Benjamin Bergmann’s Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmȕken in den Jahren 1802 und 1803: Introducing Russian Translations of Six Letters
Introduction. The impact of Benjamin Bergmann - a renown religious figure, writer and translator - in Kalmyk folklore studies is immense. He authored the earliest European documented record of the Kalmyk heroic epic of Jangar , German translations of the Buddhist treatise titled ‘Mirror of Reality’ and two songs of the Gesar epic, thirteen folktales from the Siddhi Kür collection, etc. Goals . The article introduces B. Bergmann’s letters included in the 1804 German-language edition of his Nomadische Streifereien unter den Kalmȕken in den Jahren 1802 und 1803 (Germ. ‘Nomadic Wanderings among the Kalmyks in 1802-1803’) published in Riga. Materials . The study explores and translates into Russian the first six letters containing ethnographic observations. Results . B. Bergmann’s scholarly insights into religion, language, lifestyles, and history of the Kalmyks to have compiled the edition were to lay the foundation of his work at the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences which unfortunately never happened. The meticulousness of his accounts and descriptions testify of his decent proficiency in ethnography and folklore investigations.