Fond 8 of the Scientific Archive of the Kalmyk Scientific Center (RAS): Excerpts from the History of Its Formation and Description (an Insight into V. O. Polyaev’s Inventory List)
Introduction. The collection of written monuments contained in the Kalmyk Scientific Center of the RAS has been consistently enriched throughout over half a century. For the time being there is no detailed description of its creation (formation). Valuable sources of information here are different inventory lists, certificates, descriptive reports, lists of deliveries, and donation cover letters by individuals who submitted their personal rare materials to the institute. The inventory lists - according to which the first texts arrived in the early 1960s when the institute was reestablished after the return of the Kalmyks - attest to that the manuscript collection has been developed step by step. The list of donators includes such names as Tyugmyud Gavji, E. Ubushiev, N. Davurov, V. Artaev, etc. Some texts were discovered by employees of the Institute during expeditions. Materials in classical scripts contained in the Archive of Kalmyk Scientific Center may serve as a tremendous research field for academic historiographers. The former had been collected and preserved by Kalmyk ‘lay’ gelongs (Tyugmyud Gavji, E. Ubushiev and others), remaining a living evidence that the Kalmyk Buddhist tradition did survive the whole of the dramatic 20th century. Goals. The paper provides another insight into written sources delivered to the Archive of Kalmyk Scientific Center (then Kalmyk Research Institute of History, Philology and Economics) by E. Ubushiev (Agvan Tabdan). The article describes and analyzes the inventory list of the gZungs ’dus collection from E. Ubushiev’s personal archives - through the use of records by V. Polyaev (Chumatov) (1953-2013), then a junior research associate to have described texts received from the Kalmyk Buddhist priest. Such inventory recording is the first stage within a series of arrangements aiming to investigate a certain writing (or collected writings) since somewhat detailed description, assessment of significance of a text, representation of its contents, accurate classification and other aspects may be critical to further evaluations of its cultural-and-historical weight, to its further introduction into contemporary cultural discourse. Results. The work concludes the tremendous merit of the enthusiastic Buddhist priests who donated their personal archives (containing manuscript monuments) was that - according to wills of theirs - the materials were delivered to the academic institute since they believed those were Mongolists and Tibetologists who could transmit corresponding messages to other researchers and Buddhist-minded citizens, and thus preserve the wisdom for the people in general. And this was well completed by the Orientalist V. Polyaev. The presented inventory record characterizes him as an accomplished and erudite specialist with expertise in Tibetan and somewhat bright poetic translation talent. The reviewed documents also illustrate the institute’s archive keeping activities were held at a high professional level, and the directorate showed great interest in the preservation of the Kalmyk Buddhist heritage.