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book: A Monastery on the Move
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A Monastery on the Move

Art and Politics in Later Buddhist Mongolia
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2021

About this book

In 1639, while the Géluk School of the Fifth Dalai Lama and Qing emperors vied for supreme authority in Inner Asia, Zanabazar (1635–1723), a young descendent of Chinggis Khaan, was proclaimed the new Jebtsundampa ruler of the Khalkha Mongols. Over the next three centuries, the ger (yurt) erected to commemorate this event would become the mobile monastery Ikh Khüree, the political seat of the Jebtsundampas and a major center of Mongolian Buddhism. When the monastery and its surrounding structures were destroyed in the 1930s, they were rebuilt and renamed Ulaanbaatar, the modern-day capital of Mongolia.

Based on little-known works of Mongolian Buddhist art and architecture, A Monastery on the Move presents the intricate and colorful history of Ikh Khüree and of Zanabazar, himself an eminent artist. Author Uranchimeg Tsultemin makes the case for a multifaceted understanding of Mongol agency during the Géluk’s political ascendancy and the Qing appropriation of the Mongol concept of dual rulership (shashin tör) as the nominal “Buddhist Government.” In rich conversation with heretofore unpublished textual, archeological, and archival sources (including ritualized oral histories), Uranchimeg argues that the Qing emperors’ “Buddhist Government” was distinctly different from the Mongol vision of sovereignty, which held Zanabazar and his succeeding Jebtsundampa reincarnates to be Mongolia’s rightful rulers. This vision culminated in their independence from the Qing and the establishment of the Jebtsundampa’s theocractic government in 1911.

A groundbreaking work, A Monastery on the Move provides a fascinating, in-depth analysis and interpretation of Mongolian Buddhist art and its role in shaping borders and shifting powers in Inner Asia.

Author / Editor information

Contributor: Uranchimeg Tsultemin Uranchimeg Tsultemin is Edgar and Dorothy Fehnel Chair of International Studies at the Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis (IUPUI).

Reviews

Tsultemin is unique in putting Mongolia first, not China or Tibet; and she does so as an art historian with a vast working knowledge of Mongolian visual resources as her entry point. . . . In other words she seeks to make more space for Mongolia in modern scholarship on Mongolian visual culture under the Qing. The result is a book which stands on visual description and interpretation. Tsultemin certainly has done her due diligence in mining the primary and secondary literature relevant to her project. . . . Moreover she has gleaned new information from oral histories typically omitted from studies of Zanabazar and the Khalkhas. . . . A Monastery on the Move delivers a major contribution to the study of Mongolian art and cultural history. For those who accept the challenge it poses to nonspecialist readers—and, of course, for those who are already knowledgeable—the book offers a deeply complex look into a cultural realm deserving of far greater attention than it has received to date. --- A Monastery on the Move is an impressive and pioneering work. Uranchimeg Tsultemin, one of only a small handful of scholars of Mongolian Buddhist art that I am aware of, weaves history, religion, politics, and Buddhist art into a narrative that illuminates the interactions and mutual influences of these areas in Mongolian religious and political lives. She opens up the world of Mongolian Buddhist art in ways we have not seen before. --- The brilliance of Uranchimeg Tsultemin’s book lies in the recovery of material that has been overlooked—especially art, architecture, and ritual objects—and, moving beyond iconographic and stylistic analyses, to consider their sociopolitical history. Uranchimeg’s use of a wide variety of written and material sources read together and against one another has produced a fascinating study. --- A brilliant book which situates art and the artist in biographical and historical context. Beautifully produced, a careful and critical source-based work.

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    vii
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    Illustrations

    ix
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    Acknowledgments

    xiii
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    Note on Transliteration

    xvii
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    List of the Jebtsundampa Khutugtus (with modern Mongolian spellings)

    xix
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    Introduction. Mongolia’s “Great Encampment,” Ikh Khüree

    1
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    Chapter One. Zanabazar: A Khalkha Ruler

    13
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    Chapter Two. Zanabazar’s Art and Works: The Organized Practice of Dharma and the Art of Imperial Tradition

    43
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    Chapter Three. Why Zanabazar? A Géluk Disciple and the Jebtsundampa Ruler

    81
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    Chapter Four. Jebtsundampa Portraiture: Enshrinement in “Third Space”

    106
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    Chapter Five. Ikh Khüree: A Qing-Géluk City for the Khalkha Mongols

    143
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    Chapter Six. The Jebtsundampas’ Buddhist Government

    176
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    Epilogue

    213
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    Notes

    217
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    Bibliography

    253
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    Index

    273
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
January 20, 2021
eBook ISBN:
9780824885700
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
View content
https://doi.org/10.1515/9780824885700
eBook ISBN: 9780824885700
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
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