Russian Tsar as Cakravartin: A Buriat Lama’s View of the Coronation of Nicholas II

Based on Russian archival documents and hitherto poorly known primary sources, Nikolay Tsyrempilov’s paper is a study of the Buryat Buddhist perception and interpretation of the Russian emperors’ enthronement ceremonies. Buryat Buddhist hierarchs were among the many Central Asian elites invited to the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896. The paper argues that the Buddhists did not simply share their Orthodox counterparts’ understanding of the ceremony, but also gave new meaning to it within the frames of their own religious worldview and Buddhist conceptions of kingship. In this understanding, Moscow and St. Petersburg became Pure Lands made holy thanks to the presence of an enlightened deity, the Tsar.