Бёё-хан, дерево удун и птичка уули: культурно-лингвистический аспект этногонического мифа цоросов

Abstract

Introduction. The present article continues insights into the shaping of certain patrilineages among the Kalmyk (Oirat) and approaches the ethnogonic myth of the Tsoros (Choros) nobility. Goals. The work attempts an analysis of cultural and linguistic elements of the myth with evidence from history, ethnography, philology, genetics, etc. for interpretations of the set of messages intertwined within the narrative and addressed to other Oirat and related/neighboring ethnopolitical groups. Materials and methods. The study focuses on Mongolian and Kalmyk chronicles, ethnographic data from works of P. S. Pallas, G. N. Potanin, L. P. Potapov, N. P. Dyrenkova and others. Methodologically, it rests on an interdisciplinary approach, some emphasis be placed on tools of linguistic analysis. Results. The work attempts to investigate motif and word as keys to understanding a set of messages once included into the myth’s structure. And though the general shamanistic framework of the narration is clear enough, some aspects do require additional investigation and accentuation to reveal the actual rationales invested therein by the political and ideological apparatus of the ruling clan. So, the udun-willow tree-mother happens to have parallels among the nomadic Gaoche from Asia’s Early Middle Ages and can act as semantic equivalent of the holy Burqan Qaldun, which means the Tsoros subcontextually declared their rights to power were equal to those almost uniquely guaranteed for the Genghisids. The uuli-owlet bird-father with evidence from archaeology can be identified in pommel-masks of shamanic canes as cult solar-heaven attributes, while the depicted picture at large can be perceived as a ‘second-birth’ rite experienced by a clan/tribal leader after he gathered forces on the eve of a mass military expansion. Finally, ethnographic data of Turkic peoples make it possible to reconstruct the shaping of terms bӧge / bӧgü, which inter alia may yield a convergence of images of Bӧӧ-Khan of the Oirat (Kalmyk) and Bukha-Noyon of the Buryat that is also confirmed by recent genetic findings.