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| The Book of Ser Marco Polo : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
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MARCO POLO BOOK I.
The account agrees generally with what we are told of the original Shamanism of the Tunguses, which recognizes a Supreme Power over all, and a small number of potent spirits called Ongot. These spirits among the Buraets are called, according to one author, Nou ait or No at, and according to Erman OzzJ otzzz. In some form of this same word, Nogait, Ozzgot, Onggod, Ozzgotzri, we are, I imagine, to trace the Natigay of Polo. The modern representative of this Shamanist Lar is still found among the Buraets, and is thus described by Pallas under the name of Immeg i jlzz : " He is honoured as the tutelary god of the sheep and other cattle. Properly, the divinity consists of two figures, hanging side by side, one of whom represents the god's wife. These two figures are merely a pair of lanky flat bolsters with the upper part shaped into a round disk, and the body hung with a long woolly fleece ; eyes, nose, breasts, and navel, being indicated by leather knobs stitched on. The male figure commonly has at his girdle the foot-rope with which horses at pasture are fettered, whilst the female, which is sometimes accompanied by smaller figures representing her children, has all sorts of little nicknacks and sewing implements." Galsang
Tartar Idols and Kumis Churn.
Czomboyef, a recent Russo-Mongol writer already quoted, says also : " Among the Buryats, in the middle of the hut and place of honour, is the Dsaiagafhi or ` Chief Creator of Fortune.' At the door is the Enielg e ji, the Tutelary of the Herds and Young Cattle, made of sheepskins. Outside the hut is the Chazzdagizatzr, a name implying that the idol was formed of a white hare-skin, the Tutelary of the Chase and perhaps of War. All these have been expelled by Buddhism except Dsaiagachi, who is called Teng ri, and introduced among the Buddhist divinities."
[Dorji Banzaroff, in his dissertation On the Black Religion, i.e. Shamanism, 1846, " is disposed to see in Natigay of M. Polo, the Ytoga of other travellers, i.e. the Mongol Etugen—` earth,' as the object of veneration of the Mongol Shamans. They look upon it as a divinity, for its power as Delc ei irz echef, i.e. ` the Lord of Earth,' and on account of its productiveness, Allan dele,;ei, i.e. Golden Earth.'" Palladius (Lc. pp. 14-16) adds one new variant to what the learned Colonel Yule has collected and set forth with such precision, on the Shaman household gods. " The Dahurs and Barhus have in their dwellings, according to the number of the finale
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