The Commentary on Jirüken-ü tolta (‘Cover of the Heart’) and Its Ȕzemchin Author Revisited

Abstract

Introduction. The present article discusses the history of one of the most important monuments of Mongolian linguistic heritage “The Commentary on ‘Jirüken-ü tolta-yin tayilburi’”, a grammar treatise, which was published by Purbo Baldanzhapov with the textological analysis of the source. The author aims to study Baldanzhapov’s work and his contribution to the study of Mongolian grammar treatises; also, to clarify the authorship of the source in question. Materials and methods. For the purpose, most appropriate were general scientific methods and approaches, such as historical-comparative and historical-descriptive, as well as special methods of source studies and critical analysis of the text. Baldanzhapov’s monograph “Zurkhny Toltyn Tailburi” (Ulan-Ude, 1962) and publications of other authors on the subject, as well as Mongolian historical sources were used as the database of the research. Results. Baldanzhapov’s «Commentary to “the Zurkhen tolt”: Mongolian Linguistic Text of the Eighteenth Century» is, to date, the most complete and exhaustive study of the Mongolian grammar treatise, highly appreciated by scholars in Mongolia and outside the country, and widely used by researchers on the history of the Mongolian language and linguistics. Having undertaken the textual analysis of several works, the scholar convincingly argued that the author of this grammatical work was Molom Ravjamba Danzandagva. However, there are several points of view on Danzandagva’s background; the present author introduces new data that sheds light on the author of the “The Commentary on ‘Jirüken-ü tolta-yin tayilburi’” who was also named Uzemchin Molom Ravjamba.