Motif of the upper world in the Kalmyk fairy tales

The motif of the upper world in Kalmyk fairy tales is associated with archaic ideas about the three worlds. In the fairytale tradition of the people the upper world appears as the habitat of the celestials, led by Khurmust tengri. This theonym penetrated to the ancestors of the Kalmyks, the Oirats, through the Sogdians and Uighurs, and is a modified name of the supreme deity of the Iranian pantheon, Ahura Mazda, Ormazd. According to S.Y. Neklyudov, the idea of the head of the Tengri arises in line with the early Buddhist influence no later than the 15th century “as a cast from the mythological image of the Buddhist Indra and his entourage”. The daughters of Khurmust tengri go to the human world to swim in the waters of the lake in Kalmyk fairy tales on the plot types ATU 465 A “A man is persecuted because of his beautiful wife” and ATU 508 “Grateful dead man”. The fairy tales reflect the connection of the celestials with the daughters of the khans, the rulers of the Nutuk nomads of the middle world. A Tengri celestial marries the khan’s daughter in the tales based on the plot ATU 400 “Husband (wife) is looking for a missing wife (husband)”. After violating the ban, he turns into a swan and returns to the upper world. In the guise of swans, celestial maidens in Kalmyk fairy tales descend to earth to swim in the waters of a lake (well). According to traditional folk beliefs, the swan is endowed with the function of mediator between the worlds. V.Ya. Propp’s thesis about the “sunshine” of another world and everything connected with it is confirmed by the Kalmyk fairy tale material. So, the faces of fairytale heroines, representatives of the upper world, emit light. The description of fairytale beauties, heavenly ragni, with the traditional formula of beauty, gerldn’ adu manm, gegendn’ üül barm (in the light it can be guarded by a herd, in the radiance it can be embroidered) represents them as luminous characters. The connection of the celestials with the sun can also be noted in their attributes - a golden ring (altn biltsg), a golden comb (altn sam), a yellow mottled shawl (shar tsookhr al’chur). Point out that the yellow mottled color in the traditional culture of the Kalmyks is associated with the color designation of the sun, and its variegation reflects the dark spots on the sun.