К вопросу о происхождении ламы Цонкапы

In the Mongolian-speaking world, it is widely accepted that Lama Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school of Buddhism, known for his great contribution to the maintenance and promotion of Buddhist teachings, was an ethnic Mongolian. However, the question of whether there is any factual evidence to support the claim is still open. The present article aims to examine the issue of his Mongolian background and identify the grounds for this widespread opinion. This is of relevance because the issue has not been discussed in detail so far. Both textological and historical methods were used for analysis. The major source for the study was an obscure text written by a prominent Mongolian researcher Chahar-Geshe [Tibetan: cha har dge bshes blo bzang tshul khrims, 1740–1810] «The Life of Tsongkhapa: The Source of All Boons and Fortunes» [Tibetan: tsong kha pa chen po’i rnam thar go sla bar brjod pa bde legs kun gyi ‘byung gnas]; other Tibetan sources were also examined. The article focuses on the data found in the sources that associates with Lama Tsongkhapa’s father and family, place of his birth, etc. Results. The examination of Lama Tsongkhapa’s biography shed useful light on the historical and cultural processes in Inner Asia. The author’s main conclusion is that he may have been an ethnic Mongolian on his father’s side, and the fact may have been of relevance or the promotion of Gelug in Mongolia.

Шошоолог: этноним и этническая история

Introduction. This article under takes a study of the clan name Shoshoolog (Šošōlog) in the context of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Mongolic and Turkic peoples of Inner Asia and Siberia. New historical and ethnographical data, including the evidence of ethnonymics as a part of the ethnic history of the Mongolic and Turkic peoples of the region will contribute to the knowledge of the migration and settlement history of the Shoshoolog people. The study aims at examining the etymology of the term šošōloγ, the area where it wasspread and theways of itsspread. Data and methods. The authors have taken into account written documents, ethnographical and folklore sources that contained references to the ethnonym in question. The written sources of the period between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, mainly in Russian, such as Cossacks’ otpiski (reports), and, more recent, travel and census reports, contain various forms of the ethnonym, often incorrectly spelled but still of interest as evidence pointing at the settlement areas of the ethnic group, as well as a source for linguistic speculation. The ethnographical sources include references to the ethnic group in question based on the legends and sagas shedding light on the people’s origin and settlement patterns both in the Baikal area and in Mongolia. The folklore texts written down by N. N. Poppe, S. P. Baldaev, etc. Include the stories of the Shoshoolog as a Buryat clan with a strong Shamanic background, as well as various forms of the ethnonym. Granted the available knowledge of the historical patterns in the language evolution, the orthographical forms of the ethnonym contained in different records were used as the data for further phonetical reconstructions and localizations of the ethnonym’s phonetic shape in terms of chronological and geographical dimensions. This data, alongside other material on the ethnonymics and onomastics of Mongolic and Turkic peoples, contributes to the linguistic part of the database in the field. Conclusions. A comparative analysis of ethnonymic evidence contained in a variety of sources examined resulted in phonetic reconstructions of the ethnonym under study to finally shed new light on its etymology, as well as to project further developments of its phonetic shape.

Рец.: Гарри И. Р., Сабиров Р. Т., Цыремпилов Н. В., Родионов В. А., Дондуков Б. Ц., Дрейфус Дж., Вэйжун Ш., Эльверског Й., Бернштейн А. Буддизм и национализм во Внутренней Азии. Улан-Удэ: Буряад-Монгол Ном, 2021. xii+324 с.

For citation: Book review: Garri I. R., Sabirov R. T., Tsyrempilov N. V., Rodionov V. A., Dondukov B. Ts., Dreyfus G., Weirong Sh., Elverskog J., Bernstein A. Buddhism and Nationalism in Inner Asia. Ulan-Ude: Buryad-Mongol Nom, 2021. xii+324 p. Mongolian Studies (Elista). 2021; 13(2): 399–407. (In Russ.). DOI: 10.22162/2500-1523-2021-2-399-407

«The Beginning of Glorious Deeds…»: Excerpts from the History of Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta Agencies of the Russian-Chinese Bank from 1898 to 1900

The article considers the history of establishment and initial phase of the activity at Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta Agencies of the Russian-Chinese Bank. After succeeding in reaching economic growth of the Russian Empire in the 1890s the state authorities intensified the efforts in the Asian-Pacific region to find new markets for national industrial products. Strengthening the influence in the countries of Inner Asia the autocracy could also solve another important problem of creating conditions for integration of remote Asian areas into the single economic space of the country. The territory of Western Trans-Baikal region became one of these areas. The Trans-Siberian Railway and branches of biggest Russian banks were used as the main tools for reaching the goal. The Russian-Chinese Bank, founded in 1895 and sponsored by the Russian Imperial Government, played a significant role in this process. The bank’s agencies in Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta, opened in 1898, became the first active credit and finance institutions in the region. In spite of some limitations in their legal status, the institutions managed to conduct successful activity on lending for local commerce and industry. The operation of Verhneudinsk and Kyakhta Agencies of the Russian-Chinese Bank laid the basis for its future leadership in the local financial market.

BURYAT-YAKUT ETHNIC TIES: SALJIUT, QAŊGIN, SARTUL, ÖLÖD

Данная статья продолжает исследования этнической истории и этнических процессов, происходивших в пространстве Внутренней Азии. Комплексный сравнительно-сопоставительный анализ этнического состава тюркских и монгольских народов Сибири, с привлечением источников российского административного управления позволили подробно проанализировать родоплеменную структуру якутской и бурятской общностей. Исследование массива якутских и бурятских этнонимов позволили выделить четыре этнонима, на примере которых хорошо прослеживаются разностадиальные этнические связи Байкальского и Ленского регионов. Этнонимы отражают участие бурятского пласта в этногенезе якутов, на что указывает бурятская форма словообразования. В то же время через призму бурятского пласта в этногенезе якутов просматриваются более ранние связи предков якутов с населением Саянско-Хубсугульского региона — в монгольское время (салжиут). Выявленные в якутской среде этнонимы обнаруживают также и связи с ойратами. Лингвистическая реконструкция якутских этнонимов позволила установить участие в этногенезе якутов средневековых ойратской общности — өлөт. Косвенно выявляются также связи с другими регионами Монгольской империи — отражением этих средневековых связей, на наш взгляд, является присутствие в среде бурят этнонимов хангин и сартул, относительно которых предполагается, что это омонголенные кыпчаки и жители Средней Азии, влившиеся в ранне-бурятскую общность. Результаты исследования отражают сложность этнических процессов протекавших в среде монгольских и тюркских кочевников Евразии. Полученные данные способствуют уточнению этнического состава населения как Монголии, так и Бурятии и Якутии. This article continues the study of ethnic history and ethnic processes that took place in the space of Inner Asia. A comprehensive comparative analysis of the ethnic composition of the Turkic and Mongoliс peoples of Siberia, using sources of Russian administrative management, made it possible to analyze in detail the tribal structure of the Yakut and Buryat communities. The study of array of Yakut and Buryat ethnonyms made it possible to distinguish four ethnonyms, on the example of which one can clearly trace the difference between ethnic groups in the Baikal and Lensky regions. Ethnonyms reflect the participation of the Buryat stratum in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, as indicated by the Buryat form of word formation. At the same time, through the prism of the Buryat stratum in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, one can see earlier ties of the ancestors of the Yakuts with the population of the Sayan-Khubsugul region — in Mongolian time (salji'ut). Ethnonyms revealed in the Yakut environment also reveal ties with Oirats. The linguistic reconstruction of the Yakut ethnonyms made it possible to establish the participation in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts medieval Oirat community — ölöt. Relations with other regions of the Mongol Empire are also indirectly revealed — a reflection of these medieval ties, in our opinion, is the presence in the environment of the Buryats of the ethnonym Qangin and Sartul, which is assumed that they are homogenous Kipchaks and population of Central Asia, who merged into the Early Buryat community. The results of the study reflect the complexity of the ethnic processes that took place among the Mongolian and Turkic nomads of Eurasia. The data obtained help to clarify the ethnic composition of the population of both Mongolia and Buryatia and Yakutia.

Artemisia of Inner Asia: species diversity, essential oils’ composition and practical use

Genus Artemisia is one of the large multispecies genera of the Asteraceae family in the Siberian flora. In the arid and subarid zones of the Holarctic, wormwoods are often the dominant plant community. On the territory of Buryatia there are 47 species of Artemisia, on the territory of Mongolia – 102, and on the Qinghai territory – 54. The genus Artemisia L., growing in Buryatia, Mongolia and Qinghai belongs to three subgenera, of which the subgenus Artemisia is the most widely widespread. The subgenus Seriphidium is more prevalent in Mongolia (16 species), rather than in Buryatia or Qinghai (2 species in each territory). The territories of Buryatia, Mongolia and Qinghai have 13 common species of Artemisia. Among the plants belonging to the genus Artemisia, 40 species grow in both Buryatia and Mongolia at the same time, 22 – in Mongolia and Qinghai, 14 – in Buryatia and Qinghai. The component composition of essential oils is formed as a result of the influence of abiotic and biotic factors of the environment on the plant during its growth. It ensures the best adaptation of the plant to the conditions of particular location. Many species of wormwoods have an important practical value, with a potential to be used in medicine, functional nutrition, food industry, and also as fodder, technical and decorative plants.

Post-socialist animism: personhood, necro-personas and public past in Inner Asia

This paper investigates the relationship between animism and public past in post-socialist Inner Asia. The analysis was based on three case studies highlighting key features of the relationship between local conceptions of personhood, non-human agency, and their role in structuring native visions of the past: (1) negotiations between families and the spirits of their ancestors – victims of communist purges in Mongolia, (2) a powerful necro-persona that allows local communities to gain political subjectivity and undermine conventional post-Soviet historical narratives, and (3) the return of the undead lama Itigilov that caused Buddhist revival in Buryatia. Posthuman agents have been involved in mythopraxis, through which native regimes of historicity are established.

B(ordering) Utopia in Birobidzhan: Spatial Aspects of Jewish Colonization in Inner Asia

The borderline territory serves a double purpose, being simultaneously zones of cultural contact and cultural barriers–administrative and often civilizational. This ambivalence frequently affects borderline area inhabitants turning them into hostages of border management regimes and outside projections concerning their cultural and civilizational status, and the authenticity of forms of their culture representation. In the case of Birobidzhan, we are dealing with an absolutely modern project of creating ethnic territoriality without reference to the historical context and far from the places of traditional settlement of the Jewish population. The implementation of this project put the Jewish settlers at the center of a complex process of border management and securitization of the border areas. The factors of border and “remoteness” are largely underestimated in Birobidzhan studies. The article fills this niche, emphasizing the spatial aspects of the implementation of the “anti-Zionist utopia” and its complex relationship with previous models of territoriality in the region and local inhabitants.