‘Bride Purchasing’ Rites among the Kalmyks and Stavropol Turkmens in the First Half of the 19th Century: Common and Specific Features

• Published in: Oriental Studies (Ėlista, Russia) Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 76 - 83
• Main Author: V. V. Batyrov
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Российской академии наук, Калмыцкий научный центр 01.04.2018
• Subjects: выкуп невесты; калмыки; калым; кочевники юга россии; обычное право; семья и брак; ставропольские туркмены; традиционная культура
• ISSN: 2619-0990; 2619-1008
• DOI: 10.22162/2075-7794-2017-31-3-76-83

With evidence from materials of the National Archive of the Republic of Kalmykia and State Archive of Stavropol Krai, the article studies the ‘bride purchasing’ rites among Turkmens and Kalmyks in the fi rst half of the 19th century. The paper considers the bridewealth (Turk. qalym) custom of Southern Russia’s nomads supposed to protect economic interests of a young family. The author presumes that bridewealth disappeared among the Kalmyks earlier and turned into a wedding contribution constituted by what was necessary for the wedding feast and that what could economically support the newly established family. At the same time, as distinct from the Kalmyks whose match-making procedures were lengthy enough, the Turkmens simply had no such rites at all. It is noteworthy that when it came to the size of bridewealth, the Turkmens faced signifi cant problems resulting from differing interpretations of the essence of bridewealth by adat and Islamic law. Despite the increasing role of the Muslim clergy in Turkmen society, they could not affect the once established views on qalym as ‘bride purchasing’ throughout the 19th century. It should be mentioned separately that - unlike Kalmyks - in rare instances Turkmens submitted not only money and livestock but also subjects (humans) as part of qalym. The religious policies of the Russian Government towards Kalmyks and Stavropol Turkmens resulted in an increased role of clergy in wedding rites which - in the context of the crisis of nomadic economies predetermined by the dramatic reduction of pastures in the fi rst half of the 19th century - gave rise to the widespread occurrence of ‘bride abduction’ practices.