Mengen Shigshirge
Kalmyk · mortal · Kalmyk traditional religion; continuing · Recorded classification
Mengen Shigshirge, the 'Silver' Shigshirge, is the aged herdsman of the Jangar epic who, hunting on the steppe, comes upon the orphaned infant Jangar, gives him his name and raises him as his own. He is the father of the great warrior Hongor, and in fostering Jangar he binds the two boys together as foster-brothers, though the tradition recalls his early fear that the found child might one day dispossess his own son. He embodies the epic's ideal of the wise, generous elder whose household becomes the cradle of the heroes of Bumba.
Children
Domains
- kinship and fosterage
Powers
- finds and raises the orphan Jangar
Relations
- child: JangarAdoptive son, the orphan he takes in and names.Bougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)
- child: HongorHis own son, the Scarlet Lion.Bougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)
Sources
- Mengen Shigshirge is the old herder who discovers the orphaned Jangar, names and raises him alongside his own son Hongor.: Bougdaeva, Saglar (trans.), Jangar: The Heroic Epic of the Kalmyk Nomads (University of California Press, 2023) (primary)