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The Life of Zanabazar: The First Bogd Gegen of Mongolia
Chapter 3
The Early Life of Zanabazar
(Unedited: Work in Progress. Last Updated April 10)
Details of the composition of the convocation at Shireet Tsagaan Nuur are lacking but since all representatives of all four khanates and their no-doubt sizable entourages were present it is possible that several thousand people were in attendance. Before this assembled throng Zanabazar was officially given the title of Gegen which has been informally bestowed upon him by Setsen Khan shortly after his birth. He also received ordination into the first monastic degree, known as Rabjun, from the presiding lama, a Sakya monk named B ürilegüü. Then he was given another title, Sumati-Sakya-Dodza-"one who holds the Sakya banner of the great mind"-and, according to traditional account, a new name, Lobsang Dambi Jantsen ("religious flag of good omen"). Since it had been decided to make him the superior of his own monastery, Zanabazar was taught the Khamboin-jinan, or "the superior's instructions and ordination". At some point he also received a Malakala initiation.. On a high grass-covered knoll between the shore of the lake and base of Ikh Mongol Uul a ger, the traditional felt tent of the nomads, had been erected. Because the ger was draped outside with yellow cloth it became known as the Shar Bösiyn Ord, or "Yellow Sash Palace". Lama B ürilegüü carried the little boy up the hill and placed on a throne in the ger, thus signifying that the boy was now the head of the Buddhist faith in Mongolia. The ger itself was sanctified as the first temple of what eventually became Zanabazar's own monastery. The assembled Mongols then appeared before Zanabazar, offering obeisance and making offerings. He received several dozen gers from each of the Mongol khans, the basis of what became his shabinar, or personal estate. Then began the games, feasts, and celebrations.
Shireet Tsagaan Nuur is located 148 miles west-southwest of Ulaan Baatar in what is now Övörkhangai Aimag. I first visited here in 1997, as described in my book Travels in Northern Mongolia. At that time it appeared to be visited by only a few die-hard Mongolian pilgrims. No one I talked to back in Ulaan Baatar could tell me its exact location, and even local people along the main highway from Ulaan Baatar to Kharkhorin, which passes ten miles north of Shireet Tsagaan Nuur, could give only the sketchiest directions. Even though we got more detailed instructions from herdsmen in the valley of the Jargalant River, just to the south of Shireet Tsagaan Nuur, we found the extremely faint jeep track which led across the sand dunes of the Mongol Els to the old lake depression only by accident. I returned to Shireet Tsagaan Nuur in the summer of 2002. Since my first visit a tourist map of the area had been published which showed the location of Shireet Tsagaan Nuur and other local landmarks. Still, we stopped at a herdsman's ger in the valley of the Jargalant to get precise directions to the jeep track across the sand dunes. The young herdsman, after plying us airag (fermented mare's milk), agreed to come along for the ride and show us the way, although now this would not have been necessarily, as the jeep track appeared to be much more heavily used than before and was not at all hard to find. The herdsman said that now many Mongolians come here on outings and in the last couple of years even a few foreign tourist groups have started to show up. Zanabazar's original ger temple was supposedly located on a high hill overlooking the old lake bed- the lake which existed here in Zanabazar's day has almost completely dried up-of Shireet Tsagaan Nuur, with Ikh Mongol Uul looming up just behind.. The site is surrounding on the other three sides by sand-dune covered hills. The site of the ger temple-the Shar Bösiyn Ord (the Yellow Sash Palace)-is marked by a ten-foot high white stupa. It was here that the four-year old boy was named as the first of Mongolia's eight Bogd Gegens. This ger temple was the original core of Zanabazar's traveling monastery, which eventually became known as Örgöö, meaning "palace" or "camp of an important person." Örgöö would continually change places and transform itself many times until it finally settled at the confluence of the Tuul and Selbi rivers, in the large basin surrounded by the four holy mountains of Chingeltei Uul, Bayanzurkh Uul, Songino Uul , and Bogd Khan Uul, and became the foundation of the city of Ulaan Baatar. Thus Shireet Tsagaan Nuur is recognized as the original site of what is now Mongolia's capital. Since my first visit here the mayor's office of the city of Ulaan Baatar has erected an eight-foot high stone slab at the base of the hill, at the edge of the old lake, commemorating the 360th anniversary of the founding here of what has become Ulaan Baatar. On the front, facing the stupa is a carved Mongolian inscription in Cyrillic alphabet with the date the monument was dedicated-October 29, 1999-and on the back is a much longer inscription in Old Mongolian vertical script. Above this inscription is the famous Soyombo symbol, which as we shall see was invented by Zanabazar, and which is now also found on the Mongolian flag, on Mongolian paper money, and many, many other places. Thus the city of Ulaan Baatar has given its imprimatur to Shireet Tsagaan Nuur as the original location of its founding.
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