Many peoples had a dream of paradise and wonderful lands. In describing such lands, different authors equally describe a society where "universal happiness, justice, prosperity and equality reign, people do not get sick, and the grain will be born by itself." Shambhala had similar properties among Buddhists, in China - the Valley of the Immortals in Kunlun, among Russian peasants - the Belovodsk kingdom.
In the folklore of Russian peasants of the 17th – 19th centuries. Belovodye is a wonderful country with rich lands and nature, free from the oppression of the boyars and "persecutors of the faith", where the holy righteous live away from the world, where virtue and justice prevail, it was located first in the Urals, then in Siberia and Altai. Only virtuous people could get to this country. It was called “The Land of Justice and Prosperity”, “The Forbidden Land”, “The Land of White Waters and High Mountains”, “The Land of Light Spirits”, “The Land of Living Fire”.
In Slavic mythology, Belovodye is located in the Far North, in the "northern lands in Pomorie, from the Great Ob River to the mouth of the Belovodnaya River, and this water is white as milk …". But it is not clear from the text whether it is about the same Belovodye, or it is simply about the characteristics of the "white waters" in the north. In the legends of the northern peoples of the IX century. it speaks of a sacred temple built “on a mountain surrounded by a sea arm. Wealth similar to those collected there cannot be found anywhere, even in Arabia”1. According to A. Asov, this temple of the god Yamal was located on the Yamal Peninsula near the mouth of the Ob and is the prototype of Belovodye. According to the Slavic-Aryan Vedas, the land of Belovodye was the Buyan island, which was located on the Eastern Sea, on the site of modern Eastern Siberia in very ancient times. The hypothesis about the northern polar roots of Belovodye, and even Shambhala,continues to be developed in the publications of Russian historians V. Demin and A. Asov.
White is a sacred color for many peoples and symbolizes purity. White is not necessarily north. In the symbolism of the east, you can also find the position when white meant the east. Doctor of Philosophy V. N. Demin, who studies the ancient history of the north, considers the northern location of Shambhala and Belovodye to be possible, which he names as: "the ancestral home of Wisdom, Universal knowledge and Happiness." However, in the road books to Shambhala there is no indication of the polar location and northern characteristics of Shambhala. In the ancient Indian Puranas there is a story about Shveta-dvipa - the White Island located under the pole star in the very north, but this story refers to an earlier time than the appearance of information about Shambhala. Many researchers incorrectly seek to identify Belovodye with Shambhala. Even if we compare the plot details of these two legends - the Buddhist myth of the pure land, and the Christian myth of the Old Believers - about a just society located somewhere beyond the Urals, where “the Orthodox faith of Christ was preserved in all its purity”, there will be more differences than coincidences. White water in the Russian faith is considered as a real place on earth, where there is no oppression by the boyars, and justice reigns, and after a long search it is localized beyond Altai, near Lake Lop Nor in the foothills of Kunlun. Shambhala among Buddhists, on the contrary, is an invisible land, which became such after initiation into the Kalachakra. If they tried to find Belovodye for the sake of a calm worldly life, then Shambhala was sought for the sake of gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.and the Christian myth of the Old Believers - about a just society located somewhere beyond the Urals, where “the Orthodox faith of Christ was preserved in all its purity”, there will be more differences than coincidences. White water in the Russian faith is considered as a real place on earth, where there is no oppression by the boyars, and justice reigns, and after a long search it is localized beyond Altai, near Lake Lop Nor in the foothills of Kunlun. Shambhala among Buddhists, on the contrary, is an invisible land, which became such after initiation into the Kalachakra. If they tried to find Belovodye for the sake of a calm worldly life, then Shambhala was sought for the sake of gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.and the Christian myth of the Old Believers - about a just society located somewhere beyond the Urals, where “the Orthodox faith of Christ was preserved in all its purity”, there will be more differences than coincidences. White water in the Russian faith is considered as a real place on earth, where there is no oppression by the boyars, and justice reigns, and after a long search it is localized beyond Altai, near Lake Lop Nor in the foothills of Kunlun. Shambhala among Buddhists, on the contrary, is an invisible land, which became such after initiation into the Kalachakra. If they tried to find Belovodye for the sake of a calm worldly life, then Shambhala was sought for the sake of gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.then there will be more differences than coincidences. White water in the Russian faith is considered as a real place on earth, where there is no oppression by the boyars, and justice reigns, and after a long search it is localized beyond Altai, near Lake Lop Nor in the foothills of Kunlun. Shambhala among Buddhists, on the contrary, is an invisible land, which became such after initiation into the Kalachakra. If they tried to find Belovodye for the sake of a calm worldly life, then Shambhala was sought for the sake of gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.then there will be more differences than coincidences. White water in the Russian faith is considered as a real place on earth, where there is no oppression of the boyars, and justice reigns, and after a long search it is localized beyond Altai, near Lake Lobnor in the foothills of Kunlun. Shambhala among Buddhists, on the contrary, is an invisible land, which became such after initiation into the Kalachakra. If they tried to find Belovodye for the sake of a calm worldly life, then Shambhala was sought for the sake of gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.which became such after initiation into the Kalachakra. If they tried to find Belovodye for the sake of a calm worldly life, then Shambhala was sought for the sake of obtaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.which became such after initiation into the Kalachakra. If they tried to find Belovodye for the sake of a calm worldly life, then Shambhala was sought for the sake of gaining knowledge and spiritual enlightenment. The myth of Belovodye arose almost seven centuries later than the first evidence of Shambhala.
Doctor of Philosophy V. N. Demin in his article “Shambhala - the northern source of all-worldly wisdom” writes: “Shambhala is a mysterious semi-legendary country, the ancestral home of Wisdom, Universal knowledge and Happiness. However, the Russian people came to this mythologeme of the Golden Age through images that were closer and understandable to them. From time immemorial, the Russian people, dreaming of a better life, turned their gaze to the North. It was here that, in the opinion of many bookmen, preachers and simply dreamers, was a blessed country, comparable only to an earthly paradise. Different names were given to her. The most famous is the North Russian legend about Belovodye. Initially, the tradition placed it in the area (water area) of the Arctic Ocean. Already in the "Mazurinsky Chronicle" it is noted that the legendary Russian princes Slovens and Rus, who ruled long before Rurik, “possessed northern lands throughout Pomorie:and to the river of the great Ob, and to the mouth of the White-water water, and this water is white as milk … ". “Milky tint” in ancient Russian records had everything that related to the snow-covered expanses of the Arctic Ocean, which in the annals itself was often called Milk.
In the most ancient versions of the Old Believers' Belovodsk legends (and in total, no less than 10 copies in three editions are known) it is said about the Arctic Ocean: a considerable number of states. We set off across the Arctic Sea on ships of all kinds of people, and others by land route, and that is why those places were filled. " Another manuscript provides more specific information about the inhabitants (colonists) of Belovodye: “[The settlers] live in the depths of the Okiyana-sea, a place called Belovodye, and there are many lakes and seventy islands. There are islands 600 versts each and between them mountains. And their passage was from Zosim and Savvaty by Solovetsky ships through the Ice Sea. " Subsequently, ideas about the location of Belovodye changed. Russian pilgrims, eager to find the Land of Happiness, searched for it in China, Mongolia, Tibet, and the "Opon State" 2.
In 1893, the Old Believers had a legend about the search for Belovodye in the east by Father Sergius, who had been sent by the Grand Duke Vladimir Krasnoye Solnyshko with an embassy to look for Belovodye in the old days, and spent 56 years in search. “Father Sergius, wishing to help the Grand Duke, fasting strictly, prayerfully asked the Almighty to send him a revelation, what answer to give the Grand Duke. On the seventh night, in a dream, the abbot of the Athonite monastery, in which he had been tonsured, appeared to Father Sergius and reminded him of the ancient legend about Belovodye. Fr. Sergius, awakening, thanked the Lord for the revelation given and clearly recalled what he had heard from the abbot, while he was in the monastery, the following. In ancient times, a Byzantine king, not content with the faith of his own and his people, gathered the sages of the whole country, asked them to say,where to send embassies to choose a new, better faith. After much gossip, one of the sages who came from the East said that his teacher, the old sage, told him that far in the east there was a country called Belovodye, a fabulous abode of eternal beauty and truth, and that there, by his understanding, and you need to seek advice, but that one of the features of that country is that not everyone can find it, get there and get into it, but only the chosen one who is called. The king liked the legend and he equipped an embassy to the East, led by a sage. After 21 years the sage returned, but only one, all the others who left with him, perished3.that far in the east there is somewhere the country of Belovodye, a fabulous abode of eternal beauty and truth, and that, in his opinion, it is necessary to seek advice there, but that one of the features of that country is that not everyone can find it, there to get there and enter it, but only the chosen one - who is called. The king liked the legend and he equipped an embassy to the East, led by a sage. After 21 years the sage returned, but only one, all the others who left with him, perished3.that far in the east there is somewhere the country of Belovodye, a fabulous abode of eternal beauty and truth, and that, in his opinion, it is necessary to seek advice there, but that one of the features of that country is that not everyone can find it, there to get there and enter it, but only the chosen one - who is called. The king liked the legend and he equipped an embassy to the East, led by a sage. After 21 years the sage returned, but only one, all the others who left with him, perished3.all others who left with him perished3.all others who left with him perished3.
As the Russian Cossacks moved to the east, the never-found land of the blessed Belovodye, in the minds of the Russian peasants, shifted further and further into undeveloped territories. One of the first mentions of Belovodye can be found in the "Report to the government of the peasant Dementy Bobylev" compiled at the beginning of the 19th century. In Russia, especially among the Old Believers, the legend of Belovodye, which has some features of the legend of Shambhala, was very popular. Since the XVIII-XIX centuries. there is a belief: "Anyone who follows in the footsteps of the conquerors - the Tatars to Mongolia, will find Belovodye (the Land of White Waters, presumably Lake Lobnor - a white lake covered with a layer of salt, from where the trail led to the foothills of Kunlun)." According to N. K. Roerich, in Altai the legend of Belovodye took on some features of the legend of Shambhala,which was received from the Mongols and reinterpreted in its own way by the Old Believers. According to the legend recorded by N. Roerich, the road to Belovodye lies through Altai: “From here you will go between the Irtysh and Argun… If you don’t get lost, you will come to the salt lakes… And you will reach the Bogogorshi mountains, and from them the road will be even more difficult. If you master it, you will come to Kokushi. And then take the path, through Ergor itself, to the snowiest country, and beyond the highest mountains there will be a sacred valley. There it is, the very Belovodye … In distant countries, behind great lakes, behind high mountains, there is a sacred place where justice flourishes. There lives the Highest knowledge and the Highest wisdom for the salvation of all future humanity. This place is called Belovodye. Many people went to Belovodye. Our grandfathers also went. They disappeared for three years and reached the holy place. Only they were not allowed to stay there, and they had to return. They spoke many miracles about this place. And they were not allowed to say even more miracles."
Promotional video:
In the 18th century, the handwritten "Journey of Monk Mark to the Kingdom of Opon" appears, where he allegedly discovered 179 Orthodox churches, among them 40 Russians. In Mark's journey, the path to the country of Belovodye was described: “From Moscow to Kazan, from Kazan to Yekaterinburg, and to Tyumen, to Kamenogorsk, to Vybskaya village, to Izbensk, up the Katun river, to the village of Ustyuba, in which ask the stranger Peter Kirillov … There are many secret caves near their caves, and there are not many snowy mountains from them …
From them there is a passage by the Chinese state for 44 days through the Gobi, then to the Opoon kingdom, which stands in the middle of the “sea-ocean”, spreading out on 70 islands”4.
In the 17th century, the Orthodox (schismatics) who did not accept the innovations broke away from the church transformed by the Russian Metropolitan Nikon. Persecuted by the Orthodox Church, the Old Believers left for the East, believing that there is a blessed fairy land where the saints live. This secret place was called Belovodye. N. Roerich in his Heart of Asia wrote about the beliefs of the Old Believers: “In distant countries, beyond the great lakes, behind the high mountains, there is a sacred place where justice flourishes. There lives the highest knowledge and the highest wisdom for the salvation of all future humanity. This place is called Belovodye. " A detailed story about the journey of the Altai Old Believers to Western China to Lake Lop Nor and further to the high Kunlun highlands is given in the novel by P. I. Melnikov (Andrey Pechersky) "In the woods": "There are secret places on earth,God-saved castles and monasteries, where “ancient piety” is firmly and indestructible, and the faithful bishops shine like the sun … We walked through the great steppe of the Chinese state for forty-four days in a row … There were many troubles, many misfortunes! … But we got to Belovodye. There is a deep lake there, yes, big, just like what the sea is, but the name of that lake is Loponsky, and the Belovodye river flows into it from the west. There are large islands on that lake, and Russian people of the old faith live on those islands. "There are large islands on that lake, and Russian people of the old faith live on those islands. "There are large islands on that lake, and Russian people of the old faith live on those islands."
The first party of Russians in search of free land set off in 1840, but the largest group of 130 people came to Lop Nor in 1860, where the travelers settled, built a village, and began to plow the land. The newcomers communicated with local residents using the Kazakh language, which they mastered in Altai5.
Belovodyu - a Russian dream that arose in Altai in the 17th – 18th centuries. some authors assign the area of Lake Lop Nor in the south of the Gobi Desert. According to the admission of archaeologists, this one of the most important archaeological regions of the globe is little studied and rarely visited. It was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century, when Swedish explorer and geographer Sven Gedin and his group of five people studied and mapped a route through the wide and rugged Taklamakan desert, considered the most treacherous and dangerous desert in the world. They then came across the ruins of the city of Loulan, which had once stood on an island and was covered by drifting sand dunes 300 pounds high, after a strong sandstorm. Subsequent excavations in the desert areas adjacent to Lake Lop Nor confirmed that people lived here 10 thousand years ago,when the climate was more favorable than today. The dry climate and sand have proven to be excellent preservatives. Ancient objects that decay from time to time elsewhere in the world remain intact here6.
Latvian writer Rihards Rudzitis, investigating the Belovodye problem, writes: “The outstanding researcher of Central Asia P. M. Przhevalsky, in his descriptions of his expeditions, mentions that around 1860, one hundred and thirty Old Believers from Altai reached Lake Lobnor - to the Tibetan borders, probably in search of the promised land of Belovodye. Hardy Altai plowmen and hunters settled near the ruins of the city of Lob. In this harsh foreign land, the graves of God-seekers have also been preserved. Przewalski zealously searched for their traces in the vicinity of Lobnor, their student Kozlov also studied them, and the Swedish scientist and traveler Sven Hedin also paid attention to them”7.
Evidence of the search by Russian Old Believers for Belovodye was also recorded by the pioneers in Central Asia P. K. Kozlov. G. E. Grum-Grzhimailo, V. Rockhall, G. Bonvalo.
Interesting facts about the search for Belovodye by Russian Old Believers are cited in his article "The Legend of Belovodye" by the deputy editor-in-chief of National Geographic magazine Sergei Morgachev: “The furthest in the history of these travels was the campaign led by the Bobrov brothers, Semyon and Khrisanf. The Old Believers set out from the Bukhtarma Valley with their families. They rode on horseback, were armed, and carried goods with them for exchange. Having crossed the Narymsky ridge, they headed for the Black Irtysh River.
When did all this happen? The answer to this question is not easy. The date of the beginning of the Bobrovs' campaign varies in different sources from 1860 to 1863 (different information is given about the number of its participants - from 50 to 200 people). Moreover, the same period of time (late 1850 - early 1860) is also indicated by other eyewitness accounts of the stay of Russian Old Believers in the south of Chinese Turkestan, which immediately raises the question: is it about the same expedition, or about several or two ? Three? Four? It can be assumed that there were four campaigns to the Lob country and further to Tibet during the mentioned period. The group led by Yemelyan Zyryanov reached the Altyntag mountains, but, not finding a way, returned to the plain; a detachment under the leadership of a certain Ivan stayed for a long time in the area of Lobnor; another group, whose leader is unknown,was forcefully expelled from Charklyk by the Chinese authorities, which was accompanied by the killing of several settlers (this message appears in sources only once); and, finally, the Bobrovs' detachment - his campaign turned out to be the most successful, as soon as he was able to pass through Altintag and cross Tsaidam in Northern Tibet.
How did the Old Believers imagine the purpose of their campaigns? An unequivocal answer to this question is hardly possible. In general, Belovodye also meant a mythical country where, since ancient times, the Orthodox faith has been preserved in its purity (that is, in a form not affected by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon), and just a free place where one can live in abundance and hide from religious oppression, and become out of reach of the authorities. Belovodye was also placed in the area of Lake Lobnor (on the eve of the Altyntag ridge, bordering Tibet from the North), and in incomparably closer limits: the Bukhtarma Valley itself, from which most of the Old Believer expeditions came out, was previously the embodiment of Belovodye, and only with the annexation of Bukhtarma to Russia Belovodye moved further south.
The leaders of all Old Believer campaigns deep into China, about which we have more or less complete data, first went to the Lopnor region for reconnaissance, and therefore we can say with confidence: they knew very well that no ancient Orthodox cities with “churches” described in the legend about Belovodye, metropolitans and bishops in the Chinese lands. Some of the rank and file participants were also guided by quite realistic goals. In the story of Assan Zyryanov, the son of the leader of one of the expeditions, there is a mention of the fact that “some went to China for the sake of living,” that is, counting on rich lands.
The Bobrov detachment crossed the steppes of Dzungaria, crossed the Tien Shan ridges, reached Lake Bagrashkel and the city of Karashar and, moving further south, after various adventures, reached the village of Charklyk, which is southwest of Lake Lobnor (note that at that time this is a unique lake, changing its position, was about 100 kilometers southwest of its present location). Here the travelers decided to stop; they settled in dugouts, began to cultivate the land and spent a year or a little more in Charklyk. They hunted, fished, plowed the land. We lived peacefully with the locals. But the deserted, saline surroundings of Lobnor, where agriculture and small poplar forests are concentrated only in oases and along river banks, were far from the image of Belovodye. A smaller part of the settlers set off on their way back, while the larger part decided to move further south,where Altintag mountains were waiting for them. Having passed the mountain road, well-known in Central Asia, connecting Lop Nor with Tsaidam, the expedition arrived at the Gus tract - a place generally even more inhospitable and unusual for a Russian than the country of Lob. Nevertheless, about 30 kilometers west of Lake Gus, they managed to find land suitable for life - with clean spring water, enough food for horses, good hunting. It was the Chon-Yar tract at the headwaters of the Nogyn-Gol River, which flows into the Gas. The Old Believers again took up farming - Przewalski's expedition subsequently found traces of their arable lands in this place. Less than a year later, another split occurred in the detachment, several families left Chon-Yar. Having moved through Tsaidam and Altintag on the road to the Sa-chu oasis, they safely reached it and returned to the Bukhtarma valley by a roundabout road through Khami”.
Settlements of the descendants of the Old Believers who went to the XVIII century. in search of Belovodye have survived to this day in Altai and Transbaikalia. In Altai, there are several names for Old Believers: they are called "Kerzhaks", "Masons", "Stariks". It is known that after Nikon's reforms, the Old Believers, in search of muzhik happiness and bread, free from lordly oppression, moved to Siberia. The settlements of the Old Believers have survived in Altai to this day. They live separately in large, clean villages and are very scrupulous about accepting new members into their environment. One of these settlements, the regional center Ust-Koks. Another village of Old Believers - Upper Uimon, one of the oldest villages, about 300 years old, is located 15 km from Multa. A distinctive feature is the cleanliness of the village and the front gardens and facades of houses painted with bright colors. Previously, Old Believers lived in Russian five-walled huts and wore linen clothes decorated with symbolic patterns. Today their way of life has changed, a large number of brick houses and ordinary European clothes have appeared, but as before, visitors celebrate the abundance of milk and honey in the villages of the Old Believers, colorful wells-cranes and well-groomed gardens. In Upper Uimon there is a museum named after A. N. K. Roerich, whose exposition introduces the history of the village, Old Believers-Kerzhaks and personal belongings, letters and sketches of N. Roerich, who stayed in this village during his expedition to Altai.colorful wells-cranes and manicured gardens. In Upper Uimon there is a museum named after A. N. K. Roerich, whose exposition introduces the history of the village, Old Believers-Kerzhaks and personal belongings, letters and sketches of N. Roerich, staying in this village during his expedition to Altai.colorful wells-cranes and manicured gardens. In Upper Uimon there is a museum named after A. N. K. Roerich, whose exposition introduces the history of the village, Old Believers-Kerzhaks and personal belongings, letters and sketches of N. Roerich, staying in this village during his expedition to Altai.
Established in Altai in the 18th century. the community of Old Believers lived according to its own rules and procedures, according to its own unwritten, but strictly observed laws. Old Believers were forbidden to drink alcohol and smoke tobacco. Theft and lies were considered the worst sins. For serious offenses, they were expelled from the community. Old Believers had large families, up to 15–20 people, and children worked together with adults from 5–6 years old. They were very hardworking and clean people, accustomed to working hard and honestly since childhood. The Old Believers strictly observed the precepts: "Do not drink, do not smoke tobacco, do not fornicate, work."
The life of the Old Believer community now attracts curious tourists from big cities. There are fewer and fewer adherents of the old rituals every year. It is almost impossible for casual tourists to get into the Old Believer's dwelling and even communicate closely with them. The majority of modern researchers of the life of Old Believers note isolation and wariness in relation to idle tourists.
Altai - translated from the Turkic language means "Golden Mountains". The famous snow massif Belukha - the highest peak of Altai and Siberia (4506 m), covered with a romantic aura, is a kind of Mecca for tourists. It was here, in the picturesque Uimon Valley, at the foot of the Belukha Mountain, that N. Roerich sought to obtain a concession for the development of deposits. His "Great Plan" for the creation of a Mongol-Siberian Buddhist state provided for the construction of a future capital here called Zvenigorod. But his plans did not come true, and the legends spread by him about the mysterious lands of Belovodye and Shambhala, fancifully mixed up and began to mistakenly associate with Mount Belukha. Annually, the number of tourists coming to the foot of Belukha Mountain exceeds 2500 people. The largest influx of pilgrims occurs in August, when,on the conviction of the Roerikhites, Mount Belukha "opens" for communication with the Cosmos. It is impossible to drive up close to the foot by car. There are several horse trails, along which you can get to the mountain by horse or on foot from the roads in 3-4 days. The tourist route is called "Belovodye", from the milky white river Katun, which originates at the foot of Belukha to Lake Akkem (translated from Altai - "White River").
Sergei Volkov