From Hovd Travel in Mongolia
Durvud Mongols in Hovd Aimag
About the Durvud
The Durvuds (Дөрвөд in Mongolian) are one of the 4 major sub-groups of the Oirat federation of western Mongolian tribes. The other major Oirat tribes are the Choros (now know as the Uuld), Torguud, and Khoshuud. The Durvuds live mostly in Uvs aimag, though they also occupy Hovd's Durgun soum in the aimag's lake region. As of the year 2000 there were 5,242 Durvuds in Hovd aimag, they accounted for 6.04% of the aimag's population.
In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, a deficit of pasture lands and feudal dissension convinced two of the major Oirat tribes, the Durvud and the Torguud, to migrate westward. They settled in the lower Volga region on the western shore of the Caspian Sea, in an area that was soon to come under Russian control as a result of the Yermak Expedition.
In 1608 and 1609 these Oirat tribes swore an oath of allegiance to the Russian Czar, and in exchange for protecting Russia's southern border, these Oirats were promised an annual allowance and access to the markets of Russian border settlements.
In their new home, the Oirats practiced self-government, and established their own Khaanate which reached its military and political peak under Ayuka Khan (1669-1724), during which time the Oirats prospered. After the death of Ayuka Khan, the Tsarist government began chipping away at the autonomy of the Oirats in the Volga region. Russian and German settlements were established in the region that took land from the Oirats, and the Russian Orthodox Church pressured the Oirats to adopt the state religion. A council was imposed that greatly reduced the authority of the Khaanate, while still expecting the Oirats to fight on Russia's behalf.
By the mid-18th century the Oirats were disillusioned enough that under Ubashi Khaan (the great-grandson of Ayuka), many of the Oirats decided to return to their ancestral homeland; as a point of interest, the homeland of the Oirats before their migration and after their return was not in contemporary Mongolia, it was in fact in the Xinjiang province of China and a portion of western Kazakhstan. Under Ubashi's leadership, approximately 200,000 Oirats started the migration, and after several months of grueling treking, 96,000 reached their destination. The remainder died of starvation or thirst, or fell victim to ambushes along the way.
Not all of the Oirat Mongols opted to make the journey back to their homeland. The ones who chose to remain in the grasslands west of the Caspian live there to this day (excepting a disastrous deporation period started by Stalin in 1943 and ended by Kruschev in 1957) and are now known as Khalimags. The name is often written as Kalmyk, though it is Хальмаг in Mongolian, which means "remnant", or "to remain".
In recent years a Durvud man from Uvs aimag has established himself as the most famous of contemporary Mongolian singers. Below is a video accompanying one of his songs called "Turulmud Mini", which is actually a Khalimag song. Given the shared ancestry of the Durvud and the Khalimag, it is unsurprising that Javkhlan would choose to sing a Khalimag song that is about brotherhood. The slide show accompanying the song was created by someone unaffiliated with GoHovd.com, but it's worth noting that: at 0:52 a portrait of Galdan Boshogt on display at the Hovd Museum is shown, at 1:02 the statue of Amarsanaa in Hovd's secret park is shown, and at 2:32 the statue of Galdan in Hovd's main square is shown. Enjoy the song, the words are in Mongolian.
Traditional Durvud Clothing
The clothing drawings below (and the ethnic brands illustration above) are from "The Cultural Monuments of Western Mongolia", an outstanding book written and illustrated by M. Amgalan, an ethnographist from Hovd's Mankhan soum.
