He claimed to be a Buddhist lama, though it is not clear whether he actually was one, as well as a grandson and later the reincarnation of Amursana, the Khoid-Oirat prince who led the last great Mongol uprising against the Qing in 1757.

Although Ja Lama claimed on numerous occasions both Russian citizenship and Kalmyk origin, his true identity is not known but it is widely accepted that his real name was Dambiijantsan and that he was born in or around 1862 in a Baga Dörbet ulus (tribe or tribal subdivision) somewhere in the Astrakhan region.

This combined force was led by Ja Lama, the Generals Khatanbaatar Magsarjav and Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren, and the Jalkhanz Khutagt Sodnomyn Damdinbazar.

[14] The Manchu soldiers made an attempt to flee west and evacuate Khovd but they were massacred by the Mongols after being caught.

Magsarjav had served under anti-communist Russian General Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, known as "the Bloody Baron" for his brutal treatment of his enemies.

[16] It was rumored that he tore out the hearts of prisoners with his left hand and placed them in skull bowls, together with bits of the brain and entrails, as offerings to the Tibetan terror gods.

He installed himself as the military governor of western Mongolia, tyrannizing a huge territory through a reign of fear and violence.

[21] In February 1914, Ja Lama was arrested by Siberian Cossacks on the orders of Russian consular officials in Khovd.

[22] The consulate had received numerous complaints from nobles in the Khovd region who disapproved of Ja Lama's autocratic behavior and despotic practices.

Ja Lama refused to recognize the authority of the Bogd Khan and the government immediately issued a warrant for his arrest.

Ja Lama, however, managed to evade Mongolian authorities, and established himself in a retreat in the Black Gobi, on the border between Mongolia and the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang and Gansu.

[23][24] Ja Lama gained a lucrative amount of gold and silver after looting a Tibetan caravan of fifty merchants.

Baldandorj succeeded in infiltrating his camp by posing as an envoy from the Bogd Khan and shot him dead, then beheaded him.