The mythological semantics of the Balzhan-khatan story in Buryat literature

The article traces the process of mythologizing a historical figure in Buryat literary tradition, using an example of Hori-Buryat legendary ancestor image, the character of Balzhan-Khatan. The study of the story motif structure reveals the regularities of glorification and sanctification of the historical figure. The legendary in terpretation of the image in the people’s consciousness begins with the mythological interpretation of Balzhan-Khatan’s tragic death circumstances. The names of some landscape objects in Buryatia (lake Balzino, mountains Balzhan’s Head, localities Togooto (Boiler), Altan Emeelte (Golden saddle), etc.) personified her name, her body parts and things the heroine owned. The article explores the mythological nature of such literary motifs as transformation, foreseeing the future, cutting, resurrection and return, used in the plots of Balzhan-Khatan stories. The author of the article analyzes the features of the plot and the composition, defines the representation of gender issues in the story written before 1917 and titled “A Long Story and Legend about Balzhan-Khatan”. Moreover, the author of the article looks at the logic of literary interpretation of the historical figure image unfolding in D. Erdyneev’s drama “Balzhan-Khatan”, in which the character of the heroine is created in an epic and integral way. V. Garmaev’s novel “The Tenth Rabjun” reveals the author’s tendency to demythologize the image of Balzhan-Khatan. The logic of comprehending Balzhan-Khatan in a heroic way eventually results in creating his own myth by the author. The process of mythologizing Balzhan-Khatan in the works of literature is natural, and it is justified by her role in historic self-determination of Buryat people.