The leadership of the Kalmyk's buddhist church in interaction with the Russian state in the XVII-XIX centuries

The article is devoted to the interaction of the high priests of the Kalmyks Buddhist church and the Russian state in the 17th-19th centuries. The Buddhist clergy played a significant role in the formation of the Kalmyk Khanate, a semi-nomadic state formation that was formed in the second half of the 17th century and was integrated with the Russian state. Buddhism was the state religion of the Khanate and the Buddhist clergy largely determined the domestic and foreign policies. In the XVIII century the interaction of the Russian Empire with Buddhist clerics becomes systemic. Lamas of the Kalmyk Khanate played an active political role in the course of internecine conflicts in the 1720s and 1730s, defending the interests of the government and the Buddhist church. The departure of a significant part of the Kalmyk Khanate in China in 1771 changed the system of interaction between the Russian state and the Kalmyks. The Buddhist church of the Kalmyk steppe was integrated by the government into the imperial system of managing the confessions.