Esege Malan tengri is a central nodal character in the Buryat religious and mythological tradition, representing the supreme power in the Uranian pantheon. In his image, a hierarchical filiation can be traced between the ancient Mongolian Huhe Munhe tengri 'Blue Eternal Sky' and himself as the son of this transcendent sky deity, who personified the fatherly masculinity on a cosmic scale.
Being a Buryat modification of the concept of the sky [Rinchen, 1975, pp. 191-192], the name Esege Malan tengri, literally meaning "Father Bald Sky", and figuratively- "Father Clear (Cloudless) sky", reflects an earlier stage of the Tengri ideas of the Buryat Mongol ancestors. Dyaus 'shining, daytime sky' and the synonymous theonym Zeus 'bright sky', representing the personified sky gods of the Indo-European circle [Myths of the peoples of the world, 1991, p. 417, 463].) The word Esege contains the theologeme of God the father, revealing in this respect a typological similarity at the level of the supreme deity with a number of well-known gods: Sumerian An 'sky', Papai 'father' - the head of the Scythian pantheon, and, finally, a classic example in the person of Zeus-the father of gods and people in Greek mythology.
As for the Malan onym, it should be noted that a number of scholars cite its semantic connection with the name of Milian tengri, one of the most revered deities in the pantheon of medieval Mongols. He is mentioned first in the list of gods contained in the collection of cult texts "Altan debter", used in Ordos during the rite of sacrifice to the spirit of Genghis Khan. Milian tengri is called "the great deity of heaven who gave life to all things", who is entitled to the greatest number of splashes-libations - 99 from the milk of 99 white mares (Zhamtsarano, 1961, p. 211). There is also a translation of the Milian theonym as "smooth", which figuratively correlates with the concept of "bald, bald". Mongolian scholar B. Rinchen believes that milian is a phonetic variant of the word malaan, preserved in this form in the Buryat language (see also: [Poppe, 1932, p. 170]). Milian/malaan, according to SUE. Neklyudov [Neklyudov, 1984, p. 216], proceeds from one of the epithets of the originally unified supreme Uranic deity as a result of multiplication of its image. In the Buryat tradition, this epithet also has the meaning of" wise", since under the concept of "wise" it means "wise".malaan tolgoiton (literally" bald-headed", "bald") was popularly understood as "wise-headed", "knowledgeable" people, which included venerable, highly experienced old men [Mikhailov, 1980, p. 104].
The analysis of cult texts shows that the process of personification of natural phenomena and the formation of the pantheon of Uranic deities headed by Ese Malan Tengri was rather complicated, as indicated by the myth of Oer Munhe Tengri as the ancestor of the celestials, who had nine main sons, among whom Ese Malan is called (Khangalov, 1958, p. 293). The following invocation of Otra-
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It examines the peculiar genealogy of Esege Malan and its anthropomorphization in the context of the evolution of the Tengrist ideas of the Buryat-Mongol ancestors:
H uhe Munhoon tengri
Blue Eternal sky,
Huuilozhi puridba,
Having surrounded, sat down,
Oyor Munhun tengri
Everlasting sky,
Oyorloji puridba,
Bottom forming, sat down,
Эсэгэ Малаан баабай,
Father Esege Malan,
Ehe Yuren ebii.
Ehe Yuuren's mother.
[Mikhailov, 1996, pp. 61-62]
The high hierarchical status of Esege Malan, largely related to his significant theological reputation in the religious mythology of the Buryats, is most clearly expressed in the Ekhirit-Bulagat pantheon, where he is designated as the head of the front (southern) ninety-nine heavenly deities, the giver of life to people and their benefactor (Mikhailov, 1996, p.60). Here is an illustration of the corresponding fragment from an ancient shamanic chant:
Эбэри ерэн юhэн тэнгэриин
General Meeting Manager
Eheerge ehe barihan,
The front ninety-nine Tengri
Emheelge yehe tanihan
And one who knows their order well
Эсэгэ Малаан баабай,
Father Esege Malan
Ehe Yuuren ebii!
And Ehe Yuuren's mother!
[Poppe, 1932, N771, pp. 8-9].
The symbolism of 99, a sacred number that correlates with the Sky and acts as its numerological designation, is significant. It is legitimately associated with the Esege Malan, whose genesis, as mentioned above, is associated with the concept of heaven in general Mongolian mythology. According to some sources, Esege Malan corresponds to the Universal White Deity (Dalhein Sagan burhan) - the highest being in the universe, who combined three spirits: the western fifty-five Tengri, the eastern forty-four Tengri, and the Sagadai Ubuguna (Curtin, 1909, p.118). Esege Malan appears in a number of etiological myths as a demiurge god. In a time of primordial darkness and silence, he squeezed moisture from a handful of earth and created the sun and moon out of the water. He also created all living things and plants. He divided the world into East and West, entrusting it to the gods for the establishment of order, whom people should honor by sacrificing horses and rams. But first of all, they offer sacrifices to the Esege Malan with a request to provide land, livestock and everything necessary for well - being [Curtin, 1909, p.121-122].
The significant role of Esege Malan in the religious mythology of Buryats is especially noticeable in the material of cult poetry. The original Buryat genesis of the image of Esege Malan is evidenced by the contamination of his status as the god of heaven with the cult of ancestors, which is expressed in addressing him as the heavenly father-progenitor of Buryats-Esege Malan baabai, where the last word carries the motif of ancestry (bur. baabai means "ancestor, forefather"). According to T. M. Mikhailov, the personification of Esege Malan as an anthropomorphic deity occurred much later, initially it meant the sky itself, and "since the sky was considered the masculine principle that gives life, it was also considered the father-ese" (Mikhailov, 1980, p. 104). As a result of the evolution of religious and mythological ideas, Esege Malan Tengri has taken a leading place on the Tengri Olympus of the gods of the pastoral society. His image, which originally had an abstract-common character, in the process of anthropomorphization acquired a historical existence as a religious-cult and folklore-mythological character.
In religious representations of Buryats, Esege Malan is depicted as a majestic elderly man surrounded by servants and living in a beautiful palace. To the south
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from his abode, according to the description of the cult text, there are "an unfading hillock named Hui Baldock and an ice-free lake Enen", which apparently represent the masculine and feminine principles of the Universe. This symbolism is confirmed by the fact that the "tree of life" grows here-Ehe shara modon (doel. "Mother yellow tree"), whose crown, which has astral signs, blooms on the right side with a quiver with arrows ("sulde men"), and on the left - a thimble with needles ("sulde women"). To the east of this tree is stretched a hair rope, to which foals are tied, symbolizing the wealth of the nomad, and to the north of it begins the country of "four worlds, full of white happiness-peace". The sacredness of the" tree of life "is emphasized by shamanic attributes hung at its base, including a tambourine with a mallet, and a shamanic hitching post - abarga serge, dug in next to it, around the tree" deities - spirits of shamanic gift and witchcraft " are grouped, which are subordinate to Esege Malan [Mikhailov, 1996, p. 62; Zhamtsarano, f. 62, op. 1, N 40 (4), p. 57].
The above description of the celestial locus associated with the location of Ehege Malan as the host of the Ehe Shar modon, an analog of the world tree, reveals the symbolism of the shamanic universe in the understanding of the Buryats. The Supreme celestial being is shown in the context of sacred, deeply meaningful symbolic figures and realities that convey the most important ontological and spiritual aspects of human life. This kind of picture characterizes Esege Malan not as an abstract supreme being, but it can be judged that of all the Buryat deities, the image of Esege Malan seems to be the most "humanized", close to the national perception of the Buryats. This is clearly evident in its family characteristics, which are closely and organically connected with the realities of the Buryat religious, mythological and ethno-cultural tradition.
Here, first of all, it is necessary to refer to the image of the wife of Esege Malan - Ehe Yuuren, whose name in various local pronunciations in the oral Buryat tradition has an adequate invariance with the name of her husband, which indicates their ancient mythological community. Archaic texts indicate that at the beginning of the creation of the world there were Ehege Malan, the supreme god, and his" venerable elderly wife " - Ehe Yuuren [Curtin, 1909, p. 122; Mikhailov, 1996, p. 62]. Moreover, this first divine pair is attributed to the creation of the earth's land from the water space by means of magical forces, as well as the creation of the first man who gave rise to all the people of the earth [Sharakshinova, 1980, pp. 23-24, 40]. Of interest is the name Ehe Yuuren, the first part of which is Ehe (bur. "mother") it has an archetypal sound. Regarding the theonym Yuuren, it is acceptable to assume that the etymology of this word comes from the ancient Turkic urun - "light", "noble", "sacred" [Dugarov, 1981, p. 99-100], which, in turn, is associated with the idea of a swan - an ornithomorphic emanation of the sun goddess. Indeed, the name Yuuren, which was formerly, apparently, a solar epithet, is found in ritual texts in relation to the mistress of the sun, and with an illustration of the symbolism of the number eight, which, as is known, contains solar semantics in the Buryat numerological tradition. For example:
[Zhamtsarano, f. 68, op. 1, N 40, p. 3].
As for the swan motif in the image of Ehe Yuuren, it is indirectly expressed in her daughters, who take the form of swans in the Ekhiritbulagat myths and legends [Curtin, 1909, p. 125; Sharakshinova, 1980, p. 130], which is seen as a certain semantic connection between the mother-the solar goddess of matriarchy and her later epiphany in the images of white birds. Thus, in the marriage union of Esege Malan and his wife
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the symbiosis of the two oldest cults - the sky and the sun-is reflected, and the latter is considered stadially earlier. In this regard, it is interesting to suggest that Ehe Yuuren could also be the mother of Esege Malan, according to one of the myths in the record of Ts. Zhamtsarano [Zhamtsarano, 2001, pp. 92-93].
The mythological constant of this cosmogonic couple is attested to in the cult texts in which Ehe Yuuren is invariably mentioned together with her husband. In the Buryat tradition, they are perceived as good light deities-zayaabari, who give life and show concern for the welfare of humanity [Mikhailov, 1996, p. 64]. Often, the word iibii ("mother, mother", "grandmother")is added to the name Ehe Yuuren as a semantic parallel to the word "baabai" in the theonym Esege Malan, which emphasizes their "ancestral origin" in the genealogy of gods and people. (Cf.: in the heroic legend-uliger of M. Imegenov, it is said that not only Geser, but also his heavenly wife Gagurai Nogon with her father Galta Ulan tengri have a single origin from Father Ehege Malan and a single blessing from Mother Ehe Yuuren (Abai Gesar-hubun, 1961, p. 91).)
Perhaps Ehe Yuuren is the only one of the wives of the celestials who is called "tengri" in cult texts, i.e. the deity of the sky. This highlights her status as the mother goddess of the gods:
Ehelame tengri
Mother named tengriev
Ehe Yuuren tengri.
Ehe Yuuren tengri.
[Sharakshinova, 1980, p. 79].
It is not by chance that the sky in folk mythology is often represented in the dual image of Ehege Malan and Ehe Yuuren-originally an eternal being, a spiritualizing principle and a source of life [Sharakshinova, 1975, p.49]. At the same time, this married couple is the most pronounced example of paired gods in Buryat mythology and reflects, apparently, the historical phenomenon of a monogamous family, transferred to heaven by the religious ideology of patriarchal-tribal society. The name of Esege Malan as a cultural hero and his wife is associated with the establishment of the first wedding on earth. Their son married the eldest daughter of the land owner Bayan Hangai, in honor of which a wedding ceremony was held according to shamanic custom. On a turge made of birch, a fur coat of Ehe Yuuren was hung and the head of a ritual ram was placed. The bride, after bowing to the ram's head, throws fat to Esege Malan as the head of her new family (Khangalov, 1959, p. 135). This ritual, according to N. O. Sharakshinova (1980, p. 93), conveys the symbolism of establishing patrilocal marriage among the Buryat ancestors. It is not for nothing that the Buryat ritual song is sung in honor of Esege Malan and his wife as the first day that marked the beginning of the wedding and family tradition:
[Baldaev, 1961, p. 174].
An important role in understanding and evaluating the theological phenomenon of Esege Malan in the religious and mythological tradition of the Buryats is played by his sons, who represent a key link in the sacralization of relations between the heavenly and earthly worlds. The Khangal catalog lists the names of three of Eseg Malan's sons: Khan Khute baabai, Khan Shargai noyon, and Hilman Sagan noyon. The first two are considered leading eastern
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and western khatami, whose place of residence is connected with Olkhon Island and the Sayans; the third of them is the patron saint of the city of Kyakhty (Khangalov, 1958, p. 404). Together, they seem to symbolically outline the geography of the cult of Esege Malan within ethnic Buryatia.
In general, judging by the ritual texts, many important areas of the sacred world of Buryat shamanism are covered, with a large degree of convention, by the influence of Esege Malan through the system of so-called khats. The latter, being the sons of the Tengri celestials, are actual "mundane" deities who are subordinate to Eseg Malan, who to some extent has the characteristics of the so-called deus otiosus ("idle god"), who, due to his greatness and antiquity, has withdrawn from business and occupies a mostly contemplative position. In this regard, it is appropriate to recall that this kind of type can be traced at the level of the fathers-gods in a number of ancient pantheons. They, being worshipped as the main god, are actually removed from heavenly and earthly affairs. Such passivity is shown, for example, by the god An, who is most likely considered a symbol of power in the Sumerian pantheon, as well as the oldest of the Yakut gods - the creator of the universe and the supreme celestial being Yuryung Aar toyon.
With the father's "blessing" of Esege Malan as the patriarch of the Tengri community, khats are considered deities who have power in two parallel worlds: Erhatnai ogtorgodo, / Habatnai delheide - Your power in heaven, / Your power on earth [Baldaev, N 319/376, l. 7; Dampilova, 2005, p. 78]. This formula emphasizes the primary role of Western huts in religious practice, which take a direct active part in the fate of the universe and people's lives. From this point of view, a myth is of interest, which, with the naivety and simplicity characteristic of folk mythology, explains the appearance of Western huts on earth and links their origin with the will of the supreme celestial being. According to the myth, Eseg Malan often allowed his sons to descend into the world he created to communicate with people, as a result of which the heavenly beings once became defiled by eating earthly food. This was the reason for their strict father to suggest that his children change their heavenly abode to an earthly one. The sons, having left the blue sky, chose the peaks of the Sayan Mountains as their sacred abode, turning into ninety western huts-patrons of people led by Khan Shargai-noyon (Sharakshinova, 1980, p. 92). This is stated in the shamanic hymn as follows:
Эсэгэ Малаан тэнгэри
E-mail Malan tengri
Yueheng hubuutei baiba.
He had nine sons.
Yueheng hubuunying -
Nine sons,
Дордо замбида буухадаа
Going down to the lower Zambi-land,
Baruuni shabshamal
On the western steep roads
Сагаан hаридагта
White char
Tobsolozho buuba,
Concentrating, they descended,
Ерэн сагаан хад боложо,
Ninety white huts became,
Юhэн гγгэд γбгэд боложо...
They became nine full-fledged elders...
Hahy daede zahaye barihan
Holding the supremacy over the huts,
Baruuni shabshamal
On the western steep roads
Сагаан hаридагаар
White char
Uudal heheng
Tron-seat made
Khan Shargai noen...
Khan Shargai-noyon...
[Petrov, 1941, p. 2].
This cult text, written by I. N. Madason from the storyteller P. Petrov, a recognized expert in shamanic mythology, contains a list of the main sons of Esege Malan. In addition to the aforementioned Khan Shargai-noyon, names are mentioned here
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eight more western huts. Это - Хутэ Нойон баабай, Улан Зала мэргэн, Хараасгай заарин, Хан Хурьгай-нойон, Хэрмэшэ Нойон баабай, Хан Мунгэтэ заарин, Эмнэг Саган-нойон и Буха-нойон баабай.
In this sacred ennead of the sons of Eseg Malan, one should especially highlight Buha-noyon, the totemic progenitor of the Buryats, whose kinship with the supreme celestial being (the motif of fatherhood) is emphasized in cult texts and genealogical legends. In shamanic invocations, both of them are often mentioned after each other, along with their wives - Ehe Yuuren iibii and Budan Hatan iibii, respectively (Huhe Munhe Tengeri, 1966, p.141). It is noteworthy that Buha-noyon appears in the zoomorphic image of the blue bull (huhe buha) Esege Malan in a duel with the brown-red bull (huren ulan) Atai Ulan. An epic modification of this plot is found in the text of the narrator O. Khantaev [Madason, N 18, op. 1, d. 68, pp. 3-6]. It should also be emphasized that the Buha-noyon, judging by folklore and mythological texts, often disputes the right of seniority for Khan Shargay-noyon in the list of sons of Eseg Malan [Ksenofontov, f. 4, op. 1, ed. ch. 526, l. 15].
Of paramount importance for understanding the concept of Ese Malan as a Tengri, the patron saint of life and well-being of people, is his kinship with the deity-the personification of fire and hearth in the person of Sahyaadai noyon. He is considered the son of Esege Malan, according to other versions-his grandson. The line of kinship of these two deities takes on a significant form in the myth of how Esege Malan married Sahyaadai noyon to Sankhalan khatan, the daughter of the earth deity Bayan Hangai (Sharakshinova, 1980, p. 93). This plot encodes the sacred aspect of the trinity of heaven, earth and fire as the basis of human existence, according to the mythological ideas of the Buryats. This genealogical version of Eseg Malan's paternity is continued by the myth of his other son, Solbon Sagan , an astral deity who patronizes horse breeding, who, in turn, is the brother of Sahyaadai noyon [ibid., p. 150]. According to another version, Sahyaadai noyon (in the text Sahyaadai ubgen) is considered the youngest of the three children of Eseg Malan, who represent the sun, moon and fire [Zhamtsarano, 2001, p. 93]. In general, the myths about the relationship between Eseg Malan and Sahyaadai Noyon have a broad cosmogonic background, emphasizing the heavenly origin of fire.
There is a separate cycle of mythological stories about the origin of fire, in which Esege Malan also appears. So, in one of them it is told about bringing down fire from the dwelling of Eseg Malan with the help of a swallow. To help people who were eating raw food and freezing in the winter, she flew to the sky and entered the yurt of Esege Malan Tengri through a smoke hole. At this time, the old celestial sat by the fire and smoked a pipe. The bird grabbed the spark in its beak, but the owner, noticing the abduction, grabbed the tongs and tried to hit the uninvited guest, but missed. The blow landed on the tail and split it in two. The swallow still managed to deliver fire to people, but its tail remained dissected [Petri, 1928, p. 29]. According to another legend, during the creation of heaven and earth, Eseg Malan Tengri discovered that there was not enough fire, and sent a swallow to find it. The fire ended up in Gal Nurma Khan's possession, and the swallow steals it from him. She brought the fire to Esege Malan and explained how to handle it (Uboniev, 1926, p. 75). In these two stories, Esege Malan does not accidentally act as a cultural hero paired with a swallow, a favorite bird of the Buryats. According to popular beliefs, a nest made by a swallow in a human dwelling brings happiness to the owner of the yurt and his family. Hence, probably, the sacred connection of this bird with the home hearth, which found a mythopoetic embodiment in the etiological legends about the appearance of fire in the world of gods and people, created by Eseg Malan.
It should be noted that in many myths, Esege Malan is shown in various guises of the elder god, primarily as the male successor of the archetypal kos-
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the mythical pair of the father of Heaven and mother of Earth [Curtin, 1909, p. 124-126; Mikhailov, 1996, p. 64]. In another version, he is represented as a matchmaker Bayan Hangai ( Abai Gesar, 1960, p. 67) - a personification of the earth in a male image. This modification is interesting because, unlike the "travesty" of the Earth personification, the status of Ese Malan as God the father remains invariant. The motif of his paternity in Buryat mythology is most likely of a conditional symbolic nature and reflects not the social hierarchy of clans, which in Buryat society was distinguished by a commitment to "tribalism", but the ideological need to overcome the barrier of tribal gods. Recall that the same Khan Shargai-noyon is considered in some variants to be the son of Bolur Sagan tengria, Buha-noyon - Uday Mungen tengria, and Solbon Sagan - Zayan Sagan tengria. Awareness of their commonality and spiritual kinship among different ethnic groups of Buryats is legitimately indicated under the sign of the unifying Uranic deity-a symbol that the Esege Malan Tengri is in the religious and mythological continuum of the Mongolian peoples.
An important addition to the characterization of Ese Malan as God the father is the institution of his divine daughters, whose number reaches nine. A complete list of their names is given in S. P. Baldaev's entry [N 222, p. 3]. These are Khalindar khatan, Yalbargana khatan, Halbargana Khatan, who live on the Sayan peaks, and Orgomo Khatan, Orobsor khatan, Yehe khatan, who live on Mount Yuhen in the Ungi River valley. The last triad-Balegane Hatan, Kheldar Hatan and Beshamshe Hatan-is located on Mount Haigadai under in the valley of the Obusa River. The entire ennead of the daughters of Esege Malan is considered to be the patron goddesses of women and various types of women's crafts, such as knitting, sewing, cutting, rolling felt, etc. , as well as women's tailgan
There is a myth about the origin of the nine daughters of Eseg Malan, similar to the myth about the appearance on earth of the nine sons of Eseg Malan. They are also made impure by eating earthly food when they visit the human world, and descend to the land of the Baikal region for permanent residence. At the same time, their names and the names of the places where they settled are indicated [Sharakshinova, 1980, pp. 92-93]. Such stories, which have a specific territorial reference in the Buryat ecumene, once again point to the long-standing cult of Esege Malan in the Buryat environment and its hierarchical connection with common Buryat mythological characters and local landscape deities.
In legends and epic tales, the figure "three" most often appears in relation to the daughters of Esege Malan, which has the sacred meaning of the triple unity [Bertagaev, 1974, p.411]. They are described as celestial beings who have the magical power to raise the dead and bestow wealth on the destitute, as befits the daughters of Eseg Malan, who are worthy heirs of their father, the creator of the universe and man. The very concept of the three daughters of Esege Malan is most likely associated with the image of the three Huhei sisters, who, according to A. I. Ulanov (1957, p.70), are the most archaic goddesses in the Buryat epic. In some of the poems, the sisters of the deceased hero, dressed in their brother's armor and posing as men, go to Eseg Malan to marry his daughters and deceive them to bring them to earth. They resurrect the deceased hero by performing three magical actions [Mikhailov, 1996, p. 63; Zhamtsarano, 2001, p. 115-121; Khangalov, 1960, p. 218 - 219, 226 - 232, 237 - 240, 243]. Three daughters of Eseg Malan also appear in genealogical legends. Thus, in the legend of Boto-Bumala, the youngest of the daughters, having become pregnant "from the juice of a vast land", becomes the mother of the hero of the same name (Khangalov, 1960, pp. 385-386).
In a number of folklore works, there is a motif of the swan-the daughter of Eseg Malan, which varies up to contamination with the myth of Buha-noyon, whose son enters into a marriage union with her. In all likelihood, this plot move is of a later origin, branching off from the widespread myth of Ho-
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Ridoe, who married Cygni, the daughter of heaven, the progenitor of the Khorin Buryats (Sharakshinova, 1975, pp. 130-131). At the same time, it is possible that in the process of sky anthropomorphization, swans began to be perceived as the daughters of Esege Malan, a deity who personifies the sky. So, in the Ekhiritbulagat legend "Osoodor Mergen" there are swans-the daughters of Esege Malan, one of which the epic hero marries. The myth of the white ancestral bird has been widespread in the Turkic-Mongolian world since ancient times, and its epic interpretation has a fairly wide range of existence.
Of all the characters in the divine pantheon, perhaps it is about Eseg Malan that the greatest number of myths are composed, which indicates the endogeneity of the image of this deity and its long-standing popularity. In addition to describing Esege Malan as "the universal father who lives in heaven," his image reveals the features of a pastoral god - in the mention of his servants, represented by the symbolic triad of shepherds. One of them is depicted as a heavenly herdsman riding through the sky on horseback, with a quiver and bow on his back and with a lariat in his hand-an attribute of the patron deity of the herd. The other two are actually intermediaries between heaven and earth (Bertagaev, 1974, p. 411). According to another version, Esege Malan is the owner of a large flock of sheep, and their shepherd is Solbon, the deity of the morning star [Sharakshinova, 1980, p. 55].
In the context of mythological subjects, the image of the supreme celestial inhabitant with understandable human features emerges, among which there is a tendency to generosity, benevolence, a certain carelessness and a sense of self-esteem that comes from his status as an elder of the gods. He acts as a good head of the family, who is happy for his children and can praise them for their good deeds or punish them for their misdeeds. The human aspect, which is often highlighted in the myths about Esege Malan and gives them a vital color, speaks of the complete anthropomorphization of the image of this deity in the Buryat tradition. It is not by chance that there is an idea among Buryats that Esege Malan was once a man who ascended to heaven as a deity for special merits. According to L. Lörincz (1972, p. 113), this myth refers to later stories about the origin of the gods associated with the deification of man "for his good earthly deeds". The connection of Malan's Esege with this myth once again confirms its popularity among the people (see also: [Khangalov, 1958, p. 31]).
It is noteworthy that Esege Malan, despite his mythological reputation as a demiurge, cultural hero and ruler of the universe, is also depicted from a somewhat critical point of view. For example, in the popular Buryat myth of Baba Azarg, the adviser of the gods who helps restore cosmic order, Esege Malan acts at the behest of this zoomorphic character, who reproaches him for his lack of ability to control the world. In another story, Esege Malan is shown to be overly strict with the cuckoo, who arrived too late and began to build a nest on a holiday reserved for all living creatures to rest. The celestial himself, with the help of an eighty-planted cane, destroyed the nest of an unlucky bird and at the same time announced that it would henceforth remain homeless [Buryat Folk Tales, 1976, p.393].
Interesting is the story about the confrontation between Esege Malan and the first shaman Buheli Hara, in which the former is shown as a wayward god who does not allow challenging his authority as the supreme deity. According to the myth, the shaman, against the will of Esege Malan, helped a Buryat man to have a son. Upon learning of this, the celestial was angry and took the child's soul to his heaven. Buheli Hara, transformed into a wasp (hedegene), reached the domain of Esege Malan and suddenly stung him on the forehead, causing him to release the child's soul. The shaman caught her, brought her to earth, and the child recovered. Angry Esege Malan took his soul again
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a child, and made his rival dance on a black flat rock until he completely disappeared in it. The deeper the shaman sinks into the stone, the more shamanism among Buryats weakens (Mikhailov, 1996: 63-64).
There is another legend connected with Buheli Hara, which also contains the motif of his rivalry with Esege Malan. The first had a book that helped him learn everything that happens on earth and in heaven. This made Esege Malan jealous, and he sent a ram that ate the book. Since then, people and Buheli Hara, having lost the book, began to cast spells at the behest of Esege Malan on a shoulder of mutton [Zhamtsarano, 2001, p. 74]. In all likelihood, such myths have a late origin and reflect legendary memories of the former power and power of shamans. According to V. A. Mikhailov [Mikhailov, 1996, p. 64], former shamans differed from modern ones in their knowledge of "all kinds of magic, the ability to raise the dead, fly to the sky, and enter into competition with deities."
Mr. D's suggestion is very interesting. Natsova [Natsov, 1995, p.100-101] on the connection of Esege Malan with Sagan Ubugun (Tsagan Ebugen), a popular shamanic character in the mythology of the Mongolian peoples, who was considered the patron saint of the natural world and was later introduced into the pantheon of Buddhist deities during the spread of the "yellow faith". His name, meaning "White Elder", and the characteristic features conveyed in Buddhist iconography in the image of a bald old man with a white beard, indicate the possible identity of Sagan Ubugun and Esege Malan. This is supported by the rite book compiled by lamas on the model of shamanic invocation, dedicated to the first of them. The text also mentions "Esege Malan tengri, the lord of this Universe", to whom they offer sacrifices and express a request for the fulfillment of desires [Natsov, 1995, pp. 98-99].
P. Schmidt (1952, p.178), who conducted a comprehensive study of the image of Esege Malan in the Buryat religious and mythological tradition, notes that it is about him that the largest number of sources tell about him compared to other characters in the pantheon. This remark corresponds to the true state of affairs, since the Ese Malan Tengri defines the face of the Uranic mythology of the Buryats as the primordial god of the sky. This thesis is confirmed in the aggregate by cult and folklore-epic texts containing a multi-faceted characteristic of this iconic mythological character. It should also be noted that the priority of Esege Malan in the cult system of Buryat tengrism is historically determined and indicates its centralizing and structure-forming beginning in the hierarchical system of Buryat shamanism as a whole.
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