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 Moksha women fromZubu. Photo by Ivan Dubasov, 19th century. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| ~ 19,869[1][2][3][4] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Russia: | 11,801[1] |
 Estonia | ~ 368 (with Erzya)[5] |
 Kazakhstan | 8,013 (with Erzya)[3] |
 Australia | < 15 (with Erzya)[4] |
| Languages | |
| Moksha,Russian,Tatar | |
| Religion | |
| Russian Orthodoxy,Lutheranism,Paganism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| otherVolga Finns, particularlyErzya | |
TheMokshas (alsoMokshans,Moksha people;Moksha:Мокшет/Mokšet) comprise aMordvinianethnic group belonging to theVolgaic branch of the Finno-Ugric peoples.[6] They live inRussia, mostly near theVolga andMoksha rivers,[7] a tributary of theOka River.
Their native language isMokshan, one of the two surviving members of theMordvinic branch of theUralic language family. According to a1994 Russian census, 49% of the autochthonalFinnic population inMordovia identified themselves as Mokshas, totaling more than 180,000 people.[8] Most Mokshas belong to theRussian Orthodox Church; other religions practised by Mokshas includeLutheranism[9] andpaganism.
According to popular tradition, the Russians first used the term "Mordva" to refer only to theErzya people,[11] but later used it for both the Erzyas and the Mokshas. The term "Moksha" (Russian:мокша) begins to appear in Russian sources in the 17th century.
Localnames for the Mokshas include:
The breakup of the Volga Finns into separate groups is believed to have begun around 1200 BC.[12] The Moksha people cannot be traced earlier because they did not possess a distinctive burial tradition before that time. According to archeological data, bodies in early Mokshan burials were oriented with their heads to the south. Herodotus also describes the Scythian-Persian war of 516–512 BC, which involved the entire population of the Middle Volga. During this war theSarmatians forced out theScythians and subdued some Moksha clans. During the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD,Antes,Slavs, Mokshas and Erzyas became the most numerous and powerful population in East Europe.[13] By the end of the 4th century, most Mokshas had joined the Hunnic tribal alliance, taken part in the defeat of the Ostrogothic Empire in 377, and subsequently moved eastward and settled in Pannonia. Evidence of the Hunnic connection includes Mokshan battle harnesses, especially the bits and psalia, which are identical to early Hunnic battle harnesses.[14] Archeological data show that the boundaries of Moksha territory did not change between the fourth and 8th centuries. In 450, the Mokshas were in alliance with a people of the Middle Volga known as theBurtas, who were possiblyAlans.[15][16]
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During thesecond Arab-Khazar War in 737, Arab armies under the command ofMarwan ibn Muhammad reached the right bank of the Volga and came into conflict with the Burtas on their way to the left or "Khazar" bank of Volga.[17] Circa 889–890, theKhazars were at war with the Burtas, theOghuz and thePechenegs. In 913, after a war between theArsiyah and the Rus' atAtil began, five thousand Rus' survivors escaped up the Volga where most of them were killed by the Burtas. In 932, the Khazar King Aaron formed a war alliance with the Oghuz. Circa 940, during the reign ofKing Joseph, the Khazars entered into an alliance with the Burtas.[18] Afterwards the Burtas Seliksa principality became a vassal of the Khazar khanate.[19] In 965,Sviatoslav I of Kiev “attacked the Khazars' allies, captured Sarkel and Bulgaria, and reached Semender” according to Ibn Haukal.[20] Two years later, after the Great Flood, he seized and destroyed Atil.[21] At the beginning of the 10th centuryAlmush (Almış) the king ofVolga Bulgaria took control of the "Khazar tribute". He converted toIslam, formed an alliance with the caliph ofBaghdadAl-Muktafi, and founded a trading post at the mouth of theOka river.[22]: 89 The Kievan prince Vladimir seizedBolghar in 985. King Almush and Prince Vladimir signed a peace and trade treaty in 1006 which was the beginning of an "eternal peace" that lasted for 80 years.[22]: 90 War for domination of theOka River and the Erzyan fortress Obran Osh started again in 1120.[22]: 93 PrinceYury of the city ofVladimir seizedOshel in 1220 and demanded a reduction of Bulgarian influence over the Erzyan kingdom (Purgas Rus). The latter was allied with Volga Bulgaria. Vladimirian princes captured and destroyed Obran Osh in 1221 and foundedNizhny Novgorod on the site. The Erzyan KingPurgaz and the Mokshan KingPuresh were at war and while Purgaz was allied with Volga Bulgaria, Puresh was an ally of Prince Yury.[22]:97–98 In 1230 Purgaz laid siege to Nizhny Novgorod but was defeated. After that Puresh's son PrinceAtämaz with hisPolovtsi allies raided into Purgaz's lands and completely destroyed his kingdom.[23]As recorded byRashid-al-Din in hisJami al-Tawarikh, 4 September 1236 was the date on which the sons ofJochi -Batu,Orda, andBerke,Ugedei's sonKadan,Chagatai's grandsonBüri, andGenghis Khan's son Kulkan declared war on the Mokshas, Burtas and Erzyas. This war ended on 23 August 1237 with a crucial victory for the Mongols at the Black Forest close to the border of thePrincipality of Ryazan.[24][25]
King Puresh of the Mokshans submitted toBatu Khan and was required personally to lead his army as a vassal in Mongol-Tartar military campaigns.[26]At the beginning of 1241 the Mongol army seizedKiev, then invadedPoland.Roger Bacon in hisOpus Majus[27] writes that the Mokshas were in the vanguard of the Mongol army and took part in the capture ofLublin andZawichost in Poland. Benedict Polone reports that the Mokshan army suffered serious losses during the capture ofSandomierz in February andKraków in March of the same year. On 9 April 1241 the Mongol army defeated the allied Polish and German armies at theBattle of Legnica. It is believed King Puresh was slain in that battle.[22]: 116 Shortly after that battle the Mokshan army declared to Batu that they refused to fight against Germans. According to reports by William Rubruck and Roger Bacon, the Mokshas had previously negotiated with the Germans and Bohemians regarding the possibility of joining their side in order to escape from their forced vassalage to Batu.[28] It is known thatSubutai ordered the punishment of the conspirators; thousands of Mokshas were put to death, but approximately a third escaped and returned to their homeland. Another third remained in the vanguard of the Mongol army and marched into Hungary through theVerecke Pass in March 1242, according to the Hungarian bishop Stephan II[29] and Matthew of Paris.[30]
Mokshas live mostly in the central and western parts of theRepublic of Mordovia, and neighbouring areas ofTambov Oblast and in the western and central parts ofPenza Oblast. Populations of Mokshas also live inOrenburg Oblast,Bashkortostan,Tatarstan,Altai Krai, as well as in diaspora communities inEstonia,Kazakhstan, theUnited States, andAustralia.
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Mokshas speak theMoksha language, which is a member of theMordvinic branch of theUralic languages.
In traditional Mokshan mythology the world was created byIńe Narmon (Great Bird), referred to in folklore asAkša Loksti (White Swan). The first thingIńe Narmon created was water.Yakśarga (Duck) brought sand from the bottom of the sea andIńe Narmon took the sand and with it formed the earth withIńe Šufta (The Great Tree) on it.Ińe Narmon made its nest onIńe Šufta, which is usually referred to asKelu (birch) in folklore.Akša Kal (White Sturgeon) carried the earth with the roots ofIńe Šufta on its back.Ińe Narmon had three nestlings:Tsofks (Nightingale),Kuku (Cuckoo), andOžarga (Skylark).Tsofks chose bushes and willows for his home,Kuku settled in the forest, andOžarga went to the meadows. Another of the old deities mentioned in Mokshan folklore wasMešavane (Mother Bee). Since the Christianization of the Mokshans the Mokshan Supreme God has usually been calledVärden Škai (Supreme Creator).
According to later legends the creation of the world went through several stages: first theIdemevs (Devil) was asked by the God to bring sand from the bottom of the great sea.Idemevs hid some sand in his mouth. WhenVärden Škai started creating the earth, this hidden sand started to grow in the mouth ofIdemevs. He had to spit it out and thus chasms and mountains appeared on the previously level and beautiful earth. The first humans created byVärden Škai could live for 700–800 years and were giants 99arshins (yards) tall. The underworld in Mokshan mythology was ruled byMastoratia. The souls of heroes, clan elders and warriors slain in battle travelled after death to the emerald green isle ofUsiya, where they sat at a long table together with the greatKing Ťušťen drinking pure mead.
The first to write about the anthropological characteristics of Moksha and Erzya was the German encyclopedist, naturalist and traveler in the Russian servicePeter Simon Pallas (1773), according to whose observations there were fewer light-blond and red-haired Mokshas than Erzyans, however, the latter also had dark blond hair.[31] In 1912, a course of lectures byStephan Kuznetsov [ru] was published, which notes the anthropological characteristics of the Mokshans and Erzyans, which states that the Mokshans have a greater variety of anthropological types. Compared to the Erzyans, who have a greater predominance of fair-haired, gray-eyed and light-skinned individuals, the Mokshas have a predominant number of people with black hair and eyes, dark, yellowish skin color.[32]
K.Yu. Mark distinguishes the Sub-Ural and North Pontic type among the Mokshans, and among the Erzyans — theSura type, close to theAtlanto-Baltic anthropological type [ru].[33] AnthropologistTatyana Ivanovna Alekseeva [ru] argued that in the Mokshans, compared to the Erzyans, the features ofSouthern Europeans are more noticeably manifested, and she attributes the Erzyans more to the circle ofNorthern Europeans.[34] V.E. Deryabin noted that the Moksha people have an Eastern European base, modified by aPontic anthropological component in combination with a slight Uraloid admixture.[35] According to the publication of the Russian Academy of Sciences (2000) edited byAleksandr Zubov [ru], the Erzyans belong to theWhite Sea-Baltic [ru] version of the Caucasian race, which is represented, in addition to the Erzyans, by the majority of the Baltic Finnish-speaking peoples and part of the Komi-Zyryans. The Mokshas belong to the Ural race, within which the Mokshas are classified as the Sub-Ural subtype.[36] The anthropological difference between the Erzyans and Mokshas, who are basicallyCaucasian race and subethnic groups of one of the most anthropologically homogeneous peoples, lies, in particular, in the fact that the Atlantic and North Pontic types are to some extent superimposed on the White Sea-Baltic basis of the Mordovians. The first type is represented predominantly among the Erzyans, the second — among the Mokshans, although both types are present in both categories of the population.[37] Anthropologically, Moksha was formed as a result of the mixing of various types (White Sea, Pontic, East Baltic) of the Caucasian race.[38]
As a result ofO.P. Balanovsky [ru] singled out four main types of maps of genetic distances – "Eastern European", "North-Eastern", "North-Balkan", "South-Balkan", which includedSlavic,Baltic, some Finno-Ugric and other peoples ofEurope, however, maps of distances from Moksha do not belong to any of these types, which, according to the scientist, indicates the genetic identity of the Moksha people. The gene pool of the Finno-Ugric peoples itself has a high interpopulation diversity and a low intrapopulation diversity.[39]:331
For the analysis ofmitochondrial DNA, data on the frequencies of 16haplogroups were used – A, C, D, H, HV, I, J, K, T, U2, U3, U4, U5a, U5b, V, W. The analysis showed a significant difference ingene pools of Finno-Ugric populations (including the peoples of Moksha and Erzya) from the followinggene pools of Europe – the population of theRussian North,[40]Norwegians,Germans and otherGerman-speaking peoples, as well asIrish,Slavs (otherRussians,Belarusians,Ukrainians,Czechs,Slovaks,Poles,Slovenes andBosnians),Balts,Hungarians andSwedes. All western and eastern Finnish-speaking peoples (exceptEstonians) –Finns,Karelians,Mari,Komi, Moksha andErzya fell into separate clusters, being genetically distant from the entire European mitochondrial array, including northern Russian populations and other Slavs.[39]: 227–228 ; illustration 6.18[40]: 43
The genetic landscape of the Mokshans according to theY-chromosome haplogroups testifies to the great originality of their gene pool, since it covers a small area of the middle reaches of theVolga, limited to its right bank. The performed analysis of the Y-chromosome haplogroups indicates a significant genetic difference between Moksha not only from the gene pool of the Slavic and other neighboring peoples, but also from theErzya[41] gene pool, despite their close geographic location;[39]: 183 ; illustration 5.27[42] data on the frequencies of 15 Y-chromosome haplogroups showed that the Moksha and Erzya populations are not included in a single cluster.[41]
Data ofpopulation geneticists of the Y-chromosome on the haplogroups of the Mokshans of theStaroshaigovsky district ofMordovia: R1a — 26,5%, J2 — nd (20,5%), N3 (TAT) — 16,9%, R1b — 13,3%, I1 — 12%, I2b — 4,8%, N2 (P43) — 2,4%, I2 — 2,4%, K*(M9) — 1,2%.[43] Mitochondrial DNA by haplogroup: H — 41,5%, U5 — 18,9%, T — 7,6%, U2 — 5,7%, J — 5,7%, V — 5,7%, U4 — 3,8%, I — 3,8%, T1 — 1,9%, R — 1,9%, D — 1,9%, other — 1,9%.[44]
Y-chromosome data on Moksha haplogroups of the Erzya-Moksha-MescherFamily Tree DNA genetic project: R1a — 29%, J2b — 19%, J2a — 14%, G2a — 14%, N1c — 9%, E1b — 5%, R1b — 5%, J1 — 5%.[45]
When it comes toautosomal DNA, Mokshas show homogeneity with Erzyas. Like other Uralic-speaking populations, they carry aNganasan-like Siberian component that accounts for about 11% of their admixture.[46]
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