Introduction. The article publishes and provides a historical legal analysis of one letter by Prince Uday, ruler of Khorchin Khoshun (Horqin Banner) in Inner Mongolia at the end of 19th – first quarter of 20th century, who sent it to Pyotr Stolypin, the Prime-Minister of the Russian Empire, in 1910. This letter is a part of a file kept in the Russian State Historical Archive (St. Petersburg, Russia) in original Mongolian as well as in its Russian translation. As is known, the document was not published before. Goals. The aim of research is to extract from the Uday’s note — the information on the international legal status of Inner Mongolia which is given from the local ruler’s point of view. Results. The results of the research confirm the value of the note as a source, although its author attempted to emphasize his own significance in the eyes of the Russian authorities. Coupled with materials of other contemporaries (Russian and Western diplomats, intelligence officers, missionaries, merchants and scientists) it allows to give an authentic view on the status of Inner Mongolia at the international scene at the edge of 19th – 20th centuries. The utmost interest should be paid to the dynamics of relations of rulers of Inner Mongolia with the Qing imperial authorities that initiated a forced colonization of Mongolian lands through resettlement of Chinese peasant colonists, changes in relations of Manchu administration and Mongol feudal lords with Russian regional authorities and merchants, as well as strengthening of the Japanese influence in the region.

Introduction. This paper deals with two sets of colour photographs of Mongolian tsam masks taken by Czechoslovak archaeologist Lumír Jisl (1921–1969) and art photographer Werner Forman (1921–2010) in Mongolia during the period of 1956–1963. Werner Formanʼs photographs appeared in Lamaistische Tanzmasken. This unpretentious, slim volume, with a text composed by B. Rinchen (with the apparent assistance of a former tsam ceremony master, giving it unequivocal authenticity) holds a unique position: it was published 32 years after the last eye-witness description of the Mongolian tsam given by Shastina in 1935 (including black-and-white photographs), and some two decades before the series of tsam mask photographs featured in Tsultemʼs Mongolian Sculpture and Iskusstvo Mongolii ʻMongolian Artʼ. In contrast, Lumír Jislʼs photographs, apart from the few that were published during his lifetime, were preserved in a family archive for more than fifty years. The goal of this paper is to describe the circumstances under which these colour photographs came into being. A brief account is given of the visits to Mongolia undertaken by Lumír Jisl and Werner Forman. The general background of Czechoslovak-Mongolian cooperation in its first decade after the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries is also sketched out. At that time, tsam masks were stored in the Choijin Lama Temple, one of the very few monastic complexes to survive the antireligious campaign of the late 1930s; the temple became shelter to many religious artefacts. In addition to photographing this temple complex, Lumír Jisl photographed the tsam masks during research trips to at least three regional museums. This paper also describes the different goals and visions of both Lumír Jisl and Werner Forman when photographing the tsam masks, resulting in differing modes of execution. In conclusion, I examine the changes in perspective of the Buddhist monks following the general atmosphere of mistrust and fear engendered by the antireligion campaigns and repressions of the late 1930s, as well as the subsequent partial easing of these repressions. Not only were Forman and Jisl both invited to take photographs of religious artefacts, but they also received assistance in doing so. The Mongolian monks who helped Forman and Jisl had to accept, however, the drastically changed status of these artefacts: once sacred items used in religious ritual dance, they were now objects of Mongolian artistic heritage.

Introduction. Historically, the Oirats of China mainly live in the territory of Xinjiang, in the provinces of Qinghai, Gansu, and in the Western part of Inner Mongolia. Some of the Olets (descendants of Dzungars) live in the steppe part of the Emin Gol of the Hulun Buir Aimag of Inner Mongolia, in Fuyu County of Heilongjiang Province, and in Chengdu, Hebei Province. In the modern historical science of China, until the mid-20th century the Oirats were not distinguished from the bulk of China’s Mongols, and, consequently, their history, culture and language were not subjects of individual studies. Only after its formation in 1949, Chinese Oirat studies started gaining visible features as an important part of Mongolian studies and the historical science of China as a whole. At the same time, Oirat studies as a historical direction were created by several generations of scientists of different nationalities (Han Chinese, Mongols, and Oirats themselves). Goals. The article aims to provide a general overview and scientific analysis of the formation and development of Oirat studies in China over the past seven decades (1949–2019), and to identify the historical paradigm of conducted researches and prospects of further development. Methods. The main research method is historical and chronological analysis. Despite Oirat studies have been existing as an integral part of Mongolian science for seven decades, no analysis of its historical development was ever carried out. Results. This work fills the gap and highlights the most important achievements in the study of China-based Oirats’ history and culture. A prominent attention in this study is given to the materials of ten scientific conferences that have the status of ‘all-China’ ones and were devoted to the study of the history and culture of the Oirats, as well as the scientific journal ‘Barayun mongyol sudul’ (‘Journal of Western Mongolian Studies’), which plays an important role in the development and determination of promising areas of Oirat studies. Conclusion. The analysis of Oiratological research over the past seven decades has revealed the historical paradigm of Oirat studies and prospects for their further development.

Introduction. From mid-1918 to mid-1919, Russia’s East was a scene of tough military-political confrontation. National movements were also involved in this confrontation. Goals. The article aims to show the place of national movements in the all-Russian alignment of political forces. Materials and Methods. The materials investigated are documents from the National Archive of Bashkortostan, State Archive of the Russian Federation, articles from periodicals issued during the Russian Civil War, other published sources and memoirs. Results. The paper shows the position of national movements on the most important issues of the anti-Bolshevik camp, reveals the similarities and differences between different currents within national movements, their relationships with various groups of the anti-Bolshevik camp. Conclusions are drawn regarding the place of national movements in the all-Russian alignment of political forces.

Introduction. Contemporary Kalmyk studies are characterized by that there are still a number of insufficiently explored issues dealing with the shaping of the Kalmyk ethnos, including that of identities of their ancestors within materials related to the religious tradition. Goals. The article seeks to reveal the ties between identities of Kalmyks and Oirats ― and fellow countrymen communities of Drepung Gomang Monastery at earliest stages of Buddhist history among the Mongolic peoples. Results. The work clarifies the specific features of identifying Oirats and Kalmyks through the prism of the Tibetan monastic tradition, and shows the historical changes of identity-related terms. Currently, Drepung Gomang comprises a total of 16 countrymen communities-kangtsens (Tib. khang-tshan) further divided into 22 mitsans (Tib. mi-tshang), i. e. local communities. Representatives of Mongolia and students from Russia’s Buryatia and Tyva are included in Samlo Kangtsen (Tib. bSam-blo Khang-tshan), and the latter’s ten mitsans comprise one referred to as Khalkha Mitsan. As for Kalmyk students, they are affiliated to Hardong Kangtsen (Tib. Har-gdong Khang-tshan) that numbers nine mitsans, and those related to Oirats, Southern Mongols and Kalmyks are Tsokha, Joorche, and Thorgo (Torghut) ones. The emergence of Thorgo and Tsokha Mitsans is closely tied to the history of Oirats and Kalmyks. The paper concludes the name of Thorgo Mitsan is historically related to the identity of prominent Kalmyk monks within Drepung Gomang Monastery, and up to the late 18th century served to denoted the community of monks from the Kalmyk Khanate proper. After the exodus of Kalmyks from the Volga and their resettlement across Xinjiang, Thorgo Mitsan was largely inhabited by the newly arrived ethnic Kalmyks of Torghut descent. Such historical transformations may have introduced structural changes within mitsans, which resulted from ethnic identities of Oirat or Kalmyk monks admitted.

Introduction. Research on Buryat and Kalmyk pilgrimage to Buddhist worshiping sites in Tibet and wider in Inner Asia at the late imperial period mostly focuses on biographies and travel writings of Buddhist clergy, while experience of ordinary pilgrims ― especially of the lay people (Mong. khara khün) who were actors of this social phenomena ― received limited attention. However, some of the Buryat ‘oral histories’ about long distance travels to Tibet were recorded later by Buryat intellectuals (e. g., B. B. Baradiin) to name but a few. Goals. The article aims to introduce one such record made in 1968 by a rural community school teacher and amateur historian B. B. Namsaraev. Results. The latter wrote down a life story (Mong. namtar) of Bato Badmaev, an elder from the village of Suduntui, about his pilgrimage to Tibet between 1901 and 1904. This travelogue by a lay person presents unique first-hand observations about hardships of the long distance foot pilgrimage to worshiping places in Urga, Amdo and Tibet ― a wide social phenomenon among Buryats at the beginning of the 20th century. This ‘oral history’ together with extensive information about infrastructure along the pilgrim routes (Mongolian and Tibetan families hosting pilgrims and providing meals to them, travel tips they shared of how to pass the most dangerous hostile deserts and mountain passes, encountering a yeti snowman (Mong. almaz), etc.) contain emotional remarks about things experienced and bodily hardships pilgrims faced (thirst, physical exhaustion, extreme temperatures, and so on) ― aspects which are not covered in travelogues of Buddhist clergy and professional explorers (e. g., merchants, military specialists) who were in much more privileged travel conditions hiring horses and camels to carry their goods and belongings. Therefore, the recent publication (2012) of this unique travelogue made it more accessible and available to a wider audience.

One of the most promising aspects of research into the cult tradition of the Buryats is the study of the concepts of ‘cult’ and ‘sacred’. Goals. The paper aims to analyze the issue of applying the category of ‘sacred’ developed by European religious studies to the lexical material associated with the category of the sacred in the traditional culture of the Buryats on the basis of etymological and historical-genetic research. Results. Description of the scope of application of the concept of ‘sacred’ in Buryat culture, as well as semantic analysis are necessary to avoid inadequate interpretations and extrapolations while using respective lexemes. By virtue of their conservatism, ritual terms contain invaluable evidence of the cultural and historical perspectives, preserve the valuable information that allows us to reconstruct the ethnography of the past, its social structures, spiritual culture, including the cult tradition.

Introduction. Photography is a visual source of information, and its unique character has been recognized by numerous researchers. Newspaper photographs tend to mirror both a historical era proper and daily life of its inhabitants. Goals. The paper aims at analyzing the ‘essential messages’ of photographs published by Khalmg Ünn (‘The Kalmyk Pravda’) newspaper in 1957–1961. The periodical is an ethnic-oriented print media to have published — and still does — Kalmyk language materials. Materials and Methods. The continuous sampling method was employed to extract photographs from newspaper issues of 1957–1961. So, a total of 4,000 units were analyzed, but the study primarily focuses on pictures that were taken by local photographers in the territory of the Kalmyk ASSR. Photographs by TASS were involved to trace similar trends through comparison with regional photographic images. Conclusions. The study shows that photographic materials of Khalmg Ünn (‘The Kalmyk Pravda’) highlight different artistic trends manifested in the eclectic patterns compiled from both Socialist realism and the ‘severe style’ (the latter characterized by romantic heroification of strenuous laborers). Just in two years the newspaper images rapidly evolutionized from mere shots to photographic pictures created through the use of diverse means and methods, e.g., that of hyperbolization achieved via different camera angles and glass prism techniques. Newspaper photographers turned to common laborers to show their joys and hardships, everyday life of citizens not involved in party or any other administrative activities. The Khrushchev era gave rise to most essential changes in newspaper photography and the images examined. Further analysis of newspaper materials shall facilitate the development of both regional print media and anthropological studies at large.

In 2019, the workshop site of Kusimovo-6 in Abzelilovsky District of Bashkortostan (Russia) was discovered and explored on a large area. A collection of Middle Paleolithic artifacts numbering over 2 thousand was obtained. Goals. The work attempts at an analysis of the collection. Results. The latter shows its homogeneity. So, nucleuses are subprismatic, with longitudinal cleavages, orthogonal, radial, and of unsystematic types. Many cores have two or more strike platforms. A third of the flakes have natural strike platforms and backrest. The producing of bifacial tools basically repeats the nucleuses’ production patterns. The tools comprise a chopper, 2 blanks of bifaces, 2 taiyak points, a point, butt knives. Two-sided producing was performed on working areas of other categories of tools (carvers, punctures, points, tools with a spike, beak-shaped, notched tools, scrapers). By all indications, the site has a non-Levallois character and belongs to the industry of the Tayacian tradition of the Middle Paleolithic. The workshop site of Kusimovo-6 reveals the greatest similarity with the 3rd and 4th layers (Tayacian industry of the Middle Paleolithic) of the Starye Duruitory Grotto in Northwest Moldova. Accordingly, the workshop site of Kusimovo-6 is dated to the first half of the Rissian period (300-200 thousand years ago).

Introduction. In the Republic of Kalmykia, agriculture is characterized by the prevalence of livestock breeding. Still, excessive grazing has resulted in land degradation. Materials. Analysis of buried soils from excavated kurgans reveals that the Late Bronze Age and Late Medieval Period witnessed extensive desertification processes across vast territories of Eastern European steppes. Those trends were determined by global climate aridization traced in other ecosystems too, i.e. were caused by natural changes. Results. Present-day desertification also takes place in the background of universal aridization but its enormous scale and destructiveness are aggravated by multiple anthropogenic impacts, i.e. human activity. For a qualitative assessment, the paper analyzes a time-series of satellite images made by Landsat-TM Earth observing sensor from 1985 to 2011, and makes statistical estimates of related NDVI and TGSI indices. There is an increase in vegetation cover within the investigated area, and this despite the fact that yearly temperatures during the period kept increasing, too. So, the reduced desertification rates have resulted not from favorable climatic factors but rather from purposeful countervailing efforts.

Introduction. The article examines a range of dharani (Mong., Kalm. tarni) texts included in the 108-volume canonical collection of Mongolian-language Kangyur. This xylographic edition of the Mongolian Kanjur had been delivered from China by the Indian scholar Raghu Vira to be further published by the renowned Buddhist scholar Lokesh Chandra in the Śata-Piṭaka Series in the 1970s. The whole set of this canonical edition was acquired by Ven. O. M. Dordzhiev (Kalm. Tügmüd Gadji), and is currently stored at the Scientific Archive of the Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS) as part of the Collection of this Buddhist cleric. Goals. The paper aims to analyze the texts of prayers against diseases, similar in name and content, presented in different volumes of this canonical collection. Materials. To facilitate this, the study investigates a number of texts from the category of dharani (tarni) aimed at eliminating various diseases and their consequences. Those are included in the 14th and 24th volumes of Kangyur, which corresponds to the ‘Dandr-a’ (‘Tantra’) section. Results. The publication transliterates and translates works from the category of dharani (tarni), pacifying various diseases and epidemics.

Introduction. By the beginning of the 20th century, the Mongols had widely used texts on apotropaic magic in their daily life. Among them there are writings with pictures and descriptions of talismans aimed at averting diseases and mishaps, attracting wealth and good favour. All this sort of writings resembles heterogeneity of traditions. Goals. The paper aims at examining various types of ‘booklore’ talismans in magic practices of the Mongols. Results. Like other spheres of Mongolian culture those represent pre-Buddhist, Buddhist and Chinese layers. That was conditioned by the history of the Mongols, their neighbourhood with civilizations they had been integrated with during the course of their existence. As for ‘booklore’ talismans, there are two groups of them: one includes pictures originated from Taoist talismans, the other includes Indian and Tibetan dharanis, texts and Buddhist symbols. They penetrated into the Mongolian culture in different periods and in different ways. Thus, usage of ‘booklore’ talismans by the Mongols resulted in complicated multi-layer complexes which assembled Hindu, Tibetan pre-Buddhist, Mongolized Buddhist and Chinese Taoist elements in different combinations. Conclusions. The work reveals several clusters of  ‘booklore’ talismans once popular among the Mongols and originated from pre-Buddhist, Buddhist and Taoist beliefs.

Introduction. Oil lamp snuff divination practices used to be widespread enough in Tibet, Mongolia, Kalmykia, and other regions. Goals. The paper introduces into scientific discourse texts thereof in Chinese, Tibetan, and Mongolian. The analysis of the practices reveals values, logic, symbols, and structural patterns inherent to traditional societies. Materials. The article examines a number of sources, namely: 1) a Chinese text published in Hohhot (Inner Mongolia, PRC), 2) a Tibetan text posted on the website of Buddhist Digital Resource Center, 3) a Beijing xylograph of one Mongolian text stored at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the RAS (St. Petersburg, Russia). The latter was checked against another copy of the Beijing xylograph submitted by Demberel Sükhee, a lecturer at the National University of Mongolia (Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies). Results. The article analyzes the traditional oil lamp snuff divination method and provides a comparative study of texts in three different languages, translating and transliterating the employed sources.

Introduction. The system of astronomical terms in Mongolic languages is structurally complicated due to multiple layers of both pre-Buddhist and Buddhist beliefs adopted by proto-Mongols. The latter had tended to revere celestial bodies and elaborated a number of cults still traceable in spiritual and material culture of descending nations. Goals. The work aims at identifying Mongolic astronomical terms and provides preliminary analyses of their semantics and etymologies. Materials and methods. The paper focuses on dictionaries of Mongolic languages, examines etymological studies and Turkic dictionaries, special attention be paid to An Etymological Dictionary of Altaic Languages. The reference proto-Mongolian lexical constructs are represented by those contained in Hans Nugteren’s Mongolic Phonology and ones reproduced by O. Mudrak (available on The Tower of Babel website). The study employs etymological and linguocultural analytical tools. Results. The astronomical system developed in ancient times contains several layers characterizing archaic perceptions and worldviews of proto-Mongols. Some astronyms — including the words for ‘sky’, ‘star’, ‘Sun’, ‘Moon’, ‘Venus’ — seem to have evolved from proto-Altaic stems. In Mongolic languages, the concept ‘planet’ proves a more recent phenomenon and initially all celestial bodies had been perceived as stars, which resulted in multiple onyms with the component odn ‘star’ (e.g., Venus, Mars, Mercury, Sun and Moon used to be identified as stars). The Earth proper was not believed to be a star or planet since it first and foremost served as home to ancient Mongols, their habitat. In subsequent eras, only visible celestial bodies — Sun, Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn — started being referred to as planets, their names employed for denoting the days of the week. The mobility of the Sun and Moon prompted  proto-Mongols that the former were planets, though ancient humans rarely tended to distinguish between planets and stars as such. As for currently known planets of the Solar System, ancient Mongols were aware of Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and supposedly Mercury. It is after their conversion to Buddhism that they gained an onym denoting Saturn, while those of Neptune, Pluto, and Uranus are more recently adopted lexemes.

Introduction. This article examines the use of taboos and euphemisms in birth-related vocabulary of the Bashkir language. Goals. The paper reveals both linguistic facts and those of traditional ritual culture, ethnic worldviews. The Bashkir birth-related taboo vocabulary has not been a subject of special research yet. Materials and Methods. Actual meanings of lexemes were identified through the use of author’s field materials collected during comprehensive expeditions (2004 to 2008), lexical and phraseological data from dictionaries of the Bashkir and other Turkic languages, dialectal materials stored by the Institute of History, Language and Literature (Ufa Federal Research Centre of the RAS). The work employs a number of linguistic research methods, such as the ethnolinguistic and comparative-descriptive ones, component analysis method, and that of lexicographic selection. Results. As is known, this group of words is mainly tabooed in the Bashkir language. The vocabulary associated with birth rites is sacred and reflects a complex set of ideas about a pregnant woman. Ritual actions, magical prohibitions are aimed at protecting the health of women and at the birth of a healthy offspring. In this case, the vocabulary denoting a childless woman, a pregnant woman and the concepts of ‘childbirth’ and ‘obstetric aid’ were tabooed. The paper clarifies that the concepts associated with birth rites in the Bashkir language are expressed by euphemisms to protect the mother and child from evil spirits and the evil eye. The author has recorded a large number of euphemisms denoting a pregnant woman (auyrly, auyrғakalyu, auyrayҡly, auyry bar, auyrkүtүreә, auyrlau, yөklө, etc), a childless woman (balakүrmәgәn, biҙәү, tүlһeҙ, ҡyҫır, irғoraҡ and others), and those denoting the concept of ‘childbirth’ (bala tabyu, kureneү, bәpeslәү, bәpәilәү, ҡotolou, bushanyu, donyaғa keileү, etc.). Taboos and euphemisms of birth rites play an important role in the development of the vocabulary of the Bashkir language. The available materials on this topic require further systematization with the involvement of linguistic analysis. Over time, many archaisms disappeared from the modern vocabulary, while others have been used only in certain dialects of the Bashkirs. Almost all euphemistic vocabulary is represented by word combinations from common Turkic lexemes used in figurative meanings. The latter reflect the ethnic ritual traditions, good manners, politeness, observance of the rules of decency ― rules of ethics. They represent the speech etiquette and identity of the Bashkir people, being a valuable linguistic and cultural source for the study of the traditional folk beliefs of the Bashkirs.

Introduction. The article discusses some ways of grammaticalization of the verb bolokh / bolokho / bolha / bolh ‘become, make; be’ in Mongolic languages (Mongolian, Buryat, Oirat and Kalmyk). This verb acts as an auxiliary component in composite predicates, and also functions in the system of service parts of speech to form postpositions and conjunctions. The phenomenon of grammaticalization reflects the dynamics of linguistic processes occurring at the junction of the significant and official functioning of words. The results of studying various lexical units as sources of grammatical indicators significantly expand the understanding of the functioning of grammatical systems in a language. Goals. The research aims at describing the ways of grammaticalization of verbs in Mongolic languages through the example of the verb bolokh / bolokho / bolha / bolh ‘become, make; be’. Materials. The paper analyzes literary, folklore, journalistic texts extracted from the corpora of the examined national languages (Mongolian, Buryat and Kalmyk), as well as data from respective dictionaries. Results. The study shows that the verb bolokh / bolokho / bolha / bolh ‘become, make; be’ is undergoing various changes. In the formation of compound nominal and verbal predicates, it is used as an auxiliary verb. As a result of grammaticalization, there are indicators of the categories of time and modality, classes of words that denote various semantic concepts. The verb can express various modal meanings (assumption, obligation, intention, opportunity, prohibition, etc.). As a result of grammaticalization, modal words derived from the given verb are quite often in Mongolic languages. The adverbial and participial forms of this verb are actively used as official words. The analysis reveals that the meanings of most postpositions and conjunctions in Mongolic languages coincide. But there are also those characteristic only of certain languages. Some words lose their ancient primordial meanings, while others acquire additional ones that rest on their main seme.

Goals. The article attempts to analyze the synthetic and analytical aspectual forms of the Mongolian verb in a quantitative perspective. Materials. The calculation was done on the materials of the General Corpus of the Mongolian Language, and the degree of use of aspectual forms is studied. Results. The paper discusses the issue of distinguishing between synthetic and analytical forms is discussed, delineates certain classes of forms. The following subsystems are distinguished in the system of synthetic forms: 1) subsystem of synthetic verb forms of participial representation, 2) subsystem of synthetic verb forms of predicative-indicative representation, 3) subsystem of synthetic verb forms of adverbial (converbial) representation, 4) subsystem of synthetic verb forms of stem-formation. Within the framework of the generalized system of verbal grammatical forms, analytical aspectual forms are also distinguished. The work characterizes some most common analytical aspectual forms. The most common of them is the analytical form of the ‘progressive’ (// ‘continuative’) formed by combining the synthetic taxis form of the congressional participle (with - ж) (CVB.CNGR) with the connective (existential) verb бай-(х) (lit. ‘ be’). A fragment of the table of the frequency of grammatical forms included in the (analytically expressed) grammeme ‘progressive’ is shown.

In the epic repertoire of the famous jangarchi Teltya Lidzhiev (1906–1970) who belonged to the epic school of the rhapsodist Eelyan Ovla, the motif of heroic duel is a plot-forming one. Goals. The article examines the motif of heroic duel in the repertoire of jangarchi Teltya Lidzhiev in order to identify the preservation and sequence of its narrative units. Methods. When it comes to analyze the epic songs of Teltya Lidzhiev against similar songs of the rhapsodist Eelyan Ovla, the comparative method is employed. Results. The comparative analysis reveals that the motif of heroic duel, associated with the presentation of an ultimatum to the hostile ruler and the raiding of the enemy’s herd, retains the same sequence of narrative units as that in the source text of the predecessor. Conclusions. The research has shown that the motif of heroic duel associated with the enemy’s ultimatum, being an important part of the narrative, appears in the form of a predicative construction where all elements are interconnected. The motif of the heroic duel, associated with the presentation of an ultimatum by Jangar himself to the hostile khan and the raiding of the latter’s herd, being a plot-forming element, is characterized by a stable sequence. In the songs of Teltya Lidzhiev, the epic narrative is always centered around the hero whose heroification is emphasized in the course of the development of the motif of heroic duel.