FEMALE IMAGES OF OLONKHO AND GESER IN THE CONTEXT OF SAKHA AND BURYAT SHAMANISM

Abstract

. This article highlights some aspects of shamanism that are reflected in the epics of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples from the cycles of the Buryat "Geseriad" and the Yakut Olonkho. A brief overview of the topic is based on the scientific comments of A. I. Ulanov, creatively reinterpreted on the basis of comparison with the information of shamanism of the Sakha ethnic group. Images of Buryat uligers are interesting because the ekhirit-bulagat clans of the Baikal region preserved the features of ancient shamanism in their beliefs. Consequently, there were images, myths, and rituals that were common to the Buryats and Yakuts. A comparative study of the epics allows us to establish that the ancestors of the Buryats learned a lot in common from the ritual culture of the ancient Turkic world. Figuratively speaking, the Khalkha lands of Mongolia and lake Baikal, inhabited by Mongolian ethnic groups, preserved the early layers of cultural heritage hidden under the later layers of Eastern religions. Also in the epic of the Sakha people, traces of Mongol influence are found, which indicates the deep archaic nature of the images of the uligers and olonkhos.