Kyrgyz nationhood was bound by the hero Manas’s name rather than territory alone

Evidence

The campaign was long and the losses were heavy, for the epic does not pretend that freedom is cheap. But through it the Kyrgyz won back their pastures and their pride, and a scattered people became, for a time, a nation — held together not only by Manas’s sword but by his name, which the manaschi would carry down the centuries. — , A Year of World Stories, 11302