PECULIARITIES OF THE REPRESENTATION OF GEORGIAN FOLKLORE IN COUNTESS UVAROVA’S “TRAVELER’S NOTES”

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the scientific work of Countess Praskovya Uvarova, an active member of the Moscow Archaeological Society. More specifically, it focuses on her expeditions to Georgia and the distinctive way in which she described Georgian folklore in her “Traveler’s Notes”. Although the Countess was primarily engaged in archaeological work, her writings also contain valuable folkloric and ethnographic material.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Russian Empire aimed to scientifically study the Caucasus region, turning this process into a kind of “cultural tool” for colonization. Special significance was given to the activities of Russian officials and travelers. They operated in line with imperial interests. One such traveler was Countess Praskovya Uvarova, who thoroughly documented Georgian temples and the treasures preserved within them. She undertook three expeditions to Georgia (in 1886, 1891, and 1895), later publishing her notes about the Caucasus in three volumes. Praskovya Uvarova’s works are mainly descriptive.

Her journals include a wide range of folklore and ethnographic material, which can be grouped as: Legends about the founding of sacred shrines; Myths about Georgian kings and individual mythological narratives. One of the main themes is the cult of trees and the mythos of sacred forests, as well as narratives about Kopala’s stone and legends about Chilang/Chiling Efendi and Batraz.

Her main interests were architectural monuments, shrines, temples and, accordingly, her notes offer detailed descriptions of these sites. She meticulously records their architecture, condition, and the treasures they housed. Several peculiarities can be observed in Uvarova’s recorded texts:

1. She completely disregards the standard rules for recording folklore texts, writing down only general content rather than the storyteller’s exact words.
2. None of the narratives include a “passport” (i.e., the name of the storyteller, place, or date of collection).
3. In her commentary, she cites works by Caucasus researchers (Gustav Radde, Marie Brosset, F. Dubois, V. Pfaff, etc.) and confidently offers her own conclusions.
4. She demonstrates excellent knowledge of terminology (using terms such as Dzuari, Khevisberi, Dasturi, etc.).

Despite these shortcomings, the material collected by Praskovya Uvarova is extremely valuable to folkloristics. It provides insights that may have been lost in later versions.

Keywords: Uvarova, Caucasus, Traveler, Folklore, Kopala.