THE MOTIF OF DREAMS IN KARAKALPAK FOLK EPICS

Аннотация

В данной статье анализируется возникновение и применение мотива сна в каракалпакских народных эпосах. В исследовании изучаются мифологические и исторические корни мотива сна, раскрывается его роль в развитии сюжета дастанов. Результаты исследования показывают особенности мотива сна в каракалпакских народных эпосах и его связь с мировоззрением и верованиями народа. Ключевые слова. Каракалпакские народные эпосы, мотив сна, мифология, фольклор, сюжет, генезис, устное народное творчество. 338 Karakalpak folk epics are one of the important genres of folk oral art (folklore), reflecting the history, culture, worldview, and beliefs of the people. The dream motif holds a special significance in these epics. The dream motif has existed in folk oral art since ancient times and has mythological and historical foundations. It influences the development of the plot in the epics, acting as a factor that foretells or predicts heroes’ future and upcoming events. A sleeping person witnesses vivid experiences. The events in dreams are interconnected, somewhat unclear, impactful, and mythological in appearance. Through the dream motif, the people’s lifestyle, beliefs, and values are expressed. It often serves the function of warning or guiding heroes, or determining their future fate. Therefore, studying the place and genesis of the dream motif in epics and revealing its mythological roots is considered an important scientific problem. This article analyzes the emergence of the dream motif in Karakalpak folk epics, the peculiarities of its application, and its role in the plot. The research will identify how the dream motifs in the epics contribute to the disclosure of the hero‘s image, the developing the plot, and enriching its artistic quality. The main goal of the research is to reveal how the dream motif is manifested in Karakalpak folk epics, its function in folklore, and its connection with the people’s worldview. In Karakalpak folk epics, dream and dream interpretations occur within the plot, revealing the hero‘s uniqueness, their extraordinary nature, and that they are not like everyone else. The motif of the birth of a future hero through the favor of miraculous saints serves as an auxiliary function within the birth motif. Furthermore, the influence of the dream motif is very significant in the disclosure of the hero‘s character. We can find numerous examples of such ideas with clear evidence in the scientific researches of all folklorist scholars. As we all know, folk oral literature reflects the identity of our people, their deeply ingrained national customs and traditions, and their living conditions. According to scientific sources, the motif of dreaming is revealed to be connected with mythology and religious beliefs. According to the Uzbek literary folklorist scholar J. Eshonqul, it is skillfully stated that in most of our fairy tales and epics, concepts related to dreaming have been very well preserved and have artistically influenced their compositional structure. For example, in the epic “Alpamis”, it is mentioned that the birth of Baybori and Baysari’s children is revealed in a dream, and it is particularly emphasized that the depiction of dreaming and dream interpretation in folkloric works is also related to ancient religious beliefs. [5,134 b] The dream motif, relying on the national values of the people, also occupies a place as an artistic and aesthetic taste. Our people have long believed that events in dreams warn of future events and give signs about the correctness or incorrectness of their actions. This belief fully persists in the inner world of our people even today. In this regard, the famous Kazakh folklorist scholar R. Berdibaev says: “Generally, believing in dreams is a very ancient manifestation of understanding in Turkic-Mongolian folklore. We see that its ancient roots lead to ancient animistic beliefs. They rejoiced when they had a good dream and were apprehensive when they had a nightmare. Belief in the influence of supernatural forces existed among us until yesterday”. [2,169 b] The interpretation of dreams that foretell the birth of heroes in epics and what kind of offspring they will be determines the place of the dream motif in the epic. It is appropriate to mention here that in any epic we examine, the existence of a hero with unimaginable power is natural. There are many episodes such as the presence of supporting guides (pirs) and these pirs revealing future events to the hero in their dreams. Based on the words of the scholars mentioned above, we can clearly see that the image of pirs in Karakalpak folk epics is related to the characters of gods in ancient Greek mythology. The research results showed that the dream motif in Karakalpak folk epics performs significant artistic and semantic functions. According to the analysis, the dream motif performs three main functions: prediction and warning, influencing the heroes’ decision-making, and connection with mythological and religi