Gombojab Tsybikov

Gombojab Tsybikov ( _ru. Гомбожа́б Цэ́бекович Цы́биков, _mn. Цэвэгийн Гомбожав, alternatively spelled Gombozhab, Tsybikoff and other ) (April 20, 1873, Urdo-Aga, Transbaikal Oblast — September 20, 1930, Aginskoye, Buryat-Mongolian ASSR; both settlements currently in Zabaykalsky Krai) was a Russian explorer of Tibet in 1899—1902. Also specialized in Social Anthropology, Buddhist Studies, and was a major educator and statesman in Siberia and Mongolia.

He is mostly credited, together with another, less documented Russian explorer, Kalmyk Ovshe Norzunov, for being the first photographer of Tibet, including Lhasa. His travelogue, issued in Russian in 1919, 1981, and 1991, and translated into several languages (limited English edition, a Chinese edition, popular French, Polish, 2 Czech and 3 Mongolian editions), included a lot of translations from Tibetan on Tibetan History and first-hand accounts on Tibetan affairs of the time, making it a major reference source.

Biography

Early years

Gombojab Tsybikov, also during this time surnamed Montuev, was born to a Tibetan Buddhist family of Transbaikalian (Aga region) Buryats. 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.

In mid-1890s in Tomsk University, while studying medicine, Gombojab Tsybikov met Peter Badmayev who offered his support so that Tsybikov could study in St Petersburg University pursuing a career in Asian affairs. As the preparation to the new major, Tsybikov spent some time in Urga at Badmayev's Buryat school, studying Chinese, Mongolian, and Manchu languages.

Travel to Tibet

Soon after the graduation, Gombojab Tsybikov 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 Ovshe Norzunov, [ [http://www.fotodi.ru/articles.php?id=12 Андреев А.И. "История первых фотографий Тибета и Лхасы"] ] 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. [ [http://primalbranding.blogs.com/primal_branding/2006/02/national_geogra.html Hanlon, Patrick. National Geographic, the primal Society.] at primalbranding.blogs.com] 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. 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.

After the Revolution

Memory

Bibliography

Online publications in English

* [http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/u?/tibet,66 "Lhasa and Central Tibet"] at University of Wisconsin web site
* [http://collections.lib.uwm.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISOOP1=exact&CISOFIELD1=creato&CISOROOT=/tibet&CISOBOX1=Tsybikoff,+G.+Ts.,[phone] photographic prints of Tsybikoff, G. Ts.] at University of Wisconsin web site

In English

* Tsybikoff, G. Ts. Lhasa and Central Tibet // Smithsonian (Washington D.C. National Museum) Report for 1903, Pages 727—746. Publication 1534 / Washington: Government Printing Office, 1904.
* Tsybikoff G., Journey to Lhasa. // The Geographical Journal, Vol. XXIII, 1-1904. The Royal Geographical Society, London, 1904
* Tsybikov, Gombozhab Tsebekovich. A Buddhist pilgrim to the holy places of Tibet, from diaries kept from 1899 to 1902, translated by Roger Shaw, 1970. The English translation has been done for 'Human Relations Area Files', 1956, 1961 (8 microfiches), by Roger Shaw.

In Russian

* Цыбиков Г. Ц. Избранные труды. Наука. Новосибирск 1981 г. (тираж 10.500 экз.); переиздание: Наука. Новосибирск 1991 г. Издательство: Наука. Новосибирск, 1991 г. ISBN 5-02-029626-0 Тираж: 26500 экз.
*# т.1 Буддист-паломник у святынь Тибета.
*# т.2 О Центральном Тибете; О монгольском переводе «Лам-рим чэн-по»; Цзонхава и его сочинение «Лам-рим чэн-по»; Материалы к русскому перевода «Лам-рим чэн-по»; Дневник поездки в Монголию в 1895 г.; Дневник поездки в Китай в 1909 г.; Дневник поездки в Ургу в 1927 г.; Забайкальское бурятское казачье войско; Культ огня у восточных бурят-монголов; Цагалган; Шаманизм у бурят-монголов; О национальных праздниках бурят; Монгольская письменность как орудие национальной культуры.
* Цыбиков Г. Ц. Буддист паломник у святынь Тибета. Издание Русского Географического Общества. Петроград, 1918 (1919).

Literature

* Tolmacheva M. " [http://books.google.com/books?id=xku_Ik6E96MC&pg=PA1199&dq=tsybikov&hl=en&sig=ACfU3U3-mrLVzumJRGB6PweK4P1ykdgY9Q#PPA1199,M1 Tsybikov, Gombozhab] " \ Literature of Travel and Exploration: An Encyclopedia (ed. by Jennifer Speake). Taylor & Francis, 2003. ISBN 1579584403, 9781579584405 - page 1199

References