Jangar

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'.

Parentage

• paternal: Mengen Shigshirge

Domains

• kingship and heroism

Powers

• founds and rules the land of Bumba
• gathers and commands the heroes

Epithets

• Богд Җаңһр — Holy JangarBougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)

Relations

• sibling: HongorFoster-brothers, both raised by Mengen Shigshirge; Hongor is his foremost warrior.Bougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)
• ally: SavarBougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)
• ally: SanalBougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)
• ally: MingianBougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)
• ally: Altan CheejiBougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)
• companion: AranzalBougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)

Sources

• Jangar is the orphan-hero and khan of the ideal land of Bumba, the title figure of the Kalmyk heroic epic Jangar, ruler over the twelve great warriors.: Bougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar: The Heroic Epic of the Kalmyk Nomads (Oakland: University of California Press, 2023) (primary); Kozin, S. A., Dzhangariada (Moscow-Leningrad: USSR Academy of Sciences, 1940) (secondary)
• Fragments of the Jangar epic were first recorded and published in Europe by Benjamin Bergmann in 1804-1805, and the singer Eelian Ovla's cycle of songs was recorded in the early twentieth century.: Bergmann, Benjamin, Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmüken in den Jahren 1802 und 1803 (Riga, 1804-1805) (primary); Bougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023), introduction (secondary)