Characters of Sart-Kalmyk Version of Epic “Dzhangar”

Abstract

Based on the well-known work of E.S. Novik (2001), for the first time, the experience of describing the internal and external characteristics of the characters of the Sart-Kalmyk version of the “Dzhangar” epic from the point of view of their individual, family and class conditions is presented in this article. The material for the analysis was the unpublished texts of the epic “Dzhangar”, recorded in 1929 by A. V. Burdukov and in 1972 by A. Sh. Kichikov in the village of Chelpek in the Ak-Suu district of the Przhevalsk region of Kyrgyzstan. For comparison, the published songs of the Kalmyk and Xinjiang Oirat versions of the epic “Dzhangar”, Kalmyk heroic tales, as well as the authors’ personal field notes were used. As a result of the analysis of the Sart-Kalmyk version of the epic “Dzhangar”, the authors came to the conclusion that for the in-plot functioning of the characters, it is important not only what role they play, but also what internal and external characteristics they are endowed with, since they correspond to those actions in which real characters take part. The characterization of the characters, playing up in the plot of the epic, sets the form of collisions. It was revealed that the victory of the heroes of the epic “Dzhangar” is associated with the following characteristics of the character: “strong / weak” and “brave / cowardly”, “whole / dismembered”, etc. Comparative consideration of the characters of the epic “Dzhangar” showed that the epic heroes have both similarities and local individual differences. However, the main functions that they perform in one version or another are close, going back to the ancient all-Mongolian epic tradition.

Keywords

• sart-kalmyks of kyrgyzstan
• epic
• dzhangar
• heroic tales
• oirats
• kalmyks