MAGIC FUNCTIONS OF ALTAIAN EPIC NARRATION IN COMPARISON WITH EPIC TRADITIONS OF CENTRAL ASIAN PEOPLES
The Altaians are one of the most ancient peoples of the Central Asian region; folklore texts written by these ethnoses name the territory of Altai their own original homeland, their “golden cradle”. An Altaian epos synthesizes experiences of the people's centuries-long history in combina-tion with mythological, religious, spiritual and moral, political components of Altaians' social mind, elements of traditional people's culture of the ethnos. Epic poetry works performed mostly in throat singing technique are the unique phenomenon for the people's culture and spiritual heritage of the Altaians. Some species of this ancient form of literary art had been preserved by the today's Kalmyks and other indigenous Turkic Siberian ethnic groups, such as Tuvans, Shors, Teleuts, as well as Mon-gols and Oirotian people of Mongolia and China (Uriankhai, Bayads, Dörbet Oirat, Torghuts, Kyok Soyons).