Articles

Veronika Belyaeva

During my first visit to Tunka, I noticed that there were no udagans, women shamans. Though in almost in every village there were shamans and chadaci (that is, so called grandfathers of mountains - the older men, who are not of shamanic origin, but can pray to lords of mountains). Why is the Tunka Valley closed to udagans and their activity? In order to answer this question we have to consider several theories and facts. First of all, the academic literature dealing with Buryats' shamanism does not mention that in the Tunka area the activity of udagans is prohibited. I suppose there could be 3 ways of explanation of this fact. Firstly, researches may have simply not noticed this phenomenon or consider it as local and unimportant. Secondly, nowdays, the part of Tunka intelligentsia that wants to revive "traditional", "pure", free of Buddhism shamanism, claims, that banning the udagan's activity is only a temporal illusion, because among the shamans from the Tunka Valley there are equal rights for men and woman. And thirdly, the conviction that in the Tunka Valley there could be no place for women shamans is disproved by the arrivals of udangas from different regions of Buryatia, whose ceremonies take place in different shrines in the valley.

The acceptance of udagans' activity is "politically correct" in Buryat culture and supported by the ethnic elite. After all, it is just they who organize religious ceremonies and holidays in order to emphasise their cultural distinction. On the one hand it shows the ethnic and cultural differences between Buryats and Russians, but on the other hand it unifies the Buryat culture, because it exhibits no regional differences. To understand a udagans problem in the Tunka Valley, one has to begin researches from "lowest" level of culture, that is, from the ordinary people who create the Buryat ethnos as well as a present Buryat culture. These residents believe that in the Tunka Valley there are no udagans, their presence is not possible in the future and moreover that their activity is of no use and even could be harmful. Such opinion is connected with conviction of Tunka Buryats, that the local gods will not listen to a woman who turns to them during ceremonies. They think that gods would be angry and would punish a udanga as well as the residents who allowed her to perform the ceremony. In this paper I will try to present the analysis of this phenomenon.

According to the majority of Tunka people, the prohibition of the women shamans' activity on the terrain of the Tunka Valley is connected with its geographic location. High mountains surround the Tunka Valley - the Khamar-Daban and the Sayans (the Eastern and the Great Sayan). Buryats from there believe that only a man - a masculine god - could be a lord of a mountain. Especially important in the beliefs of Tunka people are the Sayan Mountains. Yet here, according to different claims, on the Altan - Mundarga peak 55 good western Tengris live (that is, higher heavenly gods) or even all 99 Tengris. Here also, in the Sayans, Geser hunted and fought with forces of evil. Here as well, 33 Geser's baators stayed on the earth and transformed into mountaintops in order to protect the world from the evil. Even Khan Shargaj noyon, is the lord of the whole world, chose Sayans as his base. Here, at last, rests Bucha noyon, the ancestor of all Buryat people, who was transformed into a mountain of a bull's shape. The conclusion is that on the Tunka Valley terrain only the masculine shamanistic gods rule. In the valley there are also some femine goddes but they usually wives of the lords of mountains and taiga. Only men can address masculine gods, who would not accept woman's prayer. On the contrary, gods could be angry at them. Shamanistic god's anger usually manifests itself in different kinds of natural disasters. According to my informants, the most glaring example of the gods' punishment for a ceremony performed by udagans, was the fire is in a village Ulbugay. It burned almost everytnig just after a ceremony performed by a well-known Buryat udagan, Nadezhda Annaievna Stepanova. And although, according to the report of Tunka National Park workers, these two events did not take place at the same time, for ordinary residents, the fire and the ceremony were related to each other. And the fire was considered a punishment for breaking the gods' will.

These data show that local gods do not even allow the udangas to be born in the Valley at all. And if udangan comes to the Tuncas Valley, she is expected to quit her activity. Anyway, it is dangerous for every shaman from the outside of the territory of the Valley to perform the ceremonies here. Local gods are very strong, angry and hot-tempered. They might not accept when the stranger is praying to them.

On the terrain of the Tunka Valley there live one of the strongest and most warlike shamanistic gods of Buryatia - Khan Shargaj noyon and Bukha noyon. According to Tunka people especially these two gods dislike women, therefore they are very angry when udagans try to contact them. When analyzing Tunka myths about the Bukha noyon, one might understand why he does not like women. Myth says that Bukha noyon after a tiring escape and a fight with Taigyn Ereen Bukha decided to rest and he chose a nice place in the Tunka Valley, by the Koimor Lakes, near Arshan Kunteiski, which is now known as Bukhyn Khebteshe (it means the lying bull's place). Here, on the volcano, he wanted to sleep, but suddenly local women came and spoiled this place - they threw out some litter there and defecated. All that made Bukha noyon very angry, he left this place after a short walk he laid down and petrified on the top of one of the mountains in the Tunka Golce Mountains in the north of the village Tory. According to the majority of Tunka people, it is since the moment when Bukha noyon was insulted that he dislikes women. To his present seat - the White Mountain - neither udagans nor any other woman can climb. As a punishment for braking this principle a storm could be sent and the guilty women would become infertile. This is how the shamanistic god will take away the main gift, which in this traditional culture distinguishes women from men - the ability to give birth to a child and to sustain the species.

Khan Shargai noyon is the most important shamanistic god for Tunka Buryat. He is one of western khats and he went down the Khairkhan Mountain (situated between present settlements Nilovka and Choito-Gol) to protect people. Up to present day his main functions is to protect soldiers. That is why, first of all to Khan Shargai noyon pray men.. One of my informants - Badmazhab Arbalokinov from a village Kharbiaty, the expert of customs and beliefs of Tunka Buryats - told me that when he had been a child, the women not only nad not been allowed to climb Bukha noyon's mountain, but also Burkhan-Baabai which is the the Khan Shargai noyon shrine at the foot of the mountain Khairkhan. Only "pure" woman could come to Burkhan-Baabai, the ones who were after menopause. According to this belief, older people who fulfilled their duties and lost their sexual abilities become people without sex difference and they are already closer to the world of ancestors and gods. My informant Badmarhab Arbalokinov despaired that the times have changed and nobody wants to follow principles set by ancestors any longer. And if nowadays woman can go to the holy place of Khan Shargai noyon, it is possible that in the future they would climb the Bukha noyon Mountain. He considers this attempt as a great sin.

According to works of some researches who wrote about Tunka, for example Genin-Darma Nacov and K. Gerasimova, at the beginning of XX century, udagans in the Tunka Valley they were commonly observed. K. Gerasimova registered that in the middle of XX century there where were several worshiped burial places of udangas previously living in the Tunka Valley. Nearby a village Rhemchugthere there was a grave of udanga Zaian teebi, near the village Dalachaj - the great udagan's Khatan shuluun teebi grave and in the vicinity of Tagarkhai a grave of Bylun Narhanai Teebi Tagarkhai (1). Taking it into consideration one should ask what did happen that udangas have disappeared from this region and when did it take place? The following citation will help us to answer this question: "The gigantic fire was burning and all shaman accessories which had been confiscated were thrown into it. People tell that in Khoito-Gol, at that time, there were three shamans and one woman-shaman (odigon) (highlighted by V.B.) - Khulerei teebej. She defended herself but was defeated at last. This is how the "yellow faith" was imposed on people in Khoito-Gol" (2). It is the fragment of the history of the victory of Buddhism over shamanism, which is well-known in the Tunka Valley. It is believed that since that event which took place at the beginning of XX century, all gods of the Tunka Valley have converted to Buddhism and have become the severe guards of new faith. Lamas persecuted shamans, they destroyed shamanic accessories, which were burnt on the great shamans' graves. Later on this places Buddhist oboo were erected. However, according to Tunka people convictions, the biggest success of buddhism was the conversion of Khan Shargai noyona to "yellow faith". The above quoted fragment also tells how in 1918, Lharamba-bagsha Dorma-Locin arrived from Tibet to the Tunka in order to take over some religious matters. During his visit, lama "spoke" with Khan Shargai noyon (or Burkhan Baabai - this is Buddhist name of this shamanistic god's), and he said to Dorma-Locin, that in spite of his conversion it is not necessary to look for a new place of for his cult. Khan Shargai noyon permitted to perform Buddhist ceremonies on his old shaman holy place - at the foot of the Khairkhan Mountain. God also "forbade" shamanists practices beginning from a village Turan to the very end of the Tunka Valley, it means up to settlement Mondy. From this time on this terrain shamans are not present. According to the Tunka Buryats, Khan Shargai noyon "does not let in" the shamans root - "utkha" - on these lands. Only lamas and chadaci (who only pray to mountain gods and not necessarily inherit their gift) are allowed to perform the ceremonies there.

On the basis of what was already said, we can claim that the prohibition of activity of udagans in the Tunka Valley was combined with the popularization of Buddhism and a symbolic passage of this valley to a "zone" of Buddhism. Until the 30s of XX century, when mass persecutions of all religions began in the USSR, Buddhism fought against shamanism effectively. Later however, when in Buryatia repressions of all kinds of religions took place, on in the area of the Tunka Valley, shamans began to regain their influence. It happened so because in shamanism there is no organized clergy, and the shamans do not distinguish themselves from the other Buryats. That is why it was much harder to eliminate shamans. It is quite interesting that shamans replaced lamas and become new kind of ministers of new Buddhism. This phenomenon is visible up to the present day. Generally speaking, the people's attitude towards shamans and shamanism negative. It is seen as a savage religion which does not exist among the Buryats, but it does in Yakutia. It turns out, that majority of Tunka people consider themselves Buddhists, but they seldom walk to dacan and rarely invite lamas to their houses. When asked what is the ground for their spiritual practice and believe, Buryats from the Tunka Valley answer in following way: "I often walk to shamans to sprinkle me (it means the offering of vodka or milk). And then everything goes just fine. What for should I go to the dacan, if the shaman lives in the village?" It turns out, that the local people can not see the difference between Buddhism and present shamanism. They spontaneously combine these two religions and create a new syncretic one.

This still new process has been existing for already 150 years and lasts up to a present day. However in this new religion there is no place for women shamans. It happens so because the present religious system of Buryats from the Tunka Valley is still under strong influence of Mongolian-Tibetan Buddhism, in which women are not allowed to hold ministerial positions. And this is why, according to Tunka Buryats, udagan can not run religious activity in the area of the valley. This conviction is supported by the fact that Tunka shamanic gods are men and that they like when only shamans and chadaci pray to them. However the present Buryat culture is flexible and no one can preclude that one day in the Tunka Valley the udandas will come back. It probably depends on the activity of the local intelligentsia, who wants to revive the "pure" shamanism, not contaminated by Bhuddism and on whether the Tunka Buryats will come to believe that that udagan's activity is not harmful and even that it could help.

The article was written on the basis of the materials gathered during the author's fieldwork in the Tunkinsky Region of the Buryat Republic in 2001-2004.

List of the main informants:

Aleksandr Agunov, Nugan
Nikolai Adusheiev, Kharbiaty
Larisa Andykova, Arshan
Badmazhab Arbalokinov, Kharbiaty
Zorigto Baldanov, Kharbiaty
Valeri Baldynov, Kyren
Sergei Ivanov, Mondy
Naderhda Ivanova, Mondy
Lama Oshor (Andrei Zandanov), Kyren
Danila Sushkeiev, Kharbiaty
Vladimir Tarniuiev, Arshan
Darima Shagdurova, Shymki




Literature and bibliography:

1. K.M. Gerasimova, Kult obo kak dopolnitielny material dla izuchenia etnicheskih processow w Buryatii. Etnograficheskiy sbornik, wypusk 5, Ulan-Ude, 1969.
2. A. Galcanova, Burkhan-Baabay - odno iz kultovyh mest nacionalnogo parka "Tunkinskiy", Nacionalnomu parku "Tunkinskiy" 10 let, red. A. L. Angarhayev, Ulan-Ude, 2002, p. 140.