Ivan Bultinovich Kitanov (1858-1926) was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk

Kalmyk people

Kalmyk people is the name given to the Oirats, western Mongols in Russia, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in 1607. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Kalmykia is Europe's only Buddhist government...

 origin who was born in the Beliavin aimak (Beliaevskaia stanista) in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host.

Lama Kitanov was born in the lunar year of the sheep sometime in 1858. By the age of 27, he became the Baksha of the khurul in his native aimak. His flock knew him by his ecclesiastic name, "Gavang Arash." In 1920, Gavang Arash succeeded Shurguchi Nimgirov

Shurguchi Nimgirov

Shurguchi Nimgirov was a Buddhist priest of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Bayuda aimak in the Salsk District of the Don Cossack Host....

 as the "Lama of the Don Kalmyks" and was the last person to officially hold that title. Gavang Arash held that position until 1925 when he was forced to resign due to the anti-religion policies of the Bolsheviks in the Don Host. One year later in the lunar year of the tiger (1926), Gavang Arash died at the age of 68 on the 25th day of the Tsagaan Sar

Tsagaan Sar

Tsagaan Sar , white moon or white month) is the lunisolar New Year festival of the Mongols. Today, Mongols are found in Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Buryatia and Kalmykia. It is often celebrated around the same time as the Chinese New Year...

.