Kazakh Dastans Based on the Plot of “Innocently Persecuted People”

The article takes as the subject of research several dastans of novelistic content, based on the Eastern plot of «innocently persecuted people». In the course of the work, the dastan “Totinama” of the medieval Persian writer Z. Nakhshabi (Kazakh translation, 1991), the Tatar translation of the Turkish-Ottoman edition of this work, published in Kazan (1904), and one of its variants in the translation of Xinjiangsky Kazakh A. Kayrkhanuly (1987) are compared with dastans of novelistic content, sung by Kazakh poets. In addition to the works of Kazakh scientists, the article, based on the research of scientists from far and near abroad, defines the specific compositional function and features of the development of fairy tales transferred from ancient Indian classical literature and folklore (“Panchatantra”, “Shukasaptati”) in Kazakh fairy tales and novelistic dastans. In scientific article, in addition to the folklore nature of stories from Indian collections, their positive influence on the emergence of Kazakh written literature is proven using examples. In this regard, the author believes that Kazakh poets and storytellers were familiar with Indian stories not only orally, but also through written books and manuscripts. The article comprehensively analyzes the typological features of folklore motifs about “honesty and ingenuity, intelligence and piety of a woman”, which occupy a central place in the plot line of Kazakh dastans and fairy tales such as “Murat Salih and Magripa”, “Markhuma”, “Sapahi”, “Kyzyl Gul”, “Raunak”, “Guldeste”, “Asylbek and Guljikhan” and others.