A History of Mongolian Shamanism

This book discusses the evolution of Mongolian shamanism from the distant past to the collapse of great empires such as the Yuan Dynasty in the fourteenth century, drawing on archeological findings and historical resources like the Mongolian Secret History. Further, it introduces readers to the cultural and ideological differences between Mongolian shamanists, who believe in the Eternal Blue Sky, and modern Mongols, who follow Buddhist teachings. In closing, the authors put forward the idea that Mongolian shamanism could have helped build great empires, emphasizing, e.g., shamanism’s influence on Mongolian culture and literature in the Middle Ages.

Academician Dalai Chuluunii (1930-2009) was Director and Academic Secretariat at the Institute of Oriental Studies, the Institute of International Studies and the Institute of History, Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolia. He also served at the Diplomatic Service of Mongolia in Peking, China. He graduated from Peking University, People’s Republic of China (1958), and received his Ph.D. in History (1970) and Sc.D. in Mongolian History from the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, Mongolia (1986). His main research works focused on Mongolian History, Sinology, Oriental Studies, and the History of International Relations. He was the author of 20 monographs and co-author of 13 books, as well as 100 articles in Mongolian and foreign languages such as Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Czech, etc. He was awarded the Honorary Scientist of Mongolia (1996) and other major prizes from academic organizations in, e.g., Russia, China and Japan.