In a person's conceptual understanding of the surrounding space, a significant role is played by the reflection of the vertical vision of this space by the people who inhabit it. The formation of spatial representations in the human worldview in various natural zones was facilitated by contrasting landscape elements, uneven terrain - various kinds of hills (mountains, hills, etc.) were contrasted with lowlands. In the coastal zone, the perception of the water surface and land contributed to the development of such ideas; rivers, or rather the direction of their flow, played an equally important role in forming a vertical view of the world.

In the traditional consciousness, space acts as a polysemantic text that is perceived from different positions. Sign systems of space in the areas of everyday and sacred have many differences, but at the same time they are closely interrelated. Symbolic understanding of the world forms a religious and mythological map of space, the meanings and meanings of which are taken into account in the sphere of everyday activities. Such a feature as the ability to distinguish between micro - and macro-spaces significantly affects the formation of spatial perception, and therefore there is a preference for some methods of orientation to others within territories of different scales. Therefore, the reflection of a vertical view of the surrounding world in the representations of the Mongolian peoples is characterized by polyvariance.

HORIZONTAL PROJECTION OF THE VERTICAL STRUCTURE OF SPACE IN THE PERCEPTION OF LARGE-SIZED SPACES

Regarding the reflection of the vertical structure in the horizontal macro-space, in the system of key countries of the world-south, east, west, north-there is reason to speak about the weak development of such ideas in the worldview of the Mongolian peoples. In any case, it is not possible to find examples of direct coincidence of such concepts as south - up, and north-down, or other similar combinations. There is evidence that only indirectly indicates the possibility of the existence of such mental constructs. Such information indicating the presence of a vertical projection in the worldview of the Mongolian peoples, where the south is represented by the top, and the north by the bottom, includes ideas about two qualitatively unequal worlds of the dead. Data on the funerary rites of the Mongolian peoples suggest that the veneration of the southern part of space among the Mongolian peoples was due to beliefs about the southern localization of the positive "ancestral world", which is opposed to another afterlife - the world of evil spirits, which people become, for one reason or another rejected by society. The formation of views about the southern location of the "ancestral world", in turn, is for me-

page 25
It was associated with the cult of the sun, with the image and location of which the southern sector of space was associated [Galdanova, 1987, p.65].

Considering the evidence of the reflection of the horizontal projection of the vertical scheme of space on the scale of macro-space, as an example, I would like to cite one of the variants of the structure of the celestial world, characteristic of the mythology of the Western Buryats.

1. According to this variant, the kingdom of western celestials is divided into 99 anterior southern ones - eberi yiren yihun tengeri 1, 55 western ones - baruni tabin taban tengeri, and 77 posterior northern ones - ariun dalan dolon tengeri (celestials) [Mikhailov, 1996, p. 60]. The well-known numerical symbolism of the Mongolian peoples, according to which the number 9 embodies the idea of the Sky (top), and the number 7 acts as the number of the Earth (semantic bottom), suggests that the numerical code indirectly indicates the possibility of the existence of ideas about the south side of space as the upper point and the north as the lower point of the vertical projection of horizontal space.

2. In the actual geospatial environment of the Mongolian peoples, in particular the Buryats, another example of a vertical view of the surrounding world is realized, in which the northern segment of physical space corresponds to the upper position. In the spatial organization of the area developed by the Buryat community, the upper and lower zones are distinguished in accordance with the structure of the internal space of a traditional dwelling - yurt. This is evidenced by the toponyms of housing and settlement terminology found in various regions of ethnic Buryatia.

In the oral traditions of the Barguzin Buryats, recorded in the well-known source "Barguzin Chronicles", Russian Cossacks who came to develop the Buryat lands, build a prison in the area of "north-eastern Kulenginsky khoymor". This was the name given to the land located between the Kulenga and Lena rivers (Rumyantsev, 1956: 44, 78). The name" Hoymor " is given to a locality in the Tunka district of the Republic of Belarus, adjacent to the mountain ranges of the Eastern Sayan Mountains in the north of the central Tunka region. This word in the traditional dwelling of the Mongolian peoples refers to the most honorable part of the yurt, which is located opposite the entrance, behind the hearth. Geographically, this part of the dwelling coincides with the north, north-west, because in the tradition of the Mongolian peoples, the entrance to the yurt was always oriented in a southerly direction. In the micro-space of the yurt, the khoimor is characterized as the upper locus of the dwelling, where the main sacred object-the bozhnitsa-is located. The most respected (high social status) guests of the house, elderly people (older in age) are also offered to stay there (deeshe huuha - "sit higher"). A special order is also observed in the arrangement of home interior items: the front side or its upper part of the objects should be directed in the direction of the hoimor. In this regard, the ban on sleeping with your head to the threshold and putting your clothes with your collar to the threshold, which is traditional among the Mongolian peoples, is also relevant. Thus, in the anthropomorphic code, the head corresponds to the northern side / honorary part of the dwelling, and the legs to the southern side, which, in turn, determines the order of people's position in the yurt space during rest (sleep).

In the Zakamensky district of the Republic of Belarus is the village of Myla, the origin of the name of which is often associated with the Evenki culture. According to this version, the name of the Soap came from the Khamnigan (Bur. khamnigany - "Evenki") word malu, which meant

1 This word exists in three variants: 1) tengri - a common Turkic-Montol term; 2) tengeri - its Buryat variant, often found in the text of this article; 3) tengri (singular), tengri (plural) - a Russified version of the same term, often found in Russian-language literature, also used by the author of the article.

page 26
a place of honor in the home [PMA2, Gongorov]. The geographical position of the village corresponds to the meaning of the name - it occupies an area at the foot of a ridge oriented in the latitudinal direction in the north (periphery) of the valley developed by local residents.

In the funeral rites of the southern Buryats (Tsongols), for elderly respectable people, a burial place is chosen that is located to the north of the rest, i.e. higher. In other words, the burial site was interpreted from the point of view of the structure of the internal space of the dwelling, and the northern position was interpreted as an honorable / high place by analogy with the hierarchy of places in a traditional dwelling.

3. Traces of the presence in the worldview of the Mongolian peoples of the reflection of the horizontal projection of the vertical are indirectly recorded in the mythology of the Buryats - in the landscape appearance of the ancient space of development of some Buryat tribes, in particular Bulagats and Ekhirits, through the anthropomorphic orientation system, basic in the tradition of the Mongolian peoples.

All Mongolian peoples are characterized by the idea of the world in the image of a pair of higher deities - "high Sky" and "wide Earth", where the Sky is understood as a male deity, and the Earth as a female one. The epithets given to these key deities of the ancient pantheon of Mongolian peoples characterize the features of the tender hierarchy of deities. The archaic model of the world represented by this pair of deities, reflecting a vertical view of the world, is also projected onto the real geographical space, revealing the contrast between the two parts of the Buryat world. The main component of the Bulagat worldview in the geographical space on the right (southwest) is the Eastern Sayan-Mundarga mountain range, which in the context of the vertical model is interpreted as the highest point of the Buryat ethnic space, which, in turn, is identical to the spatial position of the Sky. It is interesting that even in the fairy-tale prose of Buryats, the south-west is marked as the highest object in space: according to some stories, the world mountain Sahirmai is located there. According to N. B. According to Dashieva, the localization of the world mountain in the south-west reflects a variant of the lunisolar calendar archetype with the tradition of the spring New Year, which took place in the culture of Western Buryats, who worship this part of the horizon as the seat of bright Western deities [Dashieva, 2001, p.18], probably bulagatov.

On the left, i.e. on the northern periphery of the space occupied by the Buryats, the largest water basin is located-Lake Baikal and the Lena River. This river is an element of the Northern Baikal landscape, its image is key in Western Buryat mythology and symbolizes the border between Western and eastern deities, but in reality it is an image ."..the natural boundary between the carriers of different cultures that took part in the ethnogenesis of the Bulagats" [Dashieva, 2001, p. 217]. Water sources are consistently associated with the Chthonic bottom and female nature in the ideas of the Mongolian peoples, while mountains are strongly associated with the male principle. Thus, the mountain in the representations of the Mongolian-speaking peoples symbolizes the image of the father and is designated by the epithet khan, and water basins, personifying the image of a woman, are designated by the epithet khatan [Lvova, Oktyabrskaya, Sagalaev, Usmanova, 1990, p. 67].

The interpenetration of various codes of traditional culture, embodying a common idea, is represented in the Mongolian funeral rite: for the dead, a place was chosen so that there was a mountain at the head and water at the feet: ("put in the steppe so that there was a high mountain at the head and wide water at the feet") [Maidar, 1981, p. 91]. Here, at the intersection of the anthropomorphic and spatial codes, a stable formula is realized: male/top [mountain; head] - female/bottom [water; legs].

PMA 2-Author's field materials (informant-D. Gongorov, born in 1928, Zakamenskiy district, Republic of Buryatia)

page 27
The idea of associative connection of water bodies and generally low-lying parts of the relief with female nature, and orographic landscape objects with male nature is a basic one and was actively developed in well-known monuments of Buryat oral folk art and ritual folklore.

The analysis of folklore materials allowed us to identify another level at which such a thought is fixed - the character code. Let us consider the story of the creation of the world from the West Buryat versions of the epic "Abai Geser" as the most unique, which received an original development in the Buryat traditions, and in particular in the epic works of the Unga cycle.

Originally-in" originally - distant, ancient and beautiful times " - there was only water and a misty sky. There was no sun and it was dark, no moon and it was dark, no stars, no air. Then the Mother Goddess creates the world: from a piece of earth taken from the bottom by a duck, she creates the earth, puts it on a turtle. The traces of the Mother Goddess ' right hand turned into valleys and lowlands, where rivers and streams flowed. In the epic conception, which describes the creation of the world, the mountains are the work of a male character - a Big Devil who spoils the earth created by the goddess: while the goddess is resting, he squeezes the earth with his hands, which causes mountains to appear [Burchina, 1990, p. 118]. "So mountains and rocks were formed, which became known as boma, as the devil jokingly reminds the Great Mother Goddess:

"When I do it with my own hands
I started kneading and squeezing the ground,
Mountains and rocks grew up,
Going uphill,
When driving horses, they will say:
The devil is a compressed bomb! "" [Dugarov, 2005, p.133].

The phenomenon of embodying the vertical model of the world in the corresponding landforms in the mythological picture of the Buryat world is also duplicated by the language data. The fact that the Sayans mark the Sky is confirmed by the conclusion of various versions of the mythological plot about the return of the progenitor of the Bulagats Buha-noyon - the heavenly bull, to the Mundarga Mountains, where it becomes a hut; to the sky to Khormusta; to Khuhe Munkhe tengeri. E. V. Pavlov is inclined to see evidence of the identification of the Mundarga Mountains and the Sky in the ancient name of the Sayan Mountains - HUhein mundarga, and HUhe, as is known, can be synonymous with the Sky in the Mongolian and Buryat traditions (Pavlov, 2001: 217, 218). The parade of celestial symbols, represented by lexical symbols that convey the color of the Sky, also complements the suit of the progenitor bull-siwa.

The specifics of the Bulagat mythological picture of the world, in which the right part of the world (baruun tal) is characterized as the upper point of space, and the left (zUUn tal) as the lower one, are also realized in the numerical code of space in the mythology of Western Buryats. The western sector of space is associated with the number 9 (Sky) - these are the 9 sons of the white heavenly blacksmith Bozhintoy. In the blacksmith cult, they are contrasted with the 7 sons of the eastern blacksmith Khozhir Haar Darkhan (7 - Earth). As B. S. Dugarov notes, such a dichotomy is a characteristic feature of the Buryat Tengrist pantheon, in which it is possible to distinguish deities belonging to two opposite heavenly camps, but standing in the same row by "type of activity" (Dugarov, 2005, p.198). The number 7 also represents a group of other Eastern deities called "Donjoi seven lords" (Donjyn doloon ezhed). These deities are the patrons of the Buryat lands located around Lake Baikal at its northern tip. In the epic mythology of the Buryats, one of the key groups of celestials in the eastern camp is a group of deities called the Hasharangui seven celestials (Hasharangui doloon tengeri - "the annoying seven celestials"). In accordance with the text of one of the invocations of the heavenly Ongons in the sacred map

page 28
In the pre-Baikal Buryats, the location of the mountain massifs of the Eastern Sayan Mountains corresponds to 99 western mundarga (golts), to the tops of which 9 sons of the head of 55 western Tengeri - Esege Malan Tengeri-descend. Nine of his daughters tried to settle on the nine Toron Mountains, which are real orographic objects in the Balagan Department (Khangalov, 1958, p. 349).

So, the considered mythological map of the world of the largest Buryat tribe - Bulagat - in the context of real geographical space shows the following picture: the southern part of space (southwest), according to the Bulagat myth about the progenitor of Bukhanoyon, is characterized as the upper light world of the supreme deities.

4. Among the Buryats of the Ekhirit tribe, on the contrary, the top position in the vertical projection is occupied by the east, attributed to the mythical mountain, which is still called deede zUg-the upper side, and the west is called dudo zUg-the lower side. This feature of the mythological picture of the world of the Ekhirites was noted by some researchers, in particular S. Sh. Chagdurov [Chagdurov, 1980, p. 121]. The reconstruction of the traditional Buryat calendar performed by N. B. Dashieva and the calendar archetypes identified by her revealed the origins of the formation of different versions of the traditional worldview among different ethnic groups of Buryats and Mongols. In particular, the veneration of the East (a single semantic series east-morning-top-sunrise), associated with the image of the bear, was inherent in the ancient Mongolian picture of the world. The fact that in the past the Buryats had a cult of the bear with the motif of ancestry, and through it-the existence of ideas about the functions of the bear as a zoomorphic symbol of the spring and summer season in the archaic calendars of the Buryats indirectly manifests itself through the Evenki and Tunguska material, and ethno-cultural coordinates indicate, in particular, the region of the Baikal region - the territory historically inhabited by the Buryats of the tribe ekhirit [Dashieva, 2001, p. 133].

Based on the totality of the data discussed above, it can be assumed that it is precisely the Ekhirite model of the world that represents the views according to which the back waters of the seas are located in the west, behind which the sun goes to sleep, and at sunrise the sun comes out, washing its face with the waters of the front (southern) seas (Mikhailov, 1996, p.72). Here, the term " front "probably refers to the sacred direction, which in this case is the east, not the south. The numerical symbolism of the" back seas " demonstrates the views according to which the west appears in this version of the perception of the world as a Chthonic bottom. Obviously, the prototypes of mythical seas are quite real geographical objects located in the life-support space of the nomads of Central Asia - the largest lakes Khubsugul and Baikal. "In the Buryat folk tradition, Baikal is called ZUUn dalai (East Sea), and Khubsugul is called Baruun dalai (West Sea)" (Dugarov, 2005, p.194).

THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT IN VERTICAL PERCEPTION

River. At the local level, the vertical image of the universe in the worldview of the Mongolian peoples is embodied in the key landmark of any locality in Southern Siberia and Central Asia-the river-the "core" of the local "universe". The evidence of this position is confirmed by the linguistic picture of the world of the Mongolian peoples, which is presented in the oldest type of orientation - concrete-sensual, based on the signs of the local natural and landscape habitat.

For all peoples in whose life the banks of rivers and seas played an important role, it was characteristic to use prepositions with the meaning "above" and" below " with their numerous derivatives. "Heading' higher ' on an almost flat surface meant, as a rule, moving from the coast to the interior of the continent... and "below" - from the central regions to the coast" (Podosinov, 1999, p. 601).

page 29
The list of spatial pointers in the Mongolian languages is quite extensive. In addition to prepositional adverbial "clarifiers" with the meaning "above" and" below", which denote the range of directions of movement along the river to the source or mouth, verbs of a spatial series that function in the Mongolian languages are of particular interest: Ugsehe and uruudaha. They are directly related to the direction of the river flow: uruudaha - go down in the direction of the river flow; Ugsehe - go up to the source of the river. This pair of verbs reflects the concepts of an archaic model of space, which was typified by river systems. The main points of orientation in space, according to this model, are the source of the river - Ekhin, which is associated with the upper zone, and its mouth - adag, which corresponds to the lower zone of the landscape, regardless of the cardinal directions. Each individual locality has its own system for calculating traffic directions depending on the direction of river flow.

The study of the toponymy of space by means of language emphasizes the relevance and significance for ethnographic realities of the archaic model of space, the prototype of which was water sources - rivers, streams. The orientation of the river in rural areas remains basic to this day. By analogy with the river system, all developed space is divided into upper and lower zones. Usually, all localities are made up of upper and lower bushes in accordance with their location in space in relation to the source and mouth of local rivers. A fairly common phenomenon, as evidenced by a number of verbs discussed above, is the practice of describing movements by means of verbs denoting the directions of movement-up and down.

In the Zakamensky and Dzhidinsky districts of the Republic of Belarus, numerous water sources originating in the spurs of the Khamar-Daban ridge have a meridional orientation of the channel from north to south, and therefore the upper zone coincides with the northern direction, and the lower with the southern one. At the same time, the position of the capital of the Republic of Belarus, Ulan-Ude, in relation to the Zakamensky district is considered to be lower. When going to the capital, locals say: buuhamnai ("let's go down"). The main reference point in this case is the direction of flow of one of the main waterways of Buryatia - the Dzhida River.

The huge role of river systems as a reference point in the conceptual understanding of space is confirmed by some images of space in which the vertical projection of the earth's surface is realized. One of them is the image of a locality (if it is located in the immediate vicinity of a river), according to which the upper and lower zones are distinguished in the structure of the spatial organization of the settlement. At the same time, the lexical designations of settlement sites are borrowed from the field of material culture: among the objects, prototypes, may be a dwelling, dishes. According to this example of the spatial organization of a locality, the part of the settlement that is located closer to the potential river mouth is called oeor - "bottom", "base", "floor".

In the sacred map of the northern peoples of Siberia, the river is represented as the axis of the world, the connecting link of the three worlds of the universe-heaven, earth and underground. The location of the sacred river's source was linked to the heavenly world, and the entrance to the ancestral underworld was firmly associated with its mouth and the great sea in the northern zone of the known world. The study of the religious and mythological map of the space of the Mongolian peoples shows that there are no clear ideas about the localization of the world of the deceased in the area of the mouth of the mythical river. Nevertheless, traces of a negative understanding of that part of the space - the "bottom", where rivers carry their waters, have been preserved in the worldview of the Mongolian peoples, which is reflected in the observance of certain rules in the rites of the funeral cycle. So, in the funeral rites of the Mongols, it is forbidden to go to

page 30
with the dead man down the river [Menes, 1992, p. 120]. It is possible that this prohibition is based on the belief about the upper localization of the ancestral world. Moving with the dead person down the river is obviously regarded as a path to the world of evil spirits. This assumption can be confirmed by another stage of the deceased's journey to the burial site. Crossing the river, if it was on the way to the burial site, decorated according to all the rules of ritual, was perceived by the Mongols as the process of"climbing the golden ladder". Thus, indirect evidence indicates that the path of the deceased to the burial site is a path up to the ancestral world, and the movement of the river on the earth's surface was considered as a road to the "other" world.

Atmospheric phenomena. The key idea, which is translated through the vertical scheme of the universe - the opposition of male (top) - female (bottom) with their accompanying identical concepts, is found in the understanding of some natural phenomena. In the traditional worldview of Buryats, there is a range of ideas about the origin of such climatic phenomena as winds, fogs, frost, rain, hail, snow. According to the views of the Buryats, these or other atmospheric phenomena are caused by deities-celestials, who occupy the highest level in the pantheon of Western Buryats. In the kingdom of the celestials, right-wing white good deities and left-wing black evil deities coexist, whose division into two opposite camps is based, in our opinion, on the principle of tender hierarchy. The factor that divides the kingdom of the celestials into two opposing camps is precisely the atmospheric phenomena that these or other celestials cause. The peculiarities of atmospheric phenomena caused by different celestials allow us to assume that the division of the world of celestials into two camps is based not only on the principle of usefulness or harmfulness, ruinousness for people of various natural phenomena, as it has already been noted by many researchers of the Heseriad. The fundamental basis of this division was the juxtaposition of the right / male side and the left / female side.

Among the Western celestials are the Deities-masters of the winds, who own and control the winds, who in the versions of the Buryat Geseriad appear under different names: gurban halkhin tengeri, Gurban Emeershen tengeri, Gurban Zhabar tengeri. In the beliefs and rituals of the Mongolian peoples, evidence of the connection of the symbolism of the wind with male power has been preserved. In the beliefs of the Buryats, there are ideas about nine Tengri sons and nine daughters. When the sons are naughty, the wind rises, when the daughters of Heaven cry, it rains [Zhamtsarano, 2001, p. 59]. Among the Kalmyks who are engaged in fishing, in the past there was a special rite for summoning the wind, in which the key figure was a boy. "The little boy was turned naked buttocks in the direction of the wind. According to U. Dushan, the first-born son was placed on all fours on the shore, with his back to the east, to cause the desired wind from there, strong enough to drive fish from the sea. The actions described clearly go back to some ancient ritual associated with the wind, the elements, and little boys "(Bakaeva, 2003, p. 228).

Among the western celestials are three tengria of the south wind-verkhovika, patronizing the south winds, which purify the earth from diseases and evil spirits. Three tengriyas of the north wind, according to the beliefs of the Balagan Buryats, also purify the earth from diseases and evil spirits. These winds, according to the ideas of buryats, constantly blow from north to south and from west to east. Here, probably, we are dealing not with real wind directions, but with an example of constructing the desired wind directions by the mythological consciousness in strict accordance with the well-known mythological map of space.

The group of good white celestials includes numerous deities-thunderbolts-Sair Sagan Tengeri, Khokhodoy Mergen, Sahilgui Sagan Tengeri (deity

page 31
lightning, lightning flashes), three tengria of lightning. Among the deities-thunderbolts, obviously, we should include a group of Tengri Flame-Heat.

An inherent quality of a thunder god is its ability to pour out fruitful water, so thunder gods are also precipitation deities. In Buryat mythology, rain deities perform independently -these are rain-rich tengri, rain tengri, Budargy Sagaan Tengeri - a white celestial personifying the winter sky, which sends people short-term warm fine rain and snow. And finally, the group of deities of the Khan-khats - water deities who mediate between people and rain deities.

Unlike the Western ones, the eastern celestials send stone hail to people (probably hail in general, as an atmospheric phenomenon). Wind deities in the heavenly duel are opposed by soft female deities - these are the celestials of autumn and winter mists Gurban Boron Tengeri, who, having been defeated by wind Tengri, were thrown to the ground on the tops of high mountains and on the surface of the sea. The gods of wind also won over the tengrians of summer mists Gurban Manan Tengeri. The latter were dropped to the ground to become mists in large valleys and at the foot of mountains. The Flame-Heat celestials defeat the Frost Tengri. Tengri hoarfrost, once on the ground, are doomed to fall hoarfrost on the ground, to melt with the sunrise.

Thus, the opposition of winds (thunder, lightning) and fogs (frost) as natural phenomena included in the polar parts of the universal classification of phenomena surrounding a person, it is legitimate to consider them as a reflection of the vertical view of the world in people's ideas, according to which the right part of the known space is considered as the male/upper side, and the left - as the female/lower side.

As it turned out, the image of a single phenomenon is also not unambiguous: in the ideas of Buryats, the origin of winds is different, and winds are differentiated according to the well - known principle-upper (male)/lower (female). In the traditional ideas of Buryats, the main wind directions are distinguished - north and south. These directions are associated with strong winds-verkhoviki, which have positive energy and purify the earth from diseases and evil spirits, the spread of which is associated with the appearance of fogs, 3 as well as some types of winds, which will be discussed below. Some local winds also belong to upper-level winds. So, in the version of the narrator P. Dmitriev, there are gurban jabar tengarishuul - three tengria of the cold wind (hiusa), which is not sharp, not strong, but very cold, blowing from the upper reaches of the padi. Without a doubt, the author included descriptions of local winds in the outline of the epic4. They are contrasted with the lower winds, the origin of which, according to some sources, is connected with the female nature: "Some say that on the north-western side, on the top of the mountain, sits an old woman hagshaa hamagan (witch, or sorceress). It blows from the mouth and produces low-level strong winds, sometimes

3 Fogs were considered as a phenomenon contributing to disorientation in space, and due to this nature were interpreted by the Buryats as a dangerous phenomenon in which evil lurks. Through the ghostly veil of mists, even familiar objects change their shape, becoming unrecognizable, which undoubtedly caused fear in people. It was believed that non - human beings-various spirits, deities-can be seen in the fog, and anyone can meet them, and not just people with a special gift to communicate with representatives of another world [PMA, informant-Galdanova Ts. Ts., khongodor, born in 1908, Zakamensk district, Republic of Buryatia]. Such a meeting threatened a person with diseases.

4 The uniqueness of the Buryat Geseriad lies in the fact that different versions of the West Buryat epic contain information about different types of winds that are most characteristic of each individual locality from which this or that version of the epic originates.

page 32
it leads to the degree of a hurricane, which is called eryu-hara-khalkhin "[Batorov, f. 14, on. 1, l. 9].

According to some ideas, diseases are carried around the earth with the winds. Deities who send diseases to people live on the periphery of the human world in the far eastern lands, which in the mythology of the Buryats are depicted as " cold, deserted and windy." This is the land of evil spirits, and the world of the dead is also located there-the domain of Erlen Khan, the head of the afterlife. From there, anthrax and consumption spread around the world. It is obvious that diseases, as well as other misfortunes, are carried by certain types of winds, obviously, by the same "grassroots" winds or small eddies, which in the traditional views of many peoples are the embodiment of the evil spirit. According to the beliefs of the Buryats, an evil spirit moving in a whirlwind is shaped like a carrot and has a single eye (Khangalov, 1960, p. 46). A black shaman can also move in the form of a vortex. In order to protect against the harm that an evil spirit can cause, a number of measures were developed: they threw a knife into the vortex stream, spat three times, accompanying the actions with protective plots.

Road. In the traditional ideas of the Mongolian peoples, the path is not only horizontal, it also has a vertical layout. In Mongolian languages, there is a verb denoting the vector of movement in the opposite direction from the reference point, in other words, this movement/return is buuh. The presence of this verb indicates the existence in the worldview of the Mongolian peoples of the image of the path as a vertical movement. Among the Kalmyks, departure, i.e. movement opposite to return, is denoted by the word ood, which has the following meanings: ooden -up, higher, ascent, oodm-elevation. Thus, according to this version of the image of the path in the traditional consciousness, the return is identical to the descent, i.e., the movement down, and the departure to the path is identical to the ascent/movement up. E. P. Bakayeva revealed an interesting fact: vertical movement is carried out not in a straight line, but in a circle. Moreover, the path begins on the right side of the space (south/west). From here, the ascent begins in a northerly direction. Return / descent in the Kalmyk language has the meaning of movement to the east: "doragshan" - not only down, but also "to the east", "doragshalkh" - "to descend", "to go east" "[Bakaeva, 2005, p. 60]. We assume that the movement/descent is directed to the part of the space where the doors of the dwelling open. In the Kalmyk tradition, the doors of the yurt are usually directed to the east, which determines the coincidence of the values "down" and"east". "Thus, the path (as the road up" ooden", the correct one - "zov") in traditional Kalmyk culture is understood as a movement in a circle, performed from the profane to the sacred side, and therefore acquiring the semantics of vertical movement " [Bakaeva, 2005, p.60].

The set of ideas discussed above allows us to say that such a phenomenon as the projection of vertical layers of the universe on the earth's surface is present in the worldview of the Mongolian peoples when they perceive multi-scale spaces. In the worldview scheme of the Mongolian peoples, the vertical model of space, combined with the horizontal one, embodies the ideas about the structure of the universe among different ethnic groups of the Mongolian world. The vertical structure of the universe expressed on the plane is multivariant and is realized in the following schemes that we have identified: west/top-east/bottom (Bulagat mythopoetic worldview-MCM); east/top - west/bottom (Ekhiritskaya MCM); south/top - north/bottom (pan-Mongolian MCM). At the same time, there is a phenomenon of inversion of images of the polar parts of the world (north/bottom - south/top; north/top - south/bottom), which are valid for different models of space that function in the culture of the Mongolian peoples. Thus, the north can be understood as the top in the model, which was represented by the internal space of the traditional dwelling of the Mongolian peoples - yurts.

page 33
Analysis of the Buryat language data shows that, as in many other languages, the vast majority of spatial terms are associated with the concepts of "top" and "bottom". The development of these key concepts in various languages was facilitated by the geographical features of places of residence, in particular, such key landmarks in space as water sources - rivers and their flow directions.

list of literature

Abay Geser. Buryat Heroic Epic, Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 1995.
Bakaeva E. P., Sangadjiev Yu. I. Culture of housing: ethnic traditions and modern priorities among Kalmyks. Elista: Dzhangar Publ., 2005.

Bakaeva E. P. Pre-Buddhist beliefs of the Kalmyks. Elista: Jangar, 2003

Batorov P. P. Legenda alarskikh mongol-buryat o vozrozhdenii vidimogo i neizimogo mira [The legend of the Alar Mongol-Buryats about the appearance of the visible and invisible world].

Burmina D. A. Geseriada zapadnykh buryat [The Geseriada of Western Buryats]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1990.

Galdanova G. R. Dolamaist beliefs of the Buryats. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1987.

Dashieva N. B. Calendar in the traditional culture of Buryats. Moscow-Ulan-Ude: IPK VSGAKI, 2001.

Dugarov B. S. Mifologiya buryatskoy Geseriada: vostochnye tengri [Mythology of the Buryat Geseriada: Eastern Tengri]. Ulan-Ude: BSC SB RAS Publishing House, 2005.

Zhamtsarano Ts. Travel diaries of 1903-1907. Ulan-Ude: BSC SB RAS Publishing House, 2001.

Lvova E. L., Oktyabrskaya I. V., Sagalaev A., Usmanova M. S. Traditional worldview of the Turks of Southern Siberia. Space and time. The real world. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1988.

Lvova E. L., Oktyabrskaya I. V., Sagalaev A., Usmanova M. S. Traditional worldview of the Turks of Southern Siberia. Sign and ritual. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1990.

Maydar D. Pamyatniki istorii i kul'tury Monoglii [Monuments of History and Culture of Mongolia], Moscow, 1981.

Mikhailov V. A. Religious mythology. Ulan-Ude: BSC SB RAS Publishing House, 1996

Menes G. Materialy po traditsionnoi funerarnoi obryadnosti zakhchinov MNR kontsa XIX v. - nachala XX v. [Materials on the traditional funeral rites of the Zakhchins of the MNR of the late XIX century-early XX century]. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1992.

Pavlov E. V. Etnicheskie obrazy v bulagatskoy mifologicheskoy kartine mira [Ethnic images in the Bulagat mythological picture of the World]. Ulan-Ude: IPK VSGAKI, 2001.

Podosinov A.V. Orientatsiya po stranam sveta v arkhaicheskikh kul'turakh Evrazii [Orientation by countries of the world in archaic cultures of Eurasia]. Moscow: Yazyki russkoy kul'tury, 1999.

Rumyantsev G. N. Barguzin chronicles. Ulan-Ude: Buryat-Mongolian Book Publishing House, 1956.

Chagdurov S. S. Proiskhozhdenie Geseriada [The Origin of the Heseriad]. Experience of comparative-historical research of the ancient vocabulary fund. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1980.

Khangalov M. N. Collected Works: Vol. 1. Ulan-Ude: Buryat Book Publishing House, 1958; Vol. 3. Ulan-Ude: Buryat Book Publishing House, 1960.

Permanent link to this publication: