Tsyben Zhamtsaranovich Zhamtsarano (; 26 April 1881 – 14 April/May 1942), also known as Jamsrangiin Tseveen (), was a Buryat scholar and

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

. He was a collector of Mongol epics, songs, and stories; researcher into

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

; and translator of European literature into Mongolian. A nationalist, he was a leading figure in Mongolian politics and academia in the 1920s. In 1921, Zhamtsarano founded the Institute of Scriptures and Manuscripts, today the

Mongolian Academy of Sciences The Mongolian Academy of Sciences (MAS; , ''Mongol ulsyn Shinjlekh ukhaany Akademi'') is Mongolia's first centre of modern sciences. It came into being in 1921 when the government of newly independent Mongolia issued a resolution declaring the e ...

. He was exiled to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in 1932, and in 1937 was arrested during the Stalinist

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

Early life and education

Tsyben Zhamtsaranovich Zhamtsarano (Jamsrangiin Tseveen) was born on 26 April 1881 to an Aga Khori Buryat family in Khoito-Aga, Transbaikal Oblast,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

, the son of the ''zaisang'' (headman) of the Sharaid clan. Zhamtsarano received a formal education at the Chita primary school from 1892. He also learned the tales and epics told by his great-grandmother and grandparents, and Indian stories and Buryat laws from his father. In 1895, he attended the private gymnasium in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

founded by Buryat court physician Peter Badmayev. From 1895 to 1897, Zhamtsarano attended the

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and , ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 587,891 Irkutsk is the List of cities and towns in Russ ...

Pedagogical Academy and graduated from

Irkutsk University Irkutsk State University () was founded in October 1918 in Irkutsk, Siberia. Nowadays Irkutsk State University is a scientific and educational institution training students in humanities, natural, technical and applied sciences. ISU facilities ...

Academic and political career

Zhamtsarano and fellow Aga Bazar Baradiyn began auditing classes at

Saint Petersburg Imperial University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the uni ...

. They became noted specialists in Buryat and Mongol culture, with Zhamtsarano specializing in folklore and

and Baradiyn in

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Zhamtsarano collected folklore in

Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District since 2018. To its nort ...

in 1903–1907 and traveled

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

(then part of

Qing China The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty ...

) in 1909–1910, between lecturing, editing folklore texts, and his research in St. Petersburg. After the 1911 revolution in Outer Mongolia, Zhamtsarano worked concurrently in the Russian consulate in the capital Niislel Khüree (today

Ulaanbaatar Ulaanbaatar is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Mongolia, most populous city of Mongolia. It has a population of 1.6 million, and it is the coldest capital city in the world by average yearly temperature. The municipa ...

) and in the Bogd Khan government's Foreign Ministry. As an educational advisor, he founded the first junior school in the capital in March 1912, created a movable-type press for the

Mongolian script The traditional Mongolian script, also known as the Hudum Mongol bichig, was the first Mongolian alphabet, writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic script, Cy ...

, and with Russian sponsorship published a monthly journal, ''Shine Toli'' ("New Mirror"). The journal published documents and treaties, discussions of society, and translations of works such as French author Léon Cahun's historical novel of the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire was the List of largest empires, largest contiguous empire in human history, history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Euro ...

, ''La bannière bleue'' ("Blue Banner"). Controversy forced the journal to close down, and Zhamtsarano began publishing a newspaper in the capital in 1915. In spring 1917, after the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

in Russia, Zhamtsarano returned to Buryatia. After the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

and outbreak of the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

, in December 1917 he was elected chairman of the Buryat National Committee (Burnatskom), which governed the briefly independent

State of Buryat-Mongolia The State of Buryat-Mongolia was a buffer Buryat-Mongolian state,''Бабаков В. В.'', Бурнацком - Бурнардума: первый опыт национально-государственного строительства в Б ...

. Zhamtsarano also taught at Irkutsk University. In summer 1920, after the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

recovered Buryatia from the

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

, Zhamtsarano became a member of the Chita Soviet and contacted Mongolian revolutionaries, several of whom he knew from the junior school, seeking Soviet aid against China. He joined the new

Mongolian People's Party The Mongolian People's Party (MPP) is a social democratic political party in Mongolia. It was founded as a communist party in 1920 by Mongolian revolutionaries and is the oldest political party in Mongolia. The party played an important role ...

(MPP), attending its first congress in March 1921 and authoring the party program, the "Ten Aspirations". After the success of the

Mongolian Revolution of 1921 The Mongolian Revolution of 1921 was a military and political event by which Mongolian revolutionaries, with the assistance of the Soviet Red Army, expelled Russian White movement, White Guards from the country, and founded the Mongolian People' ...

, Zhamtsarano joined the new government's Ministry of Education. In November 1921, he founded the Institute (or Committee) of Scriptures and Manuscripts and, as its permanent secretary under the directorship of Onguudyn Jamyan, became its "guiding spirit". Mongolian leaders sought his advice as an elder statesman and "human encyclopedia". While a critic of the Buddhist

lama Lama () is a title bestowed to a realized practitioner of the Dharma in Tibetan Buddhism. Not all monks are lamas, while nuns and female practitioners can be recognized and entitled as lamas. The Tibetan word ''la-ma'' means "high mother", ...

s, Zhamtsarano believed that

the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

's views were fully compatible with communism and reprinted many Buddhist works. He hoped for a neutral Mongolia uniting all Mongols. Zhamtsarano was also a member of the Economic Council, established by the government in 1924. He was an early and consistent advocate of creating cooperatives to drive out Chinese merchants. While in Mongolia in 1926, Zhamtsarano married Badamzhap Tsedenovna; the couple had no children.

Exile and death

In fall 1928, at the Seventh Congress, Zhamtsarano was shouted down by leftists directed by the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

. He remained in Mongolia but was restricted to academic work. In March 1932, he was expelled as a "rightist" and sent to the Institute of Oriental Studies in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. He continued his academic work, writing a comprehensive

ethnographic Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

survey of Mongolia in Mongolian (1934) and defending his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

with the dissertation ''Mongolian Chronicles of the Seventeenth Century'' (1936, in Russian; 1955, English translation). On 10 August 1937, Zhamtsarano was arrested during the

. Charged as a pan-Mongolist Japanese agent, he denied the charges and did not implicate others, despite torture. He was sentenced to five years' imprisonment by the Military Collegium of the USSR Supreme Court in Moscow on 19 February 1940, and died in the labor camp at

Sol-Iletsk Sol-Iletsk () is a town in Orenburg Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Ilek River ( Ural's tributary), south of Orenburg, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 22,000 (1975); 11,802 (1897). The climate is arid, ...

on 14 April (or May) 1942.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zhamtsarano, Tsyben 1881 births 1942 deaths Academic staff of Irkutsk State University Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University Academics from the Russian Empire Buryat politicians Inmates of Black Dolphin Prison Mongolian academics Mongolian people imprisoned abroad Mongolian people who died in prison custody Mongolian People's Party politicians Prisoners who died in Soviet detention