1. Dagestan –
the Land of Myths
and Legends.
Compiled by E. Yakubov,
Director of the Сity Library in
Khasavyurt.
www.daglegenda.blogspot.com
Translated by M. Nokhov

2.  Many legends and epics are scattered
about the land of Dagestan like gold
seeds and placers of precious stones.
They preserve the people’s
wisdom, their love to home place. They
depict in their particular way the
life, family life, traditions and customs of
our ancestors.

3. Tzada
different heavenly bodies and
meteors. There preserved oaths
to the “Heavens which are above
us”, “to the Land”, “to the
Sun”, “to the Moon”, “to the
Star”, which are sure to be the
relics of the pagan religions as
according to the canons of Islam
In spite of centuries-old influence of one can swear only by the name
ideology and culture of monotheistic of the Allah. Pretty girls were
religions (first Christianity compared with the Sun, the
Moon, the Stars and the Heaven
then, starting from the XVIII century – “As beautiful as the
Islam) there have preserved a lot of Sun”, “Moonfaced”.
pagan characters of the former People believed that the
pantheon in home life and culture of treasure was hidden in the place
the villagers of the mountainous where the ends of the rainbow
village of Tzada which is situated in were. The grown ups sent the
Khoonzakh region. The oldest girls there to look for golden
scissors. Some marks were

4.  If the red color prevailed in the rainbow that meant that the
summer would be droughty, the blue color meant that there
would be heavy rainstorms, the green meant a good harvest.
Up till now people believe that if you set a wish when the
rainbow appears in the sky it will come true. If the rainbow is
spread above somebody’s house all the sins of its inhabitants
will be forgiven.
 “Mother wind” personified the wind for the Tzadies. The
people believed that there was “The Mother wind, a woman
with long flowing hair inside the hurricane, who usually tries to
saddle the windy horse and ride to the sky on it. By the way if
there was a tornado or whirlwind they would also say that it
was a dragon who was going out of the earth and trying to
reach the sky.
 More over they scared the children saying :”Mother wind is
coming. Quickly run home –she is angry”. In spite of the
damage brought by the strong wind they didn’t scold it but
took as God’s prescription. The wind was considered to take
away all misfortunes and troubles.

5. The old women seeing the beginning of the strong wind would
always say “to the good” or “to the happiness”. They
addressed the God with the following words: “Oh, Allah, give
patience to the wind which obeys your will”.
 The lighting was fancied as a flying fire ax. They believed that
they could find a gold ax in the place where the lightning
stroke.
 “The Rainy donkey” was a personified God of Rain who was
usually performed by a masked boy in the custom of calling
the rain. He was decorated with bushes branches in the form
of a hut tied with the rope. He was going from house to house
accompanied by the children and teenagers where the people
poured water on him and gave the accompanying crowd
different kind of cereals. After they visited all the houses in the
center of the village they went to a roads crossing or to the
nearest spring, made a fire and cooked the ritual porridge
from all the cereals they had been given. All the passers by
and the participants of the ritual tasted it. In the evening the

6. Dyurk.
 Many famous scientists and
writers wrote about this cave.
There is a poem devoted to it
written by Dagestan poet
Abumuslim Dzhafarov. The
cave is shrouded in the mist of
mysteries and there are many
legends about it. . Some
legends say that the cave was
the place of living of the
 Worshiping of the mountains ancient people . Other legends
– is a widely spread say that the sword of the first
phenomenon, which derives spreader of Islam in the
Southern Dagestan – Arabian
its roots from pre- military leader Masalama is
monotheistic religions. The still kept there. According to
Tabasarans (nation in the the old residents the people
Caucasus) consider the called “the erellers” lived in it
mountainous cave Dyurk and only godly people could
which is situated near the go there as the others hadn’t
village of Khustil the most been able to come as the

7.  They say that previously the cave consisted of seven living
quarters situated one above another. Up till now only two have
preserved, the rest were filled with the stones during the
earthquakes which are very often there. The floors are covered
with thick layer of carpets and rugs brought by the pilgrims. The
kerosene lamps standing in the corners of the cave illuminate it.
You can get into the other room using a narrow staircase.
According to the local people’s words if you listen attentively
you can hear the roaring of the river flowing beneath the cave.
The cave has got one more peculiarity: sometimes in a calm
weather it starts roaring and the roar is heard in the far away
villages. On hearing it the people say that the cave demands
sacrificing. And they really sacrificed to propitiate the spirit of
the cave.
 Even now the Dyurk is a sacred place for the people not only in
Dagestan but in the neighboring Azerbaijan too. People come
here to pray and ask for recovering of their close people, the
sterile women pray for becoming mothers, etc. During the
disasters – a long drought or heavy rainfalls earthquakes and
hails, people come here and pray in large groups. They perform
the Muslim ceremony, the so called “Zikr”, kill the sacrificial bull
and distribute charity. People bring the carpets, rugs and

8. Bai-Tobe
 The book written in Arabic
language said: “ Once upon a
time there lived two brothers.
The younger brother owned the
land in Bai Tobe and the elder
one in Karanagai steppe. The
young brother’s wife gave birth
to a son. He informed his elder
brother about this happy event.
The elder brother hurried to
 To the East from the village of Dagestan to participate in the
Aksai in Khasavyurt region there is feast. He took
a small hill Bai-Tobe (a rich hill in horses, sheep, and valuable
Turkish languages). The name of things as presents. There was
this hill attracts attention of local a gold cradle for a newly
adventures. The local teacher delivered baby among those
found out that there was a things. But as soon as the
manuscript in the neighboring brother arrived the baby died.
village of Chagarotar in which there He was buried in a gold cradle.
was some information about the That’s why the hill got the name
hill. He visited the owner of the
book but the latter said that he Bai-Tobe”.
would give him the book in  The teacher excavated the hill
exchange for the cow. On hearing from top to bottom. He found

9. Shalbuzdag
 The legend says Shalbus was a
name of Nadirshah’s much
beloved wife, that’s why the
mountain got its name. The
scientists dealing with place-
name study prefer another
version: the word Shalbus stands
in one row with the ancient place
names with the root “Alp, Alb).
 Shalbuzdag is the main natural You can meet it in the name of
place of interest in Dagestan. the ancient Caucasian state of
This is one of the highest Albania, the name of the
mountain picks in the South– mountain Alprus (Elbrus).
east part of the main Caucasian
mountain ridge. It is 4142 meters  In comparison with other highest
higher sea level. There are peaks in Dagestan Shalbuzdag
several versions of the origin of stands by itself, being a lonely
this name. According to one of pyramid crowned with a
them - Shalbuzdag is a Turkish battlement. Thanks to such
word which means Shalbus position Shalbuzdag makes an
mountain. impression of being the highest
mountain peak in the Southern

10.  From the top of the mountain you can see a wonderful
panorama of the Eastern part of the Main Caucasian ridge. In
clear weather one can see the icy caps of
Bazardyuzyu, Shahdag, Bogoss mountain range, Dyulydag
and other peaks. At the bottom of the mountain in the valley of
the Samur river there are numerous mountainous
villages, surrounded by beautiful gardens and in the distance
you can see the blue line of the Caspian Sea.
 The mountain slopes are covered with alpine and subalpine
meadows. There are lots of different beautiful flowers of all
colors here. For example: the blue-bonnets are white here, the
lilies are yellow, the violets are light blue, and the camomiles
are pink. Such flowers as rhododendrons, saxifrages, and
buttercups have bright flowers too.
 The highest mountainous village in Europe Kurush (2560
meters above the sea level) is situated on one of the mountain
slopes.
 Still in ancient times people went on pilgrimage to the
mountain peak. During the last thousand years this pilgrimage

11. Edighe
 The lame Timur had wanted
to get the falcons’ posterity for
a long time and made a secret
agreement with the khan’s
falconer Kutly-kaya, who sold
him secretly one falcon egg.
 Once the both khans went
hunting. Timur’s young falcon
 There is a village of Edighe was much quicker in getting
in a steppe Dagestan. It the prey. Taktamysh, having
bears the name of Nogai understood the reason of his
national hero, the legends of failure, ordered to chase away
whose heroic deeds are Kutly-kaya from his khanate.
spread from one generation  He went to live in thick forests
to another. One of them is but secretly returned to his
the following: The last homeland many years later
powerful khan of the Golden with his son Edighe. The boy
Horde, whose name was grew up strong, clever, and
Taktamysh, was famous for brave.
his hunting falcons, which

12.  Taktamysh gave him the job as a horse-herd, but having
learnt whose son the boy was told his men to kill him. But
luckily Edighe managed to run away from the khan’s palace.
 To escape Taktamysh’s anger Edighe and his nine friends
decided to run to Timur’s khanate. On their way they met Alyp-
batyr with his army that was coming back to their homeland
after their raid on Timur’s territory. They had Timur’s daughter
Akbilek as a captive. Using his strength and ruse Edighe
gained a victory over Alyp –Batyr, set free his army and
having taken the daughter of the lame man went on his way.
Timur was very glad that his daughter returned home and let
Edighe marry her.
 Fifteen years passed. During this period Edighe learnt the art
of waging war, how to rule the khanate, keep a large
house, and brought up his son Nuradin. Once when the boy
won chuck-a-luck game he was insulted by his opponent who
told him: “You play chuck-a-luck very well, but I wonder if you
will be able to revenge Taktamysh -khan upon your father?”
Nuradin told his father Edighe about this conversation. They
began to muster a troop. Timur helped them too.
 And soon they started on their way. When they reached the
Edil (the Volga) river the father and the son got off the horses

13.  The son decided to follow the fugitive, and Edighe returned to his
hometown Sarai which had been ruined and robbed by the enemies
while the khan was away. Edighe punished the offenders, built a
new town, raised a strong army, formed the Nogai Horde – the state
with exactly defined borders.
 Some time passed and Nurudin returned to Sarai and brought
Taktamysh–khan’s head. But evil people caused a quarrel between
the father and the son. Then Edighe left the town and his son
became the ruler of the khanate. It was difficult for the boy to rule the
khanate as he lacked his father’s wisdom and living experience. He
began to look for his father to apologize. Edighe excused the boy bu
refused to come back to Sarai point blank.
 Meanwhile Kadyr-Berdy- the son of the diseased Taktamysh–khan
raised his army and unleashed the war against Nurudin to revenge
upon his father. Using his ruse Kadyr-Berdy killed Nurudin and took
the thrown. But one thought that Edighe was still alive tortured him.
He went to look for him with his army, found him and called him for
an honest battle and they began to fight. Edighe managed to kill his
enemy with the club but he was severely wounded himself.
Takhtamysh’s alliances Baryn-murza and Shirin-murza meanly
attacked the bleeding courageous hero, stabbed their daggers into
the body, killed him and cut off his head.
 This great loss united the Nogai people, with whom even the most

14. Amuzghy
 There was time when
Amuzghy was part of the
medieval state Zerihgeran.
The craftsmen of Amuzghy
drained and hammered the
famous Damask steel from
which they made the blades
for daggers, swords and
 The mountain village of sabers. And the craftsmen
metal craftsmen which is from the neighboring village
difficult of access is of Kubachy mage the
mentioned for the first time in handles and sheath for
the papers in the XII century. them and decorated them
Damask steel daggers and with engravings and cutting.
swords Amuzghy lies in ruins People say that
nowadays and only the Chingiskhan, Tamerlane, N
tourists, the photographers adirshakh, Napoleon, Alexa
and the archeologists nder I, and Imam Shamil
sometimes bother the possessed their blades.

15. Vatzilu
 For a long period of time the
mountain has been a place of
praying to God for the rain, the
sacrificing took place here, the
great peoples’ feasts were
celebrated here.
 The great Russian scientist L.I.
Lavrov thinks that the name of the
mountain is derived from the
 The sacred Luck mountain Ossetia name Uatzille to whom
Vatzilu is situated in the both Lucks and Osetians prayed
during the droughts and other
surroundings of the village unfavorable for the agriculture
Khury. According to the legend events. In it’s turn Uatzula is
only sinless people can pass associated by the scientists with
through a very narrow passage the Saint Ilea who rides the fire
chariot across the sky, and who
between the two rocks situated changed the pagan god Thunderer
very close to each other on the Perunus. But the people’s legends
top of Vatzilu. Sterile woman connect the mountain with the myth
who manage to pass through about the hercules Barhhu, who
the stones on Vatzilu can pray was in love with Perry. Perry asked
him to make a sea near the place
to the God and ask him to give of her living and he decided to do

16. Bakhargan
 This miracle myth tells us about the
supreme God Tzobe and his twin
sons Bakhargan and Modu, who were
immaculately concepted from the
virgin woman. Because of the cruel
envious people’s slander the cruel
gods turned both brothers into rocky
mountains Bakhargan and Modu
, covered with rich flora. After their
mother’s death her heart was buried
 Various mythological characters of in the center of the mountain Modu
the peoples of Dagestan take their and one eye at the foot of it. The
roots in the ancient times and tell other eye was buried at the foot of
us about the connections of the Bakhargan mountain. The tears are
local tribes with nature. Ancient still running from the mother’s eyes –
spirits, and gods possessed one the cold water from the rocky
common relic feature - they mountain and the warm curative
personified the fertility and water from the picturesque mountain
profusion. Rare archaic legend Modu.
about the brothers’ transformation  Both mountains Modu and Bakhrgan
into the rock there preserved in an were turned by the Andeans into
Andean Myth, written by H. specific religious centers. According
Saipuev in the village of Rickvany to the mythological plot a community
in Botlikh region. of Gods whose life resembled the life

17. Untzukul
 The legends tell us about famous
craftsmen Gooseyn and
Martal, whose names bare the
Untzukul ornaments nowadays.
Craftsman Gooseyn lived more
than three hundred years ago
and his ornament resembles the
dagger. The ornament of
craftsman Martal looks like a
sequence of sea waves. These
The regional center and many other elements used
Untzykul, the homeland of the either separately or in different
unique decorative art, is combinations, determine the
unusual ornamental richness of
situated among the high Untzukul goods. As the legend
forbidding mountains. The says the first artistic object of the
origin of the craft dates back local craftsmen was a whip
handle made from the cornelian
to the XVII century. The tree and decorated with rich inlay.
elderly people in the village Later the craftsmen began to use
white silver, copper, and silver for
still remember a large engraving the walking
wooden ring engraved with sticks, pipes, snuff

18. Lakes of Kaitag
 Once upon a time there were
two villages here in which there
lived the people who were busy
with improper deeds. They
didn’t show their respect both to
the Sun and to the Moon. More
over they usually insulted
them, and shot into them with
their arches. And one day
 At the very border between when one licentious man
the Kaitag and the approved by the smiles of the
Tabasaran region people surrounding people boastfully
can see two beautiful lakes declared that that he could
connected by a canal. marry the heavenly bodies it
Local people say a very was the last straw that broke
interesting instructive the Heaven’s patience. They
legend about this severely punished the people
picturesque place which for such an unprecedented
impudence – the gulf devoured
got the name “Gignila

19. Gotzatl
 Even well-to-do villagers
warmed the water for
ablution by throwing heated
in the fire stones into the
earthenware vessels
 In order to have their own
copper-smith the people of
Gotzatl made a raid on a rich
village of copper-smiths and
 The art of metal processing took several men as
appeared in the ancient prisoners. But none of the
mountainous village of prisoners confessed that he
Gotzatl, which is situated in could process copper. Then
the surroundings of the one of the local elderly men
village of Khunzakh, more proposed a cunning thing.
than three hundred years The legend says that the
ago. Before this it was villagers scattered charcoal
difficult to find a family where mixed with pieces of
they used metallic dishes for copper, which were valued
cooking- the food was more than gold at that
cooked in wooden cauldrons.

20.  They thought that a real smith would certainly pick up those
precious pieces from the road. The idea was a success. In
this way the first copper-smith whose name was Akhkubek
appeared in the village.
 Later the deposits of sulfur and saltpeter were discovered in
the neighborhood and they were used in the process of
processing the goods from silver. A huge stone with a large
hole for pounding sulfur and charcoal is still on the local
meeting place.
 Time went on and the village grew. There appeared a group
of craftsmen who made Gotzatl famous around the world. By
the end of the XIX century only the poorest bridegroom had
not been able to give his bride elegant bracelets and
delicate ear-rings and there had not been practically any
mountainous girls who would marry without a water jug with
a certain engraved design.
 Nowadays the craftsmen from Gotzatl produce table
sets, horns for drinks, decorative dishes, souvenir
daggers, and various filigree decorations for women with
mounting from the precious stones such as
turquoise, nephrite, lapis lazuli, agate, and obsidian. The

21. Pushkin Tau
 Situated at the height of 220
meters combination of several
rocks following one another form
the profile of the Great Russian
poet Alexander Pushkin, which
can be clearly seen only from the
definite place. Still in the ancient
times this rocky formation served
as a reference point for the ships
 The town of Isberbash is sailing in the Caspian Sea. But
only in the XX century people
situated on the shore of the noticed that those mountains
Caspian Sea at the foot of a looked like A. Pushkin. In 1978 the
mountain ridge Isberg tau, 65 rock Pushkin-Tau was proclaimed
kilometers to the south from the natural monument of
republican significance.
the capital of Dagestan. The
 There are some legends in
height of Isberbash anticline Dagestan saying how this miracle
reaches 500 meters above the appeared. Here is the most
sea level. The upper part of popular one. It says that during the
Isberg-tau is formed from hard duel between A. Pushkin and G.
Dantes there happened an
limestone of neogenic age earthquake in Dagestan and part
which served as a base for

22. Derbent
 Gekatey Miletsky, Hares
Mitilensky, Gerodot, Cornelius
Tatzit and many others.
 Many times it was mentioned in
medieval times. It is known that
in those numerous works the
city had different names and
its contemporary name
 There are several cities
appeared only in the VII century
baring this name on the map and meant “Closed Gates”.
but only one of them is more
 Derbent is situated on the
than 5000 years old, famous western coast of the Caspian
for its historical monuments Sea in the place where difficult
and has always been a very to access mountain ridges of
important city in people’s the Main Caucasian range
history. We can find come too close to the sea
information about this city in leaving only a narrow seashore
the works of famous line. From the ancient time
historians, geographers and there laid a famous Pry-

23.  The ancient Aryans used this way while going from the steppes
of Eastern Europe onto the territory of Iran plateau. In the VII
century it was used by the numerous nomadic tribes in their
attempts to get to the regions with rich lands in the South to rob
and devastate them.
 The history of the city is lost in the centuries. And though
ancient written sauces give a lot of information about this
famous city, they don’t provide us with any information about
the time of its origin. People came to live here not only
because of its convenient geographical position and exclusive
strategic position but mostly because of favorable climatic
conditions. Many settlements appeared here in the early period
of the history of mankind and even at that time they were very
well fortified.
Powerful fortification works in Derbent amaze us with their
magnificence and have become the subject for numerous
legends and stories. Profuse imagination of the inhabitants in
their attempts to glorify their mysterious city referred its
foundation either to the fire-spitting giants who lived on the
earth before the appearance of mankind or to the fantastic

24.  Decembrist A. Bestuzhev – Marlinsky, who had been sent in
exile to Derbent and spent many years there, writes: “The
citizens say that their city was built by the devil. The Devil had
been building in the darkness and was in a hurry. He kneaded
stones in his paws, smashed them to pieces, spit on
them, through the ready houses one on another and built the
streets as his tail lay. By the morning the city had been built.”
 The local historian Mirza-Hedir Vezirov in the XIX century
writes that the city was founded by shah Lehrasib from the
dynasty of the Cyanides – contemporary of the king Salomon.
Old Georgian chronicles tell us about the dreadful invasion of
the Khasars. The Persian Tsar Afridon sent his commander
Ardon to pacify them. With a numerous army Ardon came into
Khazar’s country, defeated them, built a city near the sea gate
and called it Darubandy, which in the translation means
“Closed Gates”.
 There is another legend that says that the city was founded by
Alexander Mecedonian. He built a wall with towers between the
sea and the mountains and closed it with the gates bind with
metal so that the people who lived on the other side wouldn’t be

25. Sharvily
 Sharvily is the most respected
national hero in Southern
Dagestan. He was a fearless
defender of his
Motherland, tireless grain-
grower. His image symbolizes
the century long fight of Lezghy
people for freedom and justice.
The hero had only one weak
point: like Antes he didn’t have
to tear off the ground. Just in
the place where the bridge of
Idris connects two banks of the
mountainous river Akhty-chai
hostile people asked Sharvily
who had gained lots of victories
before in the most difficult fights
with the enemies, if he would

26.  The hercules didn’t suspect that the enemies spread the
pees around the place from where he had to jump and
covered them with a thin rug. The whole village came to
see him jump - his friends- poor villagers and his enemies-
rich villagers. Sharvily began running but slipped on the
pees, fell down from the edge of the bank, struck against
the rock and died.
 They say that he was buried in his native village of
Akhty, but nobody knows where his grave is. In
commemoration of the great hero people in Dagestan have
celebrations. Thousands of men make pilgrimage to the
foot of the mountain on top of which according to the
legend there had been buried the hero’s sword. Recently
the thankful villagers built a beautiful rotunda with six white
columns and silver dome in memory of Sharvily. Here the
young men compete in strength and adroitness, amateur
artists sing old songs and dance old traditional
dances, and the children enjoy eating sweets.

27. Balkhar
 There is a legend in Balkhar
about the first potter, the man
called Kalkuchchy. One day this
poor man sitting in a gloomy
mood on the shore of the lake
thinking how to earn his living.
Involuntarily he paid attention to
the boys who were making
simple toys from clay.
Kalkuchchy decided to sculp
something from clay too. So he
sculped the water jug. The first
 The village of Balkhar jug paved the way to the
famous homecraft in the village.
where the people of the Kalkuchchy began teaching the
Luck nationality live is villagers pottery handicraft. But
situated in the foothill the life showed that the most
Dagestan. This delicate and beautiful vessels
mountainous village is were made by the women. In
this way there was born the art
famous for its original of the famous women potters

28. Kubachy
 but according to Dagestan
measures it is situated in a
Foothill region.
 The village is not small, but in
good times there lived 7-9
thousand villagers there and
this fact let the villagers
consider their village a small
state. A row of houses runs
down the mountain slope and
it is compared with the stone
waterfall or with the ladder to
 In Dagestan the village of the sky. The houses are
Kubachy is considered a situated one above another.
miracle that has come to our They are spacious, well
times from the medieval built, having two or three
ages. The village is situated stores with numerous rooms.
Every house has got a room
at the height of 1800 meters for meeting guests, for the
above the sea level, rest, having meals, and what is

29.  In Persian chronicles the village is mentioned even in the IV
century as Zerihgeran (Armory) which means Kubachy in the
Turkish language. Another name of the village is Ugbug which
means “people’s blighters”. It is easy to find out why they were
called so. It was a village of weapon makers, and what are
weapons made for? For killing people. Though it is quite clear
that in medieval times the smiths were busy with making
swords, sabers and amours. The most expensive goods were
decorated with jewelry which gave the goods additional value.
Among the most famous goods produced by them are the two-
horned helmet by Alexander the Macedonian, Prince Alexander
Nevsky’s shield, the saber of Nadir Shah, and the set of cold
weapons in Victoria and Albert museum in London which was
presented to Queen Victoria by the Russian tsar Alexander III.
The Kubachy sabers were very popular within the dragoons in
Russian army.
 When peaceful time came they became familiar with the new
job- they began producing jewelry and refined silver dishes.
During the Romanov’s ruling and in Soviet times it was
considered a good taste to have at home silver wine
glasses, jugs, and vases made by Kubachy craftsmen. The

30.  Every family in Kubachy had its own design which was used
only by this craftsman and this design was kept a secret as the
women keep the recipes of making adzhika and baking bread.
As we know the Islam prohibits depicting living beings that’s
why all the designs were of natural character. The craftsman
invented very interesting designs of the leaves, flowers, stalks
even those that would never be able to grow on a stony land of
the Foothill Caucasus.
 The technique of the craftsmen of Kubachy is very difficult and
variable.
 There is a legend about gold smiths from Kubachy. Once upon
a time the gold smiths from Persia having decided to humiliate
them sent to the village a very thin wire with the following
message: “Try to make the same and send it to us”. They were
greatly astonished when some time later got the same wire but
drilled inside. The gold smiths from Kubachy mockingly wrote:
“we make pipes from such wire”.

31. The Fortress of Seven
Brothers.
 Once during one of the enemy’s sieges
the sister fell in love with the
commander of the enemy’s army. He
persuaded her to pour secretly salty
water into the smooth bores of
brothers’ rifles and into the sheath of
their swords so that not only to save
them but to praise them.
 But on seeing unarmed defenders of
the fortress the commander of the
enemies broke his word. He ordered to
 On a small hill at the distance of 3-4 execute brothers one after another and
kilometers from the village of finally to kill the girl because he
Khuchny, the regional center of thought that girl who betrayed her
Tabasaran region, there are ruins of brother couldn’t be trusted as she
the former fortress which was known as could betray again and she deserved
“ The Fortress of Seven Brothers”. The death. The villagers made a stone hill
legend says that previously seven over her tomb.
brothers lived there with a very beautiful Even nowadays one can see a stony
sister. People say that the girl’s silky hill not far from the road near the
hair was so long that when she wanted fortress. It is considered to be a grave
to get the water she tied the water jug to of the sister of the brave brothers.
Every man passing by the hill throws
her plaits and let it down into the river. seven stones at it as a sign of
Her brothers were known as brave contempt to the traitor. But every

32. Sleeping Beauty
 The people call this rock
“Sleeping Beauty” or
“Shamil’s Daughter”.
 The legend say: Once upon a
time there lived a khan and he
had a very beautiful daughter.
A village herder fell in love
 The gigantic rocks rise in the with her. The girl loved him
North and North-West sides too. But they couldn’t even
above Dagestan village of think about marriage. Wicked
Gunib. If to look attentively at people told the khan about
their ridge one can see in the their feelings. The khan got
very angry. He called his
background of the evening daughter and told her to go to
sky a profile of a lying girl. the mountain and think about
One can see a chokhto - a her feelings the whole night
head-dress, put on a broad long and in the morning tell
forehead, long eyelashes him if she had changed her

33.  She didn’t want to think and change her mind as
she loved the young man very dearly. It became
cold. The cold wind was blowing. She lay down
and fell asleep.
 When the khan’s servants came to the
mountain in the morning they didn’t find the girl
there because she turned into a stone and
became part of that rock. On seeing this her
beloved who was shepherding the sheep on the
Kegher mountains had become so sad that
turned into the stone.
 When you see the profile of the sleeping beauty
in the background of the evening sky turn
around and you’ll be able to see behind the river
Kara Koisu on Kegher rocks the head of the
stark young man.

34. Sarykum
 The name Sarykum in Kumik
language means –Yellow
sand. There are several
dunes here but they don’t
occupy a large territory –
approximately 10 kilometers
in length and 3-4 kilometers
in width.
 There is a very surprising
natural place of interest on the  The height of the dune
border of the steppe and changes all the time but the
foothill Dagestan. average height is 260
meters. It is the highest
 It is a sandy Dune Sarykum, a sandy dune not only in
piece of Asian desert in the Russia but in Eurasia. Its age
hart of mountainous region. is more than several hundred
The world learnt about its thousands years.
existence in the XIX century
when the great French writer  Because of the wind the
Alexander Dumas-the father dune changes its form very
who had visited Dagestan often but its foot always
before described its beauty in remains in the same place,

35.  There are many legends about its origin. According to one of
them before intending to go to fight with Tohtamysh khan
Aksak-Temir decided to check how many warriors he had got
in his army. Every warrior was ordered to put sand into his
helmet and then pour it out in one place. When every warrior
emptied his helmet Aksak-Temir saw a mountain of sand. On
seeing it he believed that he would be able to conquer the
greatest state of their time The Golden Horde, Northern
Dagestan being part of it at that time.
 Here is another legend but this time it is a love story. In the
village of Kumtorkala there lived a man called Ibrahim. He had
a very beautiful daughter Bariyat. Many young men wanted to
marry her but she loved only one man- Bulat. Many time Bulat
came to Ibrahim and asked him a permission to marry Bariat
but Ibrahim refused all the time. But the girl was stubborn and
didn’t want to marry any other man. And then Ibrahim told
Bulat to do the following: “Bring from the sea and throw up
such a large sandy mountain behind the river Shura-Ozen that
you would be able to see our house from its top. Only then I
will believe that you love my daughter.” And Bulat agreed.
 Months passed, years passed but the mountain grew very
slowly. It became more and more difficult for Bulat to bring

36.  Once having climbed the mountain he saw his native village. He
noticed a woman’s figure on the roof of familiar house. And though
it was difficult to see the face he recognized his beloved. Bulat ran
down the slope, crossed the river and ran to the village. Finally he
could marry his beloved Bariyat. But who did he see? A crooked
old grey haired woman was looking ruefully at the approaching
man. Her cheeks had become hollow; her eyes had lost their color
because of constant tears.
 What an awful picture! Only then he paid attention to his long white
beard. The youth had past away and the whole life had passed
away… But the monument to unhappy love of Bulat and Bariyat
stands near Kumik village of Kumtorkala.
 But the real reason of the formation of the Dune is connected with
the winds. During centuries they had been destroying the
neighboring mountains and brought the sand into one place. In this
way the Sandy Dune was formed. The winds in this place blow in
such a way that they only change the image of the dune, but the
dune itself remains in the place where it is.
 Sarykum is the hottest place in Dagestan. In summer the
temperature on the southern slopes can reach +60 degrees Celsius
and sometimes it comes up to + 90 Degrees. In such conditions

37. Hercules’s
Columns
 To perform his twelve heroic
deeds the legendary hero
unconquerable Hercules had
to travel a lot. According to
the Myths he erected a giant
stone in every place he had
performed his heroic deed.
Hercules’s columns were
scattered all over the world.
People found them in French
Britain, on the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea, in
Greenland, in northern part
of Istanbul and in the Urals.
 The Myths of ancient
Greece say that he liberated
chained to the rock
Prometheus somewhere in

38.  The scientists still dispute about the place of this heroic deed
but the librarians of Khasavyurt city library are sure that they
have found it in the surroundings of the Dagestan
mountainous village of Burtunai.
 First of all in this place high mountain river banks look like
conglomeration of huge columns which are very much alike
Hercules’s Columns, which have preserved in other parts of
the world. Secondly, the local people mark strange unusual
phenomenon which takes place occasionally in this area. The
same event happens near the Hercules’s columns in other
parts of the world where the apparatus mark vertical flows of
energy. And finally it is known that all the Hercules’s Columns
were connected with one another by the system of
underground catacombs. Evidently like those not studied yet
caves near Burtunai.
 If we are right or wrong it is for the scientists to decide. But
this place is sure to have its special energy which gives