Buryat

Map of Buryatia region

Buryat (Buryat: Буряад, Buryaad; Буряад-монгол; Mongolian: Буриад) are the largest indigenous (aboriginal) group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia. They are the major northern subgroup of the Mongols.

History

The Buryat people are descended from various Siberian and Mongolic peoples that inhabited the Lake Baikal Region. Then in the 13th century the Mongolians came up and subjugated the various Buryat tribes (Bulgachin, Heremchin) around Lake Baikal. The name "Buriyad" is mentioned as one of the forest people for the first time in The Secret History of the Mongols (possibly 1240). It says Jochi, the eldest son of Genghis Khan, marched north to subjugate the Buryats in 1207.

The Buryats lived along the Angara River and its tributaries at this time. Meanwhile, their component, Barga, appeared both west of Baikal and in northern Buryatia's Barguzin valley. Linked also to the Bargas were the Khori-Tumed along the Arig River in eastern Khövsgöl Province and the Angara. A Tumad rebellion broke out in 1217, when Genghis Khan allowed his viceroy to seize 30 Tumad maidens. Genghis Khan's commander Dorbei the Fierce of the Dörbeds smashed them in response. The Buryats joined the Oirats challenging the imperial rule of the Eastern Mongols during the Northern Yuan period in the late 14th century.

Historically, the territories around lake Baikal belonged to Khalkha and the local people, Buryats were subject to Khalkha Tusheet Khan and Setsen Khan. When the Russians expanded into Transbaikalia (eastern Siberia) in 1609, the Cossacks found only a small core of tribal groups speaking a Mongol dialect called Buryat and paying tribute to the Khalkhas. However, they were powerful enough to compel the Ket and Samoyed peoples on the Kan and the Evenks on the lower Angara to pay tribute. The ancestors of most modern Buryats were speaking a variety of Turkic-Tungusic dialects at that time. In addition to genuine Buryat-Mongol tribes (Bul(a)gad, Khori, Ekhired, Khongoodor) that merged with the Buryats, the Buryats also assimilated other groups, including some Oirats, the Khalkha, Tungus (Evenks) and others. The Khori-Barga had migrated out of the Barguzin eastward to the lands between the Greater Khingan and the Argun. Around 1594 most of them fled back to the Aga and Nerchinsk in order to escape subjection by the Daurs. The territory and people were formally annexed to the Russian state by treaties in 1689 and 1727, when the territories on both the sides of Lake Baikal were separated from Mongolia. Consolidation of modern Buryat tribes and groups took place under the conditions of the Russian state.

The historical roots of the Buryat culture are related to the Mongolic peoples. After Buryatia was incorporated into Russia, it was exposed to two traditions – Buddhist and Christian. Buryats west of Lake Baikal and Olkhon (Irkut Buryats), are more "russified", and they soon abandoned nomadism for agriculture, whereas the eastern (Transbaikal) Buryats are closer to the Khalkha, may live in yurts and are mostly Buddhists. In 1741, the Tibetan branch of Buddhism was recognized as one of the official religions in Russia, and the first Buryat datsan (Buddhist monastery) was built.

Jat History connections

• Aga - A Jat clan
• Arig - Ading (अडि़ंग) Aring (अडि़ंग) Adig (अडीग) Gotra Jats are found in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Arig River in eastern Khövsgöl Province and the Angara
• Barga (बरगा) is a gotra of Jats.
• Burdak Clan - Some historians consider the Buryat people of Siberia to be connected with Burdak Clan. Burdak → Burjak (d ↔ j) → Buryak (j ↔ y) → Buryat

• Bura Jats - Buryats are the Burjats (Buryat → Burjat) (j ↔ y) or Bura Jats, living in the Steppes on the Dena river Russia.

• Daur - A Jat clan

• Ket - A A Jat clan

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