Manapy

(singular, manap), members of Kirghiz feudal-tribal aristocracy who had the right, acknowledged by their tribe, to mete out justice and to lead in times of war.

The manapy were part of the social framework of the north Kirghiz tribes. By the early 19th century the title of manap and its attendant privileges had become hereditary. The most powerful manapy owned huge herds and extensive pastures. In the late 19th century and especially in the early 20th century the big bais (wealthy stock raisers, merchants, and landowners) and the manap retainers became manapy, while the poorer manapy lost their power over the peasants in vassalage to them. Most of the rank-and-file members of the tribes were in bondage to the manapy and were cruelly exploited. After Kirghizia was incorporated into Russia, the manapy became reliable supporters of the tsarist colonial regime. In 1919-24 they were active in counterrevolutionary mutinies. The manap institution was abolished by Soviet power in the late 1920’s.