LITERARY MOTIF OF A CHARIOT AND ITS MYTHIC AND RITUAL BASE (ILLUSTRATED BY L. TOLSTOY`S WORKS)

Modern foreign and domestic researchers of myth and literature (R. Bart, V.V. Ivanov, A.M. Pyatigorsky, M.F. Muryanov, S.M. Telegin) often choose the chariot myth to illustrate the continuity of meanings. Biblical and Plato theme in the image of «The bird of Troika» in Gogol’s poem «Dead Souls» is most thoroughly considered in E. А. Smirnova’s and M. Vajskopf’s works. M.F. Muryanov considers the motif of a chariot in Pushkin’s poetry in ancient symbolism line. However, the image of vehicles in the Russian realis­tic novel also needs careful consideration. It is necessary to identify the symbolic functions of these parts in many works of Russian writers. The article considers the mythological and ritual semantics of a chariot in literary works (for example, works of Tolstoy mainly). The motif of a chariot is represented by different types of wheeled vehicles: «carriage», «kibitka», «cart», «trap», «tarantas», «drozhky» «lineika» etc. They are mentioned in «War and Peace», in the story «Walk in the Light while There is Light», in the stories «Master and Man», «What For?», «The Divine and The Human» and other works of Tolstoy. The symbolism of the chariots in the works of Tolstoy is considered against the corresponding symbols in «Rig Veda», «Mahabharata», Plato’s dialogues, and in the monument of Buddhist thought «The Questions of Milinda». Chariot myth is also seen in connection with the myth of the ark and the hymn structures. The author of the article relies on S.M. Telegin’s method of mythological restoration and on the theory of transcendental unity of religions by J. Evola.