Arabographic sources on the history of Dagestan (19th - beginning 20th cent.): paleographic characteristics and general overview

Introduction. The article is devoted to the study and introduction into scientific circulation of arabographic written sources in the Avar language of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. Until recently, some of these sources were not known at all, and they were not the subject of scientific research. With the emergence of new sources on the history of the Caucasus, it became necessary to conduct a critical source study of the texts of previously published sources. Materials and methods. The research is based on the study of a number of sources in the Avar language, among which we can single out the most informative and early ones, such as: a). Chronicle "Derbent name" (History of Derbent) from the private collection of M.G. Nurmagomedov; b). The composition of Muhammadrafi (14th cent.), known in the historical literature as "Tarikh Dagestan". in three lists from, private and mosque collections; in). “Tarikhi Jar” (History of Jar) from the collection of Nakkaw Muhammad of Jar; d). One-village chronicle “Tarikh Argvani” (History of Argvani) and “Imam Gazimuhammad” by Hasanilav from Gimri, etc. We will tell you more about them below. As we have already mentioned, some texts of the studied sources have already been the subject of research and were previously published [1; 2; 6; 8; 13; 18;20; 22; 23]. The studies are provided with paleographic descriptions, which, in addition to information about the author and scribe, include basic paleographic information such as the date and place of correspondence, volume, paper, handwriting, language of the manuscript and place of storage. If the author of the essay is known, brief information about his life and work is provided. If the text of the essay was previously published in the Arabic edition, or in another Arabic script, then a comparative comparison of the most important plots and fragments (names, toponymic, date of compilation, etc.) of the text was carried out. After the paleographic part, short annotations were compiled to the source texts, divided into semantic and situational syntagms. Research results. Because of the study, we were able to introduce into scientific circulation new sources on the history of the peoples of the North Caucasus, as well as critically analyze the previously published texts of arabographic sources, taking into account modern source studies. The introduction of new narratives in the Avar language into scientific circulation makes it possible to determine the place and role of local historical works in the general system of arabographic sources on the history of the peoples of Dagestan. The results of the research can be used in compiling a special course for students of universities and colleges on source study and historiography of the peoples of the North Caucasus.