Comments

Line	Text
4	Ai-dun, zai-yo. A fixed recurrent formula, sung by the listeners following the rhapsode, usually at the end of each part when a storyteller takes a break to have a rest. Its semantics is not quite clear now. It goes back to the ancient times.
48	Arakhi (arkhi) Hard liquor, vodka.
63	Mottled paper. A sheet of paper mottled with letters, words.
66-67	I defeated the mighty enemy, I enhanced the darkhan’s glory. A traditional epical formula uttered by a hero after the victory over the powerful enemy.
419	Having seen the fifth moon. The 5th month of pregnancy is implied. Buryats just like many other peoples of Asia used the lunar calendar.
1060	… my destined bride. Geser’s destined bride on the Earth is Sankhan Gokhon-beauty whereas his celestial bride is Gagurai Nogon-dukhei selected for him by the tengries (heavens) or deities.
1080	… a nice little goat’s hide. In the past Buryats used well-dressed hide or fell as swaddling bands for babies.
1128-1129	He put on wide trousers Black and soft like liver. The word eligen which means liver is polysemantic in Buryat. It also denotes thin, well-dressed skin usually of black color differing from har’ha(n) – well-dressed soft skin (reminding of suede, shagreen leather) but of another color. Obviously, the dull luster of the smooth black skin (its glossy surface) was associated with liver for it was dark and sleek. For example, a black smooth stone (boulder) is also called el’gen khara shuluun – black like liver stone.
1137	… of fish skin. Mentioned are the boots made of fish skin. Perhaps, it is not exactly fish, but nerpa or seal which is found in lake Baikal. From its skin Buryats usually sew boots.
1150	The belt with a silver set. This is a combat belt. In contrast to it there is an everyday belt made of a long piece of fabric. It is wrapped round one’s waist above coat. A combat belt is made of a broad and durable piece of leather and is buckled. It is usually decorated with incrustation. Weapon like a bow, quiver with arrows, saber, knife, etc. are suspended on it. The epithet silver used to describe battle objects and horse’s harness shows the glitter of silver-plated decorations on them.
1152-1154	To his right side he attached A quiver with silver decorations Resembling sloping field. A quiver with arrows was fastened to the combat belt on the right in a sloped position. Hence a traditional epical comparison – hyperbole: sloping field.
1161	The yellow Bukharian bow. There is a traditional in the Buryat epos epithet of a bogatyr’s bow in this expression. Shara – yellow denotes that the bow is fixed up with horn plates and tendom. In the ancient times Buryats used bows of the so called centralasian (reinforced) type, wherein horn plates and tendom were glued on wood to make it still more flexible and durable. It is hard to determine the meaning of the word bukharian. It might be just bukharian, i. e. made in Middle Asia, in medieval Bukhara which was noted for making good weapons.
1179	The huge Khangai arrow. The epithet “khangai” marks the big size and the might of the arrow. Besides it has the meaning saturating, satisfying, fulfilling wishes.
1180	[Able] to hit the enemy’s soul. In Buryat it is to catch one’s soul, i. e. to kill. If the enemy’s soul is not hit, its possessor is not to be done away with.
1880	The mighty bator Agsagaldai. The image of Agsagaldai is traditional in the Buryat epos. Most often he is a herder. His name dates back to Turkic ak sakal (white beard). He is portrayed as negative personage (betrayer) only in M. Imegenov’s variant in contrast to the other variants of Geseriade.
3757-3763	They began to put [the baby] into the cradle. A shin-bone with an ankle They tied at [the head of] the cradle, The right-leg thigh-bone they brought And put it in the cradle. Holding up the shining silver father’s saber They put [the child into the cradle]. This is the description of putting the child into the cradle before giving it the name. When completing that ritual they tied near the baby’s head a shin-bone and a knife as guarding mascots. The bone had to be from the right hinder leg of the animal sacrificed for the ceremony. The Irkutsk Buryats sacrificed a cow, more often a sheep. The Khori Buryats sacrificed a sheep or a horse.
3767-3769	“My old men and women, Give the name to my son!” He asked them with a bow. It was assumed that old people could give a child a good happy name and endow it with their own old age.
3791-3794	“May he grow up well, those having the sharp Will not defeat him, May he grow up well, those having arrow Will not hit him ever!” They mean here the warriors armed with swords, sables, knives, spears, axes and the like, i. e. “having the sharp” and archers, i. e. “having big finger”.
3933-3938	That old monster Jumped off the horse On the wrong right-hand side. Abai Geser the Mighty Jumped off the horse On the proper left-hand side. Normally bators get on and off the horse on the left-hand side. The fact that the mangadkhai got off the horse on the right-hand side evidences of his belonging to the alien world.
4104-4109	He opened his liver Took out the mottled book, He opened his forehead, Took out From among the yellow books of fortune The first three [books]. This is a common passage not infrequently occurring in the epos. According to the ancient views of Buryats as well as of all Mongolian peoples the head and windpipe together with the lungs, heart and liver is the repository of the soul. When making a sacrifice they took out of the animal being sacrificed the sulde (hulde), i. e. the head together with the windpipe, lungs, heart and liver. The word “sulde” meant “soul ” or “one of the souls” or the life (“amin”). This expression reflects the desire of the hero to learn his fate predestined by the celestial creator – Zayan.
4148	We have common roots – placenta. The Buryat “toonto” – placenta has one more meaning, namely “the place of birth”. In the past there was a ritual to bury the placenta. In the yurt they dug a hole behind the fire-place where they put the placenta in a bark box and also a piece of coal, grain, three small black stones, a silver coin and birch kindling. Sometimes they poured some wine or milk vodka (tarasun) on them. The Bil’chir Buryats also put some haw and hips (dog-rose). Coal embodied fire, which the evil spirits fear. Wheat grains granted children, they also had a protecting function (If man’s soul chased by evil spirits hides itself in grains the latter would not find the one). Three black stones were put with a spell for the child’s soul to be as hard and firm as stone. A silver coin meant long life. Birch kindlings were put so that the child should grow and have children. The wine and tarasun were poured so that the body and soul of the child were strengthened. Haw and dog-rose frightened away the evil spirits [Khangalov, vol. 3, 1960: 369-370; vol. 1, 1958: 212-213]. The hole was thoroughly covered. Kept in the same hole were the placenta of the rest of the children. With the Kuda Buryats the ritual was completed by women only. The function of the ritual was that of securing well-being and long age, protecting the soul from evil spirits.