Ak Jang in the Context of Altai Religious Tradition

AK JANG IN THE CONTEXT OF ALTAI RELIGIOUS TRADITION A Thesis submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research In partial fulfillment of the Requirements For the Master’s Degree In the Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology University of Saskatchewan By Andrei Vinogradov © Copyright Andrei Vinogradov, November 2003. All rights reserved. PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, I agree that the Libraries of this University may make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for copying this thesis in any manner, in whole or in part, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor or the professors who supervised my thesis work or, in their absence, by the head of the Department or the Dean of the College in which this thesis work was done. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this thesis or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in my thesis. Request for permission to copy or to make other use of the material in this thesis in whole or in part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan i ABSTRACT In 1904, a Native religious movement, Ak Jang, formed in Gorny Altai in Southwestern Siberia. It strongly opposed itself to Shamanism, which was considered to be the “core” tradition of Altaians. The initial persecution of the movement by the Russian colonial administration did not stop its spread and development. It was widely practiced in Altai until 1930 when it was eradicated by the Soviet regime. During the period when Ak Jang was still practiced, it was observed by a number of witnesses, some of whom were ethnographers while others were not. Those who investigated Ak Jang, produced a number of diverse and often contradictory interpretations of it. From the 1930 until the post-Soviet period, Ak Jang was not studied due to an imposition of the Communist Party “verdict” regarding its (counterrevolutionary) character. In the 1980, the practice of Ak Jang has resumed. However, there is no agreement in academic publications regarding its nature and character. The Thesis research has had two principal objectives: the analysis and clarification of certain misconceptions about the nature and character of Ak Jang, and the formulation of a view, according to which Ak Jang is the manifestation of the continuity between the old religious and cultural tradition of Turks and Mongols and the modern tradition of Altaians and their cultural “siblings” – the heirs of the ancient Turkic- Mongolian culture. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I gratefully acknowledge help and guidance I have received from my academic supervisor, Dr.James Mullens, Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan I thank the members of the Advisory Committee: Dr. Thomas Selover, Department of Religious Studies and Anthropology, University of Saskatchewan Dr. Myroslaw Tataryn, Department of Religious Studies, St.Thomas More College Dr. John McCannon, Department of History, University of Saskatchewan I also thank Altai scholars who provided me with unique and indispensable help during and after my visit to Altai: Dr. S.Tioukhteneva Dr. V.Oinoshev Dr. N.Ekeev And other members of the staff of the Institute of Altaic Studies, Gorno-Altaisk, Altai Republic, Russia. I also thank Dr.V.P. Diakonova (the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography, St.Petersburg) and my friend and a kaichi, Nogon Shumarov (Gorno-Altaisk). iii DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my family. Without their patience and support I would have never been able to complete my work. iv Table of Contents Permission to use……………………………………………………………………...i Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….ii Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………... iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………..iv Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………...v Introduction……………………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 1. A young nation with ancient history……………………………………12 Chapter 2. Beginning and the formative years (1904-1920s) of Ak Jang ……….. 27 Chapter 3. Ak Jang and its interpretations: a critical review of the sources……..43 Chapter 4. The background and sources of Ak Jang: The religion of Turks and Mongols and its continuity in Altai tradition……………………….67 4.1. Elements of Turkic religious tradition: an overview………………………………68 4.2 The problem of interpretation of Siberian traditions as Shamanism……………….84 4.3. The structure of Altai religious tradition…………………………………………..89 Chapter 5. The Structure of Ak Jang………………………………………………118 5.1. The pantheon of Ak Jang ……………………………………………………….. 118 5.2. The origin of Ak Jang ritual ……………………………………………….. 131 5.3. The conclusions ……………………………………………………………….. 136 Chapter 6. Ak Jang in post-Soviet period………………………………………… 139 Chapter 7. Conclusion………………………………………………………………156 Glossary ……………………………………………………………………………..171 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………175 Appendices…………………………………………………………………………..182 v Introduction Overview This thesis presents a description and analysis of Ak Jang, or White Faith, called “Burkhanism” in popular and ethnographic literature by the name of its most prominent deity, White Burkhan. Ak Jang is a religious movement, which originated in Altai (Southwestern Siberia), in the beginning of the 20th century. The main goal of the thesis is presenting Ak Jang in the context of the traditional religion of Altaians and, more generally, of Turkic-Mongolian groups of Siberia. Ak Jang emerged in 1904, after an Altai shepard, Chot Chelpanov and his step daughter, Chugul, had several encounters-visions of a White Rider who they called Ak Burkhan. The rider delivered a number of commandments and prophecies, which determined and defined the formation of the new movement. The onset of Ak Jang was extremely active and rapid – in a few weeks, many1 Altaians accepted the tenets of the new faith with enthusiasm. The movement had a strong eschatological and charismatic character – Altaians began anxiously await the arrival of a hero-king- messiah, Oirot-khan, and radical changes in their lives. Another characteristic of the movement was its extremely negative attitude towards shamans, who, prior to the emergence of Ak Jang, were the chief religious specialists in Altai culture. Russian administration of Altai persecuted the followers of Ak Jang and arrested most of its leaders within a few weeks after its beginning, but it did not stop Ak Jang from further spread. Those arrested were released in about a year, and Ak Jang continued gaining influence among the Altaians – by the 1913, most of them became 1 In a little more than a month from the first vision of the White Rider, the single prayer meeting, which was dispersed by a mob, involved more than 4000 people. 1 its followers.2 As Ak Jang was spreading and becoming more universal among the Altaians, its structure was steadily becoming more sophisticated – it developed a standard complex of rituals, priesthood, and a rich narrative. The active practice of Ak Jang continued into the 1930s. Within approximately 10 years after its emergence, Ak Jang lost much of its eschatological character as well as the negative attitude towards shamans: it acquired a shape of the “everyday,” common religion,3 incorporating most of the traditional rituals, deities, etc., which existed prior to its formation. In the 1930s, Communists forcefully eliminated the movement and executed all of its activists.4 At the same time, all academic research of Ak Jang, which was conducted for a short period in the 1920s and the early 1930s, was de- facto prohibited as well, and did not resume until the mid-late 1980s. Information on Ak Jang, available to the general public and specialists, was very limited until recently. Most publications on Ak Jang during its development in 1904- 1930s, were based on anecdotal evidence, often on information, biased or simply falsified for a variety of reasons. The emergence and existence of Ak Jang was extremely “inconvenient” for both the Tsarist administration of Altai, and for its Communist successors: the emergence of a vigorous religious movement, which absolutely did not fit into a colonial-“civilizing” scenario of both the Russian Tsarist 2 According to Sokolov, quoted in Danilin (Danilin p126), less than 10% of the Altaians remained not Ak Jang followers by the 1913. This gives us an approximate figure of about 50,000 Ak Jang followers at the time. 3 The term “everyday religion” means approximately what M.Weber calls the “routinization of charisma.” In this case, it is the shift in the message and character of the religion from the stress on the personal and social change, prompted by eschatological expectations, etc. to the structuring and support of the “ordinary” personal and social stability and homeostasis. 4 There is no statistics on the number of the executed and/or imprisoned Ak Jang followers. Thousands of Altaians were imprisoned during the Stalin’s purges, and the membership in Ak Jang (which, as we will see later, “meant” being a Japanese spy,” was the most popular choice of the criminal charges in Altai. All of the prominent Ak Jang figures (famous yarlykchi, Altai intellectuals) were executed. A.Znamenski is currently working on the book, dedicated to the details of these

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