3

Layered Lands, Layered Minds

115-47

p. 116

"many aspects of Shishged social life revolve around ... an existential contrast between ... the two basic components of Darhad persons -- the "yellow side" (shar tal) and the "black side" (har tal). The black side comprises everything that is ... shamanic. The yellow side, conversely, contains all that is ... Buddhist. Thus people often refer to shamanism as the "black religion" (haryn shashin) and to ([d]Gelug[s-]pa) Buddhism as as the "yellow religion" (shayn shashin). ...

p. 117

Thus every Darhad person is simultaneously black and yellow inside, but not on the outside, where certain persons ... stand out from others by being particularly black, while other persons ... are prominent in a yellow way."

"a steady flow of films, TV shows, newspaper articles, and cultural performances highlight ... aspects of Darhad life, notably its shamanic faith (see also Lacaze 2000, 24-25 ...). ... . ... Darhads are often presented as being the shamanic yastan [p. 116 supra : "a "people" (yastan)"] in Mongolia,

despite the fact that the revival of shamanism seems to have been {and to be} more prominent among Mongolia's Buryat minority (... Swancutt 2006, 2007)."

{In Mongolia, although the Darhad are publicized, the Buryat are ignored : simply because the Buryat are mostly located outside of Mongolia Propre, in Siberia to its north; whereas all the Darhad reside within Mongolia Propre itself.}

p. 118

"Indeed for many non-Darhads, to visit the Shishged is to be propelled into a ... land ... which ... exudes a strangely compelling attraction ... . ... Revealing anything about yourself {by a non-Darhad visiting the S^is^ged} ..., ... such information may be used {by Darhads} to feed the jokes (hoshin shog) ... to which Darhads are supposedly prone {habituated}. ...

Similarly any suspicious-looking spot in the landscape ... . ... Perhaps that pool is home to demons (cho:tgo:rtei gazar); perhaps the tree is a shamanic cult site (bo:o: mod); and perhaps the ovoo harbors a land spirit (lus savdag)."

"When asked to characterize Darhads, non-Darhads

p. 119

tend to single out ... : (1) all Darhads ... are ... poor; (2) all Darhads are inherently shamanic ...; and (3) all Darhads are inveterate jokers ... .

This joking ability ... is imbued with a unique {shamanic} efficacy."

{similarly as with satires by Druids or by Cymry bards}

p. 120

"the Darhads were ... secretly admired -- by Halh traders in Mo:ro:n of having "layered minds" (davhar uhaan). Interestingly, the term davhar, in addition to meaning ... "layered," or "stratified," also denotes processes of ... hollowing-out".

p. 120

"Even in the eyes of many people in Ulaan-Uul themselves, they are ... funnier, and (above all) more shamanic than

p. 121

the people living farther south. ... Above all, I was constantly reminded jokingly ... about the special relationship between Darhad tradition (Darhad yos) and the shamanic religion (bo:o:giin shashin)."

"In a famous narrative, as female shaman is transformed into a rainbow that hovers over a valley where a caravan of [b]lama[-]s ... is passing through. The [b]lama[-]s are terrified : the rainbow-shaman[ess] is defiling them, for what they see is the gigantic underside of a menstruating woman." (... Humphrey 1996, 131-32)"}

{In Murnin (northeast Arnhem Land) myth, "the Rainbow Snake ... brought on the second sister's menstrual flow ... and swallows them alive. ... . ... southern Venezuela, the Rainbow Serpent ... is driven "crazy with desire" by the smell of menstrual blood. The anaconda ... capture the women" (BR, p. 108).}

p. 123

"It is written in the Secret History that ... forefathers crossed the river Tengis and also ... traveled around a river called Irmegen Gu:n."

p. 124, fn. 4

"the name Tengis figures in the opening paragraphs of the Secret History of the Mongols : "There was a bluish wolf ... having his destiny from Heaven above. His spouse was a fallow doe. They came, passing over the Tenggis" (Cleaves 1982, 1). The established scholarly convention, however, is that

Tengis here refers to a "sea" or "lake," and

{the Behring Strait?}

not to the river Tengis, which flows across the northern portion of the Shishged."

"White merit ["tsagaan buyan"] emanates from the three White Animals : the Darhad White Sheep, the Darhad White Fish, and the Darhad White Horse.

The merit of the White Sheep stems from its tail ... .

The White Fish has healing powers

{The "white fish" ("HN!") is eaten in celebration of Nouruz (Zaratustrian New Year).}

from the Shishged River : when it is pulled out of the water, it shines ... . ...

The Bogd... said : "... Your friend should drink the mare's milk (airag) three times a day and

eat the mutton the Darhad White Sheep. Then he shall be cured.""

{evidently "a snow ram", described ("FPE&Ch", p. 55) as ritually slain in order to be eaten}

"livestock (mal) can be ... counted ... and priced according to the so-called livestock unit or bod. (One bod equals

one horse, cow, yak, or hainag,a yak-cow hybrid;

two-thirds of a camel;

seven sheep; or

ten goats.)"

"From the mid-seventeenth until the early twentieth century, most of Outer Mongolia was divided into numerous "banners" (hoshuu {any relation to the name of /Hon-s^u/ isle?}) ..., ... home to ... Buddhist monasteries (hiid) headed by senior Mongolian [b]lama[-]s, some of whom bore the title indicating holy reincarnation (hutagt)."

"the first monastery ... Zo:o:lo:ngiin Hu:ree (also known as the Darhadyn ...) ... was ... the religious, administrative, and commercial center of the Darhad Ih Shav' for ... 175 years or so. ... Initially it was built at the river mouth called Ivdiin Am, which is located in the present-day Soyot subdistrict of the Ulaan-Uul district in the area known as Behiin Suur'. But ... it was later relocated in two stages to Tovogiin and Tasarhian Khash, respectively, finally finding its base ... near the present-day Renchinlhu:mbe district center , Zo:o:lo:n."

"sacred stone cairns (ovoos) ... have ... been constructed at places believed to be the abode of "land masters" (gazryn ezed), spiritual entities that are considered responsible for the natural conditions ... on which human and animal life are dependent. ... Ovoos traditionally were associated with the reproduction of different kinship groupings (clans) ..., whose male members performed annual sacrificial rites at ovoo sites. When people travel, they should ideally stop at any major ovoo encountered on the way. The traveler must then pick up three stones and circumabulate the ovoo three times ..., each time throwing a rock at the ovoo".

"in 1855 the Ih Shav' contained twenty-six zu:u:nii ovoo and twenty-four hiliin ovoo, ... the latter "demarcating the border" to different political entities neighboring this ecclesiastical estate".

p. 137

"the ovoo called Jargalant, which is also known as Zo:o:lo:n Ovoo, ... was -- and still is -- located on a hilltop close to the geographic center of the Shishget. At this site ..., seven [b]lama[-]s from the Zo:o:lo:n monastery ... perform an important annual ceremony.

First, the [b]lama[-]s ... visit a small island in the middle of a holy lake (... Deed Tsagaan Nuur). Here they ... make offerings and read prayers to seven larch trees

named for the stars in the Great Bear constellation.

{These 7 names are provided in Heissig 1980, pp. 83-4 : they are mostly names of species of domesticated mammals.}

They ... then climb a nearby hill, on whose peak towered the Jargalant Ovoo. ... The seven [b]lama[-]s then performed an ovoo sacrificial rite (ovoony tahilga), in which ... beckonings were made for the local land master {sa-bdag}."

p. 142

"In one recent Mongolian film I saw an udgan ['shamaness'] participating in ovoo worship, wearing shamanic clothes. ...

{This was the original and authentic mode of performing the caerimony, standard in Mongolia until invaded by the Sa-skya, and afterward by the dGe-lugs, intrusions.}

Near the source of the Harmyn River there is an ovoo called Zu:rhnii Ovoo, where the [b]lama[-]s ... make sacrifices."

"the Mongolian ovoo rite is meant to summon (dallaga) good fortune (hishig) from the spirit masters of the land ... .

... the ritual and the complex mediations between human and nonhuman "owners" ... have already been described in detail by others (Bawden 1958; Heissig 1980; Sneath 2000)".