The traditional understanding of soul by Siberian Tatars: terminology and images

Purpose. Based on the data of field research and academic published matter the article puts forward the problem of arranging the information about the soul into a system (life-supporting elements and their postmortem state) by the Tatar population of Western Siberia. On the initial stage of the research the author analyses some lexical material. The terms denoting the soul have been grouped on the principle of the description ofeither living or postmortem states of the soul. Results. The terms «chan (chen, chon, yan, jan, rovanjan, rouch, a(o)urak, orey, cot, cout, syuneh, tyn, uoloh, oumay, iman» were assigned to the group of living states. The postmortem states are represented by the terms «rovanjan, rouch, a (o) rvach, ervakh, a (o) vrakh». A common Turkic stem was found - the terms «cot (cout, syuneh, tyn, uoloh, oumay»; the terms «chan (chen, chon, an, jan, rovanjan, rouch, a(o)urak» are Arab-Persian borrowings. On the periphery of the Siberian Tatars` vocabulary almost ubiquitous use of borrowings is noted; while the common Turkic stem is found. On the second stage we made the description of images connected with the vitality incarnations and their postmortem states. The author applied a cyclical description scheme - form the «birth» of the soul to its «death» and postmortem states. From the field data we managed to single out the data about the representations connected to several incarnations of living and postmortem states of the soul. For instance, the terminological and morphological analyses of the images brought the author to the conclusion about the presence of the visible and the invisible, the departing and inseparable parts of the vitality-soul in the traditional world outlook of the Siberian Tatars. We mean the so-called bodily soul, which stays with the body after death and the departing incarnation of the soul. The seconclusion sare illustrated in the article by the ethnographical data. The most distinct in the modern representation are vitality incarnations denoted by the terms «chan (jan, rouch)» and its form of alternative being - «avrakh (ervakh)». We made a preliminary conclusion that the terms «chan (jan)» and «rouch» mean different incarnations of vitality. Possibly, they can correlate with the bodily and the departing parts of the soul in the modern meaning «soul - spirit».The group of vitality postmortem state forms represented by the images «rovan-jan (uoloh, iman, a(o)urak)» are less distinct both in iconography and in denotations. However, the terms «a(o)urak (uoloh, rovan-jan, avrakh)» in our opinion mean manifestations of different incarnations of vitality (postmortem states) of a human being. We have separately considered the image «aurak», which denoted both the living and the postmortem incarnations of the human soul. It seems absolutely possible that this denotation conceals two incarnations of its vital (postmortem state). They both have mobility, transparency, harmlessness for humans as their characteristics. Te term «iman» is a kind of exception in this range, as it may denote the sociocultural incarnation of vitality, connected with religious beliefs and the morals. The terms «kout, tyn, souneh, oumay» are even less distinctly connected with the modern representations of the vitality forms. They might be in the periphery of the modern Siberian Tatars' traditional world outlook. Conclusion. The author believes such complicated structure of the representation of soul is determined by the peculiarities of the historical formation of the community under study. In conclusion, the directions of possible research are determined, in particular, the research of the historical genesis of the Siberian Tatars` representations about the soul.