The paper is devoted to the study of the place of the epics in social memory on the example of Indian society. The relevance of the topic is determined both theoretically and practically. The theoretical aspect is the epistemic dimension of narratives: how do they correspond to the reality and what is there from creative imagination? The practical aspect of research is related to the need to comprehend new myths in the conditions of global competition and cognitivism, when the border between fake and fact is marked with the fine line of narrativity.

In the midst of globalization, we have unprecedented opportunities to study the world epics and their influence on the dynamics of cultures, determine their internal institutional and structural conditions that influence the socio-political role of the epic in the development of civilizations; to fix the decisive factors in the modernization of myth; to outline the main directions of its transformation in the era of modernity.

The purpose of the work is to conduct a value-semantic analysis of the ancient Indian epic. The tasks of the work are: 1) to determine the place of the epic in the ancient Indian literature, 2) to propose the classification of the Indian epic from the point of view of the aesthetic attitude to the world, and 3) to characterize the aesthetic narratives.

The subject of the study: the semiosphere of ancient Indian epics. Research methods: structural, systemic and genetic types of analysis and philosophical hermeneutic.

Results: The Indian epic is presented as a value-semantic aesthesis, the evolution of the aesthetic attitude, the transcendence of the pragmatic and the Gnostic. The aesthetic dynamics of the epics is explained by the reaction to the routinization of texts, the loss of their ontopoietic significance.

The novelty of the article is determined by the following perspectives: 1) a special aesthetic type of myth-making is singled out, 2) the emphasis of the aesthetic meaning of the Bhagavata Purana is stressed, 2) the question is raised about the different ethos and aiesthesis of ritual, Gnostic texts and epic narrations. Prospects for the study: the study of socio-cultural innovation of India's epic texts, their participation in modern socio-cultural dynamics, the impact of Indian narratives on the noospheric processes of global cultural synthesis.

The study of the Indian epic is timed to coincide with the launch in 2018 on Russian screens of the grand Indian television project 2015-2016 “Sita and Rama”, which includes 304 series and is based on the ancient Indian epic “Ramayana”.

The problem of the existence of numerical complexes (NC) in the texts of epic, folklore and fairy-tale genres is considered. NC identified in the texts of the “Song of Gilgamesh”, “Odyssey”, “Song of Roland”, “Kalevala”, olonkho “Nurgun Bootur”, “Maadai Kara” and a number of folklore and fairy tale texts of the Ob Ugrians. The absence of a single picture of the frequency of numbers and NC in the texts is revealed. This applies to the degree of numbers saturation of the text, and the numbers composition, which used in numerical complexes. The epic texts of the I, II and III groups are dominated by the numbers 2 and 3, 7 and 12. Number 5 (and its derivatives) are practically absent. Among the NC (stages and series) complex “6-7” dominates in the texts of group I and the Ob-Ugric and Maadai Kara. In the texts I, II, III groups and Kalevala, are dominated, by the growing of the NC (over 80%). In the olonkho Nyurgun Bootur (P. A. Oyunsky) increasing the NC dominate. In option K. G. Orosin pattern is reversed, descending dominate the NC, integrating with epos Maaday Kara. In Ob-Ugric texts, is dominated by decreasing NC 7-6. In Maadai Kara NC 7-6 and 6-7 distributed about equally. Increasing NC 6-7 in Kalevala are about 10%, decreasing 7-6 are single. In Yakut olonkho these NC are single. The special status of numbers 6 and 7 is associated with the behavior of the sun during the annual calendar cycle. The duration of the “summer road” of the Sun, which is characterized by an increase in solar illumination, covers the time from the winter solstice to St. Elijah's day (2 August), and is approximately 7 sidereal lunar months. The duration of the “winter road” of the Sun, from St. Elijah's day (the turn of the weather on the “winter”) and to the winter solstice, is 6 sidereal months. The countable symbolism in the form of discrete decorative elements represented by numbers 6 and 7 and their derivatives (13, 14, 52, 78) is distinguished on artifacts (ring calendars) belonging to the cultures of the late bronze and early iron age of the Urals, the Urals and Western Siberia. The method of calculating the duration of the solar annual calendar cycle using the base numbers 6 and 7 is proposed. The proposed complex method of analysis of the numerical context will be used to identify the semantics of numbers in the epic and folk texts of the peoples of the world, and especially in Northern Eurasia (epics Altai Turks, Buryats, Russian epics, Yakut Olonkho, Tungus-Manchu heroic tales, etc.).

The article is devoted to the cultural information of P. A. Oyunsky olonkho “Nurgun Bootur the Swift” in the aspect of interlingual and intersemiotic types of translation (in Jakobsonean version). The epic work is a “strong” text of the Yakut culture, as evidenced by its popularity among the people of the original culture and language, the sustainable interest of scholars from various fields of humanities, its high educational and cultural potential and regular translatability by means of verbal and nonverbal semiotic systems. The close connection of the Oyunsky olonkho (classic example of following the ancient epic tradition) with the real life and the verity of the described events make the reconstructed piece of epic literature a reliable historical and ethnographic source of information about the culture and history of the Yakut people.

An important place in the information continuum of olonkho belongs to the cultural memory, which is the result of mythologization and sacralization of the past, phenomenon of collective origin and ensures the cultural identity of the indigenous people of Yakutia (Sakha). The analysis main goal is to comprehend the cultural memory of olonkho in translingual and transcultural perspectives, which contributes to the task of preservation of the historical experience and memories of the Yakuts in the texts of translations and successful intercultural communication. The methodological basis of the research was the understanding of the cultural memory of Oyunsky olonkho text as hyperunit of translation, regarding which a decision for translation is made. The translation task is the recreation in secondary texts the content of an epic work, a unique cultural code, as well as assistance to a potential reader of translation in the perception and understanding of the olonkho complex cultural space. The peculiarities of the original text information generate the variability of the translation hypounits and the application of ad hoc and ad libitum principles for their determination. Culturonyms are considered to be the regular formal carries of cultural information and memory and, accordingly, hypounits of translation.

The comprehension of olonkho text, which is a complex cultural sense, and the continuation of its “life” through nonverbal semiotics, also influence on the necessity of determination the units of intersemiotics translation. The cultural memory must be preserved in music, dance, cinema and pictorial arts as secondary texts of the verbal original, which directly demonstrates the universality of this type of cultural information as a unit of translation of epic literature.

The paper is devoted to the analysis of translations of the names of the horse coat color in the epic text and the possibilities of a translator in this field. The sources of the material for the study are the texts of epic tales published in the academic series “Epic of the Peoples of the USSR” (at present “Epic of the Peoples of Eurasia”) and “Monuments of Folklore of the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East”. The high level of scientific edition of these publications makes it possible to use them for theoretical justification.

The name of the horse coat color is an important feature of the epic style: the color serves as an individual characteristic of the horse, in some cases the color of a horse is its name, it also can describe its origin. Two ways of translating horse coat colors are investigated: the following to accepted professional terminology and the free approach to the choice of vocabulary. The study of examples of horse colors shows that they do not always correspond to real ones. The horse in the epic text has a lot of supernatural properties and abilities, so his color can be different from the colors of real horses. With this in mind, the author comes to the conclusion that the translator does not need to strictly follow to professional terminology – the use of a wide range of color significations is not only possible, but also better suits the aims of translating a folk text. However, it makes sense to know the basics of horse breeding terminology and to observe some principles of denomination of horse colors adopted in the Russian language: not to use the words “black, brown” – instead of them it is better to use “crow, sorrel, bay”, to use with care the word “blue”.

As a rule, the designation of a horse color consists of two words, the first of them, according to our conclusions, denotes a shade of the main color named by the second word. In the paper methods of translation of colors used for the description of a horse color are studied, and offered are variants of translation, most corresponding to the style of the epic. The ways of translating the horse colors are one of the methods of representing the epic style of the original in the translation and preserving the artistic features of the epic.

In this article, the legends of the Southern Kyushu, in which data have remained on the travel of the ancestor of a Yamato dynasty to the overseas “country of sea god” and conquest by him of the Hayato people, living in Satsuma and Osumi, are analyzed. Researchers have come to a conclusion that this the upper layers of the legend, judging by a number of signs, belong to the period late Yayoi – and were the event not of the so remote past at this time. Besides, as scientists have established, the concept of “underwater world”, on representation of ancient Japanese, was synonym of any place at the sea, very remote from land.

It is established that the events described in the legend had to take place at the turn of the 2^nd-3^rd centuries AD. According to the Chinese dynastic histories, at this time in Japan have ended “great disorder” (60’s - early 70’s of the 2nd century), related with creation the Nü-wang-guo federations in northern Kyushu led by the woman-ruler Bimihu; and in Guang-he years (178-184) has happened the mutiny of opponents to Bimihu who (judging by archaeological material) could run to the Southern Kyushu. Among them, probably, there was the father of two brothers – the main characters of the legend. In result, the travel to “the country of sea god” described in the legend could take place in early 3rd century.

Localization of the Toyo-tama-hiko and Toyo-tama-hime palace (ancestors of the Azumi-no muraji clan), according to the legend, being “on the far island” – is defined as Toyo-tama area on the islands of Tsushima (described in the Chinese sources as Duima-guocommunity). The legend on Toyo-tama-hiko and Toyo-tama-hime governing together “on the far island” reflected the real situation with the organization of power in the form of diarchy of Supreme priestess-ruler and male co-ruler (Jap. hime-hiko) in southwest Japan in the 1^st-3^rd centuries AD that is confirmed by the Chinese and Korean chronicles. The description of the palace Toyo-tama-hiko coincides with descriptions of palaces of local rulers of southwest Japan in the Chinese dynastic histories.

Thus, the group of legends on the travel of Hiko-hoho-demi to the country Toyo-tama-hiko (which was on the far island) is Southern Kyushu community members’ vague reminiscence about contacts with the population of the Tsushima islands and communities of northwest Kyushu in the 3rd century.

The spiritual and cultural potential of the Turkmen people, which has been developing for thousands of years, has been embodied in the works of folk art and music. A living epic tradition represented by bakhshi-destanchi is a bright page in the rich heritage of the Turkmen people. Until today, in all corners of Turkmenistan, listeners feel very enthusiastic about the performances of epic storytellers. Their repertoire includes numerous folk destans, as well as the chapters from the monumental heroic epic “Gorogly”.

The purpose of the article is to trace the historical background of the origin and formation of Turkmen epic genres. The historical and chronological research methodology recreates the general panorama of the development of the Turkmen epic storytelling, characterizes this art in its modern existence, and identifies the importance of folk songs, which are the driving force of Turkmen epics and destans. The epic song focuses on the whole context of the genre. The essence of epic intonation comes through the folk melodies and features of bakhshi-destanchi performance. The distinctive style of local schools’ epic performance enriches the art of Turkmen storytellers with stylistic diversity and original colors. The style of each destanchi is deeply personal; however, it is closely connected to the sacred performance traditions. With all stylistic diversity, the structural basis of the songs, their location in the legend and dramatic development, as well as traditional prose formulas and poetic repetitions-clichés, performers’ specific faucal decorations indicate the proximity of various schools to the oral epic traditions. The continuity of the main components of music and style affects the inheritance of the musical tune from their master, which also speaks of the century-old traditional basis of the narrator. It does not prevent the manifestation of the individual beginning, but it keeps the performer in a clearly limited channel. Therefore, the performance of the epic is its reconstruction within the musical and stylistic tradition. As you can see, the development of the epic song, as well as the living existence of the Turkmen epic, moves and supports the tradition. While there is a tradition, the Turkmen epic heritage continues to exist.

The article is devoted to the textological preparation of the texts of the heroic epos of the olonkho for publication. The urgency of the work is due to the increased interest in folklore textology and insufficient knowledge of the editing methods and principles of the olonkho. The purpose of the article is to define and develop the principles and methods of the olonkho textual textology. The novelty of the research is that for the first time the methods and principles of the editing textology of the Yakut heroic epic are analyzed. For the first time, the term olonkho editing textology technology is proposed, which means a set of methods, principles of textological preparation of olonkho texts for publication. The principles of preparation of olonkho texts are considered, due to the peculiarities of folklore and the problems of textology of folklore (accuracy of text transmission, authenticity of folklore text). As the author of the article shows, the search and selection of materials presuppose a preliminary search and research work. It is reported that there are different types of publications (scientific, popular science, popular). Of these, a special place is occupied by research publications on all manuscripts-lists of olonkho. It is noted that more accurate transmission of folk music is possible using audio and video media. There are 11 stages of preparation for publication: reading and deciphering the text; typing; comparison, verification of printed text with a manuscript (typing); breakdown into lines, blocks and their numbering; compilation of a scientific commentary, explanations, dictionaries; presentation of the plot; creation of indexes of names of characters, toponyms; translation of the text into another language; collection of materials for the application; compiling a list of used literature, abbreviations; writing articles, resumes; examination of work. These stages of work on the preparation of the olonkho text for printing have a recommendatory character. Experience shows that all work can fail if at the publishing and printing stage the editor will correct the text, following the norms of the literary language. Therefore, it is important to closely monitor the publication process from start to finish.

 Such a technology, developed in the article, can be useful in the editative practice of the Yakut epic.

The problems of the evolution of poetic forms and epic historicism are some of the topical issues in epic science. Historical-genetic and historical-typological studies of epic monuments allow systematically at the diachronic and synchronous levels to trace the historical and aesthetic dynamics of the national epic. Considering the fact that the evolution of folklore is determined by the regularities of the historical-typological nature, realized within the framework of an integral tradition, which is poly-stage and polygenetic in nature, we face the task of considering the development of the epic “Dzhangar” and its forms. One of the important problems is the problem of establishing patterns of development of the epic, studying not only its artistic form, but also those natural changes that it has undergone. The problems of historicism of the epic forms of Dzhangariada in this study are considered in the evolutionary development from ancient to late – the heroic myth, the heroic tale, the archaic epic, the classical epic, the epic cycle, the late heroic tale, and the processes of transformation and secondary archaization. In its historical and aesthetic dynamics of the epic “Dzhangar” the evolutionary way of development has passed from the ancient forms of the “fantastic hero epic” to the cyclized epic. The peak of the evolutionary development of the epic “Dzhangar” is marked by “concentric cyclization” associated with the manifestation of ethnic self-awareness and historical processes of tribal consolidation and early state formations. Of particular importance is the Central Asian and local ethnic traditions within which the epic “Dzhangar” was formed and lived. The author comes to the conclusion that the historicism and evolution of the poetic forms of the epic “Dzhangar” is due to the poetic and visionary peculiarities of its historicism and the specifics of the development of ethnic culture. Despite the variability of artistic and poetic forms, the epic “Dzhangar”, possessing a poly-stadial nature, inherits rudimentary archaic features on the level of subjects and motifs and is recreated on the basis of traditional elements in genre models and canons, having received creative processing in new historical conditions. In the long term, on this issue, comparative-typological studies of the national versions of the “Dzhangar”, should be conducted with the involvement of the monuments of the Central Asian epic tradition.

Acknowledgements: The article was prepared within the framework of the research work of the Kalmyk Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Folklore of Mongolian-speaking peoples: texts and studies” (State Registration No. AAAA-A17-117030910099-8).

This research is regarded to the works the purpose of which is working out of the system of definitions for giving adequate and exact interpretation, in particular to spatial adjectives. These adjectives act as a representative of the world language picture in which the main ethno cultural features of the Kalmyk language are imprinted and reflected. They depend on climate, living conditions, a landscape, the place of residence. Spatial adjectives attract attention by their frequency and designate in the epos the situation over (under, inside, in the center, on the contrary, before) the reference point, distance, the direction, the horizontal plane, the vertical axis, the arrangement of objects relatively to each other. Spatial orientation is based on four parts of the world: ömn üzg ‘south’, are üzg ‘north’, zün üzg ‘east’, барун üzg ‘west’.

Spatial adjectives, form couples: barun ‘right’ – zün ‘left’, deerk ‘top’ – dorak ‘lower’, ömnк ‘forward’ – ардк ‘back’. Left – being at the left, located in that side of a body where people have a heart (from that hand which is closer to heart): zün ɤar ‘the left hand’, zün övdg ‘the left knee’, zün хаlх ‘the left cheek’, zün tasha ‘the left hip’, zün tam‘the left hell’, zün dörä ‘the left stirrup’, zün кöl ‘the left leg’, zün xasvč ‘the left shutter of doors’, zün eem ‘the left shoulder’. Right – located on the side opposite to heart (left side): barun ɤar ‘the right hand’, barun övdg ‘the right knee’, barun хаlх ‘the right cheek’, barun tasha ‘the right hip’.

Due to this work is carried out within the project “The explanatory dictionary of the Kalmyk heroic epos «Dzhangar»” language our main aim was to give interpretation to several heading words: барун‘right; the West’ – зүн ‘left; the East’. Further we will consider adjectives: deerk ‘top’ – dorak ‘lower’, ömnk ‘forward’ – ardк ‘back’. Spatial adjectives are frequent and are widely used in the epos “Dzhangar”. Deeper studying of spatial adjectives, their combination with various lexico-semantic groups of nouns is of unconditional interest to further researches.

The research of the epos “Dzhangar” language can be a perspective work, valuable material not only for linguists, specialists in folklore and also for those who are interested in the language and the culture of Kalmyk people.

Acknowledgements: The article was prepared within the framework of the research work of the Kalmyk Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Explanatory dictionary of language of Kalmyk heroic epic «Dzhangar»” (State Registration No. 114071170020)

The Yakut heroic epic develops on the general plot-forming background, it basically has a single canon of the plot, images, motifs, language formulas, typical places. However, the epic changes in time, it may have a set of differences, which is associated with the peculiarities of the material and spiritual needs of each generation. Today in Yakutia, representatives of the new generation of olonkhosuts are engaged in storytelling, who, unlike olonkhosuts of the early period, are educated, have the opportunity to learn the art of storytelling on publications, audio, video recordings, they produce self-recordings of their olonkho texts and publish them. A comparative study of the “textual matter” of classical and modern epic works, the identification of signs of static and transformation in time, leads to the conclusion that the solution of these questions has not yet found a proper place in today's epic studies. In order to closing the gap, this article highlights the results of a comparative analysis of plot motifs in the texts of the Yakut olonkho narrators belonging to different generations. The traditionally stable archaic motifs of the epic time, the creation of the world, the homeland of the hero, the settlement of the Middle World by the Uraangay Sakha tribes were studied; the motifs of the appearance of the warrior-defender, the abduction by the monster of the girl of the aiyy tribe, the battles between the warriors of aiyy and abaasy, the victories of the warrior of aiyy after divers adventures, the release of the captive woman; motifs for the marriage of the warrior aiyy and the establishment of peace in the Middle World. The author comes to the conclusion that the epic tradition changes over time, experiences its various influences and absorbs something new, as a result, the text of the olonkho undergoes transformations. In the texts of modern olonkho, simplification or omission of some motives and a tendency to reduce the volume of texts are observed. However, such changes do not affect the traditional plot and compositional structure of the olonkho.

The results obtained in the study can be used in the scientific study of one of the underdeveloped themes of Yakut folkloristics – the transformation in time of the stable motifs of the traditional olonkho.

Acknowledgments: The study was carried out with the financial support of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research in the framework of the scientific project No. 16-06-00505 (a).