The Oirat epic cycle of Jangar

Abstract

We call Jangar an epic cycle because it is composed of many cantos with close mutual connections. The story as a whole concerns the khan Jangar and his twelve warriors' heroic deeds: how they build up the khan's palace, how they defeat threatening invaders, how they conquer others' territories, and how they woo and marry beautiful maidens according to the dictates of destiny. Each canto is a somewhat independent story about one or more of those warriors' adventures, yet it also shares the overall framework and the basic elements: an opening canto (jangar un ehin bolog) provides essential information about the kingdom, Khan Jangar's palace, his incomparable deeds, his distinguished warriors, and his honorable lady. Besides the Jangar cycle, the Oirat people also possess other comparatively short epic songs that bear a close relation to Jangar in story-patterns and motifs. Some of them may have arisen earlier and thus had an influence on Jangar.