Chakh Akhriev

From 1862 to 1868, he studied at the Stavropol Gymnasium [ru], after which he returned to Furtoug, and started collecting folklore and ethnographic materials.

From 1870 to 1874, Akhriev studied at the Nizhyn Lyceum [ru], after which he relocated to Elizavetpol Governorate, where he worked for the administrative authorities of the cities of Yevlakh and Nukha.

[3] Akhriev's informants were the elders of the mountain villages of Ingushetia who witnessed the events and ceremonies of 18th-century Ingush culture and remembered stories about the lifves of their 17th-century ancestors.

On 24 November 1882, Akhriev was appointed an agent for managing state property in the districts of the Elizavetpol Governorate, and from 31 January 1889, he worked as an official on special assignments to supervise the populated lands and quitrent articles.

On 28 September 1912, he submitted a resignation letter due to poor health, and he was dismissed from the rank of collegiate counselor.

According to him, in the past, a man's warlike life put him in a freer attitude towards work; rich nature has a very beneficial effect.

[5] Akhriev's son Rashid-Bek became an aviator of the Soviet Air Forces and was the first pilot to originate in the North Caucasus region.

[3] On 26 January 2005, Akhriev was posthumously awarded the Order of Merit for "outstanding services in the field of ethnography and many years of scientific activity" by Murat Zyazikov.

[15] According to professor of North Ossetian State University Leonid Semyonov [ru]:[5] Chakh Akhriev's works are ethnographic in nature and varied in topics.

All his notes and articles are very informative, revealing the author’s excellent acquaintance with the spirit of the country, with the peculiarities of its unique way of life and ancient culture.Professor of Ingush Research Institute of the Humanities Ibragim Dakhkilgov [ru]:[16] said: Chakh Elmurzievich Akhriev is rightfully our national pride.

His legacy is of great importance not only for the history, sociology and folkloristics of his people, but also for all Caucasian studies.Ingush writer and poet Vakha Khamkhoev [ru][17] wrote: He [Chakh Akhriev], like his contemporaries Adil-Girey Dolgiev, Inal Bekbuzarov, Aslanbek Bazorkin, Saadulla Akhriev, made his worthy contribution to the education of his people.During Akhriev's lifetime, scientists, scholars, archaeologists, ethnographers, and Russian lawyers such as Fyodor Leontovich [ru], Bashir Dalgat [ru] and Maksim Kovalevsky referred to his works in their studies.

[5] Akhriev's works that contained newly recorded legends about the emergence of Ingush societies and the founding of some auls, along with materials about the Chechens collected by Adolf Berge and Umalat Laudaev, served as the only primary sources the first Soviet authors incorrectly used to judge the histories of the Chechens and Ingush.

The typical features of the legends were that in the Middle Ages, the Chechens and Ingush arrived at their modern lands from somewhere else, and that the ancestors of individual teips came from very different regions, such as Georgia, Syria and Persia.

Family tree of Elmurza, Peda, Murgust and Temurko [ ru ] Akhrievs (in Russian). Chakh Akhriev is indicated as " Chaga (12 year old)".
Akhriev sitting on the right.
Headstone at the grave of Akhriev in 1928.