Er Targın
Nogai · mortal · Nogai traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Er Targın is the hero of one of the best-loved Nogai heroic epics, sung also among the Kazakhs and Karakalpaks. A batyr forced into exile, he enters the service of a khan, overcomes the enemy's dreaded champion in single combat mounted on his tulpar Tarlan, and wins the maiden Aq-Jünıs. His tale belongs to the great Nogai repertoire of the 'forty batyrs' and celebrates the ideals of loyalty, prowess and horsemanship central to steppe heroic song.
Domains
- war
- horsemanship
Powers
- prevails in single combat against champions
Sources
- Er Targın is the hero of an independent Nogai–Kipchak heroic epic, a lone exiled batyr who defends a khanate and wins his bride, counted among the celebrated Nogai batyrs.: A. I.-M. Sikaliev, Nogayskiy geroicheskiy epos (Cherkessk: KChIGI, 1994) (secondary); V. M. Zhirmunsky, Tyurkskiy geroicheskiy epos (Leningrad: Nauka, 1974) (secondary)