Subject: Батыр 'hero' warrior horseman
Culture: Kazakh Turk
Setting: Dzungar wars, Kazakh khanate 17-18thc
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Vykhodchenko 2014-08-06 online (interviewing Kaliolla Akhmaetzhan)
"Batyrs were a particular social stratum. They only deal with military affairs, employment other business [sic] was considered a disgrace. The profession batyr passed down from generation to generation, from father to son. A boy born in a family of knight, was bound to become a warrior. If a young man was not willing to engage in military affairs, he was condemned by others, as batyrs defended their land against external enemies and maintained internal order."
* Gorelik 1995 p
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* Khodarkovsky 2002 p
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Costume (Hat, Coat, Shoes)
* Zang 2004 p191
"Mean wear 'button in the middle'-style buttonless [SIC?] knee-length robes over pullover type embroidered shirts. In winter they wear 'button in the middle'-style cotton overcoats or leather overcoats with turn-down collar, loose cotton trousers or leather trousers. They tie leather waistbands, gird little knifes at right side and wear round leather hats, three leaf hats or top felt hats. A three-leaf hat is made of three pieces of lambskin and fox skin, covered with satin and decorated with eagle feathers on top. Wearing a hat like this will make men look very bright and brave. There are two types of men's leather boots: soft boots and knee-length boots."
* Sichel 1986 p51
"Men's folk costumes from the Mogilev area consists of linen trousers and a shirt, as well as a wrap-over coat with a stand-up collar, known as a karakin, in grey wool for winter made of natural coloured linen for summer wear."
Shield
*
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Crop
* Schultz/Englehorn 1999 p97 (describing traditional eagle hunting in Central Asia)
"Most hunting with eagles was done on horseback, and a whip is essential. Always on a Kazakh man's person, the hanchir is usually tucked away along his calf inside one of the shafts of his tall leather boots."
Pouch
*
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Jewelry
* Ghose 2016 p132
"Amulets were used by every ethnic group in Central Asia, and their appearance and the way they were worn was consistent throughout the region. They differed only in their technique of execution and decoration, and the names by which they were known. The most widespread types were rectangular, cylindrical, or triangular. This included the Kazakh tumarsha and boytumar, the Uzbek and Tajik tumar and bozbend, the Turkmen tumar, and the Karakalpak and Turkmen kheikel. These forms themselves already possessed a sacral meaning. The triangle represented the three levels of the universe (lower, middle, and upper) and symbolized the feminine. The cylinder was associated with the phallus and thus with the masculine. Together with the triangle, it symbolized the concept of fertility. Rectangular-shaped amulets were protective by virtue of being closed off on all sides. Amulets were worn on the chest, thrown over the left or right shoulder, or sewn onto clothing or headdresses. Often, to increase their protective powers, they were worn in pairs."
Guns
* Khodarkovsky 2002 p39
"While nomadic horsemen remained mostly armed with traditional weapons, recognition of the devastating power of firearms triggered an arms race in the steppe. By the late eighteenth century, spheres of arms distribution were well established. .... [T]he Kazakhs obtained muskets from Bukhara and Khiva. Nomadic armies, however, were slow to adapt to modern warfare, change tactics, or deploy and use firearms effectively."
