Shamanistic elements in Bashkir Epics

The study was conducted to reveal the extent to which the Bashkir Turks living on the slopes of Ural Mountain, situated between Europe and Asia, reflected the Shamanic elements in their legendary creations. The study is organized into entry, two parts and a result. At the introduction, informations were given about the Bashkortostan and Bashkir Turks, Epic and Bashkir Epic Tradition. Under the heading of Bashkortostan and Bashkir Turks, information was given about the history, social and economic status of Bashkir Turks and Bashkortostan geography; In the epic title, the definitions and explanations on the epic were mentioned; In the last title of this chapter, the tradition of Bashkir Turks' epic were mentioned. At the first chapter, the literature search on Turkish old belief Shamanism was done. By examining many sources at this stage, Shamanism was introduced with basic qualifications. At the second chapter which constitutes the basis of the study, the series of 4 volumes "Bashkir Epics" published by the Turkish Language Institution in 2015 was dealt with in terms of the existence of Shamanistic elements. Here, 74 epics were examined under 14 main headings. At the conclusion, comments about the Shamanistic elements found intensively in the Bashkir Turks' epics were made and finally a general evaluation was made about the study. Key words: Bashkir, Shamanism, Epic, Motif