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Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin Erdni talks about the history of Kalmyk literature

In this interview Konstantin talks about the history and composition of the Bagud clan.Konstantin: Our clan, Bagud, descends from the younger brother of Ayuka Khan. Ayuka Khan had many sons, and his youngest son was Galdan Danzhin who contested with his older brother for the throne. After an unsuccessful assassination attempt on his older brother, Galdan Danzhin fled to a place near Saratov. He ordered his subjects not to reveal their affiliation but to say that they simply were people ‘of the youngest brother’. Bagud means ‘youngest’ in Kalmyk. In fact, we belong to the larger clan of Keryad which consists of Iki Keryad, Bag Keryad, Keryad and Bagud. Galdan Danzhin had three sons: his oldest son was Batla, the middle son was Doida, and the youngest was Erdni. When half of the Kalmyks returned to Dzungaria in 1771, Erdni was among them. Today his descendants live in a place called Xing in Xinjiang. In Kalmykia the Batla people lived in Batlayevskaya stanitsa. Doida, who moved to Lagan, had two sons, namely Khavtkha and Sharsa. Sharsa’s mother was a Tatar woman. When his two sons started to quarrel to inherit their father’s title, Doida, an old man by then, divided his people into three groups. The descendants of these three groups came to be known as Ik Bagud, Shars Bagud and Doida Bagud. There is another group among us called Shine Bagud (meaning ‘New Bagud’) who joined us later, and worshipped our gods. Question: Which sub-group do you belong to? Konstantin: I am from Doida Bagud. Inside we divide into arvn groupings, including the Arshakhn, Manzhikhn, Khamrakhn and Chavgakhn. I am from the Khamrakhn arvn. In the past, the arvns lived together. Even today in Lagan our street is home to Khamrakhn people. The next street is where Arshakhn people live. We know each other from childhood. When we started school, I remember children asking each other: ‘Which arvn are you from?’ Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

This dataset contains RecID from I-CeM Adjustment Weights for the 1891-1911 England and Wales censuses and corresponds to Supplementary material for the paper "The Population of Non-corporate Business Proprietors in England and Wales 1891-1911", by Bennett, Robert J., Montebruno, Piero, Smith, Harry J. as an outcome of the ESRC project ES/M010953: Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses PI Prof. Robert J. Bennett. The material consists of three raw text files 1. 1891 Employment status & Weights 2. 1901 Employment status & Weights 3. 1911 Employment status & Weights Each file has the three following variables: 1. RecID: the ID for I-CEM2 as in Higgs, Edward and Sch��rer, Kevin (University of Essex) (2014) The Integrated Census Microdata (I-CeM) UKDA, SN-7481; K. Sch��rer, E. Higgs, A.M. Reid, E.M Garrett, Integrated Census Microdata, 1851-1911, version V. 2 (I-CeM.2), (2016) [data collection] UK Data Service SN: 7481 2. Employment status: 1 Worker 2 Employer 3 Own-account 3. Weights: the inverse of the probability of giving an answer to the Employment Status question of the censuses by Sex and Relationship to the head of the family. A detailed explanation of how these weights were calculated and how to use them in the context of data analysis of this censuses can be found in the accompanying working paper, Montebruno, Piero (2018) ���Adjustment Weights 1891-1911: Weights to adjust entrepreneurs taking account of non-response and misallocation bias in Censuses 1891-1911���, Working Paper 11: ESRC project ES/M010953: ���Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Small Businesses���, University of Cambridge, Department of Geography and Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure. The files can be opened by any text editor, database management system (Access) or statistical package (Stata, SPSS) This dataset should be cited as Adjustment Weights 1891-1911, "The Population of Non-corporate Business Proprietors in England and Wales 1891-1911", by Bennett, Robert J., Montebruno, Piero, Smith, Harry J. Please cite using its DOI.

This video features an art exhibition held in Elista in May 2018. Artists who are interviewed include Alexandr Povaev, Mergen Moshuldaev, Syugir Buluktaev, and Tsebek Aduchiev whose works are displayed in the hall. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Roza talks about her grandmother who cured sick children by using traditional methods. This is her story: I would like to tell you about my maternal grandmother. Her name was Nyudlya. She died when she was 80. I grew up with my grandmother in Jangar village. My grandmother had 6 children. During Tsagan Sar her children paid her a visit. My grandmother welcomed them all and gave them red and yellow coins as a present. My grandmother read prayers, used prayer beads, and cured sick children. Before seeing her patients, she would lay out a white cloth to put the children on. She would use a longish white thread to measure their heads. She massaged the back of their head with hot butter. Afterwards she stretched their arms and massaged their legs 3 times. After this, her patients recovered. Children with different problems came to see her: with headaches or those who had their cranial suture displaced. My grandmother examined their heads from all angles, measured their ears, the back of their head and eyebrows. She made children feel better by touching them. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Elza talks about two temples, namely Khosheutovskiy and Anzhatn. When I was a child, my father and I used to go to the Khosheutovskiy Temple. Back then there were no houses built around it, as it is the case today. When the Bolsheviks decided to destroy it, two barges pulled the temple, but could not tear it apart. Now the temple has been restored. What a wonderful place it is! The temple was built to honor Russia’s victory over the French during the Napoleonic war. The temple was built to stand for centuries, and the solution used in it is said to contain eggs. The entrance of the temple was guarded by two stone lions. In 1958, my daughter fell ill. I was told that there was a former monk named Doodzha who lived at the Erdnievskiy state farm. I took my daughter with me to see him. Upon receiving us, he said: ‘The reason for your daughter’s illness is that your husband went to a funeral where he quarreled and nearly ended up fighting with somebody’. It was true. I then left my daughter with Doodzhe, and together with two old women went to a place where Anzhatn temple once stood. We all prayed there, lit lamps, and collected pebbles from the ruins. My daughter was cured with the help of these pebbles. Doodzha also told me that in 1935-1936, when monks were being arrested, some monks buried temple gold in the ground. After the Siberian exile, he himself dug up some lamps and cups and used them afterwards. The place where the Anzhatn Temple stood is holy. Sand from that place can be mixed with water or tea and partaken. It is good for both sick people and animals. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

In this interview Nikolai talks about the origin of the Tsaatan clan and its composition. Q: How many Tsaatans were there? Nikolai: A lot. Do you know how many of them are around? Almost the whole of Kalmykia is Tsaatan. There are Tsaatans among the Buzavas as well. Besides Tsaatan, there are also Naatan. Although people who lived on both sides of the river were Tsaatan, those who lived on the far side of the river were referred to as Tsaatan and those who lived on this side were called Naatan. In Kalmyk tsa- means ‘further’ and na- means ‘this, closer’. Before talking about the word Tsaatan, it must be pointed out that initially we did not have this word in Kalmyk vocabulary. All Tsaatans were originally of the Khoit clan. In the past the four Oirat tribes were headed by Khudukha-beki of the Khoit. One day Chingis Khan sent his eldest son Jochi to conquer the northern peoples. When Jochi was crossing the Oirat land, their elders went out to meet him, offering their help. The Oirats helped Jochi conquer the Buryats. Delighted with his sons’ achievements, Chingis Khan praised the Oirat leader Khudukha-beki and married 2 princesses (Jochi’s sister and Jochi’s daughter) to Khudukha-beki’s sons. When Chingis Khan asked his daughter what she wished for her bride wealth, she asked for his white banner. Chingis Khan objected: ‘If I give you my white banner, how am I supposed to be without it? I am a khan after all. No, I will not give you my white banner.’ That white banner was used at peacetime during holidays and celebrations. For warfare the khan used his black banner. All the same, the daughter stole her father’s white banner and brought it with her to the Khoits who declared themselves as ‘Khoits with the white banner (tsagan tug khotn bolv)’. Since this phrase was very long, it was reduced to one word ‘Tsaatan’ meaning ‘those with the white banner’. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Mergen says that of all schools of Buddhism, Gelug was the most open to the masses. Whilst other schools, which were more closed, did not send out missionaries, Gelug pursued this line of activity. Despite being like this, Gelug also comprises of esotericism and secret tantric practices. The Oirats played an important role in the establishment of the Gelug tradition. Gushi Khan’s campaign, the creation of the Kokonor Khanate and the creation of a theocratic state in Tibet itself – these are all the contribution of the Oirats. The Oirats were also first among the Mongolian peoples to adopt Buddhism. In addition, the Kalmyks were instrumental in spreading Buddhism in modern Europe and the United States. There are many hypotheses about when Buddhism spread among the Oirats. Some scholars say that it was during Chingis Khan, others take it further back to the pre-Chingis period, and yet there are scholars who contend that Buddhism began to spread in the 17th century. At present, there are no historical sources to verify any of these theories. Before adopting Gelug, various Mongolian tribes practiced other Buddhist traditions. The question of why Mongolian tribes chose Gelug can be explained partly by the fact that Altan Khan of Mongolia had personal contact with the Dalai Lama III, head of the Gelug school. Born in the 15th century, Gelug spread among the Mongols in the 16th century. Why was Gelug so popular among the Oirats? In Mergen’s view, this school’s lavish ceremonies involving large numbers of monks might have attracted the Oirats. To this should be added Buddha’s prediction that his religion would spread to the north. There could be geographical factors as well added to this explanation. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Mergen says that there are oral stories saying that the Kalmyks came to the Volga in search of Maitreya Buddha, based on a prophecy that this Buddha would come from the west. Given in Buddhist cosmology the paradise of Devachan is in the west, according to Mergen, this hypothesis is plausible. Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin