Introduction. The paper introduces results of a research project aimed at investigating missionary activities of the Russian Orthodox Church across Inner Asia. Goals. The study seeks to analyze institutional religious structures of Mongolian society for distinguishing features of collective consciousness, the Orthodox Christian Mission be viewed as both an external vehicle of change and a recipient of influence. Materials and methods. When it comes to collect and explore primary sociological data, the article focuses on interviews with Orthodox Christian priests, monks, and laymen, since the method proves instrumental in analyzing events pertaining to the development of Orthodox Christian communities, construction of temples, and peculiarities inherent to everyday life of parishes — on the basis of eyewitness accounts and participant opinions. The method yields data on specificities of government-church relations throughout the process of legalizing Orthodox Christian parishes, makes it possible to assess actual levels of interaction between the clergy and Russian citizens, as well as representatives of other Asian countries during the whole period investigated. Conclusions. Insights into official statistical reports and media publications have supplemented the results of our sociological survey to show Orthodox Christianity is perceived as part of the Russian cultural model. The complicated structure of Mongolia’s Orthodox Christian community attests to that missionaries do face somewhat challenging conditions in their endeavors. Christianity is a noticeable and emerging institution in contemporary Mongolia, but its adherents are still a minority, the Orthodox Christians being a minority in minority.

Introduction. The article examines the four volumes of The Memory. Sanl from a quantitative perspective. The edition publishes an annotated list of ca. 34,500 Red Army soldiers and officers largely conscripted in the Kalmyk ASSR — and subsequently classified as KIAs and MIAs between 1941 and 1945. Goals. The paper attempts a quantitative analysis of somewhat consolidated database compiled from Kalmykia’s natives conscripted into the Soviet military forces in 1941–1945 — and contained in the four volumes of The Memory. Sanl. Materials and methods. The wide range of research methods employed includes both general scientific (synthesis, comparison, analysis, etc.) and statistical ones. Results. The insights into the database show the edition comprises quite a number of repetitions, mistakes and inaccuracies — mainly in spellings of personal names — which has required that corresponding corrections and revisions be introduced. The volumes mention a total of 26,458 KIAs and MIAs conscripted in the Kalmyk ASSR, at least half of them having been natives of Kalmykia. Furthermore, the consolidated list includes natives of other regions, primarily the bordering ones — Rostov Oblast, Stalingrad Oblast, and Ordzhonikidze Krai. The analysis by age shows the bulk of KIAs and MIAs from Kalmykia had been born between 1910 and 1924, since the latter were conscripted either prior to the war or during the earliest period when the Red Army was experiencing the severest casualties.

Introduction. The article deals with an item contained in the Buddhist Collection of Tatarstan’s National Museum. Buddhist art is essentially canonical, which sets forth some difficulties to be faced when it comes to refer certain pieces to different regional schools. Goals. The paper attempts a comparative analysis of the Buddhist statuette from the National Museum of Tatarstan and suggests an attribution of the unique item. Results. The analysis shows the figurine (inv. no. КП-10367/9) depicts a Mongolian Lama. It is headdress that proves a most significant element since the former is characteristic of Jebtsundamba Khutuktus of Khalkha. So, our further insights do attest to the statuette depicts a Bodg Gegeen of Mongolia. And there is reason to presume this is an early sculptural portrait of the 8th Bodg Gegeen — Jebtsundamba Khutuktu of Khalkha.

Introduction. The article discusses wedding traditions of Western Mongolian Dorbets — and Kalmyk Dorbets of Russia. The point is that before the 17th century those had been constituting a single Oirat ethnic community further divided across differing states with differing ethnic environments and lifestyles. Materials and methods. The paper analyzes 1924–1925 field data of Ts.-D. Nominkhanov pertaining to wedding rituals of Mongolia’s Dorbets, these be compared to  descriptions of traditional wedding rites observed among Dorbets of Bolshederbetovsky Ulus (Stavropol Governorate) by I. Bentkovsky in 1869, and of those practiced by Dorbets of Maloderbetovsky Ulus (Astrakhan Governorate) and published by I. Zhitetsky in 1893. Special attention is also paid to publications of researchers to have examined wedding rites of Western Mongolian Dorbets, such as Ts. Ayuush, Ts. Baasandorj, A. Ochir, K. Vyatkina, and V. Darbakova. The study employs the descriptive and comparative research methods. Results. The conducted analysis asserts a structural similarity of wedding rites practiced by Dorbets of Western Mongolia and Kalmyk Dorbets of Russia. Despite the centuries-long isolation from related Oirat communities, the Kalmyks had retained the original set of wedding rites to the 19th century. The absence of references or descriptions of any particular rite gives no ground to assert the latter never existed, since the sources of information about wedding rites of Kalmyk Dorbets are somewhat fragmentary and scattered. The analysis of Ts.-D. Nominkhanov’s materials suggests those deal with the most significant wedding rites and rituals. In general, the following similarities can be traced in wedding rites of the Dorbets: allegory expressed via symbolism of certain ritual actions, use of white kerchiefs and khatags to formalize the establishment of family relations, importance of dairy products and their derivatives as ones with sacred meanings, preservation of ancestor and fire cults, vestiges of matrilocality traced in rites of the groom’s inauguration. 

Introduction The article examines oral narratives about construction endeavors across Elista in the 1950s and early 1960s. Goals. The work analyzes narratives of earliest builders as a source to highlight somewhat universal features inherent to accounts of everyday life, feelings and moods associated with the restoration of the city on a specific example of stories narrating about the construction of Elista. This makes it possible to highlight universal elements and emphasize specifics of construction-related oral narratives, such as atypical plots in stories of residential building, features of architecture as a cultural factor, efficiency of use of local construction materials, as well as plans of the Soviet government. For this purpose, microurbanism is used both as a method of the city’s reconstruction and a way of describing its language. Materials. The study investigates field data collected in 2021–2022 in Elista. Results. Insights into oral narratives yield an opportunity, on the one hand, to examine the way of life of earliest builders, their active consumption and (re)construction of urban space marked by certain construction nuances, urban features and local contexts, and, on the other hand, to show the development of oral narrative about the city’s expansion in the 1950s–1960s — its universal and unique properties for microurbanism, and how these specificities are manifested (in what plots and topics).

Introduction. The paper examines collections of rare Mongolian-language Christian editions housed at depositories of Zabaykalsky Krai and Buryatia. Goals. The study attempts a socioarchaeographic analysis of the mentioned collections at the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies (SB RAS) and the Kuznetsov Zabaykalsky Krai Museum of Local History and Lore. Materials and methods. In terms of methodology, the work rests on ‘cognitive history’ and some aspects of historical phenomenology. The paper assumes a content analysis of the collections be instrumental both in identifying Christian Buryat readers’ queries throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, and in revealing specificities of missionary activity among Mongolic peoples in pre-revolutionary Russia. Conclusions. The content analysis of the two collections shows Transbaikalia was witnessing a specific cooperation between Protestant and Orthodox Christian missions. Personal libraries of Buryat Christians were largely compiled from Mongolian translations of the Bible funded mainly by the Protestant missions. The study attests to that the most promising missionary activity among Buryats (and Mongols at large) — dissemination of Christianity via primary education — was not supported by representatives of the missions. Our insights into the history of the collections show that results of Christian missionary translation activities aroused interest of Buryat Buddhists, and the latter tended to include such biblical translations into their libraries. Due to linguistic and historical circumstances, the Russian collections of Mongolian-language Christian publications have remained virtually unattended — both in terms of bibliographic description and scholarly research — for a long time. However, territorial, manufacturing and historical circumstances make the examined editions essentially unique. Our content analysis confirms there is a need for such investigations to reveal a coherent agenda of religious publications once used for the development of Christianity within Mongolian culture.

Introduction. Folklore narratives recorded at the turn of the 20th century contain ideas inherent to the ancient worldview of Kalmyks and dating back to the period of hunting and cosmogonic knowledge. So, insights into folktale / epic heritage abundant in mythoritual experiences of the ethnos can significantly supplement the available ethnographic data. Goals. The article aims at supplementing a reconstruction of the cosmogonic mythical plot of the heavenly hunt and seasonal changes. Materials and methods. The paper employs the structural / semantic, structural / typological, and comparative methods to analyze some Kalmyk folktale and epic texts. Results. The analysis shows an obvious connection between Savar = bear and Kökede Mergen which is consistent with the scheme: myth of a hunter / bear → archaic legend of Savar = hunter / bear → folktale of Kökede Mergen the hunter. The textual implementations attest to that both the characters had evolved from the mythological plot about origins of the constellation Orion. However, the difference is that the story of Savar = hunter / bear has been preserved by Kalmyks in an implicit form and is rather manifested in ethnographic substrates, whereas other Mongolic peoples have independent mythological stories about the heavenly hunter Kökede Mergen. The examined motifs of the hero’s miraculous birth and path, migrations of characters typical for bear-related and funeral rites, as well as the connection with the heavenly mare supplement the previously analyzed motifs of Savar’s travels along the lunar road, brotherhood with the bear, similarity of Savar’s sleep to the bear’s hibernation coupled with prohibitions related to the bear’s ability to hear, and the tradition of performing the epic only in evenings, at night, and in winter time. These cluster together to form a set of motifs derived from the nuclear mythological plot about the heavenly hunt and seasonal changes. The considered connections between Savar = bear and Kökede Mergen confirm the cosmic hunter / bear had been replaced by an anthropomorphic character, and attest to there may have existed an archaic plot with the character Savar = hunter / bear, since the image of Savar the hero in the Kalmyk epic still retains anthropomorphic features of the latter. Perhaps, Savar the hero = bear is a transitional image between the hunter / bear and Kökede Mergen, which coincides with the hypothesis that the bear’s image had been replaced by the anthropomorphic character of celestial hunter Kökede Mergen, and the latter be confirmed by plots and motifs of Kalmyk folktales and epic.

Introduction. The article examines a basic concept of any linguistic worldview — that of home (Mong. ger). Goals. The study aims at identifying and revealing semantic features of the concept in folklore texts of Mongolic peoples — Buryat, Kalmyk, and Mongolian paroemias. Methods. Folklore texts are analyzed with the aid of the structural / semantic and structural / typological methods that make it possible to consider different semantic aspects of the concept ger ‘home’. The analysis of Buryat proverbs shows the paroemias characterizing the concept can be divided into two groups: group one to include folklore texts that directly characterize somewhat general meaning of the word ger ‘home’, while group two is compiled from proverbs with an additional meaning manifested through the use of the concept ‘home’ depending on various life situations. Results. The work reveals the image of home — through the prism of proverbs — not only essentially expands its semantic content, but also characterizes specificities of ethnic worldviews inherent to Mongolic peoples, their mentality patterns. Our semantic analysis of Mongolic paroemias with the component ger ‘home’ shows the concept comprises quite a number of semes — from ‘house’, ‘dwelling’, and ‘hearth’ to ‘family’ and even ‘homeland’ (metaphorical meanings). The investigation of Buryat, Kalmyk, and Mongolian proverbs proves instrumental not only in revealing a universal nature of the binary scheme ‘us–them’ in cultural contexts, but also in an attempted characterization of the traditional nomadic worldview through the prism of specific economic and sociocultural activities.

Introduction. The article deals with key lexical and morphological means of expressing the spatial concept of proximity in Mongolic languages. Such lexical means include adjectives, adverbs and verbs, while morphological ones are case forms and postpositions. Goals. The study aims to describe key linguistic means of expressing the concept of proximity in Mongolic languages. Materials. The work analyzes Mongolic dictionary entries and texts contained in national corpora of the examined languages. Results. The analysis shows there are multi-level linguistic means of expressing the concept ‘proximity’, all lexical and morphological tools being presented in static and dynamic locative situations. Adjectives in attributive constructs, spatial adverbs, verbs that initially comprise some spatial semantics are widely used to express the meaning of being, moving nearby, or approaching. For example, the meaning of staying near a certain object can be conveyed by static localization verbs, while the direction of movement towards the object, approaching a landmark can be conveyed by dynamic localization verbs. The grammatical expressive means traced are case forms and postpositions which are also used in various types of contexts (location, orientation towards a landmark, movement in a neutral direction). Semantics of postpositions, in contrast to case forms, is certain enough. Postpositions with the meaning ‘proximity’ cluster together to form the most numerous group in Mongolic languages. Conclusions. The conducted analysis attests to a variety of expressive means pertaining to the concept ‘proximity’ and reveals peculiarities of their use in related Mongolic languages. The examined language expressive means are of significant interest for semantic typology at large.

Introduction. The changes in Imperial Russia’s socioeconomic structures witnessed by the mid-to-late 19th century led to the development of education in Kalmyk society. In the early 20th century, the ethnic intelligentsia initiated a national newspaper, participated in the preparation of textbooks and dictionaries for Kalmyk schools. And the Buddhist clergy were actively involved in the renovation processes. After a long break, ties with the Mongolian and Buddhist worlds were being restored. Congresses of Kalmyk priests were developing measures for the opening of Buddhist educational institutions and intensifying Buddhist publication activities. Goals. The study seeks to analyze Clear Script texts published by the Kalmyk clergy between 1900 and 1918. Results. The mentioned texts were essentially to serve the needs of ordinary believers. However, our comparative analysis of printed editions and handwritten texts shows the level of the ethnic written tradition among Kalmyk monks had decreased dramatically. At the same time, handwritten Clear Script books were still actively circulating within Kalmyk society proper. So, the study focuses on texts of printed Kalmyk-language publications issued by Kalmyk clerics in the early 20th century and stored at the Russian State Library, Russian National Library, and ones included in scientific collections of Oriental research centers. The comparative analysis involves independent handwritten copies of theirs from private and scientific Oirat manuscript collections. 

Недавно вышедшая монография посвящена дипломату, первому уполномоченному НКИД Советской России в Монголии Отто Ивановичу Макстенеку, и является результатом плодотворной работы авторитетных ученых двух стран — России и Монголии, представляющих два научных учреждения — Институт монголоведения, буддологии и тибетологии СО РАН и Институт истории и этнологии Монгольской академии наук.
Цитата, вынесенная в заголовок рецензии, взята из Введения монографии [Курас и др. 2022: 8]. Действительно, о первом уполномоченном НКИД РСФСР в Урге до недавнего времени было мало сведений, его имя «отсутствует в справочниках и в энциклопедиях по истории Октябрьской революции, Гражданской и в трехтомном дипломатическом словаре» [Курас и др. 2022: 8], имеются лишь краткие упоминания, подробно изложенные в рубрике «Российско-монгольская историография места и роли личности в монгольской революции 1921 г. рецензируемого издания [Курас и др. 2022: 9–35]. Авторы монографии восполнили эту лакуну, подробно раскрыли важную роль О. И. Макстенека — революционную, дипломатическую, общественную — в  контексте событий, происходивших в Монголии и Советской России в этот период. Его автобиография [Курас и др. 2022: 155–166] представлена в рубрике Приложения [Курас и др. 2022: 134–183]. В данной рубрике даны всего семь, весьма солидных, на наш взгляд, Приложений: кроме упомянутой автобиографии, мартиролог жертв политических репрессий, справка об аресте Макстенека, итоги деятельности уполномоченного Наркоминдела в Монголии О. И. Макстенека с 1 июня 1920 по март 1921 г., протокол заседания Временного революционного правительства Монголии с участием представителей РСФСР, протокол заседания президиума Малого хурала, справка о Центральном совете «Общества бывших политкаторжан и ссыльнопоселенцев». Уже одно лишь перечисление заголовков с содержательной частью всех Приложений свидетельствует, какую грандиозную и кропотливую работу провели ученые.