Early Life & Career
Even though Ja Lama claimed on numerous occasions both Russian citizenship and Kalmyk origin, his true identity is not known. It is, however, widely accepted that his real name was Dambiijantsan and that he was born in or around 1862 in a Baga Dörbet ulus somewhere in the Astrakhan region.
It is believed that Ja Lama first arrived in Mongolia sometime in 1890. By the summer of that year, he was arrested by Chinese authorities for starting a campaign against Chinese rule but avoided imprisonment after the Russian counsul in Urga identified him as "Amur Sanaev," a Russian citizen of Kalmyk origin from the Astrakhan province, and secured his release and expulsion to Russia.
By autumn of 1891, Ja Lama was back in Mongolia spreading his anti-Chinese propaganda for which he would be twice arrested. After each arrest, Ja Lama was deported to Russia. Where he remained after his second arrest is unclear, but in 1910 he reappeared among the Torghut-Oirat tribe of the Xinjiang province of China.
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