The cult of the White Old Man: Mongolian texts from Tuva
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25178/nit.2021.1.9Keywords:
Worship of the White Old Man; texts of sang-prayers; Sutra of the White Old Man; manuscript collection; textual tradition; TuvaAbstract
One of the richest ritualistic, textual and iconographic traditions is associated with the cult figure of the White Old Man. Its popularity and significance makes it a remarkable phenomenon in the religious and spiritual culture of Mongolians.
The aim of this article is to give an overview of the Mongolian texts of sang-prayers and of the "Sutra of the White Old Man", which are a part of the collections of the Aldan Maadyr National Museum of the Republic of Tuva. The manuscript collection of the museum boasts of eleven such manuscripts, and five of these, examined by the authors, are presented in this publication. The Tuvan manuscripts are of special interest as illustrative of the regional tradition of the White Old Man worship, but also in terms of the textual studies.
One of the features of the graphics of Tuvan texts is that the grapheme š is in most cases marked with a crown (titm) in all positions, which is a typical feature of "clear script".
References
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How to Cite
For citation:
Bicheev B. A. and Alateng Aoqier. The cult of the White Old Man: Mongolian texts from Tuva. New Research of Tuva, 2021, no. 1, pp. 174-187. (In Russ.). DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.25178/nit.2021.1.9
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Author Biographies
Baazr A. Bicheev, Independent researcher
Doctor of Philosophy, Independent researcher; Editor-in-chief of the Corpus Scriptorum Oiratorum series.
Postal address: 18 Gorky St., 358000 Elista, Russia.
Tel.: +7 (961) 394-55-64.
E-mail: baazr@mail.ru
Alateng Aoqier, Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Doctor of History, Professor, Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Postal address: 1 Goujia tiyu chang beilu, Chaoyang Distr., Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China.
E-mail: altan.ochir@yandex.ru
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