Academic literature on the topic 'Mongolia - History - Fiction'

AbstractThe appearance of this new publication by Igor de Rachewiltz is evidence of the unquenchable interest in the Mongolian medieval literary monument The Secret History of the Mongols. To quote: ‘The real interest of the Secret History lies . . . in its faithful description of the Mongol tribal life in the 12th and 13th centuries’. Why is this text so especially valuable? Firstly, ‘The Secret History stands alone also because it is so close to the events which it relates’ (p. lxiv), and secondly, ‘The Secret History is and remains a true and original Mongol product, unique of its kind, for no other nomadic or seminomadic people has ever created a literary masterpiece like it, in which epic poetry and narrative are so skilfully and indeed artistically blended with fictional and historical accounts’ (p. xxvi). In the present study the author used more than forty translations in different languages. By doing it he pays a tribute to his predecessors: ‘Mostaert’s outstanding contribution’ (p. cxiii), ‘Mostaert’s and Ligeti’s epoch-making studies’ (p. lxxv), ‘Cleaves’ book is nevertheless of paramount importance’ (p. lxxvi) etc. To complete the translation and the commentary, the author used bibliographies, references, and dictionaries, all of which helped him to create a piece of work which revealed different sides of Mongolian life in the period of formation of the Mongolian Empire. For instance, the mentality of the time is revealed through interpretation of various folk motifs. Types of social organisation are revealed by explanation of terms, social positions, ranks and hierarchy, the levels of political organisation, and through analysis of interrelations between social groups and the elite. The present translation is the product of thirty years’ continuous investigation into this difficult text. ‘Over 1,300 primary and secondary sources, as well as monographs and essays in many languages, have been consulted by the author’. One can not disagree with the statement that, despite the longevity of observation and interest in it, the Secret History still remains ‘a true mine of information’.

Identification of names of plant curatives and substances in folk and fiction texts shows close interactions between man and the world, attitudes of people towards nature. Research in phytonyms and medicinal plant names proper is most essential for the understanding of a nation’s cultural heritage. The paper examines the lexeme балтырған in Bashkir discourse. Materials. The analyzed materials include linguistic dictionaries, folklore and fiction texts of the Machine Fund of the Bashkir Language, and etymological dictionaries of Altaic languages. Goals. The study aims at a comparative investigation of the lexeme балтырған ‘hogweed’. Results. The term proves a widespread phytonym in Bashkir discourse, which is attested by that it denotes a wide range of plant species in Bashkir and has parallels in other Turkic and Mongolic languages. The lexeme is included in academic, explanatory, dialectal, phrasal, and mythological dictionaries of the Bashkir language. The comparative analysis shows that baltyrγan ‘hogweed’ usually denotes a plant of the order Apiales, a medicinal herb. Baltyrγan~ baltirγana contains the initial bal / baltïr / baldïr with the meaning ‘green, young, fresh’.

The article analyzes anti-religious propaganda in the early 1920s in the Buryat-Mongol Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the example of the magazine Erdem ba Shazhan [Science and Religion]. An important component of the state policy in the antireligious struggle in the republic was the Regional Union of Atheists, created in Verkhneudinsk on December 2, 1926. The publication of Erdem ba Shazhan in the Mongolian script was aimed at covering the gap of specialized literature on anti-religious propaganda. While analyzing issues of the magazine stored in the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs of the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, research methods of historical science were used. The source study method has revealed the significance of the magazine as a source for studying atheistic propaganda and introducing a new socialist ideology in Buryat society. Erdem ba Shazhan was a methodological guide for a wide network of circles of the League of Militant Atheists. The magazine described the anti-religious events held in the republic, discredited false religious postulates, and propagandized the new Soviet style of life. For instance, the magazine published scientific disputes with lamas about the essence of religion. The analysis of the contents of Erdem ba Shazhan shows that educational issues were aimed at the broad promotion of the new life and eradication of religious remnants occupied more than a half of its volume. The magazine had no thematic sections, but it is possible to identify several main headings: propaganda and educational materials, popular scientific articles, short news, literary life. The “short news” part presented items on the activities of not only the Union of Atheists, but also of the first scientific organization—Buruchkom. The history of overcoming religiousness and inculcating the new ideology found reflection in the works of fiction the magazine published. Young writers, scientists, and educators (Kh. Namsaraev, Ts. Don, D. Madason) collaborated with Erdem ba Shazhan. The magazine also contained visual materials: photos, drawings, caricatures. It is worth noting the original design of the magazine cover made by Ts. Sampilov. Along with other publications in the Mongolian script, Erdem ba Shazhan promoted the development of atheistic education. The magazine illustrated the most diverse aspects of the life of the Buryat population with an emphasis on the scientific nature of events. Thus, the publication of the magazine Erdem ba Shazhan had a significant impact on the development of the atheistic movement in the republic, along with more accessible forms of printed propaganda in the form of posters and other visual means, such as cinema and theater. In general, this magazine compensated for the lack of specialized literature in the Buryat language, being the only methodological guide for a network of atheist cells in rural areas.

В статье устные рассказы рассматриваются как часть этнокультурного компонента фольклора бурят, кроме того, в их составе выявляются этнокультурные составляющие. На основе анализа записанной в экспедиции в Эвенкийском хошуне Внутренней Монголии КНР устной прозы локальной этнической группы бурят охарактеризованы историко-этнографические сведения, традиционное народное мировосприятие и религиозные представления, обрядовые элементы. В несказочной прозе китайских бурят содержатся сведения исторического характера с подачи самих участников прошедших событий об осваивании переселенцами новых земель, в числе которых важными являлись вопросы выживания и самосохранения. После очистки и приведения в порядок заброшенной территории и некоторого обустройства жизнедеятельности поселенцев были начаты работы по организации лечебного дела и учебного процесса детей своими силами. Сделано заключение, что в начальный период социальной адаптации мигрантов наблюдается попытка определенным образом самоизолироваться по отношению к титульной нации принимающей стороны, соседним этносам и народам. Их быт характеризуется замкнутостью уклада жизни, минимальной открытостью к принимающему обществу, неинтегрированностью в общекитайский процесс экономического развития в широком масштабе. Вместе с тем, поддерживаются добрые отношения с жившим по соседству русским населением, так как буряты считают себя и русских, проживавших в Китае, детьми одной колыбели — России. В устных рассказах китайских бурят наличие буддийского этнокультурного компонента в целом определяет их религиозное сознание. Наряду с этим прослеживаются добуддийские мировоззренческие установки, шаманистские составляющие этого сознания, связанные с почитанием культа неба, огня, воды, солнца. В похоронно-поминальном же обряде доминируют исключительно тибето-буддийские ритуалы и действа. Сделан вывод о том, что в устной прозе китайских бурят наблюдается синкретизм двух начал в их культовых представлениях: превалирующая приверженность буддийскому вероучению и сохранение элементов древних мифологических воззрений. This article considers the oral stories as a part of the ethno-cultural component of the Buryat folklore. Also, the ethno-cultural constituents are revealed in their composition. Based on the analysis of the oral prose of the local ethnic group of the Buryats recorded during the expedition to the Evenki Khoshun of Inner Mongolia of the PRC, the historical and ethnographic data, traditional folk worldview and religious ideas, ritual elements were described. The fictional prose of the Chinese Buryats contains historical information from the participants of the past events about the development of new lands by the settlers, among which the issues of survival and self-preservation were important. After cleaning up and tidying up the abandoned territory and some settler activities, independent work began to organize healthcare and educational process for children. It is concluded that during the initial period of social adaptation of migrants, there is an attempt to isolate themselves in a certain way in relation to the title nation of the host country, neighboring ethnicities and peoples. Their everyday life is characterized by closeness, minimal openness to the host society, and lack of integration into the overall Chinese economic development process on a large scale. At the same time, good relations are maintained with the Russian population living next door, as the Buryats consider themselves and the Russians living in China to be children of the same cradle – Russia. In the oral tales of the Chinese Buryats, the presence of the Buddhist ethno-cultural component generally determines their religious consciousness. At the same time, one can trace pre-Buddhist relics, shamanistic components of this consciousness related to the worship of the sky, fire, water, and sun. The funeral rite and obit are dominated only by Tibetan-Buddhist rituals and actions. It was concluded that in the oral prose of the Chinese Buryats, syncretism of the two beginnings in their cult notions is observed: the prevailing adherence to the Buddhist faith and the preservation of elements of ancient mythological views.

AbstractSubutai [Sübe’etei], often referred to as the greatest of the Mongol Empire’s generals, has increasingly become a topic of popular interest. However, the literature about him continues to rely on secondary sources so that popular and scholarly work alike often contains and perpetuates ahistorical statements regarding his origins and his military career. Based on the assumption that many errors have been perpetuated because Chinese source material has not been sufficiently integrated into available Western literature, this paper aims to offer a two-part corrective to the problem. First, an introductory essay will analyze several aspects of Subutai’s life and career that are often misrepresented. Secondly, complete English translations of the two biographies of Subutai found in the 121st and 122nd chapters of theYuan Shiare provided.

One of the most important indicators of the adaptation of Turkic borrowing in English is their allocation in different dictionaries of English (explanatory, etymological, phraselogical), as well as their use in different works of fiction. Linguistic contacts manifest themselves in the interaction of linguistic, cultural and historical factors and represent an essential process in intercultural communication. Turkic lexical elements, actively used in various languages as a language mechanism, require special attention. A comparison of different languages shows that borrowing is a universal fact of language, the linguistic essence of which allows to determine the absolute or relative chronology of their entry into the system of different languages. Turkisms closely related to the lexico-semantic system of the recipient language expands the body of language units of English and other languages, indicating the paths of penetration and the degree of adaptation. This takes into account the patterns of lexical and phonetic potential of the language. Turkic borrowing includes not only Turkic words, but also lexical elements of Arabic and Mongolian, Persian, Tatar, Uzbek, Kazakh origin, which have penetrated English through many Turkic languages and have been reflected in English lexicographic sources. Turkism thus refers to words included in English from Turkic languages or through Turkic languages regardless of the source of the mutual relationship, i.e. words having a Turkic stage in their history.

The paper considers the Cyrillic-based Kalmyk writing and is timed to the 95th anniversary of its introduction into practice in 1924. The advantages of this writing are considered in the context of the centuries-old rich tradition of writing culture of the Kalmyk people. First of all, it was the common Mongolian writing with more than one and a half thousand-year history,and “Clear writing” created in the middle of the 17th century. The Kalmyks chose a new script on a Cyrillic basis, leaving their traditional national scripts for socio-cultural, political, and technical reasons. It was impossible to print on a vertical line the merged writing of letters peculiar to traditional writing systems in those years. While using Cyrillic writing, the Kalmyk people, like other peoples of our country, achieved remarkable success in the sphere of educational, cultural, and economic development. The national intelligentsia was formed. Classical works of Russian and foreign fiction, as well as works of oral folk art and new Kalmyk literature, were published in the Kalmyk language. The extensive practice of establishing and using Cyrillic-based writing by the peoples of Russia, including the Kalmyk people, proves the completeness of alphabetic characters, the possibility of combining them for the written transmission of systems of different types of languages and their structural units, as well as the universality of the Cyrillic alphabet.

Abstract This essay examines late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century interest in Shi Nai’an, the putative author of the traditional Chinese novel, The Water Margin. Despite the paucity of reliable evidence attesting to Shi Nai’an’s composition of The Water Margin, Japanese writers of the Meiji period were keenly interested in Shi on the basis of his alleged stature as a pioneering author of Oriental or East Asian (Tōyō) fiction. This characterization of Shi Nai’an was a byproduct of the recently established academic discipline of literary history in Japan, and the concomitant desire by Meiji-period historians to locate a literary text that could compete with Western works in terms of narrative and structural complexity. When late Qing-period Chinese authors became aware of Japanese writing on Shi Nai’an, they built on this budding biographical tradition by emphasizing Shi’s identification with an incipient Chinese nationalism, evidenced by his alleged resistance to the Mongol regime during the Yuan dynasty. The case study of Shi Nai’an thus illustrates the nexus between the construction of authorial personae and the pursuit of various ideological goals, as well as demonstrates the centrality of transregional literary contact in the formation of emergent concepts of authorship and canonization in modern East Asia.

AbstractThis article is about a cultural-philosophical movement called Russian cosmism (Russky kosmizm) and its current status in the Republic of Kalmykia, southwest Russia, home to Buddhist Kalmyks, a people of Oirat-Mongol origin. Emerging in Russia in the early twentieth century and suppressed during the Soviet period, this movement proliferated openly across Russia with the beginning of perestroika. Promulgated as an original product of the Russian mind, cosmism positions itself as a ‘science of the truth and soul searching’ and purports to address various issues, including—but not limited to—the spiritual, psychic, and paranormal anxieties that are on the rise in Russia. Although Russian cosmism is an all-encompassing movement combining various elements of theosophy, philosophy, poetry, theories of evolution and energy, astrology, cosmology, ecology, and even science fiction, this article focuses upon its more cosmic topics—that is, those that are related to outer space, cosmic energies, and alien visitations, as well as responses to these ideas in Kalmykia. The story of Russian cosmism is not just a story of this particular movement, but also that of science in Russia.

The musical history of Azerbaijan is a part of understanding of the ancient past of Azerbaijan. The universally recognized development peculiarities of Azerbaijan are the result of the specific musical culture of the Azerbaijani people. Difficulties of studying the ancient music culture of Azerbaijan are directly related to the absence of leading sources and indirect references. Oral traditional folklore, folk song creativity, fiction and archaeological monuments are the main sources of the study of the past of Azerbaijani culture. It is important to preserve the authenticity of classical music and folk songs of Azerbaijan, starting with the ancient ancestors of the Azerbaijani people: thousands of years before our era had a different historical effect on the Medians, the Caspians, the Albanians and other tribes. The extensive trade routes passing through Azerbaijan, the Silk Road, the invasion of various tribes as Huns- Suvars (in the VII century BC), Romans (at the beginning of our era), Khazars (VI - VII centuries), Cumanses (IX - XI centuries), Seljuk Turks (X-XI centuries), Mongols (XIII century), Persians, Arabs and had their specific impact on Azerbaijani folk music and culture. The broad and sophisticated international trade junction of the Middle East countries certainly came to Azerbaijan. Latin and Greek inscription about Domitian’s, XII Roman legion being on the shores of the Caspian Sea, were discovered on Gobustan rocks at the end of the first century The great Norwegian researcher and traveler, Tur Heyerdal in his scientific findings made a special place for Gobustan boat descriptions and considered similarity with the Sumerian culture. He also stated that, the civilization of Arabian Sea had contacted with Gobustan[5]. The Khazars are one of the oldest and most widely spread ethnic groups in the Eastern and Central Transcaucasia. According to ancient and old Oriental sources, during the existence of the Achaemenid rule (6th-4th centuries BC), they established ethno-cultural relations with their close neighbors, as well as with peoples who were relatively far from them. Key words: music history, archeological monuments, classical music, ancient tribes, folklore