Religion and Identity in Buryatia: Competition between Orthodoxy and Buddhism in Late Imperial Russia (on Materials from St. Petersburg Archives)

Abstract

This paper discusses the political importance of religious identity in the context of competition between Orthodoxy and Buddhism in the Buryat spiritual space in the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century. Christianization of Buryats as well as other non-Russians in the remote regions of Russia seemed a necessary tool for strengthening the borders of the empire, which were under threat from Qing China. While Christianization of Pre-Baikal (Western) Buryats-shamanists was quite successful at least formally, the Trans-Baikal Buryats remained largely steadfast Buddhists. Considering this fact, the secular authorities built relationships with the Buddhist clergy within the framework of the existing legal regulations. However, the relationship between Orthodoxy and Buddhism was irreconcilable overall in imperial history. The situation worsened at the end of the nineteenth century, when in connection with the Buryat ethnonational movements, Buddhism began to spread among the Western Buryats. This caused serious problems in Irkutsk eparchy, where they believed that only Orthodoxy could ensure loyalty to the monarchy and the Empire. Meanwhile, loyalty to the state, including the deification of the monarch, was an inherent characteristic of Buddhism both abroad and in Russia. In addition to a strong adaptive ability, institutionalized Buddhism in Russia developed adoration and devotion to the Tsar among Buryats through appropriate preaching to believers, thus promoting and strengthening both its own position and the Russian identity of the Buryats.