Molom toyin-u jiruγ-tu taγuji

GDC Mong L1 : 5

ET_816

Ms, 35 : 22 cm, page 1-23v, 22 lines, left margin r: Mongolian pagination; Russian paper, on some pages factory stamp with hammer and sickle visible, some fols. have been torn and later repaired.

Cover title: Molom toyin-u jiruγ-tu taγuji [!] orošibai::

Inc. (1) (1) blam-a-dur mörgömüi (2)¹ mörgömüi: bursan quvaraγ-ud (3)-tur mörgömüi: ²

Term. (23v) (30) molom qatun (31) inu sayitur tonilaqu inu ene bolai::

An illustrated book (jiruγ-tu nom) recounting the tale of Molon/Molom toyin who rescues his mother from the Buddhist hells. On the upper half of each page illustrations tell the story, and in the lower part the text follows. In many places the illustrations provide additional information to the text. The book does not contain a colophon. According to the paper used, it must have been produced in the late 1920s or early 1930s, in the Mongolian People’s Republic. The language of the text contains Khalkh-Mongolian colloquialisms, but some of the illustrations, like the wooden coffin in fol. 2r, point to Chinese influence and an origin in Inner Mongolia. Perhaps the text and the images were copied from an Inner Mongolian original, but the images were not or only partially adjusted to local customs.³