Kalmyk people
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992, Erdne joined the Dalai Lama on his first visit to Kalmykia, a region whose once-rich Buddhist heritage was destroyed in the 1930s by the dual Soviet policies of collectivization and atheism. Upon arrival, the Dalai Lama named Erdne as the Šajin (Supreme) Lama of the Kalmyk people. As the spiritual leader, Erdne's role was to lead a Buddhist revival among the approximately 160,000 Kalmyks who live in Kalmykia.