Oriental Studies (May 2018)
The Kalmyk Places of Worship: Mount Bogdo
Abstract
The article analyzes the traditional beliefs and contemporary state of ritual practices related to Mount Bogdo - a natural place of worship - among the Kalmyks. The paper suggests that the ethnic objects of worship divided into landscape (natural) and man-made ones reflect the syncretism of religious convictions of the Kalmyks comprising elements of both pre-Buddhist beliefs and Buddhism as such. The research notes that after the ancestors of the Kalmyks arrived in the Lower Volga steppes from Central Asia, they found themselves in alien suroundings and, thus, needed some new places to worship. So, they started selecting such landscape objects - to designate them as sacred - that resembled those left behind in their ancestral lands, due to which the culture-specific basis was retained under the new conditions. According to the Kalmyk traditional view of the world, rising grounds - like mounts in Central Asian territories - were considered to link the Upper and Lower worlds, places that secured the circulation of life. This is evident from life-cycle rites: any mount (a hill or rising ground) in its upright projection was perceived as both a fertility center bestowing powers and multiple progeny, and a grave site. Moreover, mounts and rising grounds were viewed upon by the Kalmyks as anthropomorphic deities which was mirrored in the terms to denote their parts similar to names of human body parts. The work concludes that any rising ground or hill is still locally perceived by the Kalmyks as a place of some deity's stay supposed to act as protector of a certain kin community and their living territory. In a wider sense, any hill or rising ground is traditionally considered to be a place of the White Old Man's (Kalm. Tsaγan Aav) residence - a universal protector-deity of all ethnic Kalmyk communities. The White Old Man's cult and the related Kalmyk cult of ova replaced the ancient beliefs about mountains as sacred symbols and their protector-deities in the new territories with differing landscapes. At the same time, the long and wide presence of Buddhism among the Kalmyks resulted in the emergence of somewhat syncretic forms to comprise elements of ancient beliefs which can be traced in folk rites performed in cult places. The paper suggests that Mount Bogdo was chosen by the Kalmyks as a landscape place of worship due to the reasons as follows: the highest geographic location in the steppes, its unusual form and color, the ability to 'emit' some specific sounds in windy weather. The choice was also determined by the fact the people had come from highlands, thus, giving rise to tales and legends according to which the mount had been transported as a sacred center from ancestral territories; corresponding calendar and life-cycle rites. Though the cult of Mount Bogdo is actually based on ancient beliefs, it is nowadays closely tied with the Buddhist tradition. In the context of the emerging ethnic and religious self-actualization trends with pilgrimage as a social institution, as well as due to the development of Kalmykia's tourist cluster, Mount Bogdo has become place of regular public resort.
