Don Kalmyk Cossacks Cossack Kalmyks of the Salsky District of the Don Army Region in the 1st World War. As is known, Kalmyks appeared within Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. They migrated from the Dzungar Khanate and formed the Kalmyk Khanate in the lower reaches of the Volga River, which strengthened under Ayuk Khan. Archival documents indicate that Kalmyks were called to the Don by local Cossacks to jointly fight the Crimean Tatars. Thus, in 1642, the Don Cossacks turned to their new neighbors with a proposal to jointly fight the Crimeans for the capture of Azov. And in 1648, Kalmyks first appeared near the Cherkasy town. A defensive and offensive alliance was concluded between the Kalmyks and the Cossacks, according to which 1000 Kalmyks opposed the Crimeans. From that time on, agreements were concluded between them and oaths were taken about faithful service to Russia. In 1696, Ayuka Khan sent up to three thousand tents (about ten thousand people) to the Don near Azov to guard the border line and fight the Azov people. These Kalmyks did not return back to the Kalmyk Khanate; they remained on the Don, near Cherkassk. Some of them accepted the Orthodox faith. In 1710, Ayuka Khan sent an additional ten thousand Kalmyks to the Don, led by the Torgout owner Chimet and the Derbet owner Four, to guard the southern borders from Kuban raids. Cornet of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment Ochir-Garya Sharapov, 1861. In 1723, Peter I ordered all Kalmyks wandering along the Don to remain in the Cossack class and no more representatives of this nation to be accepted into these lands. Thus, in 1731, the Kalmyks who crossed to the Don became part of the population of the Don Army and were subordinated to the Directorate of Military Cossacks. In 1745, the entire populated Western steppe was given over to the Kalmyks, who were assigned to the Don Army, as nomads. On these lands, three Kalmyk uluses with farmsteads and population were formed: Upper, Middle and Lower. Cornet Toki Dakuginov. 1912 Platovskaya village In 1856, in the Kalmyk district there were 13 villages, in which 20,635 people lived (10,098 men, 10,537 women). There were 31,455 horses, 63,766 cattle and 62,297 sheep. Cornet Toki Dakuginov. Platovskaya village In 1862, stanitsa administration was introduced for the Don Kalmyks, subordinate to the Don Army. According to the administrative structure, the Kalmyk nomad community was divided into three uluses, and 13 hundreds were transformed into villages. In 1891, according to the regulations, the land share per man was 15 dessiatines, the rest of the lands belonged to the village society, which, when a Kalmyk Cossack was called up for military service, provided him with a horse, weapons and clothing. From September 1, 1891, the Don Kalmyks were legally equated with the Don Cossacks and began to build civil relations following the model of the Don Cossacks. At the same time, the previous hundreds were renamed into villages: Batlaevskaya, Burulskaya, Vlasovskaya, Denisovskaya, Grabbevskaya, Kuteynikovskaya, Novo-Alekseevskaya, Potapovskaya, Platovskaya, Erketinskaya, Chonusovskaya and farmsteads: Baldyrsky, Atamansky, Kamensky, Potapovsky and Elmutyansky. Astrakhan Governor I.N. Sokolovsky with the Kalmyk nobility. 1909 In 1898, the Don Kalmyks had a district school and seven stanitsa elementary schools. According to data for 1913, 30,178 people lived in the territory of the Salsky district, excluding those working in other districts and stud farms. There were 13 villages and 19 Kalmyk farms in the district. After the end of the Civil War in 1920, only 10,750 Kalmyks lived here, i.e. the population decreased three times. Such a sharp reduction in the number of Kalmyks living on the Don for the period from 1897 to 1920 (over 23 years) is explained by the losses of Kalmyk Cossacks on the battlefields of the Russian-Japanese (1904-1905), World War I (1914-1920) gg.) and Civil (1918-1920) wars. Podesaul Tseren Dzhivinov is a full Knight of St. George. The Cossack hundred under his command captured 800 Austrians during the First World War. Cossack of the Potapovskaya village of the All-Great Don Army Badma Martushkin Colonel Bator Mangatov, commander of the 19th Don Cossack Regiment. Colonel, Prince Danzan Tundutov-Dondukov, ataman of the Astrakhan Cossack army. Officers of the White Volunteer Army: Colonel Gabriel Tepkin, Ulanov, Prince Tundutov. Cossacks of the 80th Dzungarian Regiment near Rostov. 1918 Naran Ulanov. Novo-Alekseevskaya village. Region of the Don Army Imkens?? Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky inspects the Kalmyk khurul on the Don destroyed by the Bolsheviks. 1918 Cossack Mushka Kutinov Don Kalmyks. 1922 Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky at an audience with the Lama of the Don Kalmyks. 1918 Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky, on the threshold of the Kalmyk khurul. 1918 Don Cossacks and Kalmyks go ashore. The beginning of emigration. Lemnos Island. Greece In Turkey with the British Army. 1921 D. Ulanov Camp Kabakja. Türkiye. 1921 In exile. Sanzha Baldanov (left), Sanzha Targirov (right) In exile. Constantinople. Türkiye. Russian white emigrants. Don Kalmyks in exile. Türkiye. The photo was presumably taken in 1921-1923. White Army officers in Gallipoli. Turkey Evacuated Don Kalmyks and their descendants 35 years later, in DP Dom, New Jersey, USA After the end of the Civil War, in connection with the formation of the Kalmyk Autonomous Region within the RSFSR, work began on the resettlement of the remaining Kalmyks from the Don Region to the territory of the Kalmyk Autonomous Okrug. It was planned to resettle 13 thousand people to Bolshe-Derbetovsky ulus (now Gorodovikovsky district). As of January 1, 1925, 8,451 people resettled from 13 villages of the Don region. The chairman of the Bolshe-Derbetovsky ulus executive committee, Harti Badievich Kanukov, in his report “On the resettlement of the Don Kalmyks as of January 1, 1926,” noted that in three years 15,171 people resettled from all 13 villages of the Salsky district. On April 29, 1929, the presidium of the North Caucasus Regional Committee adopted a decision “On the creation of an independent Kalmyk region as part of the Salsky district.” According to information as of April 1, 1932, in the Kalmyk region there were 11 village councils and 23 collective farms with a population of 12 thousand people, including 5 thousand Kalmyks. The district administrative center was located in the village of Kuteynikovskaya, which existed from November 6, 1929 until the date of deportation of the Kalmyk people to Siberia. After returning from exile, natives of the Kalmyk district of the Rostov region in Kuteynikovskaya built a monument to fellow countrymen who died during the Great Patriotic War. The embedded capsule contains the names of more than 800 Kalmyk soldiers, natives of the Rostov region, who died for the honor and independence of our Motherland.
Who are the Don Cossacks?
The Don Cossack Army was located on the territory of the Don Army Region (modern Rostov, parts of the Volgograd, Lugansk, Voronezh regions and the Republic of Kalmykia).
Most modern Russian historians consider the Don Cossacks to be an ethnosocial community that had a dual nature. On the one hand, it was a subethnic group in relation to the Great Russian ethnos; on the other hand, it was a military service class, which was recorded in the “Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire.”
At different times, the tribes of the Meotians, Scythians, and Sarmatians lived in the Don steppes. At the mouth of the Don in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. there was a Greek colony of Tanais (on the site of modern Azov), and in the 1st-3rd centuries. AD—two Meoto-Scythian settlements mentioned by Ptolemy under the names Panardis and Patarva. At the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. in the area of the lower reaches of the Don the Huns and Bulgarians roamed; after their departure, settlements of the Eastern Slavs (acts) arose on the Don. In the 7th-9th centuries. The Lower and Middle Don were under the rule of the Khazars, who later created their own state here - the Khazar Khaganate, which in 954 was defeated by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In the 10th-12th centuries. on the site of Azov there was a Slavic settlement (founded in 965 or 966), which was part of the ancient Russian Tmutarakan principality. I don’t rule out that Cossacks lived there, but no one knows for sure. In the 11th century The Polovtsians came to the lower reaches of the Don from the Volga region. In the 13th century The Great Trade Route to China passed through the mouth of the Don, and in the same century the Lower Don region came under the rule of the Mongol-Tatars (Golden Horde).
In 1265, the Sarai Christian diocese was established, which covered the population of the territory between the Volga and the Dnieper, not paying attention to any yoke. That is, we can assume that Christians were already there then, while the Don continued to function as a trade route. In 1354, along the banks of the Don, a division took place into the new Ryazan diocese (left bank) and the former Sarai diocese (right bank). It is also known that the Don Cossacks in 1380 presented Prince Dmitry Donskoy with an icon of the Mother of God on the eve of the Battle of Kulikovo. But they did not live sedentary lives. Historian V.N. Tatishchev believed that the Don Army was formed in 1520, and the Don historian I.F. Bykadorov - from 1520 to 1546. It was at this time that the Cossacks switched to a sedentary, permanent way of life, building the first “winter huts and yurts.” And forms its own statehood. If it were not for Ivan the Terrible, no one would doubt the existence of the Cossack nationality.
When were the Don Cossacks formed?
The lack of chronicle sources, both Russian and foreign, does not allow us to accurately determine the time of the birth of the Don Cossacks as an independent free paramilitary community with its own organization and its own characteristics. Some authors find the starting points of the history of the Don Cossacks even in the era of the Amazons.
But most are inclined to believe that the process of formation of the Cossacks on the Don took place in parallel with the process of Christianization of Kievan Rus. So, in 1265, i.e. Even during the reign of the Tatar-Mongols in Rus', the so-called Sarai Christian diocese was established, which covered the population of a vast territory between the Volga and Dnieper, and therefore the Don region. It was along the banks of the Don that in 1354 the division took place into the new Ryazan diocese (left bank) and the former Sarai diocese (right bank). And already from 1360 there is a historical document - a message “to all Christians located within the Cherlenago Yar and on guard near Khopor and Don.”
Historian V.N. Tatishchev believed that the Don Army was formed in 1520, and the Don historian I.F. Bykadorov - from 1520 to 1546. It was at this time that the Cossacks switched to a sedentary, permanent way of life, building the first “winter huts and yurts,” i.e. e. settlements in which it was possible to spend the winter in the “Wild Field,” as the remote, sparsely populated Don steppes were then called.
Naturally, dugouts and huts eventually gave way to fenced settlements, i.e. towns, around which there was a sharp palisade, holding back sudden attacks by nomads or robbers. Later, such places began to be called “stanitsa”, from the word “stan”, a parking lot.
The Nogai prince Yusuf wrote about the first Cossack towns in 1549 to the Moscow Tsar Ivan the Terrible in his complaint about the robbery of the Don Cossacks led by Ataman Sary-Azman. The Cossacks at this time practically did not recognize anyone’s authority over themselves and fought with the Tatars on the one hand and the Turks on the other. In 1552, in the person of Ermak and his squad, the Cossacks participated in the conquest of the Kazan kingdom by Ivan the Terrible, and later the Siberian kingdom.
“The first official written source that has survived to this day is a letter from Tsar Ivan the Terrible dated January 3, 1570, that Ataman Mikhail Cherkashenin and the Don Cossacks listen to the Tsar’s ambassador Novosiltsev, traveling to Tsar-Grad through the Don and Azov, and “thereby You served us... and we want to reward you for your service.” It is this royal document that is considered the day of the official formation of the Don Army.
Since that time, the Don Cossacks have constantly interacted with the tsarist authorities and the Orthodox Church in Moscow in protecting the southern borders of Rus' as their only begotten in language, faith and way of life.” By the way, about the word “ataman”. It was not always written with an “a”: “...they turned all of Little Rus' into Cossacks, having elected a hetman or an Otoman, all the Circassians were called...”.
Is it a coincidence that the name of the creator of the Ottoman Empire and the Cossack
rank: “...Otoman was already the Sultan of the Turks...”?
Raising a Cossack
Each newborn Cossack or Cossack woman, in addition to his blood father and mother, had a godfather and godmother. The blood parents took care of the choice of godparents in advance. It didn't have to be a relative. The godfather was selected by the father - he must be a reliable person (kunak, one-sum, brother-in-law, etc.) from whom there was something to learn. It was he who primarily shaped the spirit of the Cossack. And an important factor, both the godfather and godmother must be able to participate in raising the child - live not far from the godson (goddaughter).
After the christening, a checker (dagger) or a bullet (formerly an arrow) was placed on the Cossack girl, which is called “on the tooth.” And they watched his reaction: if he starts playing with her, he will be a kind Cossack, but if he bursts into tears, there is something to think about.
In general, such “fortune telling” was carried out throughout the entire period of training and education of the Cossack. Nowadays these would be called “tests”. Therefore, among the Cossacks it was customary to do this: first, the Cossack girl was placed in certain conditions, then they looked at his reaction, identified his shortcomings and advantages, and only then began to correct him and develop the necessary skills and qualities.
With this approach, both the speed of thinking and an adequate reaction to a suddenly changed situation and the emergence of something new were developed. All this was constantly accelerating in time.
When the Cossack girl turned one year old, he was led to his first communion. This year the Cossack boy experienced many things for the first time. For the first time, he was put on a horse alone, his father’s saber was put on him, his father took the horse by the bridle and led him around the yard.
The first steps in training and education were taken in the family. The entire system, if you can call it that, was built precisely on the tribal and comradely principles of existence.
The entire process of development of the Cossack was built in a spiral. Each turn in it is a closed cycle, and it occupied a certain age period.
The next circle began with the same thing, but at a new qualitative level.
Each of these levels included physical, intellectual and moral (spiritual) development.
Depending on the age, one of these categories was dominant, and the others were, as it were, accompanying.
I know that physical development was basic from the age of 8 years (in some families from 7 years) to 12 years.
(Modern children probably need to add a couple of years. Compare: 200 years ago, a Cossack began military campaigns at the age of 16, but now young men and by the age of 20, not all are ready for trials).
Until the age of 7-8 years, the Cossack boy lived in the female half of the kuren.
At this moment, education came from both the female part of the family and the male part. It was mainly based on visibility. And the main thing here is the personal example of the elders and the immersion of the boy in the appropriate environment.
And what exactly did the Cossack habitat include for a Cossack girl? On the wall in the kuren is my father's (or grandfather's) saber. Whips are at the door and in the hands of the Cossacks. Stripes, hats, caps on people close to the boy. Crosses and medals on the chest of a grandfather, father, uncle or godfather. Horses. Horses are everywhere, at home, on the street, with neighbors, in the steppe outside the village...
And the elders’ answers to them: a stripe is a symbol of a Cossack, a saber is our Cossack weapon and a symbol of the Cossack will, a horse is a friend and comrade of a Cossack, crosses and medals are a distinction for participation and exploits in military campaigns.
And also bedtime stories about how Cossacks defeat witches and utter monsters, and how they come out of this or that situation with honor.
And also the songs that Cossacks and Cossacks constantly sing. About the glory of the Cossacks, past campaigns, battles and heroes.
And also proverbs and sayings from the lips of elders. Village holidays, where Cossacks and Cossack women sing and dance - who is better. Competitions in fists, shooting, horse racing and horse riding, fencing.
All this is before the eyes of the little Cossack boy. All this forms in him involvement in this particular group of people. TO THEIR OWN.
During this period, men watched how the Cossack woman was formed. Women were less and less allowed to coo with him: “Don’t spoil the Cossack, women!” If I hurt myself somewhere and cried, they taught me: “Don’t cry, you’re a Cossack, and a Cossack doesn’t cry!”
And then the Cossack girl gradually developed the conviction that what the elders sing about and what the elders say, that’s what they do, and commit the same actions. And it's all real. And he himself will do the same.
Well, and, on top of everything else, playing outside with peers. The games have been established for centuries, and are naturally aimed at the development of Cossacks. Almost all of them took place under the supervision of village (farm) elders, who strictly monitored the behavior of each of the Cossack children. And in the event that someone behaved unworthily, the old people inspiredly instructed and corrected the negligent person.
From the age of 8, the Cossack girl was moved to the male half of the kuren. At this time, the ceremony was again held in the tract. From that time on, the Cossack learned to use a whip.
In general, the whip is a very symbolic item for the Cossacks and very ancient. The legend of Yegor the Brave and even more ancient legends about snake fighters are connected with it. By the way, the Cossacks had never sorted things out with each other using their fists before. They say they were afraid to kill each other. But they often attacked each other with whips in the heat of argument.
From that time on, the Cossack woman began to be invited to “conversations.”
The main point in raising a Cossack during this period was the following: to teach him to cope with his own fear in all its manifestations. And, observing the reaction of the Cossack girl, the elders said: “Don’t be afraid, the Cossack is not afraid of anything!”, “Be patient, Cossack, you will be an ataman!”
There were many exercise games for the development of Cossacks. Exercises are naturally not in the form in which we understand them. These are more like test exercises. They identified the presence of one or another quality or skill among Cossacks. And the Cossacks did these test games, competing with each other (playing). And the Cossacks played these games almost their entire lives.
At the age of 12, the process of physical learning was basically completed. Precisely training, but not development. From the age of 12, a Cossack girl was taught to use military weapons - a saber (dagger).
I’ll tell you about Spas (the Cossack survival system) in the words of one of the Cossacks.
Cossacks are a tribal people with firm rules of behavior, both in the family and in society.
The beginning of the Cossack child’s entry into Spas began with his baptism. At this moment, his spiritual parents appeared - his godfather and godmother!
As he grew older, Spas's tasks became more complicated, but the main direction of the upbringing of a young Cossack or Cossack woman was not physical, but spiritual. Only through the concept of spirituality did young Cossacks return to physical development again and again. Without prayer and the concepts of God, the life of the Cossacks, both before and now, was not possible.
In Spas itself there are no techniques as such, and there are no weight categories.
Proverb - “The Cossack is not the one who won, but the one who turned out - was saved!”
Exactly I was saved!..
That is, “Spas”.
In Spas, when a person is already ready for the first level, there are only two fundamental actions combined into one:
1) very fast thinking to make the only correct decision;
2) very quick action to carry out the only correct decision, sometimes not even noticeable to the enemy.
Upon reaching the second and third levels of Spas, the young Cossack develops intuition. This sixth sense of a warrior is practically the most important thing. It helps the Cossack man both in worldly battle and in spiritual battle. He always distinguishes a scoundrel from an honest person. The real fight is always fleeting, but the preparation for it is long. A prepared person wins it even before the fight!..
The first thing that is necessary in educating the non-Cossack younger generation is to develop the ability to manage their own fear. A person cannot overcome fear, since it is necessary to preserve his life. But fear can be controlled.
The main criterion for a person involved in Spas is morality. At first this is not felt, but as the speed of thinking increases, this criterion is not easily felt. He begins to be present first in every training session, and then in a person’s life itself. A person begins to understand that he is a driven being in this system of the universe. That without dialogue with God he will not be able to enter other levels of the Savior if his moral image is low. Anyone who tries to use cunning here quickly becomes convinced of these warnings. These people begin to acquire, first minor, and then more and more serious injuries. Up to muscle rupture.
Some, having understood what is happening, begin a different life, where the Savior becomes one of the indicators of correct behavior. Others simply stop studying Spas. It becomes clear to them which side they are on.
About the role of the father and the role of the godfather in education.
From the age of 8, the main role belonged to the godfather. It was he who, by and large, taught the boy Cossack science. But the blood father was, as it were, the leader of this process. The godfather and bloodfather seemed to complement each other. The father could have been too soft towards his son. The godfather could be too harsh. Therefore, the father stopped the godfather when things could take a dangerous turn, and the godfather did not allow the father to feel sorry for his son.
An example of the process of learning to see a flying bullet:
It is carried out at the bend of the river, the shooter (godfather) is 80-100 steps from the Cossack with his son,
There is a target 10-15 steps away from those watching the shot,
At the father’s signal, the godfather fires a shot at the target, the Cossack boy must notice the flying bullet.
From 12 to 16 years old is another cycle in the upbringing of a Cossack. And again, it began and ended with rituals in the tract.
From the age of 12, Cossack girls began to be taken to circles (gatherings) and other socially significant events. Its main task is to watch and remember.
And at the age of 16, when the Cossack was ready, a more serious test awaited him - mainly it was a hunt for a predator (wolf, wild boar, etc.).
And after such upbringing and training, the result was a “seasoned Cossack”. True, there is one clarification: the “seasoned” Cossack appeared in the third generation. Naturally, if the first and second generations were carefully prepared and survived battles and battles.
And what such a Cossack could be like can be better described artistically:
“...The Austrians came out of the forest into the loose. About thirty people. The rifles are overweight. An officer with a drawn broadsword on horseback. In the clearing there is knee-deep grass, beginning to turn yellow from the sultry August sun. The Austrians moved fifty steps away from the edge of the forest.
Suddenly something incomprehensible happened. Something unusual, black and green in color, flew out from under the horse, knocked the officer out of the saddle, spun like a top over the fallen man, glinting either fangs or teeth, and crashed into the midst of the petrified soldiers. It was impossible to make out what it was, because this something was constantly moving and spinning like a loach in unimaginable planes.
The Austrians on the edge began to come to their senses and prepare to shoot, forgetting that this would not save their comrades, since the spinning mass was in the very center of the unit, leaving behind the broken and bloodied bodies of Austrian soldiers.
But suddenly another unclear silhouette rushed from the left flank. He rushed in front of those preparing to shoot so quickly that no one could catch his outline. And in general I couldn’t see anything else in this life, because the silhouette moved roaringly and snarling with fire.
Four soldiers were the luckiest. They, pushed by their fear, dropped their rifles in time, and now observed a terrible picture: in the center, one and a half dozen people with terrible stab wounds were lying side by side, as if after a tornado; another seven people lay lifeless on the side of the forest with gunshot wounds; and on the sides of the surviving four, two froze - the reason for everything that happened. Both were dressed in low black lambskin hats with a protective top, tunics and trousers of the same color, and boots the soldiers had never seen before with a woolen foot and a boot made of thin leather. One had two long daggers in his hands, the other had two revolvers.
And the faces of these unknown people... Their eyes - both of them bulging - did not express either anger or hatred. The soldiers read only one thing in them - that death had come, led by the Almighty himself.
After all this, probably no one could have found more obedient prisoners of war than these four on the entire Russian-German front...”
Of course, such upbringing was not in all Cossack families, and I suspect that by 1914 there were very few families where all this lived. But the older the family was, the more thorough and extensive the upbringing was. And the Cossacks themselves did not always go into the essence of this process - as they themselves were taught, so they teach. Ancestors bequeathed!
That's about all I can say on this issue. I tried to describe the general outline of a Cossack’s upbringing. The rest, as they say, is nuances. Anyone who has anything to add would be very welcome. Because the time has come to restore our Cossack culture bit by bit. And the first thing is to restore the culture of raising Cossacks. Because they are the future of the Cossacks. And what we put into them will come out later.
As one old Cossack said, “There are never too many Cossacks, but there are never enough!”
Cossacks living on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia, being an integral part of the Russian Cossacks, having a common historical destiny with the Cossacks of other subjects of the Russian Federation, at the same time have a number of specific features. The history of the Kalmyk Cossacks is great.
Early archival documents indicate that the Kalmyks appeared on the Don at the request of the Don Cossacks to jointly fight the Crimeans.
So in 1642, the Don Cossacks turned to their neighbors, the Kalmyks, with a proposal to jointly fight the Crimeans for the capture of Azov.
In 1669, Ayuka Khan sent up to three thousand tents to the Don near Azov to guard the border line and fight the Azov people. Having knocked out the Turks from Azov along with the Cossacks, these Kalmyks did not return and remained nomadic near Cherkassk.
In 1710, at the request of Peter 1, Ayuka Khan sent 10 thousand Kalmyks to the Don, led by the Torgut owner Chimet and the Derbet owner Four, to guard the southern borders from Kuban raids.
In 1731, the Kalmyks who crossed to the Don became part of the population of the Don Army and were subordinated to the Directorate of Military Cossacks.
In 1771, the Don Kalmyks did not take part in the departure of the Kalmyks from the Volga to Dzungaria.
Since September 1, 1862, the Don Kalmyks were legally equal to the Don Cossacks. At the same time, the former hundreds were renamed into the villages: Batlaevskaya, Burulskaya, Vlasovskaya, Denisovskaya, Grabbevskaya, Kuteynikovskaya, Novo-Alekseevskaya, Potapovskaya, Platovskaya, Erketinskaya, Chonosovskaya and farmsteads: Baldyrsky, Atamansky, Kamensky, Potapovsky, Elmutyansky.
The Kalmyk Cossacks of the Astrakhan, Don, Zaporozhye, Terek, Kuban, Orenburg, and Ural troops covered themselves with unfading glory, defending and expanding the borders of the Russian state. Over a centuries-old history, confirmed by written sources, the brotherhood of Russian and Kalmyk Cossacks, proven in battles and campaigns, formed their unique culture. Respectful attitude towards each other's religions created a special cultural and ethnic community - the Kalmyk Cossacks. On October 12, 1951, more than 60 years ago, in the poem “Pokrov”, the “singer of the Don Cossacks” - Nikolai Nikolaevich Turoverov, wrote to his friend Badma Naranovich Ulanov:
We have a verb: to Cossack,
What does it mean: never change
And the secret music of Cossack rivers,
And the songs of the winds above us
We are baptized from century to century,
Year after year we are born as relatives!
The Kalmyk Cossacks never knew serfdom. Hence their first and main advantage: a sense of inner freedom. At the same time, an organic feature of a Cossack has always been his inherent commitment to order, due to the high level of organization of Cossack formations. The harmonious combination of these two principles made the Cossacks the most faithful support and reliable stronghold of Russian statehood.
The main function and most important sphere of activity of the Kalmyk Cossacks for centuries was military public service. It was she who largely determined their cultural identity.
But due to the historical events of the 20th century: the civil war, forced emigration, subsequent repressions and terror in connection with the “liquidation of the Cossacks as a class,” deportation to Siberia, 13 years of exile, the Kalmyk Cossacks came to the brink of extinction.
This can be confirmed by statistical chronology:
In 1897, according to the All-Russian Census of the Russian Empire, 32,283 Kalmyks of both sexes lived on the Don.
According to the 1920 census, only 10,750 Kalmyks lived on the Don, that is, the population decreased three times.
In 1922-1925, in connection with the formation of the Kalmyk Autonomous Region as part of the RSFSR, 15,171 people moved from all the villages of the district in three years.
On November 29, 1929, by the Resolution of the North Caucasus Regional Committee, the Kalmyk National District was formed as part of the Salsky District with its center in the village of Zimovniki. On April 1, 1932, 5,000 people of Kalmyk nationality lived in the area.
After returning from Siberia, the Cossacks - Kalmyks, natives of the Kalmyk district of the Rostov region moved to the KASSR to revive their restored Republic.
Currently, the identity of the Cossacks is subject to the destructive influence of the general processes of globalization, unfavorable socio-economic living conditions and needs new methods of preserving and developing our ethnicity.
Peculiarity The Republic of Kalmykia as a region of historical residence of the Cossacks is that the lands of residence of the Kalmyk Cossacks in the modern period are located in enclaves in the regions of the republic and in the city of Elista. As a result of migration processes, significant changes occur in the character of the descendants of the Cossacks on the territory of the Republic of Kalmykia. On the one hand, due to the departure of our respected elders to another world, their children are losing their roots, on the other hand, Cossack youth, settling outside their historical territories of residence, are not interested in and forget their culture and traditions.
In November 1989, the 1st round of Cossacks of the Republic of Kalmykia took place in the Republic of Kalmykia. It elected the first ataman of the revived Kalmyk Cossacks, Dzhengurov Maxim Gabunovitch, Board of the Cossacks of Kalmykia. This year is considered the year of the beginning of the revival of the Cossacks in the Republic of Kalmykia.
A significant step was taken in 1994. Decree of the President of the Republic of Kalmykia dated June 6, 1994 No. 107 was organized State Committee for Cossack Affairs and approved temporary Regulations on the State Committee.
Since 1998, the activities of the State Committee have been regulated by the Regulationson the State Committee for Cossack Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, approved by decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstandated April 21, 1998 No. 74.
The State Committee was the executive body of state powerRepublic of Kalmykia.
The main functions of the State Committee were:
- development of a unified state policy for the revival, formation anddevelopment of the Cossacks on the territory of the republic, its traditional formsself-government, based on historical traditions and modernthe needs of the state and the creation of conditions for its implementation;
- coordination of activities created and created in the territoryrepublics of Cossack communities included in the structural divisions ofCossack army of Kalmykia, to prepare and recruit their members topublic service and their inclusion in the state register, coordination of this activities;
- development and implementation of state support programs Cossacks.
A lot of good and positive things were done for the revival of the Cossacks by the Cossacks of Kalmykia: atamans Khakhulov, Shovunov, Aninov, Cossacks Sarginov, Baduginov, Dzhelachinov, Kuvakov, Namsinov, Burkhinov, Logachev and many others who are no longer among us, but their names will be inscribed in golden letters. the history of the revival of the Kalmyk Cossacks.
But due to the irrational and sometimes criminal decisions of some leaders of the Cossack Army of Kalmykia, Decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan dated January 10, 2003 No. 15 “On issuesexecutive power of the Republic of Kalmykia" State Committee forCossacks of the Republic of Kazakhstan was abolished.
In 2007, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation,Based on the decision of the Great Circle of Cossacks in 2006, the Cossack societies of the Republic of Kalmykia, in order to build a vertical line of Cossack troops, became part of the military Cossack society “The Great Don Army”.
On July 2, 2008, the President of the Russian Federation D. Medvedev adopted a new “Concept of state policy of the Russian Federation regarding the Russian Cossacks”, No. 1355. The main goal of the concept is to actively involve the Russian Cossacks in state and municipal service. To implement it, a Council under the President of the Russian Federation for Cossack Affairs was created, which is today headed by the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Central Federal District - Alexander Dmitrievich Beglov.
The Kalmyk Cossack District sees the implementation of this concept today in the implementation of the following primary tasks:
1. develop short-term and long-term regional socially significant target programs for the development of the Cossacks;
2. create a legislative framework regarding the activities of Cossack societies in the Republic of Kalmykia;
3. organize methodological and information mechanisms for attracting Cossacks to public and other services;
4. to consolidate the population (youth) in rural areas by uniting into Cossack peasant farms and personal subsidiary plots with the provision of agricultural land plots for cultivation with preferential conditions;
5. enter Cossack societies into republican, federal and other targeted programs and grants;
6. to involve Cossack societies in the military-patriotic education of children and adolescents, including the creation of conditions for active interaction with pre-conscription youth in order to prepare them for military service;
7. make every effort to organize the Presidential Cossack Cadet Corps with federal funding on the basis of the State Educational Institution of Primary Vocational Education named after B.B. Gorodovikov, as well as continue to create Cossack classes with a regional ethnocultural component in educational institutions of the Republic of Kalmykia;
8. save the original ethno-culture of the Cossacks of Kalmykia;
9. popularize the historical, cultural and spiritual traditions of the Cossacks.
FEAT OF A COUNSELOR
Both Austro-German and Hungarian hussars and dragoons tried to avoid direct meetings with the Cossack cavalry, which made up a quarter of the Russian cavalry in the First World War. The Cossacks were superior to them both in horsemanship and in the use of bladed weapons. Once, a Cossack patrol led by centurion Nikolai Mangatov destroyed a German unit that was three times larger in number. “The Germans don’t have Cossacks, and they never will,” Mangatov told his Cossacks after the battle. - People are born Cossacks, only here in Russia. That’s how Burgudukov is the Knight of St. George...”
This year, 2012, the first holder of two St. George Crosses of the 3rd and 4th degree of the First World War, a Kalmyk Cossack from the village of Kuteynikovskaya (Kevyudovskaya) of the Salsky district of the Don Army region, Sereda Burgudukov, turns 124 years old. The award, according to Volgograd local historian E. Makatsky, was awarded for saving the life of the regiment commander on August 24, 1914 in a battle in East Prussia near the town of Franpolen. And on June 3, 1915, despite heavy rifle and machine-gun fire, he carried the wounded cornet Filimonov from the field, “thus preventing his capture.” For this feat, Burgudukov, by order of the commander of the 5th Army, was awarded another St. George Cross, now of the 3rd degree.
Sereda Namsynovich Burgudukov's niece Zinaida Badminovna Astralinova had heard a lot about her heroic uncle from her aunt. “He was born in 1888, lost his father early and was forced to leave the Don in search of income,” she says. - I got hired as a herd keeper and learned to speak Russian well. And like all Zadonsk Kalmyk herdsmen, he perfectly mastered the art of throwing a lasso, taming neuks (untrained horses), and horseback riding. At the end of 1910, he went into active military service and, having completed a course at the regimental school, was assigned to the 6th separate Cossack hundred, stationed in the city of Bogorodsk, Moscow province. The only Asian in a hundred, you understand, could not help but attract the attention of the residents of this town. He tirelessly told everyone who mistook him for a Chinese that he was a native of the Salsky steppes, in the Don region. “Maybe you heard that there is such a people - Kalmyks, of the Buddhist faith,” he said. - Well, I’m baptized. The so-called “Zadon Kalmyk”. If not for the civil war, he would have lived... The Cossacks elected him in 1917 as chairman of the regimental committee, then as regimental commissar. “Having returned from the front as a convinced supporter of the socialists, my uncle took part in the establishment of Soviet power in the village of Kuteynikovskaya,” Zinaida Badminovna continues to say. - At the end of February 1918, a group of Cossacks from General Popov’s detachment burst into the village. The Kuteynikovites took out their weapons, mounted their horses and said: “The Reds and I are not on the same path. We don’t want a commune, shared houses.” Soon the bound commissar, my uncle, was brought to Perfilov, the group commander. They shot him beyond the Kuberle (Kevrlya) river on the territory of the village of Ilovaiskaya (Zungarskaya).
Photo 1. Sergeant of the 19th Don Cossack Regiment Sereda Namysovich Burgudukov. Art. Kuteynikovskaya
Photo 2. Don Cossack, Kalmyk Sarang Remilev and Terek Cossack Mikhail Barantsev 1930s, (Belgium)
Indeed, the revolution of 1917 and the civil war that followed were tragic events in the fate of several million Russians who called themselves Cossacks. A number of villages refused on principle to participate in what was happening and, as was stated in the order to the delegates of the military circle, “until the matter of the civil war is clarified, remain neutral.” However, the Cossacks still failed to remain neutral and not interfere in the civil war that had begun in the country. The opposing forces at that time could not forget about the Cossacks. Thousands and tens of thousands of armed, military-trained people represented a force that was impossible not to take into account. The intense confrontation between the “reds” and the “whites” eventually reached the Cossack regions, primarily in the South and the Urals. By force of circumstances, the Cossacks were doomed to participate in a fratricidal war. It is generally accepted that the destruction of the Cossacks began from the moment when the Bolsheviks managed to organize a split within the class: the previously united Cossacks were divided into “us” and “strangers”.
The period from 1917 to 1930 was truly tragic for the Kalmyk Cossacks; about thirty thousand of them perished during this period of liquidation of the Cossacks. Remembering Sereda Burgudukov, the first Kalmyk Cossack who was awarded such a high award as the Cross of St. George in the First World War, we did not set out to place political emphasis. For us, his descendants, something else is important: that the Cossacks of the Kalmyk Cossack district, the inhabitants of the Republic of Kalmykia, always carefully preserve the memory of warriors of all generations and never divide them according to political and other views, only in unity is our strength.
Held annually since September 18, 2009, with the assistance of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the festival of Cossack culture “In a United Family” has become traditional in the Republic of Kalmykia. The main objectives of the festival are:
Revival of Kalmyk national culture;
Patriotic education of the individual and the development of his self-awareness;
Strengthening solidarity, friendship and unity of cultures of nations and nationalities of the Russian Federation.
The preservation and revival of the Kalmyk Cossack national musical culture is an urgent task, closely interconnected with the formation of interethnic identity, spiritual development and mutual respect of the peoples of the Russian Federation.
At the II Republican Festival of Cossack Culture “In a United Family,” which took place on December 12, 2010, the solemn consecration of the banner of the Kalmyk Cossack district of the East Kazakhstan region “All Great Don Army” took place by Archbishop of Elista and Kalmyk Bishop Zosima and Kalmyk Buddhist lamas.
By order of the Kalmyk Cossack District, the banner was made in Moscow at World Class Flags CJSC with the help and assistance of the deputy general director, a hereditary Cossack, our fellow countryman Sarmutkin Vyacheslav Valerievich.
On the reverse side of the banner of the Kalmyk Cossack District in accordance withDecree of the President of the Russian Federation of February 9, 2010 N 168 "On the establishment of coats of arms and banners of military Cossack societies included in the state register of Cossack societies in the Russian Federation" The coat of arms of the military Cossack society “The Great Don Army” is embroidered.
On the front side, the color background repeats the tricolor of the historical flag of the Great Don Army.Paragraph No. 46 of the Basic Laws of the All-Great Don Army, adopted by the Great Military Circle on September 15, 1918, was approved: “The Don flag consists of three longitudinal stripes of equal width: blue, yellow and scarlet, meaning the national colors of the three nationalities living on the Don land since ancient times: the Don Cossacks, Kalmyks and Russian peasants".
Therefore, on the yellow stripe, which symbolizes the Kalmyks, we restored the image of the god of war Daichi-Tengri - patron of the Mongols in battle and granting them victory.
In 1998 designer Josephine Boule(Moscow) reconstructed and donated the banner Daichi-Tengri according to the author's description G.N. Prozriteleva in the book “The Military Past of Our Kalmyks” (Stavropol, 1912), which is now kept in the local history museum named after. Palmova in Elista.
G.N. Seer wrote in his book that this relic is kept in the Khosheutovsky khurul, at the beginning XVII centuries, Kalmyks came to Russia under this banner, and with it they participated in all wars as part of the Russian army. 2nd Kalmyk Regiment under the command of Serebdzhab Tyumen went on a campaign under the ancient Kalmyk military banner with the image of the god of war Daichi-Tengri. It was made of fawn-colored silk, measuring 1.5 arshins in length and 2 arshins in width. The edges and middle of the banner were decorated with a red silk ribbon 10 cm wide. The god of war was depicted in the middle of the banner Daichi-Tengri, patron of warriors in battle and granting them victories, riding a galloping horse. His face is calm and impassive, as he knows that victory is already predetermined and he will win. In the rider's left hand was an unfurled banner, signifying the sign of the Victorious. The animals and birds around symbolized his power, strength and power in heaven and earth. The red branches at the horse's head and legs symbolized fast, fiery running, and the whip in the rider's right hand showed the horse's path. During the Patriotic War of 1812 and the foreign campaign of the Russian army in 1813-1814, this banner was pierced by grapeshot in six places. After the Great October Revolution, this banner was lost.
By making this banner, we want to restore the historical memory of the banner under which the Kalmyk people, for three hundred years, participated in the formation of statehood, preservation and expansion of the borders of the Russian Empire.
Kalmyk Cossacks of the Salsk District of the Don Army Region in the 1st World War.
As is known, Kalmyks appeared within Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. They migrated from the Dzungar Khanate and formed the Kalmyk Khanate in the lower reaches of the Volga River, which strengthened under Ayuk Khan. Archival documents indicate that Kalmyks were called to the Don by local Cossacks to jointly fight the Crimean Tatars. Thus, in 1642, the Don Cossacks turned to their new neighbors with a proposal to jointly fight the Crimeans for the capture of Azov. And in 1648, Kalmyks first appeared near the Cherkasy town. A defensive and offensive alliance was concluded between the Kalmyks and the Cossacks, according to which 1000 Kalmyks opposed the Crimeans. From that time on, agreements were concluded between them and oaths were taken about faithful service to Russia.
In 1696, Ayuka Khan sent up to three thousand tents (about ten thousand people) to the Don near Azov to guard the border line and fight the Azov people. These Kalmyks did not return back to the Kalmyk Khanate; they remained on the Don, near Cherkassk. Some of them accepted the Orthodox faith. 
In 1710, Ayuka Khan sent an additional ten thousand Kalmyks to the Don, led by the Torgout owner Chimet and the Derbet owner Four, to guard the southern borders from Kuban raids. 
Cornet of the Life Guards Cossack Regiment Ochir-Garya Sharapov, 1861
In 1723, Peter I ordered all Kalmyks wandering along the Don to remain in the Cossack class and no more representatives of this nation to be accepted into these lands. Thus, in 1731, the Kalmyks who crossed to the Don became part of the population of the Don Army and were subordinated to the Directorate of Military Cossacks. In 1745, the entire populated Western steppe was given over to the Kalmyks, who were assigned to the Don Army, as nomads. On these lands, three Kalmyk uluses with farmsteads and population were formed: Upper, Middle and Lower. 
Cornet Toki Dakuginov. 1912 Stanitsa Platovskaya
In 1856, in the Kalmyk district there were 13 villages, in which 20,635 people lived (10,098 men, 10,537 women). There were 31,455 horses, 63,766 cattle and 62,297 sheep. 
Cornet Toki Dakuginov. Stanitsa Platovskaya
In 1862, stanitsa administration was introduced for the Don Kalmyks, subordinate to the Don Army. According to the administrative structure, the Kalmyk nomad community was divided into three uluses, and 13 hundreds were transformed into villages. 
In 1891, according to the regulations, the land share per man was 15 dessiatines, the rest of the lands belonged to the village society, which, when a Kalmyk Cossack was called up for military service, provided him with a horse, weapons and clothing. From September 1, 1891, the Don Kalmyks were legally equated with the Don Cossacks and began to build civil relations following the model of the Don Cossacks. At the same time, the previous hundreds were renamed into villages: Batlaevskaya, Burulskaya, Vlasovskaya, Denisovskaya, Grabbevskaya, Kuteynikovskaya, Novo-Alekseevskaya, Potapovskaya, Platovskaya, Erketinskaya, Chonusovskaya and farmsteads: Baldyrsky, Atamansky, Kamensky, Potapovsky and Elmutyansky. 
Astrakhan Governor I.N. Sokolovsky with the Kalmyk nobility. 1909
In 1898, the Don Kalmyks had a district school and seven stanitsa elementary schools. According to data for 1913, 30,178 people lived in the territory of the Salsky district, excluding those working in other districts and stud farms. There were 13 villages and 19 Kalmyk farms in the district. After the end of the Civil War in 1920, only 10,750 Kalmyks lived here, i.e. the population decreased three times. Such a sharp reduction in the number of Kalmyks living on the Don for the period from 1897 to 1920 (over 23 years) is explained by the losses of Kalmyk Cossacks on the battlefields of the Russian-Japanese (1904-1905), World War I (1914-1920) gg.) and Civil (1918-1920) wars. 
Podesaul Tseren Dzhivinov is a full Knight of St. George. The Cossack hundred under his command captured 800 Austrians during the First World War.
Cossack of the Potapovskaya village of the All-Great Don Army Badma Martushkin
Colonel Bator Mangatov, commander of the 19th Don Cossack Regiment.
Colonel, Prince Danzan Tundutov-Dondukov, ataman of the Astrakhan Cossack army.
Officers of the White Volunteer Army: Colonel Gabriel Tepkin, Ulanov, Prince Tundutov.
Cossacks of the 80th Dzungarian Regiment near Rostov. 1918
Naran Ulanov. Novo-Alekseevskaya village. Don Army Region
Imkenov??
Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky inspects the Kalmyk khurul on the Don destroyed by the Bolsheviks. 1918
Cossack Mushka Kutinov 
Don Kalmyks. 1922 
Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky at an audience with the lama of the Don Kalmyks. 1918
Ataman of the Don Cossacks, General Bagaevsky, on the threshold of the Kalmyk khurul. 1918
Don Cossacks and Kalmyks go ashore. The beginning of emigration. Lemnos Island. Greece
In Turkey with the British Army. 1921 D. Ulanov
Camp Kabakja. Türkiye. 1921
In exile. 
Sanzha Baldanov (left), Sanzha Targirov (right) In exile.
Constantinople. Türkiye. Russian white emigrants.
Don Kalmyks in exile. Türkiye. The photo was presumably taken in 1921-1923.
White Army officers in Gallipoli. Türkiye
Evacuated Don Kalmyks and their descendants 35 years later, in DP Dom, New Jersey, USA
After the end of the Civil War, in connection with the formation of the Kalmyk Autonomous Region within the RSFSR, work began on the resettlement of the remaining Kalmyks from the Don Region to the territory of the Kalmyk Autonomous Okrug. It was planned to resettle 13 thousand people to Bolshe-Derbetovsky ulus (now Gorodovikovsky district). As of January 1, 1925, 8,451 people resettled from 13 villages of the Don region.
The chairman of the Bolshe-Derbetovsky ulus executive committee, Harti Badievich Kanukov, in his report “On the resettlement of the Don Kalmyks as of January 1, 1926,” noted that in three years 15,171 people resettled from all 13 villages of the Salsky district.
On April 29, 1929, the presidium of the North Caucasus Regional Committee adopted a decision “On the creation of an independent Kalmyk region as part of the Salsky district.” According to information as of April 1, 1932, in the Kalmyk region there were 11 village councils and 23 collective farms with a population of 12 thousand people, including 5 thousand Kalmyks. The district administrative center was located in the village of Kuteynikovskaya, which existed from November 6, 1929 until the date of deportation of the Kalmyk people to Siberia.
After returning from exile, natives of the Kalmyk district of the Rostov region in Kuteynikovskaya built a monument to fellow countrymen who died during the Great Patriotic War. The embedded capsule contains the names of more than 800 Kalmyk soldiers, natives of the Rostov region, who died for the honor and independence of our Motherland.
Dating back to 1670. In 1694, the status of Cossacks was extended to the Don Kalmyks, and lands were allocated in the Sal and Manych steppes. The mass arrival of Kalmyks to the Don occurred on a voluntary basis, which was rare for those centuries. The local military sergeant-major always willingly accepted into his service “... good horsemen, excellent in courage, always ready and zealous for service, and so necessary for the owners of shepherds and farriers, very useful to the army.”
In 1806, the Kalmyk Okrug was formed; previously it was called the Nomadic Territory of the Don Kalmyks. There were difficulties in the relations between the Kalmyks and the Don Cossacks, but there was much more connecting element than contradictions. Back in 1682, military ataman Frol Minaev wrote to Moscow, “that the Don Cossacks are now living in peace with the Kalmyks and there is no enthusiasm between them.”
The Cossacks realized that “the teachings of the Lamaites are alien to the preaching of hostility and hatred towards followers of other religions, and the Kalmyks themselves are a gentle people, alien to fanaticism and intolerance.” This allowed the Kalmyks to quickly, although not without conflicts and clashes, fit into the Cossack community. Buddhist ethics also contributed, calling for humility and non-resistance to evil, believing that evil in the soul and resentment multiply evil in the world.
Kalmyks and Don Cossacks were united by an innate sense of pride; they valued a worthy opinion of themselves and their family. A contemporary noted: “Kalmyks never beg, even when in extreme poverty.”
Everyday contacts, interest in efficient housekeeping, and the development of everyday and interfamily ties gradually eliminated former confrontations. An example is the adoption of Ivan Timofeevich Kolesov by the ataman of the village of Ilovlinovsky village of Atamanskaya. When a Kalmyk baby from a neighboring farm was left without parents, the ataman took him into his family, raised him, and gave him the name Nikolai Kolesov.
In connection with the transition to a sedentary lifestyle, the Kalmyks gave new names to farmsteads. Evidence of respect for religion was the appearance of the names of the farms - Khurulny (there were three such farms).
On the territory of the modern Dubovsky district of the Rostov region, the Cossack hundreds of Baldrskaya, Erketenevskaya and Chunusovskaya roamed. At first they had Khurul tents.
In Baldra Hundred, a khurul was founded in 1804.
In the yurt of the village of Potapovskaya there were five Kalmyk khuruls; in the village itself there was a Kalmyk temple, which bore the Tibetan name “Banchey-choylin”, and in common parlance was called “Baldir-khurul”.
Khurul st. Potapovskaya
Photo from the book: Bogachev V. Essays on the geography of the Great Don Army. Novocherkassk. 1919
The Erketenevsky temple was approved by the government for construction in 1842, and before this date the Erketenevsky people built a small idol, about two and a half fathoms in size, then a wooden khurul. The organizer of the construction of the new khurul was Baksha Dambo (Dombo-Dashi) Ulyanov. At the age of 13, he arrived in the village of Erketinskaya and entered the theological school at the khurul. Then he served in the khurul of the village of Vlasovskaya. In 1886, he became a full-time military gelyung of the Potapovskaya village, opened a school at the khurul, as well as a small hospital, where he treated using Tibetan medicine. In 1889-1891, in the area between the Don and Volga rivers, a cholera epidemic broke out, claiming the lives of entire settlements. D. Ulyanov healed people and achieved undoubted success. However, according to short-sighted officials, he treated illegally, for which he was tried, but acquitted due to the success of his treatment and according to the testimony of his patients.
The village of Potapovskaya was divided into two villages - Potapovskaya and Erketinskaya. D. Ulyanov made a trip to St. Petersburg, where he presented a new project for the Erketinsky Temple, and the Emperor approved it. The khurul was built of brick, a stove, the walls and floor were lined with white tiles, and there were tiles on the walls with sketches of Buddhist symbols. It was not a separate temple, but a whole complex of buildings, which included a medical building, a school, a canteen, and the dwelling of the bakshi and gelyungs. There were baths in the medical room, carts were sent on long journeys, and medicinal mud was carried on oxen, which was delivered from the Manychesko-Gruzskaya sanitary station “Wagnerovskaya”. One of the buildings survived, now it is a residential building. And in the 60s of the 20th century, the Erketinovskaya elementary school was located here. The walls of the classrooms were tiled, the ceiling was stucco, and the stove was also covered with tiles.
Khuruly st. Erketinskaya, beginning of the 20th century.
Photo from the book. “Physical and statistical description of the nomads of the Don Kalmyks” / Comp. N. Maslakovets. Novocherkassk, 1872
D. Ulyanov was buried in the village of Erketinskaya. In the 70s, an irrigation canal was built, local residents of the village of Andreevskaya asked the Kalmyk leadership to transfer the ashes to Kalmykia.
The gelung of the khurul of the Erketenevskaya village was Lidzha Sarmadanovich Bakinov. At the end of the 20s, Gelyung hid from the authorities for a long time and came at night to his daughter-in-law, the widow of his younger brother, to buy food. He didn’t stay overnight, took his bag and left. Then he disappeared. Apparently, the servant of the khurul could not survive.
Gelyung of Erkenevsky khurul Lidzha Sarmadanovich Bakinov
Photo from the archive of N.Ts. Khudzhinova
In total, there were 14 khuruls on the Don with a staff of 653 clergy.
For the purpose of economic development, they were supported by the local authorities. The highest clergy (bakshi, gelyungs) were exempted from service, they were allocated land plots. In the village of Chunusovskaya, 200 dessiatines were given to the Khurul clergy. More than 30 persons belonging to the Kalmyk clergy rented out their shares.
The heads of the Don clergy were lamas. In 1896, the institution of lama was abolished, and Baksha-gelyung was considered the deputy supreme lama and the main clergyman. In the Kalmyk hundreds, three candidates were elected, one of them was nominated for this rank by the Nakazny Donskoy Ataman.
When the Kalmyks petitioned the Emperor for permission to receive the title of Lama, Army Ataman N.I. Svyatopolk-Mirsky summoned all the khurul bakshas to him, placed them in one line and shouted at them: “Do you want to have a religious head!? Your spiritual, religious head is the district commander! Only in 1903 did the Kalmyk people achieve the right to have a supreme spiritual head, the “Lama of all Don Cossacks.”
The Kalmyk Clergy was initially located in Ilyinskaya Sloboda, it was headed by the Bakshi of the Don Kalmyks D.G. Gonjinov, D. Mikulinov, A. Chubanov. In the villages, the Khuruls were headed by: in Erketinskaya Baksha B. Ushanov, Gelyung Bashinov Nurzun Lidzhievich (the Kalmyks more often called him Nurzun-Gelung), in Chunusovskaya N. Tsebekov and the senior Khurul Gelyung E. Khokhlov. Baksha khurul of the village of Chunusovskaya N. Tsebekov died in exile.
Gelyung of Erketenevsky khurul, participant of the reconnaissance expedition to Tibet in 1904. Badma Chubarovich Ushanov
Photo courtesy of A.A. Nazarov
A prominent representative of the clergy was M.B. Bormanzhinov. He was elected baksha of Denisovo khurul, and in 1903 Lama of all Don Kalmyks. Menko Bakerevich was a very educated man and a strong rural owner; he conducted business on a large scale in a separate winter hut; in addition to shared land, he rented a military plot of land and sown about 400 acres. He translated sacred Buddhist texts into Kalmyk language.
After the death of Lama Menko Bormanzhinov in March 1919, the duties of Bagshi Lama of the Don Kalmyks were performed by Shurguchi Nimgirov; he emigrated with units of the White Army to Turkey. Ordinary Gelyung monks were among the emigrants, some of them returned to Russia in the early 20s.
They tried to convert Kalmyks to the Orthodox faith and closed four khuruls, including Erketinsky. But the Kalmyks could not come to terms with this state of affairs and petitioned for the restoration of the temples. The Regional Office considered the issue and in 1897 the abolished khuruls were reopened.
The Buddhist and Orthodox faiths cooperated. In 1875, the Archbishop of Donskoy, Vladyka Platon, visited the settlement of Ilyinskaya. Near the Bolshoi Gashun River he was met by the assessor of the Kalmyk board P.O. Dudkin and the Kalmyk clergy.
However, relations between representatives of Orthodoxy and Buddhism were not so simple. The rivalry of trends in theology forced us to fight. At the beginning of the 20th century, Hieromonk Gury wrote: “Before, the Kalmyk clergy enjoyed enormous importance among the Kalmyks, every word of Gelyung had power. Nowadays there is a decline in reverence and respect for our clergy, thanks to their licentiousness and shameless exploitation of the dark people.”
He was echoed by another contemporary, a teacher at the Voronezh Seminary, Alexander Krylov: “You cannot expect a moral and intellectually civilizing influence on the people from the priests; because the priests constitute the highest caste of the people, so to speak, the aristocracy, which keeps the people at a respectful distance, and serves for them only as an example of idleness, drunkenness, vagrancy, etc., but not at all as an example of any virtues.”
These examples show the level of competition among ideological trends.
The Don Diocesan Committee of the Orthodox Missionary Society was created, designed to organize missionary activities among the Kalmyks. Baptized Kalmyks were given benefits from paying taxes. They began to build Orthodox churches in Kalmyk villages. To train missionaries, in 1880, a community-orphanage for Kalmyk children was opened in the bishop's house of the Ilyinka settlement. But there was no real progress; Orthodox churches and the shelter were soon closed.
Khuruls were the center for the education of the defenders of the state. The State Archives of the Rostov Region contains the “Case of placing memorial plaques in Buddhist temples to perpetuate the memory of Kalmyk military officials who died in the war with Japan.” The Department of Spiritual Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs developed a sketch of the memorial plaque, text and language of signatures. The inscription “For Faith, Tsar and Fatherland” was written in the Kalmyk language, the names of the killed and deceased were in Russian. The boards were installed in all khuruls of the Kalmyk villages of the Salsky district.
During the Civil War and in the 1920s, all khuruls were destroyed. The Grabbevsky khurul burned down from machine-gun fire, the treasures of the temple were destroyed by fire. Servants - who was killed, who was evacuated abroad.
Upon the arrival of the Reds in the village of Potapovskaya, baksha khurula Sanji (Jimba) Shagashov and the Gelyung brothers Yakov and Namdzhal Burvinov were shot. In the 20s, after the departure of the Kalmyk population, Khurul was scrapped.
Khurul in the village of Vlasovskaya was burned by a local teacher.
The fate of Belyaevsky khurul was also tragic. The Whites killed the family of Abram Davydov, from the out-of-town Troilinsky farmstead. He burned the khurul. According to the recollections of old-timers, the Reds used this fire as a guide for firing artillery at the village of Belyaevskaya from the Ergeni hill.
In the 20s, the prayer part of the Erketi khurul burned down, but the healing part remained; in the 70s, the walls were still standing. Construction materials were used for the construction of a new school building in the village of Novonikolaevskaya.
In those same years, Chunusovsky khurul was dismantled for building materials.
Fate scattered the temple servants to different countries and cities. Baksha of the Grabbevskaya village, baksha of all the Don Kalmyks Zodba Buruldinov was buried in the USA, at the Cossack St. Vladimir cemetery in the town of Keesville, New Jersey. A.I. is buried there. Denikin, Terek Ataman K.K. Agoev, Marching Ataman, Major General P.Kh. Popov. Here is the grave of Colonel of the All-Great Don Army Leonty Konstantinovich Dronov.
Many years later, already at the beginning of the 21st century, A.A. came from Elista to the village of Erketinovskaya. Nazarov, a descendant of the Kalmyk Cossacks Zartynovs and Tsebekovs. In place of the khurul there are only ruins. Only here and there the remains of brickwork and the foundation of a Kalmyk temple are visible... Nearby there is a house that previously housed ministers; ceremonial dinners were held here on holidays.
The descendants of the Kalmyk Cossacks united into a community. We agreed to immortalize the place where the Erketenevsky khurul stood. In June 2013, the opening of a memorial sign took place in the village of Erketinovskaya. According to Kalmyk custom, the remains of the masonry of the ancient khurul building were placed at the base of the slab. Ataman E.N. Manzhikov and Chairman of the Council of Erketi Kalmyk Cossacks A.A. Nazarov unveiled a monument.
Opening ceremony of the Memorial Sign on the site of Erketenevsky Khurul, 2013
A Buddhist prayer sounded. According to Kalmyk custom, the territory of the khurul was walked around under the leadership of lamas.
On the territory of the Dubovsky district of the Rostov region there are settlements where Kalmyks previously lived - the village of Erketinovskaya, the farms of Adyanov, Novosalsky, Kholostonur. The gray feather grass sadly bends over the remains of the former villages of Potapovskaya and Chunusovskaya, the farms of Boldyrsky and Khudzhurtinsky. There is no trace left of their buildings
By the beginning of the 18th century, Kalmyk settlements appeared outside the Kalmyk Khanate. These are Donskoye, Chuguevskoye, Stavropolskoye, Orenburgskoye, Yaitskoye. In the second half of the 18th century, they also arose on the Terek and Dnieper. The Cossacks, knowing the Kalmyks as “...good horsemen, excellent in courage, always ready and zealous for service,” tried to attract them to their class.
Don Kalmyks. Kalmyk settlements on the Don arose in the second half of the 17th century. and grew throughout the 18th century. due to the influx of Kalmyk groups. The Kalmyk nobility constantly turned to the Russian government with requests to prohibit Kalmyks from settling on the Don, but this did not stop the influx of Kalmyks to the Don.
Don Kalmyks, included in the Cossack Don Army, continued to engage in their traditional activity - cattle breeding.
From the second half of the 18th century. a small part of the Don Kalmyks began to engage in agriculture. Life of the Don Kalmyks until the 19th century. was built traditionally according to national laws.
From the middle of the 18th century. The Don administration divided its wards into three uluses and several hundreds, while the ulus leader was called an ataman, and the hundred leader was called a centurion. Don Kalmyks, depending on combined arms mobilization, were required to recruit individual hundreds led by their owners (atamans) and replenish the composition of Cossack regiments and teams.
Chuguev Kalmyks.
In the 60s of the 17th century. A small group of Volga Kalmyks, led by zaisang Alexei Kobinov, entered service in the Belgorod regiment. In 1679, this group, having adopted the Orthodox faith, at the direction of the Russian government, settled in the suburban settlement of Osipovka in the city of Chuguev. The Kalmyks settled in Chuguev, together with the Ukrainian Cossacks, were the founders of the Chuguev Cossack team, designed to defend the left bank of Ukraine from attacks by the Crimean Tatars. In the mid-30s. XVIII century The team was transformed into the Chuguev Cossack Regiment.
In 1803, the residents of the city of Chuguev were expelled from the regiment, and the Ukrainian Cossacks were turned into a tax-paying estate, and the bulk of the Kalmyks were transferred to the Don Army to continue their Cossack service.
Stavropol Kalmyk army, Orenburg and Yaik Kalmyks. The Stavropol (on the Volga) settlement of Kalmyks arose in 1737 and was one of the largest among Kalmyk groups outside the Kalmyk steppe.
In 1737, a special settlement was created for baptized Kalmyks in the Kunya Volozhka tract, located at the confluence of the Volozhka River with the Volga, which in 1739 was renamed the city of Stavropol-on-Volga (modern Togliatti). Baptized Kalmyks were given land, houses and a church were built. In 1744, the Stavropol fortress was subordinated to the Orenburg province.
The Senate, by its decision of November 19, 1745, legalized the Cossack governance system here. From that time on, the settlement of baptized Kalmyks received the official name - the Stavropol Kalmyk army, which included 8 companies (in civil terms - uluses). A significant reorganization in the army was carried out in May 1760. In connection with this, 3 more companies were created from among the Kalmyks who arrived here from Dzungaria. Thus, there were 11 companies in total, and the army was renamed the Stavropol Kalmyk Corps of a thousand personnel, subordinate to the Orenburg Cossack Army. Later, the Stavropol Kalmyk Regiment was formed on its base.
Orenburg Kalmyk settlement arose from the late 40s. XVIII century, when the government of the Russian Empire decided to organize a separate Cossack corps. Kalmyks were accepted into the Orenburg Cossack Army in 1755. In the 60s of the 18th century. commanded the corps Kalmyk Andrey Anchukov, received the Cossack rank of colonel, and later the army rank of second major. Subsequently, the number of serving Kalmyks in the corps increased due to the influx of immigrants from Dzungaria and compatriots from the Kalmyk Khanate. Mostly Kalmyks performed cordon service.
Kalmyks settled on Yaik in the 20s. XVIII century Kalmyks, along with the Yaik Cossacks, carried out cordon service here.
In 1727, a team of three hundred people was formed from baptized Kalmyks who roamed near Astrakhan to guard the Astrakhan-Tsaritsyn border line. In 1787, the team was transformed into a five-hundred-strong Cossack regiment, in which, along with Kalmyks, Astrakhan and Chernoyarsk Cossacks and Tatars served. Gradually, the Volga coast from Astrakhan to Black Yar began to be built up with villages in which Kalmyks settled together with the Cossacks. By the 70s of the 18th century. the number of Kalmyks in the regiment increased to 600 people.
Sal Cossacks-Kalmyks. Early 20th century
After the Azov campaign of 1698 In the Azov region, the Nikolaev Cossack Regiment was formed to guard the newly built border towns here. At the end of the 20s, 1000 Kalmyks were transferred from the Don Army to Azov to serve in this regiment. In 1777 the regiment was abolished. The Kalmyks who served in it, given their high military training, were transferred to the New Dnieper Line to continue their service.
At the end of the 70s of the XVIII century. The question arose about the creation of the New Dnieper Line, in the area of which there was a road connecting Central Russia with Kuban, Crimea and the Northern Caucasus. Of the Kalmyks (855 people) transferred here from the Nikolaev Cossack Regiment, In the town of Tokmak-Mogila, an outpost was created “in a very unneeded and completely uninhabited place.”
In 1777, another Kalmyk settlement arose on the lands of the Terek Cossacks. The resettlement of Kalmyks to this area was caused by the need to strengthen the southern borders of the state in the North Caucasus with fortresses and to provide them with an additional contingent of Cossacks. Since the Kalmyks were born warriors, the Russian administration tried to attract them to the Cossack class with further use in border and military service.
Cossack of the Stavropol regiment
Photo: Kalmyk in military service.
As is known, Kalmyks appeared within Russia at the beginning of the 17th century. They migrated from the Dzungar Khanate and formed the Kalmyk Khanate in the lower reaches of the Volga River, which strengthened under Ayuk Khan. Archival documents indicate that Kalmyks were called to the Don by local Cossacks to jointly fight the Crimean Tatars. Thus, in 1642, the Don Cossacks turned to their new neighbors with a proposal to jointly fight the Crimeans for the capture of Azov. And in 1648, Kalmyks first appeared near the Cherkasy town. A defensive and offensive alliance was concluded between the Kalmyks and the Cossacks, according to which 1000 Kalmyks opposed the Crimeans. From that time on, agreements were concluded between them and oaths were taken about faithful service to Russia.
In 1696, Ayuka Khan sent up to three thousand tents (about ten thousand people) to the Don near Azov to guard the border line and fight the Azov people. These Kalmyks did not return back to the Kalmyk Khanate; they remained on the Don, near Cherkassk. Some of them accepted the Orthodox faith.
In 1710, Ayuka Khan sent an additional ten thousand Kalmyks to the Don, led by the Torgout owner Chimet and the Derbet owner Four, to guard the southern borders from Kuban raids.
In 1723, Peter I ordered all Kalmyks wandering along the Don to remain in the Cossack class and no more representatives of this nation to be accepted into these lands. Thus, in 1731, the Kalmyks who crossed to the Don became part of the population of the Don Army and were subordinated to the Directorate of Military Cossacks. In 1745, the entire populated Western steppe was given over to the Kalmyks, who were assigned to the Don Army, as nomads. On these lands, three Kalmyk uluses with farmsteads and population were formed: Upper, Middle and Lower.
Ataman of the VVD, General Lieutenant General A.P. Bogaevsky drinks chara with the leadership of the Kalmyk Cossack army. The one on the right (for us) is Colonel Tepkin, to the right of Ataman is Noyon (Prince) Tyumen, to the left of Ataman is Badma Ulanov - a representative of the Don Kalmyks in all military circles of the Don, an active public figure of the Kalmyk people at home and in exile, lawyer, graduate of St. .Petersburg University.