Article
Article name	When Did Russia Recognize Buddhism? In Pursuit of 1741 Decree by the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna Officially Recognizing of Buddhism by the Russian Authorities
Authors	Tsyrempilov N.V. Candidate of History, tsyrempilov@ias.edu
Bibliographic description
Section	ORIENTAL STUDIES
UDK	294.321
DOI
Article type
Annotation	Although the Decree of 1741 was considered by many researchers as an important stage in the history of Buddhism in Russia, we still know little about it and the document itself was never published. In this paper we attempted to collect all data concerning this particular document available in Buriat, Mongolian and Tibetan written sources and Russian archives of the 18–19th centuries. Based on these materials we attempt to give our respond to the question whether this decree, which was mentioned by so many scholars, ever existed. Based on these data we assume that the document in question might exist in the status of decree, but rather as issued by local provincial government in the name of the empress, which in the 18th century Russia was a normative administrative practice. The same data allow us to argue that although we cannot refer to it as the document officially recognizing Buddhism by Russian authorities on the territories of the empire, it legitimized in fact the status of the Buddhist clergy and acknowledged their rights as imperial subjects. In its essence the command of 1741 was rather restrictive than permitting, but at the same time it recognized certain privileges similar to those enjoyed by the Buriat tribal aristocracy. In fact, we can consider this document as indirect recognition of Buddhism by Romanovs.
Key words	Buddhism, Lamaism, Russian empire, Buryats, Elizaveta Petrovna, official recognition, 1741
Article information
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Full article	When Did Russia Recognize Buddhism? In Pursuit of 1741 Decree by the Empress Elizaveta Petrovna Officially Recognizing of Buddhism by the Russian Authorities
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