A two-week workshop for 3rd-year students specializing in “Language and literature of India” (Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Higher School of Economics (HSE) University) took place from 5 to 16 July 2021 led by members of The Serindica Laboratory (Olga V. Lundysheva, Artem V. Mesheznikov, Safarali K. Shomakhmadov).

The participants included seven students supervised by two professors, Dmitry A. Komissarov (Associate Professor at the Faculty of Humanities and the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, HSE University) and Anastasia V. Fiveyskaya (Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities and the Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, HSE University).

The goal of this workshop was to familiarize the students with the work done by researchers of handwritten materials (based on the IOM RAS collection of manuscripts), to train them to read manuscripts written in Sanskrit in classical South Turkestan Brāhmī script (using materials of the IOM RAS Serindica collection), and to acquaint the students with basic principles of handling handwritten materials in preparation for subsequent scientific publication.

In addition to the main program, Evgeniya A. Desnitskaya gave a talk about Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit in which a considerable part of manuscripts from the Tarim Basin are written. Alla A. Sizova lectured on the basics of codicology. Natalia V. Yampolskaya introduced the students to main genres and aspects of Buddhist literature. The chief conservator Liubov I. Kriakina gave a masterclass on xylography, and invited writing masters Oksana V. Zherbanova and Orgen Tseren organized a masterclass on Mongolian and Tibetan calligraphy.

The following videos of both masterclasses are available online (recording and editing by Alla Sizova).

 

PHOTOS

Learning classical South Turkestan Brāhmī script: using calligraphy marker and qalam

E.A. Desnitskaya lectures on Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit

Practice in reading manuscripts written in Sanskrit in classical South Turkestan Brāhmī script

A.V. Mesheznikov teaches a preparatory class before manuscript reading practice

S.K. Shomakhmadov during a workshop on reading manuscripts written in Sanskrit in classical South Turkestan Brāhmī script

A masterclass on Mongolian calligraphy taught by Oksana Zherbanova

A.A. Sizova lectures on the basics of codicology

A masterclass on xylography led by L.I. Kriakina, chief conservator at the IOM RAS

Joint discussion of the workshop’s results by members of The Serindica Laboratory and Indology students

Photos: Dmitry Komissarov