These Spirits Among The
Buraets Are Called, According To One Author, Nougait Or Nogat, And
According To Erman Ongotui.
In some form of this same word, Nogait,
Ongot, Onggod, Ongotui, 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
Immegiljin: "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 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 Dsaiagachi or 'Chief Creator of Fortune.' At
the door is the Emelgelji, the Tutelary of the Herds and Young Cattle,
made of sheepskins. Outside the hut is the Chandaghatu, a name implying
that the idol was formed of a white hare-skin, the Tutelary of the Chase
and perhaps of War.
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