The article describes the past and present state of the Sart-Kalmyks of Kyrgyzstan in conditions of a different ethnic environment and multilingualism. The Sart-Kalmyks, or Issyk-Kul, or Karakol Kalmyks (Kalmaks) are a small ethnic group of Oirat origin, professing Islam. The source base of the article was the author’ personal field materials collected in the Ak-Sui district of the Issyk-Kul region of Kyrgyzstan during a scientific expedition in 2021. The author managed to find a copy of the handwritten “Sart-Kalmyk-Kyrgyz-Russian dictionary” compiled by the residents of the village of Chelpek in the 1990s, to record samples of folklore works that exist in the modern Sart-Kalmyk community (oral stories, historical legends, toponymic legends, songs, well-wishes, proverbs, etc.). As additional material, information from various sources was involved, including from archival and published materials in Russian, Kalmyk and Kyrgyz languages. Our study presents the existing versions of the origin of the ethnic group “Sart-Kalmyks”, shows in detail the process of resettlement of Kalmyks from Xinjiang to the Semirechye region, studies the toponymy of the former and modern territory of residence of the Sart-Kalmyks, examines the history of the study of Sart-Kalmyks, number, ethnic composition, religion, education, economy, traditions of the Karakol Kalmyks. The relevance of this work is dictated by insufficient research of the Sart-Kalmyks in the domestic and world humanitarian science.

The article examines the process of formation of the Russian multinational state by the example of the inclusion of Nogai nomads into the Russian Empire in the XVIII–XIX centuries and the subsequent ambiguous phenomenon, the resettlement of part of the ethnos into the Ottoman Empire, to be precise. The relevance of the study is due to the little-studied and fragmentary coverage of the problem of Nogai society’s choice between Russian and Ottoman citizenship in the XVIII-XIX centuries. The novelty of the author’s approach consists in understanding the need to study this issue not only through the prism of the Russian-Turkish rivalry in the North Caucasus and the Northern Black Sea region, but also through the process of integration of Nogai nomads into the Russian Empire in the historical period under consideration. The study reveals the main position of the imperial authorities regarding the formation and development of the administrative and legal system in Nogai society, the inclusion of nomads in the all-Russian political, legal and economic space. The process of formation and functioning of the bailiff apparatus is considered in the context of the implementation of the normative legal acts developed for nomadic Nogai society, such as “The Order for the management of Nogais” (1822) and “The Charter for the management of Nogais and other Mohammedans nomadizing in the Caucasus region” (1827). The author pays special attention to the problem of land ownership and land use faced by nomadic societies in the first half of the XIX century, which was reflected in practice in the restriction and reduction of nomadic lands, and this undoubtedly influenced the economic situation of Nogai nomads. By the middle of the XIX century, the Nogais faced a difficult choice: to join the Russian Empire, sacrificing their identity to a certain extent, or to resist this process, preferring a more radical version of their own historical path. The result of these events was the resettlement of most of the Nogais lived in the North Caucasus and the Northern Black Sea region to the Ottoman Empire. The author highlights the processes of adaptation of Nogai nomads to legal and political conditions in the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the XIX century. The problem of choosing citizenship, which faced the Nogais in the XVIII-XIX centuries, eventually led to their dispersed living in our days.

Within the framework of the presented publication, on the materials of Kalmykia, the process of the formation of the Soviet regional party-political elite in the early 1960s–late 1970s is described in detail. On the example of the image of B.B. Gorodovikov, some touches to the associative image of the son of a nomad, who rose from farm laborer to lieutenant general and leader of the Kalmyk Autonomous Republic, are considered. In the difficult period of reconstruction of the socio-economic structure of the republic, which decisively changed military service in the Soviet army to a regional managerial position, after the illegal deportation of the Kalmyk people to Siberia, becoming the first leader of Kalmykia of the titular nationality. The aim of the presented work was to study the mechanism of the formation of the regional party-political elite in the early 1960s–late 1970s, to which it is customary to refer the secretary corps of the Communist Party committees in the regions. This study is relevant based on the need to improve the system for the selection and training of qualified management personnel at the level of individual regions. This, in turn, motivates the research search of scientists in the field of personnel policy of previous historical periods. The importance and timeliness of the stated problems is largely due to the strategically important positions that are occupied by leading management personnel in the social and social structure of Russian society. At the same time, the study of Soviet management experience is very important in the implementation of modern personnel policy. In addition, the study will make it possible to fill in some historiographic gaps and provide an opportunity to analyze Soviet nomenclature practices. The scientific novelty of the presented article is determined by the fact that certain elements in the practice of forming a regional party-political elite in the early 1960s and late 1970s. described in the complex. At the same time, such studies on Kalmyk material have not been carried out before, which makes it possible to introduce into scientific circulation a number of previously unpublished sources.

In Mongolian oral and written literature, you will not find a writer who has not written or spoken about his mother and father. In both ancient and modern Mongolian literature, parental roles and attributes have come to be seen in many forms and colors. Parents are the ones who wear them for the happiness and well-being of their children. When the word «father» is used in Mongolian language, the first words that come to mind with it are «mother», then «homeland», «son», «mountain», «god», etc., all of which highlight the meaning and essence of human life. Modern Mongolian literature contains thousands of works about the father. Analyzing about 60 works of more than 100 writers and poets on this topic, we can see many differences in the image of the father, age, mood, character, compassion, merit for his children, sincerity, etc. When expressing the role of a father in contemporary Mongolian literature, it has been embossed with the following six general characteristics: 1) the child’s inner desire to repay and respond to his or her father’s beneficence; 2) the sacred image of father and a precious memory left or kept in a moment; 3) cordial confession by children for their parents from a far place; 4) the expression of grief over the loss of a loving father; 5) the joy of rejoicing in the love and filial piety by father; 6) the expression of protecting or taking sides of father from any evil force.

The Kalmyk people are the creators and protectors of the richest oral and poetic creativity. It is presented with diverse folk genres: with fairy tales, songs, proverbs, riddles, congratulations, magtal praises. The most valuable pearl of Kalmyk folklore is the heroic epic «Dzhangar», which is one of the outstanding monuments of world folklore: with Russian sagas, Caucasian «Narty», Finnish «Kalewala», and Kyrgyz «Manass». The paper discusses the accumulation of a phenomenon of epos in the modern conditions and sums up the history of studying the heroic epos of the Kalmyk people. Attention is paid to development of methods of the complex studying the epos in all national versions.

This research paper is dedicated to the famous Xinjiang jangarchi Javyn Juunai (1926–2017). He made a great contribution to the development of the art of epictelling. The author discusses the authenticity of the repertoire of the outstanding epicteller. Juunai’s father Zhav, like his grandfather Erhetei, was also jangarchi. Many researchers believe that Javyn Juunai, thanks to his education, may have composed the chapters of the epic «Jangar» himself. The author of the article refutes this opinion of the researchers and believes that Zhunai inherited the epic fund from his father and grandfather, who served as the “court” jangarchis of the Torgout Prince of Khobugsar. On the recommendation of Shalvan Geghyan Javyn Juunai was apprenticed to the famous keeper of the khan’s seal Olzat, where he received an education, knowledge about Oirat oral folk art.

The article is devoted to understanding the role and place of folk costume in the system of traditional art of the Kalmyk people. The relevance of this study is due, first of all, to the need to analyze the functional nature of women’s national costume, the decorative value of folk clothing. The Kalmyk costume, being an extremely multifaceted phenomenon, is distinguished by its shape, cut, quantity of details, color, embroidery, ornamentation, etc. The costume is considered as a marker of the class and gender status of a person, its social and aesthetic functions are revealed. Of particular interest is the inseparable version of the complete everyday-festive women’s vestments, namely, the two-piece basis of clothing, designated by the authors as a pair of “terlg-tsegdg”. Analogs of the Kalmyk sleeveless jacket tsegdg, the upper dress for women, are such types of dress among the Buryats as the khubaysi and uuzh (the latter is also available among the Mongols), chegedeks — among the Altai, and segedeks — among the Khakass. The authors suggest that some difference in the name of a single type of clothing is based on the well-known custom of tabooing the name among the listed peoples, associated with the prohibition of pronouncing the name of the ancestor totem. It is concluded that the inseparability of clothing is explained by the image of the progenitor bird in Kalmyk folklore.

The image of the snake is one of the most common characters in the mythology of the peoples of the world. This image is also quite widely represented in the oral folk art of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples, has a variety of interpretations in its various genres. In this article, the author refers to the image of the snake as a tabooed sacred character in the folklore of the Altaians. In the popular consciousness, the snake was a sacred, especially revered creature. Altaians have a number of folk customs and beliefs associated with this reptile. As a result of the conducted research, the functions of the snake in the signs were determined, the interconnectedness and interchangeability of the functions of this sacred reptile were revealed. Of particular interest is the recoding of the snake image in different semiotic systems.

Article reviews the Kalmyk oral stories about Buddhist deities and Kalmyk monks. Studying of the features of folk texts (epic “Jangar” and religious songs) shows that the Kalmyk folklore is unusually rich in its content. Considered religious oral stories reveal the spiritual culture and Buddhist worldview of the Kalmyks.

The translation has been done from the edition: Schorkowitz D. (2014). Akkulturation und Kulturtransfer in der Slavia Asiatica. In: Vorträge und Forschungen 78. Frühjahrstagung 2010 des Konstanzer Arbeitskreis für Mittelalterliche Geschichte auf der Insel Reichenau, Bodensee. Ed. by R. Härtel. Sigmaringen, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 2014, ss. 137-163. The author is grateful to the editors of the journal “Nomadic civilization: historical research” for the translation and the invitation to present his point of view.