Oldal 155 [155]
A Goat AS BUDDHA’S THRONE: THE SACRED AND THE PROFANE IN MONGOLIAN RIDDLES
cause Buddha is sitting upon it). The ‘bandy legs’ refers to the goat and to the throne
with the shape of the legs, how they curve in and then out.'4 The association ofa lowly
livestock animal, a goat, with the deity-realm may at first seem like the collusion of
two completely unrelated categories, but in the cosmology of the Mongolian nomad,
is anything but.
In the following riddle, the role of offering bowls placed upon an altar is compared
to the camel caravan of a lama:
I aBbok JIAMBIH T3M33
TaHnuxan 3aMaap NyBHa
— Taxum epex!?
The camels of Lama Gaw’j
Proceed in a single straight line
— offerings arranged [on altar]
The title 2aebac is a misspelling or variant of zaexc, a monk who has obtained the
equivalent of a PhD (having passed the examination of Tib. dka”bcu, ‘the ten difficult
things’). The plural has clearly been elided in the singular use of maum33 (camel). The
‘single straight line’ refers to the row of offering bowls. (The verb epex designates
arranging objects in a line.) Placing the offering bowls (usually containing water or
fresh grains), or oil lamps before the Buddha (bypxanoı emne) in a single row creates
a visual effect similar to that of the camel caravan. The rounded bumps of the grain
offerings (as each bowl must be as full as possible to symbolize the abundance of the
offerings) also visually allude to the humps of the Bactrian camels that were often used
for transport in Mongolia. The reference to the animals as ‘Lama Gaw’j’s camels’ is
quite affectionate and humorous. What is also interesting in the riddle is the manner in
which movement is superimposed onto a static situation, a quality which characteristic
of many of these riddles — the inversion of movement and motionlessness.'”
Goats are often associated with noble bearing and dignity in the imagination of nomads. Lubsandorj, for
example, recalled a legend about the s#eup (mountain goat): There is an old goat, and the time has come
to die. The goat wonders how it should die. It stands on a high cliff, and then falls into the valley below.
There is also a very well-known poem related to this theme by AsxyyxysaH entitled Taxutin 302coon
(‘The Mountain Goat’s Station’). Consultation 2014.
Jlozop, I. — Oxsuiixytar, L.: Moneon apdvin onBcoeo masaap, p. 252.
16 Kara, György: Mongol-Magyar szötär. Terebess Kiadö, Budapest 1998, p. 95; Chandra-Das, S.: A Ti¬
betan-English Dictionary. Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 2004, p. 50.
For an analysis of movement in Mongolian folkloric story-telling within the Deleuzian context of ‘no¬
madic narrative,’ see Mulzet, O. (Mikos, R.): Introduction to the Legend of Mother Green Tara. In: http://
www.almostisland.com/spring 2014/special issue the past/introduction to the legend of mother_
green_tara.html. Retrieved November 11, 2017.
153