Gombojab Tsybikov
Encyclopedia
Gombojab Tsybikov
Gombojab Tsybikov ( Gombozhab Tsebekovich Tsybikov; , alternatively romanized
as Gombozhab and Tsybikoff (20 April 1873 – 20 September 1930), was a Russian explorer of Tibet
from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in social anthropology
, ethnography
, Buddhist Studies, and for some time after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia
and Mongolia
.
Tsybikov is mostly credited for being the first photographer of Tibet
, including Lhasa
. His travelogue, issued in Russian in 1919, 1981, and 1991, and translated into several languages (Chinese, Czech, English, French, Mongolian, and Polish), included a lot of materials from Tibetan
sources on Tibetan history
and first-hand accounts on Tibetan affairs of the time, making it an important reference source.
. Upon the traditional divisions, his family belonged to a Khori Buryat tribe of Kubdut, clan of Nokhoi Kubdut. His father Tsebek Montuyev studied Mongolian and Tibetan written languages and was locally elected to represent his kinsmen. Originally his idea was to send Gombojab to a Buddhist monastery to study, but later he sent his son to Aga (Orthodox Christian) parish school to study Russian, and later to Chita Gymnasium
which Gombojab finished with honors. This earned him a Korf
scholarchip so that he could pursue a university degree. At that time he set his mind on becoming a medical doctor.
In mid-1890s in Tomsk University, while studying medicine, Gombojab Tsybikov met Dr Peter Badmayev who offered his support insisting that Tsybikov pursues a career in Asian affairs and studies in St Petersburg University. Preparing for this new major, Tsybikov spent some time in Urga at Badmayev's Buryat school, studying Chinese
, Mongolian
, and Manchu
languages.
In 1895 he enrolled at the Oriental Faculty of St Petersburg University with a grant from P. Badmaev. Later he lost Badmaev's support as it required Tsybikov's conversion from Buddhism to Christianity, which Tsybikov declined. He was able to continue studies with funds raised at his native place, and graduated summa cum laude in 1899.
sent Gombojab Tsybikov to explore Tibet. He left Russia by way of Mongolia
, for Lhasa, Tibet, in a group of Buryat and Kalmyk pilgrims
. He used experiences of British explorers to hide equipment and notes. The travel started in 1899 and finished in 1902. In Tibet proper, mostly in and around Lhasa, Tsybikov spent 888 days from 1900 to 1901. There, he secretly made around 200 pictures.
These, together with pictures made independently on the same pilgrimage by another, less documented Russian explorer, Kalmyk
Ovshe Norzunov (Tsybikov arriving in Lhasa in August, 1900, and Norzunov in the end of the year), were later to become the so-called Hallmark for National Geographic
. The history of the magazine as it is known today, delivering pictures first, started with January 1905 edition of several full-page reprints of Tsybikov and Norzunov's pictures. Originally done because of the lack of texts, this publication gained the magazine wide success and popularity. He also had a formal audience with the Dalai Lama
.
As the Dalai Lama fled the British expedition to Tibet
in 1904 and resided for some time in Urga, Mongolia
, he had series of talks with variety of Russian representatives. In these talks, Gombojab Tsybikov served as an interpreter. The Dalai Lama also received, with delight, an edition of Tsybikov's and Norzunov's pictures of Tibet issued by Russian Geographic Society.
However, after the catastrophic defeat in the Russo-Japanese war
, the Russian Empire dismantled its active involvement in Tibetan affairs.
Tsybikov's other activities between the traveling and the Russian Revolution (1917) were academical. He got his travelogue ready for publishing, and started the translation of Je Tsongkhapa
's Lamrim
Chenmo. He also taught Tibetan in Vladivostok University.
, Tsybikov became a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, and the member of Government of Buryat Autonomous Oblast.
In later years of his life he took to farming and was said by Nicholas Poppe to be very successful.
as Gombozhab and Tsybikoff (20 April 1873 – 20 September 1930), was a Russian explorer of Tibet
from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in social anthropology
, ethnography
, Buddhist Studies, and for some time after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia
and Mongolia
.
Tsybikov is mostly credited for being the first photographer of Tibet
, including Lhasa
. His travelogue, issued in Russian in 1919, 1981, and 1991, and translated into several languages (Chinese, Czech, English, French, Mongolian, and Polish), included a lot of materials from Tibetan
sources on Tibetan history
and first-hand accounts on Tibetan affairs of the time, making it an important reference source.
. Upon the traditional divisions, his family belonged to a Khori Buryat tribe of Kubdut, clan of Nokhoi Kubdut. His father Tsebek Montuyev studied Mongolian and Tibetan written languages and was locally elected to represent his kinsmen. Originally his idea was to send Gombojab to a Buddhist monastery to study, but later he sent his son to Aga (Orthodox Christian) parish school to study Russian, and later to Chita Gymnasium
which Gombojab finished with honors. This earned him a Korf
scholarchip so that he could pursue a university degree. At that time he set his mind on becoming a medical doctor.
In mid-1890s in Tomsk University, while studying medicine, Gombojab Tsybikov met Dr Peter Badmayev who offered his support insisting that Tsybikov pursues a career in Asian affairs and studies in St Petersburg University. Preparing for this new major, Tsybikov spent some time in Urga at Badmayev's Buryat school, studying Chinese
, Mongolian
, and Manchu
languages.
In 1895 he enrolled at the Oriental Faculty of St Petersburg University with a grant from P. Badmaev. Later he lost Badmaev's support as it required Tsybikov's conversion from Buddhism to Christianity, which Tsybikov declined. He was able to continue studies with funds raised at his native place, and graduated summa cum laude in 1899.
sent Gombojab Tsybikov to explore Tibet. He left Russia by way of Mongolia
, for Lhasa, Tibet, in a group of Buryat and Kalmyk pilgrims
. He used experiences of British explorers to hide equipment and notes. The travel started in 1899 and finished in 1902. In Tibet proper, mostly in and around Lhasa, Tsybikov spent 888 days from 1900 to 1901. There, he secretly made around 200 pictures.
These, together with pictures made independently on the same pilgrimage by another, less documented Russian explorer, Kalmyk
Ovshe Norzunov (Tsybikov arriving in Lhasa in August, 1900, and Norzunov in the end of the year), were later to become the so-called Hallmark for National Geographic
. The history of the magazine as it is known today, delivering pictures first, started with January 1905 edition of several full-page reprints of Tsybikov and Norzunov's pictures. Originally done because of the lack of texts, this publication gained the magazine wide success and popularity. He also had a formal audience with the Dalai Lama
.
As the Dalai Lama fled the British expedition to Tibet
in 1904 and resided for some time in Urga, Mongolia
, he had series of talks with variety of Russian representatives. In these talks, Gombojab Tsybikov served as an interpreter. The Dalai Lama also received, with delight, an edition of Tsybikov's and Norzunov's pictures of Tibet issued by Russian Geographic Society.
However, after the catastrophic defeat in the Russo-Japanese war
, the Russian Empire dismantled its active involvement in Tibetan affairs.
Tsybikov's other activities between the traveling and the Russian Revolution (1917) were academical. He got his travelogue ready for publishing, and started the translation of Je Tsongkhapa
's Lamrim
Chenmo. He also taught Tibetan in Vladivostok University.
, Tsybikov became a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, and the member of Government of Buryat Autonomous Oblast.
In later years of his life he took to farming and was said by Nicholas Poppe to be very successful.
as Gombozhab and Tsybikoff (20 April 1873 – 20 September 1930), was a Russian explorer of Tibet
from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in social anthropology
, ethnography
, Buddhist Studies, and for some time after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia
and Mongolia
.
Tsybikov is mostly credited for being the first photographer of Tibet
, including Lhasa
. His travelogue, issued in Russian in 1919, 1981, and 1991, and translated into several languages (Chinese, Czech, English, French, Mongolian, and Polish), included a lot of materials from Tibetan
sources on Tibetan history
and first-hand accounts on Tibetan affairs of the time, making it an important reference source.
. Upon the traditional divisions, his family belonged to a Khori Buryat tribe of Kubdut, clan of Nokhoi Kubdut. His father Tsebek Montuyev studied Mongolian and Tibetan written languages and was locally elected to represent his kinsmen. Originally his idea was to send Gombojab to a Buddhist monastery to study, but later he sent his son to Aga (Orthodox Christian) parish school to study Russian, and later to Chita Gymnasium
which Gombojab finished with honors. This earned him a Korf
scholarchip so that he could pursue a university degree. At that time he set his mind on becoming a medical doctor.
In mid-1890s in Tomsk University, while studying medicine, Gombojab Tsybikov met Dr Peter Badmayev who offered his support insisting that Tsybikov pursues a career in Asian affairs and studies in St Petersburg University. Preparing for this new major, Tsybikov spent some time in Urga at Badmayev's Buryat school, studying Chinese
, Mongolian
, and Manchu
languages.
In 1895 he enrolled at the Oriental Faculty of St Petersburg University with a grant from P. Badmaev. Later he lost Badmaev's support as it required Tsybikov's conversion from Buddhism to Christianity, which Tsybikov declined. He was able to continue studies with funds raised at his native place, and graduated summa cum laude in 1899.
sent Gombojab Tsybikov to explore Tibet. He left Russia by way of Mongolia
, for Lhasa, Tibet, in a group of Buryat and Kalmyk pilgrims
. He used experiences of British explorers to hide equipment and notes. The travel started in 1899 and finished in 1902. In Tibet proper, mostly in and around Lhasa, Tsybikov spent 888 days from 1900 to 1901. There, he secretly made around 200 pictures.
These, together with pictures made independently on the same pilgrimage by another, less documented Russian explorer, Kalmyk
Ovshe Norzunov (Tsybikov arriving in Lhasa in August, 1900, and Norzunov in the end of the year), were later to become the so-called Hallmark for National Geographic
. The history of the magazine as it is known today, delivering pictures first, started with January 1905 edition of several full-page reprints of Tsybikov and Norzunov's pictures. Originally done because of the lack of texts, this publication gained the magazine wide success and popularity. He also had a formal audience with the Dalai Lama
.
As the Dalai Lama fled the British expedition to Tibet
in 1904 and resided for some time in Urga, Mongolia
, he had series of talks with variety of Russian representatives. In these talks, Gombojab Tsybikov served as an interpreter. The Dalai Lama also received, with delight, an edition of Tsybikov's and Norzunov's pictures of Tibet issued by Russian Geographic Society.
However, after the catastrophic defeat in the Russo-Japanese war
, the Russian Empire dismantled its active involvement in Tibetan affairs.
Tsybikov's other activities between the traveling and the Russian Revolution (1917) were academical. He got his travelogue ready for publishing, and started the translation of Je Tsongkhapa
's Lamrim
Chenmo. He also taught Tibetan in Vladivostok University.
, Tsybikov became a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, and the member of Government of Buryat Autonomous Oblast.
In later years of his life he took to farming and was said by Nicholas Poppe to be very successful.
Gombojab Tsybikov ( Gombozhab Tsebekovich Tsybikov; , alternatively romanized
Romanization of Russian
Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
as Gombozhab and Tsybikoff (20 April 1873 – 20 September 1930), was a Russian explorer of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
, ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, Buddhist Studies, and for some time after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
.
Tsybikov is mostly credited for being the first photographer of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, including Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
. His travelogue, issued in Russian in 1919, 1981, and 1991, and translated into several languages (Chinese, Czech, English, French, Mongolian, and Polish), included a lot of materials from Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
sources on Tibetan history
History of Tibet
Tibetan history, as it has been recorded, is particularly focused on the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This is partly due to the pivotal role this religion has played in the development of Tibetan, Mongol, and Manchu cultures, and partly because almost all native historians of the country were...
and first-hand accounts on Tibetan affairs of the time, making it an important reference source.
Early years
Gombojab Tsybikov, also during early life surnamed Montuev (Монтуев), was born to a Tibetan Buddhist family of Transbaikalian (Aga region) BuryatsBuryats
The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
. Upon the traditional divisions, his family belonged to a Khori Buryat tribe of Kubdut, clan of Nokhoi Kubdut. His father Tsebek Montuyev studied Mongolian and Tibetan written languages and was locally elected to represent his kinsmen. Originally his idea was to send Gombojab to a Buddhist monastery to study, but later he sent his son to Aga (Orthodox Christian) parish school to study Russian, and later to Chita Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
which Gombojab finished with honors. This earned him a Korf
Andrei Korf
Andrei Nikolaevich Korf was an Imperial Russian baron of Baltic German descent and an infantry general of the Imperial Russian Army. The names of the village of Korf and the Korfa Gulf commemorate him....
scholarchip so that he could pursue a university degree. At that time he set his mind on becoming a medical doctor.
In mid-1890s in Tomsk University, while studying medicine, Gombojab Tsybikov met Dr Peter Badmayev who offered his support insisting that Tsybikov pursues a career in Asian affairs and studies in St Petersburg University. Preparing for this new major, Tsybikov spent some time in Urga at Badmayev's Buryat school, studying Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
, and Manchu
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
languages.
In 1895 he enrolled at the Oriental Faculty of St Petersburg University with a grant from P. Badmaev. Later he lost Badmaev's support as it required Tsybikov's conversion from Buddhism to Christianity, which Tsybikov declined. He was able to continue studies with funds raised at his native place, and graduated summa cum laude in 1899.
Travel to Tibet
Soon after his graduation, the AcademyRussian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
sent Gombojab Tsybikov to explore Tibet. He left Russia by way of Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, for Lhasa, Tibet, in a group of Buryat and Kalmyk pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
. He used experiences of British explorers to hide equipment and notes. The travel started in 1899 and finished in 1902. In Tibet proper, mostly in and around Lhasa, Tsybikov spent 888 days from 1900 to 1901. There, he secretly made around 200 pictures.
These, together with pictures made independently on the same pilgrimage by another, less documented Russian explorer, Kalmyk
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
Ovshe Norzunov (Tsybikov arriving in Lhasa in August, 1900, and Norzunov in the end of the year), were later to become the so-called Hallmark for National Geographic
National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
. The history of the magazine as it is known today, delivering pictures first, started with January 1905 edition of several full-page reprints of Tsybikov and Norzunov's pictures. Originally done because of the lack of texts, this publication gained the magazine wide success and popularity. He also had a formal audience with the Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet.During 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and named "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal"...
.
As the Dalai Lama fled the British expedition to Tibet
British expedition to Tibet
The British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, whose mission was to establish diplomatic relations and trade between the British Raj and Tibet...
in 1904 and resided for some time in Urga, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, he had series of talks with variety of Russian representatives. In these talks, Gombojab Tsybikov served as an interpreter. The Dalai Lama also received, with delight, an edition of Tsybikov's and Norzunov's pictures of Tibet issued by Russian Geographic Society.
However, after the catastrophic defeat in the Russo-Japanese war
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, the Russian Empire dismantled its active involvement in Tibetan affairs.
Tsybikov's other activities between the traveling and the Russian Revolution (1917) were academical. He got his travelogue ready for publishing, and started the translation of Je Tsongkhapa
Je Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa , whose name means “The Man from Onion Valley”, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism whose activities led to the formation of the Geluk school...
's Lamrim
Lamrim
Lamrim is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of lamrim, presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools...
Chenmo. He also taught Tibetan in Vladivostok University.
After the Revolution
In the Far Eastern RepublicFar Eastern Republic
The Far Eastern Republic , sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East...
, Tsybikov became a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, and the member of Government of Buryat Autonomous Oblast.
In later years of his life he took to farming and was said by Nicholas Poppe to be very successful.
Memory
Gombojab Tsybikov ( Gombozhab Tsebekovich Tsybikov; , alternatively romanizedRomanization of Russian
Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
as Gombozhab and Tsybikoff (20 April 1873 – 20 September 1930), was a Russian explorer of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
, ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, Buddhist Studies, and for some time after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
.
Tsybikov is mostly credited for being the first photographer of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, including Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
. His travelogue, issued in Russian in 1919, 1981, and 1991, and translated into several languages (Chinese, Czech, English, French, Mongolian, and Polish), included a lot of materials from Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
sources on Tibetan history
History of Tibet
Tibetan history, as it has been recorded, is particularly focused on the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This is partly due to the pivotal role this religion has played in the development of Tibetan, Mongol, and Manchu cultures, and partly because almost all native historians of the country were...
and first-hand accounts on Tibetan affairs of the time, making it an important reference source.
Early years
Gombojab Tsybikov, also during early life surnamed Montuev (Монтуев), was born to a Tibetan Buddhist family of Transbaikalian (Aga region) BuryatsBuryats
The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
. Upon the traditional divisions, his family belonged to a Khori Buryat tribe of Kubdut, clan of Nokhoi Kubdut. His father Tsebek Montuyev studied Mongolian and Tibetan written languages and was locally elected to represent his kinsmen. Originally his idea was to send Gombojab to a Buddhist monastery to study, but later he sent his son to Aga (Orthodox Christian) parish school to study Russian, and later to Chita Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
which Gombojab finished with honors. This earned him a Korf
Andrei Korf
Andrei Nikolaevich Korf was an Imperial Russian baron of Baltic German descent and an infantry general of the Imperial Russian Army. The names of the village of Korf and the Korfa Gulf commemorate him....
scholarchip so that he could pursue a university degree. At that time he set his mind on becoming a medical doctor.
In mid-1890s in Tomsk University, while studying medicine, Gombojab Tsybikov met Dr Peter Badmayev who offered his support insisting that Tsybikov pursues a career in Asian affairs and studies in St Petersburg University. Preparing for this new major, Tsybikov spent some time in Urga at Badmayev's Buryat school, studying Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
, and Manchu
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
languages.
In 1895 he enrolled at the Oriental Faculty of St Petersburg University with a grant from P. Badmaev. Later he lost Badmaev's support as it required Tsybikov's conversion from Buddhism to Christianity, which Tsybikov declined. He was able to continue studies with funds raised at his native place, and graduated summa cum laude in 1899.
Travel to Tibet
Soon after his graduation, the AcademyRussian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
sent Gombojab Tsybikov to explore Tibet. He left Russia by way of Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, for Lhasa, Tibet, in a group of Buryat and Kalmyk pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
. He used experiences of British explorers to hide equipment and notes. The travel started in 1899 and finished in 1902. In Tibet proper, mostly in and around Lhasa, Tsybikov spent 888 days from 1900 to 1901. There, he secretly made around 200 pictures.
These, together with pictures made independently on the same pilgrimage by another, less documented Russian explorer, Kalmyk
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
Ovshe Norzunov (Tsybikov arriving in Lhasa in August, 1900, and Norzunov in the end of the year), were later to become the so-called Hallmark for National Geographic
National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
. The history of the magazine as it is known today, delivering pictures first, started with January 1905 edition of several full-page reprints of Tsybikov and Norzunov's pictures. Originally done because of the lack of texts, this publication gained the magazine wide success and popularity. He also had a formal audience with the Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet.During 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and named "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal"...
.
As the Dalai Lama fled the British expedition to Tibet
British expedition to Tibet
The British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, whose mission was to establish diplomatic relations and trade between the British Raj and Tibet...
in 1904 and resided for some time in Urga, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, he had series of talks with variety of Russian representatives. In these talks, Gombojab Tsybikov served as an interpreter. The Dalai Lama also received, with delight, an edition of Tsybikov's and Norzunov's pictures of Tibet issued by Russian Geographic Society.
However, after the catastrophic defeat in the Russo-Japanese war
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, the Russian Empire dismantled its active involvement in Tibetan affairs.
Tsybikov's other activities between the traveling and the Russian Revolution (1917) were academical. He got his travelogue ready for publishing, and started the translation of Je Tsongkhapa
Je Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa , whose name means “The Man from Onion Valley”, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism whose activities led to the formation of the Geluk school...
's Lamrim
Lamrim
Lamrim is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of lamrim, presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools...
Chenmo. He also taught Tibetan in Vladivostok University.
After the Revolution
In the Far Eastern RepublicFar Eastern Republic
The Far Eastern Republic , sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East...
, Tsybikov became a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, and the member of Government of Buryat Autonomous Oblast.
In later years of his life he took to farming and was said by Nicholas Poppe to be very successful.
Memory
Gombojab Tsybikov ( Gombozhab Tsebekovich Tsybikov; , alternatively romanizedRomanization of Russian
Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
as Gombozhab and Tsybikoff (20 April 1873 – 20 September 1930), was a Russian explorer of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
from 1899 to 1902. Tsybikov specialized in social anthropology
Social anthropology
Social Anthropology is one of the four or five branches of anthropology that studies how contemporary human beings behave in social groups. Practitioners of social anthropology investigate, often through long-term, intensive field studies , the social organization of a particular person: customs,...
, ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, Buddhist Studies, and for some time after 1917 was an important educator and statesman in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
and Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
.
Tsybikov is mostly credited for being the first photographer of Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, including Lhasa
Lhasa
Lhasa is the administrative capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China and the second most populous city on the Tibetan Plateau, after Xining. At an altitude of , Lhasa is one of the highest cities in the world...
. His travelogue, issued in Russian in 1919, 1981, and 1991, and translated into several languages (Chinese, Czech, English, French, Mongolian, and Polish), included a lot of materials from Tibetan
Tibetan language
The Tibetan languages are a cluster of mutually-unintelligible Tibeto-Burman languages spoken primarily by Tibetan peoples who live across a wide area of eastern Central Asia bordering the Indian subcontinent, including the Tibetan Plateau and the northern Indian subcontinent in Baltistan, Ladakh,...
sources on Tibetan history
History of Tibet
Tibetan history, as it has been recorded, is particularly focused on the history of Buddhism in Tibet. This is partly due to the pivotal role this religion has played in the development of Tibetan, Mongol, and Manchu cultures, and partly because almost all native historians of the country were...
and first-hand accounts on Tibetan affairs of the time, making it an important reference source.
Early years
Gombojab Tsybikov, also during early life surnamed Montuev (Монтуев), was born to a Tibetan Buddhist family of Transbaikalian (Aga region) BuryatsBuryats
The Buryats or Buriyads , numbering approximately 436,000, are the largest ethnic minority group in Siberia and are mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, a federal subject of Russia...
. Upon the traditional divisions, his family belonged to a Khori Buryat tribe of Kubdut, clan of Nokhoi Kubdut. His father Tsebek Montuyev studied Mongolian and Tibetan written languages and was locally elected to represent his kinsmen. Originally his idea was to send Gombojab to a Buddhist monastery to study, but later he sent his son to Aga (Orthodox Christian) parish school to study Russian, and later to Chita Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
which Gombojab finished with honors. This earned him a Korf
Andrei Korf
Andrei Nikolaevich Korf was an Imperial Russian baron of Baltic German descent and an infantry general of the Imperial Russian Army. The names of the village of Korf and the Korfa Gulf commemorate him....
scholarchip so that he could pursue a university degree. At that time he set his mind on becoming a medical doctor.
In mid-1890s in Tomsk University, while studying medicine, Gombojab Tsybikov met Dr Peter Badmayev who offered his support insisting that Tsybikov pursues a career in Asian affairs and studies in St Petersburg University. Preparing for this new major, Tsybikov spent some time in Urga at Badmayev's Buryat school, studying Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...
, and Manchu
Manchu language
Manchu is a Tungusic endangered language spoken in Northeast China; it used to be the language of the Manchu, though now most Manchus speak Mandarin Chinese and there are fewer than 70 native speakers of Manchu out of a total of nearly 10 million ethnic Manchus...
languages.
In 1895 he enrolled at the Oriental Faculty of St Petersburg University with a grant from P. Badmaev. Later he lost Badmaev's support as it required Tsybikov's conversion from Buddhism to Christianity, which Tsybikov declined. He was able to continue studies with funds raised at his native place, and graduated summa cum laude in 1899.
Travel to Tibet
Soon after his graduation, the AcademyRussian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....
sent Gombojab Tsybikov to explore Tibet. He left Russia by way of Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, for Lhasa, Tibet, in a group of Buryat and Kalmyk pilgrims
Pilgrims
Pilgrims , or Pilgrim Fathers , is a name commonly applied to early settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States...
. He used experiences of British explorers to hide equipment and notes. The travel started in 1899 and finished in 1902. In Tibet proper, mostly in and around Lhasa, Tsybikov spent 888 days from 1900 to 1901. There, he secretly made around 200 pictures.
These, together with pictures made independently on the same pilgrimage by another, less documented Russian explorer, Kalmyk
Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...
Ovshe Norzunov (Tsybikov arriving in Lhasa in August, 1900, and Norzunov in the end of the year), were later to become the so-called Hallmark for National Geographic
National Geographic Magazine
National Geographic, formerly the National Geographic Magazine, is the official journal of the National Geographic Society. It published its first issue in 1888, just nine months after the Society itself was founded...
. The history of the magazine as it is known today, delivering pictures first, started with January 1905 edition of several full-page reprints of Tsybikov and Norzunov's pictures. Originally done because of the lack of texts, this publication gained the magazine wide success and popularity. He also had a formal audience with the Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso, 13th Dalai Lama
Thubten Gyatso was the 13th Dalai Lama of Tibet.During 1878 he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. He was escorted to Lhasa and given his pre-novice vows by the Panchen Lama, Tenpai Wangchuk, and named "Ngawang Lobsang Thupten Gyatso Jigdral Chokley Namgyal"...
.
As the Dalai Lama fled the British expedition to Tibet
British expedition to Tibet
The British expedition to Tibet during 1903 and 1904 was an invasion of Tibet by British Indian forces, whose mission was to establish diplomatic relations and trade between the British Raj and Tibet...
in 1904 and resided for some time in Urga, Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
, he had series of talks with variety of Russian representatives. In these talks, Gombojab Tsybikov served as an interpreter. The Dalai Lama also received, with delight, an edition of Tsybikov's and Norzunov's pictures of Tibet issued by Russian Geographic Society.
However, after the catastrophic defeat in the Russo-Japanese war
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
, the Russian Empire dismantled its active involvement in Tibetan affairs.
Tsybikov's other activities between the traveling and the Russian Revolution (1917) were academical. He got his travelogue ready for publishing, and started the translation of Je Tsongkhapa
Je Tsongkhapa
Tsongkhapa , whose name means “The Man from Onion Valley”, was a famous teacher of Tibetan Buddhism whose activities led to the formation of the Geluk school...
's Lamrim
Lamrim
Lamrim is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of lamrim, presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools...
Chenmo. He also taught Tibetan in Vladivostok University.
After the Revolution
In the Far Eastern RepublicFar Eastern Republic
The Far Eastern Republic , sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East...
, Tsybikov became a deputy of the Constituent Assembly, and the member of Government of Buryat Autonomous Oblast.
In later years of his life he took to farming and was said by Nicholas Poppe to be very successful.
Memory