The legends of taipa, which are often those of a village, generally belong to oral tradition. It should be noted that, unlike properly family genealogies that everyone knows (the custom obliging each Chechen or Ingush to know how to list, at least, eight generations of the patronymic line) these legends are not known to everyone. In a village there is always someone who can tell them, but the others do not know (Ivanenkov, 1910, p. 10).
There are genealogies, coming from an epic tradition, which may have no connection with the Arab-Muslim past. Some refer, for example, to the Nartes. Thus, at the end of the XIXe century, many Ingush families called themselves their descendants; one of the observers of the time knew an old man who was able to enumerate the twenty generations which separated him from a Narte (Dumézil, 1930, p. 14-15).
Parallèlement, on trouve des généalogies qui remontent aux ancêtres arabes les plus prestigieux. Ce peut être Abū Muslim (Abu Buslo dans une prononciation locale), personnage semi-légendaire à qui l’on impute la propagation de l’islam au Dagestan and which several Dagestani feudal dynasties claim (Istoria Dagestana, 1967, p. 158). Very often, among the founders are nationals of Shām (Syria). The great connoisseur of mountain Chechens, N. Ivanenkov, cites some interesting examples, all of which date from the beginning of the 20th century.e century.
Ainsi, les habitants de deux villages voisins du bassin de la rivière Argun, Nakhtchi-Keloï et Tchebah-Keloï, se rattachent à Hasan et Husayn, descendants d’un ressortissant syrien. La legend raconte qu’un certain roi ou prince syrien décida d’introduire une nouvelle loi interdisant la vendetta et punissant de mort tout assassin. Malheureusement, le fils du prince, Nasho, doit subir ce sort le premier. Sa mère intervient alors pour le sauver : « Moi aussi, j’ai des droits sur mon fils ; que les juges prononcent leur verdict ! »Condamné à l’exil, Nasho quitte le pays ; finalement, il se retrouve à Nashkha (plateau au sud de la Tchétchénie, foyer légendaire de toutes les tribus tchétchènes). Là, il devient père de sept fils ; de l’un d’entre eux sont issus Hasan et Husayn, fondateurs des villages susnommés (Ivanenkov, 1910, p. 10). Des habitants d’autres villages de la même localité rapportent des histoires semblables sur les « frères issus du Shām ». Tel le village de Zumsoj, dont une partie des habitants se disent descendants de Shāmil Khān, l’un des cinq frères « issus de la maison du Prophète », qui auraient émigré pour fuir la colère du souverain syrien (Ivanenkov, 1910, p. 11-12).
The taipa Ersanoj, in Ichkeria (south-eastern Chechen country), traces its history back to Qulāb, inhabitant of the city of Shām in Turkey. According to legend, Qulāb retires to Bukhara with his son Kusay, where the latter kidnaps Huzeymat, betrothed to a certain Ahmat. With her, he takes refuge in Nashkha, where she gives him a son, Mulku. Ahmat finds his offender in Nashkha and kills him; Huzeymat returns to Bukhara with Mulku, to his brothers. At the age of fifteen, Mulku, who still showed extraordinary strength and endurance, became a daring and insolent teenager. The old Bukhariots persuade Huzeymat to leave the city. This is how Mulku found himself in Itchkeria and built his stone house, just in front of the village of Ersanoj (Popov, 1870, p. 9-10). One can notice the absence of any indication on the Islamity of the founder, who could, in principle, be pagan; in any case, the Ersenoj carry a particular tradition, according to which they owe their conversion to Islam to a certain Bersan, a Dagestanese who would have come to them in the eighth generation from the arrival of Mulku (Popov, 1870, p. 13).
EN 
FR 
ES