To the Issue of Some Plots of Buddhist Jatakas from “Dzanlundo” in Fabulous Folklore of Peoples of Western Mongolia (Based on the Records Made by G. N. Potanin and B. Y. Vladimirtsov)

Abstract

The given article investigates four tales of fabulous folklore of Western Mongolian peoples taken from “Essays of Northwestern Mongolia” by G. N. Potanin (1835-1920) and “Examples of Mongolian Folk Literature” by B.Y. Vladimirtsov (1884-1931). Plots of the analyzed tales originate from Tibetan collected Buddhist Jatakas „Sutra of Wisdom and Foolishness“ („Dzanlundo“). It was a widely recognized monument in the literary tradition of the Mongolian peoples. At present there are five translations of the work to the Mongolian and Oirat languages which are analyzed in the book “Tibetan and Mongolian Narrative Literature of XVII-XVIII centuries” by D. N. Muzraeva. Plots of the essay gained popularity in folklore traditions of the Mongolian people as well. Referring to the comments provided by G. N. Potanin and B. Y. Vladimirtsov for their works concerning the connection between the plots of collected tales and “Dzanlundo” stories we investigated plots of the four tales and made an attempt to find original plot lines in Tibetan literature. These are the tales “Burkhn-bakshi” (version d), “Burkhn-bakshi” (version i) collected by G. N. Potanin and «Muhr modn kebtā hān köwün» «Caһān bös orāksn okn» collected by B. Y. Vladimirtsov. The article describes the similarities and differences in the plots of the original text and the folklore example. Tales collected B. Y. Vladimirtsov differ from fairy tales presented in the G. N. Potanin collection and are featured by greater adherence to Tibetan texts and the presence of small differences in the narration. Plots of Potanin’s fairy tales sometimes significantly differ from the Tibetan original. We also made an attempt to find similar stories in the Kalmyk folklore. We have discovered a legend «In honour of Buddha’s victory” (version 1) which is a shortened version of «Chapter Thirteen. About confounded six teachers from “Dzanlundo».