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COMBINING THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN
rather than a monastery in the full sense of the term. Before this analysis is done it
is not really wise to speculate on the number of khurul in the Kalmyk lands across
time and up to the destruction beyond being certain about the eleven great khurul
operating at the beginning of the twentieth century that were founded in the time of
the Kalmyk Khanate i.e. before 1771.
The earliest monasteries were established in the territory by Oirat hierarchs in
the 17" century in what is now Kazakhstan. These stationary stone built monastery
palaces were not to last and by the end of the century had all been destroyed. The
land settled over time by what became known as the Kalmyks, was much larger
than the current boundaries of the Republic and included the territory in what is
now Astrakhanskaya Oblast in the east, areas of Rostov Oblast to the north as well
as communities in the Ural and Terek regions. The earliest khurul were nomadic —
on a wagon - and many existed in this form for decades before settling in one place
with permanent stone and / or wooden buildings. Bakaeva believes it is impossible
to determine accurately how many such khurul there were in Kalmyk lands in the
first stages of settlement i.e. up to the ending of the Kalmyk Khanate in 1771.** But,
importantly, eleven of the khurul, which remained operating in the early part of the
20" century, were founded in this period and include many of the largest and most
important khurul for the Kalmyks such as Bolshederbetovsky Rashi-Gomon (Rus.
bonpmenepőeroBckuű Parm-lomon).
Changes in the regulations governing religious life and the khurul, which led to
restrictions throughout the 19" century led to closures and re-openings, splitting
and re-groupings of khurul throughout the territory such that official records of the
number of settled and nomadic khurul in the Kalmyk lands varies over time. These
changes across time will be logged.
The project will aim to record the name and location of all the Kalmyk khurul
that once existed by using the above cited sources as well as searching the National
Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia (NARK), and in Astrakhan City, Russian
State Historical Archive (RSHA) as well as archives in museums and institutions in
adjoining territories and in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The academic writings of
Dordzhieva and Bakaeva mentioned above contain a rich list of Russian sources for
further investigation including the scholarly literature of the great Russian Mongolist,
A. M Pozdneev, which will not only serve to identify khurul but may also contribute
significantly to the histories of some of the larger Kalmyk khurul.
Two internet sources have proved very useful in adding a further layer of data on
khurul in the Kalmyk lands particularly by citing the modern names for the locations
of historical khurul. In one, the website www.shakyamuni.ru, the Russian webmaster
who is an independent researcher, has sourced archive images from books, archives
and museums of 55 khuruls. The name and modern district location of around half
of them have been identified while the rest remain to be identified. It is likely that
some of these unidentified images are an individual khurul or stime within a larger
khurul complex.
33. Bakaeva, E. P.: Buddhism in Kalmyk ..., 18.
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