Bogdo Zanabazar
Encyclopedia
- for the novel see Zanabazar (novel)Zanabazar (novel)Zanabazar or Dzanabadzar, is a novel by Mongolian author Sengiin Erdene. It has been described as one of the "most popular historical novels of its period" in Mongolia....
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...
for the Khalkha
Khalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
in Outer Mongolia
Outer Mongolia
Outer Mongolia was a territory of the Qing Dynasty = the Manchu Empire. Its area was roughly equivalent to that of the modern state of Mongolia, which is sometimes informally called "Outer Mongolia" today...
. His name 'Zanabazar' is the Mongolian rendition of the Sanskrit 'Jnana-vajra' meaning thunderbolt (vajra) of wisdom (jnana). Etymologically this name would be equivalent to 'known-vigor' in English, a language genetically related to Sanskrit.
Background
Zanabazar was born as Ishdorj to the Tüsheet khan Gombodorj – at that time one of the three khans in KhalkhaKhalkha
Khalkha is the largest subgroup of Mongol people in Mongolia since 15th century. The Khalkha together with Tsahar, Ordos and Tumed, were directly ruled by the Altan Urag Khans until the 20th century; unlike the Oirat people who were ruled by the Dzungar nobles or the Khorchins who were ruled by...
– and his wife, Khandojamtso. Zanabazar became a religious leader in eastern Mongolia. In that time western Mongolia had gained in power under Galdan Boshogtu Khan. Galdan Boshogtu, not descended from the Golden Lineage (Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan
Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....
), tried to unite all the Mongolian states and take the throne for himself. Zanabazar declined all the western Mongols' proposals. Finally Galdan Khan decided to reunite the Mongol states by force and collaborated with rising power on the north Russia and in south Manchus against eastern Mongolia. Thousands of warriors from the western Mongol Empire went to war with eastern Mongolia. When Galdan Khan's army came to the area where today the city of Ulan Bator is located, conducting two wars in front, on the north with Russia on the west with Galdan Boshogtu, Zanabazar escaped to southern Mongolia. The Manchus were interested in defeating both Mongolian states, and this gave them an incredible chance to accomplish that goal. The Manchu army went to war with the Western (Oirad) Mongol Empire, Zanabazar's goal. After the battle at Zuun Mod (near present-day Ulan Bator) the Oirad Mongol warriors were defeated and went back to the west. Zanabazar became a religious leader in Mongolia while his native land (Eastern Mongolia) fell to and became a vessel of the Manchus.
Recognition
In 1640 Zanabazar was recognized by the Panchen LamaPanchen Lama
The Panchen Lama , or Bainqên Erdê'ni , is the highest ranking Lama after the Dalai Lama in the Gelugpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism...
and the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
as being a "living Buddha", and he received his seat at Örgöö, then located in Övörkhangai – 400 miles from the present site of Ulaanbaatar
Ulaanbaatar
Ulan Bator or Ulaanbaatar is the capital and largest city of Mongolia. An independent municipality, the city is not part of any province, and its population as of 2008 is over one million....
– as head of the Gelug
Gelug
The Gelug or Gelug-pa , also known as the Yellow Hat sect, is a school of Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa , a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader...
tradition in Mongolia. Miraculous occurrences allegedly took place during his youth, and in 1647 (aged 12) he founded the Shankh Monastery
Shankh Monastery
Shankh Monastery is one of the oldest and most important monasteries in Mongolia, founded in 1647 by Zanabazar. It is located in the Övörkhangai Aimag, Central Mongolia, 25 km SE from Kharkhorin city....
.
Contribution to arts
Zanabazar has been called the "Michelangelo of Asia" for bringing to the region a renaissance in matters related to spirituality (including theology), language, art, medicine, and astronomy. He composed sacred music and mastered the sacred arts of bronze casting and painting. He created a new design for monastic robes, and he invented the Soyombo scriptSoyombo script
The Soyombo script is an abugida developed by the Mongolian monk and scholar Bogdo Zanabazar in 1686 to write Mongolian.It can also be used to write Tibetan and Sanskrit....
in 1686- based on the Lantsa script of India, which served as the alphabet for Mongolian Buddhism. He also created the Quadratic Script- based on the Tibetan and Phagspa
Phagspa script
The Phags-pa script was an alphabet designed by the Tibetan Lama 'Gro-mgon Chos-rgyal 'Phags-pa for Yuan emperor Kublai Khan, as a unified script for the literary languages of the Yuan Dynasty....
scripts. Many people still believe that Zanabazar personally created many tankas and bronze statues of Buddha, but a more realistic idea is that he founded a school of Buddhist art. The talented monks of his school created many figures of Buddha.
The scholar Ragchaagiin Byambaa has suggested that both of the scripts invented by Zanabazar were combined to write in a tripartite "Dharma" language composed of Tibetan, Mongolian and Sanskrit, because, he says, the two scripts were specifically designed to better accommodate the phonetics of all three languages. At present, they are mainly used for sacred and ornamental Buddhist inscriptions and among learned Buddhist scholars in Mongolia.