Birtalan Ágnes: Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century: Philological Studies on the Basis of Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna’s Kalmyk Texts.
ETHNOGRAPHICA CALMYCICA
After the mentioned days have passed, the fire offering will be undertaken (Bálint yal täidik, Kalm. yal . — i \ 1069 tadg). [183] If a monk of ge/ng rank or a novice (Bálint geleng manji, Kalm. gelng, man/)' 07 0 dies, the same will be undertaken [as above], but the mán 7 prayer wood will be made of red or yellow [painted wood]. If a monk, a master monk, a nobleman, a zääsng or a monk of gelng rank of good fame and activity 107 1 dies, they are not buried as the commoners, 107 2 they will be cremated (burnt). 107 3 The place of cremation is a hill. On the top of the hill of the cremation, stones will be heaped up to the height of a sitting person. To this place - where the stones were heaped up - a few monks of gelng rank carry the corpse on their shoulders to this place. Some monks of gelng rank walk playing on instruments that are played in the monastery, such as trumpets, flutes and trumpets made of a human thigh-bone (Bálint bűre, biskiir, yadama, Kalm. büré, biskür, yadm).'"'' The cremation proceeds as it is written below here. On the above mentioned stones a lot of fat will be placed and on the four cardinal direction form the stone [heap] fuel will be put. Then the corpse [dressed up] in a silk gown will be sat on the fat and burnt up. Thereafter a small square house 107 5 will be erected from stones or wood on that place and later will be named after the dead person. That house is called cac.' 07 6 The objects inside of the cac are: a [Buddhist] image 107 7 and a candle burning night and day. 107 8 Kalmyks living there and going nearby throw some money into a box. 107 9 All this money goes towards the [costs] of that cac. [184] If a person died of smallpox 108 0 there will not be prayers for his/her merit on that day. [The ceremony] will be carried out after forty-nine days. 108 1 Until these forty-nine days have ended, the family members do not go to others' homes. Our Kalmyks bury their deceased people this way. RITES DU PASSAGES 2. THE LAST TRANSFORMATION Deaths and funerals always attract the attention of the external observer, such as travellers, ambassadors, foreign guests, specialists or even captives. Foreign observers feel the necessity to record a particular event, a costume they have witnessed and probably comprehended to be strange and even frightening. Nevertheless, people who spend only a short period of time among a group of people they not belong, can only gain superficial knowledge with this particular topic, since it is surrounded with a set of taboos, ""' 9 The offering to the fire plays an important role in the funeral rituals of all Mongolian ethnic groups, both Pallas and Bergmann devoted a significant part in discussing the details of the funerals. For the ritulistic context of Kalmyk fire offerings, cf. Dumas, Dominique: Aspekte und Wandlungen der Verehrung des Herdfeuers bei den Mongolen. Eine Analyse der mongolischen ..Feuergebete" . Bonn 1987. On the Kalmyk Buddhist clergy in the 19 t h century cf. Bergmann III. pp. 73-90, Schorkowitz, Dittmar: Die soziale und politische Organisation bei den Kalmücken (Oiraten ) und Prozesse der Akkulturation vom 17. Jahrhunderl bis zur Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts. Frankfurt am Main - Bern - New York - Paris. Peter Lang 1992. pp. 411-414. 107 1 Bálint säin neretä töretä geleng; Kalm. sän nert tört gelng. 11,7 2 Bálint yirin xara ulusla, Kalm. yirin xar ulslä. 107 2 Bálint cinderledek (tüiedek), Kalm. cindrlxe "einen Leichnam verbrennen (und die Asche beerdigen)", Kalm.Ö. cindr "Feuerflamme, von den Feuerflammen vernichteter Leichnam, Leichenasche, Leichnam" (R. 441). 107 4 On the musical instruments of Buddhist ceremonies, cf. Pallas II. passim; yadm is probably identical with Khal. gandan, Mong. yangdang from Tib. rkang dung "tighbone trumpet". 107 5 Bálint dörhöljin kehtä bicixän ger, Kalm. dörwljin kewtä bickn ger is an explanation added to the term. 107 6 Bálint caca, Kalm. cac "Grabmal, Grabtempel, Gedächtniskapelle auf dem Grabe" (R. 428); a very detailed description with illustrations is provided by Pallas IL pp. 296-306. 107 7 Bálint süten, Kalm. sutén 2. "der Gegenstand der Andacht, der Hingabe, Gott, Götterbild" (R. 372). 1117 8 Bálint ödör so ügä ürgüljidü satäd bäidek zula. 1,1 9 Bálint cindertä bicixan xäircek, Kalm. cindtra bickn xärcg, cf, the use of the lexeme: xärcg above. """' Bálint cecek gem, Kalm. ceceg öwcn "Pocken (Krankheit)" (R. 428). "Smallpox (variola) is, as stated, the most feared illness in the steppe. ... The ill persons were often left helpless in the steppe People would flee, horror-stricken, from these unfortunates." Kaarsberg, Hans S. Dr.: Among the Kalmyks of the Steppes on Horseback and by Troika. A Journey Made in 1890. Transl. and ed. John R. Krueger with the collaboration of Dr. Arash Bormanshinov. (Publications of the Mongolia Society. Occasional Papers Nr. 19.) Bloomington, Indiana 1996. p. 115. "' 8 I Bálint döcinyisen xonok, Kalm. döcnyesn xong is the usual time in the Bardo before the new rebirth. 146
