Burhanism

The reasons for the emergence and successful spread of Burkhanism were:

1. The land crisis in Altai associated with the active resettlement of Russian peasants from European Russia to the end. XIX - beg. XX century.

2. The weakening and crisis of shamanism, which was rapidly losing supporters under the onslaught of Orthodox missionaries .

3. The increased dissemination of rumors in the former territory of the Dzhungar Khanate about the return (rebirth) of the last ruler of Amursana .

According to some reports, “the official formation of Burkhanism was the Altai prayers in the Tereng Valley” in the Ust- Kan aimak (now the Ust-Kansky district of the Altai Republic ) in 1904 , associated with the expectation of the coming of the prophet Oirot Khan - the envoy of Yuch-Kurbustan / Ak Burkhan ^{[ 2]} . The first preachers of Burkhanism were Chet Chelpanov and his adopted daughter Chugul Sorokova. In 1906, he and a group of other Burkhanists were brought to trial, but were acquitted ^[3] .

According to unofficial data, the true leaders of the movement were the Altai bais Mandi and Argymay Kuldzhina and a connoisseur of Lamaism, the label Tyry Yashitov ("Ak-emchi").

Burkhanism was based on elements of historical myths , faith in the coming messiah . Ak jan preachers - the tagkchi (or darlykchi - “who received the label (darlyk) [from God]” ^[4] ) rejected black spirits and contacts with the inhabitants of the underworld, worshiped only the “white” patrons and worshiped the supreme deity of Yuch-Kurbustan, or Ak Burkhan (different sources say the same thing, or two different characters) ^[5] .

The first revelation received by the Burkhanists looks like the following commandments:

“I have been and will be forever and ever,” said the mysterious horseman.

- I am the head of the Oirots, which I announce to you, for the time is near ...

“You, Chet, are a sinful man, and your daughter is sinless.” Through it I will proclaim my commandments to all Altai people. My commandments are as follows:

- Do not smoke tobacco, and if someone cannot refrain from this habit, let two parts of birch bark mix with tobacco.

- Kill all cats and never again let them into your yurts.

- Do not chop raw wood.

- Do not prick young cattle for food.

- Do not eat animal blood.

- At the meeting, tell each other: “Jakshy” (good) and do not ask anything new, as you did before.

- Every morning and every night, sprinkle up and on all four sides of milk.

- Place four birch censers and four birches inside the yurt and at the doors and in front of the yurt.

“Burn the heather in the censers.”

- Do not treat each other when meeting with tobacco, but instead of the pipe, give a heather branch and say: “Iakshi”.

- Burn tambourines of kams (shamans), because they are not from God, but from Erlik (i.e., Satan).

- Do not eat with Christians (with newly baptized Altai people) from one dish.

- Do not lead friendships with Russians and do not call them “Russ”, but call them “Chichka Put” (thin-legged).

- High northern white mountain! For a long time you bowed your head in front of her. But the time has come when the White Mountain is no longer our lord.

“Once all were subjects of Oyroth, and now we will know him alone.”

- We will look at the Russians as their enemies. Soon their end will come, the earth will not tolerate them, will part, and they will all fall underground. We will look at the sun and moon, as at our brothers.

- Hang ribbons of five different colors on birches as a sign of the five main tribes and five major religions existing on earth.

- Your main banner is white and yellow. Wear these colors on your hats.

- Whoever has Russian money, spend it rather on the purchase of gunpowder, lead and goods from the Russians, and bring all the money left from the purchase to me.

- Do not withhold a penny from me: the one who conceals will fail along with the Russians ^{[2] [6]} .

During the revival of interest in Burkhanism, he received several interpretations ^[7] . Most figures see it as an Altai traditional polytheistic religion with its deities and spirits , more or less cleared of shamanism .

At the end of the 1990s, D. Alekseeva created the Ak Dyang Society (Belaya Vera). Subsequently, S.K. Kynyev (“Akai”) became his head, announcing that Altai Eeze (Spirit of Altai ) appeared to him in 1995, from 2003 to 2006 he represented the Altai traditional faith in the Interfaith Council of the Altai Republic ^[8] .

Later, the Altai-Jan society (Altai Vera) arose, the founder of which Z. T. Tyrysova (Ene-Yyyk kam) called herself the embodiment of the solar goddess of fertility Umai . Central to this society is sun worship. Since 2006, Z. T. Tyrysova began to represent the Altai traditional faith in the Interfaith Council, the author of the book "Altai Jan - Altai Gene Pool" ^[9] .

Burkhanism is understood as a modern stage in the development of the Altai polytheistic religion by N. A. Shodoev, author of the book "Altai Bilik - the Ancient Roots of Russian Folk Wisdom" ^[10] . He criticizes the understanding of Burkhanism as Buddhism ^[11] .

A number of villages have their guardians of faith operating outside of any religious associations. In the Tereng valley, for example, several times a year, Burkhanist prayers are held, led by a local resident, the label of KM Kypchakova ^[9] .

A monotheistic understanding of Burkhanism is characteristic of Tengrianists . So, the Khakass ethnographer V. Ya. Butanaev believes that Burkhanism is an ancient Turkic religion of monotheism, close to Tengrianism and different from the later layers of primitive shamanism. According to him, burkhanism in the future will have its own doctrine, temples and priestly organization ^[12] .

The branch of Burkhanism can be considered the monotheistic “ Circle of another goddess ” (formerly the “Circle of Devotees of Allat”), in which one of the founders of Burkhanism, Chugul Sorokova, is deified as the last incarnation of the mother goddess . These ideas are set forth in the Allat scripture and the book of I. N. Popov, Metaphysics of Absolute Dualism: Oratorio of Overcoming ^[13] .

In the Ak-Burkan (White Burkhan) religious organization of Buddhists, founded in Gorno-Altaysk by A.M. Sanashkin in 1991, Burkhanism was interpreted as the Altai form of Buddhism , as the return of the people to their Buddhist past. But, as noted, after 12 years of Buddhist propaganda in Altai, only three communities were registered, and regular religious life is warm only in one of them ^[14] .

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• Burhanism. Documents and materials / comp. N. A. Maidurova: at 2 p.m. - Gorno-Altaysk, 1994.
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• Vereshchagin V.I. From Barnaul to Mongolia (Travel notes) // Altai collection. - Barnaul. 1908. - T. 9. - S. 16-19, 59.
• Danilin A. G. Burhanism: from the history of the national liberation movement in the Altai Mountains. - Gorno-Altaysk: Ak-Chechek, 1993. - ISBN 5-7405-0589-5
• Ekeev N.V. Joy of the search for truth (afterword to the book) // L. I. Sherstova. Mystery of the Tereng Valley. - Gorno-Altaysk, 1997. - S. 183-191.
• Klements D.A. From impressions during a summer trip to Altai in 1904 .... // Proceedings of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society . - 1905. - T. XLI. - Vol. I. - S. 155-159.
• Klements D.A. Religious movement in Altai ... // St. Petersburg Gazette . - 1904. - November 7.
• Mamet L.P. Oirotiya: Essay on the National Liberation Movement and Civil War in the Altai Mountains. Research Association for the Study of National and Colonial Problems. M .: Science and education, 1930. - 159 p .; Gorno-Altaysk: Ak-Chechek, 1994 .-- 184 p.
• Semenov A. Religious fracture in Altai // Siberian Archive . - 1913. - No. 9-11. - S. 388-397.
• Tadina N.A. Ethnic consolidation and continuity of generations in understanding Burkhanism // Ethnographic Review . - 2005. - No. 4. - S. 38-44.
• Tadina N.A. ,Yabyshtaev T. S. Revived Burkhanism in the Altai Republic: how much Buddhism is in it and what kind // Culture and peoples of North and Central Asia in the context of interdisciplinary study: a collection of the Museum of Archeology and Ethnography of Siberia named after V.M. Florinsky. Issue 3 / Ans. ed. Yu. I. Augeredov. - Tomsk: Tomsk State University , 2013 .-- S. 481-496. - 540 s. - ISBN 978-5-9462-1397-4 .
• Filatov S. B. Altai Burkhanism // Religion and Society. Essays on the religious life of modern Russia / Ed. ed. and comp. S. B. Filatov. - M .; St. Petersburg: Summer Garden, 2002.
• Filatov S. B. Burkhanism, shamanism and Buddhism in the Altai Republic // Modern religious life of Russia. The experience of a systematic description / Ed. ed. M. Burdo , S. B. Filatov. - M .: Logos, 2006 .-- T. IV. - S. 105-121. - 366 p. - 2000 copies. - ISBN 5-98704-057-4 .
• Shvetsov S.P. From the religious life of Altai foreigners // Siberian Issues . - 1906. - No. 2. - S. 126-156.
• Sherstova L.I. Burkhanism in the Altai Mountains. Sources of national ideology and trends of its development // Peoples of Siberia. Siberian ethnogr. Sat - Prince 3. Issue 8. - M., 1997. - S. 171-215.
• Sherstova L. I. The influence of state policy on ethnic processes in South Siberia in the first half of the 19th century // Ethnographic review . - 2002. - No. 4. - S. 102-108.
• Sherstova L.I. Burkhanism: the origins of an ethnos and religion. Tomsk: Publishing House of Tomsk State University, 2010.
• Halemba A. Contemporary religious Life in the Respublic of Altai: the Interaction of Buddism and Shamanism (English) // Sibirica. - Vol. 3. - No. 2. - 2003. - P. 165-182.

• Burhan
• Mythology of Altai
• Tengrianism

• Kichekova B. A. Pre-revolutionary historiography of Burkhanism