Cosmogonic motifs in the Xinjiang-Oirat version of the epic “Dzhangar”

The article examines cosmogonic motifs in the Xinjiang-Oirat version of the epic “Dzhangar”. The research material was the texts of songs of the Xinji-ang-Oirat epic tradition of “Dzhangar”, published in China in the Oirat script “todo bichig” (“clear writing”), translated into the Kalmyk language by the famous orientalist B.Kh. Todayeva. The study of cosmogonic motifs in the lyrics showed that in the beginnings of the Oirat epic, the motif of first creation has an archaic model, in which single “prototypes” (Mount Sumeru (Sumbruul), Zambativ (Zambutiv), the external ocean (Khazad dala), the Sun sea (Sun dala), the Ganges River (kanh morn dala), the sandalwood tree Galbar Zandan (kalvr zandn), the bird Garudi (karudi shovun), etc.) grow from a kind of “cosmic embryos” and occupy a central place in the epic picture of the world. Against the background of the mythological picture of the “expanding universe”, the main character of the epic, Dzhangar, appears. The birth of the hero takes an initial position and indicates the relationship between the origin of the main character Dzhangar and the beginning of life on earth. The epithet “lonely” (hants, hagts) indicates the ancient idea of the epic hero as the first ancestor and the first person, who is endowed with the miraculous power of the patronizing bodhisattvas (Vajrapani, Mahakala, Tsonhava) and the power of the mythological bird Garudi. The considered motifs indicate the relationship of the main character with the top of universe. One of the elements of cosmogonic space is the Dzhangar's Palace, personifying the center of the universe and symbolizing the greatness of the epic power.