Oldal 376 [376]
DARIMA D. AMOGOLONOVA
Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov, future Hambo Lama, was born around 1852. The birth¬
place is Ülzii-Dobo, today in the Ivolginsky district of Buryatia. His biographical
data concerning early life are rather poor but it is known that having been deserted by
his parents at an early age, he was adopted by his relatives. He had to work hard since
early childhood, but, however, having shown cleverness and propensity to science,
from the middle of the 1860s and for more than twenty years he was trained in the
Aninsky Datsan (monastery) and thus received a religious education. As a result of
his successful training, Itigelov passed examinations for the Buddhist degrees gebshi
and gabzhi. Furthermore, Dashi-Dorzho received medical training in the Tamchinsky
Datsan (today in the city of Gusinoozersk). In 1898, Itigelov became a member of
the clergy of the Yangazhinski Datsan, where he taught Buddhist philosophy and
became a Shireete Lama’? in 1903. This position promoted his participation in public
activities; in particular, when Buryats who served in the Cossacks detachments were
mobilized for the Russo-Japanese War (1904), he performed protection rituals for
those who were leaving for the front. Besides, he was engaged in educational activi¬
ties with the aim to propagate loyalty for the Russian Tsar and the Russian state — an
engagement that was awarded with imperial medals. In 1910, Itigelov was elected
the 12th Pandito Hambo Lama of the Tibetan-Buddhist clergy of Eastern Siberia.
His election to this post was accompanied by displeasure on the part of ill-wishers
who informed the Ministry of the Interior by telegraph that
“TItigelov, being a supporter of left-wing political parties, says that the SOVE¬
REIGN is not an AUTOCRAT [highlighted in the original. — D.A.] and that the
government and right-wing political parties are oppressors of the people, while the
left political parties, he says, are the defenders of the people. Also Hambo Lama
collects from the people a large amount of money. Besides, the complainers ask
for protection as Itigelov’s friends threatened them with arrest and sending out."
The ministry took the denunciation seriously and ordered the military governor of
the Trans-Baikal region Andrei Kiyashko to investigate the case. Nevertheless, the
official did not find any suspicious or subversive activity on the side of Itigelov. To
justify Itigelov, the military governor wrote that he had several conversations with
Hambo Lama Itigelov and “from these conversations made the most gratifying im¬
pression about Hambo finding in him a convinced supporter of the government.”
3 Shireete (Bur.) or Shireet (Khal. sirét) Lama implies two meanings: “Literally, he is a Cathedral
Lama, the chairman at divine services. In the monastery where Hambo Lama resides, Shireete does
not fulfil any administrative functions. Instead, he is responsible for correct conducting of religious
services” (Pozdnjejev A. M.: Ocjerki byta buddijskih monastyrjej i buddijskogo duhovjenstva v
Mongolii v svjazy s otnosjenijem sjego posljednjego k narodu. Zapiski impjeratorskogo russkogo
gjeograficjeskogo obscjestva po otdjeljeniju etnografii.Tipografija Imperatorskoj Akademii nauk,
Sankt-Petersburg 1887. Vol. 16, p. 156.). In present-day Buryatia, Shireete Lama is a prior subordi¬
nated to Hambo Lama.
Sjekrjetnoje po Zabaikal skoj oblasti. Spravka po Departamentu obSCih del MVD po i otdeleniju.
Russian State Historical Archive, F. 1284, op. 47, d. 222.
Sjekrjetnoje po Zabaikal skoj oblasti ..., d. 222.
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