Zaya Pandit

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Zaya Pandit I (1599 - 1662) was an Oirat lama of the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism.

Zaya Pandit was from the Khoshuud group of the Oirats. He became a Tibetan Buddhist in 1615. He practiced asceticism in Tibet and returned to Oirat lands in 1639. He taught Tibetan Buddhism to the Oirats and Mongols (Khalkha). In 1645 he visited Kalmyk Oirats on the Volga River (modern Kalmykia).

In 1648 he developed the Clear script (todo bichig) by improving the traditional Mongolian alphabet. He eliminated all ambiguities of the traditional script and adjusted it to the Oyirad language. The Todo script is still used by Oirats in Xinjiang with slight revisions, and is taught alongside standard classical written Mongolian in that region.