Avar people.

Keywords:Avar folklore, historical legends of the Khunzakh Avars, thematic composition, Timur, Nadir Shah, Nutsal, Caucasian War, Shamil, Hadji Murat.