Tsendiin Damdinsüren (; 14 September 1908 – 27 May 1986) was a

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

writer and linguist. He wrote the text to one version of the national anthem of Mongolia.

Life

Damdinsüren was born in Mongolia 1908, in what is today the

Dornod Aimag Dornod (, ; ) is the easternmost of the 21 Provinces of Mongolia, aimags (provinces) of Mongolia. Its capital is Choibalsan (city), Choibalsan. Population Halh are the ethnic majority of the Dornod aimag. The Buryats, Buryat ethnic group makes ...

(province). As a young man, he was politically active in the

Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League The Mongolian Revolutionary Youth League () was a youth movement in the Mongolian People's Republic under the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (old), Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party. History On August 25, 1921, on the initiative o ...

, where he was elected into the Central Committee in 1926, and eventually became an editor of its publications. Later he became the chairman of the Council of Mongolian Trade Unions and was involved in the collectivization and seizures. He joined the MPRP in 1932. In 1933 he continued his education in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. After returning to Mongolia in 1938, Damdinsüren became an ally of

Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal (; 17 September 1916 – 20 April 1991) was a Mongolian politician who led the Mongolian People's Republic from 1952 to 1984. He served as General Secretary of the ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party from 194 ...

, the future party secretary, Prime Minister, and President. He promoted the switch from the vertically written classical

Mongolian script The traditional Mongolian script, also known as the Hudum Mongol bichig, was the first Mongolian alphabet, writing system created specifically for the Mongolian language, and was the most widespread until the introduction of Cyrillic script, Cy ...

to an adapted

Cyrillic script The Cyrillic script ( ) is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, Mongolic, Uralic languages, Uralic, C ...

. Between 1942 and 1946 he was an editor for the party newspaper '' Ünen'' (''The Truth''). In 1959 he became chairman of the Committee of Sciences, and between 1953 and 1955 he was chairman of the Writers Union.

Works

Damdinsüren wrote poetry that was well received in Mongolia. He also produced prose and literary studies, and a translation of ''

The Secret History of the Mongols The ''Secret History of the Mongols'' is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolic languages. Written for the Borjigin, Mongol royal family some time after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, it recounts his life and conquests, and parti ...

'' into modern Mongolian. The language of his poems and prose was largely based on the oral literary traditions of Mongolia, which he developed into a classical language of the Mongolian literature of the 20th century. His novel '' Gologdson Khüükhen'' (, ''The Rejected Girl'') became one of the popular films of the 1960s. He created the first large Russian–Mongolian dictionary and wrote the text to the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European ...

that was in use between 1950 and 1962, and in parts after 1991.

References

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