Hot Springs Frequented by Zanabazar
Khujirt Hot Springs
Location: N46º54.180 / E102º46.717. Övörkhangai Aimag.
Zanabazar was a renowned polymath who applied his energy to the study of a staggering array of subjects. One of his interests was the medicinal properties of hot springs. He is known to have studied the waters of least four hot spring complexes in Mongolia and no doubt he himself took advantage of their curative and restorative powers.
While traveling between the monastery of Baruun Khüree and his workshop at Tövkhon Zanabazar would have had numerous opportunities to stop at the extensive hot springs complex at Khujirt, on the edge of the Orkhon Valley. According to locals it was he who first studied the medicinal properties of these springs. Khujirt, located between what is now the popular tourist attraction of Erdene Zuu and the famous Orkhon Waterfall in the upper Orkhon Valley and easily accessible by road from Ulaan Baatar, is today a major resort with a sanatorium, hotels, and ger camps.
Ovoo with Statue at dedicated to Khujirt Hot Springs
Estiyn Hot Springs
N48º36.149 / E107º50.465. Töv Aimag: on the upper Khagiyn Gol, a tributary of the Tuul. Accessible by horse only from Möngönmort to the east or from the Terelj area to the south.
While overseeing the construction of Saridag Khiyd (see above-below) from 1654 to 1680 Zanabazar would have ample opportunities to visit Estiyn Rashaan (rashaan = mineral springs) twelve miles to the northwest. According to tradition he identified here up to twenty individual mineral springs and determined the medicinal properties of each. Even now some of the springs have small signs in Tibetan indicating what the water is to be used for, including ailments of the heart, teeth, eyes (one for the left eye and one for the right), nerves, nose, ears, innards, lungs, and so on. There are also two log bath houses with bathing pits. Herdsmen from the Tuul and Kherlen valleys still here by horse to take cures and retreats. My horseman when I visited here told me his cousin came here for seven days after a bad fall from a horse and after bathing daily in the bath houses came away cured. Locals also maintain that bathing in the larger of the baths will atone for big sins, while bathing in the smaller one atones for little sin
Estiyn Hot Springs
Onon Hot Springs
N48º57.240 / E109º00.668. Khentii Aimag. Accessible by horse from the sum center of Möngönmort, 50 miles southeast as the crow flies. Reportedly the springs can also be reached by all-terrain vehicle in wintertime when the ground is frozen, assuming there is not too much snow, from the town of Batshireet in Khentii Aimag.
Yet other hot springs complex frequented by Zanabazar was the Khaluun Usny Rashaan (Hot Water Mineral Springs) on the upper Onon River, twenty-four miles south of the Russian border.
Onon Hot Springs in the upper Onon Valley
Here are at least fourteen different mineral springs, some of them with boiling-hot water, and several bathhouses.
Two outdoor bathing pits at Onon Hot Springs
Two of the larger springs, both enclosed by bathhouses, are called Ikh Tsenkher and Baga Tsenkher (“Big Blue” and “Little Blue” ), names reportedly given to them by Zanabazar himself.
Bathing houses: at left and center are Ikh Tsenkher and Baga Tsenkher
The springs here are famous for treating diseases and afflictions of the lower body: knees (mud packs taken from near the springs are especially good for knee joints), lower back pain, kidney and liver problems and also rheumatism and sore muscles in general. Nearby there is a small log temple with thangkas of White Tara and Janraisig (Avalokitesvara) and portraits of Zanabazar torn from old books.
Temple at Onon Hot Springs
Interior of Temple
According to local herdsmen Zanabazar often traveled from the upper Kherlen over Ikh Davaa and Baga Davaa (ikh = big; baga = small; davaa = pass) to the headwaters of the Onon and whence to these hot springs by horse-drawn cart. The rough track he established is still used today by people traveling by horse to the hot springs and is even now known among local herdsmen as “Zanabazar’s Road.”
Zanabazar’s Road to Onon Hot Springs
A fourth spring complex known to have been frequented by Zanabazar is on the upper Minj River, which flows north from Töv and Khentii aimags into Buryatia, in Russia. Although I have been to the lower Minj River near the Buryatia-Russian border, an extremely remote area accessible only by horse from the sum center of Möngönmort, I was not able to visit the springs on the upper Minj.
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