A Collection of Clear Script Manuscripts of S. Naadgai and the Continuity of Clear Script Usage in Oirat Religious Life
Abstract
The article presents a survey and a list of a manuscript collection created in the last decades of the 20th century by S. Naadgai in Mo'nhhairhan, Hovd aimag (Mongolia), who belonged to the last generation of Oirats in Mongolia actively using the Clear script (todo bičig) in their religious practice.
The collection and the oral history connected with Naadgai's lifetime give an evidence about the role of the Clear script usage among the ethnic group of Altain Uriankhains, a tradition now definitely interrupted on the Mongolian side of the Altai range. The aim of this paper is to clarify the palaeographic and orthographical differences of Naadgai's autographs from the classical Written Oirat (17-18th centuries).
The analysis shows an influence of the spoken dialect and a general decline of the Clear script literacy in the contemporary Western Mongolia.