The History of Mongolian Buddhism in G.-Zh. Dylgyrov’s Works
https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2025-1-65-77
Abstract
Introduction. In the 19th century, the dominant Buddhist ideology was already established in the Mongolian written tradition according to which the history of Buddhism was viewed through the prism of the “union of throne and altar” relationship, the lineage of the Khans was traced back to the Indian and Tibetan kings. This point of view has spread not only in religious writings, but also in chronicles. The aim of the article is the analysis of the written heritage of the Buryat lama Galsan-Zhimba Dylgyrov in Mongolian script, which contains information on the history of Mongolian Buddhism. Materials and methods. Two xylographs written by the Buryat author “The Legend of Saint Genghis Khagan, Predestined by Heaven” and “A short chronology of the doctrine” were used to reveal the topic, and bibliographic indexes-garchaks were used to review his works. In the course of the research, the methods of historical and comparative, chronological source studies, and textual criticism have been used which made it possible to compare the dates and descriptions of the events given by the author with other historical data. Results. A brief overview of the study of the biography and the works of the Buryat lama is given. Two Mongolian-language works by
G.-Zh. Dylgyrov on the history of the Mongols and the history of the spread of Buddhism in the Mongolian steppes are analyzed. Conclusions. It was revealed that both Tibetan and Mongolian sources were used in G.-Zh. Dylgyrov’s essays. In presenting Mongolian history, the author follows the established Buddhist tradition of historiography and traces the succession of power of the Mongol khans to the Indian and Tibetan kings. In these xylographs, the entire Mongol history is subjected to Buddhist influence, and Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan are called Chakravartins. The different genre orientation of the texts has influenced the completeness and presentation of the reflected information. The writings of G.-Zh. Dylgyrov are not literal translations from the Tibetan language, they show a lot of creative, editorial work, which allows to consider them as independent compositions.
Supporting agencies: The research was carried out within the state assignment project no. 121031000263-3 “The Writing Traditions of the Peoples of the Baikal Region in the Context of Historical and Cultural Heritage of Russia and Inner Asia”.
About the Author
Marina V. Ayusheeva
Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies, Siberian Branch of the RAS (6, Sakhyanova St., 670047 Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Cand. Sc. (History), Senior Research Associate
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Review
For citations:
Ayusheeva M.V. The History of Mongolian Buddhism in G.-Zh. Dylgyrov’s Works. Mongolian Studies. 2025;17(1):65-77. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22162/2500-1523-2025-1-65-77
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