The legends about the Kalmyk khan Donduk-Ombo: Historical facts in folklore

The article is devoted to how the image of a real historical person - Khan Donduk-Ombo - and the events of his reign are treated in the Kalmyk legends. The historical basis of the legend is shown, as well as the motives and elements of the legends typical of this folklore genre. It is noted that in the legends about Donduk-Ombo there are motifs characteristic of other Kalmyk traditions and myths, namely the flight of Mother with a child from their adversaries, the slander by of the Khan-Stepmother, the entrusting of a shrine to a stranger, a false oath [of the ruler in front of the lama]. The subject-matter of the texts comprises the theme of the massacre of the Son in the name of the redistribution of the inheritance, the exile of the Son in the name of changing the order of succession, his murder. The following themes are traced by the author: the Khan-impostor, the Khan-Stepmother, the conflict with the eldest son, the murder of the son because of the Stepmother’s slander, the shrine and its deprivation, the Stepmother with children in exile. In the considered folklore texts, there are motifs characteristic of other traditions. Thus, in the legends about Donduk-Ombo, such historical facts are traced as the second wife of the Khan Donduk-Ombo being a Kabardian princess as well as an active supporter of the succession to the throne by their son; the eldest son of the Khan from the first marriage, Galdan Norbo, after the news of the Khan’s decision to transfer power to another son, unsuccessfully rebelled against his father and was deprived of his ulus and imprisoned first in Tsaritsyn, and then in Kazan, where he died. The typification of these images and plots in the folklore text leads to the replacement of the characters, the usage of typical episodes, motifs, with the introduction of which allows deviations from the exact historical events.