Kalmyk People - Treatment As Non-Mongols

Treatment As Non-Mongols

Historically, the Eastern Mongols regarded the Oirats as non-Mongols. The name "Mongols," the title "Khan," and the historic legacy attached to that name and title were claimed exclusively by the Eastern Mongols, viz., the Halh, Chahar and Tümed tribes. They considered this claim as their birthright, since their lineage was traced back directly to the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and its progenitor, Genghis Khan.

Until the mid-17th century, when bestowal of the title of Khan was transferred to the Dalai Lama, all Mongol tribes recognized this claim and the political prestige attached to it. Although the Oirats could not assert this claim prior to the mid-17th century, they did in fact have a close connection to Genghis Khan by virtue of the fact that Genghis Khan's brother, Hasar, was in command of the Khoshut tribe.

In response to the Western Mongols’ self-designation as the "Dörben Oirat" (Four Oirat), the Eastern Mongols began to refer to themselves as the "Döchin Mongols" (Forty Mongols), expressed otherwise as "Döchin Dörben Khoyar" (The Forty and Four). This means that the Eastern Mongols claimed to have forty tümen (a cavalry unit of 10,000 horsemen) to the four tümen maintained by the Dörben Oirat. Simply put, it's another way for them to clearly separate themselves from the Oirats (Khodarkovsky, 1992:7). Ironically, by the early 1690s, the Dzungar (successor state to the Dörben Oirat) attacks against the Eastern Mongols were so persistent and ferocious, the Eastern Mongol princes voluntarily led their people and Outer Mongolia into submission to the Manchu state.

Until recently, the Oirats (including the Kalmyks) have not recognized themselves as Mongols. Nor have they considered themselves Western Mongols. Nevertheless, the close relationship among all Mongolian-speaking peoples, principally the Kalmyks, Oirats, Khalkhas and Buriats, is evident from the well-established fact that they all:

1. share similar physical features with the Mongol people
2. speak languages known by their close linguistic affinity;
3. adhere to Tibetan Buddhism; and
4. maintain similar customs and traditions, despite centuries of internecine warfare and extensive and far-reaching migrations (Bormanshinov, 1990:3).

Mongolians and Kalmyks belong to haplogroup C3.

It is also noted that they share similar sub-tribal names as well, e.g., Kereit, Taichuud, Mergid and Chonos.

A recent publication of genetic studies of the Kalmyks seem to support their Mongol origins as well.

The genetic results support the historical record in that they indicate a close relationship between Kalmyks and Mongolians. Moreover, the genetic results indicate that the Kalmyk migration involved substantial numbers of individuals, and that Kalmyks have not experienced detectable admixture with Russians.

The Kalmyks' ability to maintain a mostly homogenous existence contrasts with the Russian admixture with other similar people, "as there is evidence for Russian admixture with Yakuts," for example. Thus far, genetic analysis of the Kalmyks supports their Mongol roots that also shows that entire families of Kalmyks moved to Volga region and not simply males as is generally the case with most nomadic tribal groups.