Доклады Международного конгресса ИИСАА. Т. 1

II. Middle East, Caucasus and Central Asia / Ближний Восток, Кавказ и Центральная Азия 302 Proceedings of the International Congress on Historiography and Source Studies of Asia and Africa.Vol. I. 2020 a less handsome salary of 60 roubles per year. Besides that, elephant keepers were supplied with flour, rice, butter, meat, salt and tallow candles. 1 While in Russia, the chief elephant keeper married Fatma (F āṭi mah), a gypsy, captured during the conquest of Khotyn together with her mother Anastasia, an Orthodox Christian. Both women were taken to St Petersburg and stayed in the service of the Italian physician Johann Aruntius Azzariti (?–1747). 2 On 12 April 1743 ten keepers, including Dini himself, petitioned the Ober- Jägermeister Chancellery asking for permission to return to Iran. Two out of ten Indians,Azam and Jani, eventually decided to stay in Russia and convert to Orthodox Christianity 3 , while the other eight were dismissed to Persia by the order of Elizabeth Petrovna on 25 May 1743. The group was joined by the wife of the chief elephant keeper. On their way back the Indians were escorted by Ivan Klimov, a soldier of the garrison ofAstrakhan, and anArmenian interpreter, Petr Ivanov, who had previously served at the Animal Yard (‘Zverovoy dvor’) as an animal keeper and retired from service. At their departure the keepers were offered travel allowances as well as ration allowances for three months to cover travelling expenses. When Dini reached Astrakhan, he radically changed his mind and asked for permission to stay in Russia and convert to Orthodox Christianity together with his wife. The Empress allowed him to get baptised in Astrakhan and return to her service as an elephant keeper 4 . The population of the elephants settled in St Petersburgwas gradually reducing. 5 By 31August 1765 there was only one resident of the Elephant Yard, by that time moved to the Ligovsky Canal, and the caparisons were rejected as useless and transferred 1 AVPRI. Fond 77. Snosheniya Rossii s Persiei. Opis’ 77/5. 1742 g. Delo 6. Fol. 128v. See also Vnutrenniy byt russkogo gosudarstva. Book 1. Р. 339. On 4 November 1742 Pavel Pavlov, an Indian converted to Orthodox Christianity, was accepted for employment by the order of Elizabeth Petrovna. He was expected to receive the same annual salary of 60 roubles and the same supplies as his fellow countrymen. See RGADA. Fond 1239. Opis’ 3. Delo 32413. 2 AVPRI. Fond 77. Snosheniya Rossii s Persiei. Opis’ 77/1. 1743 g. Delo 17. Fols. 143– 144, 152r–152v. 3 AVPRI. Fond 77. Snosheniya Rossii s Persiei. Opis’77/1. 1743 g. Delo 17. Fols. 139–141. 4 Архив князя Воронцова. М.: Типография Ф. Иогансон, 1872. Кн. 4: Бумаги графа МихаилаЛарионовичаВоронцова /Arkhiv knyazyaVorontsova [Archives of PrinceVorontsov]. Moscow: Tipografiya F. Ioganson, 1872. Book 4: Bumagi grafaMikhaila LarionovichaVorontsova [Papers of CountMikhailVorontsov]. (InRussian). P. 332;AVPRI. Fond 2.Vnutrennie kollezhskie dela. Opis’ 2/6. 1742 g. Delo 812. Fol. 225. 5 In autumn 1742 the elephant named TakhterAvan (after Persian ,تخت روان palanquin) died at the ElephantYard. See KhartanovichM. F., KhartanovichM. V. Letopis’Kunstkamery. Р. 157. Recorded in archival documents are names of other three elephants that died in the next decades: Alekbash, Nastrat and Sala. [Ibid. Р. 183, 218, 291]. Dead bodies were autopsied to determine the cause of death. Skeletal material, skins, dry andwet specimens were prepared and preserved in the Academy of Sciences. On the tusks that were transferred to the Ober-Jägermeister Chancellery, see Kutepov N. Velikoknyazheskaya, tsarskaya i imperatorskaya okhota na Rusi. Endnote 254.