How can we understand the influence of different religions or ritual practice in the northern realms?
Our work challenges commonly held arguments, that elites in the northern reaches of the empire simply venerated Buddhism or engaged in Animism. Our re-analysis of literary sources (Tibetan, Mongolian, Manchu, Chinese, Persian) and archaeological finds suggests that northern elites engaged in complex, secretive high yoga tantra practices from the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This convention was mainly the enterprise of the ruling elites, including the Oirad, owing to their marriage into the lineage of Chinggis Khan. The Oirad also were one of the first groups to start producing highly trained Tibetan Buddhist scholar-monks. Given the lack of information on religion amongst the Oirad and People of the Forest, this project has the unique capacity to illuminate the history of the region. Archaeological evidence indicates an entanglement of religious practice, where Buddhist practices merged with local rituals. Thus, we demonstrate that communities living along the northern reaches of the empire engaged in nuanced forms of religious pluralism.