Jangar: The Heroic Epic of the Kalmyk Nomads


 
 
 Jangar
 The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Constance and William Withey Endowment Fund in History and Music.
 
 Jangar
 The Heroic Epic of the Kalmyk Nomads
 Translated by
 Saglar Bougdaeva
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
 
 
 
 University of California Press
 Oakland, California
 © 2022 by Saglar Bougdaeva
 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
 Names: Bougdaeva, Saglar, 1972- translator.
 Title: Jangar : the heroic epic of the Kalmyk nomads / translated by Saglar Bougdaeva.
 Other titles: . English.
 Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2022] | Includes bibliographical references.
 Identifiers: LCCN 2022008255 (print) | LCCN 2022008256 (ebook) | ISBN 9780520344723 (paperback) | ISBN 9780520975651 (ebook)
 Subjects: LCSH: Epic poetry, Kalmyk.
 Classification: LCC PL430.9.D88 E5 2022 (print) | LCC PL430.9.D88 (ebook) | DDC 894/.2—dc23/eng/20220720
 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022008255
 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022008256
 Manufactured in the United States of America
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 To my father, Ilya,
 Bougda’s grandson,
 Erdni’s son,
 Hero Dogzma’s descendant,
 the Chair of the Supreme Council
 of the Republic of Kalmykia
 According to the history
 Of the Tuoba Wei dynasty (386–534),
 The Xianbei Mongolian-speaking nomads
 Were led into China by a flying horse spirit
 That bellowed like an ox.
 The Kalmyks called the spirit
 Ki-Moren, the Wind-Horse,
 And kept the image on their banners.
 
 CONTENTS
 List of Illustrations
 Introduction
 JANGAR
 Prologue
 Cycle 1. How Shaman Golden Heart Joined Jangar’s Khanate
 Cycle 2. How Scarlet Lion Khongor Got Married
 Cycle 3. How Scarlet Lion Khongor Fought with Mighty Hero Jilgan Khan
 Cycle 4. How Scarlet Lion Khongor Defeated Khan Iron Head Mangna
 Cycle 5. How Alya Monkhlya Stole Great Khan Jangar’s Eighteen Thousand Golden Palominos
 Cycle 6. How Mingian, the Finest Man in the Universe, Stole Ten Thousand Pintos from Turk Khan
 Cycle 7. How Mingian, the Finest Man in the Universe, Captured Mighty Kurmen Khan
 Cycle 8. How Serious Sanal Defeated the Country of Half-Human Giants
 Cycle 9. How Savar Heavy Arm Defeated Kilgan Khan
 Cycle 10. How Three Sons Captured Mighty Badmin Ulan
 Glossary
 Notes
 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
 All illustrations by Delia Dunbar
 
 Jangar Khan
 Gerel, Khongor’s mother, cures wounded Jangar
 God Sky Tengri’s son Togya embraces Princess Zanda in the Garuda-Eagle Tower
 “If you, flying over my croup, fall on the ground, then blame yourself. You shall not be my rider”
 A hero drinks “from a yellow porcelain bowl, turning it over three times, seventy men hardly could raise it together”
 “If she looked to the left, the radiance on her left cheek made the little fish visible in the river on the left”
 
 
 Introduction
 
 This translation presents for the first time in English the epic treasure of the Kalmyk nomads, Jangar. As nomadic artists of the Great Eurasian Steppe, Kalmyks have witnessed, memorized, and orally transmitted some of the greatest transformations, both victorious and tragic, in the history of civilizations. The significance of their art for the world literary heritage can hardly be overstated.
 Kalmyk means “the remained”; they are the remaining Mongols of Genghis Khan’s empire in Europe. Today, Kalmyks still live in the territory that was once the Golden Horde, founded by Juchi, one of the sons of Genghis Khan, near the site of its capital, Sarai. Sarai, with its magnificent architecture, has long been covered by the sands of time inside the hills of the Great Steppe. But the Kalmyk nomads have managed to preserve the great treasure of their heritage, carefully transmitting their epic narrative across generations. The most vivid work of the Kalmyk people, the heroic model for life and death that has always inflamed hearts and incited tears, is the grand epic Jangar.
 Jangar belongs to a genre of oral literature about extraordinary deeds from the heroic age. The basis of its creation is the unification of individual songs that are not connected by an overall plot but rather evolve around a central axis, the Bumba union of seventy kingdoms. In every song, a hero begins and ends his adventure in the Bumba banquet hall with drinking, feasting, and merrymaking. This cyclization reflects the Kalmyk collective processes in which the epic becomes the cycle of life outside the perception of time, simultaneously the epic past, and a nonlinear projection into the future.
 Jangar sings a tribute to the heroic deeds of the protectors of the Bumba union. The Bumba world of nomadic heroes is a world of centaurs, not in their physical form, but in an imagined united identity. When a hero is born, his heroic horse is born too. Together they recover from misfortunes and triumph in adventures. All heroes, humans and horses, share a passionate dedication to the Bumba union, as reflected in their oath:
 We throw our lives to the edge of the spears,
 Devote our passion to the Bumba completely,
 Strip our torsos and rip out our hearts,
 To the people we give our blood to the end.
 (Lipkin 1940, chap. 11)
 As is typical of a heroic epic, in Jangar the days are compressed until the moment of heroic deed, when the hours become stretched. The heroes belong to a common treasury of culturally recognizable characters, each a model for a specific trait: Scarlet Lion Khongor for bravery, Shaman Golden Heart for wisdom, Handsome Mingian for sophistication, Serious Sanal for contemplation, Mediator Jilgan for diplomacy. Heroes’ names are determined by the moment of their heroic deed. For example, Scarlet Lion Khongor, outwardly shy, is the bravest man in the universe: a roaring lion sleeps in his rib cage. When the moment comes for him to protect the Bumba union, Khongor transforms into a fearless lion. Khongor is also associated with different shades of red; in his heroic moments, his lion spirit shines with ecstatic scarlet sunbeams. Even in everyday life, Khongor is recognized from afar by his radiant red hair,