Review of Studies of Dagestan Arabic-Language Sources of the Post-Soviet Period

Abstract

Materials in the Arabic language, mainly concentrated in Dagestan, occupy the most important place among the sources on the history of the North Caucasus. Its research has started since the 19th century. The academic study of these sources continued with the establishment of the Center of Oriental Manuscripts in 1963 in Makhachkala at the Institute of Language, History and Literature of Dagestan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. In the post-Soviet period, Russian orientalists drew attention to a number of still insufficiently studied Arabic-language sources. The research work revealed more new sources that significantly changed established ideas about social, legal and military-political history of Dagestan. Extensive study and translations of several historical chronicles, a wide range of various sources from the period of the Caucasian War were introduced into scientific circulation. Systematic work is underway to study the epistolary sources kept both in the Fund of Oriental Manuscripts of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Makhachkala (it includes now thousands of manuscripts and documents) and in numerous private manuscript collections. Studies of Arabic-language written monuments often remain out of sight not only for a wide range of readers, but also for the historians who specialize on the history of the Caucasus. This article devoted to their review and analysis is intended to fill this gap; it summarizes a certain result of enduring research work directed to the study of these manuscripts, carried out in the post-Soviet period.