To the study of individual epic motifs in the epic of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples

Abstract

The main subject of the article is the motif for describing the fast movement of a rider riding a horse, revealed in a number of Turkic-Mongolian epic works and heroic tales. This motif, including a series of comparisons, attracts attention in connection with the traditional theme of the horse for the epic and the heroic tales of the peoples of Central and North Asia, which attracted the attention of many researchers, and for characterizing the zoononymous world of the epic. The similarities of motifs in the epics of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples themselves are of interest, firstly, in connection with their abundance, which grows with the introduction of new texts, and secondly, because they expressively characterize the linguistic and folklore picture of the world named peoples, in some cases reflecting ancient totemic ideas, in particular, veneration of the wolf. Another motif considered is related to the performance of epic songs with a comparison of playing a musical instrument, indicative and demonstrative for the exchange of epic traditions, especially along with the names of the performers. The purpose of the study is to generalize and comprehend various observations on epic texts representing different traditions, to trace possible interconnections of epic traditions, especially in those cases where the interconnections are not obvious, and to determine the prospects for their further research in comparative historical and typological aspects. The novelty of the study is the discovery of parallels between the epics of peoples geographically far distant from each other, a demonstration of the common motifs of the epic and a heroic tale, illustrations of the interplay of the epic traditions of Turkic and Mongolian peoples, as well as the presentation of the influence of the eastern epic and ancient Russian literature in the light of new reliable facts. It was unexpected that two motifs are present in the 12th century Old Russian literary monument – The Song of Igor's Campaign, moreover in the description of the flight of the protagonist of Prince Igor from Polovtsian captivity and in the singer’s game with a Turkic-Mongolian name in the musical instrument. In connection with this observation, the author draws attention to the fact that the musical practice of the singer Boyan, whom the author of The Song of Igor's Campaign mentions, in the text looks very similar to playing the heroine of the Kalmyk heroic epic Dzhangar, for which the same comparisons of the game on a string instrument and swan singing are used. The observations made reveal examples of the links between the epic traditions of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples, can multiply the number of oriental motifs in ancient Russian literature of the older period, and to some extent characterize the unity of the content and poetics of the medieval epic.

Acknowledgments: The study was carried out as part of a state subsidy – the project “Oral and written heritage of the Mongolian peoples of Russia, Mongolia and China: cross-border traditions and interactions” (registration number AAAA-A19-119011490036-1)

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