THE SYMBOLISM OF AZHDAKHA IN THE FOLKLORE AND BELIEFS OF THE BASHKIRS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of one of the key serpentine characters – Azhdakha in the folk art and religious and mystical representations of the Bashkirs. The purpose of the work is to analyze the ideas associated with the image of Azhdakha basing on folklore and field materials, and to try to identify its origins. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the fact that this work is the first attempt to study the reasons for the veneration of the image of Azhdakha among the Bashkirs. And this makes it possible to recreate certain aspects in the ethnic history of the Bashkir people, helps to identify the historical and genetic roots of their spiritual culture. The methodological basis of the research is the principle of analytical and retrospective analysis of literary, folklore and linguistic sources. This paper is the first to systematize and analyze historical-ethnographic and folklore-linguistic materials on the topic under consideration. Folklore information and field materials of the author, first translated into Russian by the author, are introduced into scientific circulation. The practical significance of the research lies in the fact that the presented materials contribute to the disclosure of the genetic roots of snake deification in the folklore and mythology of the Bashkirs, and can be used by ethnographers and folklorists in their comparative historical studies. Having studied the problem, the author came to the conclusion that in the Bashkir religious-mythological and folklore tradition, the image of Azhdakha was formed on the basis of further evolution of primitive totemic ideas about the snake-totem, totemic ancestor and patron spirit and is a consequence of its sacralization. In the religious and mystical visions of the Bashkirs, this image became a negative character as a result of defeat in ethno-cultural and interreligious clashes, as well as due to descendants’ inadequate perception of the most ancient totemic incarnation-initiation rites and speculations. Formation of ideas about the image of Azhdakha among the Bashkirs occurred not only under the influence of Indo-Iranian folklore and mythological traditions. In this process, in addition to the ancient Aryan hunters and gatherers (cattlemen and grain-growers), the ancestors of the Afrasian peoples, as well as the Dakho-Turan-Turkic tribal formations, took part.