Urazovka

Urazovka occupies a central place among the settlements located in the basin of the Para River (namely Antyarovka, Aktukovo, Kadomka, and Kuzminka). These five settlements now form a distinctive kind of metropolitan cluster, with more than 6,000 people living within a 3-kilometer radius. For several preceding centuries, Urazovka was not distinguished by a large population. According to statistical data from 1790, Urazovka had the same number of souls as Kadomka and Ovchy Ovrag, and fell significantly behind Medyana, Yendovishchi, Karga, and many others. A sharp increase in the village's population came in the twentieth century, especially during the years of Soviet Power, when it became the administrative center of the Tatar District and simultaneously developed into an economic and cultural hub. Today Urazovka ranks among the most populous rural settlements in the southeastern part of the Region. In addition to Tatars, Russians and Mordva also live and work there. No precise information exists about the time and circumstances of the village's founding. A tradition preserved in local memory holds that the aforementioned settlements arose simultaneously. The founders of these settlements were brothers named Uraz, Aktuk, Kadum, and Kyzem. According to another version, the founder of Kadomka was Uraz's in-law (Kodam avyly), and the founder of Kuzminki was Uraz's daughter (Kyzym avyly) — hence, it is claimed, the names of these settlements. The Tatar names of the settlements are formed identically, from the names of their founders with the addition of the word "avyly." Only Aktukovo, after relocating to a new site, came to be called "Yangapar" (Novyy Par, meaning New Par). The kinship ties among the founders were also reflected in folklore — old chastushkas (Russian folk ditties) group these settlements together: "the villages of Uraz, Kyzem, and Kadom are sturdy (bik khuat); there the mistresses come out to drive the herd with fire-pokers." Among Tatars living in Finland, another version of the chastushka has been preserved: "the villages of Uraz, Kadom, and Kyzem are large. Ah, how hard it is to leave them." There are several versions of the origin of the Tatars of this region. One version belongs to G. N. Akhmarov, who conducted an expedition through Tatar-Mishar lands at the beginning of the twentieth century. In his view, the Tatar-Mishars were Nogai Tatars, migrants from Asia, whose settlement in the Volga Region began in the thirteenth century. In this area they settled at the beginning of the seventeenth century following the Nogai incursion of 1612. This incursion also affected the interests of the local Tatars, since the Nogais sought the freedom to move with their herds across the steppe lands of the Posurye and Pripyanye regions, as had been the custom in earlier times. Their intentions came into conflict with the need to colonize the territory and populate it with a sedentary population, primarily Tatar-Mishars. In the upper reaches of the Pyana River and the lower course of the Alatyr, one of the largest battles in the southeastern part of the territory took place, in which local Tatars fought alongside Russians and Mordva. The assertion that the Pripyana Tatars were Nogais is unconvincing. Two groups of local Tatars took part in the battle — the Alatyr Tatars led by Bayush Rozgildeyev and the Pripyana Tatars led by Yamash Mangushev. Their contributions were highly commended, and the Tatars settled there (referred to in the charter as Arzamas Tatars) received the right to use the lands they had occupied. It should also be noted that although Nogais are called Tatars, they differ significantly from Tatar-Mishars in language, culture, and traditions. As for the Arzamas Tatars of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, their origins are varied — among them we find both native local Tatars and migrants from Meschera, from the Astrakhan lands, and from the Akhtuba region. There is yet another version of the origin of the Tatars of the Para. It is found in the works of L. L. Trube, concerns Kadomka above all, and was based on the superficial resemblance between the name of the Meshchera town of Kadom and Kadomka. The author argues that the Tatars of Kadomka transferred this name from Meschera. This conclusion naturally extends to all the neighboring settlements, implying that they were founded by migrants from Meschera. The only unambiguous fact in the history of Urazovka is that it took its name from the founder of the settlement, Uraz. The difficulty of identifying the specific Uraz lies in the fact that Uraz is a widely common name among Turkic peoples and Tatars, rooted in the word "uraz" or "oraz," meaning happiness. This name appears in documents from the thirteenth through seventeenth centuries. Settlements bearing the name Uraz exist in many regions of the Volga area and the Urals — an Urazovka in Korsun Uyezd of Simbirsk Governorate, Ruzayevka in Mordovia, several settlements called Urazovo in Tatarstan, and others. The presumed founder of Urazovka is Uraz Murza, a prince and son of Kulunchak. This can be inferred from a letter of the Kasimov Tsar Uraz-Muhammad, dated March 2, 1609, addressed to one of the voivodes of the False Dmitry, Sapega, during his stay in the Mushinsky Stan. It was there that supporters of the False Dmitry were gathering to move against V. I. Shuisky. The letter states that by decree of the False Dmitry, Temnikov's Uraz Murza Prince, son of Kulunchak, along with his companions, was released to Temnikov for state service and was to march toward Arzamas. Uraz-Muhammad asked Sapega to allow him passage to his designated destination and to grant him a travel warrant under his own seal, so that no harm should befall them on the road. The theory that this particular murza Uraz was the founder of the settlement is supported by local traditions about Uraz's princely origins and by accounts of the descendants of Uraz's connections with Tatar nobles. This information was recorded in its time by the well-known local historians Farakhsha Yunisov and S. S. Averkiyev, based on the testimony of Urazovka resident Abdulla Khayretdinov (who was still known in the postwar years by the nickname Urys Abdulla). Identifying the person of Uraz — founder of the settlement — with Uraz Murza from Temnikov makes it possible to characterize his origins in some detail. Uraz's father Kulunchak belonged to the princely clans of the Kugushevs and Tenishevs — Kugush was Kulunchak's great-grandfather and Tenish was his grandfather. Kulunchak's father Yenikey was known as the leader of the Temnikov Tatars. Before Ivan the Terrible's campaign against Kazan, he was appointed commander of the Temnikov and Alatyr border watch posts. In 1552 he was summoned to build bridges along the route of the army's march to Kazan. His son Kulunchak became the progenitor of the princely Kulunchakov clan. The name Kulunchak derives from the Tatar word "kolunchak," meaning a "strigún" — a yearling stallion. Hence the clan's emblem (there was no formal coat of arms): a golden foal on a green field. According to the genealogical table presented in the aforementioned book, Kilmamay Murza was the sole continuer of the Kulunchakov line. The writer A. I. Kuprin, who took pride in his descent on his mother's side from Princess Lyubov Alekseyevna, used a flag bearing this Kulunchakov emblem. One of Kilmamay's great-grandsons, Seit, converted to Christianity (taking the baptismal name Fyodor). The Muslim Kulunchakov clan, having lost its noble privileges at the beginning of the eighteenth century, died out. The continuers of this line became "bast-sandal murzy," that is, ordinary state peasants. A charter survives concerning the division of Yenikey's estate and inheritance, issued to Yenikey's widow Saltana. It reveals the beginnings of the Kulunchakov clan. Yenikey's widow Saltana and her daughter, Princess Yumlai, were granted a village with 50 chetverts of land in recognition of Yenikey's services. Kilmamay Murza and Uraz Murza, as his sons, retained their father's estates — the "tamga," as well as the "pozemnyye i polavochnyye" (ground and stall dues) and the Mordvinian yasak, a share of eleven and a quarter rubles. There is no information about Uraz's descendants in the genealogical book. In all likelihood, due to his participation in the insurgent movement of the Time of Troubles, he lost his privileges, and the authorities ceased to recognize him as a murza. This can be inferred from data of 1708, when the Simbirsk Reytar (cavalry) Regiment was formed from Alatyr and Kurmysh service Tatars. Of the 529 men called up for the regiment, only 5 were murzy — 3 in Stary Mochaley, 1 in Krasny Yar, and 1 in Kamkino. According to local tradition, Uraz Murza distinguished himself in the major battle against the Nogais that took place in the interfluve of the Alatyr and Pyana rivers. During a search of Tatar settlements to verify the possession of official charters for estates — an operation involving 240 inquisitors — he took under his protection the Tatars of the neighboring villages of Aktuk, Antyarovka, Kadomka, and Kuzminki, calling them his brothers and close kinsmen.