Kojoke Mambetaliev, 91 years old, Talas province.
Kyrgyz people divide their tribes into two wings: left and right. We are descendants of Dolon biy. There were 11 generations before Dolon biy and the last one of them was Kyrgyzbaiy. When Kyrgyzbaiy came to the Dolon pass, his son was born and was named Dolon, after the name of his birthplace. Dolon’s wife gave birth to twins. She said that one of them was born from her right kidney, and that is why he was given the name Ong (right); the other was born from her left kidney, and that is why he was named Sol (left). Ong had three children: a daughter Naali and two sons Adigine and Tagai. Adigine had four sons: Solto, Sarbagysh, Sayak, and Bugu. Dolon biy’s eldest son was Karatal. Karatal had two children: Kushchu and Saruu. Kushchu had two sons: Karatal and Karanai. Karatal had a son, named Jakyp. Jakyp had three sons: Jantai, Eltai and Kudaimende. Jantai’s son was Kaimazar, and we are the descendants of Kaimazar. Eltai’s descendants are people called Kyrgyz, who live now in Karakol. People called Sabatar are descendants of Kudaimen. So we came from those three sons and like that our descendants spread like branches from a tree. Karanai had two sons: Janseyit and Baiseyit. Janseyit had children, such as Karakushchu, Sarykushchu, Kokkushchu and Tazakushchu. Some of Baiseyit’s descendants were people like Sakaldy, Cheine, Chiljuut and Bochu. We also have a big tribe called Jetigen. In our history, the following is said about Jetigen people. They were included in neither Kushchu nor Saruu, and were a big group of people who were in-between. They are in the south, north, west and east. Their distant ancestor was a Uighur man named Jusup. He was rich and married a woman named Kyzylkyz, the daughter of Hantursun. They had two sons, and many people descended from those two sons. For example, if we turn to the history of Talas people, people in the lower land are called Saruu. However, I cannot say much about those people in detail.
There were three boys, Kaimazar, Sabatar and Kyrjy. Kaimazar is our grandfather. His real name is Kaiyp nazar, but people called him Kaimazar. He was born from the youngest wife. She gave birth to him and left him in a field. Goats found and raised the baby. Later when we grew up his own people found him and named him Kaiyp nazar. Kaimazar had three sons: Toktobolot, Toktokuchuk and Kenje. There are people called Sokurboru, who were the descendants of Toktokuchuk. They used to form a separate kolkhoz, a separate village soviet. Another son of Toktokuchuk was Aksakboru. The reason they are called Sokurboru and Aksakboru is that one of them was lame, and the other was blind. Once during wartime they slaughtered and ate a widow’s cow. Boru is a wolf. They ate her cow like wolves, so she called them wolves. Since then they were called Aksakboru and Sokurboru. The other son of Toktokuchuk was Kenje, and he had a son named Kozubek. Kozubek had two sons: Kangeldi and Tileke. There is a tribe in Engels called Sasykbai – they are the descendants of Kangeldi. There is Jamankyz Burgo, a real hero named Burgo, and he was born from him. Tileke had two sons, named Tazabek and Sydyk. They also used to form a big kolkhoz. As for the descendants of Kyrjy, they live in the east, closer to Karakol.
Actually, Kushchu and Saruu had one father. In ancient times, people fought a lot. Those two siblings could not live in peace and that is why they were divided into Kushchu and Saruu. Their separation was just strengthened and exaggerated by the younger generations. The descendants of Kushchu would say to the descendants of Saruu: “You are a yellow poison, you were spread from poison”. But in reality they all had common ancestors.
Kyrgyz people are descended from Dolon biy
Kyrgyz people are descended from Dolon biy. There were 11 generations before Dolon biy. All Kyrgyz people came from the twelfth father. Places, people and rivers were all named after him. For example, there is a river in Suusamyr and it is called Suusamyr river. There is a river in Talas and it is called the Talas river. During the time of Dolon biy places and people got their names. Before that we used to live a savage life.