Puissance militaire et pouvoir de guérison. Appropriation et représentations de la déesse Palden Lhamo en Kalmoukie

Abstract

The article is aimed at revisiting a paradoxical interconnection that can sometimes exist between the representations of military and healing powers in the popular worship and imagination of certain groups. Can these contradictory energies be manifested in a single vessel and, importantly, what forms can such vessels take? I unpack these questions by focusing on forms of appropriation of the Tibetan wrathful goddess Palden Lhamo in the Buddhist society of Kalmykia, a republic situated in the European part of Russia. I examine Kalmyk representational genres and discursive milieux constructing this female deity as simultaneously a fount of military might, a source of political legitimation and a vessel of therapeutic powers. The paper also addresses local theories explaining why and how a female deity, also functioning as a fertility goddess, has developed into the focus of military cult. Besides personal communications and interviews conducted in Kalmykia between 2010 and 2019 with a wide range of interlocutors, my discussion also draws on the iconography of old military banners bearing her image.