PIS'MENNYE
PAMYATNIKI
VOSTOKA

Vol. 21, No. 1 (56)
Spring 2024

Journal based in 2004
Issued quarterly

Full text as a *.PDF file

PUBLICATIONS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

I.N. RIABUKHIN. Decency and Ritual (儀禮 Yi li). Chapter 9. Introduction, Translation from Chinese, Commentary — 5

The publication contains an annotated translation of the ninth chapter of the classic Confucian treatise Decency and Ritual (儀禮 Yi li) which describes in detail one of the ancient Chinese feasts on the occasion of receiving guests — “The ritual of shi feast, [conducted] by gong [to receive an ambassador in the rank of xia]dafu” (公食大夫禮 Gong shi dafu li).
Keywords: Confucian canon, Yi li, Decency and Ritual, the li rite, the shi feast.

Iuliia V. BOLTACH. An Outline of the History of Korea in The Primer for Children — 27

In traditional Korea, The Primer for Children (Dongmong seonseup 童蒙先習) was a basic textbook studied in Confucian schools. It introduced students to the basics of Confucian ethics and to the main events of the history of China and Korea. The text is composed in literary Chinese and marked with Korean auxiliary verbs and affixes written in Chinese characters using the gugyeol method. The Korean Collection of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg) includes a xylographic edition of this textbook (C 64), which was printed in the year gyechuk 癸丑 (1793 or 1853) and entered the funds of the IOM, RAS, as part of the collection of Academician M.F. Brosset (1802–1880). The paper contains the first partial Russian translation of this textbook presenting the outline of the history of Korea from ancient times to the mid-16th century. The translation is accompanied with a commentary and a brief preface.
Keywords: : history of Korea, study of Korean historical sources, Confucianism in Korea, traditional Korean methods of teaching, Dongmong seonseup.

RESEARCH WORKS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

Evgeniya A. DESNITSKAYA. Somānanda’s Critique of Bhartṛhari’s Doctrine of the Levels of Speech — 36

Somānanda, a famous Kashmiri philosopher of the 10th century CE and the founder of the Pratyabhijñā tradition, criticized Bhartṛhari’s view that the paśyantī speech was identical to Brahman. Later Pratyabhijñā philosophers adopted Bhartṛhari’s doctrine of the three levels of speech and added a fourth level — the Supreme Speech (parā vāc). Modern scholars of Pratyabhijñā usually believe that Bhartṛhari was aware of the fourth level of speech and that Somānanda criticized him because he did not know his works properly. The article describes the doctrine of speech levels in Bhartṛhari’s Vākyapadīya and in the commentaries, as well as the evolution of this doctrine in the works of Kashmiri philosophers. No traces of the fourth level of speech can be found in Bhartṛhari’s work. It can be suggested that Somānanda in his critique highlighted the ambiguous ontological status of speech in Bhartṛhari’s linguistic philosophy.
Keywords: Bhartṛhari, Somānanda, Kashmiri Shaivism, Indian linguistic philosophy, pratyabhijñā.

Igor V. GERASIMOV, Nikolai A. DOBRONRAVIN, Abdelrahman Abdelwahab Noureldayem SAEED. The Zaghawa Ethnic Group of Sudan and Chad: Clans and Traditional Nobility — 49

The presented article highlights the issues of the history of the Zaghawa people in Sudan and Chad, as well as major social structures and various clans that make up this ethnic group. Research on Zaghawa clans and their history is still rare in Russia, while the importance and influence of this group on public and political life are becoming more and more noticeable. A significant difficulty in determining the hierarchy of major Zaghawa factions is the identification of the “original” clans, as distinct from the clans which are treated as not having a common origin with the Zaghawa. Moreover, the ethnonyms that are used by different neighbours to designate the Zaghawa are problematic, since the designation of this people by other communities in Sudan and Chad can be contradictory and vague. The Zaghawa clans have their own historical traditions and concepts of clan hierarchy. While preparing the present work, the authors scrutinized research papers and books in multiple languages (including Arabic), as well as the first-hand data obtained during interviews with the representatives of several Zaghawa clans.
Keywords: Zaghawa, Chad, Sudan, clans, Senusiyya.

Elizaveta Yu. YANUSHKEVICH. The Trading Project of the European Merchant F.V. Nippolo — 61

The article analyzes an unpublished, and therefore hardly familiar to researchers, trading project of the European merchant F.V. Nippolo, which was proposed by him in 1828 to the government of Nicholas I (1825–1855). The purpose of this project was the use of Russian territory and its transport routes for the trade of European countries with Persia and India. According to the sources from the Russian State Historical Archives, the proposed project was rejected by the Russian authorities. However, some of F.V. Nippolo’s proposals explicitly illustrate the steps taken by the bureaucrats of Nicholas I’s era in subsequent years.
Keywords: 1828, Russian-Persian trade, Poti, Nippolo F.V., Russian State Historical Archive.

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY
TEXTOLOGY, CODICOLOGY, PALEOGRAPHY, ARCHEOGRAPHY

Ekaterina M. BELKINA. A Codicological Analysis of the Judeo-Persian Sefer Ha-Melitza Dictionary (Evr. I 75–76) from the Collection of the National Library (St. Petersburg) — 69

The article presents a codicological analysis of the medieval Judeo-Persian dictionary Sefer ha-Melitsa. Two items in the NLR collection, Evr. I 75 (a volume) and 76 (separate fragments), can be divided into two separate manuscripts: the first manuscript is a codex dated back to 1340 and the latter seems to be a later manuscript, which was used as a restoration of the first one’s losses, at first glance. However, a detailed analysis of the text structure suggests that the two manuscripts existed independently, since they repeat each other’s texts. Given the codicology of the monuments and the text of the colophon (f. 87a), we can assume that we are dealing with a copy of the original work, but, unfortunately, not with the autograph of the medieval dictionary.
Keywords: manuscript, codicology, Judeo-Persian, dictionary, Middle Ages, Persian Jews, NLR.

COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

Tatiana I. YUSUPOVA, Mark A. KOZINTCEV. V.V. Bartold’s Research Visit to Turkey in 1926 on the Pages of His Constantinople Diary — 82

Based on new archival materials, the paper briefly highlights the history of V.V. Bartold’s research visit to Turkey in 1926, particularly, its preparation, reasons, and goals. It is shown that the invitation was made by the Turkish government and supported by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and by the People’s Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. Bartold mostly spent his time in Turkey preparing a series of lectures on the history of Central Asian peoples at the request of the Turkish side, and studying Oriental manuscripts in Istanbul libraries. Besides, he was busy carrying out the mission entrusted to him by the Academy of Sciences, to establish academic contacts with Turkish researchers. The period of Bartold’s stay in Constantinople (Istanbul) from January 2 to February 17, was reflected in his small diary. In daily entries, the Academician thoroughly recorded events, meetings with Turkish and European researchers, made brief notes about manuscripts and libraries. He also noted his impressions of scientific institutions and changes in the cultural space of the former Ottoman capital. The research visit of the renowned orientalist Academician V.V. Bartold to Turkey was an important contribution to strengthening scholarly contacts between Russian and Turkish researchers. The part of the diary from January 2 to January 14, 1926, in which Bartold describes the first two weeks of his stay in Constantinople, is published as an appendix.
Keywords: research visit, V.V. Bartold’s diary, Turkic studies, scholarly research in Turkey, Soviet-Turkish scholarly contacts.

Svetlana S. SABRUKOVA. Review of B.I. Kuznetsov’s Private Collection in the Archives of Orientalists at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences — 101

The article describes scholarly and teaching activities of the Russian researcher of Tibet B.I. Kuznetsov (1931–1985) as well as his private collection of archival materials. The documents from the collection have been assessed and classified into three categories: 1. Scholarly works and their background (1965–1998): 2. Service documentation (1962–1985): 3. Materials from other people (1959–1979). In 1956, after graduating from the department of Chinese philology at the faculty of Oriental Studies at Leningrad University, Bronislav Ivanovich joined a Ph.D. program and began studying the Tibetan language first under V.S. Vorobyov-Desyatovsky (1927–1956) and later under B.I. Pankratov (1892–1979). During his postgraduate Ph.D. studies, he also started to teach the Tibetan language at the faculty of Oriental Studies. Some details of his scholarly and teaching activities have been mentioned in his letters to R.E. Pubaev (1928–1991). The life of B.I. Kuznetsov, a teacher and researcher of Tibetan studies, is of a great interest to scholars as an integral part of the historical development of Tibetan studies in Russia.
Keywords: B.I. Kuznetsov, Tibetan language, faculty of Oriental Studies, Buddhism, the Archive of Orientalists.

Daria S. ANOFRIEVA. Materials of the Archive of Orientalists of IOM, RAS, on the History of the Korean Fund from the City of Kzyl-Orda — 108

This article is devoted to the correspondence (housed at the Archive of Orientalists) regarding the transfer of old Korean books from the library of Kzyl-Orda, Kazakhstan, to the Institute of Oriental Studies. The Korean Fund of IOM, RAS, began to form back in 1864, and in all subsequent years, the collection of written records was replenished whenever possible. That is why, when in 1939 a letter was received from the library of Kzyl-Orda with a wish to transfer Korean books to the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences, the top management of the Institute began to actively promote this process. The content of this correspondence and the history of the Korean collection of old books in Kzyl-Orda are discussed in the article.
Keywords: Archive of Orientalists of IOM, RAS, Korean Fund, Korean books, letters, Kzyl-Orda, Kazakhstan.

Youli A. IOANNESYAN. Vladimir Alekseevich Ivanov — a World-Class Expert on Iranian Studies. Part 1 — 115

The article is devoted to the outstanding 20th-century researcher of Iran — V.A. Ivanov (or Wladimir Ivanow, as he often styled himself), whose scholarly studies combined two spheres: Persian/Iranian dialectology and Ismailism, while he himself stood at the origins of research in both these spheres. The author tried to consider Ivanov’s studies in both these areas altogether for a full-scale assessment of his great personality as a scholar, as well as of his contribution to world Oriental studies. The article, published in two parts, includes V.A. Ivanov’s biography, sections concerning his works on linguistics/ethnography and Ismailism, as well as data on the significant replenishment by Ivanov of the IOM, RAS, collection of manuscripts and lithographs. Among the sources used for the article are V.A. Ivanov’s own memoirs and IOM, RAS, archival materials.
Keywords: history of Oriental studies, Persian/Iranian dialectology, Ismaili studies.

ACADEMIC LIFE

Sergeу L. BURMISTROV. Vsevolod S. Sementsov Annual Memorial Conference “Philosophical Texts in Sanskrit: Problems of Reading and Interpretation” (Pune, Delhi, November 8–14, 2023) — 135
Keywords: Vsevolod S. Sementsov, Indian philosophy, religions of India, Indian art, history of Oriental studies, Sanskrit manuscripts.

REVIEWS

Sergey Yu. Lepekhov. The Formation of the Religious-Philosophical and Logical-Epistemological Concepts of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Irkutsk: Ottisk Publishing House, 2022. 376 p. (Sergey L. BURMISTROV) — 139
Keywords: Mahāyāna, Madhyamaka, Prajñāpāramitā-sūtras, Indian philosophy, Buddhist philosophy.