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Monks pad barefoot in maroon robes, chanting and fanning themselves with peacock feathers. The red Buddhist temple rises from the steppes with hints of Mongolia. Portraits of Buddha and the Dalai Lama adorn the temple walls. Listen carefully and you'll hear Sanskrit, an Indian language dating back to the 4th century BC, being spoken.

But although the features and language of the worshipers could lead you to believe you were in China or Tibet, this is Russia.

Of Mongolian origin, they are the only Buddhist group in Europe and are 2,500 miles away from their spiritual motherland, Tibet. In early 1600’s, most of their ancestors (the Oirat) left their homeland, Dzhungaria, which is now part of the Xinjiang region of China, in hopes of settling in the rich pastures of northern Caucasus Mountains.

In 1771, the majority of the Oirat decided to move back to Dzhungaria in order to escape the Russian dictatorship, but only a few survived the long journey. Those who stayed in Russia became known as the Kalmyk, which means “those who remained.”

After the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Kalmykia's 100 Buddhist temples were destroyed. The Russian language was forced upon its schoolchildren.

In 1943, Stalin’s forced collectivization was a social, economic and cultural disaster, unsuited to the Kalmyk temperament and the dry treeless landscape. During the Second World War Stalin, suspicious of their loyalty (due to their dissatisfaction with their conditions), deported the whole Kalmyk nation. Without notice about 150,000 people were forced into cattle trucks in midwinter and moved to Siberia. They lived there as official "enemies of the people," prohibited from practicing their religion or speaking Kalmyk. There tens of thousands died from hunger and cold. When the Kalmyks were finally allowed to return to their homeland in 1957, only 70,000 survivors left. An ethnic cleansing unknown to the outside world to this day.

A product of Soviet agricultural policy and ill-conceived irrigation projects far too many sheep were set grazing in Kalmykia in the 1950’s. Worse, they were the wrong sort of sheep, brought in from the Caucasus Mountains. The central planners chose the Caucasus sheep for its fine wool. They forgot about its sharp hooves, which were perfect for flinty mountainside but disastrous on fragile grass. Sheep numbers have been reduced dramatically in the past decade, but too late. Half of Kalmykia is desert already, and another third is heading that way. This is surpassed only by the deserts of Central Asia.

Somehow this ethnic minority has managed to preserve its ways, despite determined Soviet efforts to stamp it out. The population has climbed back to 160,000 people, who have been steadily reclaiming their cultural identity.

Republic President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, elected two years after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, is aggressively promoting the culture that his parents had to embrace in secrecy.

When Mr. Ilyumzhinov came to power in 1993, there were no Buddhist temples. Many younger residents did not know how to speak Kalmyk. The language is now taught alongside Russian in schools and an estimated 70 percent of the population speak it. Streets and gardens are graced with statues of Buddha, pagodas, and stone dragons. And some 200 Buddhist religious centers are operating in the republic.

Residents of the capital, Elista, are especially proud of the Buddhist temple finished in 1997, on a spot chosen personally by the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

"Religion fills the vacuum left for youths left after the death of communism," says Culture and Religion Minister Nikolai Sandjiev. Being able to worship openly is a great relief for elderly people such as Lydia Dakinova, who experienced the Siberian exile. "My mother taught me Kalmyk secretly. It is a great joy to act and pray freely now," she says.

After their return from Siberia, many Kalmyk were forced to conform to a dreaded Soviet lifestyle. Today, many of them still live in the traditional gray, five-story city apartment complexes of the 1905’s. Others live in rural areas and are herdsmen who raise cattle, sheep, goats and a few camels. They are generally known for their love of fine horses and horse racing. Some Kalmyk are fishermen, especially those who live along the Volga River, others are farmers. Their principal crops include grains, corn, fodder grass, mustard seed, sunflowers, and melons. Kalmyk has a continental climate, with very hot (+24°C) and dry summers and cold winters (-7°C) with little snow.

Many Kalmyk continue to live as nomads, and their lifestyle is one of seasonal migrations. Their dwellings are portable tents called “gers” or “yerts”; they are made of felt on lattice frames.

Marriage was formerly a symbol of adulthood among the Kalmyk. Marriage was ordinarily arranged by the parents, and a “zurkhachi" (astrologer) was consulted about the compatibility of a bride and groom. Couples were sometimes engaged as early as six years of age, and married between the ages of 16 and 18. Today, couples usually marry while they are in their early to mid-twenties.

The Kalmyk traditionally live in extended family units. Today, there is a growing tendency toward nuclear families. Sadly, divorce is becoming common, and legal abortion is the principal means of birth control.

The rural Kalmyk dress includes velvet hats, loose fitted coats, and heavily padded long pants. They often shave their heads, except for one small area in the back that is reserved for a pony-tail.

The Kalmyk language is one of the most endangered languages of the world and their traditions are dying out rapidly.

Kalmykia is, in fact, is one of Russia’s poorest regions. Except for some food processing and wool-washing there is no manufacturing industry to speak of. Household incomes are little more than a third of the Russian average –meaning that many people struggle to get by on about $60 per month. Elista, a town of 80,000 has a few rudimentary shops, a couple of simple restaurants, and a small, grubby market. Yet, compared to anywhere else in Kalmyk, Elista is downtown Manhattan.

In the late 1500’s the Kalmyk adopted Tibetan Buddhism*. Many were later forced to convert to Russian Orthodoxy.

Text Box: The present president of the Republic, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov favors Buddhism and Russian Orthodoxy. During his reign, he has built 22 Orthodox churches and 30 Buddhist temples. On December 27, 2005 in Elista was opened Europe’s biggest Buddhist temple. Over 5,000 people came to the opening ceremony, including many guests such as Buddhist leaders of Tibet and Mongolia. The size of the Golden Temple and the Buddha statue let the Mongolian delegation call the temple “center of the world Buddhism”.

*Kalmyk Buddhism is a mixture of ethnic beliefs and shamanism (belief in unseen gods, demons, and spirits). The people depend on shamans (medicine men) to cure the sick by magic and communicate with the Gods. Despite laws forbidding shamanistic practices, the shamans have remained influential. The obo, a heap of stones thought to be inhabited by local spirits, often serves as a site for performing various heathen rituals.

Kalmykia has continental climate, with very hot and dry summers and cold winters with little snow.

As per the 2002 census: All in all, 97 ethnic groups are listed for the republic

Window to Kalmykia