The name "Kayala River" is found to the reader only in one ancient Russian work, namely, in "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", which is fraught with countless secrets and mysteries for eight hundred years since its creation.
The monk-poet wrote no more than 8,000 words, and the number of works on this topic will soon approach twenty thousand. Slavists all over the world read and re-read it and comment each time, adding more and more clarifications and finding something unnoticed, reinterpreting the ancient text.
Why study a work
Why study the origin of the work, the place where it was written, the time of writing? To look into its content, to understand its essence. Mysterious and mysterious river Kayala. She is mentioned eight times in the text of the scribe. Historical geographers cannot reliably say where the Kayala River is located. In the 70s of the last century, Ukrainian archaeologists carried out extensive research, but did not find any traces of the battle. If not for three works, we would never have known about some provincial prince Igor, much less heard about the river near which the battle took place. The Kayala River is a semi-mythicalriver.
Psychology of creativity
Old Russian writers did not write on their own, but by grace, in prayer. They had a completely different attitude to writing, that is, the abbot of the monastery called the monk and gave obedience. So the author of "Words …" is no exception. Any old Russian scribe did not want to give out, stick out himself, but wanted to dissolve in his work.
So most likely no one will find his name. But he did not hide his time carefully. And now it is dated by individual literary critics between 1188-1200, and it is assumed that it was created, most likely, in the Vydubitsky monastery in Kyiv, where the Hypatiev Chronicle was stored, already written, in which it was possible to clarify the details. But it seems that the monk was also a participant in this campaign, as he sometimes puts personal impressions into the text.
Why did the author write "The Word…"?
If you look at all the ancient Russian literature of the XI-XII centuries, you can see that it does not know fiction. The Kayala River, which is mentioned in the Lay, apparently has a different name in modern names. Academician D. Likhachev saw the Syuurliy River in it.
And the very root of the word is connected with the verb "to repent". So the scribe-poet called the river, where Igor was not accidentally defeated. And, as can be seen from the story, it was necessary for the prince to repent. The ancient scribe was dominated by religious and symbolic thinking. This is a comprehension of events through the texts of Holy Scripture. Everyone - both monks and laity - were Orthodoxpeople, they looked at everything, consulting the Scriptures, with Divine Providence, especially the monks. They believed that there was nothing in historical events that was not already described in the Bible. They sought to show how an Orthodox person could save his soul, especially on the eve of the end of the world, which in those days both Orthodox and Catholics fearfully awaited. Therefore, it is impossible to approach these works in a purely secular way. It is necessary to look for the meanings that the author lays in them. The Slovo researchers have been doing this for almost two hundred years.
Igor's Campaign
Once in the Bible it was said that Shem, Ham, Japheth, the sons of the righteous Noah, divided the earth, and there was an agreement that they did not violate each other's lands. One must and must defend one's land, but it is strictly forbidden to go on conquest campaigns. It is this ban that Igor Svyatoslavovich violates.
A year before his campaign, the Polovtsians were defeated. On that campaign, they set out on the second week of Great Lent. And they fought on Friday, also on the day of fasting. And the Lord gave them the victory. Prince Igor could not take part in that campaign because of the diseased hooves of his horses, which were injured on the ice. Igor's army was forced to return. He did not win fame then.
Unnecessary hike
And now he craves her, and the defeated Polovtsy are weak, they will not be able to resist him. He resolutely goes on a campaign to a foreign land not to defend himself, but to win we alth, and honor, and glory. This alone is already bad and contrary to the biblical commandments, it is driven by pride - the greatest sin. And God gives himsign - stop, turn back. He sends out a total solar eclipse.
So full that only the stars in the sky are visible during the day, and the sun looks like a thin crescent moon. This is how the Laurentian Chronicle describes it. But Igor can't even be stopped by that. He hurries to break the spear, to drink water with a helmet, that is, to conquer the Polovtsian lands. He wants to prove that last year he was not afraid of his former Polovtsy allies and this time, against all odds, he will prove to everyone that he is a brave warrior. And his boyars lowered their heads. They understood what a test would be. The Kayala River just won't work for them.
Continuation of the hike
And Igor, and his brother Vsevolod, who is Igor's vassal, and his son Vladimir, and his nephew, Prince Svyatoslav, see, as the poet describes, an army covered in mist. But Igor persists. He thinks it's better to die. Let there be a battle on the Kayala River, rather than wait at home with fear of a Polovtsian raid. “I want,” he says, “either lay down his head, or defeat the Polovtsy.”
Yes, the prince of the military spirit was filled and filled his companions with it. And God's sign is getting stronger and stronger. Russian bright land remained behind them. The night moaned like a thunderstorm, the birds woke up, as if trying to make Igor think, the gophers whistled too. All nature seeks to stop Igor on his path, at the end of which there will be death.
March to destruction
These terrible and menacing signs reinforce the impression of the future tragic outcome of a fewIgor's troops. And formidable wolves, assistants to the Polovtsians, are already settling in ravines, waiting for unexpected prey, birds of prey sit on the battlefield on oaks, waiting for the prey. It turns out that steppe animals either sympathize with the Russians, worry about them, or threaten them and rage.
Yes, the good bright Russian land is already behind the hills - only darkness lies ahead. A small detachment, five thousand people, is approaching the Don, where, perhaps, the Kayala River flows. Modern amateur readers see Potudan in Kayala, flowing into the Don.
Tmutarakan
This area was located in the area of present-day Taman. The Byzantines called it differently - Tamatarha. But in the 11th century it was a Russian principality with a large Russian population and was ruled by the Chernigov princes. Isn't that why Igor saw her as his inheritance, his "fatherland", forcibly torn away by the Polovtsy, which should be returned. On the spurs of the Caucasus Mountains, in the gorges, the Kayala River may have originated. This is where she was, by the poet's definition, fast. And the plain and steppe rivers are all smooth, with a slow course, and the battle took place on the Kayala River in its quiet, calm course.
The night before the battle
In the long, fading night, Igor's army waits for the fight. The author rightly noted that a sleepless night with tense expectation always seems tediously long and unsettling.
The night descended gradually, the morning came… It brightens, the dawn rises, its light drops. The fields were covered in mist. The nightingales fell silent. The jackdaws have awakened. Herefiguratively it is said about the change of night to day, since the nightingale is a night bird, and the jackdaw is a day bird. And by the morning the Russian soldiers were lined up in battle order. And the Polovtsy, with great haste, along impassable roads, through swamps and gats, approached Igor's army. The battle on the Kayala River is about to begin (year 1185 from the birth of Christ).
First encounter
But the Polovtsians cannot be taken by surprise. And Igor counted on it. Igor's troops lined up in battle order. Four of them were major. In the center - the regiment of Igor himself, on the right - the regiment of Vsevolod, on the left - Svyatoslav, Igor's nephew, in front - Vladimir, the son of Igor. By the way, he was 14 years old. And he had to be the first to take the hit. In front of the formation stood the best archers, the best of all the regiments.
And the fight began
With a short word, Igor encouraged his army and princes. And the battle on the Kayala River began (date - May 5, 1185, Friday). The Polovtsians also lined up their archers. They fired their bows and ran back. The battle formation of the Polovtsy was destroyed. The advanced regiments pursued them. Igor and Vsevolod, without haste, walked, keeping the battle formation. Good luck on Friday accompanied them. They captured prisoners and took possession of the nomadic dwellings of the Polovtsy on carts. Part of the regiments chased the filthy for a long time, until night, and returned back with full. According to the Ipatiev Chronicle, the Russians captured rich booty after the first skirmish. These were rich Byzantine fabrics, highly valued everywhere, blankets and bedspreads, outerwear lined with expensive fur and covered with expensive fabrics, embroidered with gold threads and spears, and bunchuks -ponytails on a shaft, which served as a sign of power. The bunchuk's hair was dyed red.
Day two and three
Poetically, the scribe describes black clouds coming from the sea. This metaphor serves in folk poetry as a symbol of the approaching enemy. These thunderclouds want to cover our brave princes and their army. And blue-violet lightnings tremble, sparkle, rush about in the clouds. Everything was shrouded in mist.
The battle, as usual, began from afar with a shootout of archers who were moving ahead of the formation. A fair wind from the sea, like clouds, gave the Polovtsy an advantage. Their arrows accurately hit the target, while the Russian soldiers flew off in different directions arbitrarily. As a symbol of sadness, the poet depicts a picture of muddy flowing rivers, stirred up in their upper reaches by heavy rain. This muddy water, which means grief-sadness in folk poetry, depicts a picture of impending misfortune. She foreshadows the defeat of Igor on the Kayala River. And the dust is thrown up in the scorched steppe by a pre-storm whirlwind. "The evil, unfaithful silushka rises." There were a lot of Polovtsy. They surrounded the small detachment like a dense forest, in a dense ring through which it was impossible to break through.
A sad end
Igor tried to reach the Donets for three days. People suffered from thirst, and even more horses. There were many wounded and killed in the Russian regiments. The dead are covered with green papoloma, that is, black burial cloth, but here it is meant that they are covered with grass.
From morning to evening, the army fought desperately. The soldiers fought on the second night, and at dawn the kovuis (Turkic warriors,living in the Chernihiv principality). Igor could not keep them. And on the way back he was taken prisoner. He saw how his brother Vsevolod was fighting and asked, according to the chronicle, death, so as not to see the death of his brother. Of the entire Russian army, a dozen and a half people were saved. The rest drowned.
For the first time the Russian army suffered a terrible defeat. This particular tragedy attracted so much attention to Igor's campaign. And stories about the steppe campaign of the Russian prince were compiled. And regarding the Kayala River, it should be said that its search is the task of historians, geographers and archaeologists. Perhaps her traces have disappeared, just as the battlefields of Igor disappeared.
