The Barutugisun is the mythic history of the Yonggan people in written form. The text dates from the 800s BG, and it has been variously redacted since. The oral traditions upon which it is based are much older, though some material is suspected of being original to the written text, mainly harmonizing explanations. The most common text type today is confidently traced to literati working under the Duke of Wa during the Ri dynasty. This text and translations of it are available as printed books in the Earth Kingdom, often with commentary.

The book tells the story of Yonggan culture hero Barutu and his family, especially the sons and daughters who became ancestors to various Yonggan clans. Some Yonggan interpret it more or less literally and believe it to be true, but virtually no one considers it an infallible historical record. The theologians of the State Religion of the Great Ri promoted an allegorical reading as primary without comment on its historical accuracy.

Origins and History

The Barutugisun ("Words [about] Barutu") is a collection of Yonggan oral history and mythology. It was compiled in the 800s by Yonggan literati during a period of increased cultural contact with the Central Earth Kingdom, in which increasing literacy levels created an audience for a Yonggan epic in the genre of the classics of Common literary culture.

The principal author of the manuscript was the beile Aora Akshan, treasurer of the Yonggan Khaganate, who drew heavily from the stories told by the court storyteller, Nara Sain, and his own mother, Jala Muke, a mantic priestess. Work started in about 880 BG and was presented to the Khagan in 850 BG.

Comparison with Yonggan stories recorded in other sources reveals that versions in the Barutugisun to be much more polished and internally consistent, with changes to harmonize them into a cohesive narrative. They are also somewhat influenced by Central Earth Kingdom literary tropes and conventions.

Woodblocks were cut for a printed edition in 830 BG, under the supervision of the new Nara Khagan, Nara Boosi. A version translated into the Common language was written by the scholar TONG Wei in Ba Sing Se, and this was subsequently also printed and circulated in the Earth Kingdom by the end of the 800s BG. Various subsequent editions routinely added new material, and the Barutugisun has circulated in a hodgepodge of versions ever since. The "canonical" version, if one can be said to exist, is probably the Shenxing edition prepared under the auspices of the nineteenth Earth Monarch, whose scholars took a very inclusive approach when compiling it; it contains most of the material introduced by other editions, as well as a translation and commentary written in Common.

Reception History

The project was controversial from the start, with some Yonggan shamans being offended by the idea of a systematic collection of the oral history and legends of their people. Some of the stories in the Barutugisun were only passed down previously as initiatory secrets by shamanistic families, and their disclosure was controversial. Others objected to the harmonizing changes and concessions to the literary genre that Akshan made. However, none of the serious opponents put together a rival compendium of Yonggan oral history, either because they objected to it on principle, or for other reasons. Therefore, over time, the Barutugisun became the definitive version of the stories within it, and increasingly-literate Yonggan storytellers turned to it for additional material.

Common literary culture enjoyed the translations of the Barutugisun, particularly as the Yonggan waxed powerful in the years leading up to the Nara Ascendancy, and the literati of the Central Earth Kingdom desired to understand this rising power in the Northwest better. Central depictions of the Yonggan before the Great Ri were heavily influenced by the world portrayed in the Barutugisun, and plays based on its stories were performed as far as Omashu, though often with major changes to make them appeal to the local tastes.

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