Қороғлы дастаны: Түрік халықтарының батырлық жырлары

Heroic epic poem of the Turkic peoples

The Epic of Koroghlu (; Köroğlu destanı; ; ) is a heroic legend prominent in the oral traditions of the Turkic peoples, mainly the Oghuz Turks. The legend typically describes a hero who seeks to avenge a wrong. It was often put to music and played at sporting events as an inspiration to the competing athletes. Koroghlu is the main hero of epic with the same name in Azerbaijani, Turkmen and Turkish as well as some other Turkic languages. The epic tells about the life and heroic deeds of Koroghlu as a hero of the people who struggled against unjust rulers. The epic combines the occasional romance with Robin Hood like chivalry. Due to the migration in the Middle Ages of large groups of Oghuz Turks within Central Asia, South Caucasus and Asia Minor, and their subsequent assimilation with other ethnic groups, the Epic of Koroghlu spread widely in these geographical regions leading to emergence of its Turkmen, Kazakh, Uzbek, Tajik, Azerbaijani, Turkish, Crimean Tatar, Georgian, Kurdish, and Armenian versions. The story has been told for many generations by the "bagshy" narrators of Turkmenistan, fighter Ashik bards of Azerbaijan and Turkey, and has been written down mostly in the 18th century.

Koroghlu is a semi mystical hero and bard among the Turkic people who is thought to have lived in 16th century. The name of "Koroghlu" means "the son of the blind", "the son of ember" or "the son of the clay" (the clay refers to death) in Turkic languages. His real name was Rövşən in Azerbaijani, Ruşen Ali in Turkish or Röwşen Aly in Turkmen, which was a loanword from Persian رُوشن Rowšan meaning light or bright.

A theme common to nearly all versions is that of the hero — Köroğlu, literally "son of the blind man", or more directly translated as 'Blindson' (analogous with the English surname Richardson, sons of Richard), defending his clan or tribe against threats from outside. In many of the versions, Köroğlu earns his name from the wrongful blinding of his father, an act for which the son takes his revenge and which initiates his series of adventures. He is portrayed as a bandit and an ozan. A number of songs and melodies attributed to Köroğlu survives in the folk tradition. The most common version of the tale describes Köroğlu destanı as Rushen Ali, the son of the stableman Koca Yusuf lives in Dörtdivan under the service of the Bey of Bolu. One day, Yusuf comes across a filly which, to his trained eye, is an animal that will turn into a fine beast if well fed. Bey wants to give good fillies to the Sultan as a present to repair their worsening relationship. However the Bey does not know enough about horses to appreciate the thin, famished animal that is presented to him. Being a man of foul and easily provoked temper, he suspects that he is being mocked and orders the poor worker to be blinded. His son, therefore, gains his nickname and harbors an ever increasing hatred towards the Bey of Bolu in his heart as he grows up. The mare, which he names Kırat (kır at means literally "gray horse"; the word kırat can also mean "carat", "quality"), grows up with him and indeed turns into an animal of legendary stature and strength. One day, Hızır shows himself to Yusuf in a dream and tells him that soon, the waters of the river Aras will flow briefly as a kind of thick foam and whoever drinks that foam will be cured of whatever physical problems that may be ailing him, including blindness and aging. Yusuf goes to the shore of the river with his son, but his son drinks the foam before he does. As this miracle can give everlasting health and youth to only one man, Yusuf loses his chance to see again; and dies a few days later, ordering his son to avenge him. In some versions of the story, neither Yusuf nor his son can drink from the foam. Yusuf is warned by Hızır just before the phenomenon occurs, but being an old and blind man, he cannot reach the river in time. Köroğlu is by the river when the foam starts flowing, but, as he is ignorant of the significance of the event, he does not drink from the river. Instead, his horse Kırat does and becomes immortal. After his father's death, Köroğlu takes up arms against the Bey. As he has only a few followers, he does not engage the army of Bolu directly and uses guerrilla tactics instead. He raids and plunders his former master's property, and eludes his would be captors by staying on the move and fleeing to distant lands whenever his enemy organises a large scale campaign to capture him. Before he succeeds, however, the knowledge of firearms is carried by merchants to Anatolia. Even the simple guns of the time are sufficient to change the ways of the warriors forever: The balance of power is upset by the "holed iron", as Köroğlu calls the tool when he first sees one, and the Beys of Northern Anatolia engage in brutal warfare with each other. The fighting goes on and on, with no end in sight. Köroğlu realizes that even if he succeeds in bringing down the Bey of Bolu, he won't be able to bring back the old, chivalric world that he was born into. The warrior poet disbands his followers and fades into obscurity, leaving only these lines behind:

A typical occasion where one might hear Köroğlu melodies is at a traditional wrestling competition such as Kirkpinar. A team of zurna and davul players play continually as the wrestlers struggle with each other. In 1967, Yaşar Kemal successfully collected this legend in his epic novel Üç Anadolu Efsanesi, which stands as the most outstanding Köroğlu reference in contemporary literature.

Gurughli (also known as Gurghuli) is the titular character of the epic cycle from Central Asia. The cycle includes up to fifty segments which are still performed by the peoples of Turkestan in Tajik as well as Turkic languages. Gurughli, whose name means "born of the grave", is the immaculately conceived child of the sister of Ahmadkhan (a Turkistan khan). She dies during pregnancy, and the child is born while the mother is already buried and survives on the milk of one of the mares from Ahmadkhan's herd, until he is found and named by shepherds. The other hero in the tales is his adopted son Ahwazkhan, child of a fairy mother. His tales are told in all night storytelling sessions in free verse. The background presumed known by the audience, they start without much introduction and are accompanied by music from a two stringed lute, the dombra. Later brought into line with Islam, the stories originate from a time before Islam reached the area but became a "vehicle for the transmission of religious and moral instruction, especially targeted at the masses of nonliterate Muslims".

In Uzbek bakhshi tradition ("bakhshi" is a narrator of dastans or epic, usually, playing his dumbira, two string musical instrument), the history and interpretation of Köroğlu's name are different from Turkish one. "Go‘ro‘g‘li" in Uzbek just like in Turkmen means "the son of grave". As it is told, Gorogli's mother dies while being in the last months of pregnancy. However, people bury her with Gorogli inside. After some time a local shepherd notices the number of sheep is decreasing. He spies after his sheep and finds a small boy, at the age of 3 4 eating one of sheep. When he tries catch the boy, he escapes and hides in a grave. As the story narrates later he will fight against giants and kill them. It is said Gorogli had a horse called "G`irot". The capital of Gorogli's state was in legendary Chambil.

In December 2015, the Turkmen epic art of Görogly was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Görogly is commonly used in naming streets and districts in Turkmenistan, including Görogly köçesi in Ashgabat. It is also the name of a town near Dashoguz.

Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov has created an opera by this name, using the Ashik stories and masterfully combined some Ashik music with this major classical work. See The Opera of Koroglu.