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ÁGNES BIRTALAN
The Origin and Morphology of the Spirits —
The World Model and the Aetiological Myths
Although Lama Jigmedjamc told us that no one could tell how many spirits inhabit
the surroundings of Mankhan as their number is countless, by name or by shape he
mentioned only four spirits:
1. The female spirit of Sutää mountain, of half snake, half woman shape.
2. The male spirit of Khaanbaatar, who appears — in all probability — in anthropomor¬
phic form in a man’s shape, but the Lama did not give a closer description.
3. The female spirit of the waters (rivers) and probably also of the caves of Gurwn
Senker, appearing in the form of an old woman.
4. The spirit of the waters (rivers and lakes ?) of Tégrégiin Khar in the form of a mot¬
ley fish.
The Lama placed two of them in the class of the chthonic naga-spirits (cf. Mong. luus,
luus sabday, Tib. klu) i. e. the small motley fish and the female spirit owner of Sutää
Mountain. The spirits of waters, lakes, rivers etc. belong to the class of water-beings,
so it is obvious that the owner-spirit of a lake appears as a fish. But the comprehension
of a naga-shaped female spirit as a mountain deity is a less frequent phenomenon. In
Jigmedjame’s narration there is one more remarkable phenomenon e. g. the sibdig-spirit
of a mountain is a female, half-snake spirit. In the Mongolian Buddhist iconography
there are several gods, deities with snake body, but they are usually connected to
the waters or earth and not to the mountains. Spirits of mountains, belonging to the
sabday- or Sibdig-classes, are mostly male personifications of mountains.
Bayarmagnai’s Narration
Concerning the lake Tégrégiin Khar Bayarmagnai, an old Dsakhchin shepherd (born
in Mankhan, 82 years old in 1991) told us a different narrative:
“The Tögrögiin Khar is worshipped once when green grows, before the people of
the banner (Khal., Oir. xosüun) move upward [to the summer dwelling place]. Then
at the time of moving to the river it will be worshipped again. [...] The sibdig of our
land is very majestic. Once upon a time there was a white lion that came to our land
and stayed here. Thereafter this lion became worshipped. There are several rocks of
a shape as majestic as that white lion.” (Tape-record in August 1991.)
The appearance of the lion must be a later phenomenon originating from the Indo¬
Tibetan mythology (cf. the motifs of texts, like the tales Üliger-ün dalai “The Ocean
of Parables” and many other tales, and Buddhist narratives).
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