The prologue of the early Bagatsokhurov cycle as a “fragment” of the archaic legend of the Oirats: reconstruction of the plot-motif scheme

The problems of the evolution of epic forms are still debatable at the present time. The epic tradition of the Kalmyks requires a separate look at its early and late samples, as well as their locality. The purpose and objectives of the study are to identify patterns of stadial development within the local cycle. In this connection, the compositional structures of the songs of the cycle are highlighted, the plot-motif fund is studied. The material of the study is three songs of the early Bagatsokhurov cycle of the Kalmyk epic “Dzhangar” (1853-1862). Comparative, comparative-typological research methods were used in the work. The consideration of the internal plot-compositional structure and the study of the plot-motif fund of the local Bagatsokhurov cycle allowed us to trace its possible stadium evolution. The analysis showed that a single prologue of the cycle can be a “fragment” of an archaic legend, which transformed from a one-way legend about the hero's matchmaking into an epic two-way song with matrimonial and military collisions. As E.M. Meletinsky writes, “the complex ‘trial plus extraction' can become the basis for the further development of the myth into a fairy tale or epic”. The presence of the matrimonial theme and the theme of the conquest of the alien Savar with complexes of nuclear motifs in a single prologue of the Bagatsokhurov cycle is the main proof of the consistency of the possible development of the cycle. Moreover, the development of the cycle corresponds to the laws of the phasic evolution of the epic. It includes the mythological time, marital collisions of the protagonist, the features of the mythological character, the opponent of the epic hero, the volume of the prologue, an increase in the volume of the work. The only exception was the tradition of performance.