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.
FOREWORD
FOREWORD I have been working on Gábor Bálint of Szentkatolna's Kalmyk collection for a long time, even if there were years when I was engaged in utterly different researches, since György Kara first showed me the copy of the manuscript of the Kalmyk texts (in 1994). Indeed, four or five years passed without taking up the translation or analyses of Bálint's material. Yet whenever I had something to write about a Kalmyk theme, I got out the relevant section of Bálint's manuscript. Looking back upon this period I have to realize that it was necessary to gather wider knowledge to be able to handle the texts more competently. The time has come for this Kalmyk collection to appear in print - which is not the end but the beginning of the revival of the material it has been waiting for exactly 140 years: there will certainly be many who will find a lot to be analysed in it while others will take it as a starting point for further researches. I hope it will be most eagerly resuscitated among the Kalmyks who will find in the publication the words of their ancestors recorded with great accuracy. Another reason why I think this publication is only the first step is because I have not been able to cover all aspects I wanted to and I have collected material for. The limits of space only allowed me to mention certain investigative possibilities without explicating them at length. My first plan after this publication is the linguistic analysis of the texts in a volume of studies devoted to aspects of the Oirat and Kalmyk linguistics prepared in collaboration with associates of the Department of Inner Asian Studies (University ELTE) for another jubilee, the 20 l h anniversary of the Hungarian-Mongolian Expedition for the Research of Dialects and Folk Culture (2011). But there is a row of other questions implied by the manuscript the elaboration of which will enrich Bálint's legacy I wish to express my gratitude to all who have helped me with completing this undertaking. I thank the Faculty of Humanities of University ELTE for letting me have a sabbatical year from September 2009 to June 2010. During this period I could address myself to the entire Bálint-legacy, not only to the present manuscript. I am indebted to György Kara for directing my attention to the manuscript. 1 thank Gábor Náray-Szabó, director general of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), Eva Apor and Kinga Dévényi, the heads of the Oriental Collection of the Library of the HAS, Marianne Rozsondai and Antal Babus the heads of the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books of the Library of the HAS, director of the Kalmyk Academy of Sciences Nina G. Ocirova and scientific secretary Jevgenij V. Bembejev for ensuring the administrative background to the publication. Special thanks to László Kádár, Sándor Tari and Miklós Jaczkovits for their support in contacting the Kalmyk Academy. I owe Attila Rákos and Gergely Orosz for the assistance they lent me in editing work and Judit Pokoly and Kingsley Smith for correcting my English (all remaining mistakes are my own). My special gratitude is due to my Kalmyk friends and colleagues who have helped me with research literature and advice, including: Tamara G. Basangova (Bordzanova), who has helped me continuously since 2009, copying and forwarding me the missing literature untiringly, helping me interpret the problematic phrases and during her research trip to Hungary in 2011 thrashing out with me several texts; Baira B. Gorjajeva, who helped me to clear up the problematic loci of the manuscripts, with special regard to questions about the folk tales; Bazar A. Bicejev, who has sent me several recently published research works; and Borlog V. Badmajev and Andrei V. Badmajev, who have laid the foundations of my Kalmyk library. Ölzä xuty boltxä! 7
