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
SAXA, A WAY OF JURISDICTION" 0 9 (JURAMENTUM ASSERTORIUM OR REVELATORIUM "REVELATORY OATH", LITIS DECISORIUM "DECISIVE OATH")" 1 0 A description of a remarkable procedure of Mongolian jurisdiction is preserved in Bálint's Manuscript : the sax ä (Mong. siqayan), i. e. a way of oath-taking as a trial by ordeal i. e. a kind of demonstration of innocence or guilt. The verb sax- means "to press, to push something, to force somebody to do something" and the meaning "oath, trial by ordeal" is derived from this semantic field, "to push, to force somebody to take an oath in order to testify his /her or someone else's innocence or truth". The expression is apparently a nomen verbale , derived from the stem: sax- + -ä (nomen imperfecti). The lexeme saxä is interpreted in several ways in dictionaries: Kalm. saxän "prisjaga, saxän-du oroxu prinimat' prisjagu, saxän-yen örgöji prinjos svoju prisjagu", saxaxu 3. "privodit' k prisjage, mör orülxula ayiliyin axayini saxa jesli sled budet podvedjon, dolzno privesti k prisjage staräinu koöevja" 1 1" (Pozd. 162); säxä, saxän "1. Bedrängnis, das Drängen, Zwingen, 2. Eid, Ehrenwort, syn. andayar; saxäyän ögn-ci Kannst du darauf schwören? Gibst Du dein Ehrenwort? säxänd orxa zum Ablegen des Eids herbeigerufen werden" (R. 344); saxan "1. nasilije, prinuzdenije; saxa üzülx (yaryx) primenit' nasilije; 2. kljatva, prisjaga; ci saxayan ögc cadaxwcl mozeä' Ii ty pokljast'jsa?; 3. zazim; pritesnenije prinuzdenije" (Mun. 668). Mong. siqayan "Type of an oath taking which consists of a person's going under 'unclean' objects (such as the underwear of a woman in her menstrual period) in order to prove his innocence." (Lessing 721). Khalkha saxä(n), saxän "an ordeal (by which an accused person, or persons in a dispute, would be made to pass under a line on which were suspended unclean objects, such as a human hip-bone, a woman's underclothes stained with menstrual blood, or an old leather hobble, and then take an oath), saxänd orülax , saxänd surgülax to make (someone) undergo an ordeal, saxänd surgax, saxänd orox to pass under a saxä , to undergo an ordeal" (Bawden 538). Bur. saxä(n) 1. kljatva, prisjaga; saxä tangarig , tangarig saxän kljatva, tangarig saxä abaxa brat' kljatvu s kogo-1." (Ceremisov 724). On the ways and means of the procedure saxä among he Kalmyks there is only sporadic data in travellers' accounts and researchers' studies. Pallas and Bergman mentioned this type of jurisdiction in detail and issued their observances from the late 18 t h and early 19 t h centuries." 1 2 As an example of the possible approaches of Bálint's data in a broader context will be demonstrated here below, highlighting some aspects of the ritual circumstances during the saxä procedure, as the person who takes the oath, the ritual-place and the objects arranged for the ritual. Bálint's informant gave an especially detailed explanation of the ritualistic environment, action and ritual objects. The person who is asked - not forced - to take an oath. Pallas and Bergman emphasised that the person who undergoes a iaxd-ritual usually comes from the aggrieved party, and is a venerated member or leader of the community or is an honoured monk. Bálint's informant did not give any details in respect to this. Bálint's report partly repeats the data in his predecessor's accounts, but in some respects also complements them (cf. below). '""Studies devoted partly or entirely to the Saxä. Mitirov, A. G.: ObyCai i obyCnoje pravo kalmykov v trudah dorevoljueionnyh issledovatelej Rosii In: Katmykovedenije. Voprosy istoriografii i bibliografii. Elista, Kalmyck) Nauéno-Issledovatel'skij Institut Istorii, Filologii i Ekonomiki pri Sovete Ministrov Kalmyckoj ASSR 1988. pp. 83-93; Heuschert. Dorothea: Die Entscheidung über schwierige Rechtsfölle bei den Mongolen des 16.-19. Jahrhunderts. Zum Beweismittel des Siqaya(n). In: ZAS 26. (1996) pp 49-83; Batbayar. Bayanbätar: "Ix cäj"-in ex bicgin sudalgä. Ulänbätar, MUIS-Tn XüF jüin surgül' mongolTn tör, erx jüin tüxTn sudalgänT töw 2008; a recent review of numerous sources: Gulyás, Gábor: Az eskü szerepe a mongoloknál. (MA-thesis) Budapest, ELTE Belsőázsiai Tanszék 2005 [The role of the oath among the Mongols) 111 0 For a more detailed interpretation of this way of jurisdiction a researcher of legal history will be needed. Here only a few aspects will be discussed. "" Source: Mongolo-ojralskije zakony 1640-gogoda K. F. Golstunskago SPB 1880. p. 12. (quoted by Pozdnejev p. 162.) 111 2 Pallas: Sammlungen I pp. 219-220; Bergmann: Nomadische Streifereien II. pp. 42-43 The text fragments are quoted also by Heuschert: Die Entscheidung über schwierige Rechtsfälle pp. 65-67. 151
