The motif of a heroic duel in the Xinjiang-Oirat version of “Jangar”

The article examines the motif of a heroic duel in the songs of the Xinjiang Oirat epic tradition “Dzhangar”. The material for the study is the texts of songs of the Xinjiang Oirat version of “Dzhangar”, published in China in 1986-2000 in the Oirat script “todo bichig” (“clear writing”), translated into the Kalmyk language by B.Kh. Todayeva. An examination of the songs of the Xinjiang Oirat version of the epic “Dzhangar” showed that the motif of a heroic duel in the songs is built from successive narrative units. The motif of a heroic duel in “The Song of How Two-Year-Old Khoshun Ulan Went on a Campaign for the First Time” has structural elements characteristic of the oral tradition of the Mongolian peoples: 1) blows with a whip; 2) a counterblow from the enemy with a sword; 3) striking with fore-heads-heads; 4) striking with chests and heads; 5) tearing pieces of flesh from each other; 6) throwing the opponent to the ground; 7) striking the opponent; 8) pressing on the opponent’s ribs; 9) tying the opponent’s limbs; 10) ripping open the opponent’s stomach with a dagger; 11) loading the opponent across the saddle. The depiction of the heroic feat of the heroes Hongor and Khoshun Ulan contains archaic motifs (magic objects, external soul, the world tree Galbar Zandan, etc.), inherited from the early forms of the epic. The plots of songs about the heroic feats of heroes in the fight against external enemies of the Bumbai state show that the Xinjiang Oirat version of “Dzhangar” has a strong connection with the archaic epic, is full of fairytale motifs and mythological characters.