The article analyzes the historical drama by A. Pudin “Kanazor”. The purpose of the study is to reveal the specific features of the author's interpretation of historical events of the early 13th century that had a significant impact on developing the Mordovian ethnos, to describe the features of creating main characters, whose prototypes are historical figures, and to describe the role of folklore elements as an important artistic component of constructing the plot and the characters, and of verbal expressive means. The author uses cultural-historical method to describe the specific features of the ethnic history artistic interpretation and the features of the national character that is the subject of analyzing in the work under study. The contextual and cultural principles of the hermeneutic method are also used to distinguish the ethnic cultural and historical component in the artistic construction of the character system of the dramatic work. The object of artistic comprehension in the drama is the historical figure and his or her deeds. The playwright, relying on true historical facts, artistically interprets an important stage in ethnic history. At the core of conflict presented in the dramatic work there are the figures of two Mordovian princes. To create them, the author uses historical facts, artistic fiction and elements of oral folk art. In the dramatic work, the characters of Puresh and Purgas are created in the context of historical circumstances. A. Pudin's play “Kanazor” considers the origins of the national identity formation through the means of imaginative literature and identifies the national specifics of developing a historical figure character that has had a certain impact on the development of the history of the Mordovian people. The dramatic work recreates the authentic atmosphere of the distant past through using not only true historical information, but also national folklore, which keeps many aspects of our ancestors’ life.