Baina D. ERDNIEVA Kalmyk State University named after B. B. Gorodovikov
11, st. Pushkin, Elista, 358000 Russian Federation
Research Engineer of the Scientific Laboratory "Comprehensive Buddhist Studies"
e-mail: baina.erdnieva@icloud.com
ORCID: 0000-0003-3553-9754
Cultural Myths of the Oirats in the Past and PresentAbstract: The article examines the transformation of the myth of the Oirat culture about the "nomad warrior" into the myth of the "immigrant-seeker of justice", reproduced by the culture of the modern heirs of the Oirats - the Kalmyks and which is part of the national identity of the Kalmyk ethnos. Understanding the life of the Kalmyk ethnos through the prism of historical events that directly influenced the image of the people, their culture and lived experience, allows us to single out periods that have a constitutive influence in the formation of the ethno-cultural and regional identity of the Kalmyks: 1) the period preceding the settlement of the Oirats in the European part of Russia (before XVII century); 2) the period of development of a new settled way of life in the conditions of the Kalmyk Khanate in the second half of the 17th-19th centuries; 3) deportation of the Kalmyk people to Siberia and Central Asia in 1943, followed by rehabilitation and return in 1957; 4) the period of restoration of the ethnos, including the reconstruction of culture; 5) modern period.
Within the framework of this study, the fundamental phenomena of the culture of the Kalmyk ethnos (religious attitudes, folklore images, traditional way of life) during the selected periods were considered, which made it possible to put forward a hypothesis about the central myth of the Kalmyk culture and its transformations:
1) The first stage of the Oirat culture corresponded to the primacy of the myth "Nomad Warrior";
2) The second stage, originating from such defining events as the adoption of Buddhism as a religion and the foundation of national statehood, marked a change in the cultural paradigm, consisting in the transitions: from the Tengri cult to Buddhism, from migration to settled life, from the East to Europe; and demonstrated the first transformation of the myth "Warrior-Nomad" into the myth "Sedentary Keeper of the borders".
3) The third stage was realized at the moment of the collision of the Kalmyk people with deportation and its catastrophic consequences in the 20th century. at the end of the Great Patriotic War: a significant reduction in numbers, a psychological breakdown and, as a result, a crisis of cultural heritage and one's own identity led to a new modification of the Kalmyk myth in the form of the "Warrior-Exile".
4) The fourth stage covers the period from repatriation to the present. The return of the Kalmyks to the Volga steppes after rehabilitation by the authorities in the second half of the 20th century. led to the reconstruction of the myth of the "Sedentary Toiler-cattleman".
5) The fifth stage is partially parallel to the fourth, includes modernity. Under the new conditions, the Kalmyks find themselves at a crossroads: to continue reproducing the myth of the fourth stage, or to create their own. The new myth of the “Migrant-Seeker of Justice” appears.
Key words: cultural myth, cultural code, justice, Oirats, Kalmyks, Buddhism, nomads, ethno-cultural identity of the Kalmyks, regional identity of the Kalmyks.
References:
- Solovyov, S. M. (1998). Works: In 18 books.Book 9. History of Russia since ancient times. B. 17–18. Moscow: Voice, Kolokol Press. (in Russian)
- Palmov N. N. (1992). Essay on the history of the Kalmyk people during his stay within Russia. Elista: Kalm. book. publishing house. (in Russian)
- Tepkeev, V. T. (2015). Oirats at the beginning of the 17th century. Elista: KIGI RAN. (in Russian)
- Bicheev, B. A. & Kukeev, A. G. (2011). On the religious ideas of the ancient Turks and Mongols. Vestnik Kalmyt͡skogo instituta gumanitarnykh issledovaniĭ RAN (Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanitarian Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences), 4(2), 75–77. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/o-religioznyh-predstavleniyah-drevnih-tyurkov-i-mongolov(in Russian)
- Meletinsky, E. M. (2004). The origin of the heroic epic: Early forms and archaic monuments. Moscow: Eastern Literature. (in Russian)
- Epshtein, M. N. (2022). First concepts. Keys to the cultural code. Moscow: Hummingbird. (in Russian)
- Monraev, M. U. (2012). Kalmyk personal names (semantics). Elista: AU RK Publishing House Gerel. (in Russian)
- Ulanov, M. S., Badmaev, V. N., & Holland, E. C. (2017). Buddhism and Kalmyk Secular Law in the Seventeenth to Nineteenth Centuries. Inner Asia, 19(2), 297–314. doi: 10.1163/22105018-12340092.
- Ochirov, U. B. (2016). The Dzungar Khanate, which was a Khanate: criticism of one article by Junko Miyawaki. Vestnik KIGI RAN(Bulletin of KIGI RAS), 6, 135–145.https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/dzhungarskoe-hanstvo-kotoroe-bylo-hanstvom-kritika-odnoy-stati-dzyunko-miyavaki(in Russian)
- Bakaeva, E. P. (2019). Expanding cultural space: an example of the Kalmyk diaspora (Buddhism and identity, migration and modern technologies). Novye issledovaniia Tuvy (New studies of Tuva), 3, 116–134. Retrieved from https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/rasshiryayuscheesya-kulturnoe-prostranstvo-primer-kalmytskoi-diaspory-buddizm-i-identichnost-migratsii-i-sovremennye-tehnologii(in Russian)
- Nuksunova, A. M. (2007). Cultural identity of the Kalmyk youth. Monitoring (Monitoring), 4(84), 149–153. https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/kulturnaya-identichnost-kalmytskoy-molodezhi(in Russian)
- Doleeva, A. O. (2019). Kalmyk proverbs on the pages of the newspaper “Khalmg ynn” for 1959. Bulletin of KalmNTs RAS (Biulletenʹ KalmNT͡S RAN), 3, 147–167https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/kalmytskie-poslovitsy-na-stranitsah-gazety-halmg-nn-za-1959-g(in Russian)
- Todayeva B. Kh. (Comp. and tr.). (2007). Proverbs, sayings and riddles of the Kalmyks of Russia and the Oirats of China.Elista: APP Dzhangar. (in Russian)
- Drach, G. V. (2014). Social creativity of culture. International Journal of Cultural Studies(Mezhdunarodnyĭ zhurnal issledovaniĭ kulʹtury), 4(17), 53-64 (in Russian)
- Baranova, V. V. (2016). Invisible migration: a journey from Kalmykia to Moscow. Bulletin of the Kalmyk Institute for Humanitarian Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Vestnik Kalmyt͡skogo instituta gumanitarnykh issledovaniĭ RAN), 2, 89–97. https://kigiran.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/108/109(in Russian)
- Rudoy V. I. (Ed). (1999). Introduction to Buddhism. St. Petersburg: Publishing House Lan. (in Russian).
For Citation: Erdnieva, B. (2023) Cultural Myths of the Oirats in the Past and Present. International Journal of Cultural Research, 1 (50). 67–78. DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2023_1_67
DOI: 10.52173/2079-1100_2023_1_67
