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Baatar Sumyan


Type

Video

Change log

Authors

Bulag, Uradyn E. 
Fuerwa, Dorjraa 

Abstract

Batdalain Sumyan could be considered a heroic figure in the modern history of Hobogsair. He began to practice archery and wrestling at thirteen years old and became one of the strongest wrestlers in Hobogsair by the time he was eighteen. His heroic deeds are epitomized when Altai Kazakh bandits came to Hobogsair, plundering livestock from the Torghut herders. They gathered most of the herds of horses from the very east of Hobogsair to the west border, down to the Emgen Salaa of Hatun Mountain. In the face of this plunder, Torghut Noyan also convened about fifteen strong herders with about ten guns in front of Obootin Khüree, led by skilled hunters including Tsagalai, Buyankhishig and Baasdag, and embarked on an ambush in the Mountain to take back their confiscated horses. Surprisingly, when they waited at the top of the Emgen Salaa, expecting a fight when the bandits came over the Hatan Mountain, they spotted Sumyan, with a roughly made hunting gun, following the bandits individually along a deep ditch right up to a small hill close to where the bandits were resting. When Sumyan shot down several bandits from his hidden position, not only did the horses become anxious from the gunshots sound, creating chaos, but the bandits were also terrified and escaped in multiple directions, leaving the horses to their original owners. Sumyan, further chasing the bandits, captured one of them with a semi-automatic rifle and left a few of them to escape in the Altai direction. He then handed that Kazakh to Muhur Ishig, a member of the Nationalist Party, who, although successfully led him barefoot to Obootin Khüree to prepare for public execution, the bandit, unfortunately, escaped before his execution. After gaining renowned for his heroic deeds, Sumyan also played a core leadership role in the revolutionary campaign to emancipate Hobogsair from the Nationalist Party and Kazakh bandits. Therefore, his lifetime was much more glorious than Shalhani Jongorov’s, who did not engage in battles. Togtohin Orla once shared Sumyan’s story with me, which is worth mentioning here. He said, “Sumyan and I became horse herd herders back in Hobogsair from Soviet in 1945. Lack of grassland in Hobogsair due to the harsh climate in those years forced us to borrow a summer pasture in Zairin Shil in Tarbagatai from the Öölds. Once again, Sumyan smashed Kazakh bandits in Tarbagatai and gained a reputation among the Öölds by taking their livestock back. Unfortunately, in Tarbagatai, he also becane entwined in an incident with Three District Revolutionary troops.” According to Juunai’s recollection, who was also one of the secretaries of Noyan before the revolution in 1949, Sumyan was imprisoned in the basement of the Torghut palace in Obootin Khüree and later faced a death sentence in Tarbagatai, given his confrontation with Three District Revolutionary troops. Thus, the true Torghut hero in the modern history of Hobogsair ended up at the hands of the Communist Party. Today, although Gonchig has been contemplating Sumyan’s memorial, it seems it would not fit into the Communist political ideology, some suggest adjusting his story, saying he had encountered the Nationalist Party and praise him the hero of the Communist Party. In doing so, Sumyan would become a constructed fake figure.

Description

Keywords

Sumyan, Hobogsair, bandits, Torghuts

Is Part Of

Publisher

Kalmyk Cultural Heritage Documentation Project, University of Cambridge

Publisher DOI

Publisher URL

Sponsorship
Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin.