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The Cooperation with ACIP Print E-mail
03/12/2010

- The project of the compilation of Tibetan manuscripts and block prints in cooperation with ACIP -

In 1992, the authorities of the St Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies were approached by Mr Michael Roach, the then head of the Asian Classics Input Project, who suggested that an e-catalogue of Tibetan block-prints and manuscripts kept at the Institute should be compiled with assistance of some Tibetan monks from Sera Mey Monastery, Bangalore, India. The Branch agreed to take part in the project.

However, the work started in 1994 only after three Tibetan monks such as Geshe Thubten Phelgye (right on the picture below), Ngawang Kheatsun (in the center) and Jampa Namdol (left) came to St Petersburg.

 

Under the supervision of Dr L.S. Savitsky, they began processing the texts and inputting their descriptions according to a complicated scheme consisting of 21 datapoints - Serial number, Library number, Tibetan title, Sanskrit title, Extra languages, Seal or stamp, Brief title, Author, Year of publication, Format of work, Paper source, Paper hue, Paper grade, Legibility, Volume, Page numbers, Lines per page, Outside dimensions, Inside dimensions, Location, Drawings, Colophon. The last point should have been the most valuable part of the description since the entire colophons were intended to be input (regrettably, this rule was not followed in a number of cases).

However, the work proceeded slowly due to both objective and subjective factors. Thus, a year later, the head of the group, Geshe Thubten Phelgye had to return to India because of poor health. The two remaining Tibetans also had long vacations in India, so that only one of them could be often left at the Institute for some time. Nevertheless, they managed to compile the description of the entire Tibetan collection kept at St Petersburg State University and their work at the Institute, though slow, proceeded steadily. In early 2000s, Dr V.L. Uspensky joined their supervision.

Left to right: Ngawang Kheatsun, Dr L.S. Savitsky, Dr V.L. Uspensky, Jampa Namdol

In 2004, Dr L.S. Savitsky had to retire because of ill-health and the project was put on temporary hold. Jampa Namdol left for India. By that time, the Tibetans had input 100,000 entries and the ACIP prepared a disc with their data. It allowed an estimation the quality of the work done. Although the database can be used for the search of some treatises kept at the Institute it is far from being perfect, it has many errors and can by no means claim to be a comprehensive and systematic catalogue of our collection.

Nevertheless, the new authorities of the St Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (from 2008, the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts) decided to let Ngawang Kheatsun, who remained in St Petersburg alone, complete his work. By May 2008, he had input about 25,000 entries.

Ngawang Kheatsun at work, 2008

The work made by the Tibetans resulted in the processing of all volumes of middle size (mostly the so-called sumbums) and the greater part of books of small size (mostly Buryat editions of separate canonical and post-canonical texts). The editions of the Buddhist Canon and the editions of separate canonical texts of middle and large size were not processed, in accordance with the scheme developed at the beginning of the project.

Although after the work that took so many years we still lack a serious academic catalogue of the IOM’s Tibetan collection (hopefully, it will be compiled by Dr A.V. Zorin and Dr S.S. Sabrukova) the presence of the Tibetan group at the Institute was definitely an interesting phenomenon and deserves to be recorded in the history of Russian Tibetology.

Dr Alexander V. Zorin

Last Updated ( 03/12/2010 )

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