On Nauryzbai-batyr

Translation of Adam’s post (RUS)

There is a joke about a schoolboy who doesn’t know who Nauryzbai-batyr is. His father explains that it’s KGB chief Dzerzhinsky. To fill the gap in our memories:

Little is known about the life of Nauryzbai-batyr, but legends remain of his heroic deeds. His father Kuttymbet had five sons and they were a family of brave warriors. Three of Nauryzbai-batyr’s brothers were killed while fighting foreign invaders. At the age of 24, he was elected bas batyr and took command of an army of many thousand. After crushing the Dzhungars, he turned to diplomatic work. He was highly esteemed and respected by the great Abylai-khan.

When, in 1742, a Russian officer named Karl Miller passed through Semirechie on a diplomatic mission to Dzhungaria, he met with Nauryzbai several times. Luckily, we still have the diplomat’s travel notes, in which he describes his impressions from these meetings, painting Batyr as an intelligent, perspicacious and amiable person.