From Siberian Shamanism to Yungdrung Bön: a hypothesis on the Prehistoric Bön of Eurasia

Retrospective on the shamanism of Central and Northern Asia, starting with Mircea Eliade, and on its 'correspondences' with the ancient cult complex of the Prehistoric Bon of Eurasia, not to be confused with the Yungdrung Bön from the XNUMXth century


di Marco Scarinci
founder of Tantric shamanism

article originally published on
CeSEM - "Eurasia-Mediterranean" Study Center


Introduction to Shamanism

The term "shaman" makes its first appearance at the end of the XNUMXth century, when the Russian Orthodox Archbishop Avvakum, exiled to Siberia, thus defines his religious opponent, an ally of the devil rather than of God, which testifies to the extravagant rites characterized by the uncontrollable movement of the body and strong gestures [1]. The demonological interpretation of the phenomenon, typical of Christian missionaries and priests, was accompanied during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century by an interpretation strongly conditioned by Evolutionism and Positivism. This was combined with colonial political motivations: Shamanism, characteristic of cultures and religions considered backward, was defeated in the name of civilization and progress, and this was functional to the annexation of large geographical areas within the borders of an empire. [2]. However, a clear definition of Shamanism was still missing, indiscriminately associated with all forms of magism and witchcraft typical of so-called primitive cultures. [3].

It is in this context that they enter a series of studies aimed at correlating Shamanism with psychopathology, and in particular with hysterical symptoms. Ohlmarks even distinguishes an arctic from a sub-arctic shamanism on the basis of the degree of pathology that can be recognized. [4]. These studies proved to be largely unsubstantiated, but they had a certain weight at least until Claude Levi-Strauss, in whose thought the figure of the shaman is overturned: from being mentally ill he becomes a sort of psychotherapist ante-literam [5].

It was the historian of religions Mircea Eliade who rehabilitated the phenomenon of Shamanism, heavily burdened by evolutionary prejudices., author in a first edition of the monumental work Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaïques de l'Extase of 1951. It was Eliade who inaugurated modern studies on the subject, and it is on his work that contemporary scholars are forced to leave. Deep connoisseur of archaic traditions and oriental religions, he based his work on the anthropological primacy recognized in the category of sacred, according to him, essential for the understanding of the structure of human consciousness [6].

Eliade made Shamanism a category of the religious thought and experience of the human being as such; this approach led him, however, to a decontextualization and a generalization of Shamanism which was criticized by most of the later researchers. Eliade places ecstasy at the center of his reflection on Shamanism; an ecstasy that in his metaphysical vision reactivates the "illud tempus " mythic, in which men could communicate concretely with Heaven [7].

It is precisely the characteristics that Eliade recognizes in ecstasy that do not find the consensus of scholars: for Eliade, in fact, shamanic ecstasy is characterized exclusively byextra-corporeal exit that the shaman performs spiritually to travel to the Celestial or Underworld worlds [8]. By voluntarily abandoning his body, the shaman would be able to visit other worlds and interact with the gods there, recover a lost soul or fight against harmful spirits. However, this conception of ecstasy excludes possession, which according to Eliade constitutes a recent innovation and therefore not inherent in shamanic ecstasy proper. [9].

Moreover, Eliade affirmed that the primitive form of shamanic journey was exclusively that towards the Celestial World, where the shaman sought communion with the Supreme Being. Both travels to the Underworld and interaction with a series of inferior deities and spirits would be the result of the degeneration of the shamanic complex and the loss of its primitive ideology. [10]. In this, Eliade's theory is akin to the idea ofUrmonotheismus, or primordial monotheism, of the Austrian anthropologist and linguist Father Wilhelm Schmidt, according to whom the primitive religion that united the tribal peoples was based on the belief in a single creator and benevolent God, usually a God of Heaven [11]. Another recognizable influence in Eliade's work is constituted by Jung's thought and his "theory of archetypes" (which are, for example, the Cosmic Mountain, the World Tree, the tripartite cosmology on which Eliade dwells) [12].

The idea of ​​a pure, original and universal Shamanism, not distorted by the use of psychotropic substances (interpreted as a decadence) or by practices of possession, and characterized by ascensional, uranic and vaguely neoplatonic motifs, reveals in Eliade's work an ideological prejudice that invalidates its claimed scientific nature [13]. Some of Eliade's claims are clearly dogmatic and against all historical evidence [14]. However, its metaphysical character may or may not be shared, but as Mastromattei states one cannot ignore the path traced in Shamanism [15]: Eliade's work marked, in the context of the studies on Shamanism, a "before" and an "after".

20752150056
French edition of "Shamanism and the techniques of ecstasy" by Mircea Eliade.

After him we can witness the clash - not yet concluded and destined and lasting over time - between two opposing tendencies: one tries to circumscribe the phenomenon as much as possible, even to deny it; the other tries to extend it, identifying similar characteristics in traditions very distant from each other. The first is totally opposed to Eliade while the second follows his trail, while revising the positions deemed unfounded.

The problem is also linguistic. The word shamanism comes from the Tungus shaman and initially it referred exclusively to a priestly figure of the communities Evenki, and only later was it universalized on the basis of similarities and / or hypothetical links with other traditions. It is noteworthy that the word tungusa shaman it is traced back to Sanskrit by many sramana [16], the term that defined Buddhist ascetics. The Buddhist origin of this term was accepted by most Orientalists as early as the XNUMXth century (and is still followed by most scholars today), but it was soon questioned. [17]. This hypothesis for Eliade was functional to the elaboration of Shirokogoroff's theory, according to which Shamanism is not only a relatively recent phenomenon (which, according to him, developed in the medieval period), but even arises from the fusion of Lamaist Buddhism with various indigenous beliefs. [18]. Eliade recognizes Shirokogoroff's theory deep Lamaist influences on North Asian Shamanism, nevertheless affirms the pre-existence of the latter, which would originate at least from the Paleolithic [19].

It is precisely in one of the most important texts on Tibetan oracles, namely in Oracles and Demons of Tibet [20] di Nebesky-Wojkowitz, which we find a study on the shamanistic character of certain Buddhist beliefs and practices (both gods lama than of oracles) in Tibet. In this study, starting from Eliade [21], some elements of the Tibetan religion are compared to the North and Central Asian shamans. For example, we mention the similarities in the type of drum used [22], in the paraphernalia, in the magical use of effigies [23], in the fact that the revered spirits present themselves in groups of thirteen, seven or nine units [24], in the common use of some ritual objects (such as the magic mirror, called far away, or the ritual use of arrows [25]).

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A practice of Tibetan Buddhism that is very often related to Shamanism is the practice of chod. Its shamanic nature is evident from the fact that in it, through a process of visualization, an attempt is made to actualize the sacred disease and in particular the dismemberment by the spirits, typical of many shamanic traditions. In other words, in this practice one visualizes killing and dismembering one's body to feed it to cemetery spirits, thus trying to induce a death of one's ego and therefore a new spiritual renewal [26].

However, given the very limited origin of the term shaman it is understandable that many scholars, especially in Russia [27], have criticized the contemporary use of the term shaman: many do not accept its use outside the Siberian-Mongolian traditions due to the ambiguity and confusion that this term would have brought [28], and there are even those who refuse, as a form of reaction, to use it at all [29].

However, it is important to specify that (at least by convention) to constitute Shamanism Environment, and therefore the ideal model to refer to in the studies in this regard, remains that of Siberia, as Mircea Eliade himself recognized [30]. Considering that Siberia constitutes the locus classicus of Shamanism, we will use the precious work of Hugh Marazzi - Texts of Siberian and Central Asian Shamanism [31], which is the most complete anthology of shamanic ritual texts of these traditions - to begin by proposing a definition of shaman. Marazzi states that [32]:

«… The foundation, the ideological premise of shamanism are constituted by the search for a relationship, by establishing contact with the supernatural world through the ecstatic experience of a professional intermediary, the shaman. "

The shaman for Marazzi is therefore both a medical health insurance company, because it diagnoses and treats diseases (through purification, the extraction of harmful energies or the search for a lost soul), generally at the center of the shaman's work [33], One diviner, because through means of divination, oracular trance and observation of omens is able to see the future of his client [34]; is one psychopomp, that is, able to accompany the souls of the dead to their otherworldly home [35]. Unlike what Eliade wrote, the shaman not only travels outside himself, but also allows himself to be possessed by the spirits, during ceremonies in which he is almost always recognized to carry out his work (not all, but certainly its most suggestive part) from the observers a very theatrical character [36].

Furthermore, among the helping spirits of the shaman, it is good to underline the recurrence in the different shamanic traditions of two types: animal spirits (most important in Amerindian traditions [37]) and le souls of ancestors (most important in Asian traditions) [38]. To unite many shamanic traditions, as Eliade had already seen, there is also the recurrence of similar initiation experiences, which involve a call from the spirits (often initially rejected), experiences of death and rebirth, and sometimes a serious illness. [39]. To these characteristics Mastromattei adds the knowledge of a rich mythological heritage and the indispensable role of music [40], which is often limited to singing and drumming.

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Nyatri Tsenpo, first mythical king of Tibet.

From Centrasia to Tibet: the problem of Bon

The religion Bon it is the tradition with which Buddhism dialectically clashed in Tibet. In the Tibetan Buddhist imagination it is precisely the Bon to constitute the shamanic religion with which one confronts, often with derogatory tones. However, in the analysis of the phenomenon one immediately encounters a very complex reality as the Bon it is an extremely polysemic term. In other words, with the word Bon we refer to different traditions, albeit connected to each other. To simplify we must first distinguish a Bon primitive (pre-Buddhist) from one already developed in the Buddhist period. The Bon pre-Buddhist, or the indigenous religion of Tibet, is actually linked to Shamanism and animism.

Although there are those who have criticized the use of the term Shamanism in relation to Bon primitive [41]On the other hand, which is part of the debate concerning the extension of the shamanic paradigm, what little is known of the ancient Tibetan religion has clearly shamanic characteristics. He talks about it Martin Nicoletti in his essay "Bon and shamanism: introductory study of comparison of the two religious phenomena» [42]. In this essay Nicoletti compares the pre-Buddhist Tibetan religion with the shamanic men of Central Asia and Nepal. First of all they examine themselves the myths relating to the first Tibetan kings in which shamanic themes are found, such as the symbolism of the rope that connects this world with the Heavens. According to Tibetan beliefs, in fact, the first mythical king of Tibet, Nyatri Tsenpo, would have been a divine being descended from Heaven; both he and the subsequent kings up to Drigum Tsengpo were immortal: at the end of their earthly life they simply climbed this rope that united Heaven and Earth, and which then broke in the time of Drigum Tsengpo, the first king to lose immortality. This rope was also imagined as one ladder with nine rungs. The symbolism of the rope, as Eliade already stated [43], is very recurrent in the shamanic field, as well as that of the ladder (whose nine rungs refer to nine worlds) [44].

Another shamanic theme concerns the pre-Buddhist funeral ritual, in particular that relating to the death of kings, which involved the sacrifices of animals that had the function of psychopomp, especially horses., rams and yaks. The sacrifice had a dual purpose: to provide a guide to the world of the dead for the soul of the deceased and eventually to appease hostile demons who would have tried to obstruct the journey. [45]. Furthermore, we find in the Bon primitive even of clear references to possession [46] and the magical flight (linked in turn to the use of the drum) [47], which constitute, as we have already seen, the heart of Shamanism. This kind of Bon is inserted by Dmitri Ermakov into what he calls the Bon Prehistoric of Eurasia, or that matrix of shamanistic cults from which Tengrism itself then develops. Not surprisingly, in fact, Mongolian and Siberian Tengrism is called Bo (precisely Bo Murgel), which shows the similarity with the term Bon .

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Very different from the Bon primitive, on the other hand, is the so-called Yungdrung Bon, which developed concurrently with the Revival of Buddhism in the eleventh century. In fact it is Yungdrung Bon, while retaining its own separate identity, it is extremely similar to Tibetan Buddhism [48]. Not surprisingly, in 1979 the present Dalai Lama officially proclaimed it Yungdrung Bon as the fifth school of Tibetan Buddhism, thus seeking to officially end the prejudices and persecutions that the Bonpos had to endure in old Tibet. The Dalai Lama's decision was probably made for reasons of pure political convenience - considering that the clear intention of the Dharamsala administration was to propose the Dalai Lama, in an anti-Chinese function, as a point of reference for all Tibetans of any religious orientation, popularity and recognition that even in old Tibet the lineage of the Dalai Lamas never had. However, this decision came after twenty years in which the Bonpo in exile were ignored and ostracized by the Tibetans in India, and to which even the economic aid that was distributed by the Dalai Lama's office was denied. [49].

Tonpa_Shenrab _-_ Life_Story_19th_century, _Collection_of_Rubin_Museum_of_Art.
Tonpa Shenrab, mythical founder of the Yugdrung Bön.

However, and here it gets complex, those who developed it Yungdrung Bon in the eleventh century they did not lay the foundation of their religion at that age, but several millennia earlier. This mythical founder lived 18.000 years ago and is called Tonpa Shenrab. The latter is believed by the Bonpo to be the Buddha of our age just as Buddhists consider Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama). Tonpa Shenrab was born in the land of Lungring elm, a mythical place - often identified with the kingdom of Shambala - which is located neither in Tibet nor in India, but precisely in Central Asia. Tonpa Shenrab was a prince and had many wives and children who participated in his preaching activity. After becoming king, he traveled far and wide, including in Tibet, to propagate the doctrine of Bon and found temples and stupas. According to the Bonpo this teaching was spread throughout Asia and became the foundation both of the different Central Asian expressions of shamanism, of the Vedic religion in India and probably also of the Chinese traditions. Shakyamuni Buddha himself would be an emanation of Tonpa Shenrab [50].

Lo Yungdrung Bon it has several followers in the West, where it was popularized by the publication of the text The Nine Ways of Bon [51] by Snellgrove and the work of several masters [52]. The report of the Yungdrung Bon with Shamanism, however, it is ambiguous. On the one hand, he dissociates himself from it to avoid, as far as possible, being involved in the conflict between Buddhism and Shamanism. It is rightly dissociated from it, however, as we have already said that its doctrine and practices are actually almost identical to those of Buddhism. [53]. Indeed, the probable ecstatic nature of pre-Buddhist Tibetan Shamanism in the Yungdrung Bon it has been completely lost [54] and, above all, by adopting the ethics of Buddhism, animal sacrifices are condemned.

However, traces of shamanic practices have remained in the Yungdrung Bon, especially in its so-called "inferior" vehicles. Indeed this tradition divides its practices into nine vehicles, in which the first four - the so-called Bon of the Cause - includes practices similar to Shamanism such as methods of divination, healing and various rites to enter into relationship with the spirits of nature [55]. Nicoletti finds particularly shamanic elements in some funerary rites [56] and in some exorcistic modalities, practiced in the Yungdrung Bon, in which animal noises are simulated [57]. Among the same contemporary masters of Yungdrung Bon, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche recognizes the shamanic dimension of the most basic vehicles of his own tradition [58].

What is the relationship between the Yungdrung Bon and Bon Prehistoric of Eurasia? It is very difficult to say. Namkhai Norbu speculates that Tonpa Shenrab lived around the second millennium BC (rather than 18.000 years ago) in what was the Shang Shung confederation. Tonpa Shenrab absorbed the tribal traditions of the time by reforming them, abandoning the practice of bloody sacrifices, thus creating the basis of what later became the Yungdrung Bon in the eleventh century [59].

Having seen how it is Yungdrung Bon is different from the Bon primitive, to complicate things we must mention the existence of another type of Bon. Ermakov defines it as a "Bon misto» [60]. Precisely these are the Himalayan shamanic or quasi-shamanic traditions (including Nepalese ones) which in all probability derive in some way from the Bon primitive, but which sometimes also prove to have been influenced by Yungdrung Bon. Among these Ermakov cites for example the Gurung tradition, but also an important ethnic group recognized by the People's Republic of China, namely the Nakhi (Naxi) ethnic group of Yunnan. Indeed it seems that some Nakhi shamans, Called dongba, recite one of the most important mantras of Yungdrung Bon (Om Ma Tri Mu Ye Sa Le Du) [61].

Other magical-religious operators who are commonly defined as bonpo and who probably descend from Bon primitive but who have an ecstatic type of practice are the lhapa [62] and pawo [63]. In both cases, it is about people who they are possessed by helping spirits for the purpose of healing and divination; however, the ability of magical flight does not appear to be present among them. In fact, when a lhapa does a soul retrieval this is not done through an out-of-body journey but is done by a deity [64]. Curiously, i pawo they also worship Tonpa Shenrab, which demonstrates some influence of the Yungdrung Bon [65]. The main difference between pawo e lhapa it mostly consists of the degree of inclusion they have within the Buddhist religion. THE lhapa they are perfectly integrated: their practice is done with the blessing of the Buddhist Lamas - who assist in the formation of the lhapa through appropriate rituals - and the deities with which i lhapa work are generally minor protectors of the Buddhist tradition, especially the spirits of some sacred mountains. THE pawo instead they do not enter into relations with the Buddhist lamas at any stage of their career and, therefore, are viewed with greater suspicion [66].

The ecstatic and oracular practices of Bon pre-Buddhist, or del Bon Prehistoric of Eurasia, therefore they have come together in various forms in different ethnic groups creating shamanic or quasi-shamanic traditions; Tibetan Buddhism has welcomed, albeit marginally, these traditions, which have merged into the oracular practices and lhapas integrated into the Buddhist religion. However, curiously, as we have already mentioned, it is Yungdrung Bon Modern Tibetan has not felt the need to preserve these practices, and in fact there is no record of the presence of oracles of this tradition. Nevertheless, a long series of commonalities - possible to discern through the comparative method - between ritual practices and the cosmology of Yungdrung Bon and Bo Murgel (i.e. of Siberian and Mongolian Tengrism), make the theory of a common matrix and reciprocal influences between these cults, the reconstruction of which is lost in the mists of time, particularly likely, thus making the theory of Prehistoric Bön of Eurasia.

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ShenlhaOkar01.jpg


Note:

[1] Hamayon RN 1998

[2] Towers D. 2014: 88

[3] Ibid: 87

[4] Eliade M 2005: 42-52

[5] Levi-Strauss C. 1963: 167-186

[6] Cf. Eliade M. 1999: 7

[7] Eliade M. 2005: 516

[8] The fact that shamanic ecstasy is based on out-of-body travel is a mistake that, from Eliade, spreads to Western neo-shamanic movements. The interest in shamanic practice was first spread among Westerners by Michael Harner, an anthropologist who wrote the book in 1980 The Way of the Shaman and founded the Foundation for Shamanic Studies (www.shamanism.org). Harner has created a defined shamanic practice approach core-shamanism, or essential shamanism, because it abstracts from the various shamanic traditions those ethnic, mythical and cultural elements to propose a series of techniques suitable for modern man. The neo-shamanic approach has been heavily criticized, among other reasons, for its commercialization and its New Age ancestry, but I personally believe the contacts sought by the FSS with traditional shamans and transpersonal psychology are worthy of interest.

[9] Eliade M.2005: 529-530

[10] Ibid: 535-536

[11] Sidky H. 2008:5

[12] Muller KE 2010: 109-110

[13] It should also be taken into consideration that Eliade's work - although based on an impressive number of sources - was written in Paris and based entirely on secondary sources, without the author's direct research experience.

[14] Mastromattei et al. 1995: 29

[15] Ibidem

[17] Eliade M. 2005: 525

[18] Ibid: 526-541

[19] Ibidem

[20] Nebesky-Wojkowitz R. 1993

[21] In particular Eliade M. 2005: 455-468

[22] Nebesky-Wojkowitz R. 1993:542

[23] Ibid: 553

[24] Ibid: 538-540

[25] Ibid: 544-545

[26] Ibid: 550. Sul chod see also Ermakov D. 2008: 475-488, and Franzoni A. http://kunpen.ngalso.net/files/2012/11/rito-gcod.pdf

[27] Personal communication Dmitri Ermakov

[28] Sidky H. 2008:17-18

[29] How does Ermakov D. 2008: LIII. But he specifies «The term 'Shamanism' is not bad in itself, although it suffers from the problem of all 'isms' - an undue generalization. It can be used positively in the future if, for some whim of fate, its use returns to its original definition and to the cultural and religious phenomenon it once represented ». My translation.

[30] Sidky H. 2008:4

[31] Marazzi U. 1990

[32] Ibid: 9

[33] Stutley M. 2003:84-93

[34] Ibid: 83-84

[35] Eliade M. 2005: 229-238

[36] Mastromattei et all 1995: 26

[37] Admitting that we want to include the latter in the category of shamanism, which, as we have already seen, not all scholars are willing to accept.

[38] Muller KE 2001: 30-31. However, the souls of ancestors or other humanoid spirits can also take the form of an animal. See Marazzi U. 1990: 12.

[39] The first four chapters of Shamanism by Mircea Eliade

[40] Mastromattei et al. 1995: 27-28

[42] Nicoletti M. in Mastromattei et all 1995: 104-164

[43] Eliade M. 2005: 455-458

[44] Nicoletti M. in Mastromattei et all 1995: 111

[45] Ibid: 125-128

[46] Ibid: 146-157

[47] Ibid: 116-118

[48] For a brief comparison between Buddhism and Yungdrung Bon see Alexander Berzin: http://studybuddhism.com/en/advanced-studies/abhidharma-tenet-systems/comparison-of-buddhist-traditions/bon-and-tibetan-buddhism

[49] Samuel G. 2012: 222-223

[50] On Tonpa Shenrab see Ermakov D. 2008: 130-144

[51] Snellgrove D. 1980

[52] Of which we remember Lopon Tenzin Namdak, Tenzin Wangyal Rinpoche, Geshe Gelek Jinpa

[53] Ermakov D. 2008: LVIII-LX.

[55] With respect to the Buddhist classification of teachings, the Yungdrung Bon they seem more inclined to be explicit about those practical (and related to worldly needs) aspects of their religion, with a lower tendency to want to make them underlying purely dharmic and liberating motivations. See Samuel G. 2012: 225

[56] Nicoletti M. in Mastromattei et all 1995: 133-146

[57] Ibid: 121-123

[58] See Tenzin Wangyal R. 2002. See also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTLROrUqq5E

[59] Namkhai Norbu 1997: xv

[60] Ermakov D. 2008: 152-158

[61] Ibid: 152

[62] See Beauty JV 2005: 2

[63] See Nicoletti M. in Mastromattei et all 1995: 148-151

[64] Beauty JV 2005: 33. Furthermore, the possession of the lhapa, unlike that of the jhankri Nepalese, leads to a total loss of consciousness of the operator. His consciousness is thought to dwell in a magical mirror while the deity possesses the lhapa. See: Beauty JV 2005: 7-8

[65] Balikci A. 2008: 13

[66] Ibid: 16


Bibliography:

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7 comments on “From Siberian Shamanism to Yungdrung Bön: a hypothesis on the Prehistoric Bön of Eurasia"

  1. The article is truly compelling, comprehensive and well crafted. However, with reference to the comparison between Bön and бөө мөргөл - böö mörgöl and consequently to its etymology, I cannot help but express some reservations. The Mongolian term böö which designates the shaman is none other than the modern pronunciation of the classical Mongolian Böge - ᠪᠥᠭᠡ, from which bögü and böö. As often the words of the Mongolian language khalkha that have a long vowel are the phonetic result of the sonorization of the consonant contained in you, taken to its extreme consequences.
    The Mongolian voice in question, similarly to much of the literary and religious lexicon, is borrowed from Proto-Turkish. "Bögü - as Jean Paul Roux writes in" The Religion of the Turks and Mongols ", Genoa, 1990, pp. 74-75 - is both the shamanic pontiff of the Gengiskanid and pre-Gengiskhanid eras, and the beki, a term that refers to turkish beg, the fort, later "lord", became bey in Anatolian Turkish, having a connotation of power.
    Given that the Bön religion is said to come from Iranian lands (sTag gzig, Tajikistan?), As suggested by Alejandro Chaoul in “The Tibetan Ritual Sacrifice” and as reported in the second volume of the Etymological Dictionary of Iranian Languages, JI Edelman, VI Rastorgueva. Etymological slovar 'iranskix jazykov, would seem more attributable to the entry * būna, hence * bundha, “base, origin”, hence the Avestan term for creation: Bundahishn.
    Moreover, the same voice bögü is not devoid of Iranian ancestry: probably a consonant rotation coming from the Avestan voice mag. A phoneme pertaining to the concept of magic and power, present in both Germanic and Slavic, respectively mögen and мощъ-moshch '. Also found in the Persian literary topos: “Pîr-e Môghan”, the Superior of the Magi. Therefore "magician", etymologically connected to the semantic sphere of power understood as siddhi.

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