The Story of Usun Debeskertu Khan: Triads Revisited

Introduction. Long before the creation of a national writing system, the Oirats (Kalmyks) had developed a unique oral poetic tradition. By the late 17th century, there appeared a large number of translated poetic works distinguished by genre and artistic diversity. Oirat scholars would insistently turn to the rich oral poetic heritage. And triads were one such most ancient type of aphoristic poetry, their genre characteristics still remaining a matter of debate: some classify them as riddles, others as proverbs — but it is universally accepted that triads hold a special place in the oral poetic tradition. Triads were used not only by medieval authors but have also been turned to by modern Kalmyk writers. Goals. The article introduces into scientific discourse a text of the Oirat version of The Story of Usun Debeskertu Khan which contains triads and quatrains; analyzes didactic contents of the literary triads and compares them to oral (folk) ones. Materials and Methods. The work primarily employs the comparative analysis method. Despite triads have been published in a number of folklore collections (along with proverbs and riddles), their contents have never been investigated in the context of written monuments. Results. The wide use of triads in ancient oral poetic traditions of Mongolic peoples is evidenced by works of researchers from Mongolia, Russia, and China. So, it has been revealed that triads are not identical to riddles, constituting a separate Mongolic poetic genre and having been explicitly used in didactic written monuments as a special form of homilies. Conclusions. The Story of Usun Debeskertu Khan is a didactic composition containing triads and quatrains, the latter — judging from their contents and functions attributed — being essentially edifying (moralistic), which thus makes it possible to finally distinguish them from riddles as such