Kalmyks are a nomadic people who profess Buddhism. History of Kalmykia

Archive of Kalmykov surnames. Origin of the Kalmykov surname. Where did the surname Kalmykov come from? What does the surname Kalmykov mean? History of the origin of the Kalmykov surname. What information does the Kalmykov surname store about its ancestors?

Meaning and origin of the surname Kalmykov

The owner of the surname Kalmykov can undoubtedly be proud of his ancestors, information about which is contained in various documents confirming the mark they left in the history of Russia.

Since ancient times, the Slavs had a tradition of giving a person a nickname in addition to the name he received at baptism. The fact is that there were relatively few church names, and they were often repeated. A truly inexhaustible supply of nicknames made it easy to distinguish a person in society. The sources could be: an indication of the profession, characteristics of the person’s character or appearance, the name of the nationality or locality from which the person came. In most cases, nicknames that were originally attached to baptismal names completely replaced names not only in Everyday life, but also in official documents.

The meaning of the surname Kalmykov

The surname Kalmykov belongs to the layer of surnames that come from nicknames given on the basis of a person’s national origin.

Thus, the surname Kalmykov is derived from the nickname Kalmyk, which sounded differently in different dialects. Kolmyk, for example, is a phonetic version of the nickname Kalmyk or Kolmak. The inhabitants of Kamchatka were previously called Kalmyks.

In addition, Kalmyks are a people living mainly in the Kalmyk Autonomous Republic, as well as in the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Rostov regions and in Stavropol region Russia.

Basically, all Kalmyks spoke the Kalmyk language and professed Lamaism (one of the forms of Buddhism). The basis of the economy of most Kalmyks in the past was nomadic and semi-nomadic cattle breeding (cattle, sheep, horses, camels). Separate groups of Kalmyks were engaged in fishing.

Origin of the surname Kalmykov

Already in the 15th–16th centuries, among wealthy people, surnames began to be fixed and passed on from generation to generation, indicating a person’s belonging to a specific family. These were possessive adjectives with the suffixes –ov/-ev, -in, initially indicating the father’s nickname.

The bulk of the population remained without surnames for a long time. The beginning of their consolidation was laid by the clergy, in particular the Kiev Metropolitan Petro Mohyla, who in 1632 instructed the priests to keep metrics of those born, married, and dead.

After the abolition of serfdom, the government faced a serious task: to give surnames to former serfs. In 1888, the Senate published a special decree in which it was written: “To be called by a certain surname is not only the right, but also the duty of every full-fledged person, and the designation of the surname on some documents is required by law itself.”

Talk about the exact place and time of origin of the Kalmykov surname in this moment is not possible, since the process of forming surnames was quite long. Nevertheless, the Kalmykov surname is a wonderful monument of Slavic writing and culture.

Three centuries ago, the English historian Gibbon claimed that it was the Kalmyks who stopped the advance of Alexander the Great across Central Asia. This version is bright, but confused and unfounded.

The truly confirmed history of the Kalmyks begins in the 13th century. In particular, Tamerlane’s biographers note that the famous commander’s youth was spent in an adventure-filled struggle with the Kalmyks who occupied his homeland.

It’s no wonder that, having dealt with the “occupiers,” the trained Tamerlane walked around the entire Central Asia not a joke...

At the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, the Kalmyks became bored and crowded (according to steppe concepts), and therefore they began a powerful expansion towards Europe. They moved slowly but surely through southern Siberia, Urals and Central Asia to the Volga and Don. By the mid-17th century, expansive nomads occupied a truly vast territory: from the Yenisei to the Don (from east to west) and from the Urals to India (from north to south). In 1640, at the congress of Kalmyk khans, the Great Steppe Code was adopted - a general Kalmyk code of laws that established a single legal space. Greatest Empire nomads was named the Dzungar Khanate.

But the time of the unified empire was short-lived: its westernmost part, the Volga region, broke away from the Dzungar Khanate. It was named the Kalmyk Khanate. Currently, it is customary to call Volga Kalmyks Kalmyks, and other Kalmyks - Oirats.

Here is a map of Dzungaria, dated 1720:

As you can see, the Kalmyk Khanate did not enter Dzungaria; moreover, it is not designated in any way in the Volga region. Incident? Not at all: this autonomy received recognition from the Russian authorities somewhat later, during the time of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna.

Volga Kalmyks... Soon after their recognition, they began to regularly serve the Russian autocrats and defend the southern borders of Russia - from the Turks and other hot guys. However, despite all their worthy deeds, they did not earn reciprocity from the Moscow authorities, and the amount of “taxes” was constantly increasing. As a result, by 1771 a situation arose that was very reminiscent of the situation before the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.

Grievances are grievances, but somehow you have to survive... And, hiding their pride in their pouches and pockets, most of the Kalmyks (without the massacre of babies and other revenge contrary to Buddhism) moved towards the remnants of Dzungaria.

Here's how Sergei Yesenin wrote about it:

Have you ever dreamed of a cart whistle?
Tonight at the dawn of the liquid
Thirty thousand Kalmyk tents
From Samara it crawled to Irgis.
From Russian bureaucratic bondage,
Because they were plucked like partridges
In our meadows
They reached out to their Mongolia
A herd of wood turtles.

I note that Yesenin mistakenly called Dzungaria (the territory of modern northern China) “his Mongolia”.

But not all Kalmyks left. Some of them remained, as evidenced, for example, by the testimony of other poets (in this case, contemporaries): Alexander Pushkin, who let slip the phrase “And the Kalmyk is a friend of the steppes” and Fyodor Glinka: “I saw how a Kalmyk led a steppe horse to the Seine to drink” - it's about the events of 1813.

European Kalmyk autonomy was revived in 1920. This was done, of course, by the Soviet government. But the same Soviet authority also arranged a repeat Kalmyk exodus, or rather a forced abduction: on December 27, 1943, a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On the liquidation of the Kalmyk USSR and the formation of the Astrakhan region within the RSFSR” was issued:

From the text of the decree:

Considering that during the period of occupation of the territory of the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic by the German fascist invaders, many Kalmyks betrayed their Motherland, joined military detachments organized by the Germans to fight against the Red Army, betrayed honest Soviet citizens to the Germans, captured and handed over to the Germans collective farm cattle evacuated from the Rostov region and Ukraine, and after the Red Army expelled the occupiers, they organized gangs and actively opposed the bodies of Soviet power to restore the economy destroyed by the Germans, carried out bandit raids on collective farms and terrorized the surrounding population, - the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decides:

1. All Kalmyks living on the territory of the Kalmyk ASSR should be resettled to other regions of the USSR, and the Kalmyk ASSR should be liquidated...

Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - (M. Kalinin).
Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR - (A. Gorkin).

The background of the decree is as follows: on February 11, 1943, at a meeting of the State Defense Committee, Comrade Beria reported that in the summer of 1942, soldiers of the 110th Separate Kalmyk cavalry division en masse went over to the side of the Germans.

This was a deliberate untruth. There certainly were facts of Kalmyk cavalrymen going over to the side of the Germans. But overall this division fought with dignity.

Even the fascists recognized the self-sacrificing heroism of the Kalmyks. Quote from the book of the American writer Anne-Louise Strong: “By a strange irony of fate, the first Red Army soldiers mentioned in the Berlin press for crazy heroism were not Russians, but Kalmyks. The Nazi superior race had to recognize that, for some unknown reason, war heroes emerged from this “inferior” race.”

To the national division it was already noted special treatment, and after Beria’s slander it was completely disbanded... This overwhelmed the patience of those dissatisfied with the Soviet regime, and, as a result, the opinion of some Kalmyks about the Soviets became purely negative. And, nevertheless, Kalmyk partisan detachments did not stop operating in the occupied territory, thousands of Kalmyk soldiers continued to selflessly fight in the ranks of the Red Army.

And at this time, the fascists began to actively form one of their anti-Soviet hopes and supports - the Kalmyk Cavalry Corps. The corps managed to attract more than six thousand soldiers and officers. And he began to fight with interest. No, he only took part in real combat twice. This corps “fought” with the population of Ukraine and southern Russia captured by the Germans - it was given the task of maintaining order in the rear.

There are hundreds of testimonies about the atrocities of the Kalmyk traitors. In retaliation, the Soviet government indiscriminately punished the entire ethnic group. The operation was called "Ulus"...

A few weeks after the decree was issued - in the winter of 1944 - all Kalmyk cities, khotons and villages were deserted. In addition to the civilian population, many Kalmyk Red Army soldiers were also exiled to Siberia - they were en masse recalled from the warring units. In these cases, the angry Soviets had to be ruthlessly cynical, for example this man was recalled from leadership position to SMERSH with the wording: “For inadequacy of the position held due to mental disability”:

She also talked about how the deportees were greeted by local residents (“cannibals, cannibals are being transported!”), about how, having soon figured it out, Omsk, Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk residents helped the confused and unadapted southerners to survive in an elementary way, about the fact that, despite Due to such participation, during the deportation and during the hardships of Siberia (hard work, malnutrition, living in barracks and livestock buildings), most of the exiles died.

Exposition "About Kalmyk Siberian life":

Resettler subscription:

But we don’t blame anyone, says this wise woman. Such were the times, such were the orders. And we generally have very good memories of Siberians. And now we especially sensitively value good relations with the peoples we live next to.

In 1957, during the Khrushchev Thaw, the Kalmyks were finally allowed to return to the southern Volga. A doctor I know, who lived in the village of Sadovoy from 51 to 57 and worked as a therapist and dermatovenereologist, said that the Kalmyks returned, although inspired by hopes, but exhausted and painful, for example, more than half of them had skin diseases, in particular scabies . Returnees settled in vacant houses, often not in those they had left (Russians lived there), but somewhere in the neighborhood, which could not but affect interethnic relations.

And Alexandra Feodorovna and her husband, like many Russians, left - “the time has come.”

For many years, the situation in the republic could not return to normal: there was no full rehabilitation. And in the 60-80s, the Soviet government suddenly decided to conduct a propaganda campaign with the aim of inducing a persistent feeling of guilt among the Kalmyks - for the atrocities of the Kalmyk Cavalry Corps. After all, the guilty one is obedient and well-controlled.

With the beginning of perestroika, the Land of Soviets had no time national policy. And therefore Kalmykia was left alone. Then Yeltsin appeared in Moscow in an armored car, and soon one of them (either Yeltsin or the armored car) rumbled: “Take as much independence as you can!”

The phrase was addressed to national entities.

It is clear that a competition immediately broke out “who will take more, what will take better.” It is clear that Chechnya turned out to be the most stubborn entity. But Kalmykia was not far behind: together with Tatarstan, it was in the top three.

In 1992, the Kalmyk Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was named the Republic of Kalmykia. A year later, presidential elections were held in the Republic of Kazakhstan, which was convincingly won by a charming young man with a dubious entrepreneurial reputation - Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

This event marked the beginning of the parallel maturation of the president and the young republic.

The Kalmyk press presented Ilyumzhinov as the new Dzhangar - the legendary folk hero. Ordinary people talked about how powerful, insightful and caring he was.

I remember how in 1998 the owner of an Elista restaurant assured me that in a couple of years Batyr-Kirsan would build a real Dzungaria in Kalmykia, that he was wise like Buddha and fair like the Sun, that in this world of eternal reincarnations he did not forget about whom

The apotheosis of Kirsan’s difficult stage of growing up was the announcement of the likelihood of Kalmykia separating from Russia and the erection of a monument to the Great Schemer, that is, which is understandable even without interlinear words - to his beloved, or more precisely, to his important incarnation.

And then the federal government got angry, oh, angry...

Khan Kirsan turned out to be very shrewd and therefore quickly reduced his buffoonery to an acceptable level.

Moscow, no less promptly, noticed the positive changes and rewarded Ilyumzhinov with the opportunity to improve the republic; Kalmykia was allowed to become active as a free economic zone (already closed), and besides, to live on a big, big loan (the current debt is 13.5 billion rubles).

The criminal cases that were unpleasant for Kirsan were successfully collapsed, and he was allowed to patronize chess to the extent that his organizational skills were sufficient.

Buddhist endeavors were also welcomed, and as a result, here and there the roofs of khuruls and rotundas shone.
The Republic has become more mature and self-confident, and so has its charismatic leader. It is believed, understood and felt that Kalmyk people now live more freely, more honestly and better than a few years ago.

They, who have been cultivating friendliness and sympathy for all living things for the last few centuries, have almost nothing to fear: the crime rate is one of the lowest in the Southern Federal District. In the center of evening Elista, it is quite difficult to find a teenager smoking or drinking beer - I have not seen such a picture in any of the Russian and other European cities.

National and Buddhist traditions are being renewed not so much for external effect(which is unnatural for most Kalmyks), how much for oneself, for the family, for the future.

Green, forever golden and purple Elista pleases both the owners and the increasingly numerous visitors; the smooth and clean streets are full of flowers, monuments and smiles. The history of Kalmykia has emerged from its last turn and began to rotate forward.

Steppe, people in the steppe, people have calm joy. She calls, and the steppe meets her, in the steppe there are people, people have a calm joy...

In the next part I will talk about Buddhism and its European enclave.

Photo and text: Oleg Gorbunov, 2006

Essays on the history of the Kalmyk ASSR. Pre-October period. Publishing house "Science", Moscow, 1967.

Chapter II HISTORICAL BACKGROUND FOR THE FORMATION OF THE KALMYK PEOPLE

1. Origin of the Kalmyks. Oirats - the ancestors of the Kalmyk people

The history of Kalmykia and its people is an integral part of the history of Russia and its peoples. Having voluntarily joined the Russian state more than three and a half centuries ago, the Kalmyks inextricably linked their destiny with Russia, with the peoples of Russia, and first of all, with the Russian people. The closest ancestors of the Kalmyks were the Oirats, otherwise the Western Mongols, who from ancient times lived in Dzungaria and the western regions of Mongolia.

Separated from Dzungaria by a huge and at that time difficult to overcome distance, the Oirats who settled on the Volga began to gradually lose connections with their former fellow tribesmen who remained in the old nomadic camps. In the second half of the 18th century, after the Oirat feudal state - the Dzungar Khanate - was defeated and ceased to exist, these ties were completely broken. But an isolated existence for the Volga Oirats was, of course, impossible. They were surrounded by neighbors, some of them, like the Oirats, were nomadic pastoralists, others were settled agriculturalists: some of these neighbors were at a low level of cultural development, others, on the contrary, had reached a high level of culture.

Simultaneously with the weakening of ties with Dzungaria, the economic, political, cultural and everyday ties of the Volga Oirats with their new neighbors, primarily and mainly with the Russians, began to rapidly multiply and strengthen.

This is how the conditions and prerequisites arose for the formation of a new nationality in the lower reaches of the Volga, which went down in history under the name Kalmyks.

But where did the term “Kalmyk” come from, what does it mean, who was and is meant by it. These questions have been facing historical science for a long time, but there is still no convincing answer to them.

Such a competent witness as V.M. Bakunin, who for many years observed and studied the life of the Kalmyks on the Volga, wrote in 1761: “It is worthy of note that the Khosheuts and Zengorians do not call themselves and the Torgouts Kalmyks to this day, but call, as indicated above, “Oirat” the Torgouts as themselves , and although the Khoshouts and Zengorians are called Kalmyks, they themselves testify that this name is not characteristic of their language, but they think that the Russians called them that, but in fact it is clear that this word “Kalmyk” came from the Tatar language, for The Tatars call them “Kalmak”, which means “backward” or “backward”. Without dwelling here on the division of the Oirats into Torgouts, Khoshouts, Zengors and others mentioned by Bakunin, since this will be discussed below, we note his testimony that already by that time, i.e. by 1761, the Torgouts called themselves and other Oirats Kalmyks, although they recognized this name as unusual for their native language, but introduced into it from the outside, from non-Oirats and non-Mongols. From Bakunin’s words it also follows that the rest of the Oirats, except for the Torgouts, at this time continued to use their traditional self-name “Oirat”.

Bichurin also had no doubt that “kalimak is a name given to the Western Mongols by the Turkestans.” Such an interested witness as the Kalmyk noyon Batur-Ubashi-Tyumen, the author of “The Tale of the Derben-Oirats,” wrote in 1819: “The Mangat (Turks) gave the name halimak (Kalmyk) to those remaining after the fall of Nutuk: halimak means in Oirat yuldul (remainder)". This witness, as we see, had no doubt that the term “Kalmyk” is of Turkic origin, that it was given to the Oirats by the Turks during the collapse of Nutuk. It is only unclear what kind of collapse of Nutuk he was talking about and what time he dated it.

In a special article about Kalmyks V.V. Bartold, in turn, expressed the idea that the term “Kalmyk” is a Turkic name for one of the Mongolian peoples, whose self-name is “Oirats”.

Let us conclude with a statement from V.L. Kotvich, which can be considered in a certain sense as a certain result of the study of this issue: “To designate the Western Mongols (i.e. Oirats - Ed.), three terms are most often used in Russian and foreign literature: Oirats - from Mongolian and Kalmyk sources, Kalmyks - from Muslim ones, which are followed by old Russian sources, including archival documents, and elutes (oleuths) - from Chinese ones. Here (i.e. in this work on the history of the Oirats. - Ed.) the Mongolian term Oirats is adopted: the term Kalmyks retains its special use to designate that group of Oirats that lives along the Volga, Don and Ural rivers and has adopted this name , forgetting the old name of the Oirat."

So, it can be considered established, firstly, that all Oirats were called Kalmyks by their Turkic-speaking neighbors, while the Oirats themselves, especially Western Mongolian and Dzungar ones, adhered to their traditional self-name, and secondly, that only at the end of the 18th century. the term “Kalmyks” began to acquire the meaning of the self-name of the descendants of those Oirats who in the 17th century. settled in the lower reaches of the Volga, thereby reflecting the completion of the process of their consolidation into an independent new Mongol-speaking people - the Kalmyk. An important milestone in this process is the legislative activity of the Kalmyk ruler Donduk-Dashi in the 40s of the 18th century, which will be discussed in detail in Chapter V. The laws of Donduk-Dashi reflected new phenomena in the economic, political and cultural life of Kalmyk society that had accumulated over its century existence of the conditions of the then Russian reality.

It should be noted, however, that in general the problem of the formation of the Kalmyk people still requires its own special study. It is important to find out when and why the Turkic-speaking neighbors began to call the Oirats Kalmyks.

Batur-Ubashi-Tyumen, as we have seen, believed that the Turks assigned the name “Kalmyk” to the Oirats when “the Oirat Nutuk collapsed.” It is possible that by this definition he meant migration at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 48th century. part of the Oirat population from Dzungaria to Russia, and later to the Volga. But such an understanding would be a mistake. The term “Kalmyk” appeared in Turkic literature much earlier than this event. The first mention of the Kalmyks is found in the work of Sheref-ad-din Yazdi “Zafar-name”, written in the first quarter of the 15th century. Describing the military events of the era of Timur Khan (1370-1405), the author reports the arrival to Timur in 1397/98 of ambassadors from Desht-i-Kipchak from the Dzhuchiev ulus (i.e. from the Golden Horde), whose inhabitants he calls Kalmyks . Another author, Abd-ar-razzak of Samarkandi (1413-1482), outlining the history of the reign of Shahrukh (1404-1447) and Sultan Abu Said (1452-1469), indicates that in 1459/60 “great ambassadors arrived from lands of Kalmyk and Desht-i-Kipchak”, that these ambassadors were admitted to Abu Said, whose feet they kissed, etc. Of greatest interest is the story about the Kalmyks in the historical chronicle “Genealogy of the Turks,” written by an unknown author no earlier than the middle of the 15th century . Speaking about the spread of Islam in the Golden Horde during the reign of Uzbek Khan (1312-1343), the author writes: “When Sultan-Muhammad-Uzbek Khan, together with his il and ulus, achieved the happiness (to receive) the mercy of God, then according to the instructions of the mysterious and As an undoubted sign, Saint Seyid-Ata led everyone towards the regions of Transoxiana, and those unfortunates who abandoned devotion to Saint Seyid-Ata and remained there began to be called Kalmak, which means “doomed to remain”... For this reason, those who came from that time people began to be called Uzbeks, and the people who remained there were called Kalmaks.”

There is hardly any reason to doubt the message of this source. It is quite possible that this is exactly how things were at the time described, that that part of the Mongol- and Turkic-speaking population of the Golden Horde, which did not follow Uzbek Khan and Seyid-Ata, received from the faithful Islamists the name “Kalmyk” in the sense of “doomed to remain,” “remainer”, “apostate”, etc. But all this cannot explain to us why this name was transferred by the Turkic-speaking neighbors to the Oirats who lived in Western Mongolia and Dzungaria, who had nothing to do with the Golden Horde, and, in particular , for that part of the Oirats that in the 16th-17th centuries. moved to the lower reaches of the Volga. V.V. Bartold saw the reason for this in the fact that the Oirats of Western Mongolia and Dzungaria also refused to join Islam, unlike the Dungans who lived interspersed with and next to the Oirats and joined the religion of the Prophet Muhammad. But this explanation cannot yet be confirmed by specific historical facts and remains a guess. To finally resolve the issue, further study of Turkic, Russian, Mongolian and, possibly, Chinese and Tibetan sources is necessary. Only on this basis will it be possible to shed full light on the history of the term “Kalmyk”, its origin and meaning.

It is only clear that the ancestors of the modern Kalmyk people are the Oirats. Without going into detail the history of these ancestors, since it forms an integral component history of Mongolia and the Mongolian people, we have to uncover and trace the development of historical prerequisites that led to the migration of part of the Oirats from Dzungaria in the 16th - 17th centuries. and the subsequent formation of an independent Kalmyk people within the Russian state.

More or less reliable data about the Oirats are given in sources dating from the 11th - 12th centuries. By this time, in the steppes of Central Asia, the historical process of transition from the primitive communal system to feudalism, from clan and tribal ethnic groups to more tall type ethnic communities - nationalities. During this transition period, which lasted about 15 centuries, a number of Turkic-speaking and Mongol-speaking peoples took shape, the social system of which by the 12th-13th centuries. corresponded to the initial forms of the feudal mode of production. Evidence from sources allows us to see in such Mongol-speaking associations as the Naimans, Kereits and some others, not just tribes or tribal unions, as they are usually characterized in literature, but small states or khanates of the early feudal type.
This type of association was approached in the 12th century. and Oirats. Rashid ad-din at the end of the 13th - beginning of the 14th century. wrote about them: “These tribes have been numerous since ancient times and branched into several branches, each individually had a specific name...”. Unfortunately, due to an omission in the text of Rashid ad-din’s manuscript, we are not able to establish the name of those tribes and clans that made up the Oirat association. But this omission was not accidental.

Rashid ad-din did not have the relevant materials. He himself admits this, noting that the Oirat tribes “[are] unknown in detail.” In one place, however, he reports that at the beginning of the 13th century. The Oirats were led by Khudukha-beki from the Derben tribe. It follows from this that the Derbens were part of the Oirat association. It is difficult to say whether there is a genetic connection between these ancient Derbens and the later Derbets, about which all Mongolian chronicles of the 17th-19th centuries write.

Back in the first half of the 11th century. some Mongol-speaking tribes and tribal associations, including the Oirats, moved to the areas of the Baikal region and the upper reaches of the Yenisei. It is quite possible that this was due to the general large movements of the peoples of Central and Central Asia that unfolded in the 20-30s of the 11th century. But the migration of the Oirats to the marked areas is also confirmed by Rashid ad-din. At the beginning of the 13th century, on the eve of the formation of the Mongolian early feudal state, the nomadic pastures of the Oirat tribes extended in the north and northwest to the borders of the Yenisei Kirghiz, in the east to the river. Selenga, in the south to the spurs of Altai, approaching here the upper reaches of the Irtysh. The defeat of the Naiman Khanate by Genghis Khan allowed the Oirats to occupy their nomadic camps in western Mongolia., far from its centers, the Oirat feudal lords enjoyed relative independence from the central khan's power, while at the same time strengthening their own power in their domains. In contrast to the central regions of the then Mongolia, which economically gravitated towards the Chinese markets and depended on them, the Oirat possessions, no less than the Eastern Mongols interested in trade exchanges with China, were still less connected with the Chinese markets, because they had the opportunity to at least partially and sometimes cover their needs through trade with their western Turkic-speaking neighbors. This is how a certain territorial, administrative and partly economic isolation of the Oirat feudal possessions developed, which contributed to the preservation and strengthening of specific features in language, life and cultural traditions

Oirats, which brought them closer to each other, but at the same time distinguished them from the rest of the Mongols. Under these conditions, the tendency towards the formation of a special Oirat Mongol-speaking people could not but arise and develop. This trend was intensified by the fact that the Oirats, inhabiting the western regions of Mongolia, voluntarily or unwittingly, were involved in the struggle that Mongol contenders for the khan’s throne waged among themselves in the middle and throughout the second half of the 13th century.

As for the socio-economic relations within Oirat society, they were generally no different from the rest of Mongolian society. As throughout Mongolia, feudal production relations strengthened and became dominant among the Oirats during the years of the empire.

Collapse of the empire and expulsion in 1368 Mongolian feudal conquerors from China exposed the deep internal contradictions of Mongolian society, the main ones being the lack of internal unity and the weakness of the prerequisites for the creation of this unity. And where could unity come from under the conditions of the undivided dominance of the natural economy, the weakness of the social division of labor and almost complete absence internal trade, exclusive dependence on foreign trade exchanges with settled agricultural peoples, disinterest of local feudal rulers in strengthening the central khan's power, the strength, authority and importance of which had sharply fallen?

If during the period of the empire these contradictions did not break out, being restrained by the splendor and strength of the imperial court and other attributes of imperial power, then the fall of the latter immediately brought into action the centrifugal forces that had been dormant until then. The era of feudal fragmentation in Mongolia began. It was opened by Oirat feudal lords. Relying on the economic power of their possessions, quite significant military forces, and the relative cohesion of the Oirat society, they were the first in Mongolia to oppose themselves to the central khan's power and pursue an independent domestic and foreign policy, regardless of the interests and plans of the all-Mongolian rulers - the direct descendants of Genghis Khan. First half of the 15th century characterized, on the one hand, by increasing discord in Eastern Mongolia, and on the other, by the growing strength of the Oirat feudal lords and their political consolidation. On this basis, a tendency arose and began to grow stronger towards the establishment of their hegemony throughout Mongolia, towards the transition state power into their hands. This tendency received its greatest development during the reign of the Oirat noyon Esen, who for a short time united all of Mongolia under his rule, became the all-Mongolian khan, and gained big victory

over the army of the Ming dynasty of China and even captured Emperor Yingzong. These successes of the Oirat feudal lords could not but contribute to the further deepening of the process of consolidation of the Oirats into a special Mongol-speaking ethnic community - the Oirat people. It is noteworthy that it was precisely at this time that they had the appearance of such an ethnographic innovation as wearing a ulan-zal - a small tassel made of red fabric on, which passed from the Oirats to the Kalmyks and was in use until relatively recently. First introduced by the decree of the Oirat ruler Togon-taisha in 1437, the ulan-zala later became widespread among the masses, serving as a visual expression of their difference from the rest of the Mongols.

It is important to note that the Kalmyks, right up to the October Revolution, often called themselves “Ulan Zalata” or “Ulan Zalata Khalmg”, i.e. “wearing a red tassel” or “red-tasseled Kalmyks”, putting into these words the meaning of an ethnonym equal in meaning to the term “Kalmyk”.

In the course of the history of the Oirat people, their language gradually emerged as a special, independent language. Research in recent years indicates that as a result of the collapse of the Mongol Empire, the Oirat dialect was already in the 13th century. standing somewhat apart from other Mongolian dialects, it gave rise to the process of formation of a special Oirat language. Since that time, significant phonetic and morphological changes have occurred in the Oirat language. It was replenished with a significant number of words borrowed from other languages, mainly Turkic. Yu. Lytkin wrote: “The influence of the Turkic language developed in the language of the Oirats or Western Mongols softness, flexibility and elasticity, which the language of the Eastern Mongols was deprived of, liveliness and extraordinary conciseness, amazing fluency and ebullience of the living dialect of the Oirats fully expressed their ebullient, active life.” . Thus, the formation of the Oirat language developed in parallel with the process of consolidation of the Oirats into a special nationality and, being one of the main signs of the nationality, confirms the completion of this process. In turn, the Oirat language itself finally took shape as a special language in the 16th and early 17th centuries. The formation of the Oirat written literary language is associated with the famous Oirat educator and Zaya-Panditoy, who created the Oirat script, which became known as “todo bichig”, i.e. “a clear letter”, “As if responding to the new needs and national identity of the Oirats,” wrote academician B.Ya. Vladimirtsov, a representative of one of the Oirat tribes of the Khoshouts of Zaya-Pandit, who received a solid education in Tibet, invented in 1648 a special Oirat alphabet based on the common Mongolian one, and established the rules of a new spelling, guided mainly by the etymological principle of spelling. An even greater merit of Zaya Pandita is that he defined and established the literary language of the Oirats.”

The vitality and timeliness of the reform carried out by Zaya-Pandita is convincingly confirmed by the fact that it is exclusively short term became the only basis of the Oirat written language and Oirat literature, which will be discussed in detail in the chapter devoted to the culture of the Kalmyk people. These are in general outline the main stages of the formation of the Oirat people - the ancestor of the Kalmyk people.

Specific historical data, the objective course of the historical process convincingly indicate that Kalmyks and Oirats are not one and the same people, only called differently, but two different people, although connected by completely obvious genetic ties: the Oirats are the ancestors, the Kalmyks are the descendants. The history of the Kalmyk people is not a simple continuation of the history of the Oirats. Kalmyk history as such arose and developed not in the steppes of Central Asia, but in the lower reaches of the Volga. Events of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. are the boundary separating the Oirat history from the history of the Kalmyk people.

It remains for us to consider the question of what such divisions of the Oirats and Kalmyks as Torgouts, Derbets, Khoshouts, Khoyts, etc. were. The opinion has long been established in the literature that the Torgouts, Derbets, Khoyts, Khoshouts, etc. are ethnonyms, names of tribes, the totality of which allegedly constituted the Oirat people, or the “Oirat union,” as many researchers wrote. There is no doubt that in ancient times many of these names were indeed the names of clan and tribal groups. True, historical science, as mentioned above, does not have convincing evidence that can confirm such Torgouts, Derbets, Khoyts, etc. But even if this were the case, it is impossible to imagine that the clans and tribes could have been preserved among the Oirats and Kalmyks in an almost untouched form until the 18th - 20th centuries. The tribal division of the Oirats and especially the Kalmyks in their ancient form and ancient meaning was a long-passed stage; the place of clans and tribes centuries ago was taken by the Oirat and then by the Kalmyk peoples, who absorbed and dissolved these archaic social groups.

What, then, were the Torgouts, Derbets, Khoyts and other similar groups of Kalmyks in the 17th - 18th centuries? and later?

There is no complete clarity on this issue yet. It requires additional historical, linguistic and ethnographic study. There is an opinion that in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Torgouts, Khoshouts, Derbets, etc., as well as their more fractional divisions, still represented more or less compact masses of people connected by a common origin, dialect, customs, historical fate, etc. and were thus preserved a remnant, a relic of the corresponding tribal associations of the past. There is another opinion, according to which the Torgouts, Derbets, Khoshouts and others in the described time were no longer ethnic communities, but family nicknames of noyons who held power in their hands, owners of Nutuks and Ulusons, princely dynasties that stood at the head of the corresponding feudal estates . Supporters of this opinion admit that in the distant past the Torgouts, Derbets, Khoyts, Khoshouts, etc. really represented clan and tribal associations. But in the course of history, these associations were fragmented, mixed, merged and disappeared, giving way to other, more progressive forms of ethnic and social formations., hereditarily ruling aristocratic families, after which the direct producers feudally dependent on them were also called - “kharachu” (“black bone people”), regardless of their origin. Yesterday these people were under the authority of the Torgout khans and princes, and therefore were called Torgout; today they were subjugated by the Derbet khans or taishas, ​​and they became derbets, for the same reason, tomorrow they could become Khoyts or Khoshouts. To this should be added the influence of Russian legislation and the Russian administration, which contributed to the stabilization of the administrative and political structure that had developed in Kalmykia, preventing the free transition of people from one ulus to another, from one ruler to another, and thereby assigning the family names of their khans and princes to the kharacha.

It is known that the largest Mongol-speaking components that made up the single Kalmyk people are the Torgouts and Derbets, which included the remnants of such more or less ancient tribal and territorial groups as the Khoits, Merkits, Uriankhus, Tsoros, Batuts, Chonos, Sharnuts, Harnuts, abganers, etc. Data from sources indicate that these groups over time, especially during the period of the 16th-17th centuries, were absorbed by the Torgouts and Derbets, who gradually assimilated them. As a result of this, the Merkits, Batuts, Uriankhus and Kharnuts became part of the Torgouts and are called Torgouts, and the Chonos, Abganers, Tsoros, Sharnuts, etc. became part of the Derbets and are called Derbets.

But in addition to the Mongol-speaking components, the Kalmyk people also included others ethnic groups Turkic, Finno-Ugric, Caucasian and Slavic origin, close contacts and multilateral ties with which have been widely developed since the settlement of the Kalmyks on the Volga.

Kalmyks are the only Mongol-speaking people in Europe who profess Buddhism and are a representative of the nomadic culture. central Asia considered their homeland, their ancestors were Western Mongols, who raised livestock and roamed the steppe in search of better pastures.

The history of the people dates back to the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, when the separated part of the Oirat tribe moved to the lands of the lower Volga, to the territory of the modern Republic of Kalmykia, where they became part of Russian Empire. Kalmyks are born horsemen and successful warriors.

Currently their number is about 200 thousand.

Culture and life of the people of Kalmykia

Spiritual culture was formed for centuries under the general Mongolian and Oirat traditions, and then it was influenced and introduced new features by strengthening ties with other nationalities of Russia. Thus, the core modern culture became ancient traditions, enriched by the influence of historical transformations.

By the beginning of the 18th century, thanks to researchers, the first mentions of the epic folk art of the Kalmyks appeared. The main monuments of this creativity were the epic “Dzhangar”, which reflected historical events from the life of the people, and a song about how the Mongolian Ubashi Khun Taiji fought with the Oirat tribes in 1587. According to the plan, it stands next to the song “About the exploits of the hero Sanala” and represents one of the verses of “Dzhangara”.

(Kalmyks in traditional clothes)

According to the recognition of the Russian orientalist and Mongolian B. Ya. Vladimirtsov, it expresses the national spirit, aspirations, hopes and expectations of the people. Shown real world, everyday life, but presented as an ideal. That is why it is a folk poem.

"Dzhangar" contains several thousand poems combined into independent songs. They glorify the battle of heroes with foreign enemies for the freedom and independence of the people. The feat of the heroes of this epic is to protect the country of Bumba - an illusory place where there is always a peaceful sky, a sea of ​​​​happiness and peace.

Another monument of the folk epic is “The Tale of Gesar”. It also glorifies the struggle for justice.

(Yurt)

The people have always glorified in their oral epic ordinary person, as unusually brave, resourceful and infinitely kind. On the other hand, the greed of secular rulers, feudal lords and representatives of the clergy who steal from their own people is ridiculed. They are presented in an absurd, comic form. And a simple person with worldly wisdom is always ready to speak out against the tyranny of the oppressors, defending those who are poor and disadvantaged. And victory will always be his.

Customs and holidays of Kalmyks

New Year

Zul - (originally the 25th day of the month of Cow) in its modern form, which became the New Year - is an ancient holiday, so beloved by the people. It dates back more than 6 centuries. It is celebrated on the day of the winter solstice (December 22), when the length of the day increases. In Kalmyk “zul” is a lamp or lamp. Lights are lit everywhere on this day - in churches, houses, on the streets. It was believed that the stronger the flame, the more energy would be released to the sun. And that means it will heat up more. In the temples they used to tell fortunes using lit torches - for a successful year. Gifts to Buddhist deities were left on sacrificial stones.

The coming of spring

At the beginning of March, Tsagan Sar (white month) is celebrated. Congratulations are heard all around on the end of the cold and hungry time. Preparations are underway for relocation to new pastures, and livestock are awaiting offspring. The elders accept food from the younger ones. In ancient times, people gathered near the temple and waited for the dawn. General prayer was performed as soon as the first rays of the sun broke through the heavenly surface. Offerings were made.

The main holiday of summer

The unity of earth and water is celebrated by the people in June on the full moon. The deities were appeased with abundant offerings so that the grass on the new pastures would be lush and rich, the livestock would be well-fed and healthy, and therefore the people would be happy and prosperous. A ritual was performed: all the cattle gathered, and the owner sprinkled milk and kumis on their heads.

Tulip Festival

This holiday can be called the youngest. It was introduced in the early 90s by the president of the young republic. The holiday is celebrated on the second Sunday of April, when the entire territory of Kalmykia is covered with a multi-colored blanket of tulips. On this day, all the young people walk, dance groups perform. And the “Tulip” ensemble, which introduced the whole world to the beauty and diversity of Kalmyk folk dance, gives performances in open areas of the city.

Since the 17th century, Kalmyks have taken an active part in the history of Russia. Experienced warriors, they reliably protected the southern borders of the state. The Kalmyks, however, continued to wander. Sometimes not of your own free will.

"Call me Arslan"

Lev Gumilev said: “Kalmyks are my favorite people. Don’t call me Lev, call me Arslan.” "Arsalan" in Kalmyk - Lev.

Kalmyks (Oirats) - immigrants from the Dzungar Khanate, began to populate the territories between the Don and Volga at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. Subsequently, they founded the Kalmyk Khanate on these lands.

The Kalmyks themselves call themselves “Khalmg”. This word goes back to the Turkic “remnant”, or “breakaway”, since the Kalmyks were that part of the Oirats that did not convert to Islam.

The migration of Kalmyks to the current territory of Russia was associated with internecine conflicts in Dzungaria, as well as with a shortage of pastures.

Their advance to the lower Volga was fraught with a number of difficulties. They had to confront the Kazakhs, Nogais and Bashkirs.

In 1608 - 1609, Kalmyks took the oath of allegiance to the Russian Tsar for the first time.

"Zakha Ulus"

The tsarist government officially allowed Kalmyks to roam the Volga in the second half of the 40s of the 17th century, nicknamed “rebellious” in Russian history. Tense foreign policy relations with Crimean Khanate, Turks and Poland posed a real threat to Russia. The southern underbelly of the state needed irregular border troops. The Kalmyks took on this role.

The Russian word “outback” is derived from the Kalmyk “zakha ulus”, which means “border” or “distant” people.

The then ruler of the Kalmyks, Taisha Daichin, stated that he was always “ready to beat the sovereign’s disobedient people.” The Kalmyk Khanate at that time was a powerful force of 70-75 thousand mounted soldiers, while the Russian army in those years consisted of 100-130 thousand people.

Some historians even elevate the Russian battle cry “Hurray!” to the Kalmyk “uralan”, which translates as “forward!”

Thus, the Kalmyks could not only reliably protect the southern borders of Russia, but also send some of their soldiers to the West. The writer Murad Adji noted that “Moscow fought in the Steppe with the hands of the Kalmyks.”

Warriors of the "White Tsar"

The role of Kalmyks in foreign military policy Russia in the 17th century is difficult to overestimate. Kalmyks, together with the Cossacks, participated in the Crimean and Azov campaigns Russian army, in 1663, the Kalmyk ruler Monchak sent his troops to Ukraine to fight the army of the hetman of right-bank Ukraine Petro Doroshenko. Two years later, the 17,000-strong Kalmyk army again marched into Ukraine, took part in the battles near Bila Tserkva, and defended the interests of the Russian Tsar in Ukraine in 1666.

In 1697, before the “Great Embassy”, Peter I entrusted the Kalmyk Khan Ayuk with responsibility for protecting the southern borders of Russia; later the Kalmyks took part in the suppression of the Astrakhan rebellion (1705-1706), the Bulavin uprising (1708) and the Bashkir uprising of 1705-1711 years.

Civil strife, exodus and end of the Kalmyk Khanate

In the first third of the 18th century, internecine strife began in the Kalmyk Khanate, in which the Russian government directly intervened. The situation was aggravated by the colonization of Kalmyk lands by Russian landowners and peasants. Cold winter 1767-1768, the reduction of pasture lands and the ban on the free sale of bread by Kalmyks led to mass famine and loss of livestock.

Among the Kalymks, the idea of ​​returning to Dzungaria, which was at that time under the rule of the Manchu Qing Empire, became popular.

On January 5, 1771, Kalmyk feudal lords raised the uluses, which roamed along the left bank of the Volga. The exodus began, which turned into a real tragedy for the Kalmyks. They lost about 100,000 people and lost almost all their livestock.

In October 1771, Catherine II liquidated the Kalmyk Khanate. The titles of “khan” and “viceroy of the khanate” were abolished. Small groups of Kalmyks became part of the Ural, Orenburg and Terek Cossack troops. At the end of the 18th century, Kalmyks living on the Don were enrolled in the Cossack class of the Don Army Region.

Heroism and disgrace

Despite the difficulties of relationships with Russian authorities, Kalmyks continued to provide significant support to the Russian army in wars, both with weapons and personal courage, and with horses and cattle.

Kalmyks distinguished themselves in Patriotic War 1812. 3 Kalmyk regiments, numbering more than three and a half thousand people, took part in the fight against Napoleonic army. For the Battle of Borodino alone, more than 260 Kalmyks were awarded the highest orders of Russia.

During the First World War, the tsarist government carried out repeated requisitions of livestock, mobilization of horses and the involvement of “foreigners” in “work on constructing defensive structures.”

The topic of cooperation between the Kalmyks and the Wehrmacht is still problematic in historiography. It's about about the Kalmyk cavalry corps. Its existence is difficult to deny, but if you look at the numbers, you can’t say that the transition of Kalmyks to the side of the Third Reich was massive.

The Kalmyk cavalry corps consisted of 3,500 Kalmyks, while Soviet Union During the war years, about 30,000 Kalmyks were mobilized and sent into the ranks of the active army. Every third of those called to the front died.

Thirty thousand Kalmyk soldiers and officers is 21.4% of the number of Kalmyks before the war. Almost the entire male population of capable age fought on the fronts of the Great Patriotic War as part of the Red Army.

Because of their collaboration with the Reich, Kalmyks were deported in 1943-1944. The following fact can indicate how serious the ostracism was in their regard.

In 1949, during the celebration of Pushkin’s 150th anniversary, Konstantin Simonov gave a radio report on his life and work. While reading “The Monument,” Simonov stopped reading at the point where he was supposed to say: “And a friend of the steppes, the Kalmyk.” The Kalmyks were rehabilitated only in 1957.