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COMBINING THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN
A Systematic Approach to Collecting the Data on historical
Datsan / Khurul / Khure
It has been agreed the data needs to be collected in a systematic way, which is the
same in each of the three principal areas — Buryat, Kalmyk and Tuva. (Data will
also be collected for the Gunzechoinei Datsan in St. Petersburg.) In the first two
republics the information will be recorded in Russian and English while in Tuva it
will be recorded in Russian, Tuvinian and English.
Six parameters for data collection have been agreed:
1. Identification: Tibetan name, Regional name: Buryat / Kalmyk / Tuvan, Other
variants of name(s).
2. Location: Address and geographical description, GPS co-ordinates (to produce
an interactive map on the website), sketch plan of old monastery site.
3. Dates: Foundation of the monastery, the main founders, tradition, first and
subsequent buildings (and yurts / wagons), revival / restoration of temples.
4. Historical background: Chronology, famous lamas connected to the monastery,
famous artefacts associated with the monastery in the past and now.
5. Ritual tradition: School of Tibetan Buddhism, deities and protectors, daily,
monthly and annual ceremonies, special ceremonies / texts specific to the mon¬
astery.
6. References and Sources — Archives, academic, monastic, photographs archive
and current.
All sources will be acknowledged.
A registration form has been drafted and, in order to test it, it is being completed
for one or two datsan / khure / khurul in each Republic for which there is verified
information on most if not all of the above parameters. The example is Tsulgolsky
Datsan (Rus. L[yiezorecKuu Oayan) in Buryatia, a datsan that was never completely
destroyed and which Surun-Khanda D. Syrtypova has studied. Once finalized the
form will be created in an electronic format. The lead researchers or their assistants
will enter the data into the registration form, which will feed into an active database.
It is acknowledged that the full range of data will not be available for all the datsan
/ khure / khurul in each Republic. However, every effort will be made to complete
three key parameters for each: Identification, Location and Dates.
Preliminary Investigation has Begun
In Outer Mongolia, the common figure given for the number of “monasteries” in
the country before the purges in the late 1930s was ‘over 700.’ While this reflected
the official government position it proved to be an under-estimation of the number
found in the 2007 survey. The official “figure” was based on the fact that the Na¬
tional Archives (Central Intelligence Agency Special Archive) held 757 reports on
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