Buddhist deity image in the epic “Galvyn ulger” (“Legend of the Kalpa”)

The article is devoted to definition of the role and status of the Supreme Buddhist deity in the Mongolian epos “Galvyn Ulger” in the comparative aspect of the eposes based on tengrism. The sequence of replacing the original epic characters with Buddhist ones is revealed due to the growing influence of this religious teaching on the territory of the Mongolian world. Thus, the introduced Buddhist character Shagzhamuni in some cases substitutes Khan Khurmastu as a deity-patron with obvious Buddhist tendentiousness. In connection with widespread of Buddhism, deity-patron, who in earlier epic texts had been mythological characters of the original cultural tradition, later were replaced by the representatives of the new religion. For comparison, we refer both to oral and written monuments of Mongolian epic, which allows us to represent more fully the transformation of the Buddhist character. The article for the first time discusses traditional for these epics motives and their functioning in the epic text, making it possible to demonstrate the replacement of Buddhist deities with primordial shamanic characters.