The extraordinary talented scholar and a Buddhist lama, Shagj Sangajav, lived in Mongolia from 1886-1938. In this application we nominate one of his greatest masterpieces for the International Memory of the World Register. In the 1920s Shagj helped found ‘Sudar Bichgiin Hureelen’, an earlier version of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, where academician Damdinsuren Tsend later worked. Shagj was killed by the communist dictatorship in 1938 for being a “contra-revolutionary who bowed to Dalai Lama”. However, his works and books remained. The larger, Buddhist or Tibetan books were confiscated by then-Stalinist regime. But one extraordinary work in Tibetan, “Sutra of Great Deity Tara”, was miraculously overlooked, possibly because its unremarkable frame. This tiny Sutra of 4.5x5.0 cm was brought to the Central Library of Mongolia in 1980s by academician Damdinsuren, after the harshest years of the regime has passed. Shagj’s sutra is a handwritten 79 lines of text of the Green and White Tara by red and black ink which would have filled 20 pages if written in normal size letters. It is believed to be written by a single animal hair in 1914.

The Great Canonic Sutra of Perfection of Wisdom

Prior to the 20th century, Mongolian wealthy families paid to produce unique versions of Buddhist books. One such book is The Great Canonic Sutra of Perfection and Wisdom, written in the golden Mongolian script on painted black paper pages. It was ordered by lord Purevjav and his wife to the scholar named Namsraijav, who completed the work in 1894 according to the record in the last page of the Sutra. The nominating copy of the Great Canonic Sutra is the only copy in Mongolia of the 12 volumes of the Mongolian texts in golden letters illustrated with Mongolian style color paintings. This is an extraordinary scholarly and artistic achievement consisting of 24 sections and 32 chapters. The book was transferred to the State Central Library of Mongolia when Bogd Khaan, the last religious leader of Mongolia, died in 1924. The family who ordered the book gifted it to the Bogd Khaan when he was enthroned on December 29, 1911 or during their personal visit to Him. The date of the Sutra also shows that it was one of the latest such great Sutras ever produced in Mongolia right before the 20th century and communism, thus making the copy historically important.