Alpomish
Alpomish, born Hakimbek, is the hero of the Uzbek dastan Alpomish, the national heroic epic of the Qungirot tribes performed by baxshi bards. Granted to the previously childless chieftain Boybori through prayer at a saint's shrine, he grows into a champion of superhuman strength. The epic falls into two movements: a bride-winning expedition, in which he crosses into Kalmyk country to claim his betrothed cousin Barchin by triumphing in the suitor-trials, and a return story, in which he is imprisoned for seven years, escapes, and overthrows the usurper Ultontoz to restore order to his people. Though endowed with heroic, near-miraculous prowess, Alpomish is figured as a mortal man of the Qungirot, and the epic preserves an archaic Turko-Mongol heroic world beneath its later Islamic coloring.
Parentage
- paternal: Boybori
Domains
- heroism
- war combat
Powers
- draw the bow no other man can bend
- survive seven years in the Zangar pit
Epithets
- Qo'ng'irot elining sardori — chieftain of the Qungirot peopleReichl, Karl. Das usbekische Heldenepos Alpomish. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001. (primary)
Relations
- spouse: BarchinReichl, Karl. Das usbekische Heldenepos Alpomish. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001. (primary)
- companion: QorajonThe Kalmyk pahlavan becomes Alpomish's sworn blood-brother.Reichl, Karl. Das usbekische Heldenepos Alpomish. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001. (primary)
- sibling: UltontozHalf-brothers by their common father Boybori.Paksoy, H. B. Alpamysh: Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule. Hartford, CT: AACAR, 1989. (secondary)
- enemy: UltontozPaksoy, H. B. Alpamysh: Central Asian Identity under Russian Rule. Hartford, CT: AACAR, 1989. (secondary)
- ally: QorajonReichl, Karl. Turkic Oral Epic Poetry. New York: Garland, 1992. (secondary)
Sources
- Alpomish is the central heroic protagonist of the Uzbek dastan of the same name, the pre-eminent oral epic of the Qungirot Uzbeks.: Reichl, Karl. Das usbekische Heldenepos Alpomish: Einführung, Text, Übersetzung. Turcologica 48. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2001. (primary); Reichl, Karl. Turkic Oral Epic Poetry: Traditions, Forms, Poetic Structure. New York: Garland, 1992. (secondary)