Dagestan tapes. Chechen tapes: what a Russian person needs to know

Today it is no longer possible to find out why and at what time such a system as Chechen teips was established. It is known that already in the middle of the eighteenth century, the Nokhchi (Chechens), uniting with the Ingush, completely formed their ethnic group. Until this time, it is unknown how long it took for a kind of military-economic alliances, that is, Chechen teips, to be formed.

Legend

Legends say that the ancestors of the Chechens had a bronze cauldron with the names of the first twenty teips forged on it, but those not included in this list melted the cauldron. Nevertheless, the names of the original twenty have been preserved: Sesankhoy Ilyesi-nekye, Benoy, Mlly-nekye, Yubak-nekye, Tsentoroy and the remaining fifteen.

Chechen teips also united with each other. These large formations were called tukhums. Already in the mid-nineteenth century, nine tukhums united Chechen teips, of which there were one hundred and thirty-five. Today there are more of them, and they are divided into mountainous, of which there are more than a hundred, and lowland, of which there are about seventy. Each teip is internally divided into branches and surnames (gars and nekyi). The head is the council of elders of the teip, where the most experienced and respected representatives administer the law, in addition, the position of byachcha - military leader is obligatory.

Pure and mixed

Chechen teips were called, the list of which will be presented as completely as possible, according to the area where the clan lived, or the business in which the clan was engaged. For example, the Kharachoy teip (translated into Russian as “cave”) or the Sharoy teip (translated as “glacier”) are clearly named after the first type, but the Peshkhoi teip is a teip of stove-makers, the teip of Khoy is a guards’ teip, and the Deshni teip is gold jewelers .

There are pure and mixed tapes. Nokhchmakhoy - this is the name of any pure teip - formed purely from Chechens, other blood was mixed with the rest. Guna, for example, is related to the Terek Cossacks, Kharacha - to a large extent with Circassian blood, Dzumsa - with Georgian, and Arsala - with Russian. Thus, mixed Chechen teips are distinguished. Their list is more extensive than Nokhchmakhoy.

The main thing for tape is the beginning

Since this is a tribal union, the personality of each Chechen is formed here and all moral and ethical standards are instilled in him. The Chechens call these postulates principles. I started twenty-three in total. Some will be listed here. The inviolability and unity of customs for all members of the teip, without exception, is the first beginning. The second gives the right to land ownership on a communal basis. The third principle is unlikely to correspond to the ideas of the rest of the civilized world - it prescribes blood feud for the murder of a relative in the teip, and this does not even depend on the closeness of the relationship. To this day, pure Chechen teips are jealous of their beginnings.

The fourth principle prohibits incest, that is, marriage between members of the teip is impossible. Fifth, for mutual assistance, if necessary, the entire teip is obliged to provide assistance to its representative. The sixth principle is that Chechens call for honoring the dead: if a member of the teip dies, everyone wears mourning for a certain period of time, holidays and entertainment are prohibited. The seventh principle is about the council of elders, the eighth is about the choice of a leader and military commander, not a single position is inherited. The ninth principle is about representation, which is also decided by the council of elders, and the tenth is that positions in the council of elders are for life, however, the history of Chechen teips also tells about cases of removal of a representative.

Blood feud

The third principle, which is professed by Chechen teips and tukkhums, requires wider disclosure. So, cheer - for any person from the representatives of this genus. This is a custom with unusually deep roots. Even in the recent past, in the event of a murder, an entire family, and sometimes even a teip, was forced to flee to foreign lands. Qi - blood - passed from generation to generation for many decades until the last representative of a given family, branch or teip was killed.

In later times, blood passes only to one family, but earlier the boundaries of the district were determined by the council of elders of neutral teips.

Immediately after the murder, councils of elders met both in the teip where the misfortune occurred and in the one through whose fault it occurred. In the first, they made a decision about revenge, and in the second, they looked for opportunities for reconciliation. Next came negotiations. If the teip of the murdered person did not agree to reconciliation, then neutral councils of elders were involved. If they did not win peace, then they began to work out the conditions for revenge: how widely the revenge would spread, with what weapons. Under no circumstances can you kill a bloodline in the back and without warning; during the holy month of Ramadan, as well as on other holidays, you cannot kill in a crowded place and - especially - at a party.

The beginning of the decomposition of the system

Civilization is taking its toll. Researchers are confident that today the teip system in Chechnya is gradually dying. Large teips - for example, Tsentaroi and Benoy - have grown so much that even blood relationships are forgotten and marriages within teips are possible. Many of them are gradually divided into an increasing number of genera, and the original teip becomes a tukhum.

Many Chechens remember the time when the youngest of them could name more than twenty tribes of their own direct ancestors. Now not every young Chechen will even answer about belonging to a teip. Adults and older people are noticeably worried, since kinship in Chechen society is a fundamental value. People without a clan-tribe cannot be Chechens.

Noble Chechen tape

Yalkhoy, or rather Yalkhoroy, is a very famous teip. It was from here that the surname Dudayev came, and it was also one of the few teips in which there were alien hired workers, and according to other sources, slave labor. The origin is connected with the caste professional organization; the warriors of Yalkhoroy even earned money by guarding the borders of other teips.

They lived in the village of the same name, as well as throughout Chechnya and Ingushetia, where they founded the village. The Yalkhoroi were the most loyal supporters of Dzhokhar Dudayev. Until now, in this clan there is a cult of militancy and many other purely mountain values: hospitality, veneration of women. They have a decisive disposition and in their ancestors they consider themselves to be people of princely dignity.

Only a few Chechen teips have been studied well enough. Their origin is established and confirmed by numerous scientific studies. Much less is known about the rest, and information varies due to the fact that it is most often collected from oral legends and traditions.

Chechen tape Chertaya (Chartoy)

This is an extremely interesting clan, most notable for the fact that the Chartoevites almost never fought, but on the contrary, they were peacemakers and often acted as mediators in any intra-Chechen affairs. He was either a member of himself or in the tukhum of Nokhchmakhkahoy - information varies.

They had a family village in Chechnya - Chartoy-Yurt, but also lived in a dozen other towns in Chechnya and in Georgia. Among the famous representatives was the naib of Imam Shamil and a colonel in the guard of Alexander the First. According to Chechen teips, only the Chartoy teip is of Jewish origin, this explains many of the differences between this clan and others.

Belgatoy, Beltoy (Biltoy) and Chermoy

The Belgatoy teip, which is quite large and well-known throughout Chechnya, once existed as part of the Beltoy teip. The origin legend is very beautiful. Once upon a time, it happened that an epidemic wiped out almost all of Belgatoy, but the few survivors multiplied again and made their family even more successful than it was before. This is confirmed by the name itself: bel - “to die”, gatto - “to be resurrected”. Among Chechens, the Belgatoevites are considered very energetic and efficient people.

Beltoy (or Biltoy) is also a large and famous clan. This is where the politician Beybulat Taimiev, a contemporary of Pushkin, came from, about whom the poet wrote during his trip to Arzrum. The Beltoy people settle everywhere, and in the old days they lived in the Nozhayurt region, in the east of Chechnya. A well-known family that is known throughout the world is inhabited by various teips, but the most prominent political figure and oil industrialist Tapa Chermoev came from here. They settled mainly in Mekhkety and near the ancestral mountain of Chermoy-lam, and in ancient times, as legends say, all Chermoys lived deep in the mountains.

Chechen teip Alleroy (Aleroy)

The name of this teip was kept on the legendary bronze cauldron brought by the ancestors to Nakhsha. It was here, settled throughout the country, but with roots based in Eastern Chechnya, that the ex-president, who turned to bandits, was born in this clan. This tape is clean, along with others written on the bronze cauldron, and is included in Nakhchmakhkahoy. Settles in Nozhai-Yurt and Shalinsky districts.

The story of the Allerois has existed since about the fifteenth century, after the invasion of Khan Timur, who killed many local residents and left in Chechnya his governors from the Kabardian princes, Takrov, Nogai, Jai Murzas and khans. The Chechens quickly multiplied and began to carry out daring attacks on Timur's vassals, trying to carry out a reconquista - to reconquer their lands. The first All founded the village of Alleroi, united the compatriots who remained after the Tatar-Mongol invasion to defend their lands. Alleroi is internally divided into five more teips, since the genus has become numerous, and is still considered pure.

Benoy

This must be the most numerous of the teips in Chechnya, at least in second place in terms of number. Benoi billionaire Malik Saidullaev claims that of the million remaining Chechens, three hundred and sixty thousand belong to the Benoi teip. They are spread throughout the republic and are divided into nine genera. They took an active part in all wars, where they gained unfading glory. For example, Baysangur Benoevsky did not leave Shamil until the very end, despite the military success that turned away from the hero.

A huge number of Benois live in the diasporas of Western Asia, from where terrorism spreads throughout the world. In Chechnya, on the contrary, Benoevites are considered clumsy and cunning in a rustic way. However, here too they are fearless, true to their word and duty. Of these, many centuries ago, the backbone of the peasant layers of the people was formed, which overthrew the power of the Dagestan and Kabardian rulers. These are the fathers of mountain democracy, which became the foundation of ethnic mentality. Among the clans of the Benoy teip there is both Russian and Georgian blood.

Gendargenoi

The teip is also extremely numerous and famous, moreover, it is the center, from the historical Nokhchiymokhk, widely spread throughout Chechnya. Diplomat and politician Doku Zavgaev is from here. This is the breadbasket for Chechnya, Dagestan, and much more remote places. It was here that pre-Islamic Nashkha existed as a cultural, political, ritual and religious center.

Here the Council of the Country (Mekhk Khelov) was founded, from where pure Chechen teips emerged, among which, of course, Gendargenoi, whose representatives occupied one of the most prominent places in the entire history of the country. Soviet power allowed the Gendargenoi to study, which they did with greater success than members of other clans. That is why this teip gave the country many leaders, party members and business executives.

Kharachoy and Deshni

This teip is famous for its representatives - who lived in different centuries, but gained approximately equal fame. Information about this clan found its way into written Russian documents very early, and the Chechens say that it was the Kharachoevites who were the first to marry Russians, which did not prevent Zelimkhan from becoming an outstanding fighter against the tsarist power when the Caucasus was conquered. Chechnya respects this teip very much and considers it the smartest.

Deshni is a mountain clan in the southeast of the country, belongs to the pure teips. Princely families are still preserved here. One of those wearing this many years ago was able to marry a Georgian princess, passing off Mount Deshni-lam, which belonged to the entire teip, as his own. Now Deshni live everywhere, even in Ingushetia.

Nashkhoy and Zurzakha

Nashkho, the birthplace of pure teips, is the enthogenetic center of the Nokhchimatiens of the Middle Ages, which were mentioned by Armenian geographers of the nineteenth century. They lived in the southeast of the country. Some researchers classify the entire population of this area as one teip. Others subdivide.

Zurzakhoy is a primordial teip, even in its name retaining the medieval ethnonym - dzurzuk, as the ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush called themselves. This teip was not included in the tukhums, always occupying an independent position. He was not the only one like that, also Sada, Peshkha, Maista.

Before the formation of the general concept of “Chechen nation” (around the 18th century), Nakh (Chechen, Ingush and some others) tribal formations called teips, or taips, lived on the territory of modern Chechnya. They were special military-economic alliances that occupied a certain area and were initially formed from complex families (parents, children, uncles, aunts and other relatives).

Hence the division of the teip into neki and gars, that is, into surnames and branches.

“Russian” teips in Chechnya

The number of teips among the Chechens and other peoples of the Caucasus is constantly changing. Some of these tribal formations were formed back in the Middle Ages. According to legend, their names were inscribed on the legendary bronze cauldron, which was melted by the “non-primordial” Nakh teips. Others formed later for a variety of reasons. In the 19th century, in the south of the Russian Empire, there were about 130 Chechen teips alone, several centuries ago united into larger military alliances - tukhums (there are 9 in number).

In addition, there were several dozen Ingush (about 50), Akkin and other teips. Since, according to Nakh laws, marriages within the same teip are strictly prohibited in order to avoid incest and the birth of sick offspring, brides were taken from unrelated tribal formations. For this reason, in the structure of Chechen society there are teips that can be conditionally called Russian. Thus, representatives of the Arsaloy teip often married Russians and adopted part of their culture.

The difference between “Russians” and other teips

The fact that the Arsaloy teip is considered Russian does not mean that it consists entirely of citizens of Russian nationality. There are very few of these in the teip. Arsaloy includes Ossetians and descendants of mixed marriages. The Guna and Orsi teips, which are Khazar in origin, are also considered conditionally Russian. It is believed that Arsaloy and Orsi were formed with the participation of fugitive Russian soldiers. Representatives of the largest teip, Gunoy, are considered descendants of the Terek Cossacks.

These tribal formations differ from others by softer intra-tribal laws. In many, the remnants of the ancient cult of women and even Orthodoxy can be traced, which in general did not affect the rather disenfranchised position of women, but saved them from such extremes as female circumcision. Tap Gunoi converted to Islam later than others, having previously been Orthodox.

Relations between the “Russians” and other teips, in general, differ little from other intertribal relations of the Caucasian peoples. Each teip sacredly preserves its customs and culture, rooted in ancient times. It is headed by a council of elders. Other members of society have equal rights. Help for the victim is provided by all fellow tribesmen. Mourning is observed in the same way - by everyone at once. In the event of the murder of one of his fellow tribesmen, the teip declared blood revenge on the killer. Also, cases of merging different tapes are increasingly observed.

In “Russian” teips, other Chechen laws adopted in these tribal communities are also observed. At the same time, in recent decades, there has been a general destruction of the teip structure itself, which is explained by strong influence from outside: secular contacts with other peoples, education by wealthy teip members in Russia and Europe, etc. From the older generation, the younger generation often receives a certain amount of information, but otherwise perceives members of his teip as fellow countrymen, which contributes to faster establishment of contacts and the emergence of trust between people.

The Chechen tukhum is a kind of military-economic union of a certain group of types that are not related to each other by blood, but have united into a higher association to jointly solve common problems of protection from enemy attack and economic exchange. Tukkhum occupied a certain territory, which consisted of the area actually inhabited by it, as well as the surrounding area, where the taips that were part of Tukkhum were engaged in hunting, cattle breeding and agriculture. Each Tukkhum spoke a specific dialect of the same Vainakh language. Some historians believe that there is no difference between the tukhum and the taip, taken in their historical dynamics, except quantitatively, that both the tukhum and the taip can, in a certain sequence, perform the functions of both the clan and the phratry - that is, the union of clans. Although tukhum means “seed”, “egg” in translation, speaking about its internal structure, it must be emphasized that this organization in the minds of the Chechens was never depicted as a group of consanguineous families, but represents a union of clans united into a phratry according to their territorial and dialectological unity.... The Chechen tukhum, unlike the clan, did not have an official head, nor did it have its own military leader (byachcha). From this it can be seen that the tukhum was not so much a governing body as a social organization, while the type represented a necessary and logical stage of progress in the development of the idea of ​​management. The emergence of a union of taips (tukhums) also represented an undoubted progress taking place on the same territory, as a steady process leading to the emergence of a nation, although the tendency towards local division by clan continued to exist. The advisory body of the tukhum was the council of elders, which consisted of representatives of all taips that were part of the given tukhum on equal rights in terms of status and honor. The Tukkhum Council was convened when necessary to resolve inter-type disputes and disagreements, to protect the interests of both individual types and the entire Tukkhum. The Tukkhum Council had the right to declare war and make peace, negotiate with the help of its own and other people's ambassadors, enter into alliances and break them. That is why we must also assume that the concepts of “tukhum” and “type” are far from identical... Consequently, tukhum, as the term itself shows, is not a consanguineous union, but only a brotherhood, and is a natural formation that grew out of the organization . This is a union of several types of the same tribe, formed for specific purposes. But in Chechnya there are also unions of consanguineous clans, formed by segmentation of one initial clan, such as, for example, the Chantians and Terlosetsy. The Terloevites include such consanguineous groups that call themselves Gars, sometimes clans, such as Beshni (Boshni), Bavloi (BIavloi), Zherakhoy (Zherakhoy), Kenakhoy (Khenakhoy), Matsarkhoy (MatsIarkhoy), Nikaroy (Nikaroy), Oshny (Oshny ), Sanakhoy (Sanahoy), Shuidiy (Shundiy), Eltparhoy (Eltpkhyarkhoy), etc. Of the one hundred and thirty-five types that made up Chechen society in the middle of the 19th century, three quarters were united in nine phratries (unions) as follows. Tukkhum Akkiy (Akkhii) included such taips as Barchahoy (Barchakhoy), Zhevoy (Zhevoy), Zogoy (31ogoy), Nokkoy (Nokkhoy), Pkharchoy (Pkharchoy), Pkharchakhoy (Pkharchakhoy) and Vyappii (Vapppiy), who occupied mainly the area eastern Chechnya on the border with Dagestan. Myalkhi (Malkhi) included: Byastiy (B1aetiy), Benastkhoy (B1enaskhoy), Italchkhoy (Italchkhoy), Kamalkhoy (Kamalkhoy), Korathoy (Khoratkhoy), Kegankhoy (K1egankhoy), Meshiy (Meshii), Sakanhoy (Sakanhoy), Terathoy (Terathoy) ), Charkhoy (Ch1arkhoy), Erkhoy (Erkhoy) and Amkhoy (1amkhoy), which occupied the southwestern region of Chechnya on the border with Khevsuretia and Ingushetia. Nokhchmakhkahoy united such large taipas as Belgatoy (Belg1atoy), Benoy (Benoy), Biltoy (Biltoy), Gendargenoy (Gendargenoy), Gordaloy (G1ordaloy), Gunoy (Gunoy), Zandakoy (Zandakoy), Ikhirkhoy (Ikh1irkhoy), Ishkhoy ( Ishkhoy), Kurshaloy (Kurshaloy), Sesankhoy (Sesankhoy), Chermoy (Chermoy), Tsentaroy (Ts1entaroy), Chartoy (Chartoy), Egashbatoy (Eg1ashbatoy), Enakhalloy (Enakhalloy), Enganoy (Enganoy), Shonoy (Shuonoy), Yalhoy ( Yalkhoi) and Aliroi (1aliroi), which occupied mainly the eastern and northeastern, and partly the central regions of Chechnya. Chebarloy (Ch1ebarloy) included: Dai (D1ay), Makazhoy (Makazhoy), Sadoy (Sadoy), Sandakhoy (Sandahoy), Sikkahoy (Sikkhahoy) and Sirkhoy (Sirhoy). Sharoy included: Kinkhoy (Kinkhoy), Rigahoy (Rigakhoy), Khikhoy (Khikhoi), Khoy (Khoy), Khakmadoy (Khyakmadoy) and Shikaroy (Shikaroy). The types, which were part of both Ch1ebarloy and Sharoy, occupied the southeastern region of Chechnya along the Shara-Argun River. Shotoy (Shuotoy) included: Varanda, Vashandara, Gattoy (G1attoy), Keloy, Marsha, Nizhaloy, Nihaloy, Phamtoy (Phyamtoy), Syattoy (Sattoy) and Hakkoy (Khyakkoy), who occupied central Chechnya in the valley of the Chanty-Argun River. Ershthoy included the following types: Galoy, Gandaloy (G1andaloy), Garchoy (G1archoy), Merzhoy, Muzhakhoy and Tsechoy (Ts1echoy), who lived in the west of Chechnya, in the valley of the Lower Martan (Fortangi) river. And all other types of Chechens in this area were united in consanguineous unions. So, for example, Borzoi, Bugaroy (Bug1aroy), Khildeharoy (Khildehyaroy), Derahoy (Do'rahoy), Khokady (Khuokkhadoy), Khacharoy (Khacharoy) and Tumsoy, who lived in the upper reaches of the Chanty-Argun River, united in the union Chyantiy (Ch1aintii), and such as Nikaroy (Nik'aroy), Oshny (O'shny), Shyundiy (Shundiy), Eltpharhoy (Eltpkhyarhoy) and others were part of Terloy (T1erloy). There were also types in Chechnya that were not part of the tukhums and lived independently. Such, for example, as Zurzakhoy (Zurzakhoy), Maistoy (M1aistoy), Peshkhoy, Sadoy, etc. The affairs of tukhum, as we already wrote, were decided by the council of elders, convened by it as needed. But the tukhum as a body did not have any management functions that belonged to the taip, although it was vested in the general social system with certain useful powers in connection with the need for some kind of organization - greater than the taip. Thus, having agreed among themselves to peacefully resolve mutual disputes and help each other in defense and attack on the enemy, the taips united into tukhums primarily on territorial grounds. For example, the Nokhchmakhkoy occupied the territory of eastern Chechnya (Bena, Sesan, Shela, Gumsi and partly Vedeno). It must be assumed that the Nokhchmakhkoys, who formed the main core of the Chechens, were the first to settle in the area of ​​Aksay and Michig along the Terek River. It is also characteristic to note here such a detail that the Nokhchmakhkoy people consider Noshkhoy (a place in the Galanchozh region) their ancient homeland, although since time immemorial they have been living on the territory of their current settlement. Individual taipas from this tukhum, for example, Benoi and Tsentoroi, have increased so much that they have long forgotten about their original blood relationship. Marriage between Benoevites and Tsentoroevites has long become commonplace. Having gone beyond the boundaries of their ancient land, representatives of these types, at least since the 16th century, began to settle in other regions of modern Chechnya. It is difficult in our time to find a settlement where there is not a representative, for example, of the Benoevites. Thus, as it increased, this or that type, in turn, was divided into several clans, and the Gars of the previous clan in this case became independent clans, and the original clan continued to exist as a tukhum - a union of clans. We have already written about tukhum Ch1aintii. There are also types in Chechnya that, due to certain historical circumstances, were not included in any tukhums, but lived and developed independently. These types were formed both from the natives of the region and from newcomers. Therefore, the type should be considered the basic cell from which any Chechen calculates his initial consanguinity and paternal ties. When Chechens want to emphasize the lack of kinship of a person, they usually say: “Tsu stegan taipa a, tukhum a dats” (This person has neither clan nor tribe). So, what is the Chechen type and what socio-economic principles does the institution of typeism establish? The famous American researcher of the primitive system, who devoted himself to the study of the customs and mores of the ancient Indians, L. Morgan in his work “Ancient” gives the following description of the tribal system among the Indians: “All its (clan - M.M.) members are free people, obliged protect each other; they have equal personal rights - neither sachems nor military chiefs claim any advantage; they form a brotherhood bound by ties of blood. Liberty, equality, fraternity, although it was never formulated, were the basic principles clan, and the clan in turn was the unit of an entire social system, the basis of organized Indian society." The Chechen type is also a group of people or families who grew up on the basis of primitive production relations. Its members, enjoying the same personal rights, are related to each other by blood on the paternal side. Freedom, equality and brotherhood, although they were not formulated by anyone, here also formed the basis of the taipa - the basis of the entire organization of Chechen society. But the Chechen type of the period we are considering (after the 16th century) was by no means an archaic clan, as it was among the Iroquois. No! The typical system of the Chechens of this period is already a product of its own decline, a manifestation of its potential internal contradictions, the decomposition of previously seemingly unshakable forms arising from the original legal principles of typeism, which previously cemented the type system and artificially restrained its decomposition. These old forms and type principles have already come into conflict with those social and property shifts that are increasing every day within individual type cells. The legal shell of type corporations no longer corresponded to the property structure of society. However, there was a very important reason of an external nature, which kept the “old law” in force and “harmonized” it with the new shifts that had occurred: small Chechen taips lived at that time surrounded by stronger neighbors (Georgians, Kabardians, Kumyks and others), feudal nobility who were constantly, in one way or another, encroaching on their freedom. These external conditions, first of all, and the lack of established forms of statehood among the Chechens, greatly influenced the unity of the taips, and this unity in the face of external danger gave the appearance (of course, only the appearance) of equality, brotherhood, and protection of each other’s interests. So, in the concept of the Chechens, a type is a patriarchal exogamous group of people descended from one common ancestor. There are four known terms that served to designate lateral branches, segmented from the taipa, and have been used by the Chechens since time immemorial to designate large related groups that represent a certain social, territorial and, above all, consanguineous unity: var (vyar), gar, neky (certain ), ts1a (tsa). Only the first of them, var, is polysemantic and, along with other terms, denotes a consanguineous group of people, and more accurately defines the concept of “genus-type.” The main indigenous Chechen taipas are the following: Aitkhaloy, Achaloy, Barchahoy, Belkhoy, Belg1atoy, Benoy, Betsakhoy, Biltoy, Bigakhoy, Bug1aroy, Varanda, Vashandara, Vapppiy, Galoy, G1andaloy, G1archoy, G1attoy, Gendargenoy, Giloy, G1oy, G1ordaloy, Dattahoy, D1ay, Dishny, Do'rahoi, Zhevoy, Zandakhoy, 31ogoy, Zumsoy (aka Bug1aroy), Zurzakoy, Zuyrhoy, Ishkhoy, Ikh1irhoy, Italchhoy, Kamalhoy, Kay, Keloy, Kuloy, Kurshaloy, Kushbuhoy (aka 1aliroy), Khartoy, K1sganhoy, Lashkaroy, Makazhoy, Mar-shaloy, Merzhoy, Merloy, Mazarhoy, M1aystoy, Muzhahoy, Mulkoy, Nashkhoy, Nizhaloy, Nik1ara, Nihaloy, Nokkhay, Peshkhoy, Phyamtoy, Phyarchoy, Rigahoy, Sada, Sahyanda, Syarbaloy, Sattoy, Tulkha, Turka, Kharachoy, Khersanoy, Khildekharkhoy, Khoy, Khulandoy, Khurhoy, Hyakkoy (aka Ts1oganhoy), Hyakmada, Khyacharoy, Khima, Khikhay, Khyurka, Tsatsankhoy, Ts1entaroy, Ts1echoy, Charta, Charhoy, Chermoy, Ch1archoy, Ch1inhoy, Chungaroy, Sharoy, Shikaroy , Shirda, Shuona, Shpirda, Shundii, Eg1ashbata, Elstanzhoy, Enakhalla, Engana, Ersana, Erkhoy, Yalhara, 1alira, 1amakha, etc. Types in Chechnya in the period we are studying with relative accuracy, there are more than one hundred and thirty-five. More than twenty of them are not indigenous, but formed from representatives of other peoples, but have long been firmly part of Chechen society, assimilated at different times and under different conditions: some of them went to the Vainakh country themselves, in search of convenient lands, while others prevailing historical circumstances brought them here, and they were forced to adopt a foreign language and foreign customs. Of course, these people did not have here any type mountains, no communal lands, no stone crypts (solar graves) for burying their dead relatives. But following the example of the aborigines of this region, they rallied into blood relations, provided assistance to members of their community, declared blood feud for the murder of their relatives, and adhered to other socially binding principles of the institution of Taipism. This circumstance is also interesting for us because it decisively rejects the theory of the absolutely pure ethnic origin of the Vainakhs - in particular, the Chechens. As the type multiplied, it split into two or more parts - gars, and each of these gars over time constituted an independent type. To confirm his belonging to the aborigines of Chechnya, every Chechen had to remember the names of at least twelve persons from among his direct ancestors... The elders and leaders of the Chechen taips did not always have inaccessible castles, and did not decorate their trips with family coats of arms. They didn't prance around in shining armor or fight in romantic tournaments. Imitating traditional democracy in society, they still had the appearance of peaceful peasants: they led flocks of sheep through the mountains, plowed and sowed themselves. But the high concepts of honor, equality and brotherhood between all members of the taip community came to a new stage of taip relations not in the aura of the former purity and nobility, but in a perverted, modernized form, generated by arrogant cruelty and arrogant claims of the strong and rich. For the most part, the Vainakhs were very wary and sensitive to any attempts and inclinations towards the emergence of feudal power and the feudal aristocracy, and through joint efforts they completely stopped them. This is evidenced by the richest folklore material and the custom of baital vakkhar (dispossession), which existed among the Chechens and is very rarely found among other peoples. And yet, the process of decomposition of the Taipa community has been clearly visible among the Chechens since the late Middle Ages (XIII-XIV centuries). Moreover, this process even then marks not the initial stage, but the stage that was preceded by earlier steps. The economic basis of the taipa was cattle breeding, farming and hunting. Cattle was the basis that determined the specific features of the Chechen type of that period. Fields and estates were also the most important part of the type property. Chechens have been engaged in agriculture since ancient times; even at the beginning of the 17th century, the Kachkalykovo Chechens had rich vineyards, sowed wheat, millet, barley, and later began to cultivate corn. The Maistas and, in general, the Middle Argun region of Chechnya in the 17th century were famous for their wise doctors who treated wounds well, performed organ amputations and even craniotomies. The Maistians, for example, long before the appearance of the Russians in the Caucasus, knew about smallpox vaccination. They were also famous as skilled builders of military and residential towers. And finally, the Maystinians were also famous as experts in adat - type law. It was here, in Maisty, which, due to its geographical location, was protected from all kinds of enemy attacks, that the elders of taipas came to official meetings to discuss adat-taip issues... Another place where issues of general Chechen adat were also discussed was Mount Khetash-Korta , near the village of Tsentoroi

The Chechen tukhum is a union of a certain group of teips that are not related to each other by blood, but have united into a higher association to jointly solve common problems - protection from enemy attacks and economic exchange. Tukkhum occupied a certain territory, which consisted of the area actually inhabited by it, as well as the surrounding area, where the taipas included in Tukkhum were engaged in hunting, cattle breeding and agriculture. Each Tukkhum spoke a certain dialect of the Chechen language. The Chechen teip is a community of people related to each other by blood on the paternal side. Each of them had their own communal lands and a teip mountain (from the name of which the name of the teip often came). Tapes are internally divided into “gars” (branches) and “nekyi” - surnames. Chechen teips are united into nine tukhums, a kind of territorial unions. Consanguinity among the Chechens served the purposes of economic and military unity. In the middle of the 19th century, Chechen society consisted of 135 teips. Currently, they are divided into mountain (about 100 teips) and plain (about 70 teips). Currently, representatives of one teip live dispersedly. Large teips are distributed throughout Chechnya. List of tukhums and teips included in them: Akkiy (Chechen. Аккхий) Akkiy (Chechech. Аккхий) Kevoy (Chechech. Kevoy) Puloy (Chechen. Puloy) Zogoy (Chechech. ZІogoy) Karkhoi (Chechen. Kharhoy) Pharchoy (Chechech. Pkharchoi) Pkharchakhoy (Chechen Pkharchakhoy) Chontoy (Chechen ChІontoy) Nokkoy (Chechen Nokkhoy) Ovrshoy (Chechech Ovrshoy) Pordaloy (Chechech Pordaloy) Zhevoy (Chechen Zhevoy) Vappiy (Chechen Vapppiy) Shinaroy (Chechen Shinroy) Melkhiy ( Chech. Mailhiy) Amkhoy (Chech. iamhoy) Baytius (Chech. Bilaiytiy) Bastiy (Chech. Biasty) Benastha (Chech. Bilanastha) Ikkhaho (Chech. Icalachkha) Italchoy (Chech. Italchhahu) Komalhoy (Chech. Kuomalhoy). Khuoruottakhoy) Meshikhoy (Chechen. Meshiekhoy) Tertkhoy (Chechen. TertgІoi) Sakhanahoy (Chechen. Sakhyanakhoy) Zharkhoy (Chechen. Zhiarhoy) Keganhoy (Chechen. KІаgankhoy) Yueganhoy (Chechen. Yukheganhoy) Charkhoy (Chechen. Chiarhoy) Erkhoy (Chechen. Архой) Barchahoy (Chechen Barchkhoy) Nokhchmakhkahoy (Chechen Nokhchmakhkahoy) Allaroy (Chechen Iallaroy) Aitkaloy (Chechen Aitkhalloy) Benoy (Chechen Benoy) Tsentoroy (Chechen Tsyontaroy) Gendargenoy (Chechen Gendarganoy) Dettahoy (Chechen Daittahoy) Kurchaloy ( Chech. Kurchaloy) Guna (Cheche. Gunoy) Kharachoy (Chech. Khorchoy) Shirdiy (Chech. Shirdiy) Shuonoy (Chech. Shonoy) Egishbatoy (Chech. АьгІаштуй) Elistanzhhoy (Chech. Иьлістанжгой) Enakaloy (Czech. Аnakhаlloy) Engenoy (Czech. Аnganoy) Ersena (Chech. Arsana) Tazenkala (Chech. Tezakhalloy) Biltoy (Chechen Biltoy Ishkhoy (Chechen Ishkhoy Belgatoy (Chechen BellagIattoy) Sesana (Chechen Sasana) Cherma (Chechen Champoy) Zandaka (Chechen Zondukoy) Yalhoy (Chechen Yalhoy) Biytara (Chechen Biytaroy) Gordaloy ( Chech. GІordaloy) Ihirkhoy (Czech. Ikhirhoy) Singalhoy (Chechen. Singalhoy) Chartoy (Chechen. Chartoy) Terloy (Chechen. ТІарлой) Bavloy (Chechen. BІavloy) Gemera (Chechen. Gimroy) Gezehoy (Chechen. Gizhoy) Kenakhoy (Chechen. Gizhoy) Khenakhoy) Motsaroy (Czech. Motskaroy) Nikaray (Chechen. Nik-Aroy) Oshny (Chechen. Oshniy) Senahoy (Chechen. Sannahoy) Shundiy (Chechen. Shundiy) Eldaperoy (Chechen. Aldapkhyarhoy) Meshteroy (Chechen. Meshtaroy) Gora (Chechen. Guoroy) Geshiy (Chechen GІeshii) Yurdakhoy (Chechen Yurdakhoy) Tukhoy (Chechen Tokhoy) Idahoy (Chechen Idahoy) Tseltakumoy (Chechen Tsieltukkhumoy) Arstakha (Chechen Arstahoy) Zhelashkhoy (Chechen Zhelashkhoy) Barkhoy (Chechen Barhoy) Bushnoy (Chech. Boshny) Beshkhoy (Chech. Beshkhoy) Gelashhoy (Chech. Gilshkhoy) Zherakhoy (Chech. Zherakhoy). (Chech. Khyacharoy) Hildeharoy (Chech. Hildeharoy) Kokta (Chechen Khokhta). Cheberloy (Chech. CHІabarloy) Sirkhoy (Chech. Sirkhoy) Achaloy (Chech. Achaloy) Rigahoy (Chech. Rigahoy) Chubekhkinaroy (Chechen. Chubakhkinaroy) Kuloy (Chechen. Kuloy) Artsakhoy (Chech. Artskhoi) Nizheloy (Chech. Nizhloy) Begachera ( Chech. Bogachara) Oskhara (Chech. Oshara) Churinmehkahoy (Chech. Chureinmahkahoy) Makazhoy (Chech. MakIazhoy) Kezena (Chech. K'ozuna) Ikhora (Chech. Ihora) Khoy (Chech. Khoy) Kharkara (Chech. Khyarkaroy) Kulinahoy (Chech. Ikhora) Kulanhoy) Zheloshkhoy (Czech. Zheloshkhoy) Shimera (Chech. Shimroy) Tsatsakoy (Chechen. Tsatsakhoy) Kauhoy (Chechen. Kovkhoy) Khorsukhoy (Chechen. Khyorsukhoy) Arsoy (Chechen. Orsoy) Buny (Chechen. Buny) Tsikaroy (Chechen. TsIikaroy) Nokhch-Kieloy (Chechen Nokhch-KIieloy) Hindoy (Chechen KHIndoy) Baskhoi (Chechen Bassahoy) Bossoy (Chechen Buosoy) Tsinda (Chechen TsІindoy) Koshta (Chechen KІoshta) Chunoy (Chechen ChІunoy) Monakhoy (Chechen Menakhoy) Dai (Chech. DІay) Inzoy (Chech. Inzoy) Selberoy (Chech. Sallbüroy) Leshkara (Chech. Lashkaroy) Nuykhoy (Chechen. Nuykhoy) Gulathoy (Chechen. Gulathoy) Sikkoy (Chechen. Sikkhoy) Zanasta (Chechen. Zanastay) Saloy (Chech. Saloy) Sadoy (Chech. Sadoy) Zurkhoy (Chech. Zu'rhoy) Tunduka (Chech. Tundukoy) Shara (Chech. Shara) Shara (Chech. Shara) Shikara (Chech. Shikara) Khakmada (Chech. Khyakmada) Khulanda (Chech. Khulanda) Khima (Chech. Khimoy) Zhogalda (Chech. Zhog'aldoy) Sandukhoy (Chech. Sandukhoy) Kochehoy (Chech. Kochekhoy) Buttiy (Chech. Buttiy) Kebosoy (Chech. Kebosoy) Keseloy (Chech. KІesaloy) Mazukha (Chech. Mozuhoy) Serchikha (Chech. Serchihoy) Govalda (Chech. Govaldoy) Dukarhoy ( Chech. Dukarhoy) Khasheldoy (Chech. Khyashaldoy) Chekhilda (Chech. Chekhilda) Zhangulda (Chech. Zhanguldoy) Bosoy (Chech. Bosoy) Danei (Chech. Danoy) Tsesiy (Chech. Tsіesiy) Ikara (Chech. Ikaroy) Khikhoy (Chech. Khikhoy) Kenhoy (Chech. Khenkhoy) Cheyroy (Chech. Cha-aroy) Kiriy (Chech. Kiriy) Shatoy (Chech. Shuotoy) Vashindaroy (Chech. Vashtarhoy) Hakkoy (Chech. Hyakkoy) Sanoy (Chech. Suonoy) Satta (Chech. Sattoy) Pamtoy (Chech. Phyamtoy) Gattoy (Chechen ГІаттой) Dehesta (Chechech. Dekhastay) Keloy (Chechen. КІелой) Muskulhoy (Chechen. Muskulhoy) Urgyukhoy (Chechen. Іургюхгой) Varanda (Chechen. Varanda) Myarshoy (Chechen. Marshoy) Nihala (Chechen. Nikhloy) Tumsoy ( Chech. Tumsoy) Lashkara (Chech. Lashkara) Orstkhoy (Chech. Ershthoy) Baloy (Chech. Buoloy) Yalhoroy (Chech. Yalhoroy) Vielhoy (Chech. VielgІoy) Kaloy (Chech. Koloy) Galai (Chech. GІalai) Merzhoy (Chech. Vielgoy) Merjoy) Tsechoy (Chech. TsІechoy) Khaikhara (Chechen. Hyavkhyaroy) Gandala (Chechen. GІandaloy) Terhoy (Chechen. Terhoy) Muzhahoy (Chechen. Muzhahoy) Alkha-Neki (Chechen. Ialha-Nekye) Andaloy (Chechen. Iandaloy) Belkharoy ( Chech. Belkharoy) Muzhgahoy (Chech. Muzhgahoy) Garchoy (Chech. GІarchoy) Bulguch-Neki (Chech. Bulguch-Nekye) Ojrg-Neki (Chechen. Орг-Nekye) Perg-Neki (Chechen. Perg-Nekye) Boka-Neki (Chechen. Boka-Nekye) Vielkha-Neki (Chechen. VielgІа-Nekye) Teips not included in Tukkhum Nashkhoy (Chech. Nashkhoy) Peshkhoy (Chech. Peshkhoy) Maistoy (Chech. MІaystoy) Mulkoy (Chech. Mulkoy) Guhoy (Chech. Guokhoy) Kay (Chech. Kovkhoy) Chinkhoy (Chech. ChІinkhoy) Guchingi (Chechen. Guchingi) Baschingi (Chech. .Bashingi) Dzurdzuka (Czech. Zurzakoy)

Malhista. The historical region of Chechnya, located on the left bank of the Argun, on the border with Georgia, between the channels of the Meshi-khi and Biasta-khi rivers. Malkhista translated from Chechen means “land of the sun.” This name is probably due to the fact that the sun was considered the totemic ancestor of the Chechen tribe that lived here. Although there is another assumption: the fact is that the southern slopes of the Kore-lam ridge, on which most of the Malkhist villages were located, are illuminated by the sun all year round. Traces of former Christianity also remained in Malkhist. First of all, in toponymy, for example, in the name of the village Zhiare - “Krestovoe”, which is located on the right bank of the Meshi-Khi, as well as Zhiare-Khyostui - “Krestovoy spring”, located near the village. The image in the form of a crucifix on the battle tower in TsIoi-phied can be attributed to Christian, as well as the image of a human figure with a spear, apparently St. George, who was very revered in the Caucasus and was identified with the ancient sun god. It was here, according to legend, that the all-Chechen army gathered in the past. As the legend says, in ancient times in Malkhista, at the foot of the highest mountains, in the gorge where the fast flow of the Argun forms a wide delta, Chechen warriors gathered once a year. No matter how far they lived, each of them had to arrive here on the appointed day before the sun rose. The one who arrived last after sunrise faced execution. This was the law established by the Supreme Council of the country - Mekhk-khel. One day, hurrying to the next gathering, a warrior galloped along the gorge, knowing what severe punishment awaited him if he was late. But, seeing the sun rising above the peaks and the orderly rows of warriors, he slowed down his horse. “You are late, warrior. Following the law, we must execute you,” the elders who were members of the Supreme Council of the country told him. “But first you must give a reason.” Silence hung over the gorge, only the measured roar of Arghun broke the silence. The warrior did not say a word, lowering his head and preparing for death. “You must give a reason,” the elder repeated. “I got married yesterday,” the warrior said quietly, “but I found out that my bride loves someone else. And he decided to die so that she would gain freedom and be able to unite with her beloved.” But then the sound of hooves was heard, and people saw a rider rushing on a fast horse. "Wait! I arrived last, execute me!” - he shouted. And when they asked him the reason why he was late, the warrior replied: “Yesterday the girl I loved got married. Knowing that her fiance might be late for the gathering, I arrived here early and waited for him, hiding in the gorge. And when he saw him, he immediately went after him. I didn't want his death to darken the life of the girl I loved. I’m ready for death.” The elders were surprised and went to the council. Noon came, evening passed, and only late at night did they pronounce their verdict: “As long as there are such noble people among us, nothing threatens the Chechen land. We are abolishing the harsh law of our ancestors. Let Chechen blood never be shed in the Malkhisty gorge for this reason again.” Malhista was once densely populated. There were up to fourteen villages here. Doza, Banakh, Komalkh, Koratakh, Zhiariye, Bienista, Sakhana, Ikalchu, Tertiye, Meshi - their ruins are spread along the Argun and Meshi-khi gorges, mainly along the southern slope of the Kore-lam ridge, with gloomy silence emphasizing the frailty of life and the eternity of death and stone It’s as if the seal of a spell hangs over the towers, in which half a century ago life was seething and human passions were boiling. But most of all, Tsioin-phiede, the ancient cult center of Malkhista, amazes with its gloomy splendor. Tsioin-phiede is, first of all, a necropolis, a city of the dead, consisting of fifty stone crypts. At the entrance to the city of the dead, two pillar-shaped structures stand along the path. These are Selings - pagan sanctuaries. Near them, various kinds of cult rituals were performed and animals were sacrificed. In addition, when setting off on a journey, people put money, rings, earrings and other valuables into special bowls dedicated to the deity, and no one touched them. It was believed that whoever took any of these things would be deprived of reason as punishment. Immediately behind the sanctuaries there are crypts, which are scattered in small groups along the northern slope of the mountain. A crypt, or, in Chechen, malkhan-kash, that is, a sunny grave, is a rectangular building in the form of a house, made of stones and lime mortar. The outer walls of some crypts are covered with clay-lime mortar. Some crypts consist of two rooms, one of which served as a funeral chamber. It has stone benches along the walls and niches for candles. In the funeral chamber, on sacred holidays, relatives drank ritual beer and commemorated the deceased. In the front wall of the crypt there is a hole - a quadrangular hole framed by a stone frame. Old people claim that in the old days these holes were closed with special stone slabs. Very often, the stones on the front side of the crypts are decorated with petroglyphs; they protected the crypt from dark forces. Most often these are swastikas, crosses, spirals. In addition, on some crypts signs were preserved, which, most likely, were original family coats of arms. Above the hole in one of the crypts on the north-eastern side of the necropolis, a well-cut round stone resembling a human skull is built into the wall. It is almost mirror smooth, apparently from the constant touch of human hands. Inside the crypts, along the walls, there were stone shelves in two or three rows, on which the dead were laid. Next to the deceased they left weapons and household items that, according to their relatives, they might need in another world. Although most of the crypts were looted after the eviction of local residents in 1944, some of them still miraculously preserve ceramics and wood, arrows, and women’s jewelry. The emergence and existence of collective crypt burials dates back to the 12th-14th centuries. Folk legends speak differently about their origin. According to one legend, crypts began to be built during epidemics, when people left their villages to escape the pestilence, and there was no one to bury the dead. The sick themselves came to the crypts and died on the stone shelves. Information about the terrible epidemic in Malkhist was preserved in the legend about Unnan and the Melkhinians. Un-nana, the goddess of diseases, attended a festival dedicated to the goddess of fertility Tusholi. But during the ritual procession, she considered that the worshipers had insulted her with their inattention, and sent infectious diseases to them. A battle tower rises above the crypts. It is equipped with many loopholes, and at the very top - machicolations. Petroglyphs are applied to the stones of the tower - magical signs that were supposed to protect the tower and warriors from the enemy. To the south of the “city of the dead” there was formerly the village of Tsioin-phiede, separated from the necropolis by a strong stone wall adjacent to the tower. It was a large village on the scale of mountainous Chechnya. As the old people say, in Tsioin-phied, sixty warriors rode out of one gate alone on identical gray horses. It was very well fortified. On the northern side it was covered by a battle tower and a high stone wall, on the south by a high, impregnable cliff, on the south-eastern side, a powerful castle rises above Arghun. The village of Tsioin-phiede was destroyed as a result of an internecine war. As the legend tells, his enemies besieged him for three months and could not take him. In Tsioin-phied there lived a girl whose lover was in the camp of enemies. Late at night, she climbed the wall and showed the besiegers a safe passage from the side of the abyss. Enemies burst into the village, and it was destroyed to the ground. Due to the remoteness from the plain and good natural fortifications and fortifications built throughout the Argun Gorge, external enemies rarely reached Malkhista. But internecine wars and blood feud tormented this land. The old people explained this situation with the curse of Unnana, the goddess of diseases. Once upon a time, three brothers lived in Tsioin-phied - Tsatesh, Matesh, Makhera. They held funeral rites for their mother and sacrificed livestock. All the eminent minorities gathered here. Un-Nana also came there to spread the infection to people. Saddle bags full of ash hung on her shoulders. “If we don’t kill Un-Nana, then she will destroy our guests,” the brothers thought and cut off her head with a blow of a saber. Unnana's head rolled down the slope and muttered: “Let the pestilence not come to Malkhista, and let the war and enmity among Malhista not dry up.” Indeed, everything in the Malkhista gorges reminds us that the people who lived here were in a state of war between everyone and everyone. To the east of the village of Korotakh lie the villages of Komalkha, Banakh - on the left bank of the Argun and Doza - on the right. In the middle between these three villages there is a picturesque place called Uzum-mette - “The place where songs are sung.” In the Middle Ages, during sacred festivals, priests sang cult songs here, and when the sounds of the song were heard, residents of the surrounding villages knew about the beginning of religious ceremonies. Up the gorge of the Meshi-khi River, along the Kore-lam ridge, lie the ruins of the villages of Ikalchu, Bienista, Sakhana, Terte, Meshekh. In the village of Terte, the tower complex is well preserved, as well as the necropolis on the southern outskirts. On the right bank of the Meshi-khi River there were only two villages: Kegine and Zhiare. The Zhiare watchtower is visible from Cape Tsioin-phiede; it hangs over the abyss on a high, steep cliff. In the works of ethnographers and archaeologists, Malkhista is usually characterized as a gloomy and gloomy region. In fact, the Malkhisty gorges are very beautiful at any time of the year. In spring, wild plums, rose hips, and a lot of different flowers bloom here. In winter, even in January, it is warm and sunny. Golden-colored grass and bright green pine trees look picturesque against the backdrop of gray rocks and snowy peaks. The majestic towers, the black stones of which effectively contrast with the gold of the grass, fit perfectly into the landscape. Until 1944, almost all of Malkhista was inhabited; there was even a boarding school in the village of Sakhana. But after the eviction of residents in 1944, most of the military and residential towers were blown up and the necropolises were looted.

ARGUN GORGE It is one of the largest gorges in the Caucasus in terms of length. The gorge stretches for almost one hundred and twenty kilometers: from Khevsureti to the Black Mountains and overlooks the Chechen Plain. The Argun Gorge is located in the very heart of Chechnya. On the left are the Nashkha, Kay and Akkkhin-mokhka gorges, on the right are the Sharoy canyons, Cheberloya gorges and the mountain valleys of Ichkeria. It was along the Argun Gorge, along with Daryal, that the route from Europe to Asia, from Russia to Transcaucasia and Western Asia passed. Russian embassy and trade missions followed this route to Georgia until the end of the 18th century. N.S. wrote about its use by Chechens at the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries. Ivanenkov: “Further to the south, the continuation of this road turns into a pack trail that leads into the Tiflis province. Along this same road, having crossed the main ridge of the mountains, you can get to the capital of Georgia, Tiflis, and the population uses this route when going to Georgia to earn money.” Hordes of nomads repeatedly tried to break through this gorge into Transcaucasia from the north, but they never succeeded. In the 9th and 10th centuries, Arab troops stormed the towers and tower villages of warlike mountain tribes, who courageously repelled their attempts to pass through this gorge to the north. It should be noted that the road in the Chechen mentality is not just a specific concept, but a moral category. Since ancient times, everything related to the road was considered sacred. According to legend, a person who paved a road or built a bridge deserves heaven. Monitoring the condition of the road passing by the village was considered the collective responsibility of all its residents. In addition, they bore moral responsibility for everyone passing along this section of the route and had to provide hospitality to belated travelers. A strict ban was imposed on everything that could desecrate the road or damage it. It was forbidden to take even a stone from the road, or to occupy an inch of land belonging to it, and the destruction of a bridge was generally considered a terrible crime. Chechens have developed a special ethic of relationships on the road. The concept of “nakiost” (companion, fellow traveler) in the Chechen language also means “friend, comrade.” According to Vainakh mythology, people on the road, especially at night, were guarded by tarams - spirits, human doubles. The ritual of everything connected with the road goes back to those distant times when the Chechens had a cult of the road. The Chechen towers suffered intense destruction during the Caucasian War. Many towers were destroyed and dismantled during the construction of military fortifications of the Russian army: Evdokimovsky, Shatoisky, Vozdvizhensky. Stones were used to build fortress walls. In order to build one fortress, dozens of towers in the area were dismantled. According to N.S. Ivanenkov, for the construction of the Evdokimovsky fortification, twelve stone towers were purchased and dismantled from local residents. According to A.P. Berger, two towers at the entrance to the Argun Gorge were destroyed during the construction of the Vozdvizhensky fortification (on the site of the village of Chakhkeri). During the construction of a military fortification in Zonakh, a battle tower on the outskirts of the village was also destroyed. Many towers and ancient burial grounds were destroyed during the expansion of the road along the bank of the Argun. Most of the various objects found at that time from burial grounds of various eras were simply taken away. On the western slope of the Bien-Duk ridge, which stretches along the right bank of the Argun, parallel to its flow, not far from the village of Zonakh, there is a cliff “Kho yoI ekha bora” (cliff where three maidens live). According to legend, three divine maidens lived on the tops of these rocks: Malkh-Azni, Darius-Den-Khokha and Diika-Dela-YoI. The leader of the Narts, Seska-Solsa, appeared here every day, morning and evening, on his fabulous horse, which jumped from the Bien-Duk ridge to Mount Erdi-Kort, and from Erdi-Kort to the top of Nokhchiin-Barz. The sisters were tired of the courtship of Seska-Solsa, and they, together with their mother Sata, moved to the top of Dakokh-Kort, which is located in Miaista, on the border with Khevsureti. The inhabitants of Miaista had a belief that Diyka, the goddess of good and justice, lives on the top of Mount Dakoh-Kort, who taught people to distinguish between good and evil. For the first time in the ethnographic essay by A. Ippolitov, two battle towers are mentioned at the entrance to the village of Shatoy from the north - on the left bank of the Argun. According to a legend cited by many authors, these towers were built by two brothers. According to legend, one of the brothers killed the other in a quarrel that arose over a captive, and he himself left his native place forever. The towers collapsed over time. In fact, most likely, these towers were watchtowers and controlled the road passing nearby. This can be confirmed by the fact that combat towers were almost never used as residential ones and, in general, were not adapted for this. The Guchan-Khalle battle tower is located on the right bank of the Argun, on a high rocky cape, which is formed by the small river Guchan-erk, which flows into the Argun. It is laid out from carefully selected, and in some cases well-treated stones of different sizes, in lime mortar. According to folklore sources, this tower was called Gionat-gIala - “winged tower”. This name was given to her by the commander of Tamerlane, who was unable to storm the tower and the village. Two towers stood on the right bank of the Argun, not far from the village of Ush-khalloy, at the very base of the rocky mountain Selin-lam. To this day, only the base of one of the towers has survived. It was destroyed during the eviction of Chechens in 1944. The second tower has been preserved almost completely. A legend has been preserved according to which the Council of Wise Men met in these towers, where mountaineers seeking truth and justice from all ethnic communities turned, starting from Phein-Mokhk (Khevsureti), located at the source of the Argun, and to the very foothill plain. But, in all likelihood, this is just a legend. In fact, the Ushkhalloy towers were watchtowers. In former times, the road in this place ran along the right bank of the Argun. Not far from the towers there was a wooden suspension bridge that could be raised and removed if necessary. Next to it there was a stone arch bridge, built without the use of any other materials except stone. The guard, who was located in the tower, controlled the road and the bridge and collected taxes from passing merchants in the form of gunpowder, lead, wool, cloth, and sheep. The tower was built, according to field materials, in the 11th–12th centuries. The village of Eton-Khalle lies in a wide basin formed by the Argun current. Its southern part, Phyakoche, is the most ancient. Here, on an elevated place, there used to be a fortification consisting of several military and residential towers, surrounded by a high stone wall. From here the road to Georgia and Dagestan, as well as to other regions of Chechnya, was controlled. In our time, all that remains of the fortification are the ruins of a battle tower and a complex of rectangular stone buildings. Researchers consider one of the buildings, inside of which remains of stone columns and hiding places common for religious buildings, to be an ancient pagan sanctuary. In addition, the ruins of several residential towers remain here. The ruins of a battle tower have also been preserved on the right bank of the Argun, at the entrance to the village from the Ush-Khalloy side. It, apparently, was a signal tower and was connected by a visual connection with the Bekhaili complex and Phyakoche castle. The foundation of Eton-khalle is associated with the name of Eton, who came here from the village of Batsoi-mokhk, located higher along the Argun. In a wide river valley, in the place where the village is located, Eaton, who was hunting in these places, lay down to rest, hanging his bow on a tree. When he woke up, he saw that a bird had built a nest on his weapon. Eaton took this as a good sign and decided to stay here, building a tower. He hired himself as a shepherd to Prince Dishni-el, the owner of the tower complex on Mount Bekhaila. Subsequently, Eton had a son, Jelly, who, having matured, married the prince’s daughter. He, like Eton, tended Dishni-el's flock. Jelly's son refused to work for his grandfather and rebelled against him. The prince decided to destroy Eton-khalle and kill his son-in-law and grandson. But Jelly’s wife, Nanag, daughter of Dishni-el, found out about this and decided to warn them about the danger. She rushed screaming towards the village, but the prince caught up with her and mortally wounded her. At his daughter’s request, he buried her here, halfway between the towers of her father and husband. As a result of the war between Jelly, who was helped by Prince Do'ra-ela, and Deshni-ela, the latter was defeated. The lonely gravestone Nanag-kash reminds of those tragic events.

Ichkeria Ichkeria is the easternmost region of Chechnya, located northeast of Cheberloy. Its name is apparently derived from the Kumyk “ichi eri” - inner land, region. An interesting interpretation of the name was given by I.V. Popov, author of the work “Ichkerians,” who visited this region at the end of the 19th century: “Ichkeria consists of two words: “ich” and “geri.” The mentioned words are translated by the Kumyks as follows: ich - middle, geri - level area among the elevated mountains. In addition, the word “geri”, both in relation to one person and an entire people, means that they were once rich and strong, but due to various historical circumstances they lost their meaning and became poor and weak.” The territory of Ichkeria was inhabited by Chechens, just like Cheberloy, no earlier than the 15th century. Representatives of the majority of Ichkerian teips consider themselves descendants of people from the western regions of the Caucasus. The main transit point for this migration and, apparently, the capital of medieval Chechnya was Nashkha. The first settlers from Nashkh to Ichkeria, and then to the Yaryksu and Aktash valleys, were representatives of the Peshkhoi and Tsiechoi teips. A legend that was published in the 19th century tells about this: “Somewhere in the direction of Bashlam there are mountains from which the rivers Assa, Fortanga and Gekhi flow. These mountains are called Akkhiin-lam; the ancestors of the Chechens, the lam-keristi (i.e., Christians), once lived there. This area is the cradle of the Chechens. Fourteen generations ago, part of the Lam-keristi left there and moved east due to the fact that in their homeland, due to the large population, it became cramped for them to live. They passed by the Argun and Aksai rivers, but they did not like these rivers; finally, they came to the place where the village of Yurt-aukh now stands. The first settlers here were the families Parchkhoy and Tsiechoy. When they arrived here, there was only one Andi farm in these places. There were no other settlements." Then, according to historical and folklore sources, other Ichkerian teips moved out of Nashkh. Many Cheberloev teips, as well as societies of the Argun Gorge, consider themselves to be from Nashkh. According to one of the genealogical legends, the founder of Ichkeria was Molkh, who first moved from Miaista to Nashkha, and from there, together with his son Tinin Vu'su, to Ichkeria. During the resettlement, the Chechens, in order to secure their right to this land, called it “Nokhchi-Mokhk” - “land of the Chechens,” as often happens during colonization. In the Late Middle Ages, the Chechen Mekhk-khel gathered here. By the way, I.V. also wrote about this. Popov: “The mound, visible on the hill, was made through the efforts of human labor: it was poured by the hands of people, as legend says. This place, the center of Ichkeria, served as a gathering point for the elders of Ichkeria, whose life, passing through the phases of its development, finally demanded more correct social relations... The first meeting on Mount Khettash-kort was not the last: they gathered here to change the adat, if it was not applicable to the conditions of public life. The only way to resolve litigation, no matter what its nature, was the verdict of mediators chosen by both the plaintiff and the defendant. The verdict of these elders did not allow appeals, and the litigants religiously carried out their decisions. In those controversial cases, for which there was no custom yet, the Ichkerian elders sent them to Nashkha, from where they always returned satisfied. The purest custom, according to the Chechens and Ichkerians, existed in Nashkha.” According to folklore and historical data, a stone battle tower with a pyramidal roof stood near the village of Khorochaya. During excavations near its ruins, archaeological materials from the 14th–15th centuries were discovered. In the 19th century, a postcard with her image was issued. According to legend, before the arrival of colonists from Nashkh to Ichkeria, the Orstkhoi people lived here. Some towers in Ichkeria, which are mentioned in ancient legends, are associated with their name. ___________________________________ Maista Maista is an ancient historical region of Chechnya. It is located in the highlands, east of the Chanti-Argun River, along the border with Georgia. This is the harshest and most beautiful region of mountainous Chechnya with majestic beauty. Eternal ice, huge rocks, deep abysses, wild mountain rivers are wonderfully combined here with dense beech and pine groves, thickets of wild fruit trees and shrubs, and a sea of ​​flowers in the summer. And above all this rise ancient towers - silent guardians of age-old secrets. “Maista” translated from Chechen means “high mountain, upper region.” This area was once very densely populated. Along the Maystoyn-erk River, a tributary of the Chanti-Argun, stretched the villages of Vaserkel, Tsa-kale, Puoga, and Tuga. They were located in hard-to-reach, strategically important places, covering the Maista gorges from all sides, standing in the way of the enemy with impregnable castles. In the Middle Ages, Maista was a kind of capital of mountainous Chechnya. Here, according to legend, lived the legendary Molkh, the ancestor of some of the Chechens, who then moved to Nashkh. At one time, the Mekhk Khel of the Nakh country gathered in Maista to resolve pressing issues and develop customary law. Maista remained the cult center of Chechnya for a long time; there was a priestly caste here that possessed secret knowledge and healing skills. In the 19th century, the population of Maista suffered from landlessness and poverty and was forced to periodically migrate to other regions, mainly to Georgia. During this period, the Maystinians were engaged in sheep breeding and raided Georgia for profit. What remains from the former greatness of Maista is not only the legends and warlike character of its inhabitants, but also a huge number of stone buildings dating, according to scientists, to the 12th-14th centuries. Particularly striking are the ruins of the medieval tower village of Vaserkel, lying on a high stone cliff on the right bank of the Maystoyn-erk river. The ruins of stone towers merge with gray rocks, forming a bizarre castle. At the very top of the cliff there is a battle tower, from which you can see the entire surrounding area, and you can also see the towers of Tsa-kale and Puoga. On the western outskirts, the towers hang over the path that runs along the river. It is impossible not to admire the courage and skill of the tower builders. The village of Vaserkel was located at the intersection of routes from Dagestan to the Argun Gorge and from Chechnya to Georgia. It was a real medieval fortress, with battle towers, stone walls, almost impregnable for enemies. According to legend, it was destroyed during wars in the early Middle Ages, and since then no one has lived in it. Not far from the Vaserkel fortress there is the largest necropolis in the Caucasus - the “city of the dead”, consisting of fifty stone crypts scattered along the slopes. They served as tombs for individual Maistin families. These are mainly small stone houses with a gable roof made of large slate slabs, with a square manhole on the front side. But there are also two-story crypts, testifying to the wealth and power of the family. To the east of Vaserkel, on a gentle slope, is the village of Tsa-kale or, translated from the Chechen language, “a settlement dedicated to the deity Tsu.” Tsa-kale is a castle-type defensive complex, consisting of one military and several residential towers. The battle tower is a classic version of the Vainakh (Chechen-Ingush) tower with a pyramidal roof, which is topped with a cone-shaped stone - tsIurku. It was believed that for the installation of this stone, in addition to the usual payment, the owner of the tower had to give the master a bull. Obviously, this stone originally had a magical, cult meaning. The residential towers of Tsa-kale can be classified as semi-combat towers; they are much taller than usual and have machismos. The combat and residential towers form a castle, the spaces between them are blocked by stone walls. In the courtyard of the castle there is a well-preserved sieling - a pillar-shaped sanctuary, at which the Maystinians prayed, asked for protection and help in business, and made sacrifices. But sieling in Tsa-kala had no cult significance since ancient times and was preserved as a tribute to the past. To the north of the village there is a Muslim cemetery where the Maystinians buried their dead until 1944. The residents of Maista had deep respect for the past, therefore, having converted to Islam, they did not destroy the former sanctuaries and crypts, so as not to desecrate the memory of their fathers. There are many petroglyphs on the walls of the towers in Tsa-kala: in the form of spirals, solar signs, figures of people, as well as the image of a hand, which is obligatory on almost all towers. But the most interesting is the inscription in the form of a petroglyphic letter on the wall of a residential tower in Vaserkel, on the edge of a high cliff. This is a kind of document of the ancient writing of the Chechens, which scientists have yet to decipher. To the west of Vaserkel and Tsa-kale, along the left bank of Maistoin-erk, are the tower villages of Puoga and Tuga. Puoga is a series of tower complexes, each of which forms a powerful castle, consisting of a combat tower and several residential towers. The towers of Puog are very massive and high and were built with a good knowledge of fortification and military art. All four villages in Maista are located in such a way that, if necessary, their residents can exchange danger signals by lighting fires on the towers. The name of the legendary Jokola, a courageous and fair leader of the Maistians, known not only in Chechnya, but also in neighboring Georgia, is associated with the villages of Puoga and Tuga. During the Caucasian War, Maista belonged to those Chechen societies that did not want to submit to either the Russian authorities or Imam Shamil and desperately resisted any attempts to conquer them. The Maystinians fought especially successfully when they were led by Jokola. Later, at the suggestion of the Georgian princes, Jokola went with his relatives to Georgia and founded several villages there in the Pankisi Gorge. But upon returning to Chechnya, he was deceitfully captured by Shamil’s murids and executed. The notes of the Russian officer L.A. have been preserved. Zisserman, who visited Maista in the late 40s of the 19th century. He admires the amazing hospitality of the Maystinians. During the holiday organized in honor of the guest, they began to compete in rifle shooting. When the guest missed, none of the Maystinians, who at all times were considered excellent shooters and skilled hunters, hit the target, so as not to humiliate the guest’s dignity. A ten-year-old boy was tasked with demonstrating his skills, and he easily hit the target. Describes L.A. Zisserman and the ritual of fraternization with Jokola, whose very name became his guarantee of safety in these dangerous places for travel. But the inhabitants of the Maista gorges were not only brave and skilled warriors. They were famous throughout the Caucasus for their art of healing. The Maystinians knew the secrets of many medicinal herbs, from ancient times they knew how to perform craniotomy and were especially skillful in treating wounds inflicted by cold steel and firearms. The art of local healers attracted people here not only from Chechnya, but from Georgia, Ossetia, and Kabarda. In Maista there were priestly families that passed on the secrets of magic and the secrets of hypnosis. Perhaps the very atmosphere of these gorges, where the shadows of ancient towers merge with the outlines of the rocks, leaving a strange, unearthly impression in the soul, was conducive to mysticism. The residents of Maista enjoyed particular authority among the Chechens as experts in Chechen law. Until 1944, there was Maistoin Khel, a kind of supreme court of Chechnya, where experts in law, for a certain bribe, dealt with litigation and disputes not only of Chechens, but also of Ingush and Georgians. They turned to Maistoin Khel if other judicial institutions reached a dead end during the proceedings. The Maystin court was considered fair, and its decisions were always carried out. A legend has been preserved about the judicial art of the Maystinians: “Once upon a time a traveler was walking along a mountain gorge along a high cliff. He accidentally dropped the heavy staff from his hands, which fell into the abyss with a roar. A shepherd sitting nearby, startled by the unexpected noise, fell off the cliff and was killed. The relatives of the deceased demanded a huge fine from the traveler. The latter turned to Maistoin-khel. The elder, considering this matter easy, handed it over to the young man, and he reasoned as follows: three parties were to blame for the death of the shepherd - the traveler, who carelessly dropped the staff, the staff, which, having fallen, made a noise that frightened the shepherd, the shepherd, who turned out to be so cowardly that fell into the abyss from random noise. Consequently, the young judge concluded, the perpetrator must pay only a third of the fine. Thus, he saved the traveler from an unfair lawsuit. Among other things, the Maystinians were also excellent builders. According to folklore sources, they built towers not only in the mountains of Chechnya, but also in Khevsureti and Tusheti. In the late Middle Ages, the same pagan cults existed in Maista as throughout Chechnya, although they also had their own local characteristics. For example, the cult of Lam-Tishuol, a mountain spirit who lived on the top of Mount Dakoh-kort (Maistoyn-lam) and patronized warriors and hunters. Also, according to the beliefs of the Maystinians, the goddess of justice Dika lived on the top of this mountain, who taught people to distinguish between good and evil. On the northern slope of the Maistinsky ridge, south of Tug, there is a sacred grove, into which not a single hunter will enter without first washing himself in river water, otherwise an evil blizzard will fall from the icy peak of Tebulosmt, block the path of the walker, and then death will inevitably await him. Until recently, there were sacred protected groves in other areas of mountainous Chechnya. In them no one dared to pick a flower or break a branch. Wild animals felt safe here, since not a single hunter dared to hunt in the sacred grove. Previously, even blood-born people could take refuge in them, without fear that revenge might overtake them. According to popular belief, staying in protected groves for a certain time led to healing from many diseases. The Chechens' attitude towards wood was very reverent. Since ancient times, they have learned to protect the forest and use it wisely. The pear tree and walnut were considered sacred, and there was a strict ban on cutting them. There is still a belief among Chechens that a person who cuts down a walnut or pear tree will go to hell. Arbitrary cutting of forests was prohibited, and cutting down a tree out of mischief was considered a terrible crime, along with killing a person. It was recommended to harvest dead trees and diseased trees for firewood, but valuable species could not be used for these purposes. The hornbeam was also considered a sacred tree. It was used by the Chechens to make weapons, and therefore its cutting was strictly regulated. The cult of the peak was also widespread among the Maystinians. They turned to the highest snowy peak in this range of mountains, Tebulosmta, with a prayer: “Oh, great Tuloi-lama! Oh, sacred Tuloi Lama! We turn to you with a request, and you ask for the Great Cause for us.” But the prayers of the residents of Maista were in vain. The villages of Tsa-kale, Puoga, Tuga were destroyed in 1944 during the eviction of Chechens by the NKVD troops. The towers had their ceilings and roofs blown up, and then they were set on fire from the inside. The Maista gorges are lifeless today. The dark shadows of Vaserkel, the stern towers of Puog, the majestic ruins of Tsa-kale are silent. The sun set over Maista, plunging this amazing region into silence. But Mount Maistoin-lam stands, sparkling with a snow-white peak, reminding people that in this world, sooner or later, good will triumph over evil, purity and light will rule the minds of people and justice will reign on earth. ___________________________________________ Sharoy HISTORICAL REGION SHAROY LIES IN THE UPPER ROW OF THE SHARO-ARGUN RIVER, east of the Chechen societies of Chanti and Khacharoy, west of Cheberloy. Its name is most likely associated with the adjective “shera” - smooth, flat, which in mountain dialects sounds like “shara”. It can be explained by the fact that the Sharo-Argun current forms wide gorges with gentle banks. Sharoy consisted of several dozen villages, the largest of which were Sharoy, Khimoy, Khakmadoy and Shikaroy. The famous Georgian historian I.A. Javakhishvili associated the ethnonym “Sarmat” with the toponyms Sharoy, Sharo-Argun, which, in his opinion, sounded like “Sharmat”. But since there is no “sh” sound in Greek and Latin, it was recorded in ancient sources as “Sarmatian”. The village of Sharoy was a tower settlement, consisting of three military and several residential towers, which were located close to each other, forming an impregnable castle. The gaps between individual buildings were protected by stone walls. In fact, it was a real medieval fortress. It was located at the crossroads of the most important roads and occupied a hill that had a strategic position. Residents of Sharoy had the opportunity to control the road from Transcaucasia and Dagestan to the Argun Gorge, as well as to Cheberloy and Ichkeria. Of the three battle towers that survived until the beginning of the 20th century, only one remains now. Bruno Pletschke, who visited these mountains in the 1920s, found two military and several residential towers still in relatively good condition. But the residential towers were blown up in 1944, and one of the combat towers was destroyed by bombing in 1995. If Sharoy was the administrative center of this region, then the village of Khimoy, which is located several kilometers southeast of it, was its cult center. According to field materials, on the outskirts of Himoy there was a sundial, which was a circle of huge stones, in the center of which there was a high stone pillar. Apparently, it was not only a clock, but also a kind of observatory for observing the movement of the sun. According to S.-M. Khasiev, in ancient times, during a certain period of development of the cult of the sun, the Chechens were banned from observing the solar luminary. And the priests watched his shadow, considering the shadow to be a hypostasis of the sun. The fact that Khimoi was a cult center can be confirmed by the abundance of petroglyphs on the surviving medieval buildings of the village. These are double spirals, and crosses, and circles. But the most interesting is the classic swastika with rectangular ends. In this form it is not found anywhere else in the Caucasus, although in various versions it is present on the walls of many Chechen towers, in more ancient times - on Koban ceramics, then in the form of tamga on Alan pottery. In the Middle Ages, almost all the villages of Sharoy were tower villages, that is, they consisted of residential and military towers. Many of them, especially the battle towers, were destroyed during the Caucasian War, some during the eviction of Chechens in 1944. Today, the ruins of majestic stone buildings have been preserved in the villages of Sharoy, Khimoy, Khakmadoy, Shikaroy. Modern houses with gable roofs seem like dwarf dwellings next to the dilapidated stone tower buildings.

AKKI Akki is a mountainous part of Chechnya, bordering in the south with Kay, in the east with Nashkh, in the west with Yalkhara, and in the north with areas of Chechen society Orstkhoy. The area was once densely populated. The ruins of the tower villages of Zengali, Bitsi, Kereti, Vougi, Ami, Itir-kale still remind us of the harsh past of these mountains. The main occupation of Akka residents was cattle breeding and agriculture. In addition, they were famous as excellent hunters and warriors. The Akkins took an active part in the Caucasian War in the detachments of Imam Shamil. Many fortified villages were besieged by tsarist troops, many tower buildings were destroyed during the assault and shelling from artillery guns. M.A. Ivanov, who visited Akki at the beginning of the last century, wrote about this: “Stone sakli of several villages of seniority are scattered on elevated areas. They are grouped in most cases around ancient towers, with which this area is generally rich, which in the distant past served as the arena of endless strife and civil strife, and in the near future - the struggle of Shamil with Russian troops. There are still fresh memories of these recent events among the population: they talk about how strong towers were taken by the Russians, how cannon shots thundered and artillery shells smashed the strongholds of the mountaineers.” Even in the Late Middle Ages, the Akkins occupied territories to the west not only of the sources of Gekhi, but also of Fortanga and Assa. The Akkin people of the Vappi teip lived in both the Dzheirakh and Daryal gorge, in the villages of Lars and Gvileti. Russian sources of that time mention the owner of the Larsov tavern (village - Author's note) Saltan-Murza, who was the brother of Shikh-Murza Okotsky. According to field materials, the Chechen teip Bagacharoy moved out of the area, which is located at the source of the Sunzha, near the Baguchar mountain range. In those days, this teip belonged to the Akka tukhum, but the Bagacharoites, even after moving to the right bank of the Sharo-Argun, continued to consider themselves part of the Akka tukhum. Some of the Bagacharoites founded the village of Bagacharoy back in the 16th century at the exit from the Argun Gorge not far from the village of Goyty. In 1825, it was burned by Russian troops as a result of a three-day battle. This battle was described by Prince Volkonsky in one of his letters to his friend. In the 15th–16th centuries, part of the Akkins migrated to the east, to Ichkeria, as well as to the areas of settlement of the Nakh tribe “Ovkhoi” (today these are the western regions of Dagestan), which, apparently, are the descendants of the ancient Aors tribe mentioned by Strabo. Later, the Orstkhoevites (tsechoi) from the Tsecha-akhk gorge, as well as on foot, moved to the same areas. As a result, a Chechen subethnic group emerged, which, identifying itself as part of the Chechen ethnos, distinguishes itself in it as “Akki” in contrast to the “Lam-Akki” - mountain Akki people who today live in almost all regions of Chechnya. After the end of the Caucasian War in the 19th century, many residents of Akka moved to Turkey. Teip Vappi, like some of the Orsthoev families, left Chechnya almost completely. Despite the many ancient villages, very few architectural monuments have survived to this day in a more or less intact form. In the village of Zengali, located south of Lake Galanchozh, on the left bank of the Gekhi River, about twenty residential towers of various states of preservation, built of well-processed stone, have been preserved. Separate residential and semi-combat towers have been preserved in the villages of Bitsi, Kereti, and Mizirkala. During the last two wars they were bombed by Russian planes. The architectural structures that have survived to this day testify to the high skill of their builders. Akki, like Terloy and Maista, was famous for its craftsmen. A legend has been preserved about one of them - the famous builder of Diskhi towers. On the road to the village of Vogi ​​there is a lonely tower. Locals call it Dishi-bow. They say that it was built by master Dishi. In one of the villages of Akki, Diskhi betrothed a girl. One spring, when it was easiest to buy or barter for sheep's wool, he asked his bride to sew him a fur coat. She promised, but for some reason she couldn’t finish the job for a long time. Diskhi was angry for the inattention to his request and told the bride that he would build a tower faster than she would sew a fur coat. He got to work. He erected the walls, and when it was time to complete the roof, the wooden scaffolding, on which heavy stones lay, could not stand it and collapsed. And Master Diskhi died. The bride heard about this, ran to the tower and, seeing the dead groom, climbed the tower and rushed down. So the tower remained unfinished. And people, in memory of the famous master, called it Diskhi-bou - Diskhi Tower. One of the most beautiful monuments of Chechen residential architecture is the Mizir-Kala residential tower, which is distinguished by graceful proportions, sophisticated decor, and high construction techniques, which is usually more typical of military towers. Above the left bank of the Akki-khi river, on a high stone cliff, is the Itir-kale tower built into a rock niche. It can be called a small fortress. Access to it is impossible, since the wooden walkways thrown from rock to rock have long since collapsed. The walls had almost completely collapsed, leaving only fragments. According to field materials, the owner of the fortress was the local feudal lord Gazh, who was distinguished by his cruel and ferocious disposition. He took a tax in the form of sheep's wool and gunpowder from people passing along this road. According to legend, Gazh was killed by rebel tribesmen. Today the gorges of Akka are deserted. The silhouettes of ancient towers froze in eternal silence. And no one can say whether life will ever return here again. __________________________________________ Ershthoy (Arshthoy, Orsthoy) Ershthoy (Arshthoy, Orstkhoy) - was located to the west of Lam-Akkha and Yalkhara and included the area adjacent to Lake Galan-Chozh, the gorge of the Fortanga River, as well as Assy in the lower reaches. After Timur’s troops left the Caucasus, the Orstkhoi people were among the first to descend to the foothills, and then to the valley between the Sunzha and Assa rivers. Here they encountered the Kabardians, who then led a nomadic lifestyle and grazed their livestock in the territory liberated after the departure of the Mongols. In general, as historical and folklore sources testify, the ethnonym “Orstkhoi/Arstkhoi” originally designated all Nakh-speaking inhabitants of the foothills. And that part of the Nakhs, which from the 18th century began to be called “Orskhoi”, in earlier times had the tribal name “Baloi”, which included Akkhs, Peshkhoi, and some other Chechen teips. Apparently, this was a warrior caste. The etymology of the ethnonym “orstkhoi” is quite transparent: in Chechen “arts” means a low ridge, “arstkhoi” means inhabitants of the foothills or the Black Mountains. But it is possible that the Chechen “arts” in more ancient times meant “fortress, rampart”, which is quite possible. In this case, the ancient signal of danger “ortsov dovla” takes on a specific meaning: “Take shelter in the fortress” (or behind the ramparts). According to folklore materials, before the arrival of the Chechens from the western regions of the Caucasus, Orstkhoi also lived in Ichkeria and Chaberloy, who spoke a language that had some differences from the Chechen language. But today they can hardly be identified with the inhabitants of Ershty. Orstkhoi were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding, and in the mountainous regions, in the villages of Verkhniy and Nizhny Dattykh, in addition, they were engaged in salt mining. Orstkhoi converted to Islam quite early, compared to their neighbors, and actively participated in the Caucasian War in Shamil’s troops. They constantly raided the villages of the Ingush, who by that time had become subjects of the Russian Tsar. This is evidenced by numerous complaints of Ingush elders, preserved in Russian archives. When part of the Caucasian peoples were evicted to Turkey after the end of the Caucasian War, the Orstkhoi almost completely left their homeland, not wanting to obey the Russian administration. Those who remained were resettled by the tsarist authorities in Chechen and Ingush villages, and on their lands the Sunzha Cossack line was formed to separate the Chechens and Ingush. The territory of Ershthoy is very rich in stone tower buildings. Their ruins are preserved in the villages of Bazante, Gandal-basa, Nizhny and Verkhny Dattykh, Tsiecha-Akhk, Egichozh. Although the region is located in the very west of Chechnya, its architecture in its main parameters gravitates towards the forms of Central Chechnya, that is, the Argun Gorge. The village of Tsiecha-Akhk is full of tower buildings from various eras. The oldest settlement Tsiecha-Akhk dates back to the 1st millennium BC. e. It consists of cyclopean buildings, which are rectangular structures built from huge uncut stones. The gigantic plans of these dwellings may indicate a certain social structure of society at that time. Apparently, the population here lived in large family communities, which gradually fragmented in the process of evolution. By the way, this is confirmed by the fact that additional small rooms were added to the Cyclopean structures. The buildings of the early Alanian era (I–VII centuries) have also been preserved here. Among them it is already possible to distinguish combat and residential towers. Residential towers, despite the low level of construction technology, already have structures characteristic of late, classical buildings: the presence of a support pillar, arched openings (doors and windows), and their expansion from the inside. Late Alan buildings (this is confirmed here by the abundance of archaeological material) are close in their forms to classical ones. The powerful castle of the village of Tsiecha-Akhk, consisting of one battle and two residential towers, can be attributed to the 15th–17th centuries. The battle tower has a square base (5 x 5 m), a large number of window openings with round arches, the stones are processed, the masonry is done very carefully, and there are decorative elements on the facade of the tower. The residential towers attached to the battle tower are no different from it in terms of masonry technique and level of stone processing, that is, all elements of the castle were built at the same time. The peak of fortification architecture of the Chechens can be attributed to the Egi-chozh fortress, which embodies all the best achievements of Nakh architecture. _________________________________________ Terloy-mokhk Terloy-mokhk is a historical region in the south of mountainous Chechnya, on the left bank of the Argun. From the south it bordered with Kay-mokhk, from the north - with Dishni, from the west - with Peshkha, its eastern border ran along the left bank of the Argun, where on a high slope stood a majestic complex of three battle towers - KIirda-bIavnash. Three left tributaries of the Argun flowed through its territory: Nikaroy, BarkhIay, BIavloy, after which the three patronymic groups that made up the Terloy society were called. Magomed Mamakaev included Terloy among the nine Chechen tukhums, although both field materials and legends indicate that it was one of the largest Chechen teips, which had all the classic signs of a teip, including such relict ones as the teip cult. The toponym "Terla", in all likelihood, goes back to the Chechen "tera" - upper, high-mountain. Residents of mountainous regions still call Terloi-mokhk “Tiera”, and its inhabitants “tIerii”, that is, upper ones. Tierloy-mokhk begins with the tower fortification of KIirda-bIavnash, which is located on a high cape formed at the confluence of the Argun by its left tributary Terloy-akhk. According to teptars (family chronicles) kept by the ancestors of Akhmed Suleymanov until February 1944, after the collapse of the Alanian region of Sim-Sim in the war with Timur, the king and his entourage retreated to the west with a large caravan loaded with weapons and treasury. They reached the Argun River and on its left bank, on a high cape, they laid a powerful tower fortification. The remains of this fortification have survived to this day under the name “Kirda-bavnash”. The descendants of the king tried to establish themselves here by appointing their nobles Biirig Bichu and Eldi Talat as princes, who immediately began an internecine war. The king and his son Bayra were unable to gain a foothold here, restore their former power, and together with their army they left partly for China and partly for Japan. Residents of Tierloy-Mokhk adopted Islam relatively late, unlike the population of the eastern regions of Chechnya. Therefore, there are many places and toponyms associated with various pagan cults. According to A. Suleymanov, “on the outskirts of the ancient village of Nikara there was a cult place “Merkanenie” - the Mother of the Country, where in more ancient times there was a temple dedicated to the Mother of the Country. The Merkan Nana holiday was celebrated in early spring, before the start of spring field work. First, they chose the most beautiful girl, dressed her up, and put a wreath of flowers on her head, which the girls wove in the moonlight. The girl “Merkan Nana” was leading a red heifer with a chain around her neck by a rope. Red ribbons were tied to the heifer's horns. She was accompanied by the inhabitants of Nikaroa, singing hymns and carrying wine, bread and cheese. The procession went around the village and went to the temple. The priest walked around the temple three times, performing magical rituals, and then sacrificed a cow to the awakening nature.” The ritual of worshiping “Merkan Nana” existed in other regions of mountainous Chechnya, in Ingushetia and Georgia. In addition, to the northeast of the village of Zhelashka, on Mount Tierloin-Lam, there are the ruins of the medieval sanctuary of Tierloin-Delhi, which was a rectangular structure made of stones, with a wide doorway in the form of an arch. The building was apparently quite high, if the height of the surviving wall is almost three meters. On the façade side, a small stone fence forms a courtyard. According to field materials, twice a year, in spring and autumn, residents (men only) of the Terloevsky and Bavloevsky gorges gathered to pray to him. In addition, in rainy years people came to the sanctuary to pray for an end to bad weather, and in dry times they asked for rain. Terloin Delhi was revered by hunters who left arrowheads, as well as horns and skins of killed animals as gifts to the sanctuary. In former times, Tierloin-mokhk was very densely populated; in its gorges there were the villages of BarkhIa, Uyta, Ushna, Guro, Bushni, Elda-khya, Seni, Motskara, Nikara, Biavla. Many of these villages had towers, and within the boundaries of some of them, such as Motskara and Nikara, there were powerful castles. In the village of Elda-pha there were three battle towers. One tower completely collapsed, leaving only the base. The other two have been preserved on two floors. Tradition connects the battle towers and the settlement of Elda-pha with the name of Eldi Talat, who, according to the Teptars, was a courtier of the Alan king, as well as Berg-Bich, the owner of the KIirda-bIavnash fortification. They were in a state of constant hostility, which ended only after the death of both. The village of Motskara consists of a dozen residential towers and two powerful castles. The first castle includes two residential towers attached to each other, and the second - three residential and one battle tower, surrounded by a stone wall more than two meters high. There are petroglyphs on the wall of one of the towers: a spiral and a cross in a circle. On the outskirts of Motskar, next to a cemetery consisting of above-ground crypt burial grounds and late Muslim burials, a pagan pillar-shaped sanctuary has been preserved. The walls of the sanctuary are made of gray flagstone with lime mortar, plastered and whitewashed with yellowish lime. Its roof is pyramidal-stepped. The height of the sanctuary is more than two meters. On the side of the facade there is a lancet niche. Nikara, apparently, was one of the most ancient settlements of Tierloin-mokhk, a cult center and a kind of capital of Tierloin. This can be evidenced by the ruins of Cyclopean buildings, the oldest of which date back to the 2nd–1st millennium BC. e. In Nikara, about a dozen residential towers have been preserved, which have three or four floors, one five-story semi-combat tower, a combat tower with a pyramidal-step roof. The buildings, going down the slope in steps, together form a powerful castle. Not far from Nikara is the village of Bushni, in which the ruins of residential towers built from huge stones, apparently of Cyclopean origin, have been preserved.

Cheberloy CHEBERLOY IS A HISTORICAL REGION LOCATED IN THE SOUTHEAST OF CHECHNYA. The boundaries of this mountainous region are not precisely defined; the most widespread opinion is that Cheberloy includes only the area of ​​Makazhoy, Lake Kezenoy-Am, the villages of Khoy and Kharkaroy. More reliable is the information about the boundaries of Cheberloy society by the famous Chechen ethnographer and folklorist Akhmad Suleymanov, who is based on the testimony of old people who lived here before the eviction. In his opinion, Cheberloy in the north borders on the lands of the Nizhala society and Ichkeria, in the west - on the Sharo society (Nokhchkela, Bossi), in the south and east - on Dagestan. This is the most remote and inaccessible region of Chechnya, which had virtually no contact with the outside world. This is probably why the Cheberloevsky dialect of the Chechen language has preserved archaic features (the absence of labialized vowels, the preservation of ancient forms of pronouns, etc.), which bring it closer to the Western Vainakh dialects, especially the Ingush language. The toponym “Cheberloy” goes back to the Chechen “cheba are” - a flat place, a hollow, and “loy” is a toponymic suffix. Cheberloy began to be settled by Chechens who migrated from the western regions of the Caucasus relatively late, no earlier than the 15th century. Some teips living in the Cheberloy area have preserved legends about their origin from the western regions of Chechnya. So, according to the legend of the Makazhoy teip, their ancestor was Turach, who moved to these places from Nashkh. Residents of the village of Kezenoy trace their origins to the descendants of a poor widow who survived after the destruction of the village that stood on the site of the lake. In historical sources of the 19th century, some Russian authors, based on the characteristics of the Cheberloev dialect, as well as anthropological characteristics (blond hair, green eyes), tried to attribute Slavic origin to the Cheberloevites. In fact, the inhabitants of Cheberloy proper (for example, Makazhoy) are distinguished by their black hair and dark skin. For example, the Russian origin of the “Orsoy” teip was assumed due to its consonance with the Chechen word “ojrsi” ​​- Russian. But this word in the Chechen language is borrowed and could not have appeared in the Chechen language earlier than the 17th century, and the name of the teip and the village of Orsoy is of more ancient origin. Here, a rapprochement with the “Aorsi,” the tribes that lived in the Ciscaucasia in the first centuries of our era, seems more likely. In ancient historical works, for example, Pliny, the Soda tribes are mentioned, which are correlated with the Chechen teip Sada. But it is unlikely that Nakh tribes could have lived in the Cheberloy area at that time. Moreover, the sadoi themselves consider themselves to be from Nashkh, where they had a share in the ancestral cauldron of the indigenous Chechen teips. In general, the sadoys, according to folklore material collected by A. Suleymanov, considered themselves privileged, “ali,” that is, of princely origin, and waged constant wars with the Cheberloys, trying to subjugate them, while not considering themselves belonging to the Cheberloy society. In Russian sources, Cheberloy is first mentioned in documents of the 16th - 17th centuries as “Chabril”, and the inhabitants of this region are called “Shibutians, Shubuts”, just like their neighbors in Sharo- and Chanti-Argun. The features of the material culture of these areas indicate the existence of a pre-Chechen substratum in this territory. In all likelihood, until the end of the 15th century, other tribes lived on the territory of Ichkeria and Cheberloy, who were then mostly displaced and partially assimilated by the Chechens in their movement from west to east. More ancient layers of archaeological culture of these territories can also serve as proof of this. The territory of Cheberloy is part of the area of ​​the culture that archaeologists call Kayakent-Kharachoevskaya. At the same time, the so-called Koban culture existed in the habitat of the ancient Nakhs. But, probably, this migration was long-term, since the legends of local residents say that before the settlement of their ancestors, the Orsthoevites lived in these places. Thus, according to field materials recorded here by V. Kobychev, “the first inhabitants in Cheberloy were the Erstkhoi people, then crossbow shooters came (Iad kaam). According to legend, the archers came from under Mount Nashakha, located in the upper reaches of the Roshni-chu River. At first, the Nashakhoi sent three people as scouts, but local residents killed them. Then a whole detachment arrived to take revenge and built a fortification on the site of the current village of Khoy. Since then, the Nashakhoi have firmly taken possession of Cheberloy.” According to legend, the legendary Aldam-Gezi was also sent from Nashkh as the ruler of Cheberloy, who chose the village of Kezenoy as his residence, where he built a heavily fortified castle. Its ruins have survived to this day. Cheberloy is a land of amazing beauty: rocky mountain canyons, wild rivers, waterfalls, dense forests and the majestic lake Kezenoy-Am. Lake Kezenoy is located at an altitude of 1869 meters. According to legend, there was once an ancient village on the site of this lake. The people there lived freely and gracefully, knowing neither adversity nor deprivation. One day a beggar, a white-bearded old man, came to this village. He knocked on many doors, but no one opened for him, no one gave him even a piece of bread. And only a poor widow, who lived on the outskirts of the village in a dilapidated hut, let him in for the night and shared her meager dinner with him. In the morning the elder said to the poor widow: “I am not a beggar, but an angel. The inhabitants of this village will be punished for greed and non-compliance with the custom of hospitality - the village will perish. You must leave with your children and climb the mountainside.” With these words the old man disappeared. And before the widow had time to climb the mountain, a stormy stream of water from the mountain slopes fell on the village, and it disappeared in the waves. And the descendants of the poor widow founded a new village not far from the lake and called it Kezena. According to another legend, the village was founded by the Orstkhoevets Kezen with his sons. But Aldam, who came from Nashkh (Western Chechnya), defeated Kezen and became the ruler of this area. The village of Kezenoy is located south of the lake, a few kilometers away. Its main attraction is the fortress towering above the village - the Aldam-Gezi fortress (Giezi-Aldamankov), the ruins of which are still visible on a high cliff. The fortress consists of a citadel, a group of dilapidated buildings and a residential tower known as the Tower of Daoud. The tower is rectangular, almost square, the height of its surviving walls is about seven meters. In the center of the tower are the remains of a support pillar, one of the corner stones connecting the walls. To the south of Daoud's Tower is a mosque with a tombstone embedded under the door threshold. This tombstone, according to local residents, belongs to the Chechen hero Surkho, the son of Ada. Surkho, according to historical legends, defeated the Kabardian prince Musost in the war and divided his lands among the poor. In honor of his victory, the village of Surkhokhi (in Ingushetia) was named and a heroic song - illi - was composed. Religious activities and holidays in Kezenoe were accompanied by public brewing: barley was crushed in a cup stone in a room next to the mosque for ritual beer. A similar stone can be seen next to a residential tower in the village of Tuga, in Maista. Aldam Gezi Fortress is located on a high rocky platform and is surrounded by a stone wall. Inside the citadel, the foundation of the battle tower has been preserved. The complex was most likely built in the 16th century, and the mosque in later times. This is confirmed by the features of the architectural style of the buildings. If the residential tower was built in a purely Vainakh style: a central support pillar, corner stones connecting the walls, the use of mortar, then the architecture of the mosque is purely Dagestan. It was most likely built after the 17th century, that is, after the spread of Islam in Cheberloy. Residents of Cheberloy were among the first Chechens to convert to Islam. And this is probably why there are no crypt burials preserved here, unlike other regions of Chechnya. But the fact that there are a lot of crypt tombstones here suggests that they were common at one time in this territory. There are also crypt-shaped tombstones near the village of Puoga in Maista. Their appearance here is due to the fact that the Maystinians, having converted to Islam, stopped building collective crypts, but in the tombstones of individual graves they preserved their architectural forms, albeit in a reduced form. During the time of Shamil's imamate, the Cheberloevites fiercely resisted the imam's attempts to introduce Sharia law in their societies. In response, Shamil sent troops consisting of Avars and Andes into Cheberloy, and the uprising was drowned in blood. Many villages of Cheberloy were destroyed and burned, including many battle towers destroyed by order of Shamil. To the west of the lake there is a group of villages, the largest of which is Makazhoy, which the Cheberloevites have long considered their capital. According to A. Suleymanov, the toponym Makazhoy and, accordingly, the name of the teip Makazhoy is associated with the ancient military term “makazh” - a wedge-shaped formation of spearmen during an attack by enemy troops. Such a wedge moved ahead of the attacking troops, was the first to cut through enemy chains, going behind enemy lines, encircling them and destroying them. Makazh included the most desperate and physically resilient warriors. There are almost no architectural monuments preserved in Makajoy. Its only attraction can be considered a residential tower, converted into a mosque. There is a mosque, the minaret of which is built in the form of a battle tower, in the village of Etkali and in some other villages of central Chechnya. Not far from Kezenoy is the village of Khoy. This toponym is translated from Chechen as “guards”. This is probably due to the fact that the village was a border village and its inhabitants were on guard duty. By the way, “Khoin-gIala - the tower of guards” - the only battle tower remaining from the fortification - also reminds us of this. The tower was erected on a rocky foundation made of well-processed stone, the masonry was made of clay-lime mortar. Although it is clear from the architectural techniques and masonry technique that the tower was built by a Chechen master, it differs from the classical Vainakh towers. It is lower and squat, moreover, it has machicolations that are not quite usual for Vainakh battle towers, encircling it in a solid square. In terms of their proportions, Cheberloy's towers are closer to Ossetian ones. The battle tower in the village of Khoy is decorated with many petroglyphs: these are crosshairs with circles, circles with herringbone and wavy patterns, and a T-shaped sign, that is, symbolism characteristic only of Vainakh towers. To the east of Makazhoy is the village of Kharkaroy. On the rocky slopes, among medieval ruins, rises a battle tower - the only surviving medieval building. There are many loopholes in the walls of the tower; the tower was completed with machicolations; only one of them has survived to this day. A stone with the image of a master’s hand is mounted in the south-eastern wall of the tower. Smaller medieval settlements are scattered around the village of Makazhoy: Jalkh, Tundukhoy, Orsoy. However, all that remained of them were ruins, on the stones of which a lot of petroglyphs were preserved. In the village of Orsoy, ruins of Cyclopean buildings have also been preserved. Nashkh This is a historical region in the west of Chechnya at the source of the Gikha River. In the west it borders with Akkhiin-mokhk, in the south with the Tierla society, and in the east with Peshkha. According to Chechen legends, the oldest capital of the Chechens was located in Nashkha. The legendary hero of Chechnya, Turpal Nakhcho, was born here. All the indigenous Chechen teips came from here and settled to the east and north, from Ichkeria to the banks of the Sunzha and Terek. In an old Chechen song it is sung: As sparks fly from the blow of a checker on flint, So we scattered from Turpalo Nakhcho. We were born at night when the she-wolf was whelping. We were given a name in the morning when the leopard woke up the surrounding area with its roar. This is who we are, the descendants of Turpal Nakhcho. When the rain stops, the sky becomes clear, When the heart beats freely in the chest, the eyes do not shed tears. So let's trust God. Without him there is no victory. Let us not disgrace the glory of our Turpal Nakhcho! A huge copper cauldron was kept in Nashkh almost until the middle of the 19th century. It was decorated with longitudinal plates on which the names of indigenous Chechen teips were engraved. The cauldron was sawn into plates on the orders of Imam Shamil, who always sought to destroy everything connected with the ancient history of the Chechens, be it towers or ancient letters and manuscripts. In Nashkha, according to legend, the national chronicle - “Kyoman Teptar”, telling about the origin of the indigenous Chechen teips, and the national seal - Kyoman Muhar - were kept. For many years, the Mekhk-khel, the Council of the Country, which included representatives of free Nakh societies, gathered in Nashkh. Nashkh was probably a kind of transit point for Chechen tribes during their migration from west to east. The fact that the Nakh tribes in ancient times occupied the western regions of the Caucasus is evidenced by the toponymy of these places; this is also confirmed by some historical sources, for example, “Armenian Geography of the 7th century” by Anania Shirakatsi, as well as the works of ancient authors. Apparently, Nashkh, until the 14th–17th centuries (the period of mass migration of Chechens from west to east and from south to north), meant either a more extensive territory, or, as ethnographer S.-M believes. Khasiev, the capital of the Nakh country. According to Professor Yu.D. Desherieva, Chechens as an ethnic group developed in the territory west of the Argun Gorge. It was here that they realized themselves as a single people - “kyam” and the unity of the country - “mokhk”. Moving in search of new lands to the east and north, the Chechens did not forget about their origins. Even in our time, quite recently, old people, asking a person a question about his origin, asked: “Does your teip come from Nashkh?” That is, is he ancient, noble? In the Galonchozh basin, many cult places have been preserved, with which various legends are associated, for example, the Muyti cliff. According to legend, this was the stone on which Elder Muyta sat, presiding over the meetings of the Chechen Mekhk-khel. Lake Galayn-ChIozh was considered sacred, oaths were sealed by mentioning its spirits, and its surroundings were once a cult center of the Chechens. Particularly revered here, in addition to other general Chechen cults, was the cult of the fertility deity Tusholi. Near the village of Viylakh, a stone statue of this deity has been preserved. According to historical sources of the 18th century, Galayn-chIozh was at one time the center of the spread of Christianity among the Chechens. According to the testimony of travelers, Christian churches were preserved here at the end of the 18th century, which, however, by that time had already lost their cult significance. At the end of the 17th century, in the Galanchozh depression and around it lived the Chechen teips Akkhoi, Nashkhoi, Peshkhoi, TsIechoi, Galai, Merzhoy, Yalkharoy, which, according to legend, in more ancient times were united by one tribal name “Baloi”. Around the beginning of the 18th century, Nashkha proper began to be called the territory in the upper reaches of the Gikha River, which included the villages of Motskara, Charmakh, Khaibakh, Testara, Khiilakh, MogIusta, Khizhigho. According to legend, they were founded by six brothers. In the village of Khaibakh, a structure has been preserved, which is a classic type of Vainakh tower with a pyramidal roof. It was built in the 17th century and has been restored in our time. There are many petroglyphs on the walls of the tower, and the pyramidal roof is completed with a white cone-shaped stone - tsIurku. To the north of the combat tower are the ruins of a complex consisting of a combat and residential tower; only part of the walls and individual parts remain. To the west of the village of Motskara, on the steep wall of Mount Nashkhoin-lam, a tower shelter has been preserved. It is located at an altitude of more than ten meters from the slope and consists of rocky niches in three tiers, filled with stones, with door and window openings. In former times, shepherds and travelers took refuge in such shelters from random attacks, or bloodlines could live, hiding from the revenge of enemies. According to legend, to the north of the village of MogIusta there was once a road hotel - khashatsie. Such hotels were usually built near springs and were a small house with a fireplace or hearth in which two or three people could spend the night. They were intended for wanderers, hunters and shepherds. Usually, the one who spent the night or stopped here to rest, when leaving, left part of his food, and the hunters - skins, deer and turk's antlers - as a gift to the saints who patronized travelers. In Testara, several residential towers have been preserved, in which people lived until the eviction in 1944. All that remains of the village of Charmakh are the ruins of towers. Not far from the village, on the outskirts of an ancient cemetery, there is a cruciform stele, with which an ancient legend is associated. It reads: “In ancient times, there lived here a beautiful girl who was very proud and willful. Many wooed her, but she did not give preference to anyone. And so one young man decided to marry her at all costs. He gathered a squad to seize it by force. But, having learned that they were approaching her village, the girl cast a spell, and they all turned into stones. These stones can still be seen on the mountainside near the village of Charmakh.” The villages of Motskara, Khizhigho, Khiilakh lie in ruins. Time has not spared those military and residential towers that people have not destroyed. Their ruins look lifelessly and dispassionately at the world around them. ______________________________________________________________ All Chechen taipas were part of larger socio-economic and military-political formations, which were called tukhum. There were nine Tukkhums: Akkhii, Malkhii, Nokhchmakhkhoi, T1erloy, Ch1antiy, Ch1ebarloy, Sharoy, Shuotoy, Ershtoy. Together they make up the Chechen people. The G1alg1ai (Ingush) also belonged to such tukhums, but later split off as a separate people. Chechen tukhum is a union of a certain group of types that are not related to each other by blood, but have united into a higher association to jointly solve common problems - protection from enemy attack and economic exchange. Tukkhum occupied a certain territory, which consisted of the area actually inhabited by it, as well as the surrounding area, where the taips that were part of Tukkhum were engaged in hunting, cattle breeding and agriculture. Each Tukkhum spoke a specific dialect of the same Vainakh language. The Chechen tukhum, unlike the taipa, did not have an official head, nor did it have its own military leader (byacha). Thus, the tukhum was not so much a governing body as a social organization, while the teip was a necessary and logical stage of progress in the development of the idea of ​​management. But the emergence of a union of teips (tukhums) also represented undoubted progress taking place on the same territory as a steady process of the emergence of a nation. The advisory body of the tukhum was the Council of Elders, which consisted of representatives of all types included in the given tukhum on equal terms. The Tukkhum Council was convened when necessary to resolve inter-type disputes and disagreements, to protect the interests of both individual types and their own Tukkhum. Then came the Council of the Country, in which, along with the clan nobility, the servants of the deities - the priests - set the tone. The Tukkhum Council had the right to declare war, make peace, negotiate with the help of its own and other people's ambassadors, enter into alliances and break them. Tukhum, as the term itself shows, is not a consanguineous union, but only a brotherhood. It is a natural formation that grew out of the clan organization. This is a union and (or) association of several teips of the same tribe, formed for certain purposes. But in Chechnya there are also unions of consanguineous clans, formed by segmentation of one initial clan, such as the Chanti people or the Terloev people. The Teloyevites include such consanguineous groups that call themselves gars or clans, such as Boshni, B1avloy, Zherakhoy, Khenakhoy, Mats1arkhoy, Oshny, Sanakhoy, Shundii, Eltpkhayrkhoy, Nik1aroy. Of the one hundred and 135 taips that made up Chechen society in the middle of the 19th century, three quarters were united in nine phratries (unions) as follows. Tukkhum Akhii included such taips as Barchakhoy, Zhevoy, Z1ogoy, Nokkhoy, Pkharchoi, Pkharchakhoy and Vapii, who occupied mainly the region of eastern Chechnya on the border with Dagestan. Malkhiya included: B1asty, B1enasthoy, Italchhoy, Kamalhoy, Khorathoy. K1eganhoy. Meshiy, Sakankhoy, Terathoy, Ch1arkhoy, Erkhoy and 1amloy, who occupied the southwestern region of Chechnya on the border with Ingushetia. Nokhchmakhkhoy united such large types as Belg1toy. Benoy, Biltoy, Gendergnoy, G1ordaloy, Guna, Zandakhoy, Ikh1iroy, Ishkhoy, Kurchaloy, Sesanhoy, Chermoy, Ts1entaroy, Charta, Eg1ashbatoy, Enakhala, Enganay, Shuona, Yalkhay and 1ilaroy, who occupied mainly the eastern and northeastern, and partially also the central regions of Chechnya. Ch1ebarloy included: Dai, Makazhoy, Sadoy. Sandahoy, Sikkhoy and Sirkhoy. Sharoy included: Kinkhoy, Rigahoy, Khikhoy. Khoy, Khyakmadoy, Shikaroy. The types that were part of Ch1eberloy and Sharoy occupied southeastern Chechnya along the Shara-Argun River. Shuotoy included: Varandoy, Vashandaroy, G1attoy, Keloy, Marsha, Nizhaloy, Nihaloy, Phyamtoy, Sattoy, Khyakkoy, who occupied central Chechnya in the valley of the Chanty-Argun River. Ershthoy included the following types: Galoy, G1andaloy, G1archoy. Merzhoy. Muzhakhoi and Ts1echoi, who lived in the west of Chechnya, in the valley of the Lower Martan (Fortangi) river. And all the other types of Chechens in this area united into consanguineous unions. So, for example, Borzoi, Bug1aroy. Hildekhary, Do'rakhoy, Khuokkhadoy, Khyarachoy and Tumsoy, who lived in the upper reaches of the Chanty-Argun River, united in the Ch1antiy union, and such as Nikaroy, Oshny, Shundii, Eltpkhyarkhoy and others were part of Terloy. There were also types in Chechnya that were not part of the tukhums and lived independently, such as Zurzakhoy, M1aistoy, Peshkhoy, Sadoy. Having agreed among themselves to peacefully resolve emerging contradictions and help each other in defense from the enemy, the taipas united into tukhums, primarily on territorial grounds. Some types, such as Benoi and Tsentaroi, grew so large that they even forgot about their original blood relationship. Marriages between Benoevites and Tsentaroevites have long become commonplace. As it increased, one or another type was divided into several clans, and the Gars of the previous clan in this case became independent clans, and the original clan continued to exist as a tukhum - a union of clans. The type is considered the basic cell from which any Chechen calculates his initial consanguinity and paternal connections. When Chechens want to emphasize the lack of kinship of a person, they usually say: “Tsu stegan tayp a, tukkhum a dats” (This person has no clan or tribe). The Chechen type is also a group of people or families who grew up on the basis of production relations. Its members, enjoying the same personal rights, are related to each other by blood on the paternal side. Freedom, equality and brotherhood, although they were not formulated by anyone, here also constituted the main principle of the taipa - the basis of the entire organization of Chechen society. But the Chechen type after the 16th century was no longer an archaic family. This period was the period of its decline, the manifestation of its internal contradictions, the decomposition of previously seemingly unshakable forms arising from the original legal principles of typeism, which previously cemented the type system and artificially restrained its decomposition. The old forms and type principles came into conflict with the social and property changes that were growing within individual type cells. There was an important external reason that kept the “old law” in force and “harmonized” it with new changes. Namely: the small Chechen taips lived surrounded by stronger neighbors (Georgians, Kabardians, Kumyks) whose feudal nobility constantly encroached on their freedom. This external factor and the lack of established forms of statehood among the Chechens greatly influenced the unity of the types in the face of external danger. So, in the Chechen concept, a type is a patriarchal, exogamous group of people descended from one common ancestor. There are four known terms that served to designate lateral branches, segmented from the type, and have been used by the Chechens since time immemorial to designate large related groups that represent a certain social, territorial and, above all, consanguineous unity: var, gar, neky, ts1a. Only the first of them - var - is polysemantic, and, along with other terms, means a consanguineous group of people, and more accurately defines the concept of genus - type. As noted above, there were about 135 types in Chechnya. More than 20 of them were not indigenous, formed from representatives of other peoples, but they had long been firmly established in Chechen society. Some of them went to the Vainakh country on their own, in search of convenient lands, while others were brought here by prevailing historical circumstances. They were forced to adopt a foreign language, customs and beliefs and, of course, had no type mountains, no communal lands, no stone crypts. But, following the example of the aborigines of this region, they rallied into blood relations, provided assistance to each other, and declared blood feud for the murder of their own. It should be noted that the reverse process also occurred. For example, such Ingush surnames as Akhrievs, Lyanovs, Borovs come from the Chechen family of Dyshnits. The Dartsygovs, Buzurtanovs and Khautievs are from the Terloevites. In the 17th century, a type was a collection of related groups descended from one ancestor and subordinate to each other in accordance with the division into direct and lateral lines of kinship. A Chechen gar is a group of families, large or small, formed as a result of the expansion and segmentation of a patriarchal-type community, preserving economic, social and ideological unity in one form or another and bearing a common name formed on the own name of the head of the divided family. As it decomposed, the type split into two or more parts - gars, and each of these gars over time constituted an independent type. To confirm their belonging to the aborigines of Chechnya, every Chechen had to remember the names of at least 12 names of their direct ancestors. But, having named the mythical name of his first ancestor (the founder of the type) Ch1inho or T1erlo, he involuntarily omitted the unknown many names of the persons following him and called his real closest ancestor, who, at best, was the head of a certain one. Elders and leaders did not always have inaccessible castles and did not decorate their trips with family coats of arms. They didn't prance around in shining armor or fight in romantic tournaments. Imitating traditional democracy in society, they were no different from peaceful peasants: they led flocks of sheep through the mountains, plowed and sowed themselves. But the high concepts of honor, equality and brotherhood between all members of the taipa community moved to a new stage on the aura of the former purity and nobility in a modernized form. Formally, even now, the elders continued to praise high honor and nobility, and talk about equality and brotherhood. Basically, the Vainakhs were very wary and sensitive to any attempts to encroach on the emergence of feudal power and, through joint efforts, completely stopped them. This is evidenced by the richest folklore material and the custom of Baital Vaikhar (dispossession), which existed among the Chechens and was very rarely found among other peoples. And yet, the process of decomposition of the type community can be clearly traced back to the late Middle Ages (XIII-XIV centuries). The economic basis of the taipa was agriculture, cattle breeding, and hunting. Cattle was the basis that determined the specific features of the Chechen teip of that period. Fields and estates were also an important part of the taipa property. Chechens have been engaged in agriculture since ancient times. Even at the beginning of the 17th century, the Kachkalykovsky Chechens had rich vineyards, sowed wheat, millet, barley, and later began to cultivate corn. Maysty, and in general the Middle Argun region of Chechnya, was famous for its excellent doctors who not only treated wounds well, but also performed organ amputation and even craniotomy. Long before the Russians appeared in the Caucasus, they knew about smallpox vaccinations. The Maystinians were also famous as skilled builders of residential and military towers. In addition, they were famous as experts in adat - type law. It was here, in Maisty, which, due to its geographical location, was well protected from enemy attacks, that the elders of the taipas gathered for meetings to discuss adat-tip issues. Chechen ethnographer Umalat Laudaev wrote about this in the 19th century: “... The elders of all the surrounding families began to gather for a meeting on ending the unrest in the country. At the council they determined what retribution should be for various crimes. The old people returned home, verbally conveyed the decrees and forced them to swear and sacredly fulfill them.” From such definitions, on such councils, the Chechens formed adat - law. The place where issues of general Chechen adat were still discussed was Mount Khetash-Korta, near the village of Tsentaroy. But that was much later. Adat is customary law created on the basis of the economy and life of settled agricultural and pastoral tribes. Adat addresses issues directly related to everyday life. This includes criminal, family and inheritance issues. Thus, a taip is characterized by the rights, privileges and responsibilities granted and imposed on its members and corresponding collectively to the legal institution of taipism. There are 23 basic socially binding principles established by the legal institution of typeism for its relatives and societies: 1. Unity and inviolability of type relations for each relative of the type; 2. The right to communal land ownership; 3. Declaration of blood feud by the entire taipa against another taipa for the murder and public discredit of members of a given taipa; 4. Unconditional prohibition of marriage between members of the same type; 5. Collective mutual assistance; 6. General mourning; 7. Election of the leader of the type; 8. United Council of Elders; 9. Choice of leader (byachi) in case of war; 10. Election of the Council of Elders, regardless of property qualifications; 11. Openness of meetings of the Council of Elders; 12. Equal rights for all members of the Council of Elders; 13. The right of a type to remove its representatives; 14. Women's rights were protected by their male relatives; 15. The right to adopt strangers - acceptance into the taipa; 16. Transfer of the property of the deceased to members of the taipa; 17. Each type has its own specific name, coming from its ancestor; 18. Type has its own specific territory and its own ancestral mountain; 19. A type belongs to a family tower or other natural or artificial structure convenient for defense, such as a fortress, cave or impregnable rock; 20. Type in the past had its own deity; 21. Type had its own specific holidays, its own characteristics in rituals, customs and habits; 22. Type had a separate family cemetery; 23. Typical hospitality was mandatory. The institution of typism underwent radical changes in Soviet times. Not only the targeted efforts to combat typism directly under the slogans of fighting the remnants of the past had an impact, but also the changing socio-economic conditions. Industrial enterprises appear in the republic, cities arise - Grozny, Gudermes, Argun, Malgobek, Urus-Martan, Shali, large workers' settlements - Karabulak, Chiri-Yurt, Novogrozny, Garagorsk, etc. Residents are a mixed population, and there are no typological differences there was no question here. Typical affiliation was remembered here as exotic, as long ago and irretrievably gone. They remembered about type accessories only after the collapse of the USSR and the establishment of lawlessness in the republic, when everyone tried to protect themselves. Since 1990, in the Chechen Republic, representatives of many types began to convene their congresses, create informal public governance structures, and create clan (type) funds. This division of the people had extremely negative consequences for the formation of republican authorities, because the nomination took place not on the basis of competence and business qualities, but on the basis of type affiliation. Only a strong central government is capable of restoring law and order in the republic and providing the people with appropriate representation in various government bodies.

Traditionally, among the Chechens, the largest unit is considered to be the tukhum - a union of tribes consisting of teips. Chechens consider teips to be “pure” if they contain neither Dagestanis nor Ingush. Today we will briefly tell you about the most important of them.

Aleroy- “pure” teip, to which Aslan Maskhadov belonged. The Alerois mainly live in the eastern part of Chechnya and occupy part of Dagestan. After being allowed to return to their homeland in 1957, the Aleroites were able to repopulate their lands in Dagestan with great difficulty.

Beltoy- a large “pure” teip living in the East of Chechnya in the Nozhayurt region. Benoy is one of the largest “clean” teips in Chechnya, Kadyrov belongs to it. Approximately 1/3 of all ethnic Chechens belong to it. It is settled throughout the republic and is divided into 9 large clans: Jobi-nekye, Uonzhbi-nekye, Asti-nekye, Ati-nekye, Chupal-nekye, Ochi-nekye, Devshi-nekye, Edi-nekye and Gurzh-makhkahoy. It is believed that it was the Benoevites who expelled the Kabardian and Dagestan princes, after which they laid the foundations for the mountain democracy of the Chechens.

Varanda- a “pure” mountain teip, whose representatives resisted the adoption of Islam for quite a long time. This teip is traditional; it has preserved many ancient pagan customs.

Gendargenoi- “pure” lowland teip, one of whose representatives is Doku Zavgaev. It is believed that in ancient times the Gendargenoi lived in the historical center of Nokhchiymokhka in the basins of the Aksaya, Michiga rivers and on the lands along the Terek, and then settled throughout Chechnya. In Nokhchiymokhka there was a pre-Islamic religious center of the Chechens Nashkha, where councils of the teip confederation were held.

Deshni- “pure mountain” teip, whose representatives live in the southeast of Chechnya and Ingushetia. The Deshni teip is considered aristocratic.

Zumsoy- a mountain teip, whose representatives most actively resisted Soviet power and suffered more than others from repression.

Guna- a lowland teip that had family ties with the Terek Cossacks. The Gunoi people were the last of the teips to convert to Islam and always maintained good relations with the Russians.

Kalhoy- mountain Chechen Zelimkhan Yandarbiev, who has family ties with the Ingush and Ossetians.

Nashkhoy- a “pure” teip living in the legendary ancestral home of the Chechens Nashkho.

Turloy- teip settled in the upper reaches of the Argun. According to legend, in ancient times the Terloians were a priestly teip.

Kharachoy- teip of Ruslan Khasbulatov, which traditionally maintains strong ties with Russia.

Contoroy- the second largest and most influential teip after Benoy. The Tsontoroi live mainly in the east of Chechnya.

Charta- a teip of peacemakers and mediators, whose representatives do not participate in wars. It is believed that this tape is of Jewish origin.

Elistanzhi- tape of Sheikh Mansur. Representatives of this teip moved from the village of Khattuni, Vedeno district, to Aldy near modern Grozny.

Engenoy- teip from which Chechen sheikhs come. Engenois live throughout Chechnya.

Ersena- an aristocratic lowland teip living in the Shali and Gudermes regions.

Yalhoroi- teip of Dzhokhar Dudayev, considered related to the Ingush, in particular, teip of Aushev. This teip includes a territorial sub-ethnic group of Myalkhistians, who after 1991 occupied key positions in Ichkeria. Settled high in the mountains in the Myalkhist area between the upper reaches of the Argun and Meshekhi.

It is no longer possible to establish the exact time when the teip system began to form in Chechen society, but it is known that by the middle of the 18th century, the Chechens (Nokhchi), with the addition of the Ingush to them, emerged as an ethnic group. Before this time, the formation of a special kind of tribal military-economic unions - teips - had already taken place.

How tapes appeared

As the legend says, the ancestors of the Chechens had a bronze cauldron on which the names of the original 20 teips were engraved (Benoy, Sesankhoy Ilyesi-nekye, Yubak-Nekye, Mllinekye, Tsentoroi and others), those who were not part of these teips, melted this cauldron.

Almost all Chechen teips are united into larger entities - tukhums. In the middle of the 19th century, 135 Chechen teips were already united into nine tukhums.
Today there are more teips, they are divided into mountain (about 100) and plain (about 70). Within themselves, teips are also divided into “gars” (branches) and “nekyi” - surnames.

Each teip is headed by a council of elders, which is formed from the most respected and experienced Chechen representatives of the teip. Also, each teip has its own military leader, called byachcha.

Names and purity of tapes

The names of Chechen teips could be formed both from the area where the clan lived, and from the activities that were primarily carried out in it. Examples of the first word formation include the names of teips Kharachoy (“cave”), or Sharoy (“glacier”). The second type of word formation can include, for example, teip Peshkhoi (“stove makers”), Khoy (“guards”) or Deshni (“goldsmiths”).

There is also a conditional division of tapes into “pure” and “mixed”. “Pure” Chechen teips are called “nokhchmakkha”; they were formed from only Chechens. Mixed teips, as can be understood by the name, were formed not only from Chechens, they also included other blood. Tape Gunoy, for example, has kinship with the Terek Cossacks, tap Kharachoi with the Circassians, tap Dzumsoy with Georgians, tap Arsala with Russians.

Start of tapes

Teip is a tribal union, and this is where personality formation occurs. The moral postulates of teips are also called principles. There are 23 of them in total. We will name only the first 10.

The first principle is the unity and inviolability of teip customs for each member of the teip, as well as his relatives.

The second principle presupposes the right to communal land ownership.

The third principle is blood revenge for the murder of a representative of one’s teip.

The fourth principle is the prohibition of marriage between members of the same teip.

The fifth principle implies any assistance to a representative of your teip if necessary.

Sixth principle: in the event of the death of one of the members of the teip, mourning is declared, and participation in holidays and entertainment events is prohibited for a certain period.

Seventh principle: the council of elders plays a decisive role in managing the teip.
Eighth principle: the choice of the leader of the teip, or military leader, is not made on the basis of heredity.

Ninth rule: the representative body of the leipa is the council of elders (teipanan khel).

The tenth principle implies that the council of elders is formed from the wisest and most respected elderly people without an age limit. Formally, the position of a member of the council of elders was for life, but there were also cases of a representative being removed from his position.

Blood feud

As we have already said, the third principle of the teip system in Chechnya is blood feud (in Chechen “chir”) for any representative of one’s clan. This custom has deep roots in Vainakh society. Historian U. Laudaev wrote: “In the event of a murder, the whole family or teip fled to another place of residence. Blood (qi) passed from generation to generation. Initially, the blood spread to the entire family; with the multiplication of family members, the blood passed to “gar”, and later time for one family."

After the murder of a representative of the teip, a council of elders met. It was there that the decision to take revenge was made. The killer's tape also gathered its own council, which was looking for ways to reconcile with the deceased's tape. If the teips did not come to an agreed solution to the issue, then a council was assembled from representatives of neutral teips, at which the terms of the truce were worked out. If the injured party refused the truce, then at its council it was decided who exactly the blood feud would apply to.

The murder of a bloodline must be carried out with cold steel or firearms, and it is strictly forbidden to commit it from the back, without warning. It is also prohibited to kill a bloodline during the month of Ramadan and on holidays, in a crowded place or at someone’s home.

Decomposition of the teip system

Most researchers say that today the teip system of Chechnya is in the process of decay. Some of the largest teips, such as Benoy and Tsentaroy, grew so large that they forgot about their original blood relationship, which is why marriages between Tsentoroevites and Benoyevians are not something extraordinary today.

This is due to the fact that, as it grows, the teip is gradually divided into several genera, and the taras of the previous kind become independent genera with this development, and the original genus already exists as a tukhum.

Chechens still remember those times when each representative of the teip knew at least 20 of his direct ancestors. Today's surveys among Chechen youth show that only half can answer the question about belonging to a teip and whether a person knows his direct ancestors.

This trend cannot but cause concern, since kinship plays a very important role in Chechen society. When a Chechen wants to emphasize the lack of kinship in another person, he says: “Tsu stegan taipa a, tukhum a dats,” which translates into Russian as “This person has neither clan nor tribe.”