On June 17, 2011, Ksenia Gerasimova, Doctor of Historical Sciences, the oldest employee of the Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, died at the age of 93. She was a scientist of great scientific talent, a versatile talented and bright personality.

K. M. Gerasimova graduated from two higher educational institutions in Leningrad: in 1942 from the Museum Faculty of the N. K. Krupskaya Library Institute and in 1947 with honors from the Mongolian Department of the Eastern Faculty of Leningrad State University. She studied Mongolian and Tibetan languages, Buddhism, Buddhist art, and sources on the history of Buddhism in Old Mongolian. The years of postgraduate study at the Faculty of Oriental Studies turned out to be very difficult. Prominent orientalists J. B. Radul-Zatulovsky (1903-1987) and E. M. Zalkind (1912-1980) were removed from the scientific leadership. A young graduate student chose a topic on the history of Lamaism in Buryatia, and she had to work independently and master a huge amount of material. K. M. Gerasimova continued to work on the topic at the Buryat-Mongolian Research Institute of Culture (BMNIIK). The dissertation is written using unique, previously unknown material in the Mongolian language and rare archival documents. In 1953. Ksenia Maksimovna successfully defended her PhD thesis at the Academic Council of the Eastern Faculty of Leningrad State University. In 1990. he defended his doctoral dissertation at the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Miklukho-Maklaya majoring in ethnography.

The range of research interests of K. M. Gerasimova is very wide, and the degree of study is extremely deep. Her works are distinguished by a new and original approach to the subject of research, an independent vision of the material under study, and a thorough and scrupulous analysis.

She was an amazing person with all the high qualities inherent in a true intellectual, for whom moral criteria were more important than all others. She was distinguished by decency, amazing hard work, pedantry, benevolence, integrity, sincerity and the highest erudition.

K. M. Gerasimova's interest in the East was born in her early youth. This was a typical phenomenon for many Orientalists who grew up among the Russian Eastern peoples. Ksenia Maksimovna was born in the village of Bokhan, Irkutsk region, from the mixed marriage of Akilina Ivanovna Gerasimova, a Russian woman (since 1937 director of the Buryat-Mongolian Anti-Religious Museum in Ulan-Ude), and Maxim Ivanovich Inkizhinov, a Buryat. This fact can explain her profound knowledge of Russian and Buryat cultures. She grew up in a family where she developed a solid, principled character, well-read and learned.

K. M. Gerasimova's monograph " Lamaism and the national-colonial policy of Tsarism in Transbaikalia in the XIX and early XX centuries "(written on the basis of her PhD thesis) and "The Renewal Movement of the Buryat Lamaist clergy (1917-1930)" marked the beginning of a systematic scientific study of Lamaism in Buryatia. The first monograph examines such topical historical issues as the church and the state, the church and socio-political movements of the XX century. The second work is devoted to an exhaustive analysis of the Buryat renewal movement, which defines its historical nature.

K. M. Gerasimova has always advocated studying the multifaceted culture of Central Asia on the principle of an integrated and maximally broad approach, typical of classical Russian Oriental studies. And judging by the popularity and citation that her content-rich works enjoy, she managed to achieve this. Naturally, in the era of socialism, it was not easy to deal with Buddhist problems, science received ideological guidelines from above, so K. M. Gerasimova had to approach the subject of research, presenting the key provisions of Buddhism from the standpoint of the ideology of Marxism-Leninism in the Soviet interpretation.

K. M. Gerasimova put a lot of effort into creating the Buddhology sector, the only such unit in the former Soviet Union. Her initiative was supported by D. D. Lubsanov, Director of the Institute of Social Sciences of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences). Created in 1967 under her leadership, the department prepared a fundamental monograph " Lamaism in Buryatia of the XVIII-early XX centuries . Structure and social role of the cult system". The work is a major collective work created by the staff of the Buddhist Studies department. K. M. Gerasimova critically approached religious studies, textual, historical and ethnographic facts, subjecting them to an objective analysis. The study is characterized by a rich source base, and has not lost its relevance today. The scale and depth of the study allow us to put it on a par with the works of leading domestic and foreign specialists.

As the head of the Buddhology sector, Ksenia Maksimovna made a significant contribution to the development of Buddhist science in our country with her research and innovative approaches. She was remembering: "In the conditions of the ideological regime of the partocracy, the dominance of vulgar atheism, the profession of a Buddhist and Oriental scholar was dangerous and troublesome." Thus, her article "The symbolism of the ornament on the arrow vault", published in the "Notes of the BMNIIK" in 1948, caused a real scandal. The scientific community of Ulan-Ude branded the author as an "apologist for Genghis Khanism", only for the reason that the publication quoted quotes from the "Hidden Legend", the oldest literary monument of the Mongols, to explain the symbolism of the red and white colors. Criticism was voiced in the central party press and the author was refused a job at the Institute of Culture. Only at the insistence of A. P. Okladnikov, P. I. Khadalov (from 1950 to 1954 - director of the Institute) enlisted K. M. Gerasimova in the staff of the history sector. By the decision of the Academic Council of BMNIIK, she had to leave her main studies and start writing chapters on the third five-year plan (1938-1941) and "completion of the construction of socialism" in Buryatia. However, an analysis of the primary documents of the CSB for individual industrial enterprises, collective farms, MTS, etc.showed that it was still too early to talk about the "completion of the construction of socialism". The party organs and the academic council of the Institute attacked K. M. Gerasimova with sharp criticism. This time, Ksenia Maksimovna was lucky.

* Brother of the famous actor Valery Inkizhinov, who emigrated to France in 1930.

A. M. Mikoyan delivered a speech at the XXII Congress of the CPSU, in which he spoke critically about the methodology of presenting Soviet history. The chapter written by the researcher on reliable archival evidence, with minor modifications, was included in the second volume of the History of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR (1954).

Under the leadership of K. M. Gerasimova, specific sociological research and surveys were conducted in seven districts of the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1971-1973). Based on the processed data, chapters of the monograph are written on the typology of attitudes to religion and atheism in demographic and socio-industrial groups of the Buryat rural population. The manuscript prepared for publication was not published. Another topic dealt with issues related to the study of the Indian iconometric canon. The work was based on the material of canonical iconometric Tibetan texts included in the compendium of Ganchur and Danchur. The texts translated by K. M. Gerasimova into Russian and provided with scientific comments were ready for publication, but the titanic work remained in the manuscript.

The peak of K. M. Gerasimova's creative activity in the field of Tibetology was the monographic research " Monuments of aesthetic thought of the East. The Tibetan Canon of Proportions: treatises on iconometry and composition Amdo, XVIII century " and "Traditional beliefs of Tibetans in the cult system of Lamaism", in which she has invested her rich experience and extensive knowledge in the field of art, anthropology, history, cultural studies, ethnography and a number of other scientific disciplines. The first monograph is exceptionally new in its interpretation of the iconometric canon as a philosophical category. This understanding, from the point of view of K. M. Gerasimova, opened up great opportunities for aesthetic modeling of the iconographic image. In 1989, K. M. Gerasimova published her work "Traditional beliefs of Tibetans in the cult system of Lamaism", which formed the basis of her doctoral dissertation"Ethno-social basis of syncretism of the cult system of Lamaism". The dissertation examines in detail the regional forms of Buddhism in Central Asia and defines the basis of syncretism of its cult system.

K. M. Gerasimova devoted a lot of energy and energy to studying medieval Tibetan sciences, which form the basis of classical Buddhist education in the prestigious monastic universities of Tibet. Among them, the Tibetan science of healing (gso ba rig pa) occupies a worthy place. The researcher was included in the author's team to prepare for the publication of the Russian version of the Atlas of Tibetan Medicine (ATM) from the funds of the M. N. Khangalov Museum of the History of Buryatia. This version is a joint work of scientists from Moscow, Ulan-Ude, Tartu (Estonia) and Kaunas (Lithuania) published in 1994 by Galart publishing house.

Ksenia Maksimovna devoted a number of articles to Tibetan medicine. She is the author of the introductory article to ATM entitled "A Monument to the Medieval Culture of Tibet", as well as the article " On the structure of traditional spiritual culture based on materials from Tibetan medical sources "in the collection" Traditional Culture of the peoples of Central Asia "and "Features of the landmark system of the Atlas of Tibetan Medicine". In addition, she co-authored the introductory article "The Atlas of Tibetan Medicine"with N. D. Bolsokhoeva. Treasures from the History Museum of Buryatia "to the catalog of the exhibition" Atlas of Tibetan Medicine " in four museums in the USA. The catalog was published by the Rizzoli Publishing House in New York in 1998. The Atlas of Tibetan Medicine is of great interest as a monument of secular fine art. The Tibetan medical sources, correctly read by the researchers who compiled them, contain extremely valuable material for reconstructing traditional beliefs of Tibetans, and the features of the illustrations deserve attention for understanding the development of a formalized language of logical abstractions.

K. M. Gerasimova was a responsible editor of many monographs and scientific collections, as well as a member of the editorial boards. Under her editorship, such collections as "Buddhism and Medieval Culture of the peoples of Central Asia" (Novosibirsk, 1980), "Buddhism and traditional beliefs of the peoples of Central Asia" (Novosibirsk, 1981), "Traditional Culture of the peoples of Central Asia" (Novosibirsk, 1986) and many others were published. Almost all the works written by orientalists of IMBT SB RAS passed through her hands. She was responsible editor of numerous works of the Buddhist, Palist, Sanskrit and Tibetologist B. V. Semichov (1900-1981). As an editor, Ksenia Maksimovna was distinguished by her exceptional responsibility, deep knowledge, excellent sense of style, and ability to give an objective assessment of research.

Despite her advanced age, K. M. Gerasimova worked intensively and published her works based on a scrupulous reading of monuments of Tibetan and Mongolian scripts-

new archival documents and based on good field material. She painstakingly collected it in long-term expeditions to the regions (sometimes the most remote) of ethnic Buryatia. Since 1962, K. M. Gerasimova has been a regular participant of historical and ethnographic expeditions organized on the initiative of R. E. Pubaev, Head of the Department of Foreign Orientalism of the Institute (1928-1991). The main purpose of the expeditions is to study the religious customs and beliefs of the Buryats of Transbaikalia. The expedition participants made important field recordings, collected unique photographs, works in Tibetan and Mongolian, objects of worship and Buddhist art. At present, this rich expedition material is stored in the Center for Oriental Manuscripts and Woodcuts of IMBT and serves as a source base for researchers.

In her work, K. M. Gerasimova used primary sources from Russian and Mongolian collections. Original written Tibetan and Mongolian sources, interesting in content and novelty, were first translated by her into Russian and put into scientific circulation. In 1999, K. M. Gerasimova published the monograph "Rites of Life Protection in Central Asian Buddhism". The work continues the theme of her previous research on syncretism of the cult system of Central Asian Buddhism, which analyzes the process of Buddhist assimilation of social cults of traditional tribal beliefs. The monograph is devoted to the Buddhist transformation of doshamanist and shamanist everyday rituals of magical protection of human life and well-being. K. M. Gerasimova dedicated this work to the memory of the lama-philosopher, a fine connoisseur of the cult Tibetan literature and practice of Lodoi Jamso Yampilov*, whom she considered her Teacher. Many scientific conclusions and forecasts of K. M. Gerasimova remain relevant today.

K. M. Gerasimova was a highly qualified scientist, whose works were widely recognized not only in our country, but also abroad. She is a participant of all-Russian, regional and international conferences, symposia, seminars on Buddhology, Buddhist art, Eastern medical systems, the canon of proportions, ethnography, anthropology, cultural studies and sociology.

Ksenia Maksimovna's private conversations with domestic and foreign colleagues focused on the study of traditional beliefs and cults of Tibetans, the peculiarities of spatial and temporal representations of the peoples of the Central Asian region, Buddhist painting, the formation, formation and development of this genre in Tibet, Mongolia and Buryatia. Having an encyclopedic knowledge, Ksenia Maksimovna could talk for hours on various topics of literature, history, ethnography, ecology, philosophy, religious studies, Tibetan medical culture, modern biology, etc.A significant place in her life was occupied by a passion for art, classical music and ballet.

As a competent specialist in the field of museum affairs, K. M. Gerasimova for many years developed a general thematic and exhibition project on Buddhist art in Tibet, Mongolia and Buryatia for the Museum of Oriental Art in Ulan-Ude, which, unfortunately, has not yet been opened. Thanks to the efforts of Ksenia Maksimovna, priceless works of Buddhist art made by skilled masters of Central Asia began to be considered as cultural monuments. K. M. Gerasimova developed the concepts of eight exhibitions in Moscow, Leningrad, Ulan-Ude and five cities in France.

Ksenia Maksimovna's personal collection has been transferred to the IMBiT Center for Oriental Manuscripts and Woodcuts and is currently being studied.

K. M. Gerasimova's long-term work was awarded government awards of the USSR and the Russian Federation. She is an Honored Scientist of the RSFSR and Buryat ASSR.

Ksenia Maksimovna Gerasimova's research is in constant scientific circulation, confirming the fact that the real life of a scientist is in his works. K. M. Gerasimova's fundamental works will forever remain in the history of Russian Oriental studies.

N. D. BOLSOKHOEVA

* Lodoy Zhamso Yampilov (Lodoy Yampilovich / Chimitdorzhi Idymovich Yampilov, 1910-1993) - former lama of the Kizhinga datsan, was a highly educated monk. In 1935 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of the Kizhinga datsan. For many years he worked as an employee of the Buryat Institute of Social Sciences of the Siberian Branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He took an active part in historical and ethnographic expeditions of the Institute's Department of Foreign Orientalism. In 1987, he again took monastic orders and became the rector of the Kizhinga datsan.

MAIN SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF K. M. GERASIMOVA*

Symbolism of the ornament on the arrow storage / / Notes of BM NIIKE. 1948. Issue 8, pp. 163-175.

Materials on the income of Datsan treasuries / / Notes of the BM NIIK. 1955. Issue 20, pp. 134-154.

K istorii izobrazitel'nogo iskusstva buryat [On the History of Fine Arts in Buryats]. 1956. Issue 21, pp. 106-116.

Lamaism and the national-colonial policy of tsarism in Transbaikalia in the XIX and early XX centuries. Ulan-Ude, 1957, 159 p.

Shishkina A. A. O sovremennom sostoyanii narodnogo prikladnogo i dekorativnogo iskusstva v Buryat-Mongolia [On the current state of folk applied and decorative art in Buryat Mongolia]. 1957.Vol. 23. pp. 157-183.

Renovationist movement of the Buryat Lamaist clergy (1917-1930). Ulan-Ude: Buryat, publishing house, 1964. 178 p.

The essence of changing Buddhism / / Critique of the ideology of Lamaism and shamanism. Ulan-Ude, 1965, pp. 28-46.

Compositional constructions in Lamaist iconography / / Trudy BION. 1968. Issue 1. Ser. vostokovednaya. Materials on the history and philology of Central Asia. Issue 3. pp. 88-104.

Lamaist transformation of animistic representations / / Trudy BION. 1970. Vol. 12. Ser.vostokovednaya. Materials on the history and philology of Central Asia. Issue 4. pp. 31-39.

Ratnarakshita and Taranatha's Commentary on the 30th Chapter of the Samvarudaya. UlanUde Publ., 1971, pp. 45-57.

Monuments of aesthetic thought of the East. The Tibetan Canon of Proportions: Treatises on Iconometry and Amdo Composition, XVIII century. Ulan-Ude: Buryat, publishing House, 1971, 303 p.

Notes to the text of "Pratimamanalakshana" in the Nartan edition of Dazhura / / Tibetika. Ulan-Ude, 1971, pp. 34-44.

The social function of the Lamaist rituals // overcoming the vestiges of Lamaism, shamanism and the old believers. Ulan-Ude, 1971, pp. 36-56.

Study and publications of Indian and Tibetan monuments on the theory of art / / Central Asia and Tibet. Novosibirsk, 1972, vol. 1, pp. 147-150.

O lamaistskoy morali i datsanskikh dokhodakh [On Lamaist morality and Datsan incomes]. Ulan-Ude Publ., 1974, pp. 3-19.

On the canon of proportions based on texts from Ganzhur and Danzhur / / Trudy BION. 1976. Issue 27. Ser. oriental studies. Studies on the history and philology of Central Asia, pp. 104-117.

Actual issues of atheistic propaganda based on the materials of sociological research / / Modern problems of Buddhism, shamanism and Orthodoxy. Ulan-Ude Publ., 1980, pp. 3-15.

Izmeneniya v bytovoi obryadnosti lamaizma v sovremennykh usloviyakh [Changes in the everyday ritual of Lamaism in modern conditions]. Ulan-Ude, 1980, pp. 16-29.

On some aspects of assimilation of pre-Buddhist cults according to Tibetan rituals // Buddhism and medieval culture of the peoples of Central Asia. Novosibirsk, 1980. p. 54-82.

On the problems of studying the traditional culture of Buryats // Buddhism and medieval culture of the peoples of Central Asia. Novosibirsk, 1980, pp. 3-11.

Syncretism of the Dalha cult // Buddhism and traditional beliefs of the peoples of Central Asia. Novosibirsk, 1981, pp. 7-45.

Lamaism in Buryatia of the XVIII-early XX centuries. Structure and social role of the cult system. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1983, 235 p. (in Russian) (sovm. with others)

O strukture traditsionnoi dukhovnoi kul'tury po materialam tibetskikh meditsinskikh istochnikov [On the structure of traditional spiritual culture based on the materials of Tibetan medical sources]. Novosibirsk, 1986. p. 30-68.

O mekhanizme sotsial'nogo upravleniya v buryatskom lamaizme XVIII nachalo XX v. [On the mechanism of social management in Buryat Lamaism of the 18th and early 20th centuries].

On the correlation in ritual texts of the doctrinal and popular levels of Buddhist ideology / / Tsybikov Readings. UlanUde Publ., 1989, pp. 36-38.

Traditional beliefs of Tibetans in the cult system of Lamaism. Novosibirsk: Nauka Publ., 1989, 320 p. (in Russian)

Buddhism and ontology of traditional beliefs / / Buddhism and cultural and psychological traditions of the peoples of the East. Novosibirsk, 1990, pp. 43-63.

Funeral rites of Tibetan and Mongolian authors of the XVI-XIX centuries / / Traditional rites of Mongolian peoples. Novosibirsk, 1992, pp. 133-157.

* Comp. by S. Imshlov.

Religion and problems of studying the history of the Buryat society / / Science and Culture of the region: problems of research. Ulan-Ude, 1992, pp. 53-60.

Chitralakshana v tibetskom i mongolskom tekstakh Danzhura [Chitralakshana in the Tibetan and Mongolian texts of Danzhur]. Ulan-Ude, 1995, pp. 120-142.

Kontseptsiya vitalnosti cheloveka v tibetskikh tekstakh lechevnoi magiki [The concept of human vitality in Tibetan texts of healing magic]. Ulan-Ude Publ., 1998. 2. pp. 9-27.

Shamanism in Buryatia: materials of field research of the XIX-XX centuries / / Culture of Central Asia: written sources. Ulan-Ude Publ., 1998. 2. pp. 186-193.

Rites of astrological magic / / Culture of Central Asia: written sources. Ulan-Ude Publ., 1999. 3. pp. 19-39.

Rites of protection of life in Central Asian Buddhism. Ulan-Ude, 1999, 138 p. (in Russian)

On the concept of the exposition of the Museum of the History of Buryatia / / Museum of the History of Buryatia named after M. N. Khangalov. Ulan-Ude Publ., 1999. 2. p. 4-10.

Preparation of scientific publications of monuments of Buddhist art / / Culture of Central Asia: written sources. Ulan-Ude, 1999, issue 3, pp. 134-147.

Sacred trees: contamination of multi-time ritual traditions / / Culture of Central Asia: written sources. Ulan-Ude, 2000, issue 4, pp. 15-35.

Traditional ethnic culture and Buddhist civilization // The World of Central Asia. Ulan-Ude, 2002. Vol. 3.Kul'turologiya [Cultural Studies]. Philosophy. Source Studies, pp. 13-19.

Evraziyskie osobennosti obshchestvennogo i kul'turnogo razvitiya buryatskogo etnosa [Eurasian features of social and cultural development of the Buryat ethnos]. Ulan-Ude Publ., 2003, pp. 159-166.

Bogi bogatstva v bytovoi obryadnosti bududistov Tsentralnoi Azii [Gods of wealth in everyday rituals of Buddhists in Central Asia]. Ulan-Ude Publ., 2004. 6. p. 3-17.

Bogi bogatstva v household rituals of Buddhists in Central Asia / / Izvestiya Arkhitekturno-etnografich. the Taltsy Museum. 2005. Issue 4, pp. 87-94.

Permanent link to this publication: