Nart Sagas

Рахно К.Ю. Иранские компоненты в языческих верованиях средневековых башкир // Актуальные  проблемы  гуманитарной  науки:  фольклористика,  литературоведение, этнография, история, археография: Материалы Всероссийской  (с международным участием) научно-практической конференции, посвященной 80-летию  со дня рождения  видного  ученого-фольклориста,  почетного  академика  АН  РБ  Сулейманова  Ахмета  Мухаметвалеевича. – Уфа: ИИЯЛ УФИЦ РАН, 2019. – С. 141-145.

In this article are compared two similar plots, one from the Ossetian Nartiada and another from the Indian Mahabharata. The main plot of both narratives is an ambush, in which the enemies of the heroes will try to kill them, but their plans are ruined due to the intervention of a third party, who using a secret language, advises the heroes not to fall into the ambush. In both cases the secret dialogue has a form of a parable , in which the subject is allegorically substituted by an animal.
It is possible that we are dealing with an influence of Sakan folklore on Indian epics, in that case the “Mleccha language” thanks to which Vidura saves the Pandava heroes, is a Sakan analogue of the Ossetian secret “xatiag language”.

Abkhaz folklore recordings in the Abzhywa dialect. Three tales: Nart Sasryqwa from the Nart Epics (birth and heroic deeds), mythological story about the wizzard sister, explaining the moon eclipse, and a tale about the mythical hero Abrskil, chained in the cave - the Abkhaz version of the Prometheus myth. With Russian translation and comments.

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Research Center for Georgian-Ossetian Relationship
II International Scientific Conference
DEVELOPMENT OF GEORGIAN-OSSETIAN
RELATIONSHIP IN MODERN PERSPECTIVE:
„MODERN PRINCIPLES AND METHODOLOGIES FOR
THE RESREARCH OF THE NART EPIC“
13-15 October
COLLECTED WORKS
Publishing House «UNIVERSAL»
Tbilisi 2016
4
Editor in Chief: NAIRA BEPIEVA
Editoral board:
Nino Popiashvili
Raziat Kumaritova
Natia Amirejibi
Tamar Gelashvili

Рахно К.Ю. Человеческое жертвоприношение у волжских булгар и его фольклорные параллели // Россия и Восток: взаимодействие стран и народов:  Труды  Х Всероссийского съезда востоковедов,  посвященного 125-летию со дня рождения выдающегося востоковеда Ахмет-Заки Валиди Тогана. – Уфа: ИИЯЛ УНЦ РАН, 2015. – Книга 1. – С. 257-260.

Рахно К.Ю. Культ кабана на белорусско-русском этническом пограничье и его осетинские параллели // V Всероссийские Миллеровские чтения (Материалы научной конференции 20-22 октября 2016 г.): сборник статей. – Владикавказ: СОИГСИ ВНЦ РАН, 2016. – С. 78-86.

Рахно К.Ю. Фрагмент средневекового булгарского эпоса у Абу Хамида ал-Гарнати // Люди, культуры, пространство:  социокультурная динамика мира Евразии:  Материалы  Всероссийской научно-практической  конференции  (с международным участием),  посвященной 75-летию профессора Р.З. Янгузина (Уфа, 15 - 16 ноября 2016 г.). – Уфа: РИЦ БашГУ, 2016. – С. 270-276.

Рахно К.Ю. Осетинские параллели к украинской сказке «Названный отец» // IV Миллеровские чтения с международным участием (Материалы научной конференции 11-12 ноября 2014 г.): сборник статей / Под ред. докт. ист. наук З.В. Кануковой. – Владикавказ: ИПЦ СОИГСИ ВНЦ РАН и РСО-А, 2014. – С. 51–62.

Рахно К.Ю. Восточноиранские элементы в каракалпакском сказании о возникновении кобыза // «Великие евразийские миграции».  Материалы Международной научной конференции 11-14 октября 2016 г. – Элиста: издательство Калмыцкого университета, 2016. – С. 95-101.

Рахно К.Ю. Великаны: страничка из эпоса волжских булгар // «Джангар» и эпические традиции тюрко-монгольских народов: проблемы сохранения и исследования. Материалы III Международной научной конференции (г. Элиста, 15–16 сентября 2016 г.). – Элиста: КИГИ РАН, 2016. – С. 213-216.

Рахно К.Ю. Два мотива сармато-аланского происхождения в средневековой религиозной литературе // Нартоведение в XXI веке: современные парадигмы и интерпретации: сборник научных трудов. ФГБУН СОИГСИ ВНЦ РАН и РСО-А.  – Владикавказ: ИПЦ СОИГСИ ВНЦ РАН и РСО-А, 2015. – С. 230-242.

Рахно К.Ю. Создание скрипки в народной сказке татар Западной Сибири // История, экономика и культура средневековых тюрко-татарских государств Западной Сибири: материалы III Всероссийской (с международным участием) научной конференции (Курган, 21-22 апреля 2017 г .). – Курган: Изд-во Курганского гос. ун-та, 2017. – С. 113-117.

Рахно К.Ю. Обманутый защитник в нартовском эпосе осетин и богатырских легендах народов Поволжья // Коста Хетагуров в контексте культуры России: сборник материалов Всероссийской научно-практической конференции с международным участием, посвященной 160-летию со дня рождения Коста Левановича Хетагурова (17–18 мая 2019 г., РСО-Алания, г. Владикавказ). – Владикавказ: ИПЦ СОГУ, 2019. – С. 63-70.

Рахно К.Ю. Арфа Сырдона: западноевропейские параллели //  Коста и мировой историко-культурный процесс. Сборник материалов Международной конференции,  посвященной 155-летию со дня рождения  К.Л. Хетагурова. – Владикавказ: ИПЦ СОИГСИ ВНЦ РАН и РСО-А, 2014. – С. 268–292.

Рахно К.Ю. Булгары в осетинском нартовском эпосе // Кочевые народы Юга России: исторический опыт и современность. Материалы российской  научной  конференции  с  международным  участием, 16-19  марта 2016  г. – Элиста: ЗАОр «НПП «Джангар», 2016. – С. 375-379.

This article examines the areal distribution of the “transparent bones” (a woman or man has a body so transparent that bones can be seen through the skin and marrow can be seen through the bones) and “transparent neck” (a young woman or man has a neck or throat so transparent that food or drinks swallowed by her or him are seen through it) motifs. Both are based on the idea that bodily transparency is somehow attractive. The motif of “transparent bones” became widespread in Northern Eurasia because of the Russian colonization and may reflect the Finno-Ugric substratum in Russian folklore (Figure 1: 1). The motif of “transparent neck” is attested from the Iberian Peninsula to Eastern Siberia and Borneo (Figure 1: 2). It seems to originate from Central Asia, and enter Turkic folklore via Eastern Iranian tribes, likely the Sogdians, and the Arabic oral tradition via the Persians.

The Nart Sagas are a cycle of hero-tales common amongst the peoples of the North Caucasus. Previous studies of these sagas have emphasised a model of them directly 'preserving' ancient Scythian, Sarmatian and Alan material. In order to test and analyse this model, this paper concentrates on a single Ossetian Saga of the hero's journey to the underworld. By doing so, it proposes that a less direct model of cultural influence may be a more appropriate way to unpick the strands of this heroic tradition.

Рахно Константин. «Земля незнаема» и иранский субстрат «Слова о полку Игореве» // Studia mythologica slavica. – Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovani center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti, Inštitut za slovensko narodopisje, Ljubljana, Slovenija; Università degli Studi di Udine, Dipartamento di Lingue e Civiltà dell’ Europa Centro-Orientale, Udine, Italia, 2014. – T. XVIІ. – С. 91-134.

The basic ternary core of the Scythian animal style consists of representations of three types of animals (birds, hoofed animals and predators/reptiles). Each of them normally represent one of the three levels of the Scythian cosmology, birds are markers of the sky and the world of gods, hoofed animals represent the earth, where people live, predators are markers of the underworld and the force of death. In this article are presented three examples of how this mythological scheme has been reflected in the Ossetian epic poetry and mythology. Some sagas conserved even an association between the Indoeuropean three social functions and the three types of animals, corresponding a bird to the priests (a white rooster of the Acætæ family), a predator to the warriors (the dog Silæm of the Æxsærtæggatæ family) and a hoofed animal to representatives of the third function (the yellow donkey of the Borætæ family). Due to the fact that this scheme is unknown in the mythology of the Koban culture, makes sence to trace the origin of these Ossetian believes in the Iranian nomadic cultures of the steppes (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans).

The systematic processing of ca. 55,000 folklore-mythological texts from all over the world has allowed to define more precisely the distribution of motifs considered to be non-trivial Celtic–Caucasian parallels, and to expand their list with two peculiar correspondences. On the one hand, the spread of these motifs may be due to cultural interactions between Celtic- and Iranian-speaking tribes that took place during the second half of the 1st millennium BC and the first half of the 1st millennium AD in the North Pontic region, Balkan-Carpathian area and Western Europe. On the other, it can be also connected with migrations of the Early Bronze Age, which caused the appearance of the steppe (Yamnaya) genetic component in the British Isles.

The publication of the Adyghe folklore text from a popular Aydamyrqan cycle, reflecting the Hakuch sub-dialect of the Shapsygh dialect of Adyghe, recorded by the author in the August of 1983 in the village of Khadzhiko (Greater Sochi region). The text is given both in Adyghe Cyrillic and in Latin transcriptions with morphemic analysis and grammatical comments. The author discusses typological parallels to the story in the Nart epics and in the ancient Greek mythology, specifically, in the myth of Oedipus Rex.

The rich folk literature of the Caucasus is virtually unknown in the West because the ancient myths were preserved orally and the isolated region's cultures remain little-known today. In antiquity this territory—stretching 1,000 miles from the Black Sea east to the Caspian Sea—was part of Scythia-Sarmatia, home to nomadic and semi-nomadic peoples whose lives centered on horses and archery. John Colarusso's translations of Nart sagas from Circassian, Abkhazian, Abaza, and Ubkh bring to life a wonderful world of primeval giants, evil monsters, magnificent horses, wise elders, adventurers, magical spells, earthy humor, and colorful heroes and heroines. The sagas are filled with fantastic exploits as well as realistic details of daily life. Colarusso’s commentaries provide historical contexts, explain arcane meanings and local customs, and point out comparative folklore and fascinating mythic parallels.

This article is based on “The Electronic Analytical Catalogue of Folklore and Mythological Motifs” and examines the links between classical mythology and Caucasian folklore. These links include “Prometheus” (a strong person who ventured to confront a god is for a long time chained to a mountain or to a post), “Challenge to the Thunder-God” (a powerful person pretends to be the sky-god imitating rain and thunderstorm) and “Bag of Winds” (wind is or was contained in a small enclosure; it was released from it or flies out of there from time to time) motifs. The processing of ca. 50,000 texts from all over the world demonstrates that the first two of them are the parallels exclusively shared by classical and Caucasian mythological traditions. The “Bag of Winds” is found also in folklore of the Lithuanians, Livonians, Estonians, Sami, Mongols, and Kets. All these parallels between classical mythology and Caucasian folklore can hardly be explained by contacts during the Second Greek colonization. It seems more plausible that they reflect the relationships between early Indo-European- and North Caucasian speaking tribes which are supported by lexical evidence.

Рахно К.Ю. Иранские мифологические мотивы в повести Николая Гоголя «Ночь перед Рождеством» // Актуальные проблемы гуманитарного знания в XXI веке: состояние и перспективы развития. К 90-летию академика Г.Г. Гамзатова: материалы Международной научной конференции (Махачкала, 5–6 мая 2016 г.). – Махачкала: ИЯЛИ ДНЦ РАН; АЛЕФ, 2016. – С. 171-175.

The finds uncovered in 2011-2012 at the Strupka-Magyar Estate archaeological site in Regoly, provide some evidence for a direct Indo-Iranian influence on the Southeastern area of the Carpathian Basin, mediated hy the migration ofKimmerian people, from as early as the end of the y‘h century BC. According to Herodotus (V.p.), the immigration of Sigynna peoples from Asia Minor to the area seems very likely. The great number of artefacts belonging to the local, Hallstatt-influenced culture that were found in the Regoly tumulus, show that there was no complete changes of the area’s population. Rather, the immigrants (most probably an armed elite and the ones accompanying) only conguered and ruled the original inhabitants and created a layer of their own culture on top of what they found here. They established a new structure of hierarchy and acquired possession of what they found, instead of completely destroying it. Together with the customs they brought with themselves, on the other hand, many typical artefacts have also appeared in the area. Only one single example of these artefacts is the perforated astragalos bone that makes this process well tracable in the Hallstatt and Early Celtic cultures.

When tracing the route of the perforated astragalos bones, one can easily recognize the migration of the area of their usage, as well as the peoples who used it, the Indo-Iranian peoples, is directed from East to West, in accordance with the theories suggested by both historical and archaeological evidences. Those Indo-Iranian archaeological parallels, however, that were pointed out by Dumezil, are unprecedented in Europe before the Iron Age. Furthermore, these artefacts only appear in a given location, after the knowledge of producing and using iron has also spread there. This would in turn question DumeziYs assumption that Indo-European mythical motifs would have been preserved by the Nart Epics. On the contrary, archaeological finds and observations suggest that the expansion of the Indo-Iranian peoples has reached the Etruscan, Hallstatt and Early Celtic territories of Europe in numerous different waves and following different routes. Among other finds, the atragalos bones also suggest that this is how the mythological motifs of the Nart Epics have reached our area and established a novel layer on top of the culture of those peoples that have been living here already in the Bronze Age. Accordingly, by the means of migration from the East to the West, peoples closely related to the Caucasian groups, have enriched the European culture with their own mythological motifs. This can also be regarded as a continuous process spanning from the Iron Age until the Middle Ages, through the numerous waves of the big migrations from the East.

Рахно Константин. Жир и жирные времена: об одном символе в «Слове о полку Игореве» // Studia mythologica slavica. – Ljubljana: Znanstvenoraziskovani center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti, Inštitut za slovensko narodopisje, Ljubljana, Slovenija; Università degli Studi di Udine, Dipartamento di Lingue e Civiltà dell’ Europa Centro-Orientale, Udine, Italia, 2016. – T. XIX. – С. 93-121.

This article deals with one symbolic concept in the Tale of Igor's Campaign – fat and gold. Fat, which Prince Igor let sink to the bottom of the Kayala, was not simply an abundance, and the fat times, scared away by the Maiden Wrong, were not just the rich ones. They are connected with the Iranian mythological beliefs. The Ossetians believed that the earth used to secrete a certain peculiar nutritious fat far in the past, but these blessed times came to the end because of some events and the activities of certain epic heroes. Such ideas are reflected in the Ossetic Nart epos and superstitions. Their traces are present in the Ruthenian chronicles. The falcon symbols of the poem also have Iranian roots and are connected with the notions of royal khvarenah among the Scythians and other Iranian peoples.

Рахно К.Ю. Осетинские параллели к образу Всеслава Полоцкого в «Слове о полку Игореве» // Фольклор народов Северного Кавказа в контексте евразийского диалога культур. К 75-летию ученого-фольклориста, профессора А.М. Аджиева. – Махачкала: Институт языка, литературы и искусства им. Г. Цадасы ДНЦ РАН (ИЯЛИ ДНЦ РАН), 2017. – С. 420-430.

Fin avril 2015 paraît chez l'éditeur Honoré Champion l'essai "Le Roman de Jaufré et les Narty Kaddžytæ - Modalités du merveilleux et structures indo-européennes". Il s'agit de l'édition, refondue et augmentée, de la première thèse de doctorat en France consacrée à l'étude comparée des légendes nartes des Ossètes et du roman arthurien, à travers le roman occitan de Jaufré. C'est aussi le premier ouvrage en français entièrement consacré à l'étude (comparée) de Jaufré.

L'ouvrage contient en annexes une étude détaillée des illustrations du manuscrit  du roman de Jaufré (BnF n°2164) liées aux motifs merveilleux ainsi que la traduction de 9 légendes nartes inédites. Il s'agit des premières traductions de légendes nartes en français depuis l'ouvrage de Georges Dumézil, Légendes sur les Nartes. Le livre des héros, Gallimard/UNESCO Caucase, 1965 (réed. 1989).

La thèse qui s'intitulait « Les modalités du merveilleux dans le roman de Jaufre et les Нарты Кадджытæ » a été soutenue le 10 décembre 2011, sous la direction Gérard Gouiran. Les membres du jury étaient Jean-Louis Backès, Professeur émérite de littérature générale et comparée (Université Paris 4), Alain Christol, Maître de conférences honoraire de linguistique classique (Université de Rouen), Gérard Gouiran, Professeur émérite d’occitan et de linguistique romane (Université Montpellier 3), Joël Grisward, Professeur honoraire de littérature médiévale (Université de Tours), Philippe Martel, Professeur d’occitan (Université Montpellier 3), Juan Miguel Valero Moreno, Professeur de philologie romane (Université de Salamanque).