Abstract
BRANDING LIVESTOCK AND ITS FUNCTIONS
Branding is one of the important sources of folklore, ethnic history, manuscripts about studies ethnic culture, names of places and water, tribes and peoples. Branding on the rock, the stone surfaces, the graves etc. has a great importance in ethnic date researches. Branding is known to make a major contribution in the clarification of the ethnic information such as peoples without manuscripts, the origin of the ethnic groups, ethnic status and the places where they spread. Branding plays a role as an additional source in revealing places where nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes spread and main line of their migration routes, their cultural and ethnic relation. Branded marks and their ethnic and cultural history, and their role in researching ethno-genesis is one of the new areas in Kyrgyz researches (such as: history, ethnography and Turkic study). The emergence of the Kyrgyz is very important resource in determining places where brands used by Kyrgyz tribes spread, the root of these brands, their emergence and spread areas and their importance in the ethnic history, and ethno-cultural and ethno-genesis relationships, parallels of the relation peoples. Brands used by tribes, families and some individuals in the Kyrgyz and Turkish Mongol languages called “damga”. This term used by former Kyrgyz and Turkish tribes spread to Russian, Mongolian, Finno-Ugric people. Brandings have been known on the Eurasian geography since the millennium in BC. The first known brand dates back to period of Achaememid Empire (558-330 BC). Iranians used to put brand on their personal belongings. According to the opinion of the researchers brands were used to along with the writings. Sarmats whose writing culture is unknown was one of the confederation using brands widely. Brands of the Sarmats showed that some items belonged to some tribes or families. Brands of the tribes existed in Turkish-Mongolian, Finno-Ugric, Persian speaking people before and they have been used since ancient time in some areas such as Kyrgyzstan. The purposeful use of brands is a case belonging to Kyrgyz, Kipchak, Oghuz and Uighur groups (Kyrgyz, Kara-Kalpaks, Khakass, Altai, Tuva, Bashkirs, Nogai, Kazakhs) in term of the language feature. The information about Turkish brands can be found in the works of Mahmud al-Kashgari, Reshiddudin, Abu al - Chazi Bahadir and in Chinese sources.
Keywords
Brands (Damga), Boy, Kyrgyzs, Turkish inscriptions, Government, Culture
