PIS'MENNYE
PAMYATNIKI
VOSTOKA

Vol. 20, No. 1 (52)
Spring 2023

Journal based in 2004
Issued quarterly

Full text as a *.PDF file

PUBLICATIONS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

Youli A. IOANNESYAN. “A Guide for the Perplexed” by Sayyid Kazim Rashti. Translated from Arabic and Persian. Part 4 — 5

The article presents a part of a Russian translation (with an introduction and commentaries) of the important treatise: Dalil al-mutahayyirin (“A Guide for the Perplexed”) by Sayyid Kazim Rashti, one of the founders of the Shaykhi school. The work is dated 1842. The translation is made from the Arabic original and two Persian translations of the treatise.
Keywords: Shi‘ah schools, Shaikhism, Sayyid Kazim Rashti

RESEARCH WORKS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

Sergey L. BURMISTROV. “The Diamond Needle”: The Buddhist Roots of a Brāhmaṇic Text — 27

The similarity between the contents of the “Vajrasūcika-upaniṣad” and the “Āpta-vajrasūcī-upaniṣad” (both ascribed to Śaṃkara, 9th century) and that of the “Vajrasūcī” (ascribed to the Buddhist thinker Aśvaghoṣa, 2nd century) demonstrates that the dividing line between the Buddhist and Brāhmaṇic written cultures were not entirely impermeable. These texts describe what makes one a true brāhmaṇa. Aśvaghoṣa’s authorship of the “Vajrasūcī” is proved by three facts: (1) tradition unambiguously ascribing its authorship to him, (2) the worship formula in the maṅgala-śloka is addressed to Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī and (3) some stylistic features bring this treatise together with the style of early Mahāyāna texts (Madhyamaka school). At the same time, the treatise is composed within pure Brāhmaṇic conceptual field, it contains neither mentions nor allusions to Buddhist notions, but its main thesis is that the concept of brahminhood is internally contradictory. Besides, different authoritative texts give conflicting expositions of qualities that make one a brāhmaṇa. Nevertheless, this text was accepted by Brāhmaṇic school of Advaita Vedānta and ascribed to Śaṃkara, and its main thesis was reformulated as the idea that it is only knowledge of Ātman that makes one a true brāhmaṇa.
Keywords: religious and philosophical systems of ancient and medieval India, Buddhism, Madhyamaka, Vedānta, Aśvaghoṣa, Śaṃkara, upaniṣads, caste system, Sanskrit written monuments

Viacheslav M. RYBAKOV. On Some Principles of Rendering Old Chinese Administrative Terms into Russian — 35

The administrative apparatus played a very important role in traditional China. China’s bureaucracy was the most developed, elaborated and sophisticated in the world of that time. Therefore, all the old Chinese texts, both artistic, historical, and sometimes even philosophical, are full of names of institutions and offices. But there is still no generally accepted system of rendering old Chinese designations of institutions and administrative posts into European languages, in both Russian and Western Sinology. This is not accidental. Any attempt to propose a systematic interpretation of the meaning and translation into other languages of this complex terminology encounters a number of serious obstacles. In this article, we propose and illustrate some principles, using which it would be possible to approach the solution of this problem.
Keywords: traditional China, Tang Dynasty, state building, administrative terms of old China

MENG Xia, Natalia Y. TSAREVA. E.I. Kychanov’s Translation of The Revised and Newly Endorsed Code of the “Celestial Prosperity” Reign in the Context of the Development of Modern Translation Studies — 44

Evgeny I. Kychanov was well known in Chinese academic circles since 1980s, and his translations of the ancient Tangut manuscripts into Russian are often used by Chinese scholars as reference material. This article is based on the example of “The Revised and Newly Endorsed Code of the ‘Celestial Prosperity’ Reign” (1149–1168) translated by the scholar from Tangut into Russian; it analyzes some features of his translation work, his chosen strategies and methods, as well as gives comments of the Chinese specialists’ attitude to E.I. Kychanov’s translation of the Tangut written source.
Keywords: E.I. Kychanov, translation activities, strategies and methods of translation, ancient Tangut manuscripts

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY
TEXTOLOGY, CODICOLOGY, PALEOGRAPHY, ARCHEOGRAPHY

Evgeniya A. DESNITSKAYA. The Introductory Section of Varāhārya’s Maṅgalavāda (a MS from IOM, RAS Сollection) — 58

This article presents an analysis of the introductory section of Varāhārya’s Māṅgalavāda, based on the MS housed in the collection of IOM, RAS. The title maṅgalavāda is also a common name for a number of works that belong to the Navya-nyāya tradition. The works of this genre discuss and justify the practice of maṅgala, i.e. auspicious verses at the beginning of a literary or philosophical work. Varāhārya’s Māṅgalavāda can be provisionally dated to the 17th century. So far, no references to the works of this author have been discovered, so the MS can be considered unique. The introductory section provides a brief discussion on the effectiveness of the maṅgala practice, and on the cause-and-effect relationship between the maṅgala and its result. Varāhārya makes use of Nyāya terminology, but at the same time considers maṅgala a kind of ritual. Due to its ritual context, the work can be also attributed to the tradition of Navya-mīmāṃṣā. The article provides transliteration and translation of the introductory section, and a facsimile reproduction of the corresponding sheets of the MS.
Keywords: maṅgala, maṅgalavāda, Navya-nyāya, manuscripts, Sanskrit, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Yuliy I. DROBYSHEV. The Tangut State in Russian Chronicles — 70

The article discusses the problem of how the information about the death of Genghis Khan in the Tangut state appeared in the Russian chronicles. It is known that Genghis Khan did die in Xi Xia, although he was not killed there, as the Galician-Volyn Chronicle—which forms a part of the Hypatian Codex—informs us. This information is absolutely unique for medieval Russian historiography. Experts have made a number of assumptions about its appearance in Russia, but it is too early to declare that the problem has been solved. The author supports V.T. Poshuto’s hypothesis that the news of the events that followed the Battle of Kalka in 1223 were received as a result of Prince Daniel of Galicia’s visit to Batu’s headquarters in 1245–1246. It is based on the fact that the name “Kashin” for the Tangut state had been banned by the Mongols at some point before 1241. After 1241, that state was known in Russia under the name of “Tangut”. The words about Genghis Khan’s death at the hands of the Tangut and about the conquest of the Tangut land by deception suggest that the compiler of the Galician-Volyn Chronicle received that information from the opponents of the Mongols. It can be assumed that their source is directly related to Xi Xia, where various rumors discrediting Genghis Khan arose in the wake of its defeat by the Mongols.
Keywords: : Genghis Khan, Xi Xia, Tanguts, Russian chronicles, Hypatian Codex, Galician-Volyn Chronicle, Battle of Kalka, Daniel Galitsky

COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

Svetlana S. SABRUKOVA. A Collection of Photographs by A.M. Pozdneev (from the Archives of Orientalists at the IOM, RAS) — 84

This article presents a collection of photographs from the personal archive of A.M. Pozdneev that have been housed as a separate item (fund 44, inventory no. 3, file 15). These are both professional and amateur photographs that tell the story of the scholarly and public life of Aleksey Matveevich Pozdneev. There are also a few photographs of places he visited officially. The most remarkable achievements of the researcher were expeditions to Mongolia that he undertook in 1876– 1878 and in 1892–1893. Pozdneev’s amateur photographs of Mongolian landscapes, local landmarks and people prove that the trips were carefully and meticulously organized. The documents from the Pozdneev’s archive contain a few fragments of the travel journals which he kept during his expeditions to Mongolia and which were helpful in identifying some of the photographs.
Keywords: A.M. Pozdneev, Archives of Orientalists, Mongolia, expedition, photographs

Hartmut WALRAVENS. Otto Fischer (22 Mai 1886 — 9 April 1948) Veröffentlichungen zur asiatischen Kunst — 95

Otto Fischer was born into a merchant family in Reutlingen on May 22, 1886. From 1904 he studied law, then art history in Tübingen, Munich, Vienna and Berlin and received his doctorate in 1907 with the dissertation Altdeutsche Malerei in Salzburg under Heinrich Wölfflin in Berlin. After study trips to Italy and France, he lived in Munich from 1909 to 1913 as a private scholar and was in close contact with the young artists of the Neue Künstler-Vereinigung München, which developed into the Blaue Reiter. In 1913, he habilitated in Göttingen with the thesis Die chinesische Malerei, which was published in a revised form as Die Chinesische Landschaftsmalerei. After serving in the war as a volunteer in 1915–1918, he was Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Stuttgart (now the Staatsgalerie) in 1921–1927, where he distinguished himself with exhibitions such as Neue Deutsche Kunst (1924) and Schwäbische Malerei des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts (1925). In 1925–1926, he undertook a research trip to China, Japan, Java and Bali, which he described in two books. In 1927– 1938, he was Director of the Kunstmuseum Basel and taught as a Professor Extraordinary at the university. In 1938, he retired to Ascona as a private scholar. He died in Basel on 4 April 1948. Fischer’s main areas of work and research were Old German painting and East Asian art—the fields to which, as can be seen already from his two dissertations, he applied himself in equal measure. His publications on German art are easily accessible, whereas his publications on the art of China, Japan and Southeast Asia reached only a comparatively small circle. In addition to his books on Chinese painting and sculpture, his work on Chinese art theory and Chinese stone rubbings as well as Chinese graphic art (color prints) deserve special mention. Fischer’s many-sided, sometimes controversial activities have been acknowledged several times in recent years (cf. literature on Fischer); the aim of this small contribution is to make Fischer’s publications on East Asian art known in their entirety. The material has been recorded after the scholar’s autopsy and is partly annotated. Perhaps the compilation will stimulate an art historian to appreciate Fischer’s contributions to East Asian art history in terms of content.
Keywords: East Asian art — bibliography; Otto Fischer (1886–1948) — publications

Irina K. PAVLOVA. A.N. Boldyrev: A Lifelong Service to Science — 115

The article is dedicated to the memory of A.N. Boldyrev (1909–1993) — an outstanding Iranologist of the 20th century, a subtle connoisseur of the Persian language, a talented philologist and a brilliant translator. On June 4, 2023, 30 years will have passed after his death. His name remains important for many Iranologists both in Russia and abroad. The study of Persian literature became a part and meaning of Boldyrev’s life. Until now, his scholarly works, published in the second half of the 20th century, remain in demand and use by modern researchers. The article is based on the materials of the Archive of Orientalists of the Institute of the Oriental Manuscripts, RAS, and on A.N. Boldyrev’s Leningrad siege (1941–1944) recordings. The facts of his life once again emphasize the significance of Boldyrev’s personality and his dedication to science.
Keywords: A.N. Boldyrev, Iranian Studies, Persian literature, awards, archive. Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences

ACADEMIC LIFE

Mark A. KOZINTСEV. International Scientific Conference XXXVII Kononov Memorial Lectures (St. Petersburg, October 28–29, 2022) — 125
Keywords: Andrei Nikolaevich Kononov, St. Petersburg State University, Faculty of Asian and African Studies, Department of Turkic Philology, Russian Turkology, Ottoman studies, study of Turkic languages, history of Turkic peoples

Tatiana V. ERMAKOVA. The 16th All-Russian Oriental Conference in Memory of O.O. Rozenberg (St. Petersburg, November 21–22, 2022) — 130
Keywords: Buddhism, O.O. Rozenberg, written monuments of the East, history of оriental studies

Vasilii V. SHCHEPKIN. Scholarly Conference “Expeditions to the Ainu Lands” (St. Petersburg, December 8, 2022) — 136
Keywords: Ainu, expeditions, IOM RAS, Japanese studies, toponymics

Natalia V. YAMPOLSKAYA. “The Wisdom of the Orient: Teachers, Disciples, Scriptures” Exhibition at the State Museum of the History of Religion — 140
Keywords: exhibition, religion, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism

REVIEWS

Shi Jinbo. Tangut Languages and Manuscripts: An Introduction. Leiden: Brill, 2020. 540 pp. (The Languages of Asia Series, vol. 20. Ed. by Alexander Vovin, Jose Andres Alonso de la Fuente) (in English) (Kirill M. BOGDANOV) — 144
Keywords: Tangut Studies, Tangut fund of IOM, RAS, history and culture of Xi Xia

The Family Precepts of Early Tang Emperors. Translation from Chinese, commentary, research, indexes by I.F. Popova. Moscow: Nauka–Vostochnaya literatura, 2022 (Pamiatniki pis’mennosti Vostoka, CLIX / Ed. board: A.B. Kudelin et al.). 310 pp. with ill. (in Russian) (Тatiana А. PANG) — 147
Keywords: Tang dynasty, Tai-zong, Gao-zong, Wu Zetian, family precepts, Chinese ideology

Maria B. Pavlova. A Son of Shiva: The Life and Hymns of the Early Medieval Tamil Saint Sambandar as a Part of Bhakti Movement in Southern India. Moscow: Ganga Publishing House, 2022. 468 pp. (ill.) (in Russian) (Elena V. TANONOVA) — 151
Keywords: Sambandar, medieval Tamil literature, Southern Indian bhakti movement, Nayanars, Shaivism

IN MEMORIAM

Zograf Irina Tigranovna (1931–2022) (Тatiana А. Pang) — 155