The Bogd Khaan (1869-1924).
The eighth Jebtzun Damba (Lord of Refuge) is most commonly referred to as the Bogd Khaan (partly because his real name is over 14 syllables long). He was a colorful and controversial character. One famous story tells how he hooked up a car battery to a long metal cord, hung it over the Winter Palace walls and then waited for believers to grab hold of the rope and attribute the shock to the living Buddha's great powers. His love of exotic animals (he owned a giraffe and an elephant) was matched only by his weakness for alcohol (he was sometimes drunk for days at a time). Depending on which version of history you read, the Bogd Khaan was both a great visionary and nationalist, or a promiscuous bisexual cross-dresser who was eventually blind by syphilis. One of his wives was the former wife of a wrestler and was well known for her sexual exploits with her hairdresser.
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