Sanal Lidzhiev, About the Two Statues of My Clan

In this interview Sanal mentions about Tsagan Aav and relays a story about 2 Buddhist statues that belong to his clan. Darina: Did hunters pray before going hunting? Did they utter certain words before going wolf or fox hunting? Sanal: Hunters were not supposed to kill animals for fun. Hunters prayed to themselves during hunting. D: Do people from your clan believe in Tsagan Aav? S: We say he is Master of Universe and pray to him. Old people say that Tsagan Aav exists, but I did not meet any one who saw him personally. The Khoshuds have two yellow statues of Buddhas… D: Could you tell me about them? S: When we were exiled in Siberia, after curfew these two statues were stolen by someone. As the statues were yellow, the thieves must have thought that they were golden. This happened in Altaiskiy krai. Before the exile my mother had finished 4 classes and she socialized with Russian women when she lived in Sarpa (Kalmykia). Since my mother knew some Russian, she went to the commandant (to report on the theft). After some time, they returned the statues. In fact, there were 3 statues altogether. The third one got lost in Siberia and was never recovered. Today we have these 2 statues, which are kept by the granddaughter of the head of our clan. Like me, she is 60. D: Were there any famous lamas in your place? S: People say there were. I heard of one lama Aanya. D: Could you tell me more about what you heard of him? S: I only heard that a lama named Aanya lived there. I know nothing about how he lived, what he did. I heard of him when I was a child.Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin