Erdene Batkhaan

Erdene Batkhaan (Mongolian: Эрдэнэбатхаан; born Nikita Fedorovich Batukhanov, Russian: Никита Фёдорович Батуханов; 1888–1948?)

In March 1921, he was appointed as the secretary of the provisional government of the 1921 revolution, and in November served as interpreter and adviser to the Mongolian delegation to the Soviet Union.

Seeking guidance on literary translation, he wrote to Russian writer Maxim Gorky, whose reply in May 1925 (published in the Mongolian press) stated that "propaganda of the principle of activity" would be useful for Mongols to counter the Buddhist teaching that "desire is the source of suffering".

Gorky recommended works of foreign science and fiction which "depict[ed] the heroism of man guided by the ideas of justice and freedom".

While serving as the country's minister of education from 1926 to 1930, Batkhaan arranged for groups of Mongolian children to study in Germany and France for several years.