Buddhist Clergy among Ethnic Kalmyk Cossacks of the Ural Cossack Host in the Early 20th Century: Education, Ordination, Service

This article examines the specific features of Buddhist priests’ training in Kalmyk Cossack communities within the Ural Host, their ordination and religious services. It is noted that isolation of the Ural Kalmyks from Buddhist religious centers adversely affected the level of religious education and resulted in monks’ simplified, rote understanding of Buddhist divine services and rituals. The ethnoconfessional group of Kalmyk Buddhists that took shape within the Ural Cossack Host by the early 20th century was the smallest part of its military population. Settlements of Kalmyk Cossacks were located in all three military districts. No description of the confessional structure of the Buddhist community within the Ural Cossack Host during the late imperial period has been found. This might be due to the loss of the archives during the Russian Civil War. The unique exception being an ethnographic survey - the Report on the Trip to Terek, Ural and Orenburg Kalmyks in 1911 by the Ministry of National Education Council member, professor of Saint Petersburg University Alexey M. Pozdneev. The expedition undertaken by A. M. Pozdneev was aimed to study daily religious activities of the local Kalmyk population. The materials collected during the trip were to serve as the basis of the draft Bill on Administration over Spiritual Affairs of Lamaist Buddhists. Due to the fact Kalmyks were dispersed unevenly among settlements, the Ural Buddhists practiced two systems of teaching the fundamentals of religious doctrine. In case the believers were numerous enough, confessional schools were established. When the believers were few, one or two students were assigned to Gelongs who tutored them individually. According to the 1835 Rules enacted by the Ural Host Office, priests attached to houses of worship were to be elected to a vacant position by the population and then appointed by the Ural Regional Government. The indispensable condition for such appointment, as determined by the regional authorities, was that the candidate priest should submit a Certificate of Ordination issued by the Office of the Kalmyk People’s Supreme Lama. Such Certificate served as a formal document to confirm the elected priest is competent enough to hold the vacant position. As distinguished from the Buddhist clergy of the Astrakhan and Don Kalmyks, acquiring the official status of a Getsul (Sramaneri) or a Gelong (Bhikkhu) the Ural priests neither became monks nor went to seclusion. They continued to lead a secular life, fulfilled family obligations, brought up children, were engaged in fatigue duties and field works. The only responsibility the employed priests bore was to take part in divine services on certain days and read various prayers upon the requests of believers.

Buddhism, Kalmyks, clergy, Ural Cossack Host

1. Bakaeva E. P. Buddizm v Kalmykii: istorikojetnografi cheskie ocherki [Buddhism in Kalmykia: Historical and Ethnographical Sketches]. Elista, Kalm. Book Publ., 1994, 127 p. (In Russian).

2. Bakaeva E. P. Kalmyckij buddizm: istorija i sovremennost’ [Kalmyk Buddhism: History and Contemporaneity]. Religija v istorii i kul’ture mongolojazychnyh narodov Rossii (Religion in the History and Culture of the Mongol Peoples of Russia). Moscow, Vost. Lit. Publ., 2008, pp. 101–200 (In Russian).

3. BaskhaevA. N. Buddijskaja cerkov’ Kalmykii: 1900–1943 gg. [Buddhist faith in Kalmykia: 1900–1943]. Elista, APP “Dzhangar”, 2007, 239 p. (In Russian).

4. Dordzhieva G. Sh. Buddizm i hristianstvo v Kalmykii. Opyt analiza religioznoj politiki pravitel’stva Rossijskoj imperii (ser. XVII – nach. XX vv.) [Buddhism and Christianity in Kalmykia. A Case Study of the Religious Policy of the Russian Empire’s Government (the mid-17th century – early 20 century]. Elista, APP “Dzhangar”, 1995, 128 p. (In Russian).

5. Dordzhieva G. Sh. Buddizm Kalmykii v veroispovednoj politike Rossijskogo gosudarstva (seredina XVII – nachale XX vv.) [Buddhism of Kalmykia in the Confessional Policy of the Russian State (the mid-17th century – early 20 century]. Elista, Kalm. State Univ. Publ., 2012, 203 p. (In Russian).

6. Dordzhieva G. Sh. Buddizm u kalmykov [Buddhism among the Kalmyks]. Istorija Kalmykii s drevnejshih vremen do nashih dnej. T. III (History of Kalmykia from the Earliest Times up to Nowadays). Elista, Gerel Publ., 2009, vol. 3, pp. 218–259 (In Russian).

7. Dzhundzhuzov S. V. Kalmyki v Srednem Povolzh’e i na Juzhnom Urale: imperskie mehanizmy akkul’turacii i problema sohranenija jetnicheskoj identichnosti (seredina 30-h godov XVIII – pervaja chetvert’ XX veka): monog. [Kalmyks in the Middle Volga and Southern Ural Regions: Imperial Acculturation Mechanisms and the Problem of Ethnic Identity Preservation (the mid-1730s – the fi rst quarter of the 20th century)]. Orenburg, Center OGAU Publ., 2014, 434 p. (In Russian).

8. Dzhundzhuzov S. V. Pravovaja reglamentacija naznachenija svjashhennosluzhitelej v buddistskie obshhiny Ural’skogo kazach’ego vojska v seredine i vtoroj polovine XIX veka [Legal Regulation of Priests’ Appointment in the Buddhist Communities of the Ural Cossack Host in the Middle and Latter Half of the 20th Century]. Izvestija Samarskogo nauchnogo centra Rossijskoj akademii nauk (Bulletin of the Samara Scientifi c Center of the RAS), 2016, no. 3, pp. 46–50 (In Russian).

9. Karpov A. B. Ural’cy: istoricheskij ocherk. Ch. I. Jaickoe vojsko ot obrazovanija vojska do perepisi polkovnika Zaharova [The Uralians: a Historical Sketch. Part I. The Yaik Host from Establishment till Colonel Zakharov’s Census]. Uralsk, Vojskovaja tip., 1911, 1013 p. (In Russian).

10. Ochirov U. B. Kalmyckie jetnicheskie gruppy v sostave kazach’ih vojsk Povolzh’ja i Priural’ja [Kalmyk Ethnic Groups within the Cossack Hosts of the Volga and Ural Regions]. Istorija Kalmykii s drevnejshih vremen do nashih dnej. T. I (History of Kalmykia from the Earliest Times up to Nowadays). Elista, Gerel Publ., 2009, vol. 1, pp. 658–680 (In Russian).

11. Pamjatnaja knizhka i adres-kalendar’ Ural’skoj oblasti na 1910 god [The 1910 Memorandum Book and Directory of Ural Oblast]. Uralsk: Ural regional printing-house, 1910, 271 p. (In Russian).

12. Pozdeev A. M. Ocherki byta buddijskih monastyrej i buddijskogo duhovenstva v Mongolii v svjazi s otnoshenijami sego poslednego k narodu [Sketches of the Life of Buddhist Monasteries and Clergy in Mongolia in the Context of Relations of the Latter with the People]. Saint Petersburg, Printing-offi ce of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1887, XVI, 492 p., 11 sh. (In Russian).

13. PSZRI-III — Polnoe Sobranie Zakonov Rossijskoj Imperii. Sobranie tret’e. T. XXV. 1905. Otd. I. [Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Collection Three. Vol. XXV. 1905. Part I]. Saint Petersburg: State printing-office, 1908. 966+157 p. (In Russian).

14. Shovunov K. P. Kalmyki v sostave rossijskogo kazachestva [Kalmyks within Russian Cossack Hosts]. Elista, KION Publ., 1992, 320 p. (In Russian).