Haral ( Kalm. Haral ) - a curse, a wish for evil to another, the folklore genre of Kalmyk folk poetry, is the opposite of Yor .
Content
Use
According to the popular Kalmyk belief, harals served as protection against misfortunes and threats of another person. It is believed that harals were originally used in the rite, which was supposed to protect against the evil eye, bad omens, and later transformed into a curse.
There are no records of harals because they were used only in extreme cases. It was believed that even the very pronunciation of it is the greatest act. However, the haral was preserved in the Kalmyk rite, which is called " Cutting off the black language " (" Haar kelni utulhan "). This rite was performed when there was a curse uttered by the ill-wisher. The performance of this rite marked protection against a curse. Zaya-Pandita composed the prayer “ Letter of the Black Language ” (“H ara Kelni Bichig ”) to perform this rite based on a Tibetan source. This prayer was written by him as a commentary on one of his translations. The “black language letter” was widely distributed among Kalmyks in a handwritten form, and it was believed that it had power against haral, bad dreams, envy of people and could even get rid of the curse of the father and mother. The Prayer "Letter of the Black Language" is mentioned by Rantnabahadra in the book " Moonlight: The Story of Rabdjam Zaya-Pandity" ("Ravzham Zaya-Panditin tuuzh Saryn Görl whom orshva") as one of the writings of Zaya-Pandity.
In the XVI century work of an unknown author “The Legend of the Mongol defeat by the Derben-Oirats ” (“ Durvn Ord Monhlyg Darsn Tuuzi ”) there is a sample of the haral. Mongolian Khan Ubashi hung-taiji ordered to sacrifice a boy. Fearing a curse, Ubashi hung-taiji decided to sacrifice his banner. Before his death, the boy, as demanded by the custom, had to utter a yorjal to his khan. In the mouth of the boy, Yoryal turned into a haral. The boy wished the death of Ubashi and the defeat of all his troops. This haral had an effect - the Ubashi warriors were shocked by the haral, could not fight with their enemy and the troops of Khan Ubashi were defeated.
Today
The ceremony “Cutting off the black language” has been preserved by the Kalmyks to our time. To avoid a curse or its consequences, modern Kalmyks turn for help to “knowledgeable people” who perform the rite. The essence of the ceremony is cutting off the tip of the rope, which symbolizes the “evil tongue” of the ill-wisher. The first scientific research on haral and the rite “Cutting off the black language” was written in 1904 by the Kalmyk scholar Nomto Ochirov in his article “ Yorela, harals and the second rite“ hara kele utulgan ”among Kalmyks . The archive of KIGI RAS contains several so-called ritualists "Cutting off the black language . "
Source
- A. Badmaev, Kalmyk pre-revolutionary literature, Elista, Kalmyk book publishing house, 1984, pp. 16 - 17.