Goals and materials of the research.  The article investigates Qing sources and studies the personalities of three tulku-regents (Demo Tulku Jampel Geleg, Tsemoling Tulku Ngavang Tsültrim, Tatsak Tulku Yeshe Gonpo) considered to have played great  roles in the management of Tibet in the mid-to-late 18th  and early 19th centuries. Examining the origins of the regency in Tibet, the study aims to identify the main reasons for the restoration of this position in the new status (tulku) during the heyday of Qing Administration; characterize features of the position of the first tulku regents in the government, as well as assess their role in the management of Tibet. Conclusion. The analysis of the historical facts relating to activities of the three representatives of the regency institute and their functions within the government concludes that desrids and regents had gained exceptional position since 1642. The desrid under the 5th Dalai Lama became not only the head of the civil and political administration but also a personal adviser, not even being a tulku. The regent whose status was established by law was selected by the Dalai Lama or by the Khoshut khan. The Qing Government functioned within the frame of the mentioned categories and with due regard to peculiarities of the structure and administration of the Tibetan Government. Presumably inspired by the Emperor, the tulku-regency institute became the guide of the Qing’s influence in Tibet, on the one hand; and on the other hand, it restored and reinforced the importance of the regent in general in the Dalai Lama’s government, the regent’s role in making decisions regarding search, enthronement and maintenance of the Tibetan hierarch’s power.

Goal. The work aims to analyze one understudied problem ― the capture of Hailar, a capital town of Barga (Hulunbuir), by Mongolian guerrillas in May of 1917 ― and studies Russian intelligence and diplomatic documents contained in the Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Empire (Rus. AVPRI) and the Russian Archive of Military History (Rus. RGVIA) involving some other sources. The paper reconstructs the conquest of the town by the rebels and discusses causes and consequences of the event. Conclusion. The analysis makes it possible to conclude that although the rebels acted on the advice of their Japanese instructors, it was their personal motives that stood behind the capture of Hailar. The motives were related to dissatisfaction of the Mongols and Solons with the power of the Daurian minority in Barga who declared Mongolian reels to be ‘robbers of Mongolia’ while the latter viewed themselves as fighters for Mongolian people’s liberation; the preparation of the former authorities of Barga to struggle against the rebels, including the aid of China; the desire of rebels to involve Barga into the Manchu monarchy restoration movement. The root of the ‘Kharachin issue’ was not machinations of the Japanese but the deprivation of the local Mongols of a right to self-determination in the aftermath of the Qing Empire’s collapse and during the formation of nation-states of Mongolian and Chinese peoples. As a result, members of Inner Mongolia’s national liberation movement were bound to use any opportunity that seemed useful for the achievement of independence from China. The Japanese used the ‘Kharachin issue’ for their own purposes but they were not its creators.

The goal of the article is to consider the impact of land and pasture issues on peculiarities of formation of the agricultural cooperatives in 1935–1959 concerning the administrative-territorial division. Results. The co-existence of private and state cooperative property resulting from the emergence and development of agricultural cooperatives that had a certain impact on land-pasture relations in the MPR gave rise to a number of essential issues and difficulties. State and cooperative organizations, such as agricultural cooperatives, state enterprises, machine-tractor stations, farmer cooperatives, finally required detailed regulations for land-pasture relations to be accompanied by a reorganization of the territorial-administrative division of the MPR. That proved the biggest reorganization in the history of Mongolia from 1950 to 1960, and the country was administratively divided into 1568 bags, 330 soums and 21 aimags. The wealth creation, land exploitation and pasture policy for the 255 agricultural cooperatives, 17 joint cooperative enterprises, 9 joint cooperatives and 90 state enterprises that had existed until 1990 played the key role in the situation.  Conclusion. Land-pasture relations as the basis for cattle breeding were drastically changed in the MPR during the formation of agricultural cooperatives and in the post-liquidation period. However, the land as common amenities was within the jurisdiction of the state, which governed land matters and the system of agricultural coopreatives.

Introduction. The issue of exploring the Kalmyk expatriate community still remains understudied. In the Soviet period, the activities of the Kalmyk émigrés were not covered for well-known ideological reasons. The names of Kalmyk foreign figures seemed to have been permanently removed from the spiritual heritage of Kalmyk culture, despite their importance for recreating a holistic picture of the development of Kalmyk culture in general. Goals. The paper aims to consider the socio-cultural arrangements of the Kalmyk émigrés. Results. The emigrant Kalmyks ousted from their homeland – despite their small number, as well as the difficult, sometimes tragic living conditions – did not undergo any significant national-cultural assimilation. On the contrary, they directed their activities, all their intellectual powers to preserve national identity, historical memory, national traditions and culture. The leaders of the Kalmyks abroad saw this as a guarantee of the revival and prosperity of their nation. Conclusion. The analysis of the socio-cultural activities of the Kalmyk expatriate community suggests the phenomenality of those developments, the uniqueness of which lies in preserving national identity, maintaining cultural integrity of emigrants, promoting the ideas of national revival and enlightenment of the Kalmyk nation.

Introduction. One of the main questions in restoring autonomies of repressed peoples in the south of the RSFSR in the late 1950s was the demarcation of borders and territorial delimitation between neighboring regions. There was a problem of returning deported populations to their native places of residence, including areas that were not territorially included in the newly established autonomies. For Kalmykia, such a question included the initiation of the return of territories of two former districts, the delimitation of land use borders, and the return of the Kalmyk population from places of exile to the indicated territories of Astrakhan Oblast. Historical Background. Despite the existence of a number of publications, including monographs, on the history of the restoration of Kalmykia’s autonomy in 1957, the problems of territorial demarcation from Astrakhan Oblast and the return of the Kalmyk population have been no subject of any special scientific study, although the question was and is relevant and debatable in the society. The article seeks to examine the problems in unity: in managerial and humanitarian perspectives. The objectives of the study are to scrutinize into administrative-managerial (analysis of actions and decisions of authorities at various levels) and humanitarian aspects (opinions of the Kalmyk population who wanted to return to their native places of residence, positions of the state and local authorities; statistics on displaced population reflected in official documents). Results. The paper concludes that the unresolved territorial and land dispute between Kalmykia and Astrakhan Oblast depends on, among other things, the unresolved issue of this dispute between Stavropol Krai and Astrakhan Oblast that had been emerged before the reestablishment of Kalmykia’s autonomy. The geographical factor also played its role, namely: the territories of the two Kalmykia’s former districts had access to the Volga and in some places adjoined the city of Astrakhan. However, the authorities of Kalmykia would appeal to the higher-level authorities of the RSFSR, offering arguments that certain portions of the Kalmyk population were thus forced to return to Astrakhan Oblast, as the territories as such being of great economic significance.

Introduction. Clusters of Late Sarmatian burials known both in complexes of earlier grave groups and in the form of separate burial grounds are quite often found throughout of East European steppes. Rescue archaeological excavations in Octyabrsky District of Kalmykia revealed some new sites of the Late Sarmatian period. So, 19 burials dated the period were discovered within the Dyuker mound group. The study is a continuation of comprehensive works – since 2017 – aiming to restore and introduce into scientific discourse archaeological materials of the Dyuker mound group. The examined burial materials have never been published before; the burials under consideration have not been included into current statistic papers dealing with Late Sarmatian burials in the Lower Volga Region. Conclusion. The conducted work makes it possible to supplement the general database on the Late Sarmatian tribes of the Volga Region. The article describes 19 burials of the Late Sarmatian period. The work examines burial items contained in the Palmov National Museum of Kalmykia. A detailed analysis of the burials reveals a fairly standard character of burial rites typical for Late Sarmatian tribes. On the basis of the data obtained, a conclusion was made regarding the social status of the buried individuals during that period. The tradition of burial rites of the graves investigated includes some elements inherent to the culture of the Middle Sarmatian historical community.

Introduction. The article is an overview of hand-written texts of sutras of the White Old Man’s cult. The White Old Man (in Bur.  Sagaan Ȕbgen; in Mong. Čaγan ebűgen) is one of the most widespread folklore images of Mongolic peoples. There are a lot of texts concerning the White Old Man, some are devoted to the ritual parts of his cult, and others only mention his name. The texts dedicated to the White Old Man serve as a universal symbolic complex which reflects all the basic elements and parameters of the cosmic order, the way or another simulating the world: sky/earth, earth / water, mountain / tree, ancestors / relatives, animals / snakes, four sides of the world. The White Old Man acts as an ancestor — the mediator between nature and man; space and society. A large number of manuscripts clearly demonstrate popularity of the White Old Man in Mongolia, Buryatia, and Kalmykia till nowadays. For further clarification of a mythological basis of the cult the paper considers two texts contained in the Manuscript Fund of St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (Russian Academy of Sciences), namely: ‘Čaγan ebűgen-ű neretű sudur orusibai’ and ‘Čaγan ebűgen-ű sudur’. These texts are the most widespread sutra about the White Old Man. The Sutra of The White Old Man (‘Čaγan ebűgen-ű neretu sudur orusibai’), also known as a sutra ’capable to pacify and suppress the earth and water‘ (‘Үajar usun-I nomuγadγan daruγulun cidaγki neret ű sudur’), is unique in its pseudo-Buddhist form. For consideration of structures, the paper conducts a comparative analysis of versions of the text in which the constant, standard, repeating elements, or invariant text units, form a basis for their description. According to the text, the White Old Man (Sagaan Ȕbgen) has somewhat various functions, being a patron, a defender and at the same time — a harmful spirit. All this specifies ambivalence of this character but in general characterizes the traditional thinking — to allot spirits with various, sometimes polar functions. To consider the rite of sacrifice to the White Old Man as a whole, the paper clearly focuses on achieving of well-being through appeasing the White Old man, as well as asking for his patronage and help. The action plan of the ceremony (incense burning, milk sprinkling, scattering of food pieces), as well as selection of sacrificial animals and supplying them with special marks — white ribbons — served the same purpose

Introduction. Since early times, traditions of different nations gave rise to ideas about purity of the body, clothing, and household items; so, certain rules have been developed to observe hygiene and behavioral norms during natural physiological processes inherent to the human body. The Turko-Mongolic nomads to have inhabited the dry and arid regions of Inner Asia developed a peculiar culture of personal and public hygiene. Objectives. The paper seeks to investigate the traditional culture of personal and social hygiene of Mongols – and more widely Turko-Mongolic nomads of Inner Asia. Materials and Methods. The main corpus of sources used in the research consists of archaeological, ethnographic, and historical materials that demonstrate some daily routine and culture of Inner Asian nomads — from the Xiongnu to later Turkic and Mongolic peoples connected with the region.  The harsh natural conditions of the territory and the nomadic lifestyle created certain difficulties for practicing personal hygiene and especially complicated women’s life. On the other hand, many hygienic problems, such as overcrowding, accumulation of garbage and sewage, emergence of rodents spreading parasites and disease, – disappeared (i.e. there were no favorable conditions for spreading pathogenic bacteria). Results. The article reveals that nomadic communities established original ideas of purity of the body, clothes, utensils, and dwelling – completely correlate with the spiritual sphere and not closely connected with the hygiene as such. However, a number of ideas and traditions served as special measures to prevent any spread of infectious diseases. So, there was a custom to use one’s own dish while travelling or paying visits, and there was a ban to wear other people’s clothes.  The dry and frosty climate did not contribute to the growth of pathogenic bacteria for most of the year. Archaeological finds of the Xiongnu and Khitan periods indicate the presence of special sets of hygienic devices which had been integral parts of men’s and women’s costumes, and were preserved in costumes of nomadic cultures to the 19th – early 20th centuries. Among the archaeological finds, toothbrushes attract particular attention. Under the conditions of water shortage and cold winters, it was most difficult to observe body hygiene. Hands and face were washed daily, in winter skin was rubbed with snow. Body washing procedures mainly occurred during the warm season. Women, fearing the wrath of the owner of the water, made ablutions in secluded places. During the menstruation period, animal hair and moss were used as pads. Oil and fat were used as a means to protect skin from moisture loss under conditions of frost and strong winds. Furthermore, the nomadic way of life determined the observance of hygienic requirements in nomadic dwellings. Due to regular changes of residence, the felt yurt would not become a breeding ground for pathogenic bacteria and parasites and was well ventilated. Stationary wooden dwellings of Siberian Turkic peoples and Buryats were aired, freezed and thoroughly washed with sand and water during seasonal movements. The mentioned groups regularly dried, aired and freezed household items (bedding, carpets) and clothes.

Introduction. Investigations of source issues dealing with history of everyday life have been intensively developed in Oriental studies — including Mongol studies — since the mid-to-late 20th century, and still remain a vital task. Meanwhile, this area of social history can help take a fresh look at many processes that have taken place in Mongolia. It covers all cycles of everyday life of the Mongols ‒ economy, life and seasonal rituals, daily religious practices, magical rituals associated with sacrifices, treatment of cattle, divinations, etc. The goal of the current article is to introduce into scientific discourse one rare source, a written artifact, characterizing divination practices used by Mongols in everyday life. The source base of history of everyday life, as a rule, is incomplete as materials to make a picture of everyday life of people are always insufficient. Moreover, these lacunae are obvious in the field of written sources. It is clear that the detection of texts that would reflect all aspects of life of Mongolia’s population in full is impossible. Various aspects have not been captured in writing, many have been lost. However, there are still a number of texts. The main material for research was the text under code Q 695 from the Manuscript Fund of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the RAS (St. Petersburg). The latter deals with omens and divination by omens. The text has no title page, so the title is totally unknown. The results of the research demonstrate that inherent qualities of the text itself and its contents that might indicate its origin are not evident. The significant attention paid to the cattle breeding theme might attest to the Mongolian character of the monument. However, there are also stories that are not typical for nomadic life. There are signs of use of Tibetan and Chinese materials. Thus, one can say that this work has a heterogeneous character and is a compilation from different sources. As for the concepts of omens themselves, those obviously have a wider area of distribution than certain national borders and reflect practices of protecting life in a wide area of Central Asia, Northern India, and China. The manuscript consists of 8 sheets, pages 3 and 9 are absent. The manuscript is not old, the text is written on Russian paper in black ink, pen. The handwriting is not professional, the text is full of spelling and grammatical mistakes. The work can be divided into several parts, e.g., omens regarding behavior of animals: horses, cows, sheep; birds flying into in homes; barking and howling of dogs; buzz of pots; deformity of animals; behavior of dogs, appearance of a tornado, on the gnashing of teeth. Obviously, the work is a collection of narratives from various sources.

Introduction. A number of research papers have dealt with the St. Petersburg Buddhist Temple. But some inscriptions from the interior of this cultural heritage have not been studied. Goal. The article deciphers Tibetan and Sanscrit inscriptions from the temple. The inscriptions situated on the front, porch, pillars and responds in the hall, on the plafond, door framing and altar niche in the prayer hall have become the material for this research. In addition, the paper analyzes the trace drawings of the inscriptions stored at the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the RAS – from the files ’Drawings and Sketches to the Project of the Buddhist Preaching-House in Staraya Derevnya, 11, Blagoveschenskay Street’ and ’Materials of the Buddhist Preaching-House Building Committee’ which include bills of companies, a letter by the Technical Department under city governor’s administration that allows to install a ‘Ganchjir’ on the front face, and drawings of emblems and inscriptions. Results. The paper provides transliterations and translations of the inscriptions supplemented with clarifying pictures. It comes to some conclusions and sets forth suggestions regarding who might have authored the inscriptions. Particularly, the work contests the fact that the temple be devoted to the deity of Kalachakra only. So, Chado Rinpoche, an ex-Abbot of Namgyal and Gyoto monasteries, denied the possibility of the quotations having been a part of any canonical Buddhist text, including those dealing with Kalachakra practices. He also suggested that the destroyed inscription over the entrance may have denoted the name of the temple but the author concludes this is highly questionable. Regarding the trace drawings prepared for the Buddhist temple at that period and found in two files at the St. Petersburg Branch of the Archive of the RAS the following conclusion was made. The first inscription is the mantra Padmoshnishi (Tibetan pad ma’i gtsug tor) ‘om padmosṇīṣa vimale hūṃ phat’. It is traditionally placed over the entrance. The mantra might have been depicted on one of the temple floors, it might have been lost or else the inscription was never a part of the temple decorative design. The second inscription is ‘oṃ namo ratna trayāya’ ‘Bow to the Three Jewels’, and that inscription was also never found in the St. Petersburg Buddhist temple.

Introduction. The article contains a comparative analysis of grammatical processes that have occurred in different languages widespread in the same territory. The comparison is implemented in the aspect of using pronouns as a way of building new grammatical formants in the language. The main goal of the article is to study the pronoun as a class which exists in each language and carries out global grammatical processes, which became the basis for the later processes of correction of languages of different types. The paper considers the essence of secondary relationship of languages undeservedly paid little attention on behalf of researchers. It emerged as a result of the long-term contact of nations and, as a consequence, mutual influence of languages. The link to perform syntactic relations is constituted by pronouns that had particularly strong influence on the grammatical units in Turkic and Iranian languages, in particular, in functioning of izafet. Materials. The source basis for considering these processes in our research is Turkic and Iranian languages whose izafet structures are manifested in the character of their semantic content: a possessive category in Turkic languages and a definitive category in Iranian languages. In Slavic and Germanic languages, pronominal formants, in addition to representing the relationship between words, express the grammatical category of certainty / uncertainty (in Germanic languages) and serve as a means to recognize adjectives from the point of view of grammar (in East Slavic languages). Results. The paper concludes that the mutual influence of languages results from territorial proximity and long-term contact. Slavic languages, Russian in particular, had been exposed to great influences of Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages that surrounded them geographically, where the emphasis was laid on the particles used to communicate and determine the position of content words. These particles, as is known, were absent in the Old Slavic language, and their function was performed by pronouns. As a result, we come to the conclusion that from the viewpoint of grammatical categories languages that have been in long-term contact are connected with the same language processes.

Introduction. The article examines names of livestock species traced in 17th–19th-century legislative monuments of the Kalmyks. The texts describe not only animals as such but also physiological conditions of theirs, such as age and sex. Names of livestock species are to be found within lexical clusters dealing with penalties (mulcts) for different crimes and misdeeds, including ones where animals acts as targets of crime.  Topicality of the research is determined by the  absence of studies dealing with vocabulary of such interesting informative historical documents as codes of laws used by Kalmyks for centuries. Goal and objectives of the research is to discover and describe names of domestic animals in texts of legal codes. Materials of the research are based on legal documents used by Kalmyks in the 17th to 19th centuries. Findings. The paper reveals names of domestic animals described in Kalmyk legal documents, defines a quantitative ratio of the usage of names of domestic animals. It shows that according to the Mongolian legal system the gradation of fines (penalties) had depended not only on gravity of offence but also on the social position of the defendant and also on his/her material wealth. The given statements reflect not only criminal, civil, military and religious rights of Kalmyks but also the economy of the society during that period; it is possible to trace the dynamics  of the society’s economic conditions if legal codes from different periods be compared. mentions penalties at the rate of hundreds and even thousands livestock units, and the 18th-century Spiritual and Civil Laws mention not numbers but just age of livestock to be paid since the penalty was equal to one livestock unit only. Conclusion. The vocabulary of domestic animals from the legal codes illustrates that Kalmyks bred four types of the livestock, namely: camels, horses, cattle, and sheep. The fragments describing sizes of fines reveal gradual reduction of the livestock in Kalmyk households in Russia. The texts of the legal codes from different periods show that the court practice maintained the tradition to punish offenders with the cattle fine and not with imprisonment. The latter was perceived most painfully by Kalmyks who were not used to being deprived of physical freedom

Introduction. Having emerged at the intersection of folklore and literature the bait genre in Bashkir folklore appeared on the basis of the poetical form beit, which denotes a distich in different genres of classical poetry in the Near and Middle East. In Bashkir and Tatar folklore, the bait is a genre which narrates historic or every day incidents of tragic or highly dramatic character. Bashkir folk baits are divided into military-historic and socio-domestic ones. Goals. The purpose of the article is to explore some Bashkir social and domestic baits as a genre at the intersection of oral and written literatures, and to reveal their artistic features and peculiarities in composition. To facilitate this, the paper seeks resolve to a number of tasks, such as to identify compositional characteristics of the baits of this type, indicate their variability, motivational series, historical roots of the compositional characteristics, examine the structure of the baits, as well as highlight their artistic and aesthetic diversity. Materials for research are documents of folklore research expeditions organized at various periods and subsequently published in the volume ‘Bait’ of the multivolume series ’Bashkir Folk Art‘, and some later ones were included into the collected publications of folklore expedition materials. The paper outlines the materials on social and everyday baits contained in the ‘Bait’ volume, since the genre is understudied. The absence of publications and monographs proves this. The authors make an attempt to fill the gap with the help of discovered folklore materials. To guarantee an objective conclusion and to demonstrate artistic originality of Bashkir folk social and domestic baits more accurately the paper also makes references to works by Tatar scholars. Results. The article delineates vivid distinctive artistic and aestetic, ideological and thematic, artistic and functional features and originality of social and domestic baits. Unlike baits of other genre types (social and historical baits of various sorts), the baits under consideration are characterized by epithets, similes, parallel constructions and diminutive forms in the addressing, beginning, final parts, etc. It was also revealed that social and domestic baits are ideologically and thematically similar to epitaphs. Those similar features discovered by Tatar researchers are largely inherent to Bashkir folklore too.

Introduction. The 1930s development of Soviet Kalmyk poetry was characterized by the introduction of new genres, including ones borrowed from Soviet Russian literature. The literary ballad proved one of those genres: it had no analogues within Kalmyk folklore and, thus, was patterned after the Soviet Russian ballad tradition, having been actively turned to by domestic poets in the 1960s-1970s (followed by a decline in the 1980s). The study is currently topical enough since the 20th-century Kalmyk ballad is still understudied, and aims to identify the role of the genre in the history of Kalmyk literature, delineating the circle of authors to have used the genre. Goals. The article does not seek to investigate the general evolutionary line of the Kalmyk ballad, being limited to insights into poetics of most representative works by D. Kugultinov and M. Khoninov for the determination of the structure and functioning features of the genre in the authors’ poetry throughout the 1960s to 1980s. Methods: The comparative method makes it possible to trace the authors’ strategies and examine the translators’ role in respective Russian-language interpretations of original texts. Results. Despite episodic or constant interest towards the genre displayed by a number of poets in different periods and stages, including G. Davaev, B. Dordzhiev, M. Narmaev, L. Indzhiev, B. Sangadzieva, A. Balakaev, V. Nurov, — the literary ballad never became a leading genre in Soviet Kalmyk poetry. The most remarkable works are three ballads by D. Kugultinov (1970s–1980s) and ten ballads by M. Khoninov (1960s–1970s). Although D. Kugultinov did not identify those ballads as such, the poems still retain definite features of the genre both in terms of form and contents, being essentially lyrical and epic, thematically philosophical and didactic: the fight of good and evil, moral conflicts, the power of artistic declamation. Military ballads of M. Khoninov rest on the tradition of the Russian military ballad with respective heroism, patriotism, self-sacrifice, historical memory and autobiographical nature. Meanwhile, both poets stick to the Kalmyk versification patterns characterized by wide use of anaphora. The ballad verse patterns of theirs have no strict ties to any certain metrical line, stanza or rhyme system — but definitely include anaphora which is evident from examples of poems by both poets. The translators played a significant role in actualizing the genre potential of the Kalmyk authors. Conclusions. The insight into the 20th-century Kalmyk ballad makes it possible to identify the borrowed genre in the history of Kalmyk literature, tracing its genesis, structure and functioning features in the 1960s-1980s, with due regard of form and content, the national vector as exemplified by the works selected.

The review analyzes the monograph by S. S. Tsepilova "Zhenskiy vopros v gosudarstvennoy politike Mongolii (1924–2000-e gg.) [Women’s issue in the state policy of Mongolia (1924–2000s)" [Women's issues in the state policy of Mongolia (1924-2000-ies)] (Ulan-Ude: Publishing house of the "Buryat State Agricultural Academy", 2015. 181 p. )