IMAGE OF A SHAMANESS IN KHAKAS HEROIC EPIC: THE CASE OF S. I. SHULBAEVʼS TALES

Abstract

The article for the first time examines the image of a shamaness in the heroic tales of the Khakases, the texts of Alyptyg nymakhs recorded from the narrator S. I. Shulbaev are introduced into the scholarly turnover. The aim of the study was to determine the type of women versed in all three worlds, to compare the topoi encountered on the way of a shaman in the Under World of the heroic epic and in the journey to the “world of the dead” of a real shaman. Descriptive and comparative methods were used to achieve the goal of the research. In the Khakas heroic epic, the types of women versed in all three worlds, possessing magical properties and magical objects are common, the narrator denotes them by the words piligchi, kerіgchi. The alyptyg nymakh has many women capable of foretelling the future and blessing the main heroes for feats of arms, giving valuable advice; there are heroines of tales able to heal and treat heroes, women who can transform into various birds and beasts. Bogatyrs dressed as “avian” are transitional, when the image of zoomorphic helpers disappears, the belief connected with the totem ancestor slowly subsides, and images of women assistants and advisers to the epic hero replace them. The novelty of the research is that this type of women in the epic was considered in the image of a shamaness for the first time. Earlier they were designated as protectresses of a family, advisers of a bogatyr. In ancient Khakas tales, the image of a male shaman is rare. As we know, this hero was introduced much later, when the help of a shaman with nine tambourines became necessary. In the tale “Khuban Aryg”, the image of Tolgai-khama is introduced, the shaman's calamation with nine tambourines is described in detail. We believe that this episode was introduced into the body of the epic later, all the more so because the traditions of the genre allow it. The article also provides a comparative analysis of the image of the shaman in ethnographic literature and in the Khakas epic. Similar elements in the description of the hero's road to the “world of the dead” were revealed, shamans have the same means of travel in the other world, similar tricks to help travel to the other world, similar ways of checking the state of the “soul” of the deceased. It should be noted that this study can contribute to the further disclosure of the image of a shamaness in the epic and a deeper consideration of this problem.

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