Author: Кенжаева, Наргиза Соатмуминовна

Annotation: This article is devoted to the analysis of the contribution of the early 20th-century Russian Orientalist A.A. Semenov to the study of the spiritual culture of the population of the Pamir and Cis-Pamir regions. The paper examines the process of the scientific discovery of Pamir Ismailiism — a unique religious movement that, due to the historical isolation of the region, long remained unknown to external researchers. The works of A.A. Semenov allowed for the identification of the specific features of «folk» Ismailiism, which preserved remnants of pre-islamic beliefs, concepts of the transmigration of souls, and in many ways contradicted the orthodox texts of Nasir Khusraw. The article also analyzes how the way of life and customs of the Pamir peoples were described through the prism of imperial scientific knowledge and the anthropological theories popular during that period.

Keywords: Pamir, spiritual culture, Pamir Ismailiism, Russian Orientalist, A.A. Semenov, ethnography, religious beliefs, historiography, Nasir Khusraw, Islamic studies.

Pages in journal: 139 - 148