‘Subutai of Uriankhai, a great military commander’: A roundtable (Kyzyl, 4 December 2015)

Abstract

This is a review of the roundtable ‘Subutai of Uriankhai, a great military commander’ which was held at the National Museum of the Republic of Tuva on 4 December 2015 and organized by Tuva Institute for the Humanities and Applied Socioeconomic Studies. The roundtable marked the 840^th anniversary of Subutai, a 12^th – 13^th century Mongolian warlord and a comrade-in-arms of Genghis Khan. Subutai belonged to the Uriankhais, one of the ethnic groups which later gave rise to the Tuvans.

Among the attendees and participants were leading scholars from Tuva, Buryatia, Mongolia. Also discussed were the issues of studying historical personalities of the period of Genghis Khan’s empire, as well as the methods of popularizing historical knowledge on famous people who lived in the region among contemporary youth.

The convener of the roundtable, Doctor of Philology, Professor K.A. Bicheldei suggested that research into Subutai’s life should be classified as a special discipline of ‘Subutai studies’. He reminded the audience that researchers now agree on the ethnic background of Genghis Khan’s greatest warlord – a fact readily confirmed by the Mongolian scholars present at the roundtable. Thus Subutai can be viewed as part of the great heritage of Tuva.

The participants exchanged views on their studies of sources dealing with Subutai’s life, such as ‘The Secret History of the Mongols’, and on its contemporary interpretations by writers, playwrights and artists. The roundtable ended with adopting a resolution which commits Tuva’s research institutions to researching and popularizing the roundtable’s subject.