The image of the mythical bird on the engravings of the Early Iron Age: the experience of comparison of Ob-Ugric and Iranian traditions

The image of the mythical bird is presented in the form of engravings on disk-shaped bronze plaques and mirrors of the Early Iron Age. They originate from the so-called "hoards", known in the territory of the taiga zone of Western Siberia. The appearance of the engravings belongs to the time around the 2nd century BC. These things functioned among the population of the Kulay culture. Kulay population did not use mirrors, which were subjects of import, according to their main function. On the surface of mirrors depictions of mythoritual character were engraved, and they were used as objects of cult practices. In Ob-Ugric mythology, there is an extremely interesting image of a giant predatory bird called Kars. V.N. Chernetsov believes that metal mirrors, one of which comes from Istyatsky "hoard" and the other from the collection of the Museum of Khanty-Mansiysk, had the image of this mythical bird. The researcher addressed the question of the semantics of the image of the mythical bird on the engravings. He made analogies with the Iranian bird Simurg and the Indian Garuda. In this article, the author pays attention to the comparison of the image of the mythical bird in Ob-Ugric and Iranian traditions. The presence of Iranian traits and their sustainable conservation in the culture of the Ob-Ugric peoples have been repeatedly pointed out by many researchers. The Ob-Ugric mythical bird Kars detects the most significant similarities with the Iranian mythical bird Saena/Senmurv/Simurg, but not with the Indian Garuda. The engraved image of the mythical bird on bronze mirrors and plaques of the Early Iron Age is interesting because it quite clearly conveys the important properties of the mythical bird which are very dimly reflected in the legends about Kars.Three pointed prongs on the head of the bird, apparently, should be interpreted as a picture of Farrah - happiness and divine help, the effulgence over the head which in Iranian miniatures was presented in the form of tongues of fire. Farr was connected with the Iranian bird Simurg. It is probably no coincidence that the mythical bird depicted on the bronze mirrors is very reminiscent of a rooster. Iranian and Ob-Ugric traditions quite clearly show the worship of this bird. In both traditions there is a link of the mythical bird with the world tree, where the bird marks the Upper world, while the Lower world is represented by the malicious toad or frog. Both birds are related to healing, sacred drink, shaman cult, upbringing and training of a future shaman. However, in the culture of the Ob-Ugric population, this relationship is largely mediated by the image of Mir-Susne-Hum.

Keywords

Authors

References