The Tuvan Epic Bora-Shokar Attyg Boralday: Poetic Peculiarities in the Context of Multitemporal Recordings

Abstract

The article briefly analyzes poetic peculiarities of a most prominent epic composition Bora-Shokar Attyg Boralday (Boralday Who Owns the Horse Named Bora-Shokar) from the repertory of the famous taleteller Khurgul-ool Mongush (1908–1983) who was native of Manchurek located in present-day Sut-Kholsky District of the Tyva Republic. Danzyn-ool Sapyyzhyk-oglu Ondar — another remarkable Sut-Khol taleteller — had been one of Khurgul-ool Mongush’s teachers. Later Khurgul-ool learnt the art of tale-telling from Mannay Oorzhak, a bright representative of the Western (Sut Khol) epic tradition of Tuva; he also became familiar with repertories of other local narrators, such as Sevek Ondar, Danzyn-ool Ondar, Shyyrypchyk Oorzkak and others. It is from Mannay Oorzhak that learnt over ten vast epic narratives, including Bora-Shokar Attyg Boralday considered to be a most sophisticated Tuvan epic composition.
Khurgul-ool Mongush contained over sixty heroic narratives which he recited from memory. Moreover, a great number of multi-genre fairy tales, non-fairy-tale prose texts, songs and ethnographic essays were recorded from him. Along with diverse compositions from the taleteller’s repertory, the Scientific Archive of the Tuvan Institute for Humanities Research and Applied Socio-Economic Studies stores three multitemporal recordings of Bora-Shokar Attyg Boralday made in 1967, 1980, and 1982 respectively (which is by itself a rare phenomenon in Tuvan folklore studies). In general, the epic relates about old Boralday and his seven sons ― Tevene-Moge who owns the horse named Demir-Kara, Khan-Kuchu-Maadyr who owns the horse named Saryg-Shokar, Tavyn-Maadyr who owns the horse named Saryg-Shokar, Tarys-Maadyr who owns the horse named Saryg-Shokar, Evideenek-Maadyr who owns the horse named Shan-Khüren, Ertine-Mergen who owns the horse named Arzylan-Kyskyl, and Sumee-Maadyr who owns the horse named Kalchan-Khuren ― from the cradle to the grave, sings their exploits against evil invading rulers and mythological creatures ― mangyses, heroic expeditions towards the unknown lands in search of brides accompanied by numerous obstacles, competitions, and their victorious return to the parents, wives, parents-in-law, and other relatives in ancestral lands where they are welcomed with a global feast.
The paper shows that Bora-Shokar Attyg Boralday has unique language and poetic/stylistic peculiarities that serve to express Kh. Mongush’s individual poetic patterns. Khurgul-ool Mongush was a gem in the chain of talented and original epic taletellers to have represented the Western (Sut Khol) branch of the Tuvan epic tradition. Together with the Central Asian Gesar, Jangar of the Oirats, the Altaian Maaday Kara and other Turco-Mongolian epics, the Tuvan Bora-Shokar Attyg Boralday can be well viewed as a pinnacle of Tuvan folklore.