Ksenia Konchieva, About Ubashi Khan and the 1771 Exodus
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After returning from Siberian exile in 1957, our elders decided to perform a ritual for the land of Ubashi Khan, the land where we live today. It was barren in the past, for people used to set it on fire by using a lot of ghee. So the elders decided to appease the sky and perform a ritual involving an animal sacrifice. It was performed in the steppe. I also participated in it. I was 25 then. Such a sacrifice requires a sheep with white or yellow wool only. Sheep with black wool cannot be used for this purpose. We lit candles and read prayers. Later we built a small shelter there for the purpose of carrying out rituals. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the new Shajin Lama of Kalmykia, Tuvan Dorj, consecrated the shelter. Today there is a stupa in that place. In the past, people sang a song about how in 1771 Ubashi Khan took the Kalmyks back to China (Ksenia sings the song). It is said that the wealthy followed the Khan, but the poor remained in Kalmykia. On their way to China, many Kalmyk men were killed and women taken hostage. It is also believed that when Ubashi Khan was born, his father went to a Buddhist monk to enquire about the fate of his son. The monk said that when the boy grows up he would lead his people back to the land of ancestors.