Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (BUZAVA)

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The Buzava is a sub-ethnic group of Kalmyks, which was formed later than others. They are descendants of those Kalmyks who left the rest of the Kalmyks and migrated to the Salsk steppe and the Don region to become Cossacks. This migration started in...

Location:

United States

Description:

The Buzava is a sub-ethnic group of Kalmyks, which was formed later than others. They are descendants of those Kalmyks who left the rest of the Kalmyks and migrated to the Salsk steppe and the Don region to become Cossacks. This migration started in the seventeenth century and continued until the 1760s. In the first half of the nineteenth century there was another movement of people in that direction. Having settled down, these Buddhist Kalmyks came to be known as Don's Kalmyk-Cossacks or Buzava. According to some Kalmyk scholars, the ethnonym buzava derives from two words bu ‘rifle’ and zava ‘showed’ (i.e. ‘those who showed rifles’), alluding to the military occupation of this group. According to yet another version, the ethnonym derives from the expression ‘based, or settled’ Kalmyks. The ethnic composition of the Buzava has been mixed, consisting of the following clans or lineages: Baga-Bural, Baga-Tsookhor, Bargas, Bartskhas, Bisyankin, Burgud, Bushkhud, Cheslyankin, Zamud, Zalkhus, Kyuvyud, Iki Tshookhor, Kevtyul, Kyuures, Maanin Zet, Mangat, Merket, Mongol, Noogan Namchad, Nomchi, Nyar, Nyuursyud, Sokhad, Telyanken, Tugtun, Tyachud, Ukralachin, Uldechiner, Uchkyud, Kharada, Khoo Bukhas, Khotkhod Khoshud, Kood, Shavad, Shara Mongol, Sharyad, Khavchin, Shevnr, Tsarmud, Tsoros, Erketen, Bambar, Burut, Chonos, Keke-Nurinkhed, and others. On this page, you can watch videos about the Buzava, their constituent lineages, stories, legends, and much more.

Language:

English

Website:

http://sms.cam.ac.uk/collection/1926857

Episodes

Danara Ungarlinov, About Novonikolayevskaya Stanitsa

6/11/2019

Danara says that the stanitsa of Novonikolayevskaya was famous among the 13 Buzava stanitsas for its beautiful gardens. The stanitsa, whose Kalmyk name was Bogshrankin aimag, had a beautiful temple. At holidays and celebrations people from this place utter the following well-wish: ‘May the protector of the Bogshrankin aimag, which is a happy and virtuous place, help all us!’

Duration:00:01:44

Nadezhda Tarancheeva , About the Origin of the Buzava Group

5/7/2019

Nadezhda recounts legends about the origin of Baga Derbet, Iki-Derbet and Buzava groups:

Duration:00:06:27

Mingiyan Lidzhiev, About the Buzavas

5/5/2019

Mingiyan says that there are several etymologies of the word Buzava. According to one that he heard from a Buzava woman from Shin-Byadl, the Buzavas originate from the 13 aimaks that settled on the banks of the Buza River. Five of those aimaks were comprised from Torghut and eight from Derbet. According to yet another etymology, the words derives from the Kalmyk words buu ‘rifle’ and zaa ‘to give’.

Duration:00:02:11

Olga Budzhalova, A Legend About the Keryads

4/22/2019

In the past girls were married away to distant places. One day, a man decides to pay his sister a visit, who lived in a place far away. Upon arriving at her house, he sees that his sister has a corner of her ear missing. Strange things do not stop there. When he opens a box, he sees that it is full of human heads and legs. Frightened, he says to the hosts that he urgently needs to go home. Hence a saying: ‘It is better to spend the night out on the steppe than in the house of a Keryad...

Duration:00:03:05

Oleg Minaev, The Clans of the Don Kalmyks

5/17/2018

Duration:00:09:26

Ksenia Konchieva, The Development of Otok (Clans) in Kalmykia

3/3/2018

Ksenia talks about the formation of otok (clans) among the Kalmyks.

Duration:00:05:19

Garya Naminov, About the Kalmyk Groups

3/3/2018

Garya: From what I heard from knowledgeable people and read from newspaper articles, the Kalmyks consisted of the Torghuts and the Derbets.

Duration:00:04:31

Erdni Manzhikov, About the Etymology of Buzava

1/8/2018

Duration:00:04:15

Erdni Manzhikov, About the Don Kalmyks

1/8/2018

Duration:00:05:54

Ubush Darzhinov, About the Zungar

3/24/2017

The Zungars are the last among the Kalmyk groups to arrive in the Volga region in the 1740s. Some of them settled in Chilgir and others went further to join the Cossaks in Don. There were about 40,000 of them. In 1771 many Zungars returned to Dzungaria with Ubashi Khan. In Russia during the Civil War following the Bolshevik Revoluton in 1917, the Zungars fought on the side of the tsarists. Many of them were either killed or emigrated to Europe. In Ubush's family only his grandfather remained...

Duration:00:05:08

Ubush Darzhinov, About the Buzava

3/24/2017

The Buzava consists of many sub-clans, including the Erkten, Chonos and so on. The Buzavas are those who went to Don and joined the Cossacks. Despite living among Christian Cossacks, the Buzavas kept Buddhist altars in their homes and wore Buddhist amulets. Although Ubush's grandfather wore a cross around his neck, he did not go to the church. The ethnonym buzava comes from the words bu zav '(those who) showed a Buddhist amulet'. Bu is a talisman that was given to Kalmyks who went to Don. Bu...

Duration:00:07:31

Sanj Khoyt, About the Khoyt

3/18/2017

In the past the Khoyts comprised a separate aimak. In Kalmykia, the Khoyts can be found among the Derbet, Buzava and Torghut. Khoyts also live in Astrakhan oblast'. The ancestors of Sanj were Buzava. They came to Kalmykia from Kok Nur (today the territory of China). Before they were defeated by the Manchus, the Kok Nur Khoyts were part of Dzungar Khanate. After the defeat, the Khoyts migrated westward and came to Volga under the leadership of Sheryan. Sanj knows well about his ancestors on...

Duration:00:03:49

Sanj Khoyt, About the Buzava

3/18/2017

In the past the Kalmyks participated in many wars and conquests waged by Russia. During such military campaigns, the Kalmyks often reached the lands of the Cossacks with whom they developed friendly relationships. Among the Torghut nobility were those who were left without inheritance. Dugar and Bok were two such noblemen. They took their subjects and went to the Crimean Khan but later joined the Cossacks. There were also many Kalmyks who switched sides on their own. The Buzava were formed...

Duration:00:16:00

Bembya Fedorov, About the Fedorov Clan

1/30/2017

The surname of Fedorov is known among practically all Kalmyk clans, including the Torghut, the Buzava and the Derbet. The Fedorovs of the Derbet clan live in the villages of Troitskoe and Bol'shoi Tsaryn; those of the Buzava live in Elista, and those among the Torghut in Yashkul', Elista and Lagan'. In the 1840s lived a Kalmyk man called Erenzhen Dambinov whose children died one after another. When his fourth child died, Erenzhen Dambinov was advised to go and see a monk. After a ritual...

Duration:00:03:52

Anatoliy Safinov, About Kalmyk Groups

9/27/2015

Anatoliy tells a story about the origin of the Baga Derbet and Iki Derbet clans. He also contends that Amursana (a Kalmyk nobility) gathered various Kalmyk groups and resettled them in the land of the Derbets which had good soil and rich vegetation. Anatoliy also recounts the names of several families of the Buzava clan. In the past, many Buzavas were livestock breeders.

Duration:00:02:52

Ivan Modunkaev, Etymology of the Word Buzava

5/8/2015

Ivan talks about two versions of the etymology of the ethnonym Buzava.

Duration:00:02:50