Censorship of the chronicler: features of reflection of oral tradition in the Buryat historical chronicles

The article considers the use of folklore historical legends in the Buryat chronicles of the prerevolutionary period. The authors' attitude to the legends about the adoption of the Russian citizenship and popular historical figures from the recent past as the shaman Eryekhen and Shoizhidkhatan is studied on the basis of the chronicles of the Khori, Selenga and Barguzin Buryats. It is found out that the Buryat chroniclers used the material of oral legends as a tool for constructing ideas about the past. Retelling, transforming or ignoring various legends in their essays they strived to maintain a positive image of the steppe duma leaders and of the Russian state to which they serviced. A complete absence of some legends popular in the oral tradition in the chronicles allows to speak about the existence of unofficial censorship in the prerevolutionary Buryat annals.