A Research On Chinggis Khan's Altan Bichig

Chinggis Khan's Altan Bichig(Altan Bichig hereafter)is the general name referring to the recited texts,eulogies,prayers words,blessing words and songs that are used for,and the literatures that records the memorial ceremonies for Chinggis Khan.Altan Bichig is a kind of systematic recording of the rituals of memorial ceremony for Chinggis Khan in which many aspects of Mongolian culture and society has been revealed,including traditional customs,mindset,belief and religion,ideational world,military and legal system,history,literature,and languages.To study Altan Bichig from the perspective of philology has great value to Mongolian philological study and Mongolian study as a whole,and has great importance to the study of the Mongolian culture of Chinggis Khan memorial ceremony which has become an independent and systematic branch in the big family of Mongolian study.However,in comparison to the study of other aspects of Chinggis Khan memorial ceremony,the Altan Bichig study is rather in its infancy,and especially there are very few literatures existed which try to investigate the Altan Bichig from the angle of philology.This study is an attempt in this aspect.This dissertation is composed of introduction part,main body(five chapters in total),conclusion,bibliography,and attachments.The introduction part includes the current research status of the Golden Text,purpose and significance of the research,research method,and literature sources.The first chapter is the general introduction of the origin of the name,composed time,author,stylistic,structure,content,value,features,and influenced factors concerning the Altan Bichig.The second chapter tries to analyze the original text of Altan Bichig from two aspects: transcript and annotation/collation.In terms of annotation/connotation,the four efforts which was noted in Altan Bichig with actual proofs would be examined,namely the Boshogt Jinong's collation and Richin Jinong's collation in Northern Yuan period,the collation in the 61 rst year of Kangxi reign,and Jamiyan Jinong's collation.In terms of transcript and currently existing version,the scribes,the time of transcribing,the context and content of the transcription is explored.Meanwhile,the correlations between current existing version is examined.The third chapter,the general study of the rituals of Chinggis Khan's memorial ceremony,including narration(ochig),base(Sang),offering(sachuli),prayers words(daatgal),songs,distributed blessing words(Tugeel),is conducted.Among them,a comparative analysis between different versions of Altan Bichig is made based on clarification of concepts,features,and genres.Language is the most important tool of communication between human beings.The specific languages appeared in Altan Bichig is a tool for the illustration of relationships and connection not only between human beings,but also between human being and worshipping ‘object',and playing an important role in the calling of the humanized lords,sending signals,expressing the feeling of worship and gratitude toward its blessings.It is through these languages and words,the lively interaction between people and between human beings and their lord is fulfilled.These Altan Bichigs are a well example of Mongolian culture of worshipping of the magic,the hidden power and the energy of languages and words.The fourth chapter is the examination about the Yaam and Yos recorded in the Altan Bichig.Yaam in the Chinggis Khan's memorial ceremony referred to those people who has the right to participate in and share the offerings of the ceremony,mainly influential officials,nobilities and organizer of the event.There appeared two kinds of yaam in Altan Bichig: sisty-one yaam and interior yam.The former one includes meritorious officials and those who is in charge of the ceremony in all the territories under the control of Mongolian empire,is bestowed to the privilege of gaining the ‘big golden offerings'.Interior yam is composed of people who are the real facilitator of the biggest ceremony,these people receives internal offerings.The different function and role of different yaam is observed in this study.At the same time,the four-season festival of Chinggis Khan reign is also given careful examination in this dissertation through comparison between different transcripts about Yos.In the fifth chapter,a study of Tribute(ala)and law in the memorial ceremony is carried out.There are four kinds of tributes mentioned in the Altan Bichig,namely four-season festival tribute,sixty thousand tribute,Ordos lake festival tribute,ordos shureg festival tribute.About the law,the law of Lord affairs and four-season genuflection is recorded.The different transcripts of tribute and laws are compared in this study from the perspective of philology and cultural-linguistic study.In conclusion,the main ideas of this study are summarized,and some thoughts about the future study being posed.In the attachment,a few pages of manuscript of Altan Bichig is attached.In bibliography part,references and literatures are listed.