The Sart-Kalmyks of Kyrgyzstan: past and present

Abstract

The article describes the past and present state of the Sart-Kalmyks of Kyrgyzstan in conditions of a different ethnic environment and multilingualism. The Sart-Kalmyks, or Issyk-Kul, or Karakol Kalmyks (Kalmaks) are a small ethnic group of Oirat origin, professing Islam. The source base of the article was the author’ personal field materials collected in the Ak-Sui district of the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan during a scientific expedition in 2021. The author managed to find a copy of the handwritten “Sart-Kalmyk-Kyrgyz-Russian dictionary” compiled by the residents of the village of Chelpek in the 1990s, to record samples of folklore works that exist in the modern Sart-Kalmyk community (oral stories, historical legends, toponymic legends, songs, well-wishes, proverbs, etc.). As additional material, information from various sources was involved, including from archival and published materials in Russian, Kalmyk and Kyrgyz languages. Our study presents the existing versions of the origin of the ethnic group “Sart-Kalmyks”, shows in detail the process of resettlement of Kalmyks from Xinjiang to the Semirechye region, studies the toponymy of the former and modern territory of residence of the Sart-Kalmyks, examines the history of the study of Sart-Kalmyks, number, ethnic composition, religion, education, economy, traditions of the Karakol Kalmyks. The relevance of this work is dictated by insufficient research of the Sart-Kalmyks in the domestic and world humanitarian science.

Keywords

• sart-kalmyks
• kyrgyzstan
• dzungar khanate
• xinjiang olets
• archival sources
• field materials of the author