Dorzhi Banzarov Explained

Dorzhi Banzarov
Birth Place:Dede-Ichyotuy, Transbaikal, Russian Empire
Death Place:Irkutsk, Russian Empire
Nationality:Buryat
Occupation:Orientalist

Dorzhi Banzarov (Buriat: Банзарай Доржо; Russian: Доржи́ Банза́ров, pronounced as /ru/ c. 1822–1855) was a Buryat Orientalist and linguist. He is generally considered to be the first Buryat academic.[1]

Biography

Banzarov was born to a peasant family in Dede-Ichyotuy in March 1822[2] in the modern-day Dzhidinsky District. Besides Dorzhi, there were four other sons in the family — Lochon, Badma, Dzonduy, and Kharagshan — two of whom would go on to become Lamas. His father, Banzar Borgonov, was an officer of the former regiment, and followed the Buddhist faith.[3] The Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary records him as a member of the Uriankhai peoples.[4]

In 1833 he was sent to the in Troitskosavsk, and then in 1835 to the Kazan Gymnasium, where he studied for 7 years. In 1842 he entered Kazan University,[5] where he studied under Józef Kowalewski and began to specialize in Oriental studies.

Banzarov was reported to have an almost prodigious aptitude for languages. Besides his native Buryat and Russian languages, he was reported to have studied Manchu, Kalmyk, Tibetan, Sanskrit and Turkish, and to have a good understanding of English, Latin, French and German.

While studying at the university, he began to translate foreign works into the Mongolian language, such as The Travels of Faxian, The Travels of Tulišen, and the 16th-century Kalmyk work .

Black Faith, or, Shamanism with the Mongols

He received his Ph.D. in 1846 with the paper Black Faith or Shamanism with the Mongols. This paper was received with great interest by fellow Orientalists, such as, who wrote in his biography of Banzarov: "It reflects well on the [Buryat] people and the Buryats are worthy of attention, simply because out of their midst came Dorzhi Banzarov." and Grigory Potanin, who wrote in an 1891 re-publication of Banzarov's work: "One purpose of republishing this work was to provide to those, who study the mythology and folklore of the Siberian peoples, a chance to look at the work of Banzarov, which has become a bibliographic rarity, but the main goal was to remind the Buryat people of this wonderful representative [of them], as well as the Russian public of this isolated occurrence that happened once over 30 years ago and has since never been repeated."[6]

In Black Faith, Banzarov brought forth the idea that Mongolian shamanism was a sophisticated belief system with unique origins, and not an offshoot of Buddhism, Christianity, or any other major religion.[7]

Later life

Due to his Cossack origins, however, he was obligated to begin service to the nation for 25 years as soon as he graduated. He left for St Petersburg to present his case to the Governing Senate, which decreed in 1850 that he should relocate to Irkutsk to work for the Irkutsk Governorate.[8]

In the meantime, Banzarov spent 1847-1849 working in the Asiatic Museum of St Petersburg. One of his prominent works at the Museum was to translate the writing on the Stele of Genghis Khan. His efforts were praised by those such as Otto von Böhtlingk and . He found his life in Irkutsk to be difficult, but continued to write papers and conduct scientific studies nevertheless.[9]

He died in 1855. Supposedly, he had been suffering from poor health for some time, and when a colleague came to visit him in late February 1855, he found Banzarov dead. He was buried according to Buddhist tradition.[10]

Legacy

During his lifetime and after his death, Banzarov was praised and admired by other cultural figures and intellectuals of Russia such as Nikolay Nekrasov, Nikolay Chernyshevsky, Pavel Ivanovich Melnikov, and Alexander Veselovsky; he remains the subject of scholarly interest in Russia, despite his relatively small scholarly output.[11]

In 1947, the Buryat State University was named after him, in honor of the 125th year of his birth. A street in Ulan-Ude, the capital of Buryatia, was also renamed from "Buryatskaya Street" to "Dorzhi Banzarov Street." In the 1990s, the university shifted to simply "Buryat State University", eliciting negative reactions from many Buryats;[12] in 2019 it was renamed "Dorzhi Banzarov Buryat State University".[13]

He is an important figure for the Buryat people[14] as one of the first Buryat intellectuals to gain mass acclaim in Russia and for building the academic field of Mongolian studies in Russia,[15] [16] and for being amongst the first members of the colonized peoples of Siberia to rise to the level of an academic career. The beginnings of the Buryat intelligentsia are said to begin with him and another Buryat academic, .[17]

A statue of him was installed in June 2010 in Dzhidinsky District to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the district. The sculptor was Buryat .[18] There is also a statue of him in Ulan-Ude, and a memorial to him at Kazan University, installed in October 2020.[19]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Shastina . Nina . Банзаров, Доржи . Khronos . Soviet Historical Encyclopedia . ru . 29 November 2021.
  2. Ulymzhiev . D. . Dorzhi Banzarov—the First Buryat Scholar . Mongolian Studies . 1993 . 16 . 55–57 . 43194508 . 26 January 2022.
  3. Web site: Dugarzhapov . Timur . Как Бурятский госуниверситет возвратил имя Доржи Банзарова . Novaya Buryatia . ru . How the Buryat State University got back the name of Dorzhi Banzarov . 29 November 2021.
  4. Encyclopedia: Дорджи Банзаров . Dordji Banzarov . Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary. 1891 . 881–882 . 16 July 2023 .
  5. Shimkin . Demetri . Siberian Ethnography: Historical Sketch and Evaluation . Arctic Anthropology . 1990 . 27 . 1 . 36–51 . 40316195 . 26 January 2022.
  6. Web site: Banzarov . Dorzhi . Potanin . Grigoriy . Черная вѣра, или, шаманство у монголовъ . Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society . Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society . 29 November 2021 . "Black Faith, or, Shamanism with the Mongols . ru.
  7. Hesse . Klaus . On the History of Mongolian Shamanism in Anthropological Perspective . Anthropos . 1987 . 82 . 4 . 403–413 . 40463470 . 26 January 2022.
  8. Tsyrempilov . Nikolay . "Блеск примечательной личности..." Первый бурятский ученый Доржи Банзаров в мифологических и идеологических дискурсах середины XIX – конца XX вв. . Acta Slava Iaponica . April 2020 . 40 . 1 . 26 January 2022.
  9. Lishtovanniy . Yevgeny . Доржи Банзаров в Иркутске . Вестник бурятского государственного университета . 2012 . 16 July 2023 . Dorzhi Banzarov in irkutsk . Федеральное государственное бюджетное образовательное учреждение высшего образования «Бурятский государственный университет» . ru . 1994-0866.
  10. Book: Nekrasov, Nikolay . ru:"О жизни и трудах Дорджи Банзарова" П. Савельева . Bazanov . V.G. . Gruzdev . A.I. . Os'makov . N.V. . Priyma . F.Y. . Surkov . A.A. . Hrapchenko . M.V. . Полное собрание сочинений и писем в пятнадцати томах . Complete collection of compositions and letters in 15 volumes . 1990 . . 11 . 16 July 2023 . ru . "The Life and Works of Dorzhi Banzarov" by P. Savel'yev.
  11. Baldanmaksarova . Yelizaveta . Angarkhayev . Ardan . Наследие Доржи Банзарова в аспекте литературоведческой науки . Вестник Бурятского государственного университета . 2012 . 201–205 . 15 July 2023 . Heritage Dorji Banzarov in Literary Aspect of Science . ru.
  12. Radnayev . Vladimir . Доржи Банзаров в русском востоковедении первой половины XIX в. и современном бурятском персонализме . Урало-алтайские исследования . 2015 . 3 . 105 . 15 July 2023 . Dorzhi Banzarov in the Russian oriental studies of the first half of the XIXth century and in the modern Buryat personalism . Институт языкознания Российской академии наук . ru.
  13. Web site: Министр просвещения России вернула БГУ имя Доржи Банзарова . "Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian Federation returns the name "Dorzhi Banzarov" to the Buryat State University . ru . Baikal Daily . 30 November 2021.
  14. Web site: Badmazhapova . Valentina . Актёр Чимит Дондоков: "Доржи Банзаров открыл Европе глаза на нашу культуру" . ru . "The actor Chimit Dondokov: Dorzhi Banzarov revealed our culture to Europe . Ministry of Culture of Buryatia . 29 November 2021.
  15. Dugarov . Vladimir . Доржи Банзаров и начало бурятского монголоведения и бурятиеведения . Vestnik Buryatskogo Nauchnogo Centra SO RAN . June 2019 . 34 . 26 January 2022.
  16. Atwood . Christopher P. . Buddhism and Popular Ritual in Mongolian Religion: A Reexamination of the Fire Cult . History of Religions . November 1996 . 36 . 2 . 112–139 . 10.1086/463455 . 162394887 . 26 January 2022.
  17. Rupen . Robert A. . The Buriat Intelligentsia . The Far Eastern Quarterly . May 1956 . 15 . 3 . 383–398 . 10.2307/2941876 . 2941876 . 26 January 2022.
  18. Web site: Morozova . Polina . Скульптуру первого бурятского ученого установили в Джидинском районе . Komsomolskaya Pravda . 29 November 2021 . ru . A sculpture of the first Buryat academic has been installed in the Dzhidinsky District. 14 June 2010.
  19. Web site: Busil. Larisa . На здании КФУ установлена мемориальная доска Доржи Банзарову . "The Kazan Federal University now has a memorial dedicated to Dorzhi Banzarov . ru . Official Site of Kazan Federal University . 30 November 2021.

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