Garya says that his grandfather was a healer. Although Garya does not know exactly how his grandfather cured sick people, he remembers that his grandfather read prayers and touched people’s heads. His grandfather had two statues – that of the Buddha Shakyamuni and the Buddha of Medicine. The statue of the Buddha Shakyamuni changed hands several times. First, someone took it with him to Siberia when the Kalmyks were exiled in 1943. After exile, it was brought from Siberia back to Kalmykia by another man who later gave it to Garya’s grandfather. Garya recalls how he witnessed his grandfather cure two people. One of the patients was an alcoholic who happened to be Garya’s friend. Before the procedure, Garya’s grandfather asked the man whether he had come with pure intentions. If not, this would have angered the Buddhist gods, the statues of which were on the altar. The man confirmed that he had good and pure intentions. Garya’s grandfather read prayers for about half an hour, while the man was sitting, sweating, in front of him. After the healing ritual, the man never drank again. The second patient was a toddler who was brought by his mother. The toddler was suffering from anxiety and was continually crying. When Garya’s grandfather touched the toddler’s head with a religious implement, the toddler relaxed and stopped crying. Garya says he himself saw folk healers. One of them was the famous healer Namka. Once Garya had a problem with his heart. Namka gave him powder and seven pills and asked him to mix the medicine with the cooked brain of a sheep and partake of it for seven days. After taking the medicine, Garya recovered. According to Garya, in the past some Kalmyk monks used bottled water to conduct diagnoses. Those who knew this method would shake the bottle and say what was wrong with the patient. In Kalmykia there was a monastery, Cheerya Khurul, which housed monks who specialized in medicine.