Shabdan Baatyr
Shabdan Baatyr was born as Shabdan Dzhantaev in 1839 into the Sary Bagush tribe in the Kemin region. He rose to be a local chieftain and ruled the Chon Kemin valley as his local fiefdom. The locals still hold him in great regard and a large statue of him on horseback has been erected in Kemin (on the left hand side of the road as you travel from Bishkek to Lake Issyk Kul).
Shabdan was born into the “aristocracy of the steppes”. From his childhood he was brought up with the morals inherent to the steppe-nomads of that time: devotion to people; diligence; honour; military courage, and a respect for the natural surroundings in which they lived.
At the age of 11, in 1850, he was held as a hostage by the Khan of Kokand. In his youth he took part in a number of raids on neighbouring tribes. Respected as a soldier he rose in the ranks to the modern equivalent of Lieutenant Colonel, despite the fact that he had no formal education. He was highly decorated.
The Khan of Kokand even appointed him as the “bek” of the city of Azreti-Sultan , but he wasn't happy with the situation.
Having fought against the Kokand Khanate in 1860. he was imprisoned in Pishpek in 1862, but he managed to escape.
He sought to continue the pro Russian policy of his father, Zinantai Karabek uulu, and in 1863 he attended the coronation of Tsar Alexander II in St. Petersburg as a representative of the Kyrgyz people.
Although he is often thought of as a soldier – a strong field commander and a sever governor – he is also held in high regard and respected as a peacemaker, an open gearted, kind, person – symapthetic in the face of human troubles. There are a number of incidents that illustrate how he acquired this reputation:
- He is credited with liberating the Kurmandjan Datka (the "Tsarina of the Alai ") in 1876 when she was held captive by the Russian Imperial army. Kurmanjan Datka's supporters, the mountain Kyrgyz, were very concerned by this event, and rebellion was in the air. At some considerable risk to his own safety, Shabdan Baatyr arrived before General Skobelev, (the Imperial representative in Turkistan ), and negotiated her release. (There are several versions of this story – including one that he intended to woo her as part of his plan to unite the Kyrgyz – even though she was much older than him).
- When over a hundred Kyrgyz and Kazakhs were sentenced to death for rising in protest against the policy of resettling Russians brought from the West in Central Asia , a letter to General Skobelev from Shabdan Batyr won a guarantee of their release.
- In July 1862 when the rebels led by Tailyk Batyr attacked a group of Russian soldiers enroute to Naryn, it was Shabdan Batyr along with his dzhigits who saved them from captivity.
- In 1876 the Shabdan's intervention saved the Russian Alay Military Expedition when they were surrounded by a group of Kyrgyz rebels – and he reconciled the two parties...
His concern for social issues is demonstrated by the fact that, despite his own lack of formal education, he did much to develop the education system for his countrymen. In 1909 he opened and completely funded a private medrese (a Muslim religious school) in Kemin inviting a number of well known and respected teachers from all over Central Asia to teach there. He also sent Kyrgyz children to study at the Russian Grammar School in Almaty (Verney). He also sent a letter to the Tsar, Nicholas II, asking him to create Muslim assemblies, to open madrasahs and schools where children would have the opportunity to study in their native language.
He died in 1912 at the age of 72, mourned by thousands – according to the official records he died “a pauper”, having given away most of his wealth to the needy Kyrgyz.
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