Archival Documents from Mongolia
Edited by Sampildondov Chuluun, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, and Uradyn E. Bulag, University of Cambridge
The Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run (1904-1906) is a facsmile collection comprising over 900 original archival documents from Mongolia relating to the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s exile in Mongolia in the aftermath of the British invasion of Tibet in 1904.
ISBN13: 9789004254541, E-ISBN: 9789004254558
Publication Date: June 2013, Hardback, BRILL
The Thirteenth Dalai Lama fled from the British invasion of Tibet to Mongolia in search of support from Russia. Although the mission failed, his extended sojourn in Mongolia marked the beginning of political modernity in both Mongolia and Tibet. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run is a facsimile collection comprising 150 hitherto unpublished archival documents from Mongolia about this historical episode. Written in Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese, the documents concern the operation of the Mongol princes in hosting the Dalai Lama in Mongolia and the attempts made by the Qing frontier officials to remove him from Mongolia back to Tibet. Details of his extensive travels within the country, the associated elaborate ritual activities and the great financial costs incurred which were borne by the Mongols, come to light for the first time in this publication.
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The first thing you notice about this book is its weight, secondly the high quality of the reproductions. This image on the right (No. 1) is a notice from the office of Badamdorj the Erdene Shanzudba, Treasurer of Urga, ordering the many shops on the western side of Urga to remove the litter left by the Chinese between the Zunn Huree monastery and the Gandandegchilen monastery. It goes on to prohibit further littering.
This facsimile collection comprising hitherto unpublished archival documents from Mongolia about this historical episode. Written in Mongolian, Manchu and Chinese, the documents concern the operation of the Mongol princes in hosting the Dalai Lama in Mongolia and the attempts made by the Qing frontier officials to remove him from Mongolia back to Tibet. Details of his extensive travels within the country, the associated elaborate ritual activities and the great financial costs incurred which were borne by the Mongols, come to light for the first time in this publication. The documents which are supported by detailed captions are discussed in an in-depth introduction.
2
The image on the left (No. 2) is the issuance and despatch of the imperial decree to the Dalai Lama upon the Dalai Lama’s offer of Buddha statues and Hadag scarves acknowledging the imperial grace after receiving the imperial decree (April 1905).
A fascinating, historical document.
Biographical note:
Sampildondov Chuluun, Ph.D. (2004), State Pedagogical University of Moscow, is Associate Professor of History at the Institute of History, Mongolian Academy of Sciences. He has written and edited numerous works on Mongolian history and ethnography, including Khotogoidyn Tüükh (Soyombo, 2007).
Uradyn E. Bulag, Ph.D. (1993), University of Cambridge, is Reader in Social Anthropology at the same university. His interests broadly span East Asia and Inner Asia, geopolitics, historiography, nationalism and statecraft. His latest book is Collaborative Nationalism: The Politics of Friendship on China’s Mongolian Frontier (Rowman & Littlefield, 2010).
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You can buy Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run from:
BRILL: Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run €231,00, US$299.00
Book Depository: Thirteenth Dalai Lama on the Run £188.63
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Categories: Biography, Book reviews, Books, Dalai Lama, Encyclopedia, History, Tibetan, Tibetan Buddhism
Buddhism now 
Although the number of people who can read all these documents is probably small, this still seems to me a major achievement and a publication that will be of great value to those doing research in this field. It looks as if Mongolia could be a treasury of historical material.
Yes Mongolia is becoming a treasury of historical material. Take a look at the photos from the @bl_eap, British Library #endangeredarchives project, click here.
R