The plot of the songs about the heroic feats of the bogatyrs from the epic repertoire of the Oirat story-teller Javin Juna

The article deals with the plot construction of “The Song About How, at the age of fifteen, Ulan Khongor the Beautiful Defeated Asar Khara Mangas” and “The Song About How two-year-old Khoshun Ulan Went on a Military Campaign for the First Time” from the epic repertoire of the famous Oirat jangarchi Javin Juna. The material of the study is the texts of the epic songs of the Xinjiang version of “Dzhangar”, published by the People’s Publishing House of Xinjiang in China in the Oirat script “todo bichig” (“clear writing”), transcribed into the modern Kalmyk language by B.Kh. Todayeva. Consideration of two songs of the Xinjiang-Oirat version of “Dzhangar” on the basis of a single model of the epic plot (according to I.V. Ershova) showed that the plot has a stable sequence: 1. Heroic collision. 2. Choice / self-choice of a hero (departure on a hike). 3. Overcoming the path (understanding obstacles). 4. Heroic feat. 5. Restoration of the world. The conflict situation, presented in the form of a threat from an external enemy, with the subsequent capture of the Bumbai state, entails the choice (self-selection) of a hero to be sent on a military campaign. In the image of the heroic deeds of the heroes, there are archaic motifs (magic objects, a horse intended for the hero, an external soul, the Galbar Zandan tree, the Khan’s guard, consisting of predators and birds), as well as religious, mythological and Buddhist ideas (Khormusta-tengri act as the hero’s assistants, Ginre-tengri, thirty-three tengri, Manjushri, etc.). The plots of songs about heroic deeds in the fight against external enemies of the Bumbai state show that the Xinjiang-Oirat version of “Dzhangar” has a strong connection with the archaic epic, is full of fairy tale motifs and mythological characters.