Serpents and serpent-like images in the Yakut heroic epic: Towards a comparative study of demonology of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples

Abstract

The paper considers serpent-like images that appear in the plots of the Yakut heroic epic (olonkho), an attempt is made to review some of their typological parallels. The study aims to present a systematic analysis of the idea of serpentomorphism as a special way of representing epic characters in the Yakut tradition. Despite the rather detailed description of the characters of the Yakut epic as a whole, this topic has not yet been studied in detail. The relevance of the study is due to the intensification in folklore studies of the areal and comparative typological plans, the continued attention to the field of folk demonological ideas. The study is based on an indicative sample of recordings of the Yakut epic made in different areas of the existence of the tradition, the data of the language, mythological narratives, “small” genres of the folklore of the Yakuts and other Turkic and Mongol peoples are also used as material. In accordance with the objectives of the study, the principles of a comparative typological study of folklore are implemented in the paper. It was established that despite the actual absence of snakes in the natural environment of Yakutia, the concept associated with them is vivd in the folklore works of the Yakuts, including the epic. It is formed mainly by lexemes of Mongolian origin. Serpent-like image appears as an integral feature of the spirits of the sea of the Lower World and the way pass, and, perhaps, the personified embodiment of the entire underworld, as indicated by shamanic texts and ethnographic descriptions of the mythological and ritual tradition of the Yakuts. Serpent-like features are also found in the descriptions and names of the demonic pair of an old man and an old woman – the progenitors of demons and masters of the Lower World, the changed (aggressive) appearance of the hero’s antagonist, as well as in the epithets of the spirit of fire, which is generally associated with a consistent understanding of ‘serpentomorphism’ as a marker of the demonic character of mythological characters, their explicit or hidden opposition to the human principle. The connection of this figurativeness with the “shamanic” cosmological ideas of the Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia and, probably, with the Mongolian component in the culture of the Yakuts is being clarified.

Acknowledgements: The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation’s grant No. 23-28-00655,
https://rscf.ru/project/23-28-00655/.

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