Jangar is the hero-king at the centre of the Kalmyk national epic that bears his name. Orphaned by war as an infant and raised by the herder Mengen Shigshirge, he overcomes hostile lords in childhood and by the age of seven is proclaimed khan of Bumba, an idealized country of eternal youth, justice and abundance untouched by death, cold or want. From his palace he presides over an assembly of paladins, chief among them the Scarlet Lion Hongor, and rides the marvellous horse Aranzal. The epic, sung by professional bards called jangarchi, was first brought to European notice by Benjamin Bergmann in 1804 and monumentally recorded from the great singer Eelian Ovla around 1908-1910; a jubilee in 1940 celebrated its supposed five-hundredth anniversary. His name is commonly derived from Persian jahangir, 'world-conqueror'.