“… Murtaza-Ali Ogly”. (Concerning the origin of Chilla and Magomad Murtazalievs)

Museum and private collections contain kindjals and shashkas of 1880-1910’s with the Cyrillic inscription “CHILLA” that are attributed as items crafted by Chilla Murtazaliev’s workshop. In the late 20th century to early 21st century, a number of works on Caucasian arms stated that craftsman Chilla and his younger brother Magomad came from the Stariy Yurt village in the Groznenskiy county of the Terek region. This fact was based on oral sources and has not been critically analysed; however, its reliability is questioned by the author of this article. The research managed to identify documents which indicate that the Murtazalievs were natives of the Unty village in the Gunibskiy county of the Daghestan region.