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BABY CLOTHES AND OTHER POSSESSIONS OF ÖNDÖR GEGEEN DSANABADSAR
as Barün xür& or Öwgön xür& which settled in Sanx in 1787, present-day Xarxorin
district).° He established Töwxön retreat (Tib. sgrub khang e wam dga’ khyil) at Siwét¬
Ulan Hill in the Xangai Mountain (present-day Bat-Ölji district) in 1653, where ac¬
cording to legends several objects commemorate his presence. Dsanabadsar moved
from the area of the current Owérkhangai Province to the Xenti Mountain and founded
Sar’ dagin xid monastery as his residence in 1654 (also known as Jiin xtiré), where the
main assembly hall, Riwogejigandan$addüwlin (Tib. ri bo dge rgyas dga’ Idan bshad
sgrub gling) was first initiated (present-day Erdene district in Tôw Province). The
building of the monastery finished in 1680, when it was ruined as result of the Xalx¬
Oirad wars.’ Dsanabadsar and his örgö moved to Ögömör (1688), to the area of Inner¬
Mongolia (1690), and after the defeat of Galdan BoSugtu (1644-1697) Dsanabadsar
re-established Urga at Cecerlegin Erdenetolgoi (1700), which later moved to Dagan
del (1719), Usan sér (1720), Ix Tamir (1722), and Jargalant (1723) in his lifetime.*
Dambadarja Monastery was built from 1761-1765 and Amarbayasgalant Monastery
in 1727 for the order of the Manchu emperor, Yongzheng (r. 1722—1735) to house the
stupa with the relics of Dsanabadsar.’? According to X. Gombo (1914-2014), monk of
Lamrim dacan in Ulanbatar, seven places are known as the most sacred sites related
to Dsanabadsar: Barün xiiré, Ix xiiré, Jün xür&, Amarbayasgalant, Erdene xambin xid
and others.'° Many of them possessed Dsanabadsar’s artworks and other belongings
until the monastery demolitions in the 1930’s. As Dsanabadsar lived in different sites
thorough Mongolia, other sites also keep his memories.
Dsanabadsar’s Clothes and Belongings Venerated in Urga
During the periods of the reincarnations of Dsanabadsar moved Urga again several
times and finally settled down on the bank of the River Selbe in 1855, in the current
Ulaanbaatar basin. The bronze casts crafted by Dsanabadsar were the most precious
objects of worship not only in Urga, but in the whole area inhabited by the Khalkhas."’
5 The three remained temples of Xutagt lam, the reincarnating saint of the monastery are active today.
For details on Towx6n retreat see Majer, Zsuzsa: Towkhon, the Retreat of Ondér Gegeen Zanabazar as
a Pilgrimage Site. The Silk Road 10 (2012), pp. 107-116.
Pürewjaw, S.: Xuw sgalin 6mnéx Ix xiiré. BNMAU Sinjlex uxani akadyemi, Ulsin xewlelin xereg erxlex
xoro, Ulanbatar 1961, p. 17. The descendants of the builders of the monastery still lived in the 1950’s in
Möngönmor’t district (Damdinsüren, Dulamjaw: Lx xiiréni nert urctid. Mongolpress, Ulanbatar 1995, p.
5.).
Pürew, Otgon: Ulänbätar 360. Nislelin Jasag dargin Tamgin gajar, Admon, Ulänbätar 1999, p. 12. Urga
settled finally in 1855 in its present site.
The relics have been stolen or annihilated in the 1930’s.
Interview recorded by Zsuzsa Majer and Krisztina Teleki in 2009.
The majority of these statues were venerated in and around the Yellow Palace of the Bogds, whilst others
belonged to rural monasteries such as Amarbayasgalant Monastery. Many of them survived the stormy
events of the 1930’s and belong at present to different institutes.
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