Traditions of Buddhist education in Kalmykia at the beginning of the 20th century: the experience of the organization and activities of the higher spiritual school «Tsanit-Chor»

This article examines the organizational experience and operational specifics of the Tsanit-Chor Higher Theological School, located in the Maloderbetovsky Ulus (district) of the Kalmyk Steppe in the early 20th century. The primary sources for this study include petitions from clergy, reports from ulus trustees, administrative correspondence from authorities at all levels, audit reports, and statutory and program materials found in the collections of the National Archives of the Republic of Kalmykia. The article describes the school’s administrative structure, the curriculum of the theology and Tibetan medicine departments, student population trends, and personnel decisions conditioned by administrative oversight. The article focuses on the initial stages of the establishment of Tsanit-Chor, including the role of Agvan Dorzhiev, the choice of location, the formation of the school’s resources, and funding sources. The study devotes particular attention to the acute and sensitive issue of the existing contradictions surrounding the inclusion of the Russian language in the curriculum of higher theological schools. Specifically, it presents and analyzes the arguments of the authorities who insisted on its inclusion in the curriculum, as well as the fundamental position of the Buddhist clergy, who defended the traditional model of clerical training. This position of the Buddhist clergy, it appears, reflected the desire of the national elite and the spiritual community of the Kalmyk steppe to preserve their religious identity. The imperial authorities’ proposal to include the study of Russian in the curriculum of the Buddhist school reflected nothing less than a desire to achieve rapid cultural and religious integration and unification, as well as to strengthen the unity of the peoples of the multinational Russian Empire, through the study and knowledge of the language and culture of the state-forming people. In conclusion, the author concludes that, despite the complexity of the issue, the authorities and the Buddhist clergy nevertheless managed to reach a mutually acceptable consensus. Ultimately, the existing organizational, administrative, and other difficulties did not prevent Tsanit-Chor from beginning its work: it managed to recruit a sufficient number of Kalmyk students from nearby uluses (districts), establish a generally organized educational process, and thereby lay the foundation for the systematic training of Buddhist clergy in the Kalmyk steppe. Our analysis and presentation of the complex process of organizing and operating Tsanit-Chor in the early 20th century allowed us to clearly understand the specific nature of state-confessional relations of that era.

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