This paper presents study of the cult of sacralization of administrative power among Cis-Baikal Buryats. Cult of worship of the main shulengas of Verkholensk steppe office is a vivid example of the sacralization of new state institutions. We introduce into scientific circulation the archival materials of the ethnographic description of ritual for the main shulengas of Verkhorensk steppe office (Khoilongo Boirdoev, Barlak Turunkhaev and their companions), which is a specific example of the tribal cults of Cis-Baikal Buryats. Basis for the development of such ideas were shamanistic conceptions about the spirits-ancestors that can influence the life and well-being of descendants. Therefore, after his death, some persons were included in the pantheon of Eastern gods who, under the leadership of Erlen-khan, were in charge of justice. Such ideas were incorporated into beliefs about the patrons in the administrative sphere – in education, military service and career growth. In the mythological stories about the patron of the underworld Erlen Khan as the head of a huge office and the Lord of the staff of various deities in his judicial affairs (ministers, clerks, secretaries, keepers of gates and doors to the underworld, messengers and service members) reflected the motives of developed statehood. Ideas about the complex bureaucratic structure of the afterlife emerged from associations with new social institutions of power and with a system of developed statehood based on the tribal structure of local government, which the Russian tsarist government retained in the process of joining Siberia to Russia. In this regard, new types of social organization were included in a specific ritual complex. As a result, among Cis-Baikal Buryats the cult of veneration of ancestor, ideas about the sacred exclusivity of Noyon Udkha, the cult of Besheshins clerks, the cult of the Eastern Celestials Aryuuni Tengri were spread. In general, such worldview aspects related to the historical realities of ethnic and cultural development of the Buryats are specific motives in the mythology of population of Cis-Baikal region, and allow us to talk about the development and formation of traditional beliefs.

Miyagasheva Surzhana Borisovna, Candidate of Sciences (History), Researcher, Center of Oriental manuscripts, Institute of Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies SB RAS; 6, Sakhyanova st., Ulan-Ude, 670047, Russian Federation, e-mail: surjana.miyagasheva@imbt.ru

Miyagasheva S. B. Cult of the Progenitors of Cis-Baikal Buryats: Rituals for the Main Shulengas of the Verkholensk Steppe Office. Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series. 2018, Vol. 25, pp. 86–100. https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2018.25.86 (in Russ.)

Baldaev S. P. Izbrannoe [Selected works]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat book Publ., 1961, 256 p. (In Russ.)

Baldaev S. P. Rodoslovnye predaniya i legendy buryat [Genealogies and legends of the Buryats]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat book Publ., 1970, Part 1, 366 p. (In Russ.)

Bolkhosoev S. B. Izbrannichestvo: fenomen shamanskoi nasledstvennosti udkha u predbaikalskikh buryat [Election: the phenomenon of shamanic continuity of the Cis-Baikal Buryats]. Ulan-Ude, ESSIC Publ., 2016, 247 p. (In Russ.)

Dampilova L. S. Shamanskie pesnopeniya buryat: simvolika i poetika [Shamanic chants of the Buryats: symbolism and poetics]. Ulan-Ude, BSC SB RAS Publ., 2005, 248 p. (In Russ.)

Egunov N. P. Buryatiya do prisoedineniya k Rossii (Ocherk o sotsialno-ekonomicheskom i politicheskom razvitii buryatskikh plemen v XIII–XVII vv.) [The Buryatia joining Russia (Essay on the socio-economic and political development of the Buryat tribes in the XIII–XVII centuries.)]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat book Publ., 1990, 176 p. (In Russ.)

Georgi I. G. Opisanie vsekh obitayushchikh v Rossiiskom gosudarstve narodov [Description of all peoples living in the Russian state]. St. Petersburg, 1779, Part 4, 246 р. (In Russ.)

Khangalov M. N. Sobranie sochinenii [Сollected works]. Ulan-Ude, Respublikanskaya tipografiya Publ., 2004a, Vol. 1, 508 p. (In Russ.)

Khangalov M. N. Sobranie sochinenii [Сollected works]. Ulan-Ude, Respublikanskaya tipografiya Publ., 2004б, Vol. 2, 312 p. (In Russ.)

Kudryavtsev F. A. Istoriya buryat-mongolskogo naroda (ot XVII v. do 60-kh gg. XIX v.): ocherki [The history of the Buryat-Mongolian people (from the XVII century to the 60s years of the XIX century): essays]. Moscow, Leningrad, AS USSR Publ., 1940, 242 p. (In Russ.)

Kuras L. V., Zhalsanova B. Ts. K 200-letiyu uchrezhdeniya Barguzinskoi stepnoi kontory, Ulyunskoi yarmarki i obrazovaniya sela Ulyun (1811–2011) [The 200th anniversary of the establishment of the Barguzinsky steppe office, Ulun’s fair and establishment the village Ulun (1811–2011)]. Vestnik Buryatskogo nauchnogo tsentra SO RAN [Bulletin of the Buryat scientific center SB RAS]. 2012, pp. 150–160. (In Russ.)

Manzhigeev I. A. Buryatskie shamanisticheskie i doshamanisticheskie terminy. Opyt ateisticheskoi interpretatsii [Buryat shamans and pre-shamans terms. Experience of atheistic interpretation]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1978, 125 p. (In Russ.)

Miyagasheva S. B. Prisyaga i klyatva v pravovoi sisteme buryat [The oath and the sacrament in the legal system of the Buryats]. Drevnie kultury Mongolii, Baikalskoi Sibiri i Severnogo Kitaya [Ancient cultures of Mongolia, Baikal Siberia and Northern China]. Ulan-Ude, 2018a, pp. 198–202. (In Russ.)

Miyagasheva S. B. Klyatvennye ritualy buryat [The oath rituals of the Buryats]. Naidakovskie chteniya-4. Tyurko-mongolskii mir. Gumanitarnye issledovaniya [Naidakov’s readings-4. The Turkic-Mongolian world. Humanitarian research]. Ulan-Ude, 2018б, pp. 226–229. https://doi.org/10.30792/2222-7547.2018.226-229. (In Russ.)

Munkhanov V. A. Dokumenty buryatskikh stepnykh dum kak istochnik po izucheniyu administrativnoi politiki Rossiiskoi imperii v Sibiri v XIX v. [Documents of the Buryat steppe Dumas as a source for the study of administrative policy of the Russian Empire in Siberia in the XIX century]. Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Ser. Gosudarstvo i pravo. Yuridicheskie nauki [Bulletin of Tomsk State University. Series: State and Law. Legal science]. 2010, pp. 97–100. (In Russ.)

Okladnikov A. P. Shishkinskie pisanitsy. Pamyatnik drevnei kultury Pribaikaliya [Shishkin writings. Monument of the ancient culture of the Baikal region]. Irkutsk, Irkutsk book Publ., 1959, 212 p. (In Russ.)

ShagdurovaI. N. Stepnye kontory – organy samoupravleniya buryat v period Rossiiskoi imperii [Steppe offices as a state body of the self-government of Buryats during the Russian Empire]. Vestnik BGU. Ser. Istoriya, istoriografiya i istochnikovedenie [Bulletin of Buryat State University. Series. History, Historiography and Source Studies]. 2011, pp. 20–24. (In Russ.)

Shaglanova O. A. Annotirovannyi katalog arkhivnykh materialov po buryatskomu shamanizmu Tsentra vostochnykh rukopisei i ksilografov Instituta mongolovedeniya, buddologii i tibetologii [Annotated catalogue of archival materials on buryat shamanism of the Center of Oriental manuscripts of the Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies]. Osaka, National Museum of Ethnology Publ., 2009, 333 p. (In Russ.)

Traditsionnoe mirovozzrenie tyurkov Yuzhnoi Sibiri [Traditional world worldview of the Turks of South Siberia]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1988, 225 p. (In Russ.)

Tsybikdorzhiev D. V. Proiskhozhdenie drevnemongolskikh voinskikh kultov (po folklorno-etnograficheskim materialam buryat) [Origin of ancient Mongolian military cults (according to folklore and ethnographic materials of the Buryats)]. Ulan-Ude, BSC SB RAS Publ., 2003, 292 p. (In Russ.)

Urbanaeva I. S. Shamanskaya filosofiya buryat-mongolov: tsentralnoaziatskoe tengrianstvo v svete dukhovnykh uchenii [Shamanic philosophy of the Buryat-Mongols: Central Asian Tengrianism in the light of spiritual teachings]. Ulan-Ude, BSC SB RAS Publ., 2000, Vol. 2, 204 p. (In Russ.)

Zhambalova S. G. Profannyi i sakralnyi miry olkhonskikh buryat (XIX–XX vv.) [Profane and sacred worlds of the Olkhon Buryats (XIX–XX centuries)]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 2000, 395 p. (In Russ.)