Abstract

The paper examines Buryat lama Galsan Gomboev, the 19th-century Buddhist monk integrated into European scholarship, who bridged Buddhist knowledge and Russian Orientology. Despite lacking formal European education, he became a translator, author, and cultural mediator. Drawing on postcolonial theory, the paper explores his hybrid scholarly identity and contributions to Mongolian studies, emphasizing how Gomboev’s work challenged Eurocentric epistemologies and illuminated alternative modernities within nineteenth-century Russian academic and imperial contexts. I draw parallels with other indigenous intellectuals who received traditional education and, with varying degrees of success, integrated into the Russian academic system, in order to situate Gomboev’s case within a broader context.