“BUDDHIST FACTOR†IN VOLGA KALMYKS’ MIGRATION TO CHINA IN 1771 IN THE RESEARCHERS’ WORKS SINCE THE 18th CENTURY TILL THE BEGINNING OF THE 20th ONE

 Aim. The author of the article characterizes the role of the Buddhist clergy of the Kalmyk Khanate in the migration of 1771 in the works of Russian researchers of the 18th and early 20th centuries.Methods. The methodological framework is based on the fundamental principles of dialectical logic, the gnoseology, historicism and system analysis, through which the phenomena and processes have been studied comprehensively in their development and interrelationship.Results. The auhor studies the approach of the 18th and early 20th century historians and researchers of the Kalmyk history to the involvement of the Buddhist clergy of the Volga Kalmyks in preparing and implementing the Ubashi Khan group's migration to the Chinese Empire in 1771. Conclusions. The historiography of the 18th – the early 20th cc. defined the Buddhist clergy as one of the organizers of the migration to China. The participation of the Buddhist church in Ubashi Khan’s plot predetermined the initiation of restrictive policy towards the Buddhist tradition of the Kalmyks at the end of the 18th and the early 20th centuries.Â