VGTRK “Rossiya” TV is looking for Genghis Khan’s grave in Tuva

   Aleksandr Filatenko, translated by Heda Jindrak
8 Fabruary 2010

permanent link: https://en.tuvaonline.ru/2010/02/08/1900_genghis.html

A filming group from the TV channel “Rossiya” has arrived to Tuva.

“We will travel throughout Tuva in search of Genghis Khan’s grave, - announced the leader of the filming team, Nina Baklanova. And, smiling, she explained: - That is, provisionally speaking, the theme of our future documentary film, around which we will, so to speak, dance. But that is, I repeat, provisional. Of course, in the first place we are interested in that which you consider the heritage of Tuva, which makes Tuva different from other regions of Russia. I mean throat singing, Buddhists, shamans, and many other things.”

The Moscow TV team is planning to make an appointment for a visit to the shamans of the “Bear Spirit” with a request for blessings for their travels in search of Genghis Khan’s grave. Quite recently the shamans of this shamanic association were assigned a parcel of land of 5 hectares on the territory of Kyzyl district, which actually has no fewer that three sacred springs. This is where they are planning to establish a whole complex.

A proposition to include in the filming plans a production of the “Tsam Mystery” has been accepted. It is especially picturesque to watch during the holidays. The documentary film-makers are also interested in the costumes from Genghis Khan’s epoch which Vyacheslav Dongak has in his collection.

Igor Koshkendey and Andrei Mongush, throat singers, will be filmed during the Shagaa celebrations on Mount Dogee with a campfire for a background. The plans of “travels in search for the last resting place of the Conqueror of the Universe” include a trip to the village Moren of the Erzin district, where they have gone today, a visit to the Upper Chadan monastery complex “Ustuu-Khuree”, the Valley of Kings, the fortress Por-Bazhyn, and the village Kungurtuk, where the famous Genghis Khan’s cauldron was found, and other sights and monuments.

The plans for almost two weeks of work also include an interview with a life-long shaman Mongush Kenin-Lopsan, the Kamby-Lama of Tuva, gelong Dzhambel Lodoy, and the Merited artist of Tuva, Eduard Ondar, who played the title role in the film “Secret of Genghis Khan”.

Well, and on February 9 in the evening, the TV reporters will meet with the author of the hypothesis that the grave of the Mongol genius military leader is to be sought specifically in Tuva, doctor of historical sciences, academician of the Academy of social sciences RAN and International Academy of Informatization (New York), Merited scientist of RT, professor Nikolai Abayev.

“There are several versions of where and how Genghis Khan was buried, - the scientist-scholar believes. – These are the four main ones: North-West Mongolia, North-East China, in the area adjacent to ethnic Buryatia, on the territory of contemporary Buryatia, and in Tuva. For example, according to the last word from the Buryat scientists, it should be either on the territory of ethnic Buryatia, on the Upper Amur, or in the Eastern Sayans. But so far, none of the searches for the burial place of Genghis Khan have been crowned with success.”




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