Mongolica. Vol. XXVIII, No. 2 / Ed. by I. V. Kulganek (editor-in-chief), D. A. Nosov (secretary), M. A. Kozintcev (deputy secretary). St Petersburg, 2025. 89 p. ISSN 2311-5939.

PHILOLOGY

D. Gerelmaa. Observing the Vocabulary in the Letters of the 18th-century Nobles, Princes, and Monks — 5
B. Rinchinnorov and G. Ser-Od, researchers of the General Archives of Mongolia, have compiled some correspondences between Mongolian, Buriad, Altai Uriankhai, Inner Mongolian, and Tibetan princes and monks from 1748 to 1927 that have been stored in the General Archives of Mongolia. A Collection of Letters of Nobles, Princes, and Monks: An Anthology of Documents was published in 2019. The compilation includes 463 letters: 214 letters from the Manchu Qing Dynasty, 225 from the Bogdo Khanate period of Mongolia, and 22 from the People’s Republic period. This article aims to observe the vocabulary of the letters of the collection and analyze the words that are now outdated or old-fashioned in terms of meaning and usage in modern language. These words are divided into Mongolian, Chinese, Tibetan, Manchu, and Russian-European words, and the meaning of each is briefly explained. In addition, these original letters are not only important historical artefacts, but they also reflect the characteristics of the chancellery correspondence tradition, stylistics, and social development of the period in which they were transmitted. Moreover, the spoken and written language is also special and important for historical linguistics. These letters are usually written in cursive handwriting with a brush. In terms of composition, there are official letters, personal letters, and letters of petitions.
Keywords: the 18th century, letters, vocabulary, old words, Mongolian vocabulary, Chinese vocabulary, Tibetan vocabulary, Manchu vocabulary, Russian-European vocabulary.

Li Qingjie. The Study of the Heroic Epic about Geser by Soviet and Russian Scholars in the 20th Century — 13
The article is dedicated to the history of the study of the heroic epic “The Tale of Geser Khan” by Soviet and Russian scholars in the 20th century. Being an ancient epic work, “Geser” occupies a special place in the literature and culture of nomadic peoples of Inner Asia and attracts scholarly attention all around the world. Orientalists were able to collect abundant linguistic and ethnographic material related to the origin of the epic, its formation and dissemination, which is an important achievement in the field of its studying.
Keywords: epic work, traditional culture, folk hero, Geser Epic, versions of the epic.

E. Munkhtsetseg. Mongolian Explanatory Dictionary Compiled by B. Buyanchulgan (1930) — 20
The handwritten “Explanatory Dictionary of Important Words of the Mongolian Language” is one of the first national dictionaries of the independent Mongolia. The article provides a detailed archeographic description of the manuscript as well as the structure of the dictionary. Not a few spelling mistakes detected in the text reflect the colloquial pronunciation of the period. B. Buyanchulgan compiled his dictionary according to the pattern of traditional Manchu and Mongolian dictionaries of the Qing period. The dictionary in question is one of the interesting samples in the Mongolian lexicography history.
Keywords: Mongolian lexicography, handwritten explanatory dictionary, spelling mistakes.

N. S. Yakhontova. The Term törö in the Mongolian and Oirat Versions of the “History of Usun Debesgertu-khan” — 28
A didactic work “The History of Usun Debesgertu Khan” is known in two versions: Mongolian and Oirat. It contains wise instructions given by the Khan and his ministers. Both versions presumably date back to the 17th century. The term törö is used in both, but the Oirat version additionally uses the term šaǰin törö — the rule of “two laws”. These terms are associated with the characteristics of the khan’s power. The first of them (törö) is more characteristic of Mongolian, and the second of the Oirat text. A comparison of their use in phrases present in both texts, as well as in Oirat phrases absent from Mongolian, makes it possible to conclude that the Oirat version of the text appeared a bit later than the Mongolian one, in the historical period when a new term for marking the basis of the khan’s power — the rule of “two laws” — became widespread.
Keywords: the term törö, the rule of “two laws”, “The History of Usun Debesgertu-khan”, Mongolian language, Oirat language.

L. A. Fedotova, I. N. Khrapova, N. V. Yampolskaya. Buddhist Artefacts in the Collection of the Central Scientific and Technical Library for Construction and Architecture — 38
The article introduces two unusual objects preserved at the Rare Books Department of the Central Scientific and Technical Library for Construction and Architecture in Moscow — artefacts in the form of codices, constructed from fragments of Buddhist ritual items and images. These include a Beijing xylographic edition (1732) of the Tibetan medical treatise Lhantab, a biographical thangka of Je Tsongkhapa, a thangka of Thirty-five Confession Buddhas, and a set of tsakli used for the initiation into terma teachings related to medicine. The provenance of the objects is unknown. According to the inventory books, they became part of the library collection in the early 1940s. Based on the analysis of the materials that were used to construct the two artefacts, the authors suggest that they were created in the first half of the 20th c. from items that had been preserved in one of the Buddhist monasteries of Buryatia or Mongolia, by a person who did not belong to the local Buddhist culture.
Keywords: Tsongkhapa, Lhantab, thangka, tsakli, Yutog Nyinthig, Rinchen Terdzod.

RELATED DISCIPLINES

I. A. Alimov. “Dong Jing Meng Hua Lu”: Rivers’ Course — 56
The article is devoted to a unique Chinese work of the 12th century «Dong jing meng yua lu» by Meng Yuan-lao, an unprecedented in Chinese history written source of comprehensive information about urban life during the Northern Song. It is the second publication in a series of works dedicated to «Dong jing meng yua lu» and includes a complete annotated translation of description of the Rivers’ course.
Keywords: China of the 10th–13th centuries, Song era, Chinese city, Meng Yuan-lao, Dong jing meng yua lu.

A. V. Mesheznikov. Attempt at a Reconstruction of Sanskrit Manuscripts from Central Asia — 64
The paper presents the current results of the study of Central Asian Sanskrit manuscripts kept at the IOM RAS. The Sanskrit part of the Serindia Collection is constituted mostly of damaged manuscripts, disintegrated leaves and tiny fragments. Therefore, the reconstruction of written monuments by combining individual fragments of manuscripts into whole text segments is of particular importance. Through the advanced use of information technology in the study of the Sanskrit collection (namely, creating the electronic catalogue cards with the information about external features and content of storage units), it was revealed that many fragments kept under different call numbers in the Serindia Collection can be pieced together and compiled into relatively complete pothi leaves. Moreover, it became possible to determine that some fragments from the Sanskrit collection of the IOM RAS can be joined with the fragments stored in the British Library. Illustrated with specific examples, the article demonstrates how Sanskrit manuscripts can be reconstructed by connecting fragmented parts of paper leaves based on the analysis of external characteristics and textual repertoire using information technology tools.
Keywords: Buddhism, Central Asia, codicology, information technology, manuscripts, paleography, Sanskrit, Serindia Collection of the IOM RAS.

ACADEMIC LIFE

T. V. Ermakova. The 17th Conference “Current Issues of Buddhological and Indological Studies” (St. Petersburg, June 17, 2024) — 80

I. V. Kulganek, D. A. Nosov. The Seventh International Conference “Cultural Heritage of the Mongols: Manuscript and Archival Collections” (St. Petersburg, April 21–22, 2025) — 83

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