{{Infobox military conflict | conflict = Darial Ambush | partof = Kabardian–Ingush conflict | date = Mid-16th century | place = Darial Gorge | result = Ingush-Kakhetian victory{{efn|Ingush legends suggest a Kabardian warrior stated as: ''"If it weren't for those sitting beyond the river, (Georgians) your victory would not have happened!"''<ref name="makhinan" />}} | combatant1 = {{flagicon|Ingushetia}} Ingush Societies<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of Kingdom of Kakheti.svg}} Kingdom of Kakheti | combatant2 = {{flagicon image| Flag of Kabardia.svg}} Kabardia (East Circassia) | commander1 = {{flagicon|Ingushetia}} Cha Eala<br>{{flagicon|Ingushetia}} Cherbazh Eala<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of Kingdom of Kakheti.svg}} Levan of Kakheti | commander2 = {{flagicon image| Flag of Kabardia.svg}} Asakhmet Asekhu{{KIA}} | strength1 = {{flagicon|Ingushetia}} 14{{efn|Cherbazh, Cha,<ref name="cha" /> and 12 sons of Cherbazh.<ref name="makhinan">{{Cite web |date=2021-07-21 |title=Захват галгаевских территорий в 1562 году объединенной русско-ногайско-кабардинской коалицией // Никоновская летопись, ПСЛР, том 13 и «Махкинан». Газета КАВКАЗЪ 1895 г. |url=https://ghalghay.com/2021/07/21/okkupaciya-galgayskih-territoriy/ |access-date=2026-05-22 |language=ru-RU}}</ref>}}<br>{{flagicon image|Flag of Kingdom of Kakheti.svg}} Unknown{{efn|Must be comparable to the Kabardian forces, as the legend Makhinan suggests the Georgian forces "besieged the Kabardians", which numbered more than 50 warriors.<ref name="makhinan" />}} | strength2 = {{flagicon image| Flag of Kabardia.svg}} More than 50 | casualties1 = None | casualties2 = About 50 killed or ran away<ref name="makhinan" /> | campaignbox = }}
The '''Ambush in''' '''the Darial Gorge''' is a 16th-century engagement described in Ingush oral tradition, in which the brothers Cha and Cherbazh are said to have destroyed a Kabardian raiding party in the Darial Gorge. The episode is preserved in ethnographic records collected in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
This event is folkloric and is based on Ingush oral tradition, it is not recorded in any contemporary historical sources.
== Historical Context == Based on references to King Levan of Kakheti (r. 1518-1574), who is said to have granted the brothers land following the event, the narrative is generally placed in the mid-16th century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Далгат |first=Б. К. |url=https://ghalghay.com/2020/02/23/cherbizh/#more-3931|title=Предание о подвиге Чербыша, истребившего на Военно-Грузинской дороге |journal=Этнографическое обозрение |issue=1 |year=1901 |page=63 |language=ru}}</ref>
The story recounts two brothers, Cha and Cherbazh, from the village of Erzi. While hunting in the upper Darial Gorge, Cherbazh reportedly experienced a supernatural warning from an elderly figure dressed in white, who appeared to him in a dream and warned of an approaching band of raiders. After repeated visions, the brothers prepared for battle. They set two ambush positions in a narrow section of the gorge. One above and one below the path. The brothers are said to have destroyed the entire raiding party, sparing only one survivor in order to spread word of their victory.<ref name="cha">{{Cite book |last=Далгат |first=У.Б. |title=Героический эпос чеченцев и ингушей. Исследование и тексты |date=1972 |pages=396}}</ref>
== Aftermath == News of the destruction of the raiders reached the Georgian royal authorities, which had previously been unable to suppress the group. In recognition of their actions, King Levan of Kakheti granted Cha the lands along the Kistinka Gorge and Cherbazh the territory surrounding present-day Gveleti.
Late 19th-century accounts describe Gveleti as a former Georgian frontier settlement, where Ingush from the village of Erzi were granted lands by the Georgian kings in order to secure the northern border of the kingdom against raids from Kabardian and Ossetian groups. These lands extended toward Mount Kazbek and the Terek River.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Кавказский вестник. № 11 |date=1900 |pages=150}}</ref>
According to Bersnako Gazikov, the settlement described in Russian reports from 1589 as "Cherebashev tavern" in Gveleti derived its name from Cherbazh after his conflict with the Kabardians.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-03-10 |title=ТЕРРИТОРИЯ ИНТЕРЕСОВ |url=https://ghalghay.com/2010/03/10/%d1%82%d0%b5%d1%80%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%82%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d1%8f-%d0%b8%d0%bd%d1%82%d0%b5%d1%80%d0%b5%d1%81%d0%be%d0%b2/ |access-date=2026-05-22 |language=ru-RU}}</ref>
thumb|right|Taverns of northeast Caucasus, "Cherebashev's Kabaki (tavern)" located in bottom left of the map.
== References == {{reflist}}
==Notes== {{reflist|30em|group=lower-alpha}}
Category:Wars involving the Circassians Category:Wars involving Ingushetia Category:Battles involving Ingushetia