Медведь в калмыцком фольклоре: реконструкция по семантическим признакам

Abstract

Goals. The article examines bear-related rudiments of Kalmyk folklore and draws semantic parallels with the bear cult of Tungus-Manchu and other Turko-Mongolian peoples to reconstruct Kalmyk mythoritual representations about this animal. Since quite a number of such mythoritual elements are represented in Kalmyk epic and folktales implicitly, it seems topical enough to reveal the former’s semantics. Materials and methods. The study focuses on The Song of Khan Zambal included in the Baga Tsokhor cycle of the Jangar epic. The employed research methods are structural/semantic, structural/typological, and comparative ones. Results. The attempted reconstruction attests to that mythological and ritual knowledge about the bear had been implicitly preserved in folklore foundations of Kalmyks, the ethnographic essentials proper to show extensive ties to those of Tungus-Manchu peoples. A set of ideas associated with the tradition of reciting the Jangar in long winter evenings and nights, epic motifs of brotherhood, hero’s sound sleep, and Savar’s moves along the moon road somewhat complete the Kalmyks’ knowledge of bear. These also indirectly confirm the assumption that Savar has a dual nature and is an anthropomorphic manifestation of a bear. In general, the image of Savar in epic space organically agrees with the ideas about bear articulated following the model — ‘ours among aliens’ and ‘alien to compatriots’.