ETHNOCULTURE OF THE MONGOLS IN THE WORKS OF ORIENTALIST N.Ya. BICHURIN

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the role of a native of Chuvashia, an outstanding learned monk, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, founder of Russian sinology N.Ya. Bichurin (1777–1853) in the study and popularization of the ethnoculture of the Mongols in the XIX century. Mongol studies date back to the XIII century, the time of Genghis Khan, who created a vast and powerful Mongol Empire. It was a memoir of ambassadors and travelers, Western European Christian missionaries. In the XIX century, the center of world Mongolian studies was concentrated in Russia, where A.L. Leontiev, I.K. Rossokhin, Ya.I. Schmidt, O.A. Kovalevsky, A.V. Popov, I.P. Voytsekhovsky, P.Ya. Petrov and other orientalists were focusing on its problems. They studied languages, history, ethnography, geography of the peoples of China, Mongolia, Tibet, India, Kalmykia, etc. A significant trace in the study of the Mongolian language and ethnoculture was left by Professor of Kazan University O.M. Kovalevsky, a participant of expeditions to Transbaikalia and Mongolia (1828–1833), the author of grammar, anthology, and dictionaries of the Mongolian language. The Kazan school of orientalists included N.Ya. Bichurin (monk Hyacinth), the head of the IX Russian Theological mission in China (1807–1821), and a participant of ethnographic expeditions (1830–1831, 1835–1837). During 1828–1853 he published a number of fundamental works on Oriental studies, including on the ethnoculture of the Mongols and their neighbors: a translation of the “History of the Mongols”, the works “Notes on Mongolia”, “The History of the Four Khans from the Family of Genghis Khan”, “Historical Review of the Oirats or Kalmyks from the XV century to the present time”. He published more than a dozen articles in well-known Russian popular journals. Not all the judgments and conclusions of N.Ya. Bichurin on the ethnogenesis of some Eastern peoples are shared by modern scientists. Nevertheless, his works on China, Mongolia, Tibet, Kalmykia, the Uyghur territories to a certain extent helped the Russian state to learn about the internal and external problems of the Eastern countries and peoples, their original ethnic culture. The learned monk was sympathetic to the peoples of the East and predicted our rapprochement in the historical future. Laureate of four Demidov Prizes, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences N.Ya. Bichurin received well-deserved recognition during his lifetime. Our contemporaries, residents of Chuvashia, with respect and pride treat the heritage of the outstanding countryman N.Ya. Bichurin. Settlements, streets, museums are named after him, monuments and busts are built in his honor, state and public awards (order, medal, pennant, prizes) are established.