Bawden - Mongolian Literature Anthology

The intention of the present book is to introduce readers to some of the various genres of literature, both oral and written, in which the genius of the Mongolian people expressed itself from early beginnings in the thirteenth century up to the end of the nineteenth century. The translations are all my own, though naturally some of the passages I have chosen have been translated previously by others. I hope that my choice of items to translate, and the styles in which I have chosen to present them, will meet with the approval, or at least the understanding, of my readers.

The terms Mongolia and Mongolian need some explanation. In formal terms there is today only a single country named Mongolia. This is, roughly speaking, the territory which at one time was known as Outer Mongolia and then, from 1924 to 1992, as the Mongolian Peoples Republic. It lies between Russia in the north and China in the south. More Mongols dwell outside Mongolia itself than within its borders. South of Mongolia lies the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region of China, much influenced nowadays by Chinese culture, but linguistically and in other respects close to its northern neighbour. These two areas form, as it were, the Mongolian heartland, and it is their literature which is presented in the present book. North of Mongolia dwell the Buryats, heavily influenced by Russian politics and culture, and far to the west, this side of the lower Volga, dwell the Kalmucks, of whom much the same can be said. Small isolated groups of Mongols are to be found elsewhere in mainland Asia, and in Taiwan, Europe and the U.S.A.

Mongolian culture is to all intents and purposes a unique one. The Mongols were, and to some extent still are, a horse-riding folk, living a mobile life accompanying their flocks and herds. But always they have been inclined to settle in fortresses, trade-cities, lamaseries, and today in towns and conurbations, when conditions favoured that process. When we first meet them, they worshipped the Blue Sky and lived in a universe peopled by local deities and shamanist spirits. Theirs was a clan society, much given to warfare amogst themselves, and, in the time of Genghis Khan, on an international scale. Then, in the late sixteenth century, they began to be converted to Tibetan forms of Buddhism. Some lamaseries were loyal to unreformed Buddhism, but for the most part it was the Yellow Sect, or Gelugpa, Buddhism which prevailed. Mongols usually refer to Buddhism as Sharyn Shashin, the Religion of theYellow. Earlier contacts with Tibet during imperial times, followed by this second, more permanent conversion, had a profound effect on language and culture. The incorporation of Inner and Outer Mongolia, from the seventeenth century onwards, in the Manchu-Chinese empire, brought about further fundamental change. Mongolian literature reflects these vicissitudes. The most recent developments, the dominance and now the collapse of a Soviet-inspired culture, lie outside our scope, but I have trespassed to a small extent on this field where it seemed legitimate to do so. I hope that my translations will give my readers a little insight into these changing world-views of the Inner Asian Mongolian people.

To present in an intelligible way texts written within a culture so different from that of ones readers requires a certain amount of elucidation. I have tried to keep irritating footnotes to a minimum, but I have not been able to dispense with them altogether. I have to confess that I have not always been fully confident of the accuracy of my translations, for texts can be corrupt, spellings confused, and dictionaries inadequate, and, above all, ones own knowledge is limited. But I trust that any mistakes I have made will not detract from the overall correct interpretation of the originals which I have aimed to achieve.

Charles Bawden