Buriat Chronicles

the historical chronicles of the Eastern Buriats; they represent a transition from the chronicle form to the short historical essay.

The chronicles were written in the literary Mongolian language. The chronicles of the Selenga Buriats (compiled by I. Lombotsyrenov, 1868), the Khorints and Aga Buriats (T. Toboev, 1863; V. Iumsunov, 1875; and Khobituev, 1887), and the Barguzin Buriats (N. Sakharov, 1887) are known. The authors of these chronicles drew on historical records and chronicles, documents from the archives of the dumas of the steppe peoples, folk traditions, and legends. The chronicles with the most varied contents are those compiled by Iumsunov (which begins in antiquity and ends with the 19th century) and by Toboev (which ends in 1860). Sakharov’s chronicle runs from 1740 to 1886. The chronicles were compiled by representatives of the feudal nobility and reflect the ideology of this class. Their chronological presentation of facts about the lives of the Buriat peoples is very valuable. The Buriats are the only Siberian people who possess these original records.