Ancient turkic flood mythical legends

Abstract

The paper surveys flood myths of Turkic people. Even though, the flood myths were the object of research by many scholars, Turkic myths on this theme are left with no consideration. The first time most Kazakh myths related to deluge were compiled together and analyzed from new cultural perspective. The authors compare different versions of flood myths of Kazakh people and analyses their genesis. Kazakh myths are divided into two stages: before Islam and after Islam. In this article myths before Islam are analyzed in relation to the ancient Aryan civilization and compared to myths in Zoroastrianism. In the result of the analysis it was revealed that Kazakh myth on deluge has its own uniqueness and specific plot development. Authors believe that folkloric and cultural analysis of this topic would be one of the initial steps for further analysis in this direction and will help to preserve Kazakh oral literature on deluge. Noteworthy features of these myths include geographical names specific to the entire Turkic and Kazakh people.
Key words: Qazighurt, Ararat, Noah’s flood, Prophet Noah, Islam, Aryans, Zoroastrianism.