PIS'MENNYE
PAMYATNIKI
VOSTOKA

Vol. 22, No. 1 (60)
Spring 2025

Journal based in 2004
Issued quarterly

Full text as a *.PDF file

PUBLICATIONS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

Vladimir P. IVANOV. The Vijñānabhairava Tantra. Translation, exegetical notes. Part 2 — 5

The present publication contains the second part of the Russian translation of the second series of stanzas (65–163) from the Vijñānabhairava Tantra — the famous Sanskrit text, which belongs to the tradition of monistic Kashmir Śaivism. This text gives a brief description of psychotechnical practices of Śaiva yoga, which reveals the highest nature of every consciousness — the universal all-embracing consciousness of Śiva-Bhairava. The translation of the text is accompanied with explanatory notes based on the traditional Śivopadhyāya commentary and on a number of other texts.
Keywords: The Vijñānabhairava Tantra, Kashmir Shaivism, yoga, tantra, Indian religious praxeology.

Tatiana V. KLEMENTEVA. Three Anecdotes about Superstitious Fears from Ying Shao’s 應劭 Treatise Feng su tong yi 風俗通義 (“Penetrating into the Meaning of Traditions and Customs”). Introduction, translation from Chinese and commentary — 22

This article presents a translation of three anecdotes from the chapter “Guai Shen” 怪神 (“Monsters and Deities”) of the Ying Shao’s 應劭 (d. before 204) treatise Feng su tong yi 風俗通義 (“Penetrating into the Meaning of Traditions and Customs”). The extant text of this treatise contains one chapter, which touches upon the popular local beliefs of the people at the end of the Han era 漢 (202 BCE — 220 CE). Using anecdotes about his fellow countrymen and contemporaries, Ying Shao discusses the possibility of afterlife and the moral aspects that help a person when he encounters with an evil spirit. The article presents a Russian translation with preface and commentaries and allows the reader to see the various aspects of the author’s view on human relationships with the supernatural world.
Keywords: Ying Shao, anecdotes, Ancient China’s customs, feng su, religious cults of the Han era.

Igor N. RIABUKHIN. Decency and Ritual (Yi li 儀禮), Chapter 6. “Records of Ritual” (Li ji 禮記), Chapter 47. Introduction, translation from Chinese, commentary — 34

The article is a commented translation of the two following chapters of the classical Confucian treatises Decency and Ritual (Yi li 儀禮) and Records of Ritual (Li ji 禮記): the 6th chapter of the Yi li — “The ritual of the yan feas” (Yan li 燕禮), the 47th chapter of the Li ji — “The meaning of the [ritual] of the yan feast” (Yan yi 燕義). The proposed chapters comprehensively cover one of the ancient Chinese feasts on the occasion of receiving guests – the ritual of the yan feast.
Keywords: Confucian canon, Yi li, Decency and ritual, Li ji, Records of ritual, the li rite, the yan feast.

RESEARCH WORKS
HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, PHILOLOGY

Iakov A. BALASHOV. The Monumental Building Inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II — 62

The article examines the history of study and some features of a large building inscription of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, who is known primarily from the Old Testament. The text describes the construction and restoration works carried out in Babylon, revealing the “great builder” side of the king. In addition, the article provides a full and commented translation of the inscription into Russian.
Keywords: cuneiform, Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar II, translation, history, architecture.

Evgeniya A. DESNITSKAYA. The “Four Parts” of Speech in the Ṛgveda and Subsequent Tradition — 87

The “four quarters” or “four parts” of speech appear in the Ṛgveda I.164.45. This hymn, also known as the “riddle-hymn” is notorious for its obscurity. In the context of the hymn, speech described as divided into four parts or standing on four feet refers to the mythological representation of speech as a cow that satisfies all desires. However, in the more recent tradition, the “four parts” of speech were interpreted differently. The Śatapathabrāhmaṇa and the Nirukta identify them with languages of different creatures or with different types of sounds. The Grammarians interpreted “four quarters” as four morphological parts of speech, i.e. the noun, the verb, the preposition and the particle. The identification of the “four parts” with the levels of speech in Bhartṛhari’s philosophy occurs for the first time in this tradition as late as in the works of Nāgeśa Bhaṭṭa (18th century). However, four centuries earlier, the same identification was made by Sāyaṇa. Following some tantric views, Sāyaṇa identified the levels of speech with cakras and described the unfolding of speech from the supreme (parā) to the articulated (vaikharī) as the successive rise of prāṇa in the human body.
Keywords: Ṛgveda, brahmodya, speech, Indian Grammatical tradition, Nirukta, Bhartṛhari, Sāyaṇa, cakras.

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY
TEXTOLOGY, CODICOLOGY, PALEOGRAPHY, ARCHEOGRAPHY

Irina F. POPOVA, Viacheslav P. ZAYTSEV. St. Petersburg Copies of the Main Geographical Treatise of the Qing Dynasty China Yu zhi Da Qing yi tong zhi — 100

The article presents the data on the editions of official Corpus “The Imperially Commissioned Complete Description of the Great Qing Empire” (Yu zhi Da Qing yi tong zhi 御製 大清一統志), currently housed in St. Petersburg. The history of existence of this most important work on the geography of Qing China in Europe and Russia shows how highly it was rated by foreign Sinologists as a bibliographical source. They used the Corpus for writing their own works, and there was even a certain rivalry between the largest European manuscript collections striving to find and acquire it. The presence of several of its copies in St. Petersburg proves that Russian Sinologists perfectly understood the influence of the comprehensive work on “history and geography” (lishi dili 歷史地理) on the further development of historical science about China.
Keywords: Qing Empire, State Geography of China, Yu zhi Da Qing yi tong zhi, Da Qing yi tong zhi, Yi tong zhi.

Marat M. YUNUSOV. From the History of the Decipherment of West Semitic Writing: Events and People. VII. Barthélemy the Orientalist: Between Scholarship and High Society. Part IV — 116

The essay deals with Barthélemy’s stay in Italy in 1755–1758, his first impressions of direct acquaintance with the monuments of ancient Roman culture, his plans for future academic work. It also reveals his close and lifelong friendship with the family of the Duc de Choiseul that would later in Paris become a turning point in his difficult choice between his dedication to the scholarship and material well-being. Barthélemy’s correspondence with his friends allows us to imagine the abbot’s understandable desire for a comfortable life, how his sense of duty and gratitude to powerful patrons drew the scholar into the circle of high-society life and moved away from his former friends increasing the number of enemies.
Keywords: Barthélemy, de Caylus, de Malesherbes, de Stanville, de Choiseul, de Pompadour, Pachaudi, Marmontel, the Mercure de France, d’Alembert, Duclos, Cabinet of Medals.

COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

Tatiana V. ERMAKOVA. Nalinaksha Dutt’s Letters to E.E. Obermiller. Preface, publication, translation into Russian and commentaries — 135

The Archive of Orientalists of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences keeps letters addressed to E.E. Obermiller by Nalinakshi Dutt (1893–1973), an Indian Orientalist and public figure, in the personal collection of the former. The letters of the period 02.25.1932–03.09.1933 describe the specific circumstances under which E.E. Obermiller’s scholarly works were published in India. The personalities of Indian, European, and Russian Orientalists mentioned in these letters reflect the extensive international contacts of India in the sphere of Oriental studies in the 1930s. This documentary evidence of fruitful Russian-Indian cooperation in Oriental studies is a valuable historical source. N. Dutt’s letters to E.E. Obermiller have been translated into Russian and provided with notes. They are being published for the first time.
Keywords: Oriental Archives of IOM, RAS, Nalinaksha Dutt, Е.Е. Оbermiller, Th. Stcherbatsky, Calcutta University.

ACADEMIC LIFE

Ekaterina M. BELKINA. In memory of Vsevolod L. Vikhnovich (1937–2022) “A maskil in Leningrad” (St. Petersburg, October 29, 2024) — 148
Keywords: Hebrew studies, philology, history, Jewish languages, manuscript, the Bible, Israel, Ancient Near East.

REVIEWS

The Census of the Ottoman Possessions in Crimea in 1520. Written, compiled and edited by Alexander V. Efimov. Moscow: IOS RAS Publ., 2023. — 413 pp., ill. (Mark A. KOZINTCEV) — 154
Keywords: population of Crimea, population census in Crimea, Crimea under the rule of the Ottomans, Ottoman document processing in the 16th century, the Sanjak of Caffa, history of the Crimean peninsula.