The Rite of Seter Tatakh and the Cult of Water Spirits among the Mongolic Peoples

Abstract

 Introduction. The article deals with archaic layers of Mongolic traditional cultures — worship of water, water sources and bodies — to specifically analyze the cult of water spirits. Goals. The study seeks to describe the rite of venerating the water master Luusan Khan through dedicating a sacrificial animal referred to as ‘seter’. Materials and methods. To facilitate this, the work shall address a variety of ethnographic and folklore sources of the Mongolic peoples. Still, the main source herein be the Mongolian-language manuscript titled ‘Luus-un qaγan-u seter-ün sudur bui’ (‘Sutra of Seter [Offering] for Khan of the Luus’) and housed at the Center of Oriental Manuscripts and Xylographs (IMBT SB RAS). Results. The article provides a source analysis of the manuscript, its text being newly introduced into scientific circulation. It attempts an insight into the semantics of setertatakh and its elements, identifies certain motifs of exchange and propitiation traced in the worship of water and water masters, and delineates some mythological parallels between the water cult practice and traditional worldviews of Turko-Mongols. The ritual of animal dedication was aimed at appeasing the master of water, the animal be a prominent one with certain qualities and signs. In return, the addressee was expected to take care of the involved humans and their livestock, bestow protection, longevity, and various benefits. The consecrated animal was hence considered the property of the water spirit, and had to be ritually clean. It was endowed with sacred powers and believed to contain the life force of livestock. The paper resumes with due regard of its purpose, the ritual text helps us understand key development directions of Buryat ritual practices throughout the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Conclusions. The work reveals that the rite of setertatakh was part of the Buryat ritual agenda believed of utmost importance for economic activities of livestock breeders, since it was meant to deliver to Luusan Khan — requests for juicy grass, health, fertility of humans and animals. It is also established that the examined written source clusters with essentially syncretic Buryat ritual texts for religious and everyday cults and practices, a unique and rare one of the latter being that of the water master Luusan Khan.