Dörbän, Oirat, Sog-po: On Bӧrtä-Čïno, Qo’aï-Maral, and Beginnings of the Oirat Unity (In Light of Data on R2a-M124 Y-STR Haplotypes of Kalmyks)

Introduction. The paper develops the idea of a hypothesized ethnogenetic succession of the Chonos and related groups from the legendary Bӧrtä-Čïno within the ‘Mongol’ Y-chromosomal subclade of R2a-M124 among Kalmyks (Oirats and Mongols at large), attempts ethnonymic reconstructions for potential ancestral communities from the designated period. Goals. The study attempts an analysis of ethnographic, linguistic and historical data proper in light of R2a-M124 Y-STR haplotypes of Kalmyks, and deepens the hypothesis suggesting ethnohistorical (ethnogenetic) succession of Oirats and Mongols’ ancestors from nomads (and other groups) of the Early and High Middle Ages. Materials and methods. The work investigates classical historical chronicles and treatises on Turkic and Mongolian studies, employs an interdisciplinary approach with the aid of tools inherent to system analysis, historical reconstruction, etc. Results. The article draws parallels between the ethnic names ‘Dörbän’, ‘Durban’ and ‘Dorbet’. It hypothesizes as to potential roots of the male ancestral line at earliest stages of the Mongolian and Oirat ethnogenesis, not excepting the possibility of its Sogdian origin via Ashina Turks within their vassal Toquz Oghuz elites (since the mid-sixth century CE). Finally, the paper tends to identify some ethnic communities from the designated era represented in totemic genealogical myths of Turko-Mongols, and sets forth a narrative of potential ethnohistorical succession of Bukhus Kalmyks from the medieval Bugu (Pugu).