Mongolia | Bayankhongor Aimag | Zanabazar’s Ovoo

One place connected with the Life of Zanabazar that I did not mention in my Guides to Zanabazar is Zaluu Uul in Shinjinst sum of southern Bayankhongor Aimag. Zaluu Uul, just south of the town of Shinjinst, is worshipped by the local people, who periodically come to the mountain to make offerings of airag, arkhi, and other dairy products.

Zaluu Uul

Zanabazar’s Ovoo

According to informants from Shinjinst, Zanabazar came here to Zaluu Uul at the request of local people who were experiencing a severe drought. The date of his trip here is uncertain. He reportedly built this ovoo while at Zaluu Uul and performed various ceremonies intended to alleviate the drought. Zaluu Uul is at the western edge of what in the seventeenth century was Khalkh, or Eastern Mongolia. This is the farthest west I have been able to trace Zanabazar’s peregrinations.

Young scholars from the grade school in the sum center of Shinjinst