This very short article casts light on a recently discovered semi-popular epic cycle on the Khwarezmian fighter and champion of jawanmardiliq (or futuwwat, the Arabic, Persian and Turkic pre-modern code of male virtues) Pahlawan Mahmud (1247-1326; on him, see the previously published collections of stories: Hazrati Pahlavon alaihirahma, Khiva, 1998; Pahlavon Mahmud: Polvon ota hikoiatlari, Tashkent, 2001). Recorded on paper in 1786 by a certain Mulla Jum‘a-Niyaz Ishan, this 636-mithra‘-long dastan was transcribed into Cyrillic by a literati from Tashhawuz before being entrusted to a local journalist, and serialised in the journal Khiva from 1997 to 1999. The author offers a short analysis of the text written in rhymed prose (saj‘), underlying its observance of the canons of the epic genre, especially from the viewpoint of advocated moral values.
CER: II-5.3.B-477