Margaska (the date of birth and death are unknown) was a Kazakh akyn (poet), a storyteller, batyr. He lived in the first half of the XVII century under Esim khan.
Very few data remained about his life. It is known that he was batyr (warrior), one of the leaders of Esim khan’s army, participated in fights and campaigns, sang of heroism and courage of soldiers. Writing songs devoted to campaigns he continued and developed traditions of an ancient song genre. From a set of works of the akyn-improvisator only some poems reached up to now.
In 1627 Margaska-zhyrau participated in the subjection of the rebels lifted in Tashkent by Tursyn khan against Esim khan. In the work «Hey, the Tursyn khan, the governor of the Katagans» he accuses the governor of Tashkent of treacherous attack on the Kazakh aul, destruction of innocent people. Written in wartime and filled with historical data «The legend to Katagan Tursyn khan» says that the author was the ardent poet storyteller, had perfect poetic skills, and was bright and eloquently described events of those years. Margaska-zhyrau was one of primogenitors of a historical song genre in the Kazakh literature. There are assumptions that the legend «Ensegey boily yer Esim» («Big batyr Esim») is his authorship and tells about life and heroic deeds, military campaigns of the legendary Esim khan, consisting of seven thousand poetic lines.
Margaska-zhyrau's legends are of great importance for the studying that period of history full of drama events in life of the Kazakh people.
