Zengi Baba

In Turkic mythology, each animal species had its own patron spirit. Each patron, as well as the sky god Tengri , was offered prayers and requests to multiply and protect the herds, since cattle were the main abundance for nomads ^[2] . After Islam spread among the Turkic peoples, Turkic mythology survived only in remnants, mainly it was supplanted. However, some pagan traditions are preserved in the popular religion . A relic is also such phenomena as the cult of ancestors, the veneration of the wolf, as well as patron spirits. In the process of syncretism, a number of Muslim saints arose who possessed signs of pagan patron spirits, but had all the features of Muslim religious practice ^[3] .
According to the traditional belief of the Kazakhs, animals ( kaz. Tөrt tүlіk - all types of cattle) have five holy patrons- women ( kaz. Women - a saint, ancestor) ^[4] :

• the patron saint of sheep ( kaz. қой kiesі ) - Shopan-ata , from the words shepherd ( kaz. shopan ) and ancestor, the elder ( kaz. ata ) ^[4] ;
• the patron saint of goats ( Kazakh. Yeshkіnің kiesі ) - Shekshek-ata ^[4] ;
• the patron of horses ( kaz. zhylgy kiesі ) - Kambar-ata ^[4] ;
• patron of camels ( kaz. tүyenің kiesі ) - Oysyl-Kara ^[4] ;
• patron saint of cows ( Kaz. siyrdyk kiesі ) - Зеңгі-баба ^[4]

Kazakhs revered Zengi-baba and asked him to save and increase the number of cows ^[5] . A whole cycle of legends dedicated specifically to Zengi-baba was distributed among the Kazakhs. In the traditional beliefs, Zengi Baba is presented as a kind old man. According to legend, "whoever Zengi Baba looks at, he will immediately become a rich man." Traditionally, on the third day after calving, a special dish was cooked from colostrum , water, milk and salt, poured into a sheep’s stomach or intestine and cooked in meat broth. The dish was cut into pieces and handed out to the guests, who were supposed to utter wishes of an abundance of dairy products and a good offspring for livestock during eating. Among Kazakhs in the Omsk region of the Russian Empire, veneration of Zengi Baba was carried out during a special religious rite of calves . The calf was timed to some religious holiday or was carried out on the initiative of one of the clans. A ram was hammered for the rite, the meat of which was cooked, and then distributed to neighbors and relatives. Before the meal, the mullah recited a two-part prayer. The first part, in Arabic , was the standard Muslim prayer. In the second part, which was read in the Turkic language, there was actually an appeal to Zengi-baba asking for the fecundity of livestock ^[1] .

The Uzbeks of the Khorezm oasis Zengi-baba is the patron saint of shepherds . In the valley of the Zeravshan River, shamans used the name Zengi Baba in their rites ^[1] .

Among the Kirghiz, the saint is called Zengi-Ata and is also the patron saint of cattle ^[1] .

In Kasimov Tatars, the spirit was called Zengi Babai . In honor of him and the patron saint of sheep, Chulpan-ebi prepared pancakes from unsalted dough ( tosyz ayma ), always in an odd amount, and buried under a stable ^[1] .

Among the Tara Tatars, Zengi-baba acted as the owner of a farmyard and lived in a stable. To appease him, the Tatars made sacrifices. Usually, the first calf was slaughtered and treated with meat from relatives and the venerable old men of the village ^[1] .

The cult of Zengi-baba or Zangi-ota was formed in the difficult years for ordinary people after the invasion of the Mongols. For merchants, artisans and pastoralists, these are years of pogroms and ruin. According to legend, Zangi-ota was a shepherd, a respected man. He not only grazed and protected the cattle of his fellow tribesmen, but also was a spiritual shepherd ^[6] . His real name was Ai Khoja (Oykhzha) ibn Taj Khoja ibn Mansur (early 12th century - 1258), and Zangi-ata ( Uzbek. Zangi Ota ) was his nickname from the Arabic word Zangi (black) ^[7] . Ethnographer A. Divaev wrote about the existence of Zengi Baba (fifth sheikh of the Yasaviyya Order), who was a student of Suleiman Hakim. According to some reports, Zengi-ata was a descendant of Arystan-baba . In the Tashkent region of Uzbekistan is the mausoleum of Zangiata ^{[6] [7] [8]} .

In the tradition, the Turkmen Zengi Baba was also a righteous shepherd who lived and was buried in northern Turkmenistan . In the area of ​​its alleged burial, the mountain and lake are called Zengibaba ^[9] .

In Siberia, until the 19th century, Zengi Baba was considered a Muslim preacher, a saint. Siberian Tatars call Isker-Astana his burial place. The “Tomb of Zengi Baba” was a place of pilgrimage until 1881, until the monument was destroyed by fire ^[1] .

Over time, these memories faded, and veneration of Zengi Baba became only a cult of the spirit - the patron saint of cattle ^[1] .

The prevalence of the cult in many regions of Central Asia, according to legend, is explained by the fact that part of the life of Zengi Baba was a dervish and traveled a lot. However, most likely, the cult of Ai Khoji, which initially appeared in the XIII-XIV centuries, overlapped with pre-Islamic beliefs and cattle-breeding cults ^[6] .

The famous Kazakh scientist S. Kondybay wrote: “The properties of the pre-Islamic cult are clearly expressed in the image of Zengi-bab, therefore its historicity is most likely the result of a rethinking of the ancient image and cyclization of all images around legendary personalities in the context of the new religion - Islam” ^[8] .

When writing this article, material from the publication Kazakhstan. National Encyclopedia ”(1998-2007), provided by the editors of the“ Kazakh Encyclopedia ”under a Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 Unported license .