Khazars, Kipchaks, Burtas: On the Ethnic Ancestors of the Nizhnii Novgorod Mishar Tatars

Abstract

The Nizhnii Novgorod Mishar Tatars (the Nizhgars) are one of the specific groups of the Tatar people. Emerging not only, and not so much, based on religion, they represent a subethnos with its own ethnogenetic, linguistic, and cultural specifics. The Nizhgars differ from other Tatar subethnoses by a particular worldview, Mishar dialect, and rather strict marital endogamy, which continued until the 1960s. The origin of the Mishar Tatars is a controversial question that has not been resolved, due partly to sparse relevant research. Besides Turkified Madzhar-Ugrians (Mozhars), researchers have suggested Khazars, Kipchaks, and Burtas among their ancestors from the pre-Mongol period. The present article explores some of these hypotheses.

Keywords:

• Khazars
• Kipchaks
• Burtas
• Bulgars
• Mishars
• Nizhnii Novgorod Tatars
• Khazar Khanate
• Desht-i Qipchaq
• Volga Bulgaria
• Principality of Purgaz

Notes

a. For important perspective, see Victor A. Shnirelman Who Gets the Past? Competition for Ancestors Among Non-Russian Intellectuals in Russia (Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson Center Press, 1996).