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DIFFUSION OF THE SAKHA LANGUAGE IN THE NORTH FROM THE BAIKALIAN METROPOLY
Grigori Tomski CONCORDE International Academy g.tomski@gmail.com
The expression "southern Baikal metropoly of the Yakuts" was put into circulation by Gavriil Ksenofontov in the book "Sakhas-Uraanghays". This article is devoted to Ksenofontov's theory on the ways and times of the spread of the influence of this metropoly over almost the entire territory of present-day Yakutia.
Keywords: Gavriil Ksenofontov, Baikalian metropoly of the Yakuts, Yakut reindeer herders, Kurykans, diffusion of the Yakut language.
The second volume of the book Sakhas-Uraanghays [1, 2] by Gavriil Ksenofontov begins with a statement:
« The study of the material and spiritual culture of the Yakut reindeer herders opened before us a completely independent era in the history of the territory of present-day Yakutia ... We established that long before the arrival of the Yakut horse shepherds and the cattle ranchers in Lena Territory, the sounds of the Yakut language were heard, elements of Yakut culture, the art of blacksmithing and, perhaps, other types of Yakut skills there have entered. In addition, among the mixed people of reindeer herders who migrated from Cisbaikalia to the Lena, there were undoubtedly clans of Yakut origin, but for various historical reasons they adopted the way of life, customs and the skills of the Tungus. Among these newcomer-conquerors, the tungus element, most likely, was the main core, also numerically predominant over other ethnic components, but he was so strongly influenced by Yakut already in his southern homeland that he even lost his tungus identity. This circumstance gave us reasons to speak of Yakut reindeer herders, and not of Yakutized tungus, especially since they are known as Yakuts among the aborigines of the North. » ([2], p. 5).
The aim of this review article is the analysis of these important statements and their compatibility with the opinions of modern scientists.
On the history of the Baikalian metropoly of the Sakha people
The article Saka-Hunnian origin of the Baikalian Metropolis of the Sakha people [3] contains the following statements:
1. Permanent commercial and artisanal centers of the peoples of the steppes for the exchange with the hunters of the taiga appeared in Cisbaikalia long before our era at the time of the Slab Tomb Culture, and the small steppe population of Cisbaikalia at that time was Mongolian.
2. After the emergence of the Khunnu Empire (of the Asian Huns) in the 3rd century BC and its expansion, the steppe population of Cisbaikalia was reinforced by the Sakas who withdrew from other parts of South Siberia and who at that time had a high level of cultural and technological development. This greatly increased the steppe population of this region, which adopted the prestigious self-nomination Saka or Sakha.
3. A significant increase in the steppe population of Cisbaikalia occurred after 87-91, when the Northern Khunnu (Huns), who were defeated by the Chinese and their allies (Xianbi and Southern Khunnu and others), came in Cisbaikalia; they could not at that time have found refuge in Transbaikale and the basin of Minusinsk, because the inhabitants of these areas were among their enemies.
Among them could be their chanyu (emperor), who disappeared at this time from the sight of the Chinese [3, 4].
Cisbaikalia is fairly well isolated by the Sayan Ridge-East from the steppes of present-day Mongolia and is capable of feeding tens of thousands of nomads and semi-nomads, as the experience of the Buryats of the Irkutsk region shows. Therefore, a significant population at this time was formed there, retaining the prestigious name of Sakha and the archaic Proto-Turkish language, formed on the basis of the language of the Asian Huns and having traces of Saka and Mongol influence, the mongolisms being associated with haymaking and housing in severe climatic conditions.
Having mastered this way of life and having taken control of the trade with the hunters of the taiga, the Sakhas of Cisbai'kalie inevitably showed an interest in the more northern regions in order to know the availability of places suitable for breeding of horses and the possibility of moving away from the too agitated steppes.
Ksenofontov writes:
« Thus, the population of the Angara region, by virtue of its historical role for neighboring Mongolia, has had to constantly experience all the vicissitudes of its political destinies, the fall and the greatness of the warlike peoples filling it. Every new era and every significant change in the fate of the inhabitants of the steppes in one way or another should have been felt by them. If the peoples of the steppes, united under one power, attacked their neighbors and achieved prosperity, then the people of Angara, of course, lived freely and at ease. If the Mongolian steppes were torn apart by the conflicts of powerful clans, then the prosperity of the Angara people came to an
end. And these quarrels happened quite often in Mongolia and often took on the character of a chronic plague. In such cases, defeated clans or even just cautious elements fled. Where to go? Well, in the same Bargudzhin-Tukum (Cisbaikalia), beyond Lake Baikal, in the region of Angara, where life, relatively speaking, was quieter.» ([2], a 151).
In the Yakut culture and language, the influences of many peoples of the steppes (ancient Turks, Uyghurs, Kirghiz, Kimaks, Kipchaks, Kangles, Mongols and others) are perceptible [5-7]. However, it appears that due to the numerical importance of descendants of Hun origin in the Cisbaikalian population, the ancestors of the Sakha have managed to preserve their archaic Proto-Turkish language fairly well with traces of Saka influence.
The metropoly should have been politically well organized, it should have been ruled naturally, for several centuries, by the descendants of the family members of the last chanyu (emperor) of the Northern Huns under the still preserved motto Odun khan uraagynan, that is i.e. relying on the prestige and laws of his ancestor Modoun (Modu), the founder of the Khunnu Empire ([3], p. 16).
The rulers' dynasty has could change after the arrival of another group with a legitimate leader, and Ksenofontov advances his hypothesis about the last rulers dynasty of Sakha:
« It is highly likely that the feudal monarchy of Yakuts, ruled by the tygyns (tegins), was formed after the fall of the Uigur Khanate in Mongolia in the mid-ninth century. The Yakut tygyn dynasty, in all likelihood, comes from the last Uyghur khan Enen-Tegin, who, according to Chinese chronicles, is recognized as "disappeared".» ([2], p. 210).
Here are detailed excerpts from Ksenofontov's description of the Kurykans era:
« In inscriptions on tombs of ancient Turks, famous princes and khans, found in Mongolia in the valley of the Orkhon river and dating from 731 and 734 AD (years of the death of Prince Kul-Tegin and his brother Bilgue-Khan, in whose honor the inscriptions that interest us were composed), among others, the Three Kurykans are mentioned twice. In both cases, the Kurykans are mentioned along with many other peoples who had political relations with the Turkish people, who at the time occupied the central steppes of present-day Mongolia ...
And concerning the Three Kurykans of the Orkhon inscriptions, it is established in historical science that it is the same people who are described in the Chinese chronicles of the Tang dynasty under the name of "Guligan" (Gurigan-Kurykan, because the Chinese replace the sound "r" in foreign words by "l"). A Chinese historian precisely defines the place of residence of this people:
«The Guligans nomadized north of Lake Baikal ... The lands of the Guligans stretched north to the sea (here, of course, the Arctic Ocean)».» ([2], p. 110-112).
On the embassies of the Kurykans in China, in 629 and 630:
« We even have an exact mention that the chief of Guligans among the eleven other chiefs (of the peoples of the steppes) presented himself to the Chinese court: "As soon as the Guligans arrived at the court, it was ordered to send the military dignitary Khan-Sumi with a grateful response. Supreme Chief Sygin, following the visit of this messenger, presented the horses. The emperor chose ten excellent ones called mille-liels (the li is a Chinese unit of measure of distance), which were given honorary names. The emperor received his ambassador with honor.". » ([2], p. 114).
Strengthening the influence of the Baikal metropolis to the Arctic Ocean
Let us now quote an excerpt from Ksenofontov's description of the Kurykan era, testifying to the spread at that time of the influence of the Baikalian metropolis of the ancestors of Sakha on the territory of present-day Yakutia:
« We find formal evidence that the Guligans visited the High North in the words of a Chinese historian, who writes:
"In the North, after crossing the Baikal Sea, the days are long and the nights short. At sunset, the lamb's spleen has just time to roast, as dawn is already showing in the east." Obviously, these are the white nights in the Lena region. » ([2], p. 111-112).
This opinion is confirmed by researchers of Yakut culture and archaeological finds [8-12]:
« Judging by the form, ornamental decor, and semantics of the Yakout metal ornaments kun, the Yakuts have inherited ancient Chinese traditions in their culture, probably acquired by their ancestors long before their colonization of the Lena region. This is also confirmed by studies on the origin of the three-legged Yakut ritual vessels choron, similar to the Chinese tripods li of the Bronze Age. In Mongolia and Transbaikalia, ceramic tripods are most often found in Slab Tomb Culture and Khunnu
culture. At the same time, it should be noted that the presence of the Khunnu or Khunnu-Xianbei influence is noted in the territory of Yakutia itself, as evidenced by the coin "Wu Zhu" found in the settlement of Ulakhan Segelennyakh. Researchers associate the appearance of such pieces in Siberia with the expansion of the Huins at the turn of our era [10]. The penetration of Chinese objects and their copies in Yakutia continued until the Middle Ages, which is confirmed by the accidental discovery of a mirror fragment of the Western Han model and a ritual treasure of coins Chinese struck by the Northern Song Dynasty. » ([11], p. 15-20).
Ksenofontov describes the commercial and economic relations of the Baikalian metropoly in the following terms:
« They are probably as old as ancient China, whose powerful influence could be felt from time immemorial on the small tribes of the Amur basin, South Siberia and also, through a number of intermediate links, on the population of the Lena basin. Therefore, the Yakuts at the Baikalian stage of their history were included in a similar chain of trade and economic relations. » ([2], p. 30-31)
« Obviously, the Yakuts traded in sable furs much earlier than the Buryats, and they owe their trading skills, in all likelihood, to a very ancient friendship and trade with the Tungus tribes. If this is the case, then our hypothesis, according to which between the Yakuts of Gisbaikalia and the reindeer herders of Vilyuy had long existed a relation "metropoly and colony" with a regular commercial exchange, receives a very strong confirmation in the capacities and competences of the contemporary Yakuts ...
Regular trade relations between the Yakuts of Gisbaikalia and their colony of Vilyuy is, in our opinion, one of the main prerequisites for the subsequent settlement of the Yakuts in the Lena Basin, as they could provide the people with comprehensive information on the quality and quantity of settlement funds, on the physical and geographical conditions of the region, on its natural resources, etc. Expensive sable furs, sold at a huge profit in the Chinese market, should have introduced the Yakuts to the Lena Basin very early on. On the other hand, they could also increase the flow of independent hunters who settled in the Lena region ... » ([2], p. 32-33)
« The yakutized reindeer herders, having moved to Vilyuy, could not interrupt their usual dealings with the Yakuts of Gisbaikalia, as this affected the most vital interests of the hunting population. Sable furs, on their own, could not be of much use to reindeer herders.
If the demand for its had arisen to meet the needs of a distant Chinese market, continued sable hunting would only make sense if there was a dealer. Then the reindeer herders had to constantly renew their hunting equipment, mainly weapons and iron tools. Having grown accustomed in the past to relying on the production of blacksmiths from the Southern Yakuts, even after moving to Vilyuy, they could not be satisfied with their own more primitive production. They might have blacksmiths who could do maintenance, but smelting iron ore and mass-producing new items were not normally available to them. Those who have become accustomed to fishing with white
horsehair nets could not be satisfied with willow nets. Thus, the need for trade with the southern Yakuts was felt.
On the other hand, the Yakuts of Gisbai'kalie, themselves, having moved their branch of the reindeer herder to the Far North, must have felt a great shortage of hunting products.
Products such as processed skins, elk and deer skins, hare and squirrel skins at the time undoubtedly belonged to the category of "consumer goods" ... In other words, the Yakuts of Gisbai'kalia, for their part, also had to strive to continue the previous economic exchange with their reindeer herders who moved to Vilyuy. » ([2], p. 38-39)
We consider the above arguments of Gavriil Ksenofontov support well his statement, quoted at the beginning of this article:
« We established that long before the arrival of the Yakut horse shepherds and the cattle ranchers in Lena Territory, the sounds of the Yakut language were heard, elements of Yakut culture, the art of blacksmithing and, perhaps, other types of Yakut skills there have entered. In addition, among the mixed people of reindeer herders who migrated from Cisbaikalia to the Lena, there were undoubtedly clans of Yakut origin, but for various historical reasons they adopted the way of life, customs and the skills of the Tungus. Among these newcomer-conquerors, the tungus element, most likely, was the main core, also numerically predominant over other ethnic components, but he was so strongly influenced by Yakut already in his southern homeland that he even lost his tungus identity. This circumstance gave us reasons to speak of Yakut reindeer herders, and not of Yakutized tungus, especially since they are known as Yakuts among the aborigines of the North. »
In the book Sakhas-Uraanghays the term Tungus should be understood as representing all the peoples who are not cattle herders in the area studied in this book, including those who have disappeared. Note also that the dominant hypothesis is the emergence of the initial focus of reindeer herding in the Sayan mountains and the Baikal region at the turn of our era ([9], p. 28-29). In addition, the penetration of the Yakut language towards the north was to be done mainly in a peaceful manner, as attempts to conquer widely dispersed nomadic hunting populations would seriously damage "a very ancient friendship and trade" with this population.
Opinions of modern researchers on Ksenofontov's hypotheses
Let's start with the opinion of Anatoly Alekseev:
« The Hunnic origins of Yakut ethnogenesis have long been mentioned. The well-known Yakut historian G. V. Ksenofontov, in the 1920s and 1930s of the last century, confirmed the hypothesis that the Huns are the direct ancestors of the Yakuts, and it is their descendants who settled in the regions of Vilui and of Lena at the start of the new era, becoming the ethnic basis for the formation of the Yakut people many centuries later. Even then, for the formulation of such a hypothesis, there was evidence
in the form of a collection of local antiquities rooted in the Khunnu (Xiongnu) culture and in the later Khunno-Xianbei culture. At present, there are many more sources indicating the participation of the Huns in the cultural genesis of the Yakuts. The most complete picture of this can be obtained from two very informative articles by D. G. Savinov [13, 14], where, following an analysis of archaeological sources and correlating with them observations of nature paleoethnographic, it is convincingly proven that the Khunno-Xianbei stratum in the Yakut ethnogenesis manifested itself more clearly than its of the ancient Turks. Our archaeological materials, examined in this article, complement and confirm the findings on the Khunno-Xianbei contribution to the cultural genesis of the Yakuts.
3ECTHIIZ: CB&V; 2013, man 10, J
О
Put. L Поселение Улэхзн Сегеленнях V культурный слой: 1-f - наконечники стрел (1.2 - кость.
Î4 - железо): 5-7 - конпеные и 'фронтальные накладки лука (рог): S - реконструкция сложносо ставного лука (по А. Д. Степанову 1599).
Thus, between the III-rd and the first half of the IV-th century, various objects of steppe cultures appear in the archaeological complexes of Yakutia, which can be diagnosed as Khunno-Xianbei. With them, bull bones were found, from which it is possible to assume that even then attempts were made to cultivate cattle breeding in new natural and climatic conditions for the settlers.
Artifacts found in various cultural strata of the Ulakhan Segelennyakh site cannot be interpreted solely as a reflection of trade or exchange relationships. Rather, we can see in this site proof of the more or less permanent residence of the ancient steppe nomads or their periodic visits to this colony on the transit route from Transbaikalie or Cisbaikalia to the Lena region. They may not have been settlers, but mobile detachments of steppe dwellers on horseback who collected furs from subordinate forest tribes to pass on to the formidable kagans of Orkhon or to trade with China and the states of Central Asia [15]. However, these visits meant contacts with other ethnicities and the multifaceted influence of the more developed cultures of the herders of the south on the indigenous population of Lena's territory. Thus, Ulakhan Segelennyakh's findings indicate that the infiltration of the first steppe nomads into the territory of Yakutia began at a much older time than was generally believed. » ([10], p. 67)
Let's move on to the opinions of Andrei' Savvin, ethnographer and folklorist, which Rozalia Bravina sums up as follows:
« His hypothesis on the Yakut-Khunnu parallels, which testify to the early stage of the formation of the Yakuts, is supported by new paleoethnographic sources and artefacts from archaeological discoveries of recent years [Savinov, 2010, 2013; Alekseev, 2013]. Undoubted interest has his idea of the first nomadic pastoralists, who, before the appearance of subsequent newcomers, undergoing a long-term adaptation, mainly of their economy and material culture, to the geographical and climatic conditions of the region of the North and were thus transformed into its "indigenous". The "southern" ancestors of the Yakuts had different historical destinies. Some of them have succeeded in preserving and developing a culture based on breeding. The weakest and the fewest, having lost their cattle, have turned into hunters and "pedestrian" fishermen of the taiga. An idea of some interest of A. A. Savvin is that it was with the first nomadic pastoralists, "fragments" of the steppe empires, and not with the Tungus that the representatives of the last wave of settlers were confronted with. He, unlike authors of other hypotheses, did not consider the Tungus to be the aborigines of the region. » ([12], p. 101)
In conclusion, let's move on to the discussion of the question: why did the former Kyrgyz people of upper Yenisey not extend their influence to the north and spread their language and culture throughout the Yenisey basin?
Let us quote a comment by Gavriil Ksenofontov:
« Until the time of the Russian conquest, the breeding of cattle and horses in the Yenisey River basin did not extend north beyond the latitude of Krasnoyarsk. In other words, not only at the latitude of the three cattle breeding districts in the south of the Yakut Republic, but even at the latitude of Kirensk, only reindeer herding, hunting and fishing dominated the Yenisey ...
In terms of the degree of development of horse and cattle breeding, the middle Yenisey at Yakut latitudes lagged behind even the polar zone of the Yakut Republic, where the Yakuts have droved their cows and horses even before the 'arrival The Russians. » ([1], p. 212-213)
This is undoubtedly explained by the difference in the geographical conditions of the Yenisey and Lena basins, as well as by the strong involvement of the former Kyrgyz of the upper Yenisey in the political life of the peoples of the steppes.
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