The problem of determining the date of the foundation of the first Buddhist monastery in Tuva is posed, which allows researchers to more deeply understand the history of monasteries, identify trends and specifics of their development at different historical stages. In modern historiography, there are both generally accepted dates for the foundation of monasteries and discrepancies in determining the time of the emergence of the same monastery. The diversity of existing opinions is shown, the dates and circumstances of the emergence of some of the largest monasteries known to the population, such as Erzinsky, Samagaltaisky, Ustuu-Khuree (Upper Chadansky), are clarified. According to the author, discrepancies in this issue are possible due to inaccurate translation of texts from the Old Mongolian language, in which all office work was conducted due to the lack of national Tuvan writing, as well as the use of only the Tibetan calendar, without taking into account the Gregorian, which affected the determination of the date of the foundation of the monasteries. For the first time, a document discovered in the scientific archive of the Tuvan Institute of Humanitarian and Applied Social and Economic Research under the Government of the Republic of Tuva (TIGPI RT) is being introduced into scientific circulation, reflecting discrepancies with generally accepted dates in the translations of Old Mongolian sources. A valuable source for this study is the protocol of the 1928 congress of lamas in Tibetan from the personal collection of one of the researchers of Tuvan Buddhism S.K. Serenot. The text of the document has been translated by the author of this paper into modern Tuvan and is also introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. A comprehensive analysis of the document allows us to identify important data on the number of monasteries, determine the date of their foundation and refute the established opinion that the first monasteries in Tuva were Erzinsky and Samagaltaisky. According to the author, the first in Tuva to be founded was the Todzhinsky monastery complex in 1770.
Igor I. Mongush (Tue,) studied this question.