Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Project (BUZAVA): Recent Episodes
Cambridge University
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.
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!’
Nadezhda recounts legends about the origin of Baga Derbet, Iki-Derbet and Buzava groups:
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’.
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 person’.
Garya: From what I heard from knowledgeable people and read from newspaper articles, the Kalmyks consisted of the Torghuts and the Derbets.
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 in Kalmykia. Ubush does not know about the fate of others in his family.
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 also served as a sign that the Kalmyk who wore it had not commited crimes and was therefore trustworthy. There is another explanation too. Bu in Kalmyk also means 'a rifle'. Hence bu zav can be understood as '(those who) showed rifles'. The Don Kalmyks were different from the Cossacks and Russians because they always wanted to improve and educate themselves. The Buzava were loyal to the tsarist power. The Buzavas, however, did not see themselves as different from other Kalmyk groups. Buzavas, who knew Russian, helped other Kalmyks who did not speak Russian. For example, they helped to sell livestock to Russians.
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 his paternal side. His knowldege of his maternal ancestors is partial.
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 from these Kalmyks. After the collapse of the Dzungar Khanate, some Zungars also joined the Cossacks. The ancestors of Sanj were among them. In the past Buzava settlements were called aimak. Being a part of the Cossack military units, the Buzavas were soldiers. Sanj's grandfather, for example, fought in the 1905 Russo-Japanese war. For military service the Buzavas were given land which they often leased to Russian peasants. The Christianization among the Kalmyks was not successful. Even those who were baptized, did not know their Christian names. It should be noted that the Buzavas of Don had a very strong Buddhist tradition which made it difficult for the Buzavas to convert geniunely to other religions. Sanj talks about the ethnonym buzava. There are several theories. According to one, buzava originates from the word baz 'cattle yard'. According to another, it comes from the words bu zav '(those who) showed rifles', which alludes to their military occupation. Some Kalmyk scholars contend that Buzava have their own dialect. The Kalmyks who emigrated to Europe and the USA are mainly Buzava Kalmyks.
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 performed by that monk, Erenzhen's wife gave birth to a boy who was named after a Cossack man called Fedor who had many children. The Kalmyk boy, Fedor Rentsenov, grew up into a good Cossack too. He participated in the Russo-Ottoman war in 1877-1878 and in the Napoleonic war of 1812. He had two sons, Bembya and Ulyumzha, who both adopted the surname of Fedorov and lived in the Chonosovsky aimak. In the video Bembya shows the genealogical tree of his family. He also shows a picture of one of his ancestors, Ulan Aduchinov, who was the last abbot of the Chonosovsky temple and who was repressed in 1929.
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.