Dorzhi Banzarov

Dorzhi Banzarov (Buryat: Банзарай Доржо; Russian: Доржи́ Банза́ров, Russian pronunciation: [dɐrˈʐi bənzˈarɐv] c. 1822–1855) was a Buryat Orientalist and linguist, notable for being the first person of non-ethnic Russian descent to receive a Ph.D. at a Russian university. He is generally considered to be the first Buryat academic.[1]

Dorzhi Banzarov
Lithographic depiction of Dorzhi Banzarov
BornMarch 1822 (1822-03)
Dede-Ichyotuy, Transbaikal, Russian Empire
DiedMarch 1855 (aged 32–33)
Irkutsk, Russian Empire
NationalityBuryat
OccupationOrientalist

Biography

Banzarov was born to a Buryat Cossack 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[3] — two of whom would go on to become Lamas.[4]: 239  His father, Banzar Borgonov, was an officer of the former Ashaabagad regiment, and followed the Buddhist faith.[3]

In 1833 he was sent to the Russo-Mongolian Military School in Troitskosavsk,[5] and then in 1835 to the Kazan Gymnasium, where he studied for 7 years.[4]: 240-242  In 1842 he entered Kazan University,[6] where he studied under Józef Kowalewski[1] 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.[5]: 64 

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 Ubashi Khung Taidzhi.[2]

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 Pavel Stepanovich Savelyev, 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."[7] 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."[7]

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.[8]

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.[5] 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.[4]

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 Wilhelm Schott.[4]: 247 

He died in 1855. The ethnographer Serafim Shashkov claimed that Banzarov had drunk himself to death.[9] The circumstances surrounding his death are unclear, but there seems to be a consensus that deep despair and the nonfulfillment of his potential as a researcher and intellectual were contributing factors to his death.[10]

Legacy
Statue of Banzarov in Ulan-Ude

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."[3] For unknown reasons in the 1990s, the university shifted to simply "Buryat State University" and only in 2019 did it again receive the name "Dorzhi Banzarov Buryat State University".[11]

He is an important figure for the Buryat people[2][12] as one of the first Buryat intellectuals to gain mass acclaim in Russia and for building the academic field of Mongolian studies in Russia,[5][13] and for being amongst the first members of the colonized peoples of Siberia to rise to the level of an academic career.[4]: 238  The beginnings of the Buryat intelligentsia are said to begin with him and another Buryat academic, Galsan Gomboev.[14]

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 G. G. Vasilyev.[15] There is also a statue of him in Ulan-Ude, and a memorial to him at Kazan University, installed in October 2020.[16]

References
  1. Shastina, Nina. "Банзаров, Доржи". Khronos (in Russian). Soviet Historical Encyclopedia. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  2. Ulymzhiev, Dashi (1993). "Dorzhi Banzarov—the First Buryat Scholar". Mongolian Studies. 16: 55–57. JSTOR 43194508. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  3. Dugarzhapov, Timur. "Как Бурятский госуниверситет возвратил имя Доржи Банзарова" [How the Buryat State University got back the name of Dorzhi Banzarov]. Novaya Buryatia (in Russian). Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  4. Tsyrempilov, Nikolay (April 2020). ""Блеск примечательной личности..." Первый бурятский ученый Доржи Банзаров в мифологических и идеологических дискурсах середины XIX – конца XX вв" (PDF). Acta Slava Iaponica. 40 (1). Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  5. Dugarov, Vladimir (June 2019). "Доржи Банзаров и начало бурятского монголоведения и бурятиеведения" (PDF). Vestnik Buryatskogo Nauchnogo Centra SO RAN (34). Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  6. Shimkin, Demetri (1990). "Siberian Ethnography: Historical Sketch and Evaluation". Arctic Anthropology. 27 (1): 36–51. JSTOR 40316195. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  7. Banzarov, Dorzhi; Potanin, Grigoriy. "Черная вѣра, или, шаманство у монголовъ" ["Black Faith, or, Shamanism with the Mongols]. Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society (in Russian). Scientific Library of the Russian Geographical Society. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  8. Hesse, Klaus (1987). "On the History of Mongolian Shamanism in Anthropological Perspective". Anthropos. 82 (4): 403–413. JSTOR 40463470. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  9. Slezkine, Yuri (2016). Arctic Mirrors: Russia and the Small Peoples of the North. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. p. 118. ISBN 9780801481789. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  10. Lishtovanniy, Yevgeniy. "Dorzhi Banzarov in Irkusk". Vestnik Buryatskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta. Ulan-Udė : Izdatel'stvo Buri︠a︡tskogo gosuniversiteta: 41. ISSN 1994-0866. Retrieved 4 June 2022.
  11. "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]. Baikal Daily (in Russian). Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  12. Badmazhapova, Valentina. "Актёр Чимит Дондоков: "Доржи Банзаров открыл Европе глаза на нашу культуру"" ["The actor Chimit Dondokov: Dorzhi Banzarov revealed our culture to Europe]. Ministry of Culture of Buryatia (in Russian). Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  13. Atwood, Christopher P. (November 1996). "Buddhism and Popular Ritual in Mongolian Religion: A Reexamination of the Fire Cult". History of Religions. 36 (2): 112–139. doi:10.1086/463455. S2CID 162394887. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  14. Rupen, Robert A. (May 1956). "The Buriat Intelligentsia". The Far Eastern Quarterly. 15 (3): 383–398. doi:10.2307/2941876. JSTOR 2941876. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  15. Morozova, Polina (14 June 2010). "Скульптуру первого бурятского ученого установили в Джидинском районе" [A sculpture of the first Buryat academic has been installed in the Dzhidinsky District]. Komsomolskaya Pravda (in Russian). Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  16. Busil, Larisa. "На здании КФУ установлена мемориальная доска Доржи Банзарову" ["The Kazan Federal University now has a memorial dedicated to Dorzhi Banzarov]. Official Site of Kazan Federal University (in Russian). Retrieved 30 November 2021.
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