After the departure of Oubacha, the Kalmucks that remained in Russia were deprived of their special jurisdiction, and for more than thirty years had neither khan nor vice-khan. It was not until 1802, that the Emperor Paul, in one of his inexplicable caprices, thought fit to re-establish the office of vice-khan, and bestowed it on Prince Tchoutchei, an influential Kalmuck of the race of theDerbetes. The administration of the hordes, which had been under the control of the governor of Astrakhan since 1771, was again made independent, the functions of the Russian pristofs were limited, and they could no longer abuse their power so much as they had done. But upon the death of Tchoutchei, the Kalmucks again came under the Russian laws and tribunals; they lost all their privileges irrevocably, and the sovereignty of the khans and of the vice-khans disappeared for ever.
The complete subjection of the Kalmucks was not, however, effected without some difficulty. Discontent prevailed among them in the highest degree, but their attempts at revolt were all fruitless. Hemmed in on all sides by lines of Cossacks, the tribes were constrained to accept the Russian sway in all its extent. The only remarkable incident of their last struggles was a partial emigration into the Cossack country. This insubordination excited the tzar's utmost wrath, and he despatched an extraordinary courier to Astrakhan, with orders to arrest the high priest and the principal chiefs of the hordes, and send them to St. Petersburg. Before leaving Astrakhan, these two Kalmucks engaged a certain Maximof to act as their interpreter, and plead their cause before the emperor.
But when the two captives arrived in St. Petersburg, the emperor's fit of anger was quite over; they were received extremely well, and instead of being chastised, they returned to the steppes invested with a new Russian dignity. They took leave publicly of the tzar, and this audience was turned to good account by their interpreter. In presenting their thanks to his majesty, that very clever person, knowing he ran no risk of being contradicted, made Paul believe that the Kalmucks earnestly entreated that his imperial majesty would grant him, also, an honorary grade in recompense for his good services. The tzar was taken in by the trick, and Maximof quitted the court with the title of major. The man still lived in Astrakhan when we visited the town, and did not hesitate to tell us the story with his own lips.
Though entirely subjected to the Russian laws, the Kalmucks have an administrative committee, which is occupied exclusively with their affairs. It resides in Astrakhan, and consists of a president, two Russian judges, and two Kalmuck deputies. The latter, of course, are appointed only for form sake, and have no influence over the decisions of the council. The president of the committee is what the Russians call the curator-general of the Kalmucks. In 1840, this post had been filled for many years by M. Fadiew, a man of integrity and capacity, and the tribes owed to his wise administration a state of tranquillity they had not enjoyed for a long while.
To each camp there is also attached a superintendent, called a pristof, with some Cossacks under his orders. All matters of litigation are decided in accordance with the Russian code, but criminal cases are extremely rare, owing to the pacific character of the Kalmucks, and the interposition of their chiefs.
The Kalmuck hordes are divided into two great classes, those belonging respectively to princes and to the crown; but all are amenable to the same laws and the same tribunals. The former pay a tax of twenty-five rubles to their princes, who have the right of taking from among them all the persons they require for their domestic service, and they are bound to maintain a police and good order within their camp. Every chief, has, at his command, several subaltern chiefs calledzaizans, who have the immediate superintendence of 100 or 150 tents. Their office is nearly hereditary. He who fills it enjoys the title of prince, but this is not shared by the other members of his family. The zaizans are entitled to a contribution of two rubles from every kibitka under their command.
The hordes of the crown come under more direct Russian surveillance. They paid no tax at first, and were bound to military service in the same way as the Cossacks; but they have been exempted from it since 1836, and now pay merely a tax of twenty-five rubles for each family. The princely hordes, likewise, used to supply troops for the frontier service; but this was changed in 1825, and since then the Kalmucks have been free from all military service, and pay only twenty-five rubles per tent to their princes, and 2.50 to the crown.
Besides the two great divisions we have just mentioned, the Kalmucks are also distinguished into variousoulousses, or hordes, belonging to sundry princes. Eachouloussehas its own camping-ground for summer and winter.
The Kalmuck territory has been considerably reduced since the departure of Oubacha; it now comprises but a small extent of country on the left bank of the Volga, and the Khirghis of the inner horde now occupy the steppes between the Ural and the Volga. The present limits of European Kalmuckia are to the north and east, the Volga as far as latitude 48 deg.; a line drawn from that point to the mouths of the Volga, parallel with the course of the river, and at a distance from it of about forty miles; and, lastly, the Caspian Sea as far as the Kouma. On the south, the boundary is the Kouma and a line drawn from that river, below Vladimirofka, to the upper part of the course of the Kougoultcha. The Egorlik, and a line passing through the sources of the different rivers that fall into the Don, form the frontiers on the west.
The whole portion of the steppes included between the Volga, the frontiers of the government of Saratof and the country of the Don Cossacks, and the 46th degree of north latitude, forms the summer camping-ground of the following oulousses: Karakousofsky, Iandikofsky, Great Derbet, belonging to Prince Otshir Kapshukof; Little Derbet, belonging to Prince Tondoudof, and Ikytsokourofsky, which is now without a proprietor; its prince having died childless, it is not known who is to have his inheritance.
The whole territory comprises about 4,105,424 hectares of land; 40,000 were detached from it in 1838 by Prince Tondoudof, and presented to the Cossacks, in return for which act of generosity thecrown conferred on him the rank of captain. He gave a splendid ball on the occasion at Astrakhan, which cost upwards of 15,000 rubles. We saw him in that town at the governor's soirées, where he made a very poor figure; yet he is the richest of all the Kalmuck princes, for he possesses 4500 tents, and his income amounts, it is said, to more than 200,000 rubles.
The Kalmucks occupy in all 10,297,587 hectares of land, of which 8,599,415 are in the government of Astrakhan, and 1,598,172 in that of the Caucasus. These figures which cannot be expected to be mathematically exact, are the result of my own observations, and of the assertions of the Kalmucks, compared with some surveys made by order of the administrative committee.
Besides the Kalmucks, the only legitimate proprietors of the soil, other nomades also intrude upon these steppes. Such are the Turcomans, called Troushmens by the Russians. They have their own lands in the government of the Caucasus, between the Kouma and the Terek; but as the countless swarms of gnats infesting those regions in summer render them almost uninhabitable for camels and other cattle, the Turcomans pass the Kouma of their own authority, with some Nogaï hordes, who are in the same predicament, encamp amidst the Kalmucks, and occupy during all the fine weather a great part of the steppes between the Kouma and the Manitch. This intrusion has often been strongly resented by the Kalmucks, and the authorities have been obliged to interfere to appease the strife. But as it is absolutely requisite to allot a summer camping-ground to the Turcomans, the government is not a little perplexed how to cut the gordian knot. An expedient, however, was adopted during our stay in Astrakhan. It was determined to take from the Kalmucks a portion of the territory they possess along the Kalaous, and of which they make no use, and bestow it upon the Turcomans. This ground being completely isolated, it was furthermore decided that there should be allowed a road six kilometres wide (three miles six furlongs) for the passage of their flocks. Nothing can convey a more striking picture of these arid regions than this scheme of a road nearly four miles wide, extending for more than sixty leagues.
The Turcomans entered Russia in the train of the Kalmucks, whose slaves they appear to have been. They are now much mixed up with the Nogaïs, like whom they profess Mohammedanism. They reckon 3838 tents. The only obligation imposed on them is to convey the corn destined for the army of the Caucasus. They receive their loads at Koumskaia, where the vessels from Astrakhan discharge their cargoes, and thence they repair to the Terek and often to Tiflis in Georgia. This service is regarded by them as very onerous, and they have long requested permission to pay their taxes in money. They use in this business carts with two wheels of large diameter, drawn by oxen, for camels and horses are scarcely ever employed. The Turcomans have preserved the good old customs oftheir native country; they are the greatest plunderers in the steppes, and the only people whom there is any real cause to regard with distrust. Before the end of summer, in the latter part of August, the Turcomans begin to retire behind the Kouma, into the government of the Caucasus.
A Tatar horde called Sirtof likewise encamps on the lands of the Kalmucks, within sixty miles of Astrakhan, on the road to Kisliar. It reckons but 112 tents, and as the lands it occupies are of little importance, no one thinks of troubling it.
Lastly are to be enumerated 500 families of Kalmucks, improperly called Christians, who occupy the two banks of the Kouma, between Vladimirofka and the Caspian. Some Russian missionaries attempted their conversion towards the close of the last century, but their proselytising efforts, based on force, were fruitless, and produced nothing but revolts. Since then these Kalmucks, some of whom had suffered themselves to be baptised, were called Christians, chiefly for the purpose of distinguishing them from those who are not bound like themselves to military service. They are chiefly employed in guarding the salt pools, and belong, under the denomination of Cossacks, to the regiment of Mosdok. The government feeds them and their horses when they are on actual service, but they still pay a tax for every head of cattle, the amount of which goes into the regimental chest. These Kalmucks having no camping-ground of their own, have long been soliciting to have one assigned them. The government offered them ground in the environs of Stavropol, the capital of the Caucasian government, but they refused it for fear of the incursions of the Circassians. These nominal Christians are with the Turcomans the most dangerous people in the steppes. Their attacks are not at all to be feared by day; but at night it is necessary to keep a sharp look out after one's camels and horses; for in these deserts to rob a traveller of his means of transport is almost to take his life.
As will be seen from what we have stated above, the summer encampments of the Kalmuck hordes are situated in the most northern parts of the country, where there is the richest pasture, and where the cattle suffer least from flies in the hot weather. The emigration to the north is almost general; only a few very needy families, who have no cattle, remain in the winter camp, keeping as near as possible to the post stations and inhabited places, in hopes of procuring employment. In the beginning of the cold season the hordes return to the south, along the banks of the Caspian and the Kouma, where they fix themselves among the forests of rushes that supply them with firing and fodder for their cattle.
In all these regions destitute of forests, reeds are of immense importance, and nature has liberally distributed them along all the rivers of the steppes, and in all the numerous bottom lands that flank the Caspian. The inhabitants of Astrakhan make a regular and systematic use of them, employing them not only for fuel, but also for roofing their houses, and for thatching their waggons laden withsalt or fish, which they send into the interior of the country. It is in spring, before the floods caused by the melting of the snow, that the reeds begin to sprout. Their stalks, which are as thick as a finger, soon shoot up to the height of twelve or thirteen feet. Those that grow on the banks of the Volga are never quite covered in the highest floods. The beginning of winter is the season for laying in a stock of reeds, and it is customary to burn all those that are not cut and carried off, in order that the dead stalks may not hinder the growth of the young shoots.
The ceremony attending the departure of the hordes in spring is not without interest. The Kalmuck chiefs never begin a march without making an offering to the Bourkhan, or god of the river, as an acknowledgment of the protection vouchsafed to their camp during the winter. To this end they repair in great pomp to the banks of the Kouma, accompanied by their families and a large body of priests, and throw several pieces of silver money into the river, at the same time invoking its future favours.
According to the official documents communicated to me, the Kalmuck population does not appear to exceed 15,000 families. On this head, however, it is impossible to arrive at very exact statistics, for the princes having themselves to pay the crown dues, have of course an interest in making the population seem as small as possible. I am inclined to believe, from sundry facts, that the number of the tents is scarcely under 20,000. At all events, it seems ascertained that the Kalmuck population has remained stationary for the last sixty years, a fact which is owing to the ravages of disease, such as small-pox, and others of the cutaneous kind.
The Kalmucks, all of them nomades, are exclusively engaged in rearing cattle, and know nothing whatever of agriculture. They breed camels, oxen, sheep, and above all, horses, of which they have an excellent description, small, but strong, agile, and of great endurance. I have ridden a Kalmuck horse often eighteen and even twenty-five leagues without once dismounting. The Russian cavalry is mounted chiefly on horses from the Caspian steppes: the average price of a good horse is from 80 to 100 rubles. Formerly the Kalmucks used to send their horses to the great fairs of Poland, paying a duty of 1.75 rubles on every horse sold; but the duty was raised to 5.25 rubles in 1828, for every horse arriving in the fair, and this unlucky measure immediately destroyed all trade with Poland. The business of horse-breeding has diminished immensely ever since in the Caspian steppes. The government afterwards returned to the old rate of duty; but the mischief was done, and the Kalmucks did not again appear in their old markets.
It is impossible to know, even approximately, the amount of cattle belonging to the tribes, for the Kalmucks are too superstitious ever to acknowledge the number of their stock. From various data I collected at Astrakhan, and from the superintendents of the hordes, we may estimate that the Kalmucks possess on the wholefrom 250,000 to 300,000 horses, about 60,000 camels, 180,000 kine, and nearly a million sheep.
Prince Tumene is the only one of the Kalmucks who has engaged in agriculture, and his attempts have been exceedingly favoured by the character of the soil in his domains on the left bank of the Volga. His produce consists of grain, grapes, and all kinds of fruit. He has even tried to manufacture Champagne wine, but with little success; and when we visited him, he entreated me to send him a good work on the subject, that he might begin his operations again on an improved plan.
Prince Tondoudof is also striving to follow in Prince Tumene's footsteps. He has lately marked out a large space in the steppes for the fixed residence of a part of his Kalmucks, but I greatly doubt that his wishes can ever be realised. He has for many years possessed a very handsome dwelling, but he has not yet been able to give up his tent, so strong is the attachment of all this race to a nomade life. But the most potent obstacle to the establishment of a permanent colony consists in the nature of the soil itself. We have traversed the Kalmuck steppes in almost all directions, and found everywhere only an argillaceous, sandy, or salt soil, generally unsuited to agriculture. Where there is pasture, the grass is so short and thin, that the ground exactly resembles the appearance of the steppes of the Black Sea, when the grass begins to grow again after the conflagrations of winter. Hence the Kalmucks are continually on the move to find fresh pasture for their cattle, and seldom remain in one spot for more than a month or six weeks. But the most serious obstacle to agriculture is the want of fresh water. The few brooks that run through the steppes are dry during the greater part of the year, and the summers are generally without rain. The cold, too, is as intolerable as the heat: for four months the thermometer is almost always steady at twenty-eight degrees of Reaumur in the shade, and very often it rises to thirty-two; then when winter sets in it falls to twenty-eight degrees below zero. Thus, there is a difference of nearly sixty degrees between the winter and the summer temperature. If in addition to these changes of temperature we consider the total flatness of the country, exposed without any shelter to the violence of the north and east winds, it will easily be conceived how unfavourable it must be to agriculture. A nomade life seems therefore to me a necessity for the Kalmucks, and until the development of civilisation among them shall make them feel the need of fixed dwellings, they must be left free to wander over their steppes. Moreover, in applying themselves exclusively to pastoral pursuits, they render much greater service to Russia than if they employed themselves in cultivating a stubborn and thankless soil. No doubt there are numerous oases scattered over these immense plains, just as in other deserts, and agriculture might have some success in the northern parts; but these favourable spots are all situated amid wildernesses where the cultivators would find nomarkets for their produce. In spite of all these drawbacks, the Russian government still persists in its endeavours to colonise the Kalmucks, and strives with all its might to introduce among them its system of uniformity. But its efforts have hitherto been quite fruitless; the hordes are now, perhaps, more than ever attached to their vagrant way of life, in which they find at least a compensation for the privileges and the independence of which they have been deprived.
The Kalmucks, like most other nations, are divided into three orders, nobles, clergy, and commons; the members of the aristocracy assume the name ofwhite bones, whilst the common people are calledblack bones. The priests belong indifferently to either class, but those that issue from the ranks of the people do not easily succeed in effacing the stain of their origin. The prejudices of noble birth are, however, much less deeply rooted at this day than formerly, a natural consequence of the destruction of the power of the khans and the princes, and the complete subjection of the hordes to the laws and customs of the empire. Bergmann's account has therefore become quite inapplicable to the present state of things, and can only give false notions of the constitution of the Kalmucks.
Among the Asiatic races there is none whose features are so distinctly characterised as those of the Mongols. Paint one individual and you paint the whole nation. In 1815, the celebrated painter, Isabey, after seeing a great number of Kalmucks, observed so striking a resemblance between them, that having to take the likeness of Prince Tumene, and perceiving that the prince was very restless at the last sittings, he begged him to send one of his servants in his stead. In that way the painter finished the portrait, which turned out to be a most striking likeness, as I myself can testify. All the Kalmucks have eyes set obliquely, with eyelids little opened, scanty black eyebrows, noses deeply depressed near the forehead, prominent cheek-bones, spare beards, thin moustaches, and a brownish yellow skin. The lips of the men are thick and fleshy, but the women, particularly those of high rank, have heart-shaped mouths of no common beauty. All have enormous ears, projecting strongly from the head, and their hair is invariably black. The Kalmucks are generally small, but with figures well rounded, and an easy carriage. Very few deformed persons are seen among them, for with more good sense than ourselves, they leave the development of their children's frames entirely to nature, and never put any kind of garment on them until the age of nine or ten. No sooner are they able to walk, than they mount on horseback, and apply themselves with all their hearts to wrestling and riding, the chief amusements of the tribes.
The portrait we have drawn of the Kalmucks is certainly not very engaging; but their own notions of beauty are very different from ours. A Kalmuck princess has been named to us, who, thoughfrightfully ugly in European eyes, nevertheless, passed for such a marvel of loveliness among her own people, that after having had a host of suitors, she was at last carried off by force by one of her admirers.
Like all inhabitants of vast plains, the Kalmucks have exceedingly keen sight. An hour after sunset they can still distinguish a camel at a distance of three miles or more. Very often when I perceived nothing but a point barely visible on the horizon, they clearly made out a horseman armed with his lance and gun. They have also an extraordinary faculty for wending their way through their pathless wildernesses. Without the least apparent mark to guide them, they traverse hundreds of miles with their flocks, without ever wandering from the right course.
The costume of the common Kalmucks is not marked by any very decided peculiarity, the cap alone excepted. It is invariably of yellow cloth trimmed with black lambskin, and is worn by both sexes. I am even tempted to think that there are some superstitious notions connected with it, seeing the difficulty I experienced in procuring one as a specimen. The trousers are wide and open below. Persons in good circumstances wear two long tunics, one of which is tied round the waist, but the usual dress consists only of trousers and a jacket of skin with tight sleeves. We have already described the garb of the women. The men shave a part of their heads, and the rest of the hair is gathered into a single mass, which hangs on their shoulders. The women wear two tresses, and this is really the only visible criterion of their sex. The princes have almost all adopted the Circassian costume, or the uniform of the Cossacks of Astrakhan, to which body some of them belong. The ordinary foot gear is red boots with very high heels, and generally much too short. The Kalmucks, like the Chinese, greatly admire small feet, and as they are constantly on horseback, their short boots, which would be torturing to us, cause them no inconvenience. But they are very bad pedestrians; the form of their boots obliges them to walk on their toes, and they are exceedingly distressed when they have not a horse to mount.
They never set out on a journey unarmed. They usually carry a poniard and a long Asiatic gun, generally a matchlock. The camel is the beast they commonly ride, guiding it by a string passed through its nostrils, which gives them complete command over the animal. They have long quite abandoned the use of bows and arrows; the gun, the lance, and the dagger being now their only weapons. Cuirasses, too, have become useless to them. I saw a few admirable specimens at Prince Tumene's, which appeared to be of Persian manufacture, and were valued at from fifty to a hundred horses. In spite of the precepts of buddhism which forbid them to kill any sort of animal, the Kalmucks are skilful sportsmen with hawk and gun. They almost always shoot in the manner of theold arquebusiers, resting the gun on a long fork which plays upon an axis fixed at the extremity of the barrel.
The Kalmucks, like all pastoral people, live very frugally. Dairy produce forms their chief aliment, and their favourite beverage is tea. They eat meat also, particularly horse flesh, which they prefer to any other, but very well done and not raw as some writers have asserted. As for cereal food, which the natives of Europe prize so highly, the Kalmucks scarcely know its use; it is only at rare intervals that some of them buy bread or oatcake from the neighbouring Russians. Their tea is prepared in a very peculiar manner. It comes to them from China, in the shape of very hard bricks composed of the leaves and coarsest parts of the plant. After boiling it a considerable time in water, they add milk, butter, and salt. The infusion then acquires consistency, and becomes of a dirty red-yellow colour. We tasted the beverage at Prince Tumene's, but must confess it was perfectly detestable, and instantly reminded us of Madame Gibou's incredible preparation. They say, however, that it is easy to accustom oneself to this tea, and that at last it is thought delicious. At all events it has one good quality. By strongly exciting perspiration, it serves as an excellent preservative against the effects of sudden chills. The Kalmucks drink their tea out of round shallow little wooden vessels, to which they often attach a very high value. I have seen several which were priced at two or three horses. They are generally made of roots brought from Asia. It is superfluous to say that the Kalmucks, knowing nothing of the use of teakettles, prepare their infusion in large iron pots. Next to tea there is no beverage they are so fond of as spirituous liquors. They manufacture a sort of brandy from mare's or cow's milk; but as it is very weak, and has little action on the brain, they seek after Russian liquors with intense eagerness, so that to prevent the pernicious consequences of this passion, the government has been obliged to prohibit the establishment of any dram shops among the hordes. The women are as eager after the fatal liquor as the men, but they have seldom an opportunity to indulge their taste, for their lords and masters watch them narrowly in this respect. The Kalmuck kitchen is disgustingly filthy. A housekeeper would think herself disgraced if she washed her utensils with water. When she has to clean a vessel, no matter of what sort, she merely empties out its contents, and polishes the inside with the back of her hand. Often have I had pans of milk brought to me that had been cleansed in this ingenious manner. However, as we have already remarked, the interior of the tents by no means exhibits the filth with which this people has been often charged.
Among the Kalmucks, like most Oriental nations, the stronger sex considers all household cares derogatory to its dignity, and leaves them entirely to the women, whose business it is to cook, take care of the children, keep the tents in order, make up the garments andfurs of the family, and attend to the cattle. The men barely condescend to groom their horses; they hunt, drink tea or brandy, stretch themselves out on felts, and smoke or sleep. Add to these daily occupations some games, such as chess, and that played with knuckle-bones, and you have a complete picture of the existence of a Kalmuckpater familias. The women are quite habituated to their toilsome life, and make cheerful and contented housewives; but they grow old fast, and after a few years of wedlock become frightfully ugly. Their appearance then differs not at all from that of the men; their masculine forms, the shape of their features, their swarthy complexion, and the identity of costume often deceive the most practised eye.
We twice visited the Kalmucks, and the favourable opinion we conceived of them from the first was never shaken. They are the most pacific people imaginable; in analysing their physiognomy, it is impossible to believe that a malicious thought can enter their heads. We invariably encountered the frankest and most affable hospitality among them, and our arrival in a camp was always hailed by the joyful shouts of the whole tribe hurrying to meet us. According to Bergmann's book he seems not to have fared so well at their hands, and he revenges himself by painting them in a very odious light. But it must not be forgotten that Bergmann was, above all things, clerical, and that he could not fail to be looked on with dislike by the Kalmucks, who had already endured so many attempts of missionaries to convert them. It is, therefore, by no means surprising if he was not always treated with the deference he had a right to exact. As for that pride of the great men and that impudence of the vulgar, which so deeply stirred the indignation of the Livonian traveller, these are defects common enough in all countries, and even among nations that make the greatest boast of their liberality; it would be unjust, therefore, to visit them too severely in the case of the Kalmucks.
A very marked characteristic of these tribes is their sociability. They seldom eat alone, and often entertain each other; it is even their custom, before tasting their food, to offer a part of it to strangers, or, if none are present, to children; the act is in their eyes both a work of charity, and a sort of propitiatory offering in acknowledgment of the bounty of the Deity.
Their dwellings are felt tents, calledkibitkasby the Russians. They are four or five yards in diameter, cylindrical to the height of a man's shoulder, with a conical top, open at the apex to let the smoke escape. The frame is light, and can be taken asunder for the convenience of carriage. The skeleton of the roof consists of a wooden ring, forming the aperture for the smoke, and of a great number of small spars supporting the ring, and resting on the upper circumference of the cylindrical frame. The whole tent is light enough to be carried by two camels. A kibitka serves for a wholefamily; men, women, and children sleep in it promiscuously without any separation. In the centre there is always a trivet, on which stands the pot used for cooking tea and meat. The floor is partly covered with felts, carpets, and mats; the couches are opposite the door, and the walls of the tent are hung with arms, leathern vessels, household utensils, quarters of meat, &c.
Among the most important occupations of these people are the distillation of spirits, and the manufacture of felts, to which a certain season of the year is appropriated. For the latter operation the men themselves awake out of their lethargy, and condescend to put their hands to the work. They make two kinds of felt, grey and white. The price of the best is ten or twelve rubles for the piece of eight yards by two. The Kalmucks are also very expert in making leathern vessels for liquids, of all shapes and sizes, with extremely small throats. The women tan the skins after a manner which the curious in these matters will find described by the celebrated traveller, Pallas. The priests, moreover, manufacture some very peculiar tea-caddies; they are of wood, their shape a truncated cone, with numerous ornamental hoops of copper. In other respects industry has made no progress among the Kalmucks, whose wants are so limited, that none of them has ever felt the need of applying himself to any distinct trade. Every man can supply his own wants, and we never found an artisan of any kind among the hordes. At Astrakhan, there are some Kalmuck journeymen engaged in the fisheries, and many of them are in high repute as boatmen. On the whole, it is not for want of intelligence they are without arts, but because they have no need of them.
We frequently questioned the Kalmucks respecting their wintering under a tent, and they always assured us that their kabitkas perfectly protected them from the cold. By day they keep up a fire with reeds and dried dung; and at night, when there remains only clear coal, they stop up all the openings to confine the heat. Their felts, besides, as I know from experience, are so well made, as to shelter them completely from the most furious tempests.
We have little to say of the education of the Kalmucks. Their princes and priests alone boast of some learning, but it consists only in a knowledge of their religious works. The mass of the people grovel in utter ignorance. Nevertheless, a very notable intellectual movement took place among the tribes in the beginning of the seventeenth century, at which period Zaia Pandity, one of their high priests, invented a new alphabet, and enriched the old Mongol language with many Turkish elements. Thereupon the Kalmuck nation had a literature of its own, and soon, under the influence of its numerous traditions, and its historical, sacred, and political books, it exhibited all the germs of a hopeful, nascent civilisation; nor was it rare in those days to find men of decided talent among the aristocracy. But Oubacha's emigration blighted all these fairhopes. The books were all carried off by the fugitives; the old traditions, so potent among Asiatic nations, gradually became extinct, the natural bond that knitted the various hordes together was broken, and the Kalmucks that remained in Europe soon relapsed into their old barbarian condition.
[47]The emperor subjoins in a note: "The nation of the Torgouths arrived at Ily in total destitution without victuals or clothing. I had foreseen this, and given orders to Chouhédé and others, to lay up the necessary provisions of all kinds, that they might be promptly succoured. This was done. The lands were divided, and to each family was assigned a sufficient portion for its support by tillage or cattle rearing. Each individual received cloth for garments, a year's supply of corn, household utensils, and other necessaries, and besides all this several ounces of silver to provide himself with whatever might have been forgotten. Particular places, fertile in pasturage, were pointed out to them, and they were given oxen, sheep, &c., that they might afterwards labour for their own sustenance and welfare."
[47]The emperor subjoins in a note: "The nation of the Torgouths arrived at Ily in total destitution without victuals or clothing. I had foreseen this, and given orders to Chouhédé and others, to lay up the necessary provisions of all kinds, that they might be promptly succoured. This was done. The lands were divided, and to each family was assigned a sufficient portion for its support by tillage or cattle rearing. Each individual received cloth for garments, a year's supply of corn, household utensils, and other necessaries, and besides all this several ounces of silver to provide himself with whatever might have been forgotten. Particular places, fertile in pasturage, were pointed out to them, and they were given oxen, sheep, &c., that they might afterwards labour for their own sustenance and welfare."
BUDDHISM—KALMUCK COSMOGONY—KALMUCK CLERGY—RITES AND CEREMONIES—POLYGAMY—THE KHIRGHIS.
BUDDHISM—KALMUCK COSMOGONY—KALMUCK CLERGY—RITES AND CEREMONIES—POLYGAMY—THE KHIRGHIS.
The Kalmucks, Like most of the other offshoots of the Mongol stock, are Buddhists, or rather Lamites. According to the opinion of all writers, Buddhism began in India, and Buddha, afterwards deified by his followers under the name of Dchakdchamouni, was its founder and first patriarch. Opposed by the fanaticism of the children of Brahma, the new creed made little progress, and appears to have been cruelly persecuted in the beginning. The learned researches of M. Abel Remusat have, however, demonstrated that there was a succession of twenty-eight Buddhist patriarchs in India. It was not until aboutA.D.495, that Bodhidharma, impelled no doubt by the persecutions of the Brahmins, set out for China, where the doctrines of Buddha had already made considerable progress, as well as in Thibet and great part of Tartary. Eight centuries, nevertheless, elapsed before the successors of Bodhidharma emerged from their obscure and precarious condition: it was to the grand fortunes of the celebrated Genghis Khan they owed that royal splendour they afterwards enjoyed under the name of Dalai Lama.
According to Klaproth, the first traces of Buddhism are recorded in a Mongol book, entitled "The Source of the Heart," written in the time of Genghis Khan. It is there related that the conqueror, when about to enter the countries occupied by the Buddhists, sent an embassy to their patriarch with these words: "I have chosen thee for my high priest, and for that of my empire; repair to me; I give thee charge over the present and future weal of my people, and I will be thy protector." The desires of Genghis Khan were quickly fulfilled; from that time forth the patriarchs often resided at the conqueror's court, and their religion was at last adopted by the greatest Mongol warriors. In the reign of Genghis Khan's grandson, Buddhism was already become a power; and then it was that the high priests, assuming the title of Dalai Lama, fixed their residence in Thibet, where they continued to be treated as actual monarchs, until dissensions and rivalries destroyed all the prestigeof their authority, and they became confounded with the other vassals of the empire of China.
When Buddhism installed itself in Thibet, that country was already peopled with Christians, and the Nestorians had many monasteries there. The religious tolerance of the Mongol monarchs was unlimited: all creeds enjoyed equal protection in their capital. The Christians were especially numerous in the imperial city, where they had a church with bells, and were long presided over by an Italian Archbishop. The effect of this general toleration, and of the potent action of the principles of Christianity, must necessarily have been to modify Buddhism to an important degree; and we believe, with M. Remusat, that we must refer to this period for the origin and explanation of the many points of analogy between it and the doctrines of Christians.
Pallas and Bergmann have written much on the religious cosmogony of the Kalmucks; we will follow them in their investigations, and endeavour to complete them by means of our own observations.
There was in the beginning an immense abyss, called Khoubi Saiagar, exceeding in length and depth 6,116,000 berez (about 12,000,000 leagues), and out of this abyss the Taingairis, or aerial spirits, existing from all eternity, drew forth the world. First rose fiery-coloured clouds, which gathered together until they dissolved into a heavy rain, every drop of which was as big as a chariot wheel, and thus was formed the universal sea. Soon afterwards there appeared on the surface of the waters an immense quantity of foam, white as milk, and out of it issued all living creatures, including the human race. We will say nothing of those hurricanes which, arising from the ten parts of the world, produced in the upper hemisphere that fantastic column, as lofty as the ocean is deep, round which revolve the various worlds of the Buddhist universe. But we cannot forbear to mention the ingenious explanation by which the astronomers of Thibet accounted for the periodical revolutions of the day. According to their sacred books, the mystic column has four faces, of different colours, argent, azure, or, and deep red. At sunrise the rays of the sun fall on the argent side, in the forenoon they are reflected from the azure, at noon from the gold, towards the close of day from the red surface, and the concealment of the orb behind the column is what produces night.
All the books of the Kalmucks speak of four great lands, which are sometimes spoken of as belonging to the same whole, sometimes as forming separate worlds. The first of these, lying eastward, is occupied by giants who are eight cubits high, and live for 150 years; the second, towards the west, has inhabitants eleven cubits high, whose lifetime is 500 years; the third, placed in the north, is still more favoured, for its inhabitants, though devoid of souls, live for 1000 years exempt from all infirmity. Their stature is 230 cubits. When the term of their existence is arrived, they assemble theirfamilies and their friends around them, and expire calmly at the call of a heavenly voice summoning them by their name. The fourth earth is that on which we dwell, and on which all the favours of the Deity are profusely lavished. It has four great rivers bearing the mystic names of Ganga, Schilda, Baktschou, and Aipura, which take their rise in the heart of four great mountains, where dwells an elephant two leagues long, white as snow, and named Gasar Sakitschin Koven (protector of the earth). This fabulous animal has thirty-three red heads, each furnished with six trunks, whence spout forth as many fountains, all surmounted with six stars. On each star sits a virgin always young and gracefully attired. These virgins are the daughters of the aerial spirits, one of whom, the most potent of all, sits astride on the middle of the elephant's head, when the animal thinks fit to change his quarters.[48]
In the beginning the inhabitants of this privileged earth lived 80,000 years, abounding in health, and incapable of forming a desire that was not instantly fulfilled. Their eyes shot forth rays of light that supplied the place of the sun and the stars, and invisible grace stood them instead of all nourishment. It was during this golden age that most of the secondary divinities were born, and 1000 Bourkhans were taken up from the earth to the abode of the blessed. But those blissful times came to an end, for, as in Genesis, an unlucky fruit, for which mankind imprudently conceived a liking, was the cause of their downfal. The human race lost all its precious privileges; its wings failed; physical wants tormented it; its gigantic stature dwindled down, and the span of life was contracted to 40,000 years, whilst the luminous rays of the eyes, the only light of that period, disappeared. Darkness then covered the face of the earth, until four powerful deities, touched with compassion, squeezed the mountain hard, and forced from it the sun and the moon, those two great luminaries which still exist in our day.
The evil did not stop here. To the physical woes that afflicted man was soon added moral depravation; adultery, homicide, and violence supplanted the primitive virtues, and disorder reigned over the whole face of the habitable earth. During this long period of decay the duration of life underwent successive curtailments, and many bourkhans descended on earth to correct and ameliorate mankind. The bourkhan Ebdekchi (the perturber) appeared at the time when the duration of life did not exceed 40,000 years. AltanDohidakti, the bourkhan of incorruptible gold, appeared to the world when men only lived 30,000 years, and those whose years were but 20,000 were visited by the bourkhan Guerel Sakitchi (the guardian of the world). After him came Massouschiri. Lastly, the term of human, existence had been reduced to 100 years, when the celebrated bourkhan Dchakdchamouni, the founder of the existing sect, came upon the earth and preached the faith to one-and-thirty nations. A great moral revolution then took place in the world; but unfortunately the new law was variously interpreted, and thence resulted this great diversity of religions and languages.
Still, however, the degeneration of the human race is far from having reached its utmost limit. The life and stature of man and of all animals, will undergo a further considerable diminution in the course of ages. There will come a time when the horse will be no bigger than the present race of hares, and men but a few palms high, will live but ten years, and will marry at the age of five months. Thus the Buddhists have adopted notions diametrically opposed to those of certain modern philosophers, who think that we began as oysters and will end with being gods. Which is the more absurd of these two opinions? We shall not attempt to decide the question, but leave it to our neighbours beyond the Rhine, who are more competent than we to deal with such matters. The extreme limit of physical decay having been once attained, most living creatures will be destroyed by a mortal malady. But just when the world seems on the point of relapsing into the chaos from whence it issued, the voice of the celestial spirits will be heard, and some of the miserable dwarfs still peopling the earth will seek refuge in dark caverns; it will then rain swords, spears, and all sorts of deadly weapons; the ground will be strewed with corpses and red with blood. Finally, a horrible down-pour of rain will sweep all the corpses and all the filth into the ocean. This will be the last act of the genius of destruction, soon after which a fragrant rain will vivify the earth. All sorts of garments and food will drop from the sky; the dwarfs that have escaped destruction will come forth from their caverns, and men, regenerated and virtuous, will at once recover their gigantic stature and their privilege of living 80,000 years. There will then be a new decay, and when the bourkhan Maidari appears on earth, men will have again become dwarfs; but at the voice of that prophet they will be fully converted, and will attain a high degree of perfection. We will not follow Lamism through its systems regarding the various epochs of the world. The notions of the Kalmucks on this head are so confused, that I have been unable to learn any thing in addition to what is stated by the learned Pallas. Their sacred books speak of forty-nine epochs, ending by fire, or deluges, or hurricanes. They are all divided into four great periods. The first comprises the space of time in which human life begins with being 80,000 years long, and diminishes to 10,000; during the second period man perishes; during the third the earth remains desolate,and in the fourth occurs a hurricane which carries the souls from hell to the earth.
We have already mentioned that happy epoch in which thousands of holy beings were raised to the heavens, and deified under the name of bourkhans. These bourkhans do not all hold the same rank, but differ from each other both in power and functions. The Kalmucks, who hold them in great veneration, adore them as the most beneficent deities. Their images are found in all the temples. The mighty Dchakdchamouni is most especially worshipped. The bourkhans are supposed to inhabit different worlds; some dwell in the planets, others in the regions of the air, others again in the sky; Dchakdchamouni still inhabits the earth. There is an infinite multitude of legends concerning these secondary divinities, especially the last named. The following adventure is related of him in all the religious books of the Lamites, and is known to all the Kalmucks: One day three bourkhans were praying with great fervour, and while their eyes were piously cast down, an infernal genius deposited his excrement in the sacred cup belonging to one of them. Great was the stupefaction of the bourkhans when they lifted up their heads. They consulted further what they should do. If they diffused the pestiferous matter through the air, it would be the destruction of all the beings that people that element; if they let it fall on the earth, all its inhabitants would, in like manner, perish. They resolved, therefore, for the good of mankind, to swallow the dreadful substance. Dchakdchamouni had the bottom of the cup for his share, and the legend states that so horrible was the taste, the poor bourkhan's face suddenly became blue all over. That god has ever since been depicted with a blue visage.
The aerial spirits are next in importance to the bourkhans; some of them are beneficent, others malignant. The Kalmucks worship these rather than the others, because they alone can do harm to mortals, whilst nothing but good offices are to be expected from the beneficent spirits. These genii are not immortal, and their power is much less than that of the bourkhans. The manner in which their race is propagated is very simple, but singular: an embrace, an exchange of smiles, or of gracious looks is sufficient with them to produce conception. All these spirits have divers abodes in the world and in the air; to the malevolent among them, the Kalmucks attribute all the disorders of the atmosphere, and all pestilential diseases; the evil genii are particularly active in stormy weather, wherefore the Kalmucks greatly dread thunder, and always fire many shots when a storm blows, in order to scare away the demons.
There are also in the Lamite religion a great many fabulous deities represented by monstrous idols, which appear to be old reminiscences of a primitive creed anterior to Buddhism. It is remarkable that these idols have generally female faces. They are almost always decorated with the scarf of honour, or the bell and sceptre, usedby the priests in their religious ceremonies, are placed in their hands. The priests are the makers of all these idols, some of which are of curious workmanship. The materials are baked earth, bronze, silver, or even gold.
Though the Kalmucks address their worship almost exclusively to the host of secondary deities we have just mentioned, still they acknowledge a supreme being, to whom the bourkhans and the good and evil genii are but vassals: if they have no image or idol representing him, it is because the conception of the one eternal creator passes all the bounds of their imagination, and they rather apply their thoughts to beings less incomprehensible and less remote from their own nature. Pallas seems to think that the Kalmucks follow the system of Epicurus, but the conversations I have had with many learned princes and priests, have convinced me of the contrary.
The Kalmucks and the Mongols believe, like the Hindus, in the transmigration of souls; but Bergmann errs greatly in asserting that they have no other idea of immortality. I have investigated the popular notions on this subject, and my conviction is that the Kalmucks consider the transmigration only as a longer or shorter trial which the soul of every man, not acknowledged a saint, must pass through before appearing in presence of the supreme judge. As for those who have been celebrated for their piety and their virtues, Lamism teaches that they are raised to the rank of bourkhans, still preserving their former individuality.
Erlik Khan is the great judge of the Kalmuck hell, and before his awful throne all souls must appear, to be rewarded according to their works. If they are found just and pure, they are placed on a golden seat supported on a cloud, and so wafted to the abode of the bourkhans; if their sins and their good works seem to balance each other, then Erlik Khan opens his great book in which all the good and evil deeds of men are minutely recorded, and having cast the dread balance, he finally pronounces sentence. On the whole this king of hell seems a good-natured devil enough, for very often to avoid condemning an unfortunate sinner who has some good qualities to recommend him, he allows him to go back to earth and live over again in his own form. The Kalmucks, always logical in their mythological notions, allege that they derive from men thus resuscitated all the knowledge they possess of hell and the future life.
The imagination of the Lamite priests has outstripped that of the Christians, and of all other nations; indeed we know nothing that can be compared with the Kalmuck hell. Erlik Khan, the judge of the dead, is likewise sovereign of the realm of the damned. His palace, which always resounds with the clashing of immense gongs, is situated in a great town surrounded with white walls, within which spreads a vast sea of urine and excrement, in which wallow the accursed. An iron causeway traverses this sea, and when the guilty attempt to pass along it, it narrows beneath them to a hair'sbreadth, then snaps asunder, and the wicked souls, thus tested and convicted, are straightway plunged into hell. Not far from this place of horror is a sea of blood, on which float many human heads; this is the place of torture for such as have excited quarrels and occasioned murders among relations and friends. Further on is seen the punishment of Tantalus, where a multitude of damned souls suffer hunger and thirst on a white and arid soil. They dig and turn up the earth without ceasing; but their unavailing labour only serves to wear down their arms to the shoulders, after which the stumps grow again, and their torments begin afresh. Such is the punishment of those who have neglected to provide for the wants and the jovial habits of the clergy. It would be tedious to pursue these details further; suffice it to say, that in describing the various torments of hell, the Lamites have employed every device which the wildest imagination could conceive. We must, however, give these priests credit for one thing: they do not admit the eternity of punishment;[49]but on the other hand, in the distribution of chastisement they have not forgotten the smallest offence that can possibly be committed against themselves. Hence they have immense power over the people, whom they can induce to believe what they will. Their cupidity is equal to their influence, and they never forego any opportunity of making their profit of the poor Kalmuck.
From all these particulars of the religious notions of the Kalmucks, it is plain that the popular mythology of Lamism is like many other superstitions, only a potent instrument invented by priests to fascinate and command the multitude. By means of these incredible fables, the Lamite clergy have made themselves masters of the field, and hold great and small under their sway. It is to be remarked that in all religions ecclesiastical supremacy is inseparable from the creation of a hell, and that the one never exists without the other; in fact among nations where the idea of eternal punishments has been abandoned, the ministers of religion have seldom exercised an oppressive power over the people. This proves how large a part selfishness and the lust of sway have had in the construction of many religions; but in none has the priesthood evermore possessed a greater power than in Buddhism; in none has it more violently opposed all who have sought to shake its sway by proclaiming the infinite mercy of God.
As a natural consequence of the great prerogatives attached to the priesthood, the clergy are become extremely numerous among the followers of Lama. Prince Tumene, whose oulousse is veryinconsiderable, has at least three hundred priests attached to his pagoda.
During our stay in Astrakhan, we had opportunities of confirming, by our own observation, the truth of what Pallas remarks, that there is much analogy between the religious ceremonies of the Brahmins and those of the Kalmucks. Indeed, in studying the theological system of the Lamites, it becomes clear that their doctrines have been partly borrowed from religions still in existence. Who can fail to recognise the Biblical allegory in the fruitshimé, which the first men were imprudent enough to taste? Again, that period during which man was only unhappy, but not criminal, does it not represent the time that elapsed from Adam's expulsion from Paradise to the murder of Abel? The traditions of the Greek mythology appear also to have been made use of, for the dread Erlik Khan seems very like the Pluto of the ancients; and perhaps the loathsome sea that encompasses his palace is but another form of the Styx. It is unnecessary to remark that all these religious notions are familiar only to the priests and some princes; the common people are content to believe, worship, and submit blindly to the exactions of their spiritual guides.
People begin, however, to observe a certain falling off in the observance of the precepts of Lamism. Thus, although a true follower of Lama has a right to destroy only the carnivorous creatures that hurt his flocks, the Kalmucks, nevertheless, put to death domestic animals, and make no scruple of hunting. They urge, it is true, in defence of these acts, that the prohibition against killing was not made by the gods themselves, but by one of their high priests who lived several centuries ago. Nevertheless, there are many priests who would think themselves guilty of murder if they put to death the smallest insect; and very often it occurred when we were sporting, that several of them came and earnestly entreated us to liberate the bird we had just caught. In so doing they thought they performed an act of charity, and saved a soul.
The modern Kalmuck clergy are divided into four classes. The backshaus are the chief priests and religious teachers: in the Caspian steppes the eldest of them is improperly styled the Lama. The ghelungs are the ordinary priests, and may be compared in rank and functions to the French countrycurés. The ghetzuls, or deacons, constitute the third class; and the fourth consists of the mandshis, or musicians. Above all these grades stands the Dalai Lama of Thibet, the supreme head of the church. The Russian Kalmucks were formerly in constant communication with him, but since Oubacha's emigration, the government has put a stop to this intercourse, which could not fail to thwart its views by keeping up a spirit of nationality among the Kalmucks, and fostering their attachment to their religion.
Both the clergy and those in their service enjoy all possibleimmunities. They are exempt from all taxes and charges, and the people are bound to see that they want for nothing. It is true that the priests are prohibited by the rules of their religion from possessing property, but the restriction is evaded to a great extent, and the backshaus and ghelungs all possess numerous herds: if any one wants to buy a good horse, he must apply to them. The sloth and insolence of these priests passes all comparison; excepting their religious ceremonies, in which they chant some prayers and play on their instruments, they do absolutely nothing but eat, drink, and sleep. The meanest ghelung has always a retinue of some half dozen of deacons, who look after his cattle, his table, and his wardrobe.
The ghetzuls are like our deacons, aspirants for the priesthood, and from their body the chief backshaus select the ghelungs, always having regard to the wealth of the candidates rather than to their good character or capacity. The ordination generally takes place towards the close of the great religious festivals, at which period the new ghelungs pass the whole night in marching round the priest's camp, chaplet in hand, barefooted, and with their shaven crowns uncovered. This is the last exercise preliminary to the commencement of their ministry.
All the members of the clergy of every rank take vows of chastity, which they are far from observing; for there are few priests who do not indulge in illicit intercourse with married women. The poor husband does what he can to prevent this, but when he discovers the actual existence of the evil, instead of resenting it, he appears to accept his mischance as an honour, such is his veneration for his spiritual superiors. The priest, however, is forced to use stratagem for the indulgence of his passion. The reverend personage usually goes by night and pushes against the kibitka of the woman on whom his choice has fallen; whereupon she pretends to believe that some animal is prowling about, gets up, takes a stick, and goes out to drive it away. The priest then absconds with her, and the husband suspects nothing. The princes share these privileges with the priests, only they carry matters with a higher hand. When a woman strikes their fancy, they take possession of her without ceremony, and send her back when they are tired of her company. As for the husband, his resignation under such circumstances is almost always exemplary. He knows, too, that he may count thenceforth on the patronage of the amorous prince, and commit sundry peccadilloes on the strength of it with impunity. The marital policy is the same with regard to the priests. Pallas, therefore, is wrong to express surprise at the fact that the Kalmuck hell provides no punishment for the sin of wantonness. This omission does honour to the sly sagacity of the Lamite priests, and proves how much they distrust their own virtue. As marriage is forbidden them, they are the more liable to sin in this way, and therefore it was notreasonable that in a religious system of their own making, they should inflict punishment on their own souls.
We have already described the ceremonial garb of the priests, their ordinary costume consists of a wide tunic with sleeves, and a flat broad-brimmed hat of cloth. Yellow and red are their favourite colours.
The priests always pitch their tents at a certain distance from the oulousse to which they are attached, and usually range them in a circle round a large open space, in the centre of which stand the kibitkas that serve them for temples. Such a camp is called a khouroul, and every evening the Kalmucks assemble there in great numbers to perform their religious duties. The temples are generally adorned with rich silk hangings, and with a great number of images. Opposite the door stands the altar with a little bronze image of Dchakdchamouni upon it, and a profusion of votive cups filled with grain and beans, as customary among the Brahmins; and one vessel of holy water in which several peacock's feathers are dipped. Holy water plays an important part in the religious ceremonies of Lamism; the ghetzuls distribute it in the great festivals to the people, who swallow some of it and wash their faces with the rest. It appears to be an infusion of saffron and sugar, but the Kalmucks attribute to it very marvellous properties. A lamp burns day and night before the idol, which is generally clad in brilliant silks, the head and hands alone remaining uncovered. A silk curtain hangs before the other images, and is only raised at the time of prayer.
The priests practise in a most scandalous manner on the credulity of the people. The first thing a Kalmuck does when he falls ill, is to have recourse to the prayers and invocations of his priest. If he is poor he is usually let off for a pelisse or a cloak, which the ghelung carries off on the pretext that it is the abode of some evil genius who has caused all the patient's suffering. But when the sick man is a prince, the proceedings are in accordance with his fortune. In that case it is not in a pelisse or a cloak the demon abides; he is lodged in the very body of the prince, and the business is how to provide him with another dwelling. The backshau must be paid handsomely for finding a man who will take the disaster upon himself. This is usually some poor devil who is brought by fair means or by force into the sick man's tent, where after a multitude of odd ceremonies, he receives the name of the prince, and so the evil spirit passes into his body. He is then driven out of the oulousse with his whole family, and forbidden ever to set foot within it again. Persons so treated are calledAndin(fugitives). They may join another oulousse, but are always obliged to set up their tents at a distance from the general camp.
The Kalmucks have three great annual festivals, which they always take care shall last at least a fortnight each. The chief of the three called,Zackan Zara, is in celebration of the return of spring; the second (Urus Zara), which falls about June, consists in thebenediction of the waters; and the third (Souloun Zara, or the feast of the lamp) takes place in December. An altar is then erected in the open air, and on it are set a great number of sacred lamps and candles, which are lighted by the priests at the moment the new moon is visible, in presence of the whole assembled clergy and laity. I borrow from Bergmann a description of the feast of Zackan Zara at which he was present.
"About noon," he says, "the sound of instruments gave token that the ceremony was about to begin, and I hastened to the khouroul, where the priests arranged in classes, and drawn up in line, were ready to begin the procession. The persons who only carried the instruments formed of themselves a considerable group. On the flanks of all those battalions of ghelungs, ghetzuls, and mandshis, floated sundry kinds of flags, some formed of strips of silk of many colours sewn in a ring, resembled the Roman ensigns; others like our banners were fixed to cross rods supported on long poles. We had not long to wait ere the chief priests, carrying with them large chests, came forth from a kibitka, and put themselves at the head of the multitude. They were closely followed by many others dressed in their richest attire, who eagerly pressed forward to assist in carrying the chests, or even to touch them with the tips of their fingers. As for the instruments, the timbrels were fixed on pieces of wood, and the great trumpets were supported by rods carried by some of the common people. The multitude that closed the procession were scarcely more numerous than the priests, and the old women alone testified their piety by sighs drawn from the bottom of their hearts. At some hundred paces from the khouroul, a scaffolding had been erected in the form of an altar thirteen or fourteen feet high, braced with ropes before and behind. In front of the altar was a circular space covered with carpets, and intended for the priests, with an immense red silk parasol to shade the high priest who filled the functions of Lama. The procession having reached the altar, the sacred chests were laid at its foot, and the images it contained were unmuffled. Everything was now ready to begin the ceremony when the Lama should arrive.
"I availed myself of this pause to examine the sanctuary. On a yellow cloth richly embroidered with sacred flowers of a red colour, I saw several votive cups, and the gilded images of some deities. Right and left of the altar stood the banners, and in front of it, but outside the carpeted circle, were the instruments. Suddenly the music struck up, and the Lama arrived, borne in triumph in a palanquin, from which he alighted at a little distance from the altar. A signal was then given; the curtain that hung before the images was raised, and the priests, the princes, and the whole people prostrated themselves three times.
"After this ceremony, the vice-khan Tchoutchei, who was present with his two sons, marched thrice with his whole suit round the circular space where the priests were squatted, and at last took hisplace beside the Grand Lama under the great parasol. His example was followed by his wife, only she took up her position outside the clerical circle, under a reserved pavilion where tea was presented to her. Large wooden vessels filled with tea, and cakes, were then set before the priests, and a great number of sheep intended for dinner were slaughtered. The repast, often interrupted by prayers and other ceremonies, was protracted until sunset. The images were then rolled up again, and the chests carried back in procession to the tents whence they had been taken. The same ceremonies were repeated on the two following days, but other bourkhans were exhibited to the worshippers."
This feast of Zackan was instituted in honour of a victory achieved by Djackdjamouni over six false doctors with whom he contended for more than a week. Besides their great festivals, the Kalmucks have also three days in every month (the 7th, 15th, and 30th) on which they kill no sort of animal, but every faithful follower of Lama must live only on milk diet. The priests spend those days in the temple, praying from morning till night, and the people generally attend.
The Kalmucks practise family devotions, consisting of prayers chanted with some degree of harmony, in an alternation of acute and grave sounds and slow and quick measures. They pray with a rosary somewhat like those used in Catholic countries, but oftener they perform that business by a mechanical process that does great honour to the inventive wit of the Lamites. To invoke Heaven in this way they have a drum or cylinder covered with Tangout characters, and containing several sacred writings in its interior, and the whole operation consists in making the cylinder revolve more or less rapidly by means of a cord. This very simple method of praying leaves the mind quite free, and does not hinder the Kalmucks from chatting, smoking, quarrelling, and abusing each other; provided the cylinder turns, the prayer is worked off of its own accord, and the bourkhans are quite satisfied. The followers of Lama believe this manual occupation to be highly meritorious, and imagine that the noise made by the sacred writings, when the cylinder revolves, rises to the throne of the deity and brings down his blessing. The princes have a still easier method of worshipping. Whenever they do not find it convenient to repeat their prayers orally, they plant before their tent a long pole to which is attached a flag inscribed with sacred verses; and thus they leave it to the winds to carry their homage to the throne of the bourkhans.
Lucky or unlucky days are carefully observed by the Kalmucks. If one of the common people dies on a lucky day, he is buried, almost in the same way as among ourselves, and a small banner with a sort of epitaph is planted on his grave. On the contrary, if he dies on an unlucky day his body is laid on the ground, covered only with a felt or a mat, and the performance of his obsequies is left to carrion beasts and birds. In this case the relations or friends of thedeceased watch to see by what kind of creature the corpse is first attacked, and from that fact they draw inferences as to how the soul fares in the other world. The rule is different with regard to princes, whose bodies are never exposed above ground. If they die on an unlucky day they are buried; otherwise they are burned with great pomp, and on the spot where they have expired a small chapel is erected, in which their ashes are deposited. The priests are still better off than the princes: die when they will they are always granted the honours of burning, provided they have had some reputation for sanctity in their lifetime; and their ashes are moulded into a little statue which is carried with great pomp to one of those small temples, called satzas, of which I have already spoken. The Kalmucks who greatly venerate the tombs of their priests, try as much as possible to keep the lamp in each of them perpetually burning. If it goes out, the first person who passes that way is bound to relight it.
The habits of private life among the Kalmucks are of course in accordance with their state of civilisation and religious belief, and are strongly marked by all their gross superstitions. Yet certain of their customs are serious and affecting, and cannot fail to make an impression on the traveller. Others are curious for their patriarchal simplicity. When a woman is in labour, one or more priests are sent for, and whilst the husband runs round the tent with a big stick to drive away the evil spirits, the ghelungs stand at the door reciting prayers, and invoking the favour of the deity on the child about to be born. When the babe is come into the world, one of the relations goes out of the tent, and gives it the name of the first object he sees. This is the practice among all classes. I have known a princeLittle Dog, and other individuals bearing the most whimsical names. The women remain veiled for many days after their delivery, and a certain time must elapse before they can be present at the religious ceremonies.
The customs observed in marriages are more interesting, particularly when the young couple belong to the aristocracy. The preliminaries consist in stipulating the amount in horses, camels, and money, which the bridegroom is to pay to the bride's father; this being settled the young man sets out on horseback, accompanied by the chief nobles of his oulousse, to carry off his bride. A sham resistance is always made by the people of her camp, in spite of which she fails not to be borne away on a richly caparisoned horse, with loud shouts andfeux de joie. When the party arrive at the spot where the kibitka of the new couple is to stand, and where the trivet supporting their great pot is already placed, the bride and bridegroom dismount, kneel down on carpets, and receive the benediction of their priests; then they rise, and, turning towards the sun, address their invocations aloud to the four elements. At this moment the horse on which the bride has been brought home is stripped of saddle and bridle, and turned loose for any one to catch and keepwho can. The intention of this practice, which is observed only among the rich, is to signify to the bride that she is thenceforth to live only with her husband, and not think of returning to her parents. The setting up of the kibitka concludes the whole ceremony. The bride remains veiled until the tent is ready, and her husband taking off her veil, hands her into her new home. There is one curious incident in the marriages of the wealthy which deserves mention. The bride chooses a bridesmaid who accompanies her in her abduction; and when they come to the place for the kibitka, the bride throws her handkerchief among the men; whoever catches it must marry the bridesmaid. For a year after marriage the wife must confine herself to the tent, and during all that time can only receive visits on its threshold, even on the part of her parents. But when the year is out she is free to do just as she likes.
All marriages are not contracted in this peaceable manner among the Kalmucks. When the relations cannot agree on the terms, which is no unusual case, the question is very often settled by force. If the young man is really enamoured he calls together his comrades and by force or cunning carries off the girl, who, after she has once entered his tent, cannot under any pretext be reclaimed by her parents.
Lamism seems in the beginning to have forbidden polygamy and divorce, but these prohibitions have long become obsolete, and both practices are now legalised among all the Kalmucks. In case of infidelity on the wife's part, the repudiation takes place publicly, if the husband requires it. The most broken down horse that can be found is brought out, its tail is cut off, the guilty woman is mounted on its bare back, and hooted out of the oulousse. But these scenes occur very rarely; for the offended husband usually contents himself with sending his wife away privately, after giving her a few head of cattle for her support. The Kalmucks of the Caspian indulge very seldom in polygamy; indeed I never heard of more than one individual who had two wives. The condition of women among them is very different from what prevails in Turkey and great part of Asia; the restrictions of the harem are unknown, and both wives and maids enjoy the greatest independence, and may freely expose their faces to view on all occasions.