Ingush societies

Ingush societies or shahars (Ingush: ГIалгIай шахьараш, romanized: Ghalghaj šæx́æræš) were ethnoterritorial associations of the Ingush based on the geographical association of several villages and intended for conditional administrative-territorial delimitation of the Ingush ethnic group. The formation and functioning of most of them dates back to the late Middle Ages (16th – 19th centuries). During this period, their boundaries, number and names changed.[1]

The names of societies mainly came from the names of the area of their localization, that is, they were based on the geographical principle.[2][3] Despite the fact that during this period the Ingush lived in relatively closed conditions of mountain gorges, which contributed to more demarcation in terms of territoriality than rallying around a single center, they retained the self-consciousness of a single ethnic group based on a common culture and a single language.[4]

Ingush societies in the literature are sometimes called shahars[5] (Ingush: шахьар, romanized: šæx́ær, lit. 'society, district'[6][7][8]) The term "shahar" meant in the ancient states of Western Asia the destinies into which they were administratively and territorially divided. Societies (shahars) of medieval Ingushetia were also territorial units.[9][lower-alpha 1]

Etymology

The Ingush name for societies is shahar (шахьар)[7] which is derived from Persian word shahr (شهر).[11]

History
Map from the book "The assertion of Russian rule in the Caucasus" showing Ingush societies - Karabulaks, Galashians, Galgai etc.

The collapse of the Alanian state in the 13th century and the outflow of its population to the mountains, entrenched to the east and west of the Darial by building fortresses, served as the basis for the formation of new ethno-territorial communities. Villages located in the mountainous zone were grouped mainly along local gorges, which contributed to their ethnopolitical consolidation into separate territorial societies/regions (Ingush: ГIалгIай Шахьараш). By the end of the 16th century, apparently, the main territorial societies of the Ingush had already formed. Based on the data of Russian sources of the 16th-17th centuries,[12] naming several territorial communities of the Ingush, it is concluded that in Ingushetia and in the XV century. there were approximately the same number of territorial societies, each of which united several villages.[12][13]

Over time, the number and boundaries of societies changed, this happened as a result of migration processes of the Ingush population, including those associated with the return of the Ingush to the plane (plain). They began quite early, soon after Timur left the North Caucasus. At a very early stage, they were in the nature of individual military-political actions undertaken by the Ingush on the flat lands in order to counteract the consolidation of alien nomadic peoples on them.[14]

The change in the names and number of societies also occurred due to the transfer of rural governments from one village to another. So, for example, the Kist (Fyappin) society began to be called the Metskhal society, and the Ghalghaï society was divided into two - Tsorin and Khamkhin.[15]

List of societies

- Small Ingush

- Dzherakh society

- Fyappiy society[lower-alpha 2]

- Khamkhin society

- Tsorin society

- Galashian society

- Nazranian society

- Orstkhoy society[lower-alpha 3]

- Akkin society[lower-alpha 4]

- Malkhin society[lower-alpha 5][29]

Notes
  1. For example, in Province of Sassanid Empire, Asoristan, the provinces were known as šahr.[10]
  2. «Overview of the political state of the Caucasus in 1840»,[16] Caucasian Territory // "Military Statistical Review of the Russian Empire, 1851",[17] Volkonsky,[18] Pantyukhov,[19] Kovalevsky,[20] Martirosian,[21] Krupnov,[22] Volkova,[23]
  3. "Overview of the political state of the Caucasus in 1840",[16] "Caucasian Territory // Military Statistical Review of the Russian Empire, 1851",[17] Volkonsky,[18] Pantyukhov,[19] Kovalevsky,[20] Martirosian,[21] Krupnov.[22]
  4. Bulletin of the Caucasian Department of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society,[24] Volkonsky,[18] Terskiy Sbornik,[25] Martirosian,[21] Kusheva,[26] Hakluyt Society,[27] Krupnov.[22]
  5. Malkhins as an Ingush society is indicated in the "Military Statistical Review of the Russian Empire, published by the highest order at the 1st branch of the Department of the General Staff".[17] Malkhins in the literature of the 19th-20th centuries also were known under name "Distant Kists". Under this name, they are also indicated as an Ingush society: "Overview of the political state of the Caucasus in 1840",[16] I. I. Pantyukhov,[19] G. K. Martirosian,[21] Kusheva,[28] E. I. Krupnov.[22]

    References
    1. Кодзоев 2002.
    2. Горепекин 2006, p. 23.
    3. Долгиева et al. 2013, p. 147.
    4. Долгиева et al. 2013, p. 151.
    5. Робакидзе 1968, p. 88.
    6. Далгат 1972, p. 442.
    7. Бекова et al. 2009, p. 861.
    8. Кодзоев 2021, p. 467.
    9. К ингушской терминологии 1999.
    10. Widengren 1987.
    11. Genko 1930, p. 758.
    12. Пиотровский & Нарочницкий 1988.
    13. Долгиева et al. 2013, p. 146.
    14. Долгиева et al. 2013, p. 142.
    15. Вертепов 1892, p. 75.
    16. Обзор политического состояния Кавказа 1840 года ЦГВИА Ф. ВУА, Д.6164, Ч.93, лл. 1-23.
      "V. Племя ингуш: 1) Назрановцы, 2) Галаши, 3) Карабулаки, 4) Галгаи, 5) Кистины или Кисты Ближние, 6) Джерахи, 7) Цори, 8) Дальние Кисты"
    17. Кавказский край // Военно-статистическое обозрение Российской империи 1851, p. 137:
      "Къ племени Ингушей, занимающих плоскость и котловины Кавказских горъ съ правой стороны Терека до верхних частей Аргуна и до теченія Фартанги, принадлежатъ: 1) Назрановцы с Комбулейскимъ обществомъ, 2) Джераховцы, 3) Карабулаки, 4) Цоринцы, 5) Ближніе Кистинцы с небольшимъ обществомъ Малхинцевъ вновь покорившимся, 6) Галгай, 7) Галашевцы, 8) Дальніе Кисты…"
    18. Волконский 1886, p. 54:
      «Ингушевское племя состояло из следующих обществ: кистинского, джераховского, назрановского, карабулакского (впоследствии назвавшегося галашевским), галгаевского, цоринского, акинского и мереджинского; все эти общества вместе имели свыше тридцати тысяч душ.»
    19. Пантюхов 1901, p. 2.
    20. Ковалевский 1914, p. 150:
      "Ингуши длятся на пять обществъ: джираховцы, кистины, галгаевцы, назрановцы и галашевцы"
    21. Мартиросиан 1928, p. 12.
    22. Крупнов 1971, p. 37.
    23. Волкова 1974, p. 153.
    24. Извѣстія Кавказскаго отдѣла Императорскаго русскаго географическаго общества. Томъ IX. Часть I (in Russian). Отдѣл. 1885. p. 102.
    25. Терскій областный статистическій комитет (1893). Терскій сборник. Выпускъ Третій. Книга Вторая (in Russian). Владикавказъ: Типографія Терскаго Областнаго Правленія. p. 100.
    26. Кушева 1963, p. 69.
    27. Hakluyt Society 1970, p. 23.
    28. Кушева 1963, p. 65.
    29. Долгиева et al. 2013, pp. 192–193.

    Bibliography

    English sources

    Russian sources
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