The painting “Kudansa the Great (Uluuu Kudansa)” was made in 2013 by Afanasiy Munkhalov by order of the Churapchinsky Museum named after Andrey Savvin.

Kudansa the Great was one of the legendary historical figures of the Churapcha land. He lived in 1550–1650 in the area of Mayy Baly and was very rich: he owned numerous herds of cattle, herds of horses and endless pastures.

The legend described in the poem “Kudansa the Great” by the writer and statesman Platon Oyunsky says that Kudansa, in order to bring happiness and wealth to his people, with the help of a shaman wanted to be related to the inhabitants of the Upper World and broke the star Cholbon, which had sent cold and icy light on people. In Munkhalov’s painting, the hero is represented as a rich and wise leader who is ready to accomplish any feat for the good of his people.

The work reflects not only the history but also the ethnography of the Sakha people. The painting features the peculiarities of Yakut clothing and jewelry of the toyons, who were representatives of the ruling nobility and large herders. Platon Oyunsky always visited the Mayy-Baly area when he was in Churapcha, where he wrote his poem.

The artist Afanasiy Munkhalov was born in 1935 in the village of Kyundyul, Churapcha district, the Yakut ASSR. He graduated from the Yakutsk Art School and the graphic faculty of the Moscow State Art Institute named after the painter Vasily Surikov. There he studied in the studio of the painter and graphic artist Yevgeny Kibrik. He was Chairman of the Board of the Union of Artists of the YASSR, Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR from 1964, Participant of international exhibitions in 26 countries, Laureate of the Oyunsky State Prize, full member of the Academy of Spirituality of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), and People’s Artist of Russia. He was engaged in illustrating and decorating theatrical performances. He worked as dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Arctic State Institute of Culture and Arts, professor of graphics at the Yakut branch of the Surikov Krasnoyarsk Art Institute. He died in 2014. Munkhalov’s name is associated with the development of the Yakutsk school of graphics.