Bidia Dandaron

Bidia Dandarovich Dandaron was born on 1914 in the Ulus of Shalot, Russian Empire (present-day, Russia) to Balzhima Abudueva and Lama Dorzhi Badmaev (Agvan Silnam Tuzol Dorzhi Shob), a Buryat Lama, Tantric teacher, writer, poet and follower of the Balagat movement. == Education ==

Dandaron received his Buddhist education from Tsydenov as well as his father and other local lamas. == Religious life and persecution ==

On 3 June 1937, Dandaron was arrested for counter-revolutionary activities and charged under Article 58 and sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. During his imprisonment Dandaron was tortured and contracted tuberculosis. Dandaron returned to Buryatia in 1957 and began working at the institute == Final imprisonment and death ==

In August 1972, Dandaron was arrested and charged under Article 227-1 and Article 147-3 of the RSFSR Criminal Code. Dandaron was accused of leading a Buddhist "sect" in which he led his followers in "bloody sacrifices", "ritual copulations", and "attempts to murder or beat former members of the sect who had wanted to break with it", and of having "contacts with foreign countries and international Zionism". From 18 to 25 December 1973, Danadaron was tried by Oktyabrsky District Court in Ulan-Ude. Despite the majority of the charges being dropped, Dandaron was convicted for acting as a "guru" to the so called "Dandaron group" and was sentenced to 5 years at a corrective labor colony as well as the confiscation of property. Dandaron was imprisoned at Vydrino Labor Camp near Lake Baikal, in the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (present-day, Buryatia). During imprisonment Dandaron continued to write about, teach and practice Buddhism. Dandaron died aged 59 on 26 October 1974 at Vydrino Labor Camp. == Personal life ==

In 1931, Dandaron married Elizaveta Andreevna Shulunova, a Buryat student at Leningrad Medical Institute. Shulunova died sometime during Dandaron's first imprisonment, whilst travelling from Leningrad to Ulan-Ude. In March 1943, Dandaron married his second wife Zundyma Tsydypova, a Buryat midwife. Dandaron and Tsydypova had several children. == Publications ==

• . • Semichov, B. V.; Parfionovich, Yu. M.; Dandaron, B. D.; State Publishing House of Foreign and National Dictionaries. (1963). Parfionovich, Yu. M. (ed.). • Posthumous publications • • == Notes ==