Torghut

The Torghuts have been known since the times of Chingis Khan who highly valued them. In Chingis Khan's army the Torghuts protected his palaces and the nobility. According to historian Pavlov, the word torghut derives from torg meaning 'silk'. The migration of the ancestors of the Kalmyks westward in the 17th century was difficult. When they were crossing western Siberia, the majority of them were Torghuts and Derbets. Khoshuds were a minority. When these tribes settled between the rivers of Yaik and Don, they came to be known as Kalmyks. The Kalmyks are the only people who voluntarily became subjects of Russian Empire.

Nikolai tells a story. Once upon a time there was a man who had five sons, for each of whom he had prepared a barrel of gold. The sons were supposed to receive a barrel each when they grew up. Despite getting married and starting his own family, one of the sons, Khazg Manzh, did not receive his share and decided to migrate to the Volga river. His brothers divided Khazg Manzh’s gold among themselves. As time passed by, misfortunes befell the four brothers who had unlawfully taken Khazg Manzh’s inheritance. Their children died one after another. Knowledgeable people (nomtnr) said to the brothers that they had taken what did not belong to them.

Despite the winter cold, one of the brothers prepared his horse and set off in search of Khazg Manzh. On his way his horse died, but the rider continued his journey on foot. When he reached the Volga river, the fishermen who were fishing on the frozen river (and who happened to be subjects of Khazg Manzh) did not allow the brother to cross the river. On his third attempt, the brother finally managed to reach the other side of the river only to see three horsemen galloping towards him. In fear, the brother read prayers. When the horsemen approached, one of them was Khazg Manzh. The brother told Khazg Manzh about what had happened to their families and asked for forgiveness. Khazg Manzh replied that he forgave them all and wished them well.

Nikolai says that he does not know whether the four brothers later had children or not. Also, in those days, that is in the early 18th century, Kazakhs often raided their neighbors. One day, they took Khazg Manzh’s mother hostage, prompting her son to raid Kazakh settlements in revenge. Tired of Khazg Manzh’s raids, the captors decided to release his mother. After that, Khazg Manzh took his family to the other side of Volga.

Nikolai explains why the Bag Tsaatan clan (i.e. Small Tsaatan) is considered senior to the Akh Tsaatan clan (i.e. Big Tsaatan). This is his story:

The Mayor of Lagan was a man from the Bag Tsaatan clan (i.e. Small Tsaatan). One Tersk Kalmyk named Veniamin Sergeevich from Elista, who was from the Akh Tsaatan clan (i.e. Big Tsaatan), went to Lagan. The mayor laid a table for him and invited local men to join them. At the banquet, the mayor stands up and utters a well-wish. Veniamin Sergeevich objects: ‘Why do you have to utter the first words? I should speak first. Mind you, I am from the Akh Tsaatan clan’. Puzzled, the mayor carries on his speech. Afterwards, they have a big argument as to who should say the first words, members of the Bag Tsaatan or the Akh Tsaatan clan.

People also ask my opinion regarding this incident. I say: ‘People from Small Tsaatan should speak first. Why? Because Small Tsaatan is older than Big Tsaatan’ to which people become even more puzzled. Let me explain why this is the case. Small Tsaatan describe themselves as ‘true Tsaatan who have a white banner and Mongolian yellow bones’. Therefore, Small Tsaatan is an older clan than Big Tsaatan. Big Tsaatan people, by contrast, do not describe themselves as ‘true or genuine’. The white banner that Small Tsaatan talk about is Chingis Khan’s banner. The Big Tsaatan clan does not have a banner like this.

In this interview Nikolai talks about the origin of the Tsaatan clan and its composition.

Q: How many Tsaatans were there?

Nikolai: A lot. Do you know how many of them are around? Almost the whole of Kalmykia is Tsaatan. There are Tsaatans among the Buzavas as well. Besides Tsaatan, there are also Naatan. Although people who lived on both sides of the river were Tsaatan, those who lived on the far side of the river were referred to as Tsaatan and those who lived on this side were called Naatan. In Kalmyk tsa - means ‘further’ and na - means ‘this, closer’.

Before talking about the word Tsaatan, it must be pointed out that initially we did not have this word in Kalmyk vocabulary. All Tsaatans were originally of the Khoit clan. In the past the four Oirat tribes were headed by Khudukha-beki of the Khoit.

One day Chingis Khan sent his eldest son Jochi to conquer the northern peoples. When Jochi was crossing the Oirat land, their elders went out to meet him, offering their help. The Oirats helped Jochi conquer the Buryats. Delighted with his sons’ achievements, Chingis Khan praised the Oirat leader Khudukha-beki and married 2 princesses (Jochi’s sister and Jochi’s daughter) to Khudukha-beki’s sons. When Chingis Khan asked his daughter what she wished for her bride wealth, she asked for his white banner. Chingis Khan objected: ‘If I give you my white banner, how am I supposed to be without it? I am a khan after all. No, I will not give you my white banner.’ That white banner was used at peacetime during holidays and celebrations. For warfare the khan used his black banner.

All the same, the daughter stole her father’s white banner and brought it with her to the Khoits who declared themselves as ‘Khoits with the white banner (tsagan tug khotn bolv)’. Since this phrase was very long, it was reduced to one word ‘Tsaatan’ meaning ‘those with the white banner’.

Nikolai talks about the origin and etymology of Torghut. This is his story:

Scholars say that Torghut derive their name from the word ‘turkhavud’ which denotes Chingis Khan’s day-time bodyguards. In the Kazakh language tur/tor means ‘stop’ (turkhavud were those who stopped people). Chingis Khan’s night-time bodyguards were called ‘kevtul’. But I do not agree with this etymology because a whole clan or tribe could not have originated from a couple of daytime bodyguards. Moreover, bodyguards could not leave Chingis Khan. After the shift, they went home, slept, then came back to their post. How could a whole clan originate from them?

In my opinion, in the past there was a tribe called Tarkhud. A girl from that tribe was married to Bortan Baatr and bore him a son named Esugey Baatr, who was Chingis Khan’s father. In the past girls from rich families brought their own servants with them, around 200-300 families. Chingis Khan grew up surrounded by those Tarkhud servants and even knew their language. Moreover, Van Khan of the Kereit tribe was also a Tarkhud man. In fact, Van Khan and Chingis Khan were cousins through their mothers. After Esugey Baatr died, Van Khan took Chingis Khan under his protection and looked after him for 4 or so years. Thus, Tarkhuds lived both among the Kereits and the Mongols.

Servants who accompanied their mistresses did not serve in the army, and were exempt from taxes. In the 12^th and 13^th centuries, the Kereit Tarkhuds became part of the Torghuds who came to the Volga.

Nikolai talks about the Tsaatan clan, its composition, etymology, and clan stories.

Besides Bag Tsaatan, there are Akh Tsaatan, Kereit Tsaatan, Erketen Tsaatan and many other Tsaatans. The Tsaatan also includes Khornyakhn. Gurvdakhn, according to historian Erdniev, also belong to the Tsaatan. There is even a Kalmyk saying that ‘Although there are many Tsaatans, they are of no use at war’. Originally they were not called ‘Tsaatan’, but were called Khoit, which was a constituent tribe of the Oirat confederation of tribes. This confederation also included the Olet, the Baatud and other tribes.

When other nations began to fight with each other, the Oirat confederation did not intervene but kept their neutrality.

One day Chingis Khan sent his eldest son Jochi to conquer the northern peoples. When Jochi was crossing the Oirat land, their elders went out to meet him, offering their help. The Oirats helped Jochi conquer the Buryats. Delighted with his sons’ achievements, Chingis Khan praised the Oirat leader Khudukha-beki and married 2 princesses (Jochi’s sister and Jochi’s daughter) to Khudukha-beki’s sons. When Chingis Khan asked his daughter what she wished for her bride wealth, she asked for his white banner. Chingis Khan objected: ‘If I give you my white banner, how am I supposed to be without it? I am a khan after all. No, I will not give you my white banner’. That white banner was used at peacetime during holidays and celebrations. For warfare the khan used his black banner.

All the same, the daughter stole her father’s white banner and brought it with her to the Khoits who declared themselves as ‘Khoits with the white banner (tsagan tug khotn bolv)’. Since this phrase was very long, it was reduced to one word ‘Tsaatan’ meaning ‘those with the white banner’. 

The academician Boris Yakovlevich Vladimirtsov said that the word ‘Baatud’ derives from ‘baatr’ meaning a hero, a warrior.

In the past, the Erketen Tsaatans had 2 temples. The Tsaatans in Ik Tsookhr (in Yashkul rayon) had 3 temples and lived on both sides of a river. Those who lived on the further side of the river were called Tsaatan, whereas those who lived on the opposite side were also known as Naatan.

Ubushi Khan’s father Donduk-dashi was also known as Balvad Khan. This name was given to him by the Tsaatans. If you look at the paternal genealogy of Kalmyk khans, Kho Urlyuk (who established the Kalmyk Khanate) was also a Tsaatan.

Kalmyks who live today in China say that Princess Suvsa is Kereit. But we say that she is also from the Tsaatan clan.

Having defended my doctorate degree, in 1965 I returned to my institute where for the next 10 years I traveled up and down the republic, collecting ethnographic materials. People from various clan backgrounds, including Derbets, Torghuts and Khoshuds, confirm that Kalmyk khans were of the Tsaatan clan.

Previously, some people, thinking that ‘Tsaatan’ was a bad word, did not want to be identified as Tsaatan. I explained to everyone about the etymology of this word that it derives from the white banner of Chingis Khan himself. Today a lot of people want to be Tsaatan.

In this interview Nikolai talks about his parents, paternal ancestors, siblings and his life in Siberian exile.

Nikolai: I work on my family’s genealogical tree. Our ancestors were: Shikr, his son Takh, his son Chidng, his son Erdn, then Nadvid, and from him comes my father Uvsh. My ancestor Shikr had 7 children and they all lived in Orenburg. When they grew up, all 7 children moved in different directions and lived separately. The name Takh means ‘horseshoe’. We have a saying in my family: ‘We are savvy and armed, our horses have shoes’. This saying alludes to my ancestor Takh.  Takh’s son Chidng had 5 children, including Erdn. Erdn in his turn had 2 sons and 2 daughters. Erdn married the widow of his elder brother, but they did not live long together and got divorced. The woman did not know at that time that she was pregnant. The son who was born was named Khasg. Khasg had 3 sons: Boovk, Goodzha and Aanya. Khasg’s descendants today live in Ulan Khol. One of Erdn’s daughters was married to a man named Dovng. Dovng had 3 children: Syukya, Narn and Aasa. The descendants of Syukya and Narn (who have the surname of Syukiev and Naranov) today live in Yashkul. Aasa had a daughter who worked in a maternity hospital.

My grandfather Nadvid had 7 children: 5 daughters and 2 sons. One of his daughters was named Agash, which in Kalmyk means ‘princess’. She lived with a Russian man by the name of Praznikov. That Russian man had a wife Lida, but they were childless. My aunt Agash bore Praznikov twin daughters. The Russian man took one of the twins and returned home to his wife. They named the girl Maria and baptized her. When Maria grew up, she married a Russian by the name of Skorobogatov. They had a son Stepan, who was named after his grandfather. Stepan fought the Great Patriotic War and died here aged over 90. Stepan had a son Sasha, who has a son Stepan. I think that Praznikov and Skorobogatov were not Russians, but Jews.

Q: Are Jews called ‘khar guyr’ in Kalmyk?

Nikolai: Not ‘guyr’, but ‘Uighur’ that is ‘black Uighurs’. In the past when we were in Central Asia we lived alongside the Uighurs. When we moved here there were no Uighurs around, and we began to use this name for Russians.

I always thought that my aunt Agash lived in Astrakhan, but now I understand that she most likely lived in Lagan. My brother told me that Agash’s sister married a man named Mu Zhoozha. I think she did not marry Mu Zhoozha but his son Badmar. Badmar had a son Mandzhi. Mandzhi had 7 children: 3 daughters and 4 sons. They all live in Elista and are my close relatives.

I have not written anything about my grandfather Nadvid yet. My father Uvsh was a fisherman. He had no formal education. During the war, he worked in a fishing division that sent fish to the front. Later he was sent into exile. In 1945, he joined us in Siberia. As soon as he joined us, he died because he was very sick.

Q: How many children did he have?

Nikolai: In total, Uvsh had 10 children. The first 2 died immediately after birth. Of the surviving 8 children, 3 died in Siberia. One of my sisters got married in Siberia but died there with her husband and children of tuberculosis. Only 5 of us returned from Siberia alive. I am the only survivor now. My family is big. Once we lived in the village of Mukhla near Lagan, and some of my grandchildren and great-grandchildren still live there.

My mother Badm was also from the Tsaatan clan. Her father was Eld. My mother died at 70. She raised us in Siberia and died in Kalmykia. When we were in Siberia, my paternal uncle Koku was denounced and spent 8 years in gulag. Those who denounced others received a bag of flour as a reward. Koku was a tall, broad-shouldered, muscular man. We all lived in the same house: my family and my uncle’s family. At home Koku’s meals were prepared separately. He could eat half a sheep and drink 750 gr of vodka in a sitting. He used to tell me about Kalmyk dances, songs and so on. He was about 50 when he was denounced.

Q: Did Koku get out of prison?

Nikolai: He was released when we still lived in Siberia. We had a garden of 80 acres where we planted potatoes. Since we had a big family, it was necessary to fill two cellars with potatoes. We youngsters had to weed and water the plants including cucumbers and tomatoes.

Sanj talks about the history of the Torghuts in Kalmykia.

According to him, there are several versions of the etymology of the ethnonym Torghut. In the view of the French scholar Paul Pelliot, it derives from the Turkic verb ‘tur’ (to stand) + the plural suffix. The Secret History of Mongols writes that in the beginning turgak kishg, who were Chingis Khan’s bodyguards during the day, consisted of 80 men. After 1206, their number grew to ten thousand. The bodyguards were divided into three groups, including turgak (day guards), keptyul (night guards) and khorchin (bowmen). Apart from providing personal security to the Khan, these guards also served as policemen. In other words, the ethnonym Torghut derives from the word turgak.

The contemporary Torghut, however, are not the same as the historical Torghuts. The Torghuts joined the Oirats, which was a feeble union of tribes, in the 14-15^th centuries. When the Mongol Empire was split into five khanates, the Oirats were part of a force that opposed Kublai Khan. Following the collapse of the Yuan Dynasty (founded by Kublai), a civil war broke out among the Mongols. Although, according to the established convention it was only the direct descendants of Chingis Khan who had the right to the throne, the Oirat lords started to challenge the status quo.

In the 15-16^th centuries in their struggle with the Eastern Mongols, the Oirat union suffered defeat after defeat, which prompted their leaders to call a meeting (chulgan) in order to strengthen the union. Despite internal struggles, the union had a centripetal tendency under the leadership of the lords from the Tsoros clan. Nevertheless, several tribes, or clans, left the union and moved westwards.

According to Soviet sources, the first among the Oirats to arrive in the Volga region was the Torghut lord Kho-Urlyuk of the Keryad clan. Recent studies, however, dispute this view and show instead that it was the Khoshud lords who first came to this region. The Derbet lord Dalai Taishi was the next to arrive in the Volga. Various Oirat groups thus settled in the territory of today’s Astrakhan, near the Volga, displacing the indigenous Nogais whom the Russians used as a buffer force against foreign tribes. So, when the Derbets drew the Nogais out of their land, the Russians were not in a position to defend their vassals. The third wave of Oirat arrival took place when the Torghuts headed by Kho-Urlyuk’s older son, Luuzang, came to the Volga. Once settled, Luuzang carried out a policy to attract into his dominion various Turkic tribes, including the Tatars, Nogais and Tomuts. According to Nikita Bichurin, the Tomuts were a mix of Tatars and Bashkirs who had a religion that was also a mix of various religions, including shamanism, Buddhism and Islam. During the Oirat/Kalmyk settlement, half of the Tomuts dissolved among the Oirats, while the other half left for Crimea, becoming the Crimean Tatars.

Sanj Khoyt says he wrote an article about hybridization, or ethnic mixing in Kalmykia. According to his research, the Kalmyks mixed with many ethnic groups, including Russians, Kazakhs, and peoples from the Caucasus. Hybridization took place among all social strata, including the aristocracy and ordinary people alike.

Ordos (China) is the motherland of the Torghuts. According to available genetic and ethnographic data, they were most likely Eastern Mongols. After joining the Oirat union, the Torghuts, who consisted of Mongol and Turkic tribes, were headed by the Keryad clan. The Torghuts reached the Volga region through Central Asia while incorporating on their way various clans and tribes. Hence their colorful composition. The Torghuts differ from the Derbets both in terms of their dialect and customs. In the Volga region all these groups – the Torghuts, Khoshuds, Zyungar, Khoit, etc. – came to be known under the umbrella term of Kalmyk.

Owing to widespread Russification, today the difference among various Kalmyk groups is negligible. With the passage of time, some Kalmyks, especially impoverished individuals, engaged in fishing. Those Kalmyks who lived close to the Volga and the Caspian Sea became good fishermen.

Historically, the majority of Kalmyks were Torghuts, which means that the Kalmyk Khanate was in fact a Torghut Khanate. Hence, the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka described himself in his letters as a Torghut Khan. When in 1771 the majority of the Kalmyks, or Torghuts, set out on a return journey to Dzungaria, the number of the Torghuts that remained in Kalmykia diminished accordingly. When the Khanate was abolished by the Russian government as a consequence of this exodus, the Tundutov family of the Choros clan of the Derbet were appointed as representatives of the Russian administration among the Kalmyks.

Historically, the Torghuts participated in religious wars. When Kagyu and Gelug schools of Buddhism fought with each other in Tibet, the Oirats supported Gelug, while the Khalkhas, or Mongols, supported Kagyu. It is known that a contingent of Torghut soldiers from the Volga reached Zungaria and Tibet. After their military campaign, they returned home.

Viktor talks about some phonetic peculiarities of the Tsaatan dialect.

He says: Today the language of the Tsaatans became similar to common Kalmyk, although in the past they had their distinct dialect. Instead of ‘ts’ they said ‘ch’. For example, they said ‘chaatan’ instead of ‘tsaatan’, ‘chasn’ (snow) instead of ‘tsasn’, ‘chevr’ (clean) instead of ‘tsevr’. Also, instead of ‘z’ they said ‘y’ as in ‘yagsn’ (fish) instead of ‘zagsn’ or ‘yam’ (road) instead of ‘zam’.

Yuriy recounts two different versions of the origin of the ethnonym Torghut and talks about the dispersal of the Torghuts in Kalmykia.

According to one version, this word means ‘silk soldiers’ deriving from the word torgn meaning ‘silk’. The Torghuts who were Chingis Khan’s bodyguards wore blue silk robes. The 10,000-strong army of imperial bodyguards was recruited from men of various clans, including Kereit, Naiman, Buryat, Uriankhai, Khalkha Mongols, Chakhar Mongols, Tsaatans and others. There were two types of bodyguards, for night and for day. With time the bodyguards took families and grew in number. They became Torghuts. Silk has the following properties. When a soldier was wounded with an arrow it was easy to pull it out. Moreover, the wound healed quickly. Silk also protected its wearer from poisoned arrows.

According to the second version, this ethnonym derives from the word torg meaning ‘a strong man’.

Yuriy is himself from the Keryad clan of the Torghut. Among the Keryads there is a saying that ‘a raven should be killed in its nest, and a Keryad man while he is still a child’, which means that grown-up Keryad men are so strong that is impossible to beat them.

The Batud clan has a saying that ‘the Batuds only fight with the Cherkes, and drink only red wine’. The message behind this saying is that in the past the Batuds fought with Cherkes and drank wine as their spoil, whereas the rest of the Kalmyks drank milk vodka. Today the Batuds live in Ketchenerovskiy rayon in Kalmykia. Before World War II they lived in the village of Batud in Limanskiy rayon, which does not exist today. The famous Kalmyk Jangar singer Vladimir Karuev is from the Batud clan. This clan traces its genealogy from the legendary Dova Sokhor who had four sons, one of whom was the founder of the Batud clan. The Kalmyks used to say that there was a union of ‘40 and 4’, which means ‘4 Oirat and 40 Mongol tribes’.

The Torghuts, 50,000 yurts in all, came to the Volga region with Kho-Urlyuk who lived a long life, dying at 90 during a battle. The Derbets arrived to the Volga with Dalai Batur. In 1609 the Kalmyks made an agreement with the Russians to become part of the Russian Empire.

Today in Kalmykia the Torghuts live in Yashkul’skiy, Chernozemel’skiy, Laganskiy and Yustinskiy rayons. There are some who live in Astrakhan oblast as well. The Torghuts are comprised of Keryad, Merkit, Naiman, Telengit, Altai and other clans.