Bukhar Zhyrau

Bukhar Zhyrau was a Kazakh poet and adviser of the eighteenth century, the most famous of the zhyrau, poet-counsellors who advised rulers in verse. He served Abylai Khan and urged unity among the Kazakhs against the Dzungars and caution towards Russia and China. Tradition gives him a very long life. His poems, preserved orally and written down in the nineteenth century, are a major source for Kazakh history and thought.