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
The ritualistic surroundings (the place and the objects used during the procedure): 1. The place for the ritual is indicated in Bálint's text only indirectly: one learns that at the door (doorjambs) of a (temporary?) yurt and not a temporary tent (made of stocks and pieces of felt) an object is put (the wet skin of the black ox) and an action is carried out (two men stand there with guns and shoot with them). So the saxä in Bálint's account is carried out in a yurt (without closer identification). By Pallas and Bergman a ritual "tent" is erected at a place not defined more closely. "Im freyen Felde wird mittelst einiger in eine Pyramide zusammen gelehnter Stöcker und eines darüber gehängten Filzmantels eine Art von Zelt formirt [sie!]..." (Pallas I. p. 219.) "so wird bloss eine kleine Hütte von drey Stäben aufgerichtet; mit einem Filzmantel umhüllt ..." (Bergmann II. p. 42.) 2. The image is introduced only very briefly in Bálint's text: the oath-taking person bows in front of the image of veneration (Bálint saxan'i sütäigi, in accusative, cf. Kalm. saxärii sütän) and no further detail is given. The temporary "tent" or the yurt is supplied with various objects by Pallas and Bergman. The sources place emphasis on the presence of Buddhist images, apparently pictures (probably scroll paintings, i. e. thagkha). "... über demselben [i. e. the table] aber entweder das Bildnis eines der schrecklichen Götzen (Naiman dokschin) 1" ' aufgehängt, oder eine Figur des obersten der guten Götzen, Schakschamunih," 1 4 aufgestellt wird." (Pallas I. 219.) "... und die Vorderseite [i. e. of the tent] mit einem Götzenbilde behängt." (Bergmann II. 42^13.) There is a table in the temporary tent or yurt that serves as an altar, with a [tallow] lamp and also further objects on it. " ... unter welchem [i. e. the tent] ein Tischchen und darauf eine brennende Butterlampe (Sulla) 1 1* 5 mit einem aus Grasshalm und Baumwolle gewickelten Tocht gesetzt, ..." (Pallas I. 219.) "Eine Laterne steht vor dem Bilde angezündet." (Bergmann II. 43.) The lamp is mentioned by Bálint as well: the lamp is lit and extinguished and the ox heart is put close to the burning lamp. Here only a few peculiarities have been discussed, the topic will be studied separately in another article. NOMADIC WAY OF LIFE The Kalmyks who migrated from Jungaria to the steppes on the right shore of Volga preserved their nomadic way of life and in some respects have done so up to the present day. The cattle breeding animal husbandry undertaken during the timeframe of this migration of migration was still an essential part of the "" Kalm. Nämn dogSd, Mong. Nayiman doySid "the eight wrathful gods, the Dharma-protectors". 111 4 Buddha Säkyamuni. 111 5 Kalm.ru/. " 152
