Atalyks and the institute of atalykship in the Kazakh khanate

Abstract

The article analyzes information from historical sources about the atalyks and the Institute of Atalykship in the Kazakh Khanate. The materials of the study were the information of medieval works of Muslim historians, including those not yet put into scientific circulation, published official materials of the 16th-18th centuries, the ambassadorial order of the Russian state, magazines, and official notes of the diplomat A.I. Tevkelev, data from Chinese sources, etc. The author cites information from historical sources indicating the existence of the Institute of Atalykship in the Kazakh Khanate. The author draws attention to the fact that the earliest information about the ataliks is contained in the works of Shibanid and Safavid historiography. The work gives the names of more than ten persons who bore the title "atalyk" in the Kazakh Khanate. Despite the paucity of materials about the institution of Atalykship in the Kazakh Khanate, the author makes some assumptions based on the analogy of the institution of atalism in neighboring countries. During the study, the following preliminary conclusions were made about the atalyks and the Institute of Atalykship in the Kazakh Khanate: In the Kazakh Khanate, as well as in many medieval Turkic-Mongolian states, there was an Institute of Atalykship. The Institute of Atalykship was one of the important state-forming elements in the Kazakh Khanate of the 15-17th centuries. The main function of the atalyk in the Kazakh Khanate, as well as in other Turkic-Mongolian states, was to educate the heirs to the throne. Atalyk, as the most faithful and close to the khan people, performed the most important diplomatic functions. 5. The role of the atalyk underwent a transformation in the Kazakh Khanate. In the early period of the history of the Kazakh state, the status of the atalyk at the khan's court was high. From the end of the 17th century, in connection with the legislative reforms of Tauke Khan, the status of the atalyk significantly decreased and he began to occupy a status in the social hierarchy below the clan elders