The legend of Kabanbai Batyr

In 1691, in the village of Zharbulak, Urdzhar district, a boy was born in the family of Kozhagul, who was named Yerasyl – “noble”. As a teenager, he was ahead of many of his peers in physical development and received the nickname Narbala, that is, “a tall youngster”. The Dzungars invaded the Kazakh lands, and in the battle for Lake Alakol and the height of Barlyk, on the southern side of the Tarbagatai Mountains, Yerasyl’s father, the brave Kozhagul, died. And then the elder brother Yesentai also fell at the hands of the enemy batyr.

The enemy abused the dead body of Yesentai, and Yerasyl swore revenge.

Retribution came quickly. Having made his way into the enemy’s camp, under the guise of a Dzungarian warrior and waiting for midnight, the young avenger plunged a dagger into the heart of a stranger who was dumbfounded by surprise…

Having thrown off the trail of the chase, the horseman rushed at dawn to the village of his brother-in-law Berdaulet and a couple of days later it was here, on the bank of the Zaisan, that he performed the feat of killing with a spear those who attacked people and a herd of wild boars, after which people begin to call him, Yerasyl, nicknamed Narbala, no other than Kabanbai.