6 - Russian Archival Documents on the Revitalization of Buddhism Among the Kalmyks in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Summary

Abstract

Baatr Kitinov's paper uses Russian archival documents to examine the late nineteenth century revitalisation of Buddhism among the Russian Kalmyk population. He identifies three stages in this process: 1. 1860–1880, when Mongols wanted to “find” an incarnation of the Seventh Jebtsundamba Khutughtu among the Kalmyks (“Turgut”) in Russia or Oluts in Chinese Xinjiang; 2. 1880–1904, when the Dalai Lama was in Mongolia and Kalmyks traveled to Tibet; and 3. from 1904 to the first years of Soviet power, during which they maintained close contacts with the Dalai Lama. He also identifies three internal factors for the revitalization of Buddhism amongst the Kalmyks: 1. the revival of Tantrism in khurul practices; 2. the presence of Buddhists from other lands among Kalmyks; 3. and the Russian authorities permitting Kalmyks to visit the Dalai Lama in Urga.

Keywords: Kalmyks, Dalai Lama, Mongols, incarnation, tantrism

Introduction

The history of Buddhism among the Kalmyks is closely related with the history of this religion among Tibetans and Mongols. Beginning from 1771 due to restrictions in contacts with Tibet and Mongolia the Kalmyks’ religious development became more autonomous and in some sense separated from the same processes in the Central Asian Buddhist world.

The late nineteenth and early twentieth century revitalization of Buddhism among the Kalmyks was both similar to and distinct from the contemporary developments among other Buddhist nations in Russia, namely the Buryat, Tuvian, and Altai peoples. For all of these Buddhist groups, this revitalization was shaped by religious and political events in the territories of the Qing and Russian Empires, including those connected to the flight of the Dalai Lama to Mongolia in 1904. However, the Kalmyk's relative geographic distance from Mongolia and Tibet made their situation unique, as did a series of events that occurred in Mongolia in the late 1860s due to the death of the Seventh Bogdo-gegen Jebtsundamba Khutughtu and search of his incarnation that likely had a great impact on the growth of Kalmyk religious self-awareness. This chapter examines the external and internal factors that influenced the revitalization of Buddhism among Kalmyks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as they are reflected in Russian archival documents.