Daschi-Dorscho Itigelow

Hambo Lama Daschi-Dorscho Itigelow

Daschi-Dorscho Itigelow ( Russian Даши-Доржо Итигэлов , * 1852 ; † 1927 ) was a Pandito Hambo Lama , the spiritual head of the Buddhists in Buryatia . He gained notoriety after his body was exhumed in 2002, 75 years after his death, and showed practically no signs of decay.

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biography

Itigelow was born in 1852 and began to actively practice his religion around the age of 16. He studied philosophy and medicine at Aninski Dazan University in Buryatia . At the same time, he was also writing a treatise on pharmacology .

In 1911 he was named the 12th Pandito Hambo Lama (head of the Buryat Buddhists). Between 1913 and 1917 Itigelow was heavily involved in Buddhism in Russia . He founded the Gunsetschoinei-Dazan temple complex in St. Petersburg , the first Buddhist temple in Europe. On March 19, 1917 he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus by the Tsar .

During World War I , Itigelov supported the Buryat Brothers , an organization that supplied the Russian army with medicine, clothing and money. Itigelow also helped open several hospitals to treat wounded soldiers. He was awarded the Order of St. Anna for his charitable purposes .

In 1926 Itigelow asked the Buddhist monks to leave Russia because the "... red teaching is now coming ashore." He himself stayed in Russia. A year later, Itigelow asked other Buddhist monks to hold meditation and burial ceremonies as he said he was going to die soon. His followers initially refused to do so because Itigelow was still alive. Itigelow then withdrew and began to meditate. A short time later, his followers joined him to meditate with him. Itigelow died in 1927. According to his followers, he died in the lotus position .

After death

Itigelow ordered in his will that he should be buried in the lotus position. The Buddhist monks of his place of work followed the will and buried Itigelow sitting in a box made of cedar wood. Itigelow also ordered that his body should be exhumed every several years.

Various measures were taken at the burial to promote the preservation of the body. Cedar wood is known to keep vermin away, and Itigelow's body was covered with salt and a drainage ditch was dug around the barrow.

Itegelow was first exhumed in 1955 and then in 1973. It was found that there were no signs of rot. Even with the second exhumation there were no signs of decay. For fear of the anti-religious authorities in communist Russia, the results of the exhumations were kept secret until 2002.

Since 2002

Itigelov's body was exhumed again on September 11, 2002, but this time in the presence of several leaders of the Buddhist Association of Russia. The body was transferred to Iwolginski Dazan , the Hambo Lama’s place of work today , and examined by the local monks and forensic medicine. After the examination, the following statement was made about the state of the body: It was "in the state of a person who died 36 hours ago." The joints and skin are elastic, all muscles and organs are present and there are no signs of putrefaction, said the head of the lama research project, Galina Yerschowa. In addition, the blood in the veins has not dried.

Forensic doctor Michael Tsokos explains Itegelow's condition with the phenomenon of natural mummification. Since the salt surrounding the corpse did not remove all the liquid from the body, a combination of different preservation methods can be assumed.

In order to fully elucidate the riddle of the good condition of Itigelow's corpse, more detailed investigations would be necessary, which the Buddhist monks refuse, however. For them, Itigelow is considered a living person and is revered. The body is made available to the public on certain Buddhist holidays. Pilgrims and devout Buddhists can then even touch the body.

Web links

Commons : Daschi-Dorscho Itigelow  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Inexplicable riddle of the living mummy monks welt.de from February 7, 2015.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Torsten Harmsen: Monk mummy from Siberia: The riddle of the living corpse . In: Berliner Zeitung . June 18, 2014 ( berliner-zeitung.de [accessed March 15, 2017]).
3. ↑ ^{a b} The Miracle of Ivolginsk. welt.de, December 4, 2004, accessed on February 27, 2016 . 
4. ↑ Dead Lama baffles the science derstandard.at of July 11, 2007.