IMAGES OF THE FIRST PRIMAL FOREFATHERS OF THE HUNNO-BULGARS AND THEIR ETHNOGENETIC TRADITIONS

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to trace the evolutionary path of the images of the primal forefathers of the Hunno-Bulgars and their descendants.
 
 Materials and methods. Ethnographic data from ancient and later sources were used, an ethnolinguistic and comparative approach to the study was applied. The etymological works of modern linguists-Turkologists are considered.
 
 Results. In this article, the word “primal forefather” refers to the “natural-ancestral divine essence” of Eastern (primarily Chinese) antiquity. The most ancient images of the Hunno-Bulgars’ primal forefathers were formed in the pre-Altai era. They reflected the surrounding world of ancient hunters, primarily the world of wild animals. People concluded an agreement on mutual donation with the ancestral primal forefather *taŋgïrï (“oath”, “deity”). In the era of contacts with the ancestors of the Chinese, the Huns (Xiongnu) began to represent their primal forefather as a celestial inhabitant, setting the world in motion by shifting the masculine and feminine principles. In different epochs of interrelations with the tribes of Eastern Iranians, the culture of the ancestors of the Bulgaro-Chuvash experienced the beneficial effect of their “animal style”. In the early Middle Ages, various narrative texts about the primal forefathers-giants and epic heroes-bogatyrs began to appear in their folk art. The ethnogenetic legends of the Chuvash eventually transformed into legends about the origin of their settlements.
 
 Conclusions. A comparative analysis of the images of the primal forefathers of the ancient ancestors of the Hunno-Bulgars and their descendants showed that these images were constantly evolving, gaining new features. At first they appeared to people in the guise of a sacred animal; a little later, instead of the leading animal, the primal forefather-hunter appears who finds new lands; then the Bulgarian plot of the ethnogenetic legend gradually turns into a narrative about an extraordinary giant hero, surprising with his physique and strength. The Turkic–speaking peoples of the Volga region and the Urals called such a hero Ulap/Alp, and the meadow Mari and the Udmurts – Onar and Alangasar.