THE EPIC " <i>КЫССАИ СЯКАМ</i>": THE IMAGE OF THE TRANSFORMED HERO
The article deals with the religious and heroic epic of the Tatar people “ Кыссаи Сякам “. Tracing the evolution of the epic biography of the main hero and his heroic deeds the author identifies the leading motives of creation of the image of the fundamental and religious (didactic) batyr and analyzes some epic techniques of reconstruction of the portrait characteristic of Syakam as a dastan image. The attention is also drawn to the transformation of the role of the protagonist with his functional purpose.