By Vestnik Kavkaza
October 15th this year was the 200th birthday of Mikhail Yuriyevich Lermontov. The poet was in love with the Caucasus. He was four years old when he first visited it. And after that his grandmother often took him there. Svetlana Temirbulatova, the director of the Lermontov Literature Museum in the village of Paraboch in the Shelkovskoy district of Chechnya, told Vestnik Kavkaza why the Caucasus inspired Lermontov. Officially the museum was opened on June 3rd, 2006, in the former house of Khastatov, who was a successor of natives of Armenia.
- How was Lermontov connected with the Shelkovskoy Region?
- He was connected directly. When he was four, his grandmother took him here to her sister Yekaterina Alexeyevnaz who lived in the house of the Khastatovs.
Akim Khastatov served in the Russian army, participated in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791; when he resigned as Major General, he married Ekaterina Stolypina. They had children: Maria, Anna, and Akim. Khastatov died in 1809 in St. Petersburg. His widow and children moved to the North Caucasus where they lived in Goryachevodsk and in Terek. In 1818 her sister Yelizaveta Arsenyeva and her grandson Misha Lermontov visited Ekaterina Alexeyevna for the first time. Yelizaveta Alexeyevna took him to Goryachie Vody, as Misha had weak health. After that he took Larmontov from Mazdok to the house in Shelkozavodskoe, the distance was 150 km.
It was 1818. We are proud of the fact that little Michael played in the yard where our museum is situated now. He played with the children of Ekaterina Alexeyevna Maria and Anna.
The children of the Khastanovs were friends of little Michael; during his life their paths would have crossed many times. The time spent in his aunt’s house impressed the future poet so much. He heard songs of the Greben Cossacks for the first time, their stories about mountain people, battles, and adventures. Chechens and Kumyks who sold various stuff came to the house. Misha Lermontov listened to their song and watched their dances.
- How did you manage to preserve the house during the two wars in Chechnya?
- It is a quite place. It was founded by a Hungarian Paraboch, who was invited from Astrakhan. The house was built in 1760. But during all these years no bullet has ever touched the house. Probably it was due to the fact that it was well-known to both sides.
There was a cellar in front of it, and people could hide there during wars. The military events took place over the Terek River, and the distance to the Terek was 1km. The building wasn’t damaged, even though there was no museum at the time.
- The years of living in the Caucasus were reflected in Lermonov’s works. Did he write about the place?
- Of course! He wrote the famous “Cossack Lullaby”, when he travelled from Mozdok to Chervlennaya Station. It was his first relegation in 1837 for the poem “ Death of the Poet", devoted to Pushkin’s death. It was nighttime, when Lermontov came to Chervlennaya. He stayed at an inn. When he entered, the poet saw a beautiful Cossack woman lulling a baby in a cradle and she sang: “An evil Chechen is crawling on the bank and sharpening his dagger.” There are notations to the poem. The “Lullaby” was written on the basis of local folklore, tales, and legends – the Caucasus War, the Terek, “Terek Gorynych” (a folk song of the Greben Cossacks). It is a metaphor.
Lermontov heard some words of the Cossack woman’s song and wrote down these words to remember them.
The Chervlennaya Village is famous throughout the whole world, as the poem was translated into German by a German poet, Lermontov’s friend. The poem was popular in Germany. Germany learned about Chervlennaya and a beautiful Cossack woman, who was later described by Alexander Dumas. The poem translated into German became popular in Europe, and Lermontov became well-known in the world, as well as Chervlennaya.
- We know that Lermontov’s roots are from Scotland. Do you have information about this?
- Lermontov’s roots come from various places. I am not a Lermontologist, I am the director of a museum. But the North Caucasus people especially love Lermontov, they consider him to be a local person. He was more a Caucasian or a Russian. The Scottish story is a story, and we don’t deny it. His biography starts from Duke Lerma or Thomas Lermont, Yuri Petrovich Lermontov (his grand-grandfather), Peter Yuriyevich (grandfather), Yuri Petrovich Lermontov (father)… Even Merezhkovsky wrote that Lermontov’s biography has many blank spots, it is not studied well, there are many mysteries, which Yelizaveta Alexeyevna kept secret.
- How is Chechnya celebrating Lermontov’s birthday?
- A solemn ceremony took place at the Lermontov State Theatre in Grozny. Actors performed fragments of plays and sang lyrical songs. It was creative intelligentsia. The festival “Folklore of the North Caucasus People” was held in the Shelkovskoy Region, representatives of folklore centers of the Stavropol Region, Mozdok, Dagestan, the Tatar Cultural Center, the Cossack Cultural Center, and the Russian Cultural Center participated in it. A fancy dress ball was held.’
A Chechen actor played the role of Lermontov. Cossacks, Tatars, Chechens danced there. I presented our museum to Lermontologists from Moscow. There was an exhibition of a People’s Artist of the USSR, Boris Semenov, who gave us 14 replicas of Lermontov as a gift.
Our state television and radio company “Grozny” shot a documentary here. Lermontov left his atmosphere in the house.
