Introduction. The majority of Russian historiographic works deal with political history, namely: class struggle, wars, sociopolitical and socioeconomic development, prominent figures, etc. Meanwhile, it is evident enough that an ultimate basis for historical development and existence of any ethnos is everyday labor of the masses. The article reviews the emergence and development — in historical science as such and Russian historiography proper — of the research trend exploring everyday life. The paper notes virtually no such works have been published in Kalmykia, nor can one find any essential scholarly narratives on everyday life of Kalmyks. Goals. The study aims at delineating long-term benefits of academic insights into Kalmyk routine life, all estates and social groups throughout the 17th to 19th centuries. Results. The paper revisits activities by founders of the Annales school (France) — Marc Bloch and Lucien Febvre. Special attention is paid to similar works on everyday life in Russian historiography. Conclusions. The available ethnographic narratives examine the past household life of Kalmyks, their rites, economic affairs and other aspects integral to the subject area ‘mundane life’. However, the article concludes no special works to have covered Kalmyk routine life of the past have been published yet. 

Introduction. The article reviews events to have aimed at preparing Russia’s military for the war against Turkey in the late 1760s. The former included both general strategy development and involvement of Kalmyk troops. Special attention was paid to the preparation of orders on Kalmyk cavalry’s mobilization, its distribution across Russian army groups, elaboration of tactical plans, provisioning and allowances. Goals. So, the study aims at answering the latter set of questions. Materials and methods. The paper analyzes documents and materials form the National Archive of Kalmykia, Archive of Foreign Policy of Imperial Russia, and a number of government decrees published in Collections of the Imperial Russian Historical Society and the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. Results and conclusions. Having been the only combat effective force of Imperial Russia in the Lower Volga and North Caucasus, the Kalmyk Khanate was given utmost significance. In early April of 1769, Viceroy Ubashi gathered almost the whole of his troops in Yashkol area. The corps of Lieutenant General M. J. von Berg enforced with a ten thousand Kalmyk cavalry led by Prince Kirip was largely responsible for the Crimean direction. Another ten thousand cavalry group under the command of Viceroy Ubashi was to join the corps of Major General J. F. von Medem and suppress landlords of Kabardia that tended to support Turkey. After the departure of the twenty thousand troops all uluses (domains) were ordered to stay on the right bank of the Volga. But the subsequent campaign of 1769 unexpectedly witnessed a series of conflicts to have resulted from insufficient allowances and provisioning of Kalmyk military units.

Introduction. The article deals with an aspect of religious policy of the Russian Empire in the second quarter of the nineteenth century that concerned the legal regulation of the terms of burial of the deceased, which affected the rules of burial for Muslims. It aims to analyze the case of state and police law interfering with the religious canons of Russian Muslims. Materials and methods. The office records of the Orenburg Muftiate help clarify the historiographical thesis on the controversy of the 1830 law and shed light on its social consequences. The research is based on the methodological approaches of the new imperial history and the socio-cultural analysis of Russian society as a “big society”. The research methods include comparative historical, source study, textual and psycho historical. Results. While preparing and implementing the law of 13 May 1830, “О neotstuplenii ot obshchikh pravil pri pogrebenii musulman” (On non-departure from the general rules for the burial of Muslims), the authorities used the Orenburg Muftiate, entrusted with the announcement of the law and administrative control over the parish clergy. The military administration took an active part in coordinating actions to comply with the new funeral order. The reactive policy of the authorities towards the mullahs and the population of the Bashkir cantons created tension around the religious issues. A petition to Nicholas I, attempting at a dialogue between Bashkirs and the authorities, had the opposite effect and led to increased polarization of the society and the government. Results.  The legislative innovation on the unification of the terms of burial, including the territories with a Muslim population, was controversial from its very beginning. The officials in the center had a clearer understanding of the regional tasks of the administration when ready to admit that the Muslims may be excluded from the law. The Orenburg Mufti was somewhat unclear about the political plans to unify burial traditions and saw his principal goal in a diplomatic settlement of emerging bureaucratic issues. According to the present author, there is a connection between attempts to change the burial canons of Muslims and the religious agenda of the 1835 rebellion in the Urals. The state rulemaking attempt turned out to be ineffective in the realm of religious canons.

Scientific historical literature highly estimates the activities of Russian party executives, Comintern members, military specialists, diplomats and Buryat national democrats to have played an essential role in the implementation of the Mongolian Revolution. However, those research works pay little attention to the life and deeds of O. I. Makstenek — Soviet diplomat and first authorized representative of the RSFSR People’s Foreign Affairs Commissariat to Mongolia — who had significantly contributed to the success of the Mongolian Revolution of 1921. Goals. The study seeks to identify and analyze archival documents about revolutionary efforts of O. I. Makstenek and his work as Soviet Russia’s authorized diplomatic representative to Mongolia contained in Russian and foreign depositories. The objectives to be solved thereto include as follows: 1) analysis of files of a criminal investigation against O. I. Makstenek from the State Archives of the Russian Federation, 2) analysis of the report titled ‘Outcomes of Activities of RSFSR Foreign Affairs Commissariat’s Plenipotentiary to Mongolia O. I. Makstenek from June 1, 1920 to March 1921’ and housed by Archives of Mongolia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 3) introduction of documents about O. I. Makstenek from the State Historical Archives affiliated to the National Archives of Latvia (collections ‘Baltic District Security Department’, ‘Police Department of Riga Uyezd’, ‘Gendarme Department of Livland Uyezd’, 4) identification and analysis of documents stored at the Russian State Archive of Sociopolitical History, 5) exploration of archival documents about O. I. Makstenek’s activities in his diplomatic position at the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Federation, 6) analyses of materials from the State Archive of Khabarovsk Krai. Conclusions. The archival documents show O. I. Makstenek as a notable historical figure whose life and deeds provide further details on revolutionary events during the 1900s to 1920s in Livland, Irkutsk Governorate, Transbaikalia and Mongolia, little-known aspects of confrontation between Makstenek and executives of the Far Eastern Republic, Troitskosavsk Communists, on strictness and inevitability of Party’s penalties throughout that period. It is his work as authorized representative of the RSFSR People’s Foreign Affairs Commissariat to Mongolia that can be viewed a pinnacle of his revolutionary activities when he made a most significant contribution to the victory of the Mongolian Revolution of 1921 — thereafter virtually to become a common Soviet functionary, mid-level executive in judicial authorities, industrial sphere, banking and customs services. 

Introduction. The article provides a historical review of how notarial system of the Tyva Republic — an eastern region of Russia — was taking its shape. The research interest towards the territory is determined by specific development features characteristic of public and state institutions in Tuva. Goals. The article aims to identify facts of historical experience in functioning of notaries in the territory of the republic from 1914 to the 1940s. Materials and methods. The study primarily explores documents from the National Archive of the Tyva Republic, such as official papers of the Department of the Commissioner for Uryankhai Krai and the Resettlement Agency, local khoshuu and sum administrations, and the Notarial Chamber of the Tyva Republic. Comprehensive analysis of normative regulations for notarial system issued after 1946 makes it possible to assert its complete existence in the mid-to-late 1940s. Results. The Russian Protectorate of 1914–1917 did not introduce the Notarial Regulations (1866) in the Uryankhai region due to national and geopolitical characteristics of the territory. In fact, notarial functions were performed by representatives of local ethnic elites (noyons), senior electives of Russian settlements, officials of the Resettlement Agency and the Department of the Commissioner for Uryankhai Krai. At that time, the indigenous population and peasant settlers had no shared understanding of private property, which caused many disputes resolved by local Russian officials. So, the period of the Tuvan People’s Republic (1921 to 1944) witnessed no shaping of notarial system. In a figurative sense, ‘notarial affairs’ were entrusted to local khoshuu and sum administrations (like village Soviets, notarial tables in district or city executive committees). The revealed documents, including the ‘Book of Orders for Kyzyl Notarial Office of Tuvan Autonomous Oblast, 1950 to 1958’ make it possible to precisely identify the earliest working day of the First Notarial Office of Kyzyl — February 1, 1945. Analysis of normative regulations for notarial system in Tuva presumes that general features of its functioning were formed along with other regions of Soviet Russia.

Introduction. The article examines the history of emergence and development of unauthorized settlements of individual peasants in the territory of Kalmykia between 1930 and 1991. The insight into the topic provides an opportunity to learn more about the past of certain social groups, strata, classes — and related state policies during the Soviet era. Goals. The paper primarily aims to show a history of settlements arbitrarily established by individual peasants in Soviet times. The work examines causes and factors to have resulted in new settlements across Kalmykia, analyzes official Soviet policies, relations between government agencies and such settlers. Materials and methods. The study employs the historical comparative and historical genetic methods, analyzes works by previous authors and materials from the State Archive of the Russian Federation and National Archive of Kalmykia, including new unpublished materials thus to be introduced into scientific circulation. Results. The analysis shows the emergence and development of settlements were determined by such factors as island locations, desolate and undeveloped character of lands, harsh natural conditions, persistence of settlers, and the unspoken support from authorities of Priyutnensky District in earliest years of existence. The paper presumes it be also very important to take into account the fact unauthorized settlements had been initiated by individuals who — unlike kulaks — were considered unconscious, ‘lost’ people, and not socially alien elements. Most of the ‘unauthorized settlers’ were ones to have avoided dekulakization, the wealthiest ones had been able to liquidate their farms before lists of the to be dekulakized were compiled. Authorities identified such settlements as kulak ones, although in formal parameters those were socially different. Conclusions. Unauthorized settlements of individual peasants in Kalmykia appeared as a result of forced collectivization and served a manifested protest against official restriction policies. The collectivization movement and sociocultural ideology kept them under constant pressure, but two settlements did survive to resist for decades to come. In general, the Soviet period witnessed a success in eliminating unauthorized settlements of individual proprietors.

Introduction. The article presents insufficiently studied aspects of endeavors tackled by V. N. Tatishchev (1786–1750). His contribution to the study of antiquities in the Urals and Siberia is commonly accepted but his efforts on the research of Golden Horde monuments in the Lower Volga and North Caucasus were never decently appreciated. A prominent government official to have held different positions, he had been  collecting materials for works on Russia’s history and geography since 1720. He made the preparation of maps (‘Landkarten’) and drawings to be a prerequisite for any historical research. Materials and methods. The study analyzes works by Vasily N. Tatishchev, his epistolary heritage, maps — both published and archival ones. The employed research methods include historical systemic, comparative and cartographic ones. Results. When holding the office of Astrakhan Governor from 1741 to 1745, he initiated a mapping of ruins of Golden Horde towns in the Lower Volga. In July of 1742, he arranged an expedition to Majar in the North Caucasus. The latter included engineering corps conductor A. Golokhvostov, painting apprentice M. Nekrasov, and twenty Cossacks. The participants made three drawings of Majar, several townscapes of Kizlyar and Braguny village which were sent by V. N. Tatishchev to Petersburg. In 1743, he requested the Senate to dispatch two land surveyors. S. Chichagov and S. Shchelkov arrived in the summer of 1744 to further prepare about seventy five maps including those of Greater and Minor Kabardia which were found and published in 2009 by E. Gusarova. The research materials of 1742 and 1744 were presented by Vasily N. Tatishchev in his Russian History that mentions the towns of Majar, Tatartup, and ‘Yulat’ (i.e. Julat located on the ancient site referred to as Nizhny Julat). Conclusions. The works of 1742 were pursuing purely scientific goals, while those of 1744 were to meet mainly operative needs. So, the available materials make it possible to recognize Vasily N. Tatishchev as an organizer of earliest explorations of Golden Horde monuments in the North Caucasus, such as sites of ancient Majar, Nizhny Julat, and Verkhny Dzhulat (Tatartup).  Vasily N. Tatishchev’s resignation from the office of Astrakhan Governor in 1745 suspended academic investigation of monuments in the Lower Volga and North Caucasus. It is necessary to continue the search of archival materials dealing with the topic.

Introduction. Tibetan literature includes a separate class of commentaries to mantras which can be identified as commentaries to tantric texts. This paper examines A Brief Explanation of the Meaning of the Root Mantra of Vajrakīlaya [Titled] ‘The Heart Essence from an Old Man [Who] Holds Knowledge of the Old Translations School’ by Dongak Chokyi Gyatso (1903–1957). The text is viewed as a typical commentary on a Buddhist mantra with special attention be paid to elements of the Vajrakīlaya mantra as objects of analysis. Goals. The article aims to introduce the commentary to the Vajrakīlaya mantra into scientific circulation and provide insight into meanings of elements within a Buddhist mantra as such. Materials. The study explores A Brief Explanation of the Meaning of the Root Mantra of Vajrakīlaya contained in the second volume (za) of Collected Works by Tulku Sungrab from Nyenmo Monastery (Tib. snyan dgon sprul sku gsung rab pa’i gsung ‘bum) published in three volumes by the Sichuan People’s Publishing House (tib. si khron mi rigs dpe skrun khang) in Chengdu, 2006. The Collected Works are included in volumes 21–23 (zha, za, ’a) of the Golog Ancient Books Collection (Tib. mgo log dpe rnying dpe tshogs). Results. The study presents a brief biography of Dongak Chokyi Gyatso, examines the meaning of deity Vajrakīlaya’s name, translates and transliterates A Brief Explanation of the Meaning of the Root Mantra of Vajrakīlaya. 

Introduction. The investigation of Bashanta-I hillfort is at its initial stage nowadays. The site has witnessed only three exploration seasons (2010, 2015 and 2018). The utmost drought of 2018 made it possible to perform excavations in the estuary (liman) bed. Dig 4 and twelve shovel test pits revealed a 189 meter long wall base consisting of three to four layers of shelly limestone. The traceable part is approximately two thirds of the supposed length of the northern wall base. Goals. The article introduces results of investigation works done along the baseline of the northern wall on the site of Bashanta-I dated to the Khazar era. Materials and methods. Since 2015 the joint archaeological expedition of Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS) and Khalikov Institute of Archaeology (Tatarstan Academy of Sciences) has been comprehensively exploring Bashanta-I and Bashanta-II hillforts with the aid of GIS methods. The five obtained radiocarbon dates of animal bones suggest that Bashanta-I and Bashanta-II are earliest available archaeological sites of the Khazar Khaganate. Analysis of large scale materials — Black Sea type amphorae — confirm the results of radiocarbon dating. The hillfort of Bashanta-I was investigated for geophysical parameters, special attention was paid to technological and typological properties of amphora ceramics. Dig 2 in the central part of the shore (and specifically the cape proper) proved to contain traces of a stone building sized 14х16 m. In its northeastern corner there was discovered a stone with a tamga. The multiple finds from the dig comprise hewn stones, amphora fragments, roof tiles, plaster and animal bones. Results. The identified part of the northern wall base in Bashanta-I attests to that the latter is actually another strong hillfort (Type 2) of the Khazar Khaganate in the steppe zone, while its gauffre-shaped wall on the stone base is unique and distinguishes it from all geometrically shaped settlements across the Don agglomeration of the Khazar era.

Introduction. The article deals with the frequency use of nominal plurality markers in Kalmyk with comparative insights into Khalkha Mongolian and Buryat. Goals. The study aims at clarifying how different the parameter is in the Mongolic languages (given that in all the analyzed idioms the use of the plural is considered optional) for further understanding of how alterable the latter are in contacts with other languages. Materials and methods. The research includes two stages: 1) analysis of a ‘microcorpus’ (10.115 word tokens), 2) analysis of online Kalmyk and Buryat corpora (800.000 and 2.200.000 word tokens, respectively). The work employs methods of calculation and comparative research. Results. The ‘microcorpus’ study shows that plurality markers in Kalmyk discourse are used somewhat less frequently than in Buryat (each twenty first and eighteenth lexemes, respectively). Whereas the ‘big’ corpora study shows that plurality markers in Kalmyk are used twice as frequently as in Buryat. Unfortunately, currently it is technically impossible to extract relevant data from the ‘big’ Mongolian corpus. Nevertheless, the available data prove that plurality markers both in Kalmyk and Buryat are used more frequently than in modern Mongolian. Conclusion. The paper suggests that around the 17th century or later there must have been a decrease in the use of plurality markers by Mongolian speakers (according to J. Street, in Middle Mongolian — i.e. in the 13th-16th centuries AD — plurality markers were four times as frequent). Probably, this phenomenon had not affected Kalmyk and Buryat that would be detached from genetically close surrounding to experience influence of Russian, which resulted in that these languages witnessed a ‘conservation’ of their original feature of comparatively frequent use of nominal plurality markers.

Introduction. The first two Yakut-language books — Acts and Epistles of the Apostles (1858) and D. Khitrov’s Brief Grammar of the Yakut Language (1858) — contain occasional macrons (acute accents) over short vowels usually employed to mark extended vowel length. Goals. This study aims to identify rules to have determined the use of this diacritic and reveal if there be any phonetic reality behind it traceable in modern Yakut dialects. Materials and methods. The first stage of analysis shows that in the examined books the diacritic appears only above various forms of monosyllabic stems. Therefore, a complete list of all forms of Turkic monosyllabic stems has been compiled, and each lexeme statistically counted and analyzed for frequency use — with and without such diacritic. These collected data were compared to those on the pronunciation analysis of non-initial forms of monosyllabic lexemes in modern Yakut dialects obtained through the experimental phonetic software package Praat. Results. The work discovers that in non-initial forms of monosyllabic words some speakers of modern Yakut dialects tend to increase length and intensity of the vowel in the first syllable as compared to vowel sounds in the second one usually stressed in standard Yakut. This emphasis is as sporadic as is attested by the earliest books examined. Parameters for this increase in length and intensity of first-syllable vowels vary across dialects. In modern Yakut dialects (and in the editions), ы, э, аа, уу in the first syllable of non-initial forms of monosyllabic words are most frequently marked prosodically. Conclusions. This rather unexpected set of vowels (ы and э are usually quite short) and the increase in length and intensity of the first-syllable vowel confirmed by the data collected from four independent sources (two books and two modern dialects) show that the insights into earliest Yakut-language books make it possible to identify a previously undescribed prosodic feature of Yakut dialects which deserves further comprehensive study.

Introduction. Being an interdisciplinary problem, differentiation between proverbs and sayings remains an urgent and unresolved issue in both folklore and linguistic studies. Not only Bashkir and Turkic — even national and foreign — scholars have failed to develop any single viewpoint on distinguishing between proverbs and sayings. The article deals with a corpus of Bashkir proverbs and sayings. Goals. The work aims at analyzing and identifying key criteria for distinguishing between proverbs and sayings within Bashkir discourse. Materials and methods. The study investigates Bashkir folklore narratives and expedition materials published by the Institute of History, Language and Literature (Ufa Federal Research Centre of the RAS). The total number of proverbs and sayings studied to date is 12.197, of which 1.172 expressions are referred to as sayings (bywords). The entire collection of paroemias was subjected to continuous analysis. The research employs methods of semantic and contextual analysis, statistical method. Results. The article explores and identifies the following criteria for defining Bashkir sayings: a syntactically incomplete or complete sentence, semantic replenishment from speech contexts, generalization at the level of each specific situation, literal plan, a possibility (optional) of didacticism. The methodology developed by the authors for differentiating between proverbs and sayings in Bashkir folklore on the basis of works by foreign, Russian and Bashkir researchers makes it possible to present proverbs and sayings in separate databases within one folklore corpus. Analysis of sayings shows a significant quantitative predominance of syntactically and semantically complete constructs as compared to other structural patterns.

Introduction. The etymology of the Chinese character 佛 (fó) shows that not only phonetics but also morphology of the character proper, as well as its interpretation in ancient Chinese texts, serve important factors of its use to translate the concept of ‘Buddha’ from Sanskrit Indian sutras. Goals. Etymological analysis of the hieroglyph 佛 with identification of early meanings based on citations from classical philosophical writings will reveal reasons for the primary use of the character 佛 in translations, in contrast to other assonant lexemes (e.g., 浮). Insights into historical and cultural backgrounds, peculiarities of the dissemination of Buddha’s teachings and beginnings of Chinese translation studies prove instrumental in emphasizing the influence of these processes on subsequent development of the new meaning. Materials. The study analyzes Chinese etymological and explanatory dictionaries, language databases and Chinese historical texts, as well as materials presented in works of linguists and historians. Results. The sign 佛 had been used in Taoist and Confucian literature long before the arrival of Buddhism in China. Its etymological and semantic analyses, interpretations of main meanings discovered in philosophical texts make it possible to show origins of the new meaning of the hieroglyph 佛 ‘Buddha’ and its use in translations. The history of development of the pictophonetic 佛 involves a cognitive aspect of linguoregional studies and reflects the complex process of Buddhist teachings adaptation in China, as well as the formation of Chinese translation studies in the context of interaction between India, China and domains of Tokharistan (Xiyu states) in the earliest centuries AD.

Introduction. One specific feature to distinguish Selkup folktales is that the main character and his opponent are usually relatives. So, a positive character kills a relative of his (referred to as devil) and/or the latter’s relatives — daughters and mother, and all that done with particular cruelty. The devil usually kills the positive character’s parents, which is not a hindrance to the marriage of the hero to a daughter of the devil. As is known, folklore reflects a certain historical reality, stage-by-stage ideas of an ethnos about structure of society and its morality. And the question is why Selkups of the past had had such ethical norms, and how they had been explained. Goals. The study seeks to explore the motif of familial hostility in folklore of the northern Selkups, and the research objectives include identification and explanation of Selkup folklore plots where relatives act as opposing parties. Methods. The main research methods are semantic analysis (and its analogues — abstraction and reading of metaphors), integrated approach, typological and historical methods, modeling and theorizing. The theoretical basis of research logic is compiled from the concepts by K. Levi-Strauss, A. M. Zolotarev, and A. Gennep. Results. The study concludes that in the past Selkups had a dual social organization, the whole ethnos having been divided into two phratries, two exogamous halves for their members to enter into marriage unions. The war waged by folktale heroes emphasizes the division of the people into two parts and delineates the ‘abyss’ that lies between the halves of one ethnic community. In the Selkup motif of familial hostility morality goes second. The motif is to describe — through the language of metaphors — the model of standard social structure, social organization of the Selkups at a certain historical stage.