The parable of king Ralpacan

The article analyzes the Russian translations of the Buddhist Parable of mid-9th century Tibetan “Dharma King” Ralpacan. The earliest translation examined (1810) was made by Russian man of letters N. Strakhov. The second translation authored by the renown Kalmyk enlightener N. Badmaev was published by the “Astrakhan Eparchial Gazette” in 1898, and further included into his first Russian-language Collection of the Kalmyk Tales. However, none of the authors reports any data regarding the original text they had dealt with. So, the problem is to identify the source as such, including its nature - whether that was a written monument or an oral narrative. Mongolic literatures are essentially characterized by their consistent connections with oral folklore: most popular literary works tended to obtain vernacular forms, though retaining some specifically written features. Those were didactic texts abundant in certain prose-and-poetic elements inherent to oral genres that most often experienced such transformation. Medieval Mongolic literatures number multiple texts of precepts and teachings, including “The Story of Usun Debeskertu Khan” which is actually a collection of precepts attributed to the already mentioned King Ralpacan. Still, the historical data clarify the collection is not that ancient, and was compiled in final stages of Je Tsongkhapa’s (1357-1419) Buddhist reforms at the soonest. In the mid-17th century, the text was translated into Oirat by the prominent Güshi Khan of the Khoshut, and the narrative became widespread both in Clear Script and Classical Mongolian. Thus, coexistence of different manuscript versions of Ralpacan’s precepts and related parables not only attest to the evident popular appeal but rather confirm the Kalmyk old written tradition enjoyed somewhat natural ties to oral folklore. Our analysis of the two translations of the parable suggests the source was a written text, which does not exclude both the authors were familiar with its oral variant too.