The Gandantegchinlen or Gandan Monastery is a Chinese style Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar/Alamy
In September 2022, just as the order to rename Nur-Sultan back to Astana was signed in Kazakhstan, the inter-party commission on constitutional changes in Mongolia was considering a proposal to change the name of its capital Ulaanbaatar to simply ‘Bataar’. This idea, which had intermittently come up in various sections of Mongolia, failed to gain ground even though the discussion around it was quite heated. This is not at all surprising because not only are Ulaanbaatar and Astana the two coldest capitals in the world, they are also twin cities.
Call Me by Your Name
While it is not a universally held reaction, Mongolians are generally annoyed by the first part of their capital’s name, ‘Ulaan’, which means ‘red’ in Mongolian. The culprit responsible for this vivid renaming of the city was Turar Ryskulov, who at the young age of twenty-six, became the chairman of the Central Electoral Committee of the Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Turar Ryskulov, ethnic Kazakh Soviet politician, Nationalist Communist/Wikimedia commons
Ryskulov, having built a tremendous communist career and reputation in the Soviet Union in his younger years, would later be appointed the authorized representative of Communist International (Comintern)i
Comintern was an international organization advocating communism and was led by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. in the Mongolian People's Republic in 1924–25. This was when he renamed the city to ‘Ulaanbaatar’, which means ‘red warrior’ in Mongolian.
Soviet monument in Ulan Bator, Mongolia/Wikimedia Commons
Red Is Our Business
Even in 1992, during the drafting of the new constitution for post-socialist Mongolia, a delegate of the State Great KhuraliThe highest legislative body in Mongolia, similar to a parliament suggested changing the name of Ulaanbaatar as, according to him, the name itself had a communist connotation. Ironically, the delegate’s name was Ulaanhuu, which means ‘red son’, only serving to highlight the absurdity of the suggestion. When it was suggested that he started the renaming process with his own name, he calmed down and the initiative fizzled out.
Due to the influence of communist ideology, cities began to be named ‘red’ or carry the color in their names to symbolize the blood of workers who had fallen in the fight against the exploiters, and the renaming had no connection to the Russian word for ‘beautiful’. This is why, starting around 1920, many cities were being renamed ‘red’. For example, in 1925, the capital of the Kazakh Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic (Kazakh ASSR) was renamed Kyzylorda (Kazakh for ‘red capital’) even though the city has historically been ‘white’ and used to be called ‘Ақ-Мешіт’, which means ‘white mosque’. Another ‘white’ Altay city, Belotsarsk, was renamed Kyzyl (Tuvan for ‘red’) in 1926, and the capital of Buryatia Verkhneudinsk was renamed Ulan-Ude (in Buryat, ‘Ulaan-Ude’ means ‘red Uda’).
Winter Palace of the Bogd Khan in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia/Alamy
Riding on this momentum, the Kazakh Ryskulov, who was then a representative of Comintern, painted the Mongol capital red even though the locals allegedly preferred the name Baatar. This name, originally spelled in old Mongolian, later found its way into Russian as ‘Bogatyr’ and Persian as ‘Bahadur’. Baatar, however, was not the only option, and almost every single prominent figure in Mongolia had their own suggestions—from Eternal City (Munkhjin) to Holy Mountain (Han Uul). What they all agreed on in the end was Bogatyr. And in 1924, right in the middle of this polyphony, a young Kazakh interfered and added the color of revolutionary battle to the name of the city. It is worth noting that Ryskulov was somewhat of an expert on impressive names, and he often used the rather aristocratic pseudonym ‘Ka-zakh-bai’ during his travels around Mongolia.
Rename Not, and Ye Shall Not Be Renamed
If you think that the capitals of Mongolia and Kazakhstan only have Ryskulov and cold winters in common, I fear I must disappoint you. First, they are united by the fact that throughout their existence both Ulaanbaatar and Astana have been renamed five times in total. In addition, at some point in their histories, these cities were referred to simply as ‘the capital’. Indeed, in Kazakh, ‘Astana’ means capital, which is just like Seoul and a little bit like Beijing (Peking).
Mongolian painter Jugder. Panorama of Urga painted. 1913/Wikimedia Commons
Founded in 1639, the city was first called Urgoo (Mongolian for ‘palace’), then Homyn Khuree (Mongolian for ‘circle of knowledge’), Ikh Khuree (Mongolian for ‘great circle’), Bogdyn Khuree (Mongolian for ‘heavenly circle’), and Nyislel Khuree (Mongolian for ‘capital’ or ‘capital circle’). And it was this very circle that was broken by Ryskulov.
Nicholas Roerich. Great rider. Rigden Jyepo - Messenger of Shambhala. 1927/Wikoo.org
Some people have always seen the color red as symbolizing the heroic and religious life of Mongols. In 1927, the well-known Russian painter Nikolai Rerikh, who knew Mongolia well and followed Buddhism, painted and gifted his famous painting The Great Horseman (also known as The Red Horseman) to the Mongolian government. The painting, completed in the traditional Mongolian style with the dominant red tones, is known in Mongolia as Ikn Ulaan Baatar, which means ‘the great red warrior’ or ‘the great Ulaanbaatar’. This name is not surprising as one can see not just the red warrior in this painting but also the palace, the temple, and, of course, the sacred mountains, capturing the essence of Mongolian culture and tradition.