Manuscript of the Kyrgyz epic Manas by the narrator Sagymbay Orozbakov

The epic Manas traditionally delivered in an exclusively oral way and has been recognized as the national pride, identity and historical memory of the Kyrgyz people. The transcription of the epic Manas, made from 1922 to 1926, was the first specially planned and organized event in the country. The manuscript consists of 10 handwritten books. In a group of narrators, Sagymbay Orozbakov believed to be the best and identified as the classical. His version of the epic is still considered as the fullest and artily valuable. The transcription of the epic was significant and timely because it was the period of transition of the Kyrgyz people from a nomadic way of life to the settled, which posed a threat of disappearance of the oral transmitting of the epic heritage. Therefore, the transcription of the epic to paper was vital and necessary to transmit and to give the second breath of life to it in a book form.