Darmabala (Ayuki's wife)

Darmabala was a cousin of the Dzungarian khan Tsevan Rabdan (1697-1727).

Initially, in the 1690s, she was married to the fifth son of Ayuki, Gundelek, but the Kalmyk khan himself married her. By that time, the two senior wives of Ayuka had died, and the third, Kabardian princess Abaykhan (Obekhan), was sent to Astrakhan , where " until her death, she lived in Astrakhan yurts, receiving her contents from Ayuka ." From Darmabala, the khan had three sons - Ceren-Donduk , Galdan-Tseren and Galdan-Dandzhin.

The Scot J. Bell , who saw the wife of the Kalmyk khan Ayuki in 1722, noted the " auspicious and meek appearance " of the Hanshi Darmabala.

On February 19, 1724, Ayuk Khan died and the internecine struggle for the throne between his sons and grandsons soon began. Hansha Darmabala took an active part in this fight. Dosang (the eldest son of Chakdor-Jab ), Ceren-Donduk (the eldest son of Ayuki from Darmabala) and Donduk-Ombo (son of Gunjab and the grandson of Ayuki) claimed the throne.

At the end of his reign, Ayuk, at the request of his wife, Darmabala, appointed his eldest son Tseren-Donduk as his heir. It was rumored that the secretary of Namki-Getsul “was in great mercy with the khan’s wife and was close to him, on whom there was a reprimand that he and her galan (lover)”; that she’s already a “ harlot ” with Donduk-Ombo and “she has already given many khan things to him ” and that she’s not affectionate with her son (Ceren-Donduk) .

Hansha Darmabala opposed the intervention of the tsarist government in the internal affairs of the Kalmyk Khanate, and also against the appointment of her son Tseren-Donduk as the deputy governor of the khanate. In September 1724, the Astrakhan governor A.P. Volynsky visited the Kalmyk uluses, where he met with local nobles, including Darmabala. Volynsky announced to her that by order of Peter I her son should be declared governor of the khanate until the decree and demanded that Tseren-Donduk “ give a reverse ” with his signature, and Kalmyk taishas would take the oath to him. After hearing Volynsky’s speech, the Khansha laughed in the face of the tsar’s official and sarcastically threw: “ Without seeing anything, they have already ordered the signatories .” Darmabala demanded an imperial letter, stating that "the demon will not take her children to the oath ."

The next day, the Saratov commandant V.P. Beklemishev arrived to the khan with a letter drawn up by Volynsky. Then he told the governor that the hansha, having accepted the letter, said: " Notably de carefully transported, the package is new and the seal on it is like new ." The attentive Darmabala immediately noticed that the message had been issued clearly recently and had “ arrived ” not from St. Petersburg itself . On September 20, 1724, the governor of Volynsky declared Tseren-Donduk the viceroy of the Kalmyk Khanate and was sworn in in the presence of the Shakur Lama, Darmabala, noyons and noble zyansangs .

In the battle of Sasykoly Donduk-Ombo defeated the army of Ceren-Donduk. Khan's uluses were selected and divided between supporters of Donduk-Ombo. Ceren-Donduk himself, along with his mother and wives, fled to Saratov, and from there to Tsaritsyn . In 1729, her youngest son, Galdan-Ceren, died.

In 1735, the tsarist government announced the new governor of the Kalmyk Khanate Donduk Ombo. Ceren-Donduk was detained by the Russian authorities in Tsaritsyn and taken to Moscow, and from there to St. Petersburg.

In 1741, after the death of Donduk-Ombo, the Dowager Hansha Darmabala sought to set her second son, Galdan-Dandzhin, on the free khan’s throne, but the latter died in battle with his rivals the same year.

In 1745, Darmabala began to correspond with the Dzungarian khan Galdan-Tseren , asking him for permission to return to his homeland. But her plans were not destined to come true. In the same year, the Khansha was determined to reside in Saratov “under honest guard” and she was forbidden to correspond.

In 1746, the Kalmyk khan Donduk-Dashi informed Empress Elizaveta Petrovna that the old Khansha asked that “ not for her, but for Burkhan and the law, and bearing in mind my father and grandfather and for their salvation, I would interrogate her with me and her bones ”. The tsarist government heeded the requests of Darmabala and ordered her to go to the uluses; she was assigned a monthly salary of 100 rubles. In August 1747, Darmabala set off from Astrakhan in a " late " carriage to live out her life in Kalmyk nomads.

Died " noble person and mother of the people ", as she was called simple Kalmyks, December 6, 1759.

• Essays on the history of the Kalmyk ASSR. The pre-October period. Publishing House "Science", Moscow, 1967.
• Mitirov A.G. Oirat-Kalmyks: centuries and generations. - Elista: Kalm. Prince Publishing House, 1998 .-- 384 p.

• Russian state and nomadic peoples