Epic
Görogly dessany
Not translated into English
Anonymous · 1700
Synopsis
The cycle sings of the hero Görogly and his forty horsemen. It tells of his marvellous birth, his upbringing with his grandfather Jygalybeg and his aunt Gülendam, the winged horse Gyrat that he raises and the fortress of Çandybil that he builds; then his marriage to the peri Agaýunus, loved in a dream and sought far away, his revenge on Arab-Reýhan, the abductor of his aunt, the adoption of Öwez, whom he draws out of captivity, and the struggle against the armies of the sultan.
Context
The Görogly, whose name means “son of the tomb”, is the Turkmen form of a tradition shared by many Turkic and neighbouring peoples, known in at least seventeen versions according to the Encyclopaedia Iranica. Its episodes alternate between prose, which relates the events, and verse, which expresses the characters' feelings. Its performers, the dessançy bagşy, are found mainly in the regions of Daşoguz and Lebap; they accompany themselves on the dutar and the gyjak and learn their art for years from a master. UNESCO sees in it an oral encyclopaedia of Turkmen customs. A scholarly edition appeared in Moscow in 1983.
Who it is for
A long cycle, in prose and verse, made to be recited and sung in episodes; no published French or English translation.
Prizes and reception
Inscribed in December 2015, under the name “Görogly epic chant”, on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.