 He went to school in Chita and later to Badmaev's Buryat private school in St. Petersburg.From 1898 to 1902, he attended the Teacher's seminary in Irkutsk, where he began to visit neighbouring Buryat clans and to collect epics and materials related to shamanism, and Mongol law.In 1902 he and his friend Baradin returned to St. Petersburg and became auditors at the St. Petersburg University.