Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 49 (2) 2021   doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.2.110-117

Annotation:  Late Pleistocene Paleoenvironments and Episodic Human Occupations in the Orkhon Valley of Central Mo Percussive-Abrasive Stone Tools from Chagyrskaya Cave: Results of Functional Analysis On the Date of the Great Shigir Idol An Early Bronze Age Hoard of Bronze Tools from Dvin, Central Armenia Vengerovo-2—a Krotovo Culture Site in the Baraba Forest-Steppe: An Archaeozoological Study The Emergence and Formation of a Proto-Urban Civilization in Azerbaijan: Certain Issues in the Trans Pottery from the Barsov Gorodok III/6 Early Iron Age Fortifi ed Settlement in the Surgut Stretch of The Study of Non-Ferrous Metal Artifacts of the Early Iron Age and Medieval Cultures in the Western Changes in Wooden Defensive Structures at Fort Umrevinsky (Based on Archaeological and Written Sourc The Festive Culture of Mining Plants in the Urals: The Dobryanka Case Happy Marriages Are Blessed in the Heavens, Unhappy Ones Cause Poverty: A View on Women in Usun-Debe Mythologizing History in Buryat Shamanic Rites The Tiger-Dog and its Semantics in the Nanai Shamanic Sculpture: Cultural and Cognitive Aspects Population Affinities of the Ancient Northern Okhotsk People: Cranial Evidence from a Collective Bur The First Settlers of Novosibirsk: The Demographic Structure of Krivoshchekovo, Western Siberia, in   

Happy Marriages Are Blessed in the Heavens,
Unhappy Ones Cause Poverty:
A View on Women in Usun-Debeskertu-Khan’s Instructions

B.A. Bicheev

Kalmyk Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Ilishkina 8, Elista, 358000, Russia

This study examines traditional ideas of women and marriage, based on the instructions attributed to one of the rulers of the epoch of the “Religious Kings”—Usun-Debeskertu-Khan, and his ministers. The focus is made on female virtues, the most important of which is adherence to duties in relation to the husband and children. The standards that noble women had to comply with were higher than those concerning other women, but still quite realistic, as attested to by historical records. Negative female traits were said to be caused by untamed emotions, which cause one to forget about commonly accepted norms of behavior. The analysis of the instructions relating to marriage suggests that they were especially influenced by Buddhism, which, using various forms of instruction, including didactic writings, endowed marriage with a new, spiritual content. There were three forms of marriage, tentatively described as “divine”, “earthly”, and “infernal”. The causes of happy and unhappy marital unions were believed to be mainly related to women’s properties mentioned in the instructions. Marital harmony was said to depend mostly on the woman.

Keywords: Kalmyks, Usun-Debeskertu-Khan, instructions, woman, happy marriages, unhappy marriages