What do the Chuvash do? The unique language and unusual origin of the Chuvash

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• Chuvash (ethnonym) // Wikipedia

29 Yasak Chuvash (Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts, Tatars, Russians) are the tax population of the Middle Volga region, in the 16th-18th centuries. paying the feudal state yasak - rent-tax.

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V.. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - pp. 411-412

81 Serving Chuvash (Tatars, Mari, Udmurts, Mordovians) - in the 16th-18th centuries. a category of small military service people from the Volga peoples who performed abattoir and military service. Under Peter I, they were included in the category of state peasants (decrees of 1719-1724).

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash

Among the dependent population there were also Russian peasants. In our opinion, Russian peasants in the Scribe Book are hidden under the term “peasant household.” The heavy non-Russian population of local origin was usually called “Chuvash”, and the non-Russian population of the western regions was called “Latvians”. Peasant households (Russian peasants) on the farms of feudal lords are indicated separately from “Chuvash” and “Latvian”.

The term "yasak Chuvasha" fixed class affiliation: the name “chuvasha” (šüäš), according to the authoritative conclusion of the linguist R. G. Akhmetyanov, meant “plowman, farmer” ( Akhmetyanov).

The so-called yasak Chuvash - Besermen were localized in the main territory of the Kazan Khanate, professing Islam in the 15th-16th centuries. spoke the Tatar language. Their numbers significantly exceeded the actual “Tatar” part of the dominant ethnic group in the Khanate.

In June, unrest began in Kazan. “Chuvash Arskaya” (apparently the Arsky Votyaks) came to the capital to the Khan’s court “to fight against the Crimeans” and demanded submission to Russian demands (“why don’t you hit the sovereign with your forehead”), but the government of Oglan Kuchak dispersed the crowd of rebels - “ They fought with them and beat the Chuvash.”

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected Works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - P. 410

77 Yasak is a rent-tax in favor of the feudal state, collected from yasak people of the Middle Volga region in money and bread from a fixed area of ​​land. See: Dimitriev V.D. About yasak taxation in the Middle Volga region in the 17th - first quarter of the 18th centuries // Dimitriev V.D. Chuvashia in the era of feudalism (XVI-early 19th centuries). - pp. 241-269.

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - P. 416.

80 Newly baptized servicemen (Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts, Tatars) - former servicemen who converted to Orthodoxy, stationed in the second half of the 16th-17th centuries. in the cities of the Middle Volga region and carried out military service in cities and counties. Had small land, in some cases they complained with bread and money.

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - P. 416.

A Chuvashenin who has accepted Muhammadanism is already ashamed to be called a Chuvashenin and speak Chuvash, but calls himself a Tatar. “I’m not a Chuvashe, that is. not a pagan,” he thinks: “I am a Tatar, i.e. true believer.

Dictionaries

Elistratov V. S. Dictionary of Russian argot (materials from 1980-1990). - M.: Russian dictionaries, 2000. - 694 p.

Trishin V. N. Large dictionary-directory of synonyms of the Russian language of the ASIS system, version 8.0, July 3, 2012 for 431 thousand words.

Dal V. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: In 4 volumes / Vladimir Ivanovich Dal. - M.: Rus. language - Media, 2003.-T. 4: P - Ѵ . - 2003. - 688 pp., 1 portrait.

additional literature

Chernyshev E. I. Tatar village second half XVI and XVII centuries. // Yearbook on Agrarian History of Eastern Europe 1961 - Riga, 1963. - pp. 174-176.

Chernyshev E. I. Villages of the Kazan Khanate. // Questions of ethnogenesis of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga region. Kazan, 1971. - pp. 282-283.

Iskhakov D. M. From medieval Tatars to modern Tatars. - Kazan, 1998. - P. 58-60, 80-102.

Dimitriev V. D. About the last stages of the ethnogenesis of the Chuvash. //Bulgarians and Chuvashs. - Cheboksary: ​​ChNII, 1984. - pp. 39-43.

Skvortsov M. I. Chuvash language material in the “Scribe book of the Kazan district of 1602-1603”. // Interlinguistic interactions in the Volga-Kama region. - Cheboksary: ​​ChSU, 1988. - P. 89-101.

List of scribe books for the city of Kazan and the district. - Kazan, 1877.

List from the scribe and boundary book of the city of Sviyazhsk and the district. - Kazan, 1909.

Faces of Russia. “Living together while remaining different”

The multimedia project “Faces of Russia” has existed since 2006, telling about Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together while remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, within the framework of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of different Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs “Music and Songs of the Peoples of Russia” were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs were published to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a snapshot that will allow the residents of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a legacy for posterity with a picture of what they were like.

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"Faces of Russia". Chuvash. "Chuvash "Treasure"", 2008

CHUVASH'I, Chavash (self-name), Turkic people in Russian Federation(1773.6 thousand people), the main population of Chuvashia (907 thousand people). They also live in Tatarstan (134.2 thousand people), Bashkiria (118.6 thousand people), Kazakhstan (22.3 thousand people) and Ukraine (20.4 thousand people). The total number is 1842.3 thousand people. According to the 2002 Census, the number of Chuvash living in Russia is 1 million 637 thousand people, according to the results of the 2010 census - 1,435,872 people.

The Chuvash language is the only living representative of the Bulgarian group of Turkic languages. They speak Chuvash language Turkic group Altai family. Dialects are lower ("pointing") and upper ("pointing"), as well as eastern. Sub ethnic groups- upland (viryal, turi) in the north and north-west, middle-low (anat enchi) in the central and north-eastern regions and lower Chuvash (anatri) in the south of Chuvashia and beyond. The Russian language is also widespread. The Chuvash began writing a long time ago. It was created based on Russian graphics. In 1769, the first grammar of the Chuvash language was published.

Currently, the main religion of the Chuvash is Orthodox Christianity, but the influence of paganism, as well as Zoroastrian beliefs and Islam, remains. Chuvash paganism is characterized by duality: belief in existence, on the one hand, good gods and spirits led by Sulti Tura (supreme god), and on the other - evil deities and spirits led by Shuittan (devil). The gods and spirits of the Upper World are good, those of the Lower World are evil.

The ancestors of the riding Chuvash (Viryal) are Turkic tribes of Bulgarians who came in the 7th-8th centuries from the North Caucasus and Azov steppes and merged with the local Finno-Ugric tribes. The self-name of the Chuvash, according to one version, goes back to the name of one of the tribes related to the Bulgarians - Suvar, or Suvaz, Suas. They are mentioned in Russian sources since 1508. In 1551 they became part of Russia. By the mid-18th century, the Chuvash were mostly converted to Christianity. Some of the Chuvash who lived outside Chuvashia converted to Islam and became Tatars. In 1917, the Chuvash received autonomy: Autonomous Okrug from 1920, Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1925, Chuvash SSR from 1990, Chuvash Republic from 1992.

The Chuvash joined Russia in the middle of the 16th century. In the formation and regulation of the moral and ethical standards of the Chuvash, the public opinion of the village has always played and continues to play a large role (yal men drip - “what will fellow villagers say”). Immodest behavior, foul language, and even more so drunkenness, which was rare among the Chuvash until the beginning of the 20th century, are sharply condemned. Lynchings were carried out for theft. From generation to generation, the Chuvash taught each other: “Chavash yatne an sert” (don’t disgrace the name of the Chuvash).

Series of audio lectures “Peoples of Russia” - Chuvash

The main types of settlements are villages and hamlets (yal). The earliest types of settlement are riverine and ravine, the layouts are cumulus-cluster (in the northern and central regions) and linear (in the south). In the north, the village is typically divided into ends (kasas), usually inhabited by related families. The street layout has been spreading since the 2nd half of the 19th century. From the 2nd half of the 19th century, dwellings of the Central Russian type appeared. The house is decorated with polychrome painting, saw-cut carvings, applied decorations, the so-called “Russian” gates with a gable roof on 3-4 pillars - bas-relief carvings, later painting. There is an ancient log building (originally without a ceiling or windows, with an open hearth), serving as a summer kitchen. Cellars (nukhrep) and baths (muncha) are common. A characteristic feature of the Chuvash hut is the presence of onion trim along the roof ridge and large entrance gates.

Traditional food is dominated by plant products. Common soups (yashka, shurpe), stews with dumplings, cabbage soup with seasonings made from cultivated and wild greens - cow parsnip, nettle, etc., porridge (spelt, buckwheat, millet, lentil), oatmeal, boiled potatoes, jelly from oatmeal and pea flour, rye bread (khura sakar), pies with cereals, cabbage, berries (kukal), flatbreads, cheesecakes with potatoes or cottage cheese (puremech). Less often they prepared khupla - a large round pie with meat or fish filling. Dairy products - turah - sour milk, uyran - churning, chakat - curd cheese. Meat (beef, lamb, pork, among the lower Chuvash - horse meat) was a relatively rare food: seasonal (when slaughtering livestock) and festive. They prepared shartan - a sausage made from a sheep's stomach stuffed with meat and lard; tultarmash - boiled sausage stuffed with cereal, minced meat or blood. They made mash from honey, and beer (sara) from rye or barley malt. Kvass and tea were common in areas of contact with the Tatars and Russians.

A rural community could unite residents of one or several settlements with a common land plot. There were nationally mixed communities, mainly Chuvash-Russian and Chuvash-Russian-Tatar. Forms of kinship and neighborly mutual assistance (nime) were preserved. Family ties were steadily preserved, especially within one end of the village. There was a custom of sororate. After the Christianization of the Chuvash, the custom of polygamy and levirate gradually disappeared. Undivided families were already rare in the 18th century. The main type of family in the 2nd half of the 19th century was the small family. The husband was the main owner of family property, the wife owned her dowry, independently managed income from poultry farming (eggs), livestock farming (dairy products) and weaving (canvas), and in the event of the death of her husband, she became the head of the family. The daughter had the right of inheritance along with her brothers. In economic interests, the early marriage of a son and the relatively late marriage of a daughter were encouraged (therefore, the bride was often several years older than the groom). The tradition of the minority is preserved (the youngest son remains with his parents as an heir).

The most developed genre of folklore is songs: youth, recruit, drinking, funeral, wedding, labor, lyrical, as well as historical songs. Musical instruments - bagpipes, bubble, duda, harp, drum, and later - accordion and violin. Legends, fairy tales and tales are widespread. Elements of ancient Turkic runic writing can be traced in generic tamgas and in ancient embroidery. Arabic writing was widespread in Volga Bulgaria. In the 18th century, writing was created based on Russian graphics of 1769 (Old Chuvash writing). Novochuvash writing and literature were created in the 1870s. The Chuvash national culture is being formed.

T.S. Guzenkova, V.P. Ivanov

They don’t carry firewood into the forest, they don’t pour water into the well.

“Where are you going, gray caftan?” “Shut up, you wide mouth!” Don't be alarmed, this is not a conversation between some drunken hooligans. This is a Chuvash folk riddle. As they say, you can’t guess it without a hint. And the hint is this: the action of this riddle does not take place in modern house, but in an old hut. Over time, the stove in the hut turned gray... Warm, warm...

Here is the answer: smoke coming out of the open door of the smoking hut.

Have you warmed up? Here are a couple more dashing Chuvash riddles.

Clay mountain, on the slope of a clay mountain there is a cast iron mountain, on the slope of a cast iron mountain there is green barley, a polar bear is lying on the green barley.

Well, this is not such a difficult riddle, if you try hard and give free rein to your imagination, then it will be easy to guess. This is baking pancakes.

Don’t think that the Chuvash came up with riddles a hundred or two hundred years ago. They still don’t mind composing them. Here's a good example of a modern riddle.

At first, like a pillow. Then, like a cloud. What is this?

Well, okay, let's not torture. This is: a parachute.

We learned something about the Chuvash. They found out what was on their minds.

To find out more, listen to the fairy tale.

It’s called: “Shirt made of hemline fabric.”

One young widow was haunted by an evil spirit. This way and that way the poor woman tried to free herself from him. She’s exhausted, but the evil spirit isn’t far behind—and that’s all. She told her neighbor about her trouble, and she said:

- And you hang the door with a shirt made of hemline fabric - it won’t let an evil spirit into the hut.

The widow listened to her neighbor, sewed a long shirt from the timber and hung it on the door to the hut. At night an evil spirit came, and the shirt said to him:

- Wait a minute, listen to what I had to see and experience in my lifetime.

“Well, speak,” answered the evil spirit.

“Even before I was born,” the shirt began its story, “there was so much trouble with me.” In the spring, the land was plowed, harrowed, and only after that, hemp was sown. Some time passed and I was blocked again. Only then did I ascend and appear into the world. Well, when I appeared, I grow, I reach for the sun...

“Well, that’s enough, I guess,” says the evil spirit. “Let me go!”

“If you start listening, let me finish,” the shirt answers. “When I grow up and mature, they pull me out of the ground...”

“I understand,” the evil spirit interrupts again. “Let me go!”

“No, I haven’t understood anything yet,” his shirt won’t let him in. “Listen to the end... Then they thresh me, separate the seeds...

- Enough! - the evil spirit loses patience. - Let him go!

But at this time a rooster crows in the yard, and the evil spirit disappears without ever visiting the widow.

- So where did I stop? - she says. “Oh yes, on the seeds.” My seeds are peeled, winnowed, stored, and what the seeds grew on—hemp—is first put in stacks, and then soaked in water for a long time, three whole weeks.

“Well, is that all?” asks the evil spirit. “Let it go!”

“No, not all,” the shirt answers. “I’m still lying in the water.” After three weeks they pull me out of the water and put me out to dry.

- Enough! - the evil spirit begins to get angry again. - Let him go!

“You haven’t heard the most important thing yet,” the shirt answers. “You don’t know how they crush and break my bones... So, they break and crush me until my whole body is cleared of bones.” Not only that: they also put it in a mortar and let three or four of us pound it with pestles.

- Let me go! — the evil spirit begins to lose patience again.

“They knock all the dust out of me,” the shirt continues, “they leave only a clean body.” Then they hang me on a comb, separate me into thin hairs and spin them. The strained threads are wound on a reel and then dipped into the liquor. Then it’s difficult for me, my eyes are filled with ash, I can’t see anything...

- And I don’t want to listen to you anymore! - says the evil spirit and already wants to go into the hut, but at this time the rooster crows, and he disappears.

And on the third night an evil spirit appeared.

“Then they wash me, dry me, make skeins out of me and put me through a reed, weave it, and it turns out to be canvas,” the shirt continues its story.

- That's it now! - says the evil spirit. - Let him go!

“There’s still quite a bit left,” the shirt answers. “Listen to the end... The canvas is boiled in alkaline water, laid on green grass and washed so that all the ash comes out.” And again, for the second time, three or four of them push me so that I become soft. And only after that they cut off as much as necessary from the piece and sew it. Only then does the seed placed in the ground become a shirt, which is now hung over the door...

Then again the rooster crowed in the yard, and again evil spirit Having had no salty slurp, I had to go home.

In the end, he got tired of standing in front of the door and listening to the shirts' stories, from then on he stopped flying to this house and left the young widow alone.

An interesting fairy tale. With a lot of meaning. The entire process of making a shirt is laid out in detail in this fairy tale. It is useful to tell this fairy tale to adults and children, but especially to students of agricultural universities and textile institutes. In the first year, of course.

And now we move from fairy-tale affairs to historical affairs. There is also something to tell about the Chuvash themselves. It is known that the Chuvash joined Russia in the middle of the century. Currently, there are 1,637,200 Chuvash in the Russian Federation (according to the results of the 2002 census). Almost nine hundred thousand of them live in Chuvashia itself. The rest live in several regions of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, in the Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as in Moscow, Tyumen, Kemerovo, Orenburg, Moscow regions of Russia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

The Chuvash language is Chuvash. It is the only living language of the Bulgaro-Khazar group of Turkic languages. It has two dialects - low (“pointing”) and high (“pointing”). The difference is subtle, but clear and noticeable.

The ancestors of the Chuvash believed in the independent existence of the human soul. The spirit of the ancestors patronized the members of the clan and could punish them for their disrespectful attitude.

Chuvash paganism was characterized by duality: belief in the existence, on the one hand, of good gods and spirits led by Sulti Tura (supreme god), and, on the other, of evil deities and spirits led by Shuittan (devil). The gods and spirits of the Upper World are good, those of the Lower World are evil.

The Chuvash religion in its own way reproduced the hierarchical structure of society. At the head of a large group of gods stood Sulti Tura and his family.

In our time, the main religion of the Chuvash is Orthodox Christianity, but the influence of paganism, as well as Zoroastrian beliefs and Islam, remains.

The Chuvash began writing a long time ago. It was created based on Russian graphics. In 1769, the first grammar of the Chuvash language was published.

In the formation and regulation of the moral and ethical standards of the Chuvash, the public opinion of the village has always played and continues to play a large role (yal men drip - “what will fellow villagers say”). Immodest behavior, foul language, and even more so drunkenness, which was rare among the Chuvash until the beginning of the 20th century, are sharply condemned. Lynchings were carried out for theft. From generation to generation, the Chuvash taught each other: “Chavash yatne an sert” (don’t disgrace the name of the Chuvash).

Orthodox Chuvash people celebrate all Christian holidays.

Unbaptized Chuvash have their own holidays. For example, Semik, which is celebrated in the spring. By this day, you need to have time to eat seven different plants, for example, sorrel, dandelion, nettle, hogweed, lungwort, caraway seeds, and squash.

Nettle is especially revered, because if you eat nettle before the first thunder, then whole year you won't get sick. It is also good for your health to run outside during thunder and shake your clothes.

For Semik, the Chuvash bake pies, brew beer and kvass, and also prepare brooms from young birch.

On the day of the holiday, they wash in the bathhouse, certainly before sunrise. By lunchtime, festively dressed, everyone goes to the cemetery to invite deceased relatives to visit their home. Moreover, men call men, women call women.

After Christianization, baptized Chuvash especially celebrate those holidays that coincide in time with the pagan calendar (Christmas with Surkhuri, Maslenitsa and Savarni, Trinity and Semik), accompanying them with both Christian and pagan rituals. Under the influence of the church, patronal holidays became widespread in the everyday life of the Chuvash. By the beginning of the 20th century, Christian holidays and rituals became predominant in the everyday life of baptized Chuvash people.

Chuvash youth also have their own holidays. For example, in the spring and summer, the youth of the entire village, or even several villages, gather in the open air for round dances.

In winter, gatherings are held in huts where the older owners are temporarily absent. At gatherings, the girls are engaged in spinning, but with the arrival of the boys, games begin, the participants of the gatherings sing songs, dance, and have playful conversations.

In the middle of winter, the Maiden Beer festival takes place. The girls pool together to brew beer, bake pies, and in one of the houses, together with the boys, organize a youth feast.

Three forms of marriage were common among the Chuvash: 1) with a full wedding ceremony and matchmaking, 2) a “walk-away” wedding, and 3) kidnapping the bride, often with her consent.

The groom is escorted to the bride's house by a large wedding train. Meanwhile, the bride says goodbye to her relatives. She is dressed in girl's clothes and covered with a blanket. The bride begins to cry and lament.

The groom's train is greeted at the gate with bread and salt and beer.

After a long and very figurative poetic monologue, the eldest of the friends is invited to go into the courtyard to the laid tables. The meal begins, greetings, dances and songs of the guests sound.

The next day the groom's train leaves. The bride is seated astride a horse, or she rides while standing in a wagon. The groom hits her three times (for fun) with a whip to “drive away” the spirits of his wife’s clan from the bride (Turkic nomadic tradition). The fun in the groom's house continues with the participation of the bride's relatives.

The newlyweds spend their first wedding night in a cage or other non-residential premises. According to custom, the young woman takes off her husband’s shoes. In the morning, the young woman is dressed in a woman’s outfit with a women’s headdress “hush-poo”. First of all, she goes to bow and makes a sacrifice to the spring, then she begins to work around the house and cook food.

The young wife gives birth to her first child with her parents.

In a Chuvash family, the man dominates, but the woman also has authority. Divorces are extremely rare. There was a custom of the minority - the youngest son always remained with his parents.

Many are surprised that, seeing off the deceased in last way, the unbaptized Chu-Wash sing not only funeral songs, but also cheerful ones, even wedding songs. There is an explanation for this. Pagans consider themselves children of nature. And therefore they are not afraid of death. It is not something terrible and scary for them. It’s just that a person goes to another world, and they see him off. Songs. Cheerful and sad.

Chuvash songs are really different. There are folk songs. In turn, they are divided into everyday ones (lullabies, children's, lyrical, table, comic, dance, round dance). There are ritual songs, labor songs, social songs, and historical songs.

Among the folk musical instruments, the following are common: shakhlich (pipe), bagpipes of two types, kesle (harp), warkhan and palnaya (reed instruments), parappan (drum), khankarma (tambourine). The violin and accordion have long become familiar.

The Chuvash also love fairy tales in which truth and reality are easily intertwined. Fairy tales with more fiction than truth. If we use modern language, then these are fairy tales with elements of the absurd. When you listen to them, they clear your mind!

One day my grandfather and I went hunting. They saw a hare and began to chase it. We hit with a club, but we cannot kill.

Then I hit him with a Chernobyl rod and killed him.

Together with my grandfather, we started to lift it, but we couldn’t lift it.

I tried one - picked it up and put it on the cart.

Our cart was harnessed by a pair of horses. We whip the horses, but they cannot move the cart.

Then we unharnessed one horse and drove the other.

We arrived home, my grandfather and I began to remove the hare from the cart, but we couldn’t remove it.

I tried one and took it off.

I want to bring it in through the door, but it won’t fit, but it went through the window freely.

We were going to cook a hare in a cauldron - it didn’t fit, but we put it in the cauldron - there was still room left.

I asked my mother to cook the hare, and she began to cook, but didn’t follow: the water began to boil violently in the pot, the hare jumped out, and the cat - right there - ate it.

So we never had to try the hare meat.

But we made up a good fairy tale!

Finally, try to guess another Chuvash riddle. It is very complex, multi-stage: on an unplowed fallow field, next to an ungrown birch tree, lies an unborn hare.

The answer is simple: lies...

Do you feel what the wise Chuvash are getting at? An unborn lie is still much better than a born lie...

CHUVASH , chăvash (self-name) - people, number in Russia is 1637.2 thousand people, in Chuvash. Rep. – 889.3 thousand people. (2002). They live mainly in Middle. Volga and Urals regions. In Rep. Tatarstan 126.5 thousand people, Rep. Bashkortostan 117.3 thousand, Ulyanov. region 111.3 thousand, Samar. 101.4 thousand, Orenburg. 17.2 thousand, Saratov. 16.0 thousand, Moscow. 12.5 thousand, Sverdlov. 11.5 thousand, Nizhny Novgorod. region 11.4 thousand people Significant Ch. groups are settled: in Siberia - in Tyumen. region 30.2 thousand people, Krasnoyar. region 16.9 thousand people, Irkut. region 7.3 thousand people; in cities - Moscow 16.0 thousand people, St. Petersburg 6.0 thousand people. They live in the CIS and Baltic states (see. ). Just outside Chuvash. Rep. there are 45.7% of all Ch. The share of townspeople among them in Russia. Fed. in 2002 it was 51.3%.

The following stand out: : (northern and northwestern regions of the Chuvash Republic); (south of the republic, territories beyond its borders); (northeastern and central regions of Chuvashia). refers to Bulgarians. Turkic group languages, differences in (upper, lower, middle) insignificant. Most of belongs to the lower cultural and linguistic area, have mainly features of a lower dialect, but they also contain features of other dialects; in some dialects, features of the upper or middle ones predominate. As an independent researchers have identified , , , , , . Believers confess , groups preserved different interpretations. There are also adherents of tradition. , living in the beginning. 21st century in more than 40 villages of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Samara. region and other regions, and is not numerous. ethno-confessional. group of Chuvash Muslims.

According to anthropologist. In appearance, the bulk of Ch. is classified as subural. like Ural. transition. race, which was formed as a result of the interaction of Mongoloid and Caucasian components. The Mongoloid complex is more pronounced in the north. regions of Chuvashia, southeast. Ch. gravitate toward Caucasian groups. These features bring the northern Czechs closer to the neighboring Mari, and the southern ones to the Mordovians and Tatars. See also in Art. .

According to historians and linguists, Ch.’s ancestors came from the ancient Turkic people. ethnolinguistic community formed in Central. Asia in 3 thousand BC, and in a later period (at the turn of AD) - from the Proto-Bulgarian unity (see. , ). In the 1st half. 1 thousand AD Onoguro-Bulgarians and Savirs settled in the North. Caucasus, where states were formed and the Savir kingdom. After their collapse (7th century) part And migrated during the 7th–8th centuries. on Wednesday Volga and founded a new state - . The Bulgarian period (10th–13th centuries) played an important role in the formation of ethnocultures. appearance of Ch.: the foundations of contacts with the Finno-Ugric were laid. population of the region, as a result of the merger with the Crimea, a group of horseback Ch. was formed. History of Ch. after the defeat of the Volga. Bulgaria by the Mongol-Tatars (see. ) associated with , , from ser. 16th century – from Rus. by the state. Formation of a unified Chuvash. ethnicity went on in the 13th–16th centuries. based on the consolidation of groups of Bulgarians. population who migrated to the right bank. regions of the Volga, and assimilated Finno-Ugric. population. From the 16th century Ch. were involved in the all-Russian. political process. , colonization of the east. lands, Peter's reforms - all these historical. events affected Ch. directly and led to significant changes in their distribution and character ethnic culture. Construction in the 16th–17th centuries. to the southeast Chuvashia has created conditions for secondary settlement . The government actively resettled Ch. in the Volga region, to the newly annexed lands to the east. outskirts of the state: on the territory of modern. Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Ulyanov, Samar. and Orenburg. regions. The formation of ethnoterritorials began. groups.

Ch.'s ancestors used runich. by letter (see ). Old man. writing (see ) based on Russian graphics and rudiments professional. go back to the middle 18th century (the first printed products in the Chuvash language appeared in 1758, the first Chuvash odes - in the 1760s). created in 1871. Bourgeois. reforms 2nd half. 19th century prepared the conditions for book publishing at the national level. languages, development , teacher training. frames. Educational activities AND I. Yakovleva, introduction of the system To school. training, church sermons in Chuvash. language led to the appearance in the 2nd half. 19 – beginning 20th centuries Chuvash. national the elite represented by the intelligentsia and merchants.

In the beginning. 20th century took organized forms , speaking out against unequal rights. provisions of Ch. in political, legal, cultural, linguistic and religious. relationships. Chuvash. intelligentsia led by newspaper started publishing (1906). Were created (1917), (together with representatives of other Volga peoples) and other public. organizations. In con. 19 – beginning 20th centuries Chuvash development centers. national the cities of Kazan and Simbirsk became cultures. After education (1920) educational, cultural, scientific, and media institutions were created in Cheboksary. Engineering, technical, cultural, scientific, and medical fields were formed. and managerial national. frames. Chuvash were used. language as a state language, indigenization of the administrative and managerial apparatus in the republic, the creation of a national. pedagogical technical schools, development of the Chuvash. press, publisher activities in regions of compact Chuvash residence. diaspora. Since the 1930s under the conditions of the administrative-command system, the use of the Chuvash was narrowed. language in the sphere of government. appeals were crowded out and eroded traditionally. standards of life. Without national textbook establishments and printing. publications remained Chuvash. diaspora, ties with the republic have weakened.

Democratization of socio-political. life in the end 1980s – 1990s created the prerequisites for the preservation and development of the original culture and language of Chuvash, and the resumption of the publication of Chuvash. press in the regions where the Chuvash live. diaspora, the emergence of national cultures. public organizations. Chuvash. The language on the territory of the republic, along with Russian, received the status of a state language (1990). Formed : (CHOCTs, 1989), (ChNK, 1992), , societies in regions, cities and villages. areas, unions of local historians. But in the beginning 21st century in general education Chuvash schools populated points in a number of regions, there was a tendency to oust the Chuvash. language and literature.

Traditional Ch.'s most common occupation was arable farming. . The fundamentals of agriculture - rotational farming systems, heavy and light arable tools, a variety of crops and cultivation techniques - were laid down by Ch. back in the Bulgarians. period of their history. The Finno-Ugric heritage was noticeable in the methods of cultivating the land, tools, cultivated crops, and agricultural terminology. and Volga-Bulgarians. complexes. The product of a joint invention between the Bulgarians and the East. the plow appeared to the Slavs. They mainly cultivated rye, oats, barley, spelt, millet, flax, hemp and certain other crops. Crop rotation until the 20th century. was two-field and three-field, from the 20th century. multifield. Ch. have a long tradition . Vegetables were cultivated in meadows near ponds (cabbage, cucumbers), estates (onions, garlic, carrots, beets, pumpkin), in clearings and forest clearings (turnips, radishes). From time immemorial we have been engaged . Gardening spread in the 19th century. and was similar to Russian technology. peasants An integral part economic the complex was . They kept the heads. arr. horses, cows, sheep, pets. poultry, pigs, bees were raised. Volzh. Bulgarians in significant degrees were cattle breeders, as agriculture became the leading branch of the economy, went to the background. role, the forest and forest steppe gradually developed. type of livestock farming. The horse was a draft force, the basis for plowing and arable land. agriculture. Wild honey collection developed in , replaced in the 17th–18th centuries. . Traditional types of occupations were also , , processing of rural products. farming, making clothes, tools, household items. household goods, transport. funds. Ch. used forest techniques; in open spaces they used steppe methods. hunting. Before massive deforestation in the 18th century. significant Hunting for fur-bearing animals became widespread. Before securing the fisherman. lands for the treasury, fishing for the residents of the rivers. and Priozer. areas was important. They were engaged in fish farming, setting up crucian carp ponds and dams. Before the tsarist government banned metal processing in the 17th century. Among the Ch. there were blacksmiths and jewelers. At 19 – beginning. 20th centuries various were developed. And – forestry, woodworking, pottery, textile weaving, etc. At Chuvash classes and crafts. masters reflected the processes of interaction with neighbors. peoples.

The main type of settlement in Ch. was . Patronymic families (groups of male relatives) formed a neighborhood, a nest of households. Budding of daughters. villages from mothers. occurred intensively in the 17th–18th centuries. As a result of this process to the north. zone of Chuvashia, a nesting type of settlement was formed with a common generic name for the nest. For southeast Some parts are characterized by a linear type of settlement. Settlements arose mainly along rivers and streams. To the north. parts of Chuvashia, where the fragmentation of villages took place, they were small, in the south they were multi-yard. The settlements had public buildings and private institutions (church, school, shops, store cages, mills, grain mills, etc.), in large ones there were up to 10–15 objects. Construction of churches began in mid. 18th century During the 20th century. The settlement structure and infrastructure of villages have changed significantly. For 2nd floor. 20th century There is a tendency towards a decrease in overcrowding and an outflow of population to cities. In con. 20 – beginning 21st centuries implemented villages, housing intensified. construction. People live mainly in monoethnic villages.

Traces of the existence of a felt yurt with a prefabricated lattice frame in Ch. are reflected in folklore. Since 2 thousand AD the main type became the above-ground house; to the 17th–18th centuries. - a one- or two-chamber hut located in the middle and the door faces east; were built on the estate . In the forest-steppe. In the areas of Ch.'s settlement, adobe, adobe, and less often stone buildings were also built. the buildings. After its introduction in the 19th century. street plan, the hut began to face the , peasants. architecture took on new forms. In the beginning. 20th century have become widespread in modern times. architecture decorations, stylistic directions emerged. Starting from the 2nd half. 20th century Ch. is modified, changes , features and techniques are developing .

Ch. represents a single complex, but at the same time it reflects ethnographic. and ethnoterritorial. peculiarities. The basis of women and husband clothing consisted of a white shirt made of hemp (hemp) canvas. They wore white trousers with a wide leg, ankle length or longer. Women shirts had a length of 115–120cm , on both sides of the chest incision, along the sleeves, along the length. The seams and hem were decorated with embroidery. The outline of the patterns was made with black threads, their color was dominated by red, chapters. were patterns or . They girded themselves with 1-2 belts and covered the back of the figure with pendants of various types: , , on the sides - in pairs . Husband. The shirts were decorated along the chest with stripes of an embroidered pattern and red ribbons. In con. 19th century among the lower Ch., shirts made of motley (ulach) became widespread; wives decorated with stripes, 1-2 frills, and an ornamented apron made of white canvas or motley was tied over it. The riding Chuvash women wore a white apron with a bib over their shirts.

Various types of clothing were used as demi-season clothing. , winter - fur coats and sheepskin coats. Until the 20th century existed special kind swinging ritual clothing - a white straight-back shupăr with rich ornamentation created by a combination of embroidery and appliqué. Men wore cloth hats with brims and fur hats. Women headdresses were varied: girls wore round hats , decorated with beaded embroidery and silver. coins; married women covered their heads with a white strip of thin canvas with ornamented ends ( ), a headband (puç tutri) was tied on top, on holidays. days put on , which had rich coin decoration and vertical. dorsal part. A single ensemble with elegant headdresses consisted of head, neck, shoulder, chest, waist from coins, beads, beads, corals and cowrie shells, which had functionality, aesthetic and symbolic meaning. Girls' jewelry sets differed from women's; There were also differences among individual ethnoterritorials. and ethnographic groups and subgroups.

Casual If there were bast shoes woven from linden bast, the riders wore them with black cloth. onuchami, grassroots with white wool or cloth. stockings Holiday shoes - leather boots or shoes, in the riding group - high accordion boots. From the end 19th century tall women appeared. leather lace-up boots. In winter they wore white, gray or black felt boots.

Since the 1930s traditional clothing began to be replaced by city clothing. type. In the beginning. 21st century used as a holiday. and ritual clothing, in folklore and stage performances. activities. Its traditions develop in the works of artists and craftsmen , in the work of artistic enterprises. industries.

traditional predominantly plant-based. Basic : , donuts (khăpartu), flatbreads made from sour and unleavened dough, pancakes, ritual , pastries with filling ( , pies, and etc.). Prepared soups and etc.), (from spelled, millet, buckwheat). From the most common were , Varenets ( turăkh, tu-răkh uyranĕ), oil, etc. ( , etc.) were consumed infrequently, meat was obligatory. component of ritual food. Some of the food elements of Ch. have parallels in the traditions of the Turkic language. and Iranian speaking. peoples; the other is Finno-Ugric, the influence of Russian is also noticeable. kitchens. They were ritual , non-alcoholic maxăma drink, . National dishes kitchens are a real feature of modern. Ch's lifestyle

During the Kazan period. khanates and before 18th century within Russia, Ch. belonged to the categories And , from the 18th century. And . Duration At that time, patriarchal-tribal and communal traditions existed. Sat down. , which formed the basis of social. organization, had economic and fiscal. functions, was the organ of the places. self-government, which resolved issues of land use, taxation, and recruitment. set. Valid . On the village gathering that regulated the timing of agricultural works, community service rituals performed by the primary fate functions and voting rights were given to men - heads of families. The isolated villages formed one complex community with a mother community and common lands. area.

Patronomic heritage the organization of farming was complex from several married couples. Main economic unit in the 19th century. was two generations. monogamous family (polygamy disappeared after Ch.'s conversion to Christianity). property was carried out by husband. lines. built on the power of the head of the family, to whom its members were subordinate, rested on his authority, traditionally. standards , as a rule, was concluded by mutual agreement of the parties, which was carried out . Family associated with the main moments of a person’s life ( , , ) and calendar. cycle. Occupied an important place in customs . Rituals dedicated to ancestors were most holistically preserved among the unbaptized Ch. Traditions of weddings, births, funerals and memorials. rituals in the beginning 21st century combined with modern norms. Kinship traditions have been preserved. and neighborly mutual assistance.

Holidays and rituals, covering all spheres of life, were closely connected with agriculture, animal husbandry, and religion. views and were divided into spring-summer and autumn-winter cycles. Rituals related to production. activities, there were more than 30. The most significant. the complex consisted of rituals of agriculture and animal husbandry. With the adoption of Orthodoxy traditionally. holidays and rituals are intertwined with Christian holidays and some of them continue to exist in this form [ , , , wow and văyă( ), , , ], others in the 20th century. pushed out of the current situation. spheres [ , avan pătti (rite at the end of threshing), , , , , , , , , , and other rituals]. In the holidays of Ch. various expressions were found. types of people creativity: music, , , costume, elements of drama; were used

Chuvash always found themselves at the crossroads of peoples and civilizations. This shaped their culture, but more than once brought them to the brink of death. It determined friendship with neighbors and, at the same time, enmity. It prompted the creation of a state in order to then repeatedly recreate it from the ashes. The fate of this people is difficult. Just like the path of Russia itself and its other ethnic groups.

“The Chuvash tribe is still an unsolved page of history,” these words of the famous Tatar writer of the twentieth century Zarif Bashiri capture the whole essence of the complex and even mysterious origin of the Chuvash people.

Entertaining quest: Bulgarian-Suvar ancestors

Ethnogenesis, in terms of the degree of confusion, resembles a game of thimbles: “I twist and turn - I want to confuse.” Try to find grain in the depths of centuries without confusing the archaeological layers of the historical pie. Today we will follow the representatives of the Chuvash people to get acquainted with their ancestors and trace life path ethnicity.

On the northern slopes of the Tien Shan, Altai and in the upper reaches of the Irtysh in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. the Bilu, Bugu, Cheshi and Puley tribes appeared. They belonged to the Oguro-Onur ethnic community. These proto-Bulgarian tribes, in turn, were representatives of the western wing of the Xiongnu tribes.

Huns... Yes, it is from them that the ancient Bulgars/Bulgarians, Suvars and some other ethnic groups trace their ancestry - the ancestors of the Chuvash people. (we use the traditional transcription of Russian chronicles, while keeping in mind “our” Volga Bulgarians, and not the Balkan ones).

The similarity of language, economy, life and culture speaks in favor of the fact that one should look for familiar Chuvash features in the “Caucasian faces with a slight Mongoloid admixture” of the Volga Bulgarians. By the way, Chuvash - the only surviving language of the Bulgarian branch - is different from all other Turkic languages. It is so different in general characteristics that some scientists even consider it an independent member of the Altai language family.

central Asia

The East poured into Europe. The mass exodus began with the Huns, who carried other peoples with them to the west. By the beginning of the 1st century AD. The Ogur tribes took advantage of the moral “right of the nation to self-determination” and went their own way - to the west, separately from the Huns. This path turned out to be not straight, but zigzag: from north to south and back to the north. In the 2nd century AD. Oghur tribes invaded Semirechye (the south-eastern part of modern Kazakhstan and northern Kyrgyzstan), where they received the ethnonym Sabir (from the Persian Savar, Suvar “rider”) as a nickname from local Iranian-speaking agricultural tribes. As a result of mutual assimilation with the Iranian-speaking Usuns, a Proto-Bulgarian ethnic community was formed.

Some researchers believe that it was there, in Central Asia, that ancient Iranian words were fixed in the language of the Chuvash ancestors (there are about two hundred of them in modern speech). Under the influence of Zoroastrianism, the paganism of the people is formed, and the ancient Iranian cultural influence is reflected in the Chuvash material culture, for example, women's hats and embroidery patterns.

Caucasus and Azov region

In the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Bulgarian and Suvar tribes settle on the right bank of the Lower Volga, occupy territories North Caucasus and the Azov region.

But, strictly speaking, the name “Bulgarians” was first mentioned only in 354 - in the anonymous “Chronograph”, written in Latin. It became widespread during the creation of “Great Bulgaria” - their first state formation. Ethnicity confidently promotes new round development - settled life and the formation of statehood.

This is how the Volga Bulgarians first found their native expanses, where they would build their first state. But from geographical application to the formation of the people there are still almost seven centuries of trials. And not just “state building”.

From afar for a long time - they flowed to the Volga

In the 40s of the 5th century. The militant leader Attila became the head of the Huns for 20 years, uniting the tribes from the Rhine to the Volga under his rule. The ancestors of the Chuvash, who lived in the Volga region at that time, ended up as part of a “nomadic empire”, of which even the Roman Empire was a tributary. However, with the death of Attila, the empire fell apart.

Finding themselves first under the rule of the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Bulgarian tribes continued the struggle for independence. In the first quarter of the 7th century, their ruler Kubrat united his people along with the Suvar and other Turkic-speaking tribes into a union called “Great Bulgaria”. “Independence Day” finally came - the ruler managed to achieve autonomy from the Turkic Kaganate.

Great Bulgaria is located on the territory between the Azov and Caspian seas. And the capital became the city of Phanagoria.

State 2.0

The death of the ruler of Great Bulgaria Kubrat led to a split into Western and eastern part- into two tribal unions. The first, pressed by the Khazars, led by Asparukh, moved to the west, where they later created the Bulgarian kingdom.

Part of the Eastern Bulgarians (the so-called “silver”) in the 70s of the 7th century moved first to the upper reaches of the Don, and then to the Middle Volga region. Those who remained on the spot submitted to the Khazars.

The theory about the seizure of the lands of local Finns by newcomers from the Eastern Bulgarians is disputed by modern historians. Archaeologists echo that when the Bulgarians arrived, the lands were already practically empty - the Imenkovo ​​population (Slavs who moved from the Middle Dnieper) disappeared in the 7th century, and the Volga Finns, who turned out to be the closest neighbors, lived in isolation. The Middle Volga region became a place of active interaction between the Volga-Finnish and Permian-Finnish populations with the Ugric tribes penetrating from Western Siberia.

Over time, the Bulgarians occupied a dominant position in the Middle Volga, managing to unite in an alliance and partially assimilate with the local Finno-Ugric tribes (the ancestors of the modern Mari, Mordovians and Udmurts), as well as the Bashkirs.

By the 8th-9th centuries, plow farming was established among the new settlers, and a transition to sedentary forms of farming took place. Back in the 10th century, the famous Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan mentioned that the Bulgars were actively engaged in cultivating the land: “Their food is millet and horse meat, but they also have wheat and barley in large quantities, and everyone who sows anything takes it for himself.”

In the “Risalia” of Ibn Fadlan (10th century) it is noted that the Bulgarian Khan Almush still lives in a tent.

Settlement, agriculture and even some kind of economic organization... Most likely, at the end of the 9th century, the state of Volga Bulgaria already existed. It was created in the context of the ongoing struggle against the Khazars, which contributed to the strengthening of autocracy in the state. In difficult times, the ruler relied on an eternal scheme: to unite the people with a common goal of survival and to hold with a firm hand the main levers of power, including financial ones. Even in the first quarter of the 10th century, Khan Almush concentrated in his hands the collection and payment of tribute to the Khazars from the tribes of the Middle Volga region subordinate to him.

A Question of Faith

Back in the first quarter of the 10th century, Almush, in order to fight the Khazars, turned for support to the Baghdad caliph Mukhtadir, who in 922 sent an embassy to Volga Bulgaria. Consequently - most of Bulgarians converted to Islam.

However, the Suwaz tribes refused. They retained the former name “Suvaz” - Chuvash, while those who remained later assimilated with the Bulgarians.

At the same time, the scale of the spread of Islam in Volga Bulgaria cannot be exaggerated. In 1236, the Hungarian monk Julian called it a powerful kingdom with “rich cities, but all there are pagans.” Therefore, it is too early to talk about the division of the Bulgar ethnic community into Muslims and pagans before the 13th century.

Since 965, after the defeat of the Khazar Kaganate by Russia, a new stage in the development of Volga Bulgaria begins. Territorial expansion is actively underway, as a result of which the Bulgarian ethnic group “subjugated all its neighbors...” (Al-Masudi). By the end of the 12th century, the northern part of the state reached the Kazanka River, the eastern - to the banks of the Yaik and Belaya, the southern - to the Zhiguli, and the western included the right bank of the Volga. The center of Volga Bulgaria until the middle of the 12th century was the city of Bolgar (Bulgar), and from the second half of the 12th to the beginning of the 13th century - Bilyar. Some researchers refuse to call these cities capitals, preferring to call them “centers”, because They believe that Volga Bulgaria was rather a union of independent principalities with separate capital cities.

The Bulgarian tribes (the Bulgarians themselves and related Suvars) are drawing closer together, and the Finno-Ugric peoples are also integrating. As a result, even before the Mongol invasion, a more or less unified nationality was formed in the Bulgarian state with its own common language of the Chuvash type.

Rus': only business and nothing personal

From the end of the 10th century until the Mongol conquest, the most active relations developed between Volga Bulgaria and Russia. She is not yet Mother Rus' - the relationship is not one of love, but quite a commodity-money relationship. The Volga trade route passed through Bulgaria. By playing the role of an intermediary, she provided herself with decent benefits.

However, partnerships alternate with periods of military confrontation, which was caused mainly by the struggle for territory and influence over various tribes.

They failed to unite in a military alliance in the face of the Horde enemy, but the states made peace.

"Non-Golden Age" of the Horde

The real test for Volga Bulgaria was the invasion of the Golden Horde. At first, the courageous resistance of the people stopped the invasion. The first clash between the Bulgarians and the Mongols occurred after the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223. Then the Mongols sent a detachment of five thousand to Bulgaria, which was defeated. The attacks in 1229 and 1232 were also successfully repulsed.

The victory of the Volga Bulgarians over the Mongols, according to historian Khairi Gimadi, had far-reaching consequences: “Until the mid-30s of the 13th century, the Mongol invasion of Europe was delayed.” As for the Bulgarians themselves, they had no doubt that the next invasion would be more serious, merciless and would not last long. Therefore, intensive work begins to strengthen cities. In 1229, the peace treaty with Vladimir-Suzdal Russia was extended for six years.

However, in 1236 the Bulgarians were unable to resist Batu's army. Russian chronicles write about the defeat like this: “It came from eastern countries The godless Tatars entered the Bulgarian land, and took the glorious Great Bulgarian and beat them with weapons from the old man to the old man and to the living child, taking a lot of goods, and burned their city with fire and captivated their entire land.” The Mongols ravaged Bulgaria and destroyed almost all important cities (Bulgar, Bilyar, Dzhuketau, Suvar).

In 1241, the Mongols turned Volga Bulgaria into the Bulgar ulus of the Golden Horde. Moreover, the occupied territories had special significance for them: the city of Bulgar, before the construction of Sarai, was the capital of the Golden Horde, and later became the summer residence of the khans of the Jochi ulus.

Kazan Tatars

Mongol rule forced the population to move north. At the same time, there was an increased penetration of the Kypchaks into Volga Bulgaria, who, occupying the most important positions in the administration of the ulus, gradually moved to a settled life. The surviving Bulgarian elite, thanks to their religious community - many converted to Islam in the 9th-10th centuries - gradually became closer to the newcomer Kipchaks-Tatars, as a result of which by the 15th century. the nationality of the Kazan Tatars was formed.

As part of the decrepit Golden Horde, the Bulgar ulus was subjected to numerous raids. In 1391 and 1395, the territory was devastated by the troops of Tamerlane, Novgorod robbers and Russian princes. The devastation was completed by the Mangyt yurt of Prince Edigei (later the Nogai Horde). As a result, the Bulgarian ancestors of the Chuvash as an ethnic group found themselves on the verge of extinction, having lost their historical homeland, statehood, elite and ethnic identity. According to historians, at least 4/5 of the population was destroyed.

Chuvash Daruga of the Kazan Khanate

After the collapse of the Golden Horde in the Middle Volga region, Ulu-Muhammad created the Kazan Khanate in 1438 with its center in Kazan. In addition to the Kipchak-Tatars, who served as support for the ruler, a significant part of the population were Chuvash, Mari, Mordovians and Udmurts, who were the main tax-paying class. Also, part of the Bashkir lands was part of the Kazan Khanate.

Most of the Chuvash who found themselves part of the Kazan Khanate lived on the mountainous side of the Volga (north of modern Chuvashia), as well as on its left bank. Therefore, the territory east of Kazan, where they lived, was called the “Chuvash Daruga” (“Daruga” is an administrative unit in the Kazan Khanate).

Since a significant part of the feudal lords and nobility professing Islam remained in Kazan, the influence of the Tatar language and the Muslim clergy in the area was small. On the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria, on the basis of Bulgarian ethnoculture, by the end of the 15th century, the formation of two ethnic groups - Tatar and Chuvash - was completed. If in the first the Bulgarian ethnicity was practically replaced by the Kipchak-Tatar, then the Chuvash, according to ethnographer Rail Kuzeev, “while preserving the archaic Turkic language, at the same time developed a culture that was in many respects close to the culture of the Finno-Ugric people.”

33 misfortunes

As part of the Kazan Khanate, the Chuvash found a place to live. But this life was not easy due to tax burdens. The descendants of the once powerful Volga Bulgaria were obliged to pay a burdensome tribute, were involved in the construction of fortresses, and performed pit, road, stationary and military duties.

But the war brought the greatest suffering to the Chuvash people. Starting from the second half of the 15th century, the territory of their residence became a zone of Russian-Kazan confrontation. Thus, the Tatars marched across the Bulgarian-Chuvash land against the Russians 31 times, and the Russians against the Kazan Khanate - 33 times. Along with regular raids by Nogai nomads, the campaigns became a real disaster for the population. These factors largely determined the willingness of the Chuvash to accept Russian citizenship.

To be continued

Chuvash ( self-name - chăvash, chăvashsem) - the fifth largest people in Russia. According to the 2010 census, 1 million 435 thousand Chuvash live in the country. Their origin, history and peculiar language are considered very ancient.

According to scientists, the roots of this people are found in the ancient ethnic groups of Altai, China, Central Asia. The closest ancestors of the Chuvash are considered to be the Bulgars, whose tribes inhabited a vast territory from the Black Sea region to the Urals. After the defeat of the Volga Bulgaria state (14th century) and the fall of Kazan, part of the Chuvash settled in the forest regions between the Sura, Sviyaga, Volga and Kama rivers, mixing there with Finno-Ugric tribes.

The Chuvash are divided into two main subethnic groups according to the course of the Volga: riding (Viryal, Turi) in the west and north-west of Chuvashia, grassroots(anatari) - in the south, besides them in the center of the republic there is a group middle grassroots (anat enchi). In the past, these groups differed in their way of life and material culture. Now the differences are becoming more and more smoothed out.

The self-name of the Chuvash, according to one version, directly goes back to the ethnonym of a part of the “Bulgar-speaking” Turks: *čōš → čowaš/čuwaš → čovaš/čuvaš. In particular, the name of the Savir tribe ("Suvar", "Suvaz" or "Suas"), mentioned by Arab authors of the 10th century (Ibn Fadlan), is considered by many researchers to be a Turkic adaptation of the Bulgarian name "Suvar".

In Russian sources, the ethnonym “Chuvash” first appears in 1508. In the 16th century, the Chuvash became part of Russia, and at the beginning of the 20th century they received autonomy: from 1920, the Autonomous Region, from 1925 - the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Since 1991 - the Republic of Chuvashia as part of the Russian Federation. The capital of the republic is Cheboksary.

Where do the Chuvash live and what language do they speak?

The bulk of the Chuvash (814.5 thousand people, 67.7% of the region’s population) live in the Chuvash Republic. It is located in the east of the East European Plain, mainly on the right bank of the Volga, between its tributaries Sura and Sviyaga. In the west, the republic borders with the Nizhny Novgorod region, in the north - with the Republic of Mari El, in the east - with Tatarstan, in the south - with the Ulyanovsk region, in the southwest - with the Republic of Mordovia. Chuvashia is part of the Volga Federal District.

Outside the republic, a significant part of the Chuvash live compactly in Tatarstan(116.3 thousand people), Bashkortostan(107.5 thousand), Ulyanovskaya(95 thousand people) and Samara(84.1 thousand) regions, in Siberia. A small part is outside the Russian Federation,

The Chuvash language belongs to Bulgarian group of the Turkic language family and represents the only living language of this group. In the Chuvash language, there is a high ("pointing") and a lower ("pointing") dialect. Based on the latter, it was formed literary language. The earliest was the Turkic runic alphabet, replaced in the X-XV centuries. Arabic, and in 1769-1871 - Russian Cyrillic, to which special characters were then added.

Features of the appearance of the Chuvash

From an anthropological point of view, most Chuvash belong to the Caucasoid type with a certain degree of Mongoloidity. Judging by research materials, Mongoloid features dominate in 10.3% of the Chuvash. Moreover, about 3.5% of them are relatively pure Mongoloids, 63.5% belong to mixed Mongoloid-European types with a predominance of Caucasoid features, 21.1% represent various Caucasoid types, both dark-colored and fair-haired and light-eyed, and 5.1 % belong to the sublaponoid type, with weakly expressed Mongoloid characteristics.

From a genetic point of view, the Chuvash are also an example of a mixed race - 18% of them carry the Slavic haplogroup R1a1, another 18% carry the Finno-Ugric N, and 12% carry the Western European R1b. 6% have the Jewish haplogroup J, most likely from the Khazars. The relative majority - 24% - bears haplogroup I, characteristic of northern Europe.

Elena Zaitseva

The Chuvash folk religion refers to the pre-Orthodox Chuvash faith. But there is no clear understanding of this faith. Just as the Chuvash people are not homogeneous, the Chuvash pre-Orthodox religion is also heterogeneous. Some Chuvash believed in Thor and still do. This is a monotheistic faith. There is only one Torah, but in the Torah belief there is Keremet. Keremet- This is a relic of the pagan religion. The same pagan relic in the Christian world as the celebration of the New Year and Maslenitsa. Among the Chuvash, keremet was not a god, but an image of evil and dark forces, to whom sacrifices were made so that they would not touch people. Keremet when literally translated it means “faith in (god) Ker.” Ker (name of god) to have (faith, dream).

Perhaps some believe in Tengrism; what it is is not entirely clear. Tengriism, in Chuvash tanker, actually means ten(faith) ker(name of god), i.e. “faith in the god Ker.”

There was also a pagan religion with many gods. Moreover, each settlement and city had its own main god. Villages, cities, and peoples were named after these gods. Chuvash - sounds Chuvash Syavash (Sav-As literally means “Aces (god) Sav”), Bulgars - in Chuvash pulhar ( pulekh-ar- literally means “people (of God) pulekh”), Rus - Re-as(literally means “aces (god) Ra”), etc. In the Chuvash language, in myths, there are references to pagan gods - Anu, Ada, Ker, Savni, Syatra, Merdek, Tora, Ur, Asladi, Sav, Puleh, etc. These pagan gods are identical with the gods of ancient Greece, Babylonia or Rus'. For example, the Chuvash god Anu (Babylonian -Anu), Chuv. Ada (Babylon. - Adad), Chuv. Torah (Babylon. - Ishtor (Ash-Torah), Chuv. Merdek (Babylon. Merdek), Chuv. Savni (Babylon. Savni), Chuv. Sav (Greek Zeus -Sav- as, Russian Savushka).

Many names of rivers, cities and villages are named after gods. For example, the Adal (Volga) River ( Ada-ilu means the god of Hell), the river Syaval (Civil) ( Sav –ilu- god Sav), river Savaka (Sviyaga) ( Sav-aka- meadows of the god Sav), the village of Morkash (Morgaushi) ( Merdek-ash- god Merdek), city of Shupashkar (Cheboksary) ( Shup-ash-kar- the city of the god Shup), the village of Syatrakassi (street (of the god) Syatra) and much more. All Chuvash life is permeated with relics of pagan religious culture. Today we don't think about religious culture, and religion in life modern man does not take first place. But to understand ourselves, we must understand the people's religion, and this is impossible without restoring the history of the people. In my small homeland (the village of Tuppai Esmele, Mariinsky Posad district), Orthodoxy was forcibly adopted in the mid-18th century, which led to a decrease in the village population by 40%. The Chuvash have always been adherents of their antiquity and did not accept the forced imposition of another culture and religion.

Consideration folk religion shows the layering of three types of religions:

• Monotheistic belief in the god Thor.
• An ancient pagan faith with many gods - Sav, Ker, Anu, Ada, Pulekh.
• Monotheistic faith Tengrinism is a belief in the god Tenker, nothing more than a belief in the god Ker, which is possibly the result of the development of a pagan religion with its transformation into a monotheistic one with the god Ker.

In different parts of Chuvashia and the Russian Federation there are relics of these types of religion, accordingly, rituals differ and there is cultural diversity. Moreover, this diversity is also accompanied by linguistic diversity. Thus, there is evidence to suggest that this diversity is due to the influence different cultures or peoples. But as historical analysis has shown, this assumption is incorrect. In fact, such diversity is due to the fact that only one culture, one people, but different tribes of this people, who went through different historical paths, participated in the ethnogenesis of the Chuvash people.

The ancestors of the Chuvash are the Amorites, the biblical people, three or four waves of Amorite migration to different eras settled on the middle Volga, going through different historical paths of development. To understand the history of the Chuvash, it is necessary to trace the history of the Amorites from the 40th century BC. to 10th century AD In the 40th century BC. our ancestors, the Amorites, lived in the territory of western Syria, from there, for almost 5 thousand years, the Amorites settled throughout the world, spreading their pagan faith and culture, which was the most progressive at that time. The Amorite language is considered a dead language. Until the beginning of AD. On the vast Eurasian continent, two main religions dominated - Celto-Druid and pagan. The bearers of the first were the Celts, the bearers of the second were the Amorites. The border of the spread of these religions ran along Central Europe- the Druids dominated in the West, in the East up to the Pacific and Indian Ocean- pagans.

Modern Chuvash culture and language are the result of thousands of years of history of the Amorite people, whose descendants are the Chuvash people. The history of the Chuvash is very complex and varied. There are many hypotheses and theories of the origin of the Chuvash, which at first glance are contradictory. All historians agree that the ancestors of the Chuvash were Savirs (Suvaz, Suvars). In many historical documents it speaks about this people, but geographically placing them in all parts of the Eurasian continent - from the Barents Sea to the Indian Ocean, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The modern Russian spelling of the name of the Chuvash people, and the self-name of the people is Syavash, which consists of two parts Sav and Ash. The first part denotes the name of the god, the second part denotes the type of people - the Ases. (You can read in detail about the aces in the Scandinavian epic). In the Chuvash language the sound is often With is replaced by w. Thus, the Chuvash always considered themselves subjects of the god Sav, or the Chuvash can be called Sav aces. Often in these myths words were mentioned that were not used in ordinary life. Coming home, I asked my father the meaning of these words and why they are not used now. For example, rotatkan, as the father explained, this is an old Chuvash word for squirrel; in the modern Chuvash language the word paksha is used. Spanekappi came from the Chuvash from the Mari Trans-Volga region, where ancient Chuvash words and pagan myths were probably preserved. For example, the ancient Chuvash word meshkene, means slave, also not found in modern language, but was used in ancient Babylon and is also an Amorite word. I did not come across this word in conversation, but heard it only from the lips of Spanecappi.

Spanekappi told myths about a world tree with two peaks, an owl sits on one peak, an eagle sits on the other, how there is a sacred spring at the roots of this tree, running along the branches rotatkan, and gnaws the leaves pumpkin. The top of the tree touches the sky. (In our village on Cape Tanomash there is such a tree, a sacred spring flows at the roots.) God lives in the sky Anu, people, animals live on the earth, and reptiles live underground. This myth is very similar to the Scandinavian epic. It's also called a squirrel rotatkan. World tree - ash ikktorsil, if translated from the Chuvash language, this literally means two-vertex.

Spanecappi told me about the hero Chemen. Having matured, I began to look for the historical prototype of the hero Chemen and came to the conclusion that this was the commander Semen, in whose honor the city of Semender was named.

Spanekappi told me about a hero (I don’t remember his name) who performed feats and traveled underworld, where he fought and defeated various monsters, traveled to the heavenly world to the gods and competed with them. I remembered all these myths several decades later, when I read about the exploits of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamian mythology, they were so similar.

But I always had a question to which I could not find an answer, why the Chuvash do not have a full-fledged pagan epic. Studying historical material, reflection led me to the conclusion that this is the result of the complex history of the people. The tales, myths and legends that Spanecappi told us as a child were much richer than those recorded and printed in books. But these myths are typical only for the Chuvash of the Mari Trans-Volga region, who differed from the rest of the Chuvash, both in mythology, language, and appearance- fair-haired and tall.

Attempts to understand, reflection and study of historical material allowed me to come to certain conclusions, which I want to present here.

The modern Chuvash language contains a large number of Turkic words from the Bulgarian language. In the Chuvash language, there are often two parallel words that have the same meaning - one from Turkic, the other from ancient Chuvash. For example, the word potato is denoted by two words - sier ulmi (Chuv) and paranka (Turks), cemetery - syava (Chuv) and masar (Turks). The appearance of a large number of Turkic words is due to the fact that when the Bulgars accepted Islam, part of the Bulgars refused to convert to Islam and remained in the old religion and mixed with the pagan Chuvash.

Many researchers classify the Chuvash language as a Turkic language group, but I do not agree with this. If the Chuvash language is purified from the Bulgar component, then we will get the ancient Chuvash language, which turns out to be an Amorite language.

Here I want to give my point of view about the history of the Chuvash, which begins in the 40th century BC. In the 40th century BC. The ancestors of the Chuvash Amorites lived in the territory of modern western Syria. (Remember the mention of frescoes in Syria). From the 40th century BC. Amorite tribes begin to intensively settle throughout the world. There is information about the migration of the Amorites in the 40th century BC. to the west, to northern Africa, where they, together with the Luwian tribes, participated in the formation of the first Egyptian kingdoms.

In the 30th century BC. the following Amorian tribes called Carians(the main god of the Ker tribe) invaded the Mediterranean, settled the Mediterranean islands, part of the Balkan Peninsula and the Etruscan tribe (Ada-ar-as - means the people of the god Hell) - part of modern Italy. Exist common elements cultures of the Etruscans and Caucasian Savirs. For example, the Etruscans have a ritual battle of warriors (gladiators) over the grave of the deceased, and the Savirs have a ritual battle of relatives with swords over the deceased.

In the 16th century BC. next Amorite tribe Thorians(who are called the Northern Greek tribe, main god- Tora) invaded the north of the Balkan Peninsula. All these tribes, together with the Indo-European tribes (Pelasgians, Achaeans), participated in the creation of the Cretan, Greek and Roman civilizations with pagan religion and culture. Scientists are still struggling with the solution to Cretan writing. Last year, Americans came to the conclusion that Cretan writing is a variety of Greek. But in fact it is one of the varieties of Amorite writing and is written in the Amorite language.

Between the 30th and 28th centuries BC. The Amorite tribes migrated east, passed through Mesopotamia without stopping, where there was a strong Sumerian state, moved further east and reached northwestern China. Arriving in the Tufyan depression, they created the civilization of the Turfyan chamois (Turkhan Sier) and settled Tibet. These same Amorites captured the entire territory of China, created the first Chinese state and the first royal dynasty in China, ruled for about 700 years, but were then overthrown. The Amorites who arrived differed in appearance from the Chinese - tall, fair-haired. Subsequently, the Chinese, having come to power, decided to crowd out memories of the rule of the aliens from their memory; it was decided to destroy all references to the rule of the Amorites. Already in later times in the 14th century BC. The Amorites were forced to leave the Turfian depression. Due to tectonic movements (new mountain building), the appearance of northwestern China changed, and the depressions were flooded. The Amorites migrated to the north - to Siberia, to the West - to Altai, and to the south. Centuries later, after the cessation of tectonic movements, the Amorites again populated northwestern China and, already at the beginning of our era, came to Europe as part of an alliance of tribes called the Huns, the main role in this alliance was occupied by the Savirs. The Huns brought faith - Tengrism, which is the development of the pagan religion of the Amorites and its transformation into a monotheistic one, where there was one god Tenker (Tenker - from Chuvash means god Ker). Only part of the Savirs settled in the middle Volga, where the Amorites of the first wave of migration, who came from Mesopotamia, already lived; part went to Western Europe.

In the 20th century BC. a more powerful flow of Amorite migration was again directed to the east. Under the pressure of this migration, the weakened Sumerian-Akkadian state fell. Arriving in Mesopotamia, the Amorites created their own state with Babylon as its capital. Before the arrival of the Amorites, there was only a small village on the site of Babylon. But the Amorites did not destroy the Sumerian-Akkadian cultural heritage, as a result of the synthesis of the Sumerian-Acadian and Amorite cultures, a new one arose - the Babylonian culture. The first Amorite kings took Akkadian names for themselves. Only the fifth Amorite king took the Amorite name - Hamurappi, which is translated from Chuvash as “elder of our people.” Writing and correspondence were conducted in Akkadian, a language related to Amorite. Therefore, practically no documents in the Amorite language have survived. The modern Chuvash language and culture have a lot in common with the Amorite culture and the language of Babylonia from the 20th to the 10th centuries BC. In the 10th century BC. The Amorites were driven out of Mesopotamia by the more warlike Aramean tribes. The departure of the Amorites from Mesopotamia was associated with a change in the culture and economic structure of this region, a change in diet, etc. For example, the Amorites brewed beer, with their departure brewing was replaced by winemaking.

The Amorites went north - they populated the territory of the Caucasus and further to the north of the European Plain and to the east - the Iranian Plateau. On the European plain, the Amorites are mentioned by Herodotus (5th century BC) under the name Sauromats (sav-ar-emet), which literally translated from Chuvash means “the people who believe in (the god) Sav.” Emet in the Chuvash language means dream, faith. It was the Sauromats, from my point of view, who made up the first wave of migrants, our ancestors, who settled on the Volga. The Sauromatians were pagans; the Sauromatians settled over a vast Eurasian territory. It was they who brought to the Eurasian territory the names of rivers, mountains, and places, the meaning of which is now unclear. But they are understandable from the Amorite language. Moscow (Me-as-kekeek - from Amorite “homeland of the Ases (god) Me, kevek -homeland)”, Dnieper (te en-eper - “road of the country (god) Te”, eper - road), Oder, Vistula, Tsivil, Sviyaga, etc. The Amorite name is Kremlin (Ker-am-el from Amorean “sacred land (of god) Ker”), the Slavic name of the fortress is Detinets. The Chuvash of the Mari Trans-Volga region, who are different from the rest of the Chuvash, may not have mixed with the Amorites of the later migration to the Volga (Huns and Savirs) from other regions.

It is with this stream of Amorite migrants (Sauromats) that paganism is associated in the Chuvash culture, but it was forced out of life by the Amorites of later and numerous migration streams. Therefore, I learned Chuvash pagan mythology only from the lips of Spanekappi, who was from the Chuvash Mari Trans-Volga region, where the influence of later Amorite migrants did not affect.

The next wave of Amorite migrants who came to the Volga were the Huns, some of whom settled in the territory of related tribes, brought Tengrism, and some went west. For example, a tribe called the Suevi, led by the leader Cheges, went west and settled in the south of France and Spain; the Suevi later participated in the ethnogenesis of the French and Spaniards. It was they who brought the name Sivilya (Sav-il, means the god Sav).

The next wave of Amorite migration was the resettlement of the Savirs, who lived in the northern Caucasus. Many people identify the Caucasian Savirs as the Hunnic Savirs, but they probably settled in the Caucasus when forced out of Mesopotamia back in the 10th century BC. By the time of the resettlement, the Savirs had already abandoned the pagan religion and adopted Christianity. The Savir princess Chechek (flower) became the wife of the Byzantine emperor Isaurian V, adopted Christianity and the name Irina. Later, after the death of the emperor, she became empress and actively took part in the canonization of Orthodoxy. In the Caucasus (Chuvash name Aramazi), the Savirs converted to Christianity in 682. The adoption of Christianity was forced, the king of all Savir Elteber (in Chuvash this title sounded yaltyvar, literally from Chuvsh means “to carry out customs”) Alp Ilitver cut down sacred trees and groves, destroyed idols, executed all the priests, and made crosses from the wood of sacred trees. But the Savirs did not want to convert to Christianity. The disunited Savirs, with the adoption of a new religion, could not resist the Arab invasion after 24 goals in 706. Before the adoption of Christianity, the Savirs were a very warlike people, constantly participating in wars with the Arabs and Persians and emerging victorious. The basis of the belligerence and courage of the Savirs was their religion, according to which the Savirs were not afraid of death, only warriors who died in battle with enemies went to heaven in the divine country. With the adoption of Christianity, the psychology and ideology of the people changed. A similar process occurred with the Norwegians and Swedes (Vikings) after the adoption of Christianity.

The Arabs marched through the country of the Savirs with sword and fire, destroying everything, especially destroying the Christian faith. The Savirs were forced to go north, settling from the Dnieper to the Volga and further to the Aral Sea. And within a decade, these Savirs created a new state - Great Khazaria, which occupied the territory of settlement of the Caucasian Savirs, Hunnic Savirs and their allies (Magyars). In the 9th century, a military coup took place in Khazaria, the military and the Jews came to power, and Judaism became the state religion. After this, the state of Khazaria became an alien and hostile state for the Savirs, and a civil war began. The Oguzes were called in to maintain power. Without the support of the population, Khazaria did not exist for long.

The invasion of the Arabs led to the Savirs moving away from the pagan religion due to the destruction of the priests who were in charge of the customs, but the new Christian religion did not have time to gain a foothold among the people and took the form of a monotheistic religion of faith in the Torah. The last wave of migration was the most numerous. The resettlement of the Savirs from the Caucasus (from the Aramazi Mountains - translated from Chuvash as - “land (am) of the people (ar) ases (az)”) is spoken of in myths. In the myth, the Chuvash hastily left their place of residence along the Azamat Bridge, which rested at one end on the Aramazi Mountains and the other on the banks of the Volga. The Savirs, having migrated with their still unsettled religion, forgot about Christ, but moved away from the pagan religion. Therefore, the Chuvash practically do not have a full-fledged pagan mythology. The pagan myths told by Spanecappi were probably introduced by the Amorites of the first wave of migration (Sauromatians), and were preserved only in inaccessible areas, such as the Mari Trans-Volga region.

As a result of the mixing of three streams of descendants of the Amorites and synthesis, they received the pre-Orthodox faith of the Chuvash. As a result of the synthesis of three waves of migration of the descendants of the Amorites (Sauromatians, Savirs, Huns), we have a variety of language, differences in appearance, and culture. The predominance of the last wave of migration over others led to the fact that paganism and Tengrism were practically forced out. Savirs from the Caucasus migrated not only to the Volga, a large group migrated and settled on the vast territory of modern Kyiv, Kharkov, Bryansk, Kursk regions, where they created their own cities and principalities (for example, the principality of Novgorod of Siversky). They, together with the Slavs, participated in the ethnogenesis of Russians and Ukrainians. Back in the 17th century AD, they were mentioned under the name of stellate sturgeon. The Russian cities of Tmutarakan, Belaya Vezha (translated literally from Chuvash as “the land of (god) Bel”), Novgorod Siversky were Savir cities.

There was another wave of Amorite migration, at the turn of two eras. This wave may not have led to the settlement of the Amorites on the Volga. The Amorites went far to the north of the European continent - to the north of Russia and to Scandinavia under the name Svear, partly from Scandinavia they were forced out by the Germanic tribes of the Goths, who crossed to the continental part of Europe in the 3rd century AD. created the state of Germanrich, which later fell under the onslaught of the Huns (Savirs). The Svears with the remaining Germanic tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Swedes and Norwegians, and the Svears on the European territory of Russia, together with the Finno-Ugrians and Slavs, participated in the ethnogenesis of the Russian people of the north, in the formation of the Novgorod principality. The Chuvash call the Russians “roslo”, which literally means “mountain aces” (along the upper reaches of the Volga), and the Chuvash call themselves “aces”, believers of the god Sav. It was the participation of the Savirs in the ethnogenesis of the Russian people that brought many Chuvash words into the Russian language - top (Russian) - vir (Chuv.), lepota (Russian) - lep (Chuv.), pervy (Russian) - perre (Chuv.) , table (Russian) - setel (Chuv.), cat (Russian) - sash (Chuv.), city (Russian) - map (Chuv.), cell (Russian) - keel (Chuv.), bull ( Russian) - upkor (Chuv.), opushka (Russian) - upashka (Chuv.), honey mushroom (Russian) - uplyanka (Chuv.), thief (Russian) - voro (Chuv.), prey (Russian) ) - tuposh (Chuv.), cabbage (Russian) - kuposta (Chuv.), father (Russian) - atte (Chuv.), kush (Russian) - kushar (Chuv.), etc.

It is necessary to note the invasion of the Amorites from the Iranian plateau into India. This invasion occurred in the 16th-15th century BC. The invasion may have taken place in conjunction with Indo-European peoples and is referred to in history as the Aryan Invasion. With the arrival of the Amorites, the weakened Harappan state fell and the newcomers created their own state. The Amorites brought a new religion and culture to India. In the Mahabharata there is an early mention of the Savirs together with the Sindhis. In ancient times, the territory of the Sinds was known as Sovira. In the ancient Vedas there are many words similar to Chuvash, but modified. (For example, how the name of the city Shupashkar was modified in the Russian spelling of Cheboksary). The sacred pillar is called yupa, among the Chuvash it is also called yupa. The fifth book of the Vedas about biography is Puran (Puran from Chuvash - life), the book of the Vedas Atharva about treatment from Chuvash means (Ut - horvi, from Chuvash - protection of the body), another book of the Vedas is Yajur (yat-sor - earthly name).