Shajin Lama

The Institute of Shajin Lamas of the Kalmyk people as a part of the state system of the Russian Empire was formed after the liquidation of the Kalmyk Khanate , although even before the beginning of the 1770s, there were lamas under the Kalmyk khans who single-handedly led the Buddhist clergy. During the imperial period, the candidate was appointed to the post of the Shajin Lama by order of the imperial administration. In the 1920s, the post became elective, during the period of repression against the Kalmyk clergy it was liquidated and reinstated in the early 1990s . The current Shajin Lama also took office by elective means - his candidacy was approved in 1992 at the Extraordinary Conference of Buddhists of Kalmykia and the Astrakhan Region. ^[one]