Mongolian Literature - Ancient States Era (630 BC-1204 AD)

Ancient States Era (630 BC-1204 AD)

The ancestors of the Mongolic peoples are the Bronze-Iron Age Donghu (630 BC-209 BC) mentioned in the Shiji of Sima Qian as bordering north of the State of Yan. Their culture was basically nomadic and thus could have included the regular singing of heroic epics to the accompaniment of early forms of xiqin and dombra. This could have been part of a larger oral tradition that included myths, wisdom sayings and uliger not much different from present Mongol ones. The Xianbei (209 BC- 4th century AD), descendants of the Donghu, were said to have had a runic-like script for writing on strips of wood. A 3rd century Xianbei song called the "Song of the Xianbei Brother (A-kan)" has been preserved in Chinese translation. Many Mongolic words from the Toba/Tabgach era (386-534) have come down to us in Chinese transcription, such as ho-lan (many), wu-lien (cloud), e-zhen (owner), a-kan (brother), shi-lou (mountain), chi-na (wolf), ko-po-chen (to hedge), to-po-chen (sole of foot) and ta-wu-sun (dust). However, these are all fragmentary and no substantial written materials from the Xianbei Tabgach have been discovered yet that would deserve the name "literature".

The Khitan of the Liao Dynasty (907-1125) had two scripts, the Large and Small scripts invented in the 920s. Compared to the other Xianbei Mongolic peoples they have left a relatively more substantial amount of written material, including lengthy inscriptions found on rocks and in tombs, that are currently being deciphered and researched. It is thought that the Old Uyghur alphabet, derived from Syriac, was still used by Nestorians and Buddhists within the major tribes of Mongolia until the time of Genghis Khan although no work has survived.