Ais Sandzhiev, About a Healer Called Bogrun

Ais talks about his aunt Bogrun who was a healer well-known not only in the Tsagan Nur region but across Kalmykia. People outside of Kalmykia also came to see her. She was also referred to as boo Bogrun ‘the shaman Bogrun’. One day Ais’ son, who was a year old, had diarrhea with blood. The boy was sent to a hospital. Two weeks of treatment did not help him. Ais decided to take his son to Bogrun who performed a ritual on the boy. She touched his head, read mantras with a rosary, spat on him and gave him candies. Then she said that the diarrhea would stop in two weeks time, which turned out to be true. Ais has a sister who was often sick in her childhood. One day she fell ill and started to twitch. A doctor administered her an injection. When this did not help, the parents called Bogrun who sat next to the girl for three days and cured her. Happy with their daughter’s recovery, Ais’ parents said to Bogrun, ‘Bogrun, let our girl be your daughter!’ She never fell ill again. Ais also recalls another story related to Bogrun. When he was in the 7th grade in secondary school, Ais and his mother went to see their auntie who to their amazement made a chicken fall down by simply reading a mantra. Then she read another mantra and the bird stood up and ran away. Ais believes that Bogrun could hypnotize birds as well. Ais remembers Bogrun as a kind-hearted person who always tried to help others.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin