On Problem of Meaning of Three-Legged Horse in Religious and Mythological Representations of Ossetians

Abstract

The article is devoted to the image of a wonderful three-legged horse belonging, according to the religious views of Ossetians, to Uastyrdzhi — the heavenly patron of men, warriors and travellers. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that Uastyrdzhi is one of the main actors of the Ossetian saga and mythology, so a thorough study of all the stories and characters associated with Uastyrdzhi contributes to a more complete reconstruction of traditional religious and mythological representations of Ossetians. In addition, this study is a response to the increased public interest in this issue in Ossetia, which has recently acquired a debatable character. The common interpretation of the three-legged motif of the miraculous horse as its transformed “fire-legged” is criticized. An extensive comparative material is presented, showing the prevalence of the image of a three-legged horse in folklore and mythological systems of different peoples of the world. The author comes to the conclusion that three-legged motif is one of the manifestations of solar symbolism of a horse in mythology. Attention is paid to the psychopompic function inherent in the image of a three-legged horse. The novelty of the research is seen in attracting new arguments for the interpretation of three-legged motif (primarily data from Indo-Iranian mythology), which previously remained outside the researchers’ attention.

Keywords

• three-legged horse
• uastyrdzhi
• nart saga
• ossetian mythology
• solar symbol