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BORN FROM A ROCK: MONGOLIAN-TIBETAN FOLK PARALLELS TO THE OSSETIAN NART EPOS
Rakhno, Konstantin Yu.
Kavkaz Forum. 2020. Issue 3.
Abstract:
The Mongolian hypothesis of the origin of the Ossetian Nart epos, which was
developed and defended by Tamerlan Guriev for many years, was not requested
and did not receive development due to many factors, but has intensified the
discussion among the Nart scholars, and the Ossetian science was enriched with
many valuable observations in the course of polemics with it. Meanwhile, parallels
between the motives of Nart legends and Mongolian folklore, mainly heroic epic
poems, remained outside the field of vision of the scientists. Among other things,
this is the motive of birth from a stone, which in the Nart epic of Ossetians is an
important and integral part of the epic biography of the Nart Soslan. In Guriev’s
theory, the epic Soslan was straightforwardly identified with the pre-Mongol
ruler of Georgia of Alanian origin, David Soslan, so no attention was paid to
the mythological components of his image. Meanwhile, in the Mongolian epos,
heroes Hörög coohor baatar, Kecüü-berh, Asar, Ergil-Türgül, Donžin Molor erdeni,
Čing ĵoriγtu čenggel küü, Nüsgaj žur, Šonhodoj-mergen are born from a cracked
stone. Sometimes their horses are born from the stone. This motive is also present
in the Tibetan legend associated with the Bon religion. Since the Bon religion
developed from Mithraism, in which there is a motive of the birth of the Persian
god of light Mithra from a stone or rock, similar to the birth of the Nart Soslan, it is
possible that in the Tibetan legend this motif has Iranian origins. In the Mongolian
heroic epic, it also looks like it was brought from the West. It is characteristic that
the Mongols lack an important motive of the insemination of a stone, which is
also found in the Nart epic of the Ossetians and in the myths about Mithra.
Keywords: Nart epic, Ossetians, Mongols, Tibet, Mithra, Bon
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