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.
The Barutugisun is a mixture of prose and poetry, and most of the poetry can be sung to various traditional Yonggan melodies.
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. Akshan wrote it using Common characters adapted to write the Yonggan language, as the phonetic Yonggan script was considered inappropriate for serious literature at the time.
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. The printed edition used (mostly) the Yonggan phonetic script, and was influential in promoting its use for serious literature. 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.
The Barutugisun influenced the writing of the later Naraejebun, patronized by the Prince of Lang (NIOHURU-NARA Eidu).
Synopsis
The Barutugisun begins by developing the background of Barutu's spiritual and mortal ancestry, with a story of the Sun-spirit Shun being taken to Heaven to provide warmth for its inhabitants. Shun falls in love with a mountain spirit (explaining her periodic visits to Earth) and gives birth to the sprit Antu, who has various adventures in the wilds of primal Earth.
Antu meets a mortal human earthbender, Sargan, while the latter is climbing a sacred mountain (which the author of the Barutugisun avoids identifying explicitly, probably because different Yongan groups disputed about which contemporary mountain was Antu's), and they make love; Sargan returns to her home village at the foot of the sacred mountain and eventually gives birth to unusual twins, Barutu and Gaihasu, in the Spring. The twins develop extremely rapidly, becoming adolescents by the next Spring. Barutu tames a badgermole and Gaihasu an ostrich-horse.
Now fully adults despite being only three calendar years old, Barutu and Gaihasu's sibling rivalry threatens to destroy their village, and at Sargan's request, they leave to become wanderers. Gaihasu becomes a raider, plundering villages and becoming the bane of settled peoples, enslaving many. For his part, Barutu goes into the mountains with his badgermoles and wins lucre from the earth, gathering followers with his largess.
Barutu offends the shape-shifting mountain spirit Ikirihan with his mining activities and they battle. Barutu prevails (with the aid of his spirit-father Antu), and the combatants become friends. Ikirihan takes a female form to bear children for Barutu, and together they have nine children: Jala, Nara, Aora, Ikulu, Urhan, Tatara, Sartuk, Mengnat and Emoto.
Time passes and Barutu teaches his children and followers badgermole husbandry. The children's various characteristics and spiritual powers are described. Each of Barutu's children tames a badgermole and its characteristics are described. Each of them also acquires a spouse and dowries are described. Ikirihan blesses each one before descending into the underworld.
Barutu's people and their herds become too numerous to support themselves near the mountain of Ikirihan. Barutu devises the solution of seasonal transhumance. The people are divided according to the children of Barutu, and prosper, filling the mountains.
Beleaguered settled people, suffering greatly from the depredations of Barutu's estranged brother Gaihasu, beseech Barutu for help. Barutu raises an army (the most important warriors thereof are described) and descends from the mountains to drive out Gaihasu's horde.
The armies of Barutu and Gaihasu battle, and the brothers confront each other, making speeches extolling the virtues of their respective modes of life. They fight and wound each other, but Gaihasu retreats on his mount before a decisive blow can be struck. Various valorous deeds of the children of Barutu are described. Despite the immense strength of Gaihasu's horde, they are driven out by Barutu's army and forced to live in the endless steppes. The settled people acclaim the people of Barutu as the "Brave People" (i.e. Yonggan) and willingly pay them tribute in gratitude for driving off the marauders.
Time passes, and the revered and ancient Barutu receives a spiritual visitation indicating that his death is near. Barutu passes his temporal power to various grandsons, who become the khans of each Yonggan clan, and invests his spiritual powers in various grandaughters, who become the matriarchs of the spiritual houses of Yonggan shamanism.
Barutu's mortal body dies, and he remains in the spirit realm (this is likely an innovation of the written Barutugisun, possibly to avoid picking a side in disputes about his reincarnation.) His funeral arrangements are described, and the dirges composed by each clan are presented. Barutu's body is buried in a high valley, and covered over with earth by each of his earthbending descendants, making it into the peak in Western Yonggan country which is named for him today.
The Barutugisun concludes with its own elegy for Barutu.