Ekaterina Sobkovyak (MPIWG)

Ágnes Birtalan (Eötvös Loránd University)

Abstract

TBC

Biography

Ágnes Birtalan is a Mongolist, orientalist, and Professor at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, where she leads the Department of Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies. She studied Mongolian philology, Russian language and literature, and history at ELTE, and later continued her training in Mongolian, Manchu and Russian languages as well as religious studies and ethnography in Mongolia, Leningrad, Bonn, Seoul, and Köln. Her research focuses on Mongolian and Inner Asian philology, folklore, religion, shamanism, and cultural history, with significant work on Oirat, Kalmyk, and Mongolian popular religion. Her key publications include Die Mythologie der mongolischen Volksreligion (2001), a major study of Mongolian folk religion; the chapter "Oirat" in The Mongolic Languages (2003), which is widely used in Mongolic linguistics; and Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century (2011), an important philological study based on the texts collected by Gábor Bálint. Other notable works include Kalmükök – Egy európai mongol nép (2002, with Attila Rákos), as well as articles on Mongolian shamanism, ritual texts, and the religious traditions of Oirat and Kalmyk communities.

Coffee and tea provided

Zhargal Badagarov (University of Heidelberg)

Abstract

This paper considers Buryad-Mongol astral terminology as a possible entry point into the historical layering and semantic-conceptual transfer of cosmological ideas in Baikal Asia. Rather than treating astronyms only as “folk names” for celestial objects, it approaches them as condensed carriers of cosmological narrative and ritual meaning. Names such as “Heavenly Seam” for the Milky Way, “Seven Old Men” for the Big Dipper, “Three Marals” for Orion’s Belt, and Solbon for Venus suggest ways in which celestial objects were connected with mythic explanation, ritual practice, and broader cosmological imagination.

Drawing on a limited selection of examples from folklore, ethnographic records, Buddhist cosmographic materials, and modern philological studies of Mongolic astronomical terminology, the paper explores how Buryad-Mongol astral vocabulary may preserve different ways of interpreting cosmological knowledge. It is particularly concerned with possible moments of conceptual crossing: older local sky images, associated with ritual traditions predating or existing alongside Buddhism, may have been reinterpreted through Buddhist-derived vocabulary and categories, while Buddhist cosmological notions may in turn have been absorbed into local narrative and ritual contexts. Such bidirectional movement complicates any simple model of a linear shift from “shamanism” to Buddhism and points instead to a more fluid process of semantic and conceptual transfer.

Through a philological reading of astral vocabulary across religious and textual boundaries, the paper suggests that Buryad-Mongol astral vocabulary may contain more than lexical data. It may also serve as a source for studying cosmological thought, indicating how celestial names, myths, and religious concepts were transmitted, adapted, and resemanticised across Inner Asian cultural and textual boundaries.

Biography

Jargal Badagarov is a Mongolist and linguist whose research focuses on Mongolic languages, especially Buryat and Dagur, as well as the historical development of Mongolian political terminology. He studied Mongolian philology at the Buryat State University and earned his PhD in 2013 with a dissertation comparing Dagur and Buryat. Badagarov has taught and conducted research at the Buryat State University, served as a visiting researcher at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, and has worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Heidelberg University in the ERC project “Entangled Parliamentarisms.” He has also collaborated with the Mongolia Cluster in Vienna as teaching staff and led Classical Mongolian advanced reading workshops in its language program. In addition to his academic work, he has contributed to Buryat language revitalization and language technology development. Among his main publications are the co-authored chapters “Khural Democracy: Imperial Transformations and the Making of the First Mongolian Constitution, 1911–1924” and “Duma, Yuan, and Beyond: Conceptualizing Parliaments and Parliamentarism in and after the Russian and Qing Empires.” He is known for his broad expertise in Mongolic languages, dialects, and historical scripts.

Ines Stolpe (University of Bonn)

Abstract

When the Soviet Star was introduced to post-revolutionary Mongolia’s population in the early 1920s, it was unexpectedly well-received, but rather by chance and for the ‘wrong’ reasons. Instead of seeing it as a symbol of a bright socialist future, people perceived and embraced it as an emblematic representation of a native concept related to animal husbandry, which had not yet been visualised. While there is a surprising lack of straightforward explanations for the utopian ideas related to the star in the early Soviet Union, the Mongolian People’s Republic as the first socialist brother country was during the Cold War often portrayed by using the astral metaphor of a satellite. In post-socialist Mongolia, the five-pointed star still enjoys popularity. It has remained as a statue in some rural centres, now seemingly as a symbol of a bygone bright future. And it appears in new contexts, often again related to animal husbandry referring to the established Mongolized re-interpretation. Finally, it still features in a contemporary joke connected to alcohol abuse. Using various theoretical approaches, the presentation will address the ambiguity of symbols.

Biography

Ines Stolpe is a Professor of Mongolian Studies at the University of Bonn. She studied education sciences and Mongolian studies in Berlin and Ulaanbaatar and later earned a PhD in Central Asian Studies from Humboldt University in Berlin with research on education, social and spatial mobility in contemporary Mongolia. From 2017 to 2023, she was the head of the Department of Mongolian and Tibetan Studies at the University of Bonn. Her work focuses on Mongolian language and culture, the cultural and political history of Mongolia, social change, civil society, educational philosophy, and post-socialist studies. Among her notable publications are co-authored award-winning Educational Import: Local Encounters with Global Forces in Mongolia (2006) and Schule versus Nomadismus? Interdependenzen von Bildung und Migration in der modernen Mongolei (2008).

Catering provided

Amina (Eötvös Loránd University)

Abstract

This talk focuses on the standard/banner (Mong. sülde; Khal. süld) worship among the Mongols and its connection to astral knowledge, especially the sun, the moon, and the Big Dipper (the seven stars (Mong. doluγan ebügen; doluγan burqan; tokiγur doluγan odun; sinaγ-a doluγ-a). Sülde is usually understood as a sacred power associated with charisma and political authority. It is also the objectified appearance of the charisma or spirit of a community leader. At the same time, sülde is strongly connected with celestial bodies and the heavenly realm.

Based on fieldwork data and ritual text analysis, this talk aims to demonstrate that the sülde worship relates to astral knowledge. First, one White Standard (Mong. čaγan sülde) in Üüshin banner, Ordos, has images of the sun and the moon that are not merely decorative. They show that the authority of the White Standard is linked to the order of the sky. Second, the Black-and-white Standard (Mong. alaγ sülde) has dotted signs that represent the Big Dipper. According to vernacular interpretation, these dots are not just a sign of the Big Dipper. The Black-and-white Standard is understood as an objectification of the Big Dipper. Third, ritual texts for the sülde worship directly mention the sun and the moon working thus as an important medium for passing down cosmological ideas and ritual knowledge. Fourth, in The Secret History of the Mongols, the sun and the moon are used as metaphors for the special charisma of Yisügei bagatur. Finally, the Black Standard (Mong. qar-a sülde) is often described as the soul or spiritual presence of Eternal Heaven (Mong. Möngke Tengri). This connects sülde worship not only with ancestors and political power, but also with the highest heavenly authority.

This historical discourse shows that the link between celestial bodies and political power has deep roots in Mongolian culture. By bringing together ritual objects, ritual texts, and historical sources, this talk shows that astral knowledge in Mongolian society is not limited to astronomy or astrology. It is also embodied in sacred objects and ritual practice and plays an important role in shaping ideas of authority, legitimacy, and collective identity.

Biography

Amina is a PhD student in the Department of Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Her research focuses on the Mongolian language, literature, and religious culture. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Mongolian Language and Literature from Minzu University of China in Beijing. Her master’s thesis examined the Sutra of Molon Toyin in the Oirat script (todorxoi üzüq). Amina’s current work concentrates on the worship of the war standard (sülde) in Mongolian regions.

Matthew King (University of California)

Abstract

TBC

Biography

Matthew King is Professor of Buddhist Studies and Director of Asian Studies at the University of California, Riverside. His research examines the social history of knowledge in Buddhist scholastic networks extending across the Tibeto-Mongolian frontiers of the late Qing empire and its revolutionary ruins. Much of his published work has focused on encounters between Buddhist scholasticism, science, humanism, and state socialism in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His work is also broadly engaged with methodological revision in the study of religion and Buddhist Studies, and in revisionist theoretical projects associated with the critical Asian humanities. King is the author of Ocean of Milk, Ocean of Blood: A Mongolian Monk in the Ruins of the Qing Empire (2019), an award-winning study of Buddhist thought and monastic life in modern Mongolia, and In the Forest of the Blind: The Eurasian Journey of Faxian’s Record of Buddhist Kingdoms (2022). King’s current book project is a transdisciplinary experiment at the intersection of Buddhist Studies, the history of science, and environmental history. This book will contrast practices of working with the material affordances of the desert (such as excavation) among such figures as Buddhist monks, palaeontologists, tantric hermits, and Silk Road archaeologists. 

Coffee and tea provided

Ekaterina Sobkovyak (MPIWG)

Abstract

In this hands-on session, the workshop participants will analyse a digital presentation devoted to the history of astral knowledge in Mongolian society created by AI and discuss its advantages and shortcomings. Afterwards, working collaboratively, the team of the workshop participants will concentrate on composing an alternative presentation on the same topic which will benefit from the joint knowledge and professional expertise of the gathered scholars. The final version of the presentation created by the cooperative effort of the workshop guests will be published on the MPIWG Internet site as one of the event’s outcomes.

Biography

Ekaterina Sobkovyak graduated from the Department of Tibetan-Mongolian Philology at the Saint Petersburg State University, Russia (BA in 2006), and the Department of Turkish Studies and Inner Asian Peoples at the Warsaw State University, Poland (MA in 2009). She holds a PhD (2014) in the field of Central Asian cultural studies from the University of Bern, Switzerland, where her thesis was devoted to the Mongolian Buddhist monastic tradition and Mongolian translation of the canonical text which forms the basis of Buddhist monasticism, that is the Prātimokṣasūtra. In 2011 and 2016, Ekaterina worked as a lecturer of Classical Mongolian at the University of Bern. In 2011–2014, she participated as a research associate in an international collaborative research project The Ganjur Colophons in Comparative Analysis supported by the Gerda Henkel Foundation. In 2026, she holds a position of Postdoctoral Fellow at the MPIWG working as a member of the ASTRA Research Group. Her current project deals with the history of transmission of the popular Chinese astro-divination almanac The Notes of the Jade Box (玉匣記 Yu Xia Ji) to the Mongolian society and its adaptation to the Mongolian cultural environment.

Agata Bareja-Starzyńska (University of Warsaw)

Abstract

This talk concentrates on the personality of Lamyn Gegeen Blo Bzang bstan ’dzin rgyal mtshan (1639–1703) and the role he played in implementing Tibetan Gelugpa views on astrology and prognostication among Khalkha Mongols. Being a descendant of Chinggis Khan, he was invested with great authority. He acquired fame as a physician and astrologer and started his line of incarnations. Lamyn Gegeen wrote a short, versified autobiography, but more details about his life can be found in his biography written by his disciple and colleague the Khalkha Zaya Pandita Blo bzang ’phrin las. It is included in a Zaya Pandita’s voluminous work titled in short "Clear Mirror" which describes Buddhist activity throughout centuries. In 1655–1661 Lamyn Gegeen studied in Tibet under many important masters, including the Fourth Panchen Lama and the Fifth Dalai Lama. He studied Kalachakra in the Tantric College of the Tashilhunpo monastery. Four treatises included in the four-volume “Collected Works” by Lamyn Gegeen are focused on Astrology/Prognostication. One of them is Rtsis gzhung blang dor gsal ba’i ’od zer. In it, Lamyn Gegeen explains how to count dates of important Buddhist events, lists astrological treatises and presents methods to compose calendars. Another popular work is ’Bras rtsis legs bshad kun ’dus—a work on prognostication which is similar to the Vaidurya dkar po by sde srid Sangs rgyas rgya mtsho but contains additional information adjusted to Mongolian conditions.

Biography

Agata Bareja-Starzyńska is a Mongolist and Tibetologist, a Professor at the University of Warsaw, where she has held a number of important academic leadership positions. She serves as Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies and has also been associated with the Department of Turkish Studies and Inner Asian Peoples, including as its head from 2006 till 2024. Her research focuses on the literature, religion, and intellectual history of Mongolia and Tibet, with particular emphasis on Buddhism and the study of primary sources in Mongolian and Tibetan. She is especially known for her monograph The Biography of the First Khalkha Jetsundampa Zanabazar by Zaya Pandita Luvsanprinlei (2015), a major contribution to the study of Mongolian Buddhist literature and Tibeto-Mongolian relations. Another important work is her critical edition and Polish translation of the 16th-century Mongolian Buddhist treatise Ciqula kereglegci by Siregetü güüsi čorji (2006). Internationally, she has taken part in collaborative research teams and academic exchanges in Oslo, Shimane, Kyoto, Beijing, Ulaanbaatar, and Osaka, and has helped develop projects centred on Mongolian and Tibetan manuscripts and archival materials held in Poland. These projects include work on the legacy of Władysław Kotwicz, the study of special manuscript collections in Warsaw, and broader scholarly cooperation linking Polish, Mongolian, Japanese, Chinese, and Norwegian researchers.

Coffee and tea provided

Michaela Wisler (University of Bern)

Abstract

Richard R. Ernst was a Nobel laureate from the city of Winterthur, Switzerland. Besides his famous scientific work, he was an avid collector of Tibetan and Mongolian art with a special interest in paintings. His main focus lay on collecting thangkas but he also acquired various other objects, such as tsaklis, statues and block prints. His manuscripts and scriptures were inherited by the Institute for the Science of Religion, researched by Karénina Kollmar-Paulenz, and are now held in the library for ancient scriptures at the University of Bern. The Tibetan part of the collection was sold via Sotheby's, while the Mongolian part is now housed in the Museum of Cultures in Basel. This part of the collection will be the focus of the presentation.

The Basel collection primarily comprises thangkas, tsaklis, and various prints. Richard Ernst acquired most of these objects online and established relationships with Mongolian sellers, who often sourced items specifically for him. Through this method, he collected approximately 1,500 objects, which he diligently researched and labelled. Some of these objects feature depictions of astrology, which is quite rare in Mongolian material culture.  This presentation will demonstrate one large astrological chart alongside smaller depictions of divination and astrology—for example, representations of the animal year cycles—as well as several depictions of protective spells.

This part of the collection has never been presented to the public. This talk aims to initiate a discussion on the contextualisation and importance not only of astrological depictions but also of the research on and preservation of Mongolian objects in European institutions.

Biography

Michaela Wisler is a PhD candidate at the University of Bern. She has also worked as a scientific associate at the Museum der Kulturen Basel, where she studied the Mongolian Ernst Collection. Her doctoral research focuses on ultra-contemporary women artists in Mongolia, examining how they engage with religion and gender in their artworks, the roles these themes play in their personal lives, and how these experiences are reflected in their creative practices. She is also interested in broader artistic trends in Mongolia and in topics concerning art and gender in Asia. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Religious Studies and Social Anthropology from the University of Basel and her master’s degree in Religious Cultures from the University of Bern. At the University of Bern, she began studying modern and classical Mongolian and continues mastering her language skills taking regular research trips to Mongolia.

Catering provided

Ágnes Birtalan (Eötvös Loránd University)

Abstract

TBC

Biography

Ágnes Birtalan is a Mongolist, orientalist, and Professor at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, where she leads the Department of Mongolian and Inner Asian Studies. She studied Mongolian philology, Russian language and literature, and history at ELTE, and later continued her training in Mongolian, Manchu, and Russian languages as well as religious studies and ethnography in Mongolia, Leningrad, Bonn, Seoul, and Köln. Her research focuses on Mongolian and Inner Asian philology, folklore, religion, shamanism, and cultural history, with significant work on Oirat, Kalmyk, and Mongolian popular religion. Her key publications include Die Mythologie der mongolischen Volksreligion (2001), a major study of Mongolian folk religion; the chapter "Oirat" in The Mongolic Languages (2003), which is widely used in Mongolic linguistics; and Kalmyk Folklore and Folk Culture in the Mid-19th Century (2011), an important philological study based on the texts collected by Gábor Bálint. Other notable works include Kalmükök – Egy európai mongol nép (2002, with Attila Rákos), as well as articles on Mongolian shamanism, ritual texts, and the religious traditions of Oirat and Kalmyk communities.

Haozhen Li (University of Tartu) & Ekaterina Sobkovyak (MPIWG)

Abstract

Yu Xia Ji or The Notes of the Jade Box is a Chinese astro-divination almanac which has been popular in China in the late imperial era and on. As a source of vernacular astrological knowledge and a brief encyclopedia of folk beliefs, it guided everyday life in pre-modern Chinese society, indicating auspicious and ominous dates for everyday activities and facilitating simpler divination, exorcism, and healing. With numerous versions published across China, it was widely spread and used by individuals who were not ritual experts across various social strata. The earliest existing version of Yu Xia Ji is included in the Taoist canon published in 1607; multiple expanded editions of this almanac appeared over the following three centuries.

The almanac was translated in Tibetan and at least two times in Mongolian. It became very popular in among the Mongols and was transmitted in various versions, including abridged or fragmentary form, under the short titles “The Precious Jade Box” (Mong. Qas erdeni-yin qaγurčaγ) or “The Golden Box” (Mong. Altan qayirčaγ), predominantly as manuscripts.

This talk aims to outline the basic similarities and differences among the Chinese editions of the Yu Xia Ji, based on a comparison of four versions of this almanac published in 1607, 1800, 1881 and 1891. The preliminary examinations revealed that the nineteenth-century editions are organized roughly according to the same structure as the 1607 edition but are characterized by increased length and wider range of topics. By focusing on the structures and topics of different Chinese editions of the almanac, this paper will examine the changes and growth of the Yu Xia Ji over time.

Tibetan and Mongolian translations of the Yu Xia Ji will also be examined as regards their structure and content and juxtaposed with the relevant Chinese editions. Special attention will be given to the distinctions between two different Mongolian translation one of which was made directly from Chinese and the other from Tibetan.

Biography

Haozhen Li is a PhD student and junior research fellow in the Department of Estonian and Comparative Folklore, University of Tartu, Estonia. His research focuses on vernacular religion and belief narratives in contemporary China, with a particular emphasis on the transmission and transformation of shamanic beliefs and practices in modern urban environments. He has conducted fieldwork in several urban and rural areas in northeast China, where shamanic practitioners worship animal spirits and serve as healers and diviners. During the fieldwork, he has extensively recorded and observed the verbal, textual, and ritual expressions and performances of the shamans, delving into their identity, creativity, and adaptivity expressed in vernacular religious practices. His current publications investigate topics such as vernacular Buddhism practiced by shamans, religious groups in contemporary Chinese urban environments, and shamans’ belief narratives about the call of spirits. 

Coffee and tea provided

In this concluding session, the participants will be able to reflect on their thoughts about the workshop’s content and share their ideas on fostering research into the key topic. Special emphasis will be put on considerations regarding theoretical and methodological tools, the application of which might significantly advance the studies of the history of astral knowledge among the Mongols.