Motivation of the bogatyr’s departure from home in the olonkho of Vilyui epic tradition

Abstract

The relevance of the topic is due to the need for a systematic study of the internal structure of the Yakut heroic epic, in particular the typical place associated with the motivation of a bogatyr leaving home and which occupies an important place in the plot. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that for the first time the features and types of a typical place “Motivation of a bogatyr leaving home” in the olonkho of the Vilyui region are studied. The aim of the work is to identify and study types of motivation of a bogatyr’s departure from home in the heroic epic of the Vilyui region. In order to achieve the aim, the following tasks were set: to identify types of motivation of a bogatyr’s departure from home in the Vilyui epic tradition; to systematically analyze this typical place in the text of the olonkho Bogatyr Tong Saar by epicteller Semen Karataev. The methods of research are: the method of sampling, structural analysis in determining the typical places of the olonkho, comparative and comparative method, system analysis of poetics – to identify the specificity of motivation of the departure of a bogatyr from the house in Vilyui epic tradition. It is revealed that the motivation of a bogatyr’s departure from his home is simultaneously a typical place, a plot motif and a plot element (plot beginning), i. e. an important component of the narrative and story structure of an epic. The reason of a bogatyr campaign serves as a defining moment when distinguishing the plot and thematic types of the olonkho. The following reasons for the bogatyr campaign were established: heroic matchmaking; protection of the tribe from aggressive actions of abaasy demons; protection of honour from insult of abaasy demons; desire of the bogatyr to compete with other bogatyrs. It is defined that as the plot of the Vilyui region olonkho transformed, the motifs for a bogatyr to leave home could be the sabotage of the bogatyr’s relatives and search for a magic land in order to be reborn. There could be several reasons for a bogatyr’s march in one text of the olonkho. The analysis of the epic text showed that the typical place “Motivation for the departure of a bogatyr (or woman-warrior) from home” is a combination of various variations of epic formulas, non-stereotypical expressions, reference words using alliteration, syntactic parallelism, etc., for poetic effect. The prospect of this study is seen in the further study of typical places of the olonkho of the Vilyui region with the involvement of a wider comparative data.

Acknowledgements: Author gratitude to Shared core facilities of the Federal Research Center ‘Yakutsk
Science Center SB RAS’ for the opportunity to conduct research on the scientific equipment of the Center under
grant No. 13.SCF.21.0016.

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