Brief History Of Buddhist Studies In Europe And Maerica

SR No.: 269304
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong
Total Pages: 86
Language: English
Classification: Article
File Size: 7 MB

Page 37

BUDDHIST STUDIES IN THE WEST
The last decennium of the nineteenth century inaugurated a long series of important discoveries of Buddhist manuscripts in Central Asia. The Russian consul in Kashgar, Nikolaj Fedorovitch Petrovskij (1837-1908)44 sent manuscripts in several languages to Serge Oldenburg (1863-1934) in St. Petersburg. A photocopy of one leaf of a Kuchean text was published by Oldenburg in 1892 and in 1900 Ernst Leumann (1859-1931) published a transcription of it and of another leaf.45 In the following years Oldenburg published Sanskrit fragments from Kashgar.46 In the same years manuscripts from Khotan and Kashgar were sent to A. F. R. Hoernle (1841-1918) who reported on them in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.47 Of great importance was the discovery of a manuscript of a version of the Dharmapada in Prakrit. Part of the manuscript had been acquired by Dutrueil de Rhins and Grenard in Khotan in 1892. Another part had been sent to Oldenburg by Petrovskij in 1897. Oldenburg published a facsimile and transcription of one leaf in 1897 and in the following year Senart published a transliteration of the fragments in Paris.48 A definitive edition of all fragments was not published before 1962: John Brough, The Gāndhāri Dharmapada, London, 1962. It contains a full bibliography of all publications relating
to the text.
These and other discoveries in Central Asia led to the organisation of several expeditions to Central Asia: three expeditions led by Sir Aurel Stein
44 Cf. S. F. Ol'denburg, Pamjati Nikolaja Fedoroviča Petrovskogo 1837-1908, Zap. Vost. Otd. R. Arch. Obšč., XX, 1910, pp. 01-08.
45 S. F. Oldenburg, Kašgarskaja rukopis N. F. Petrovskogo, ZVORAO, VII, 1892, pp. 81-82; E. Leumann, Über eine von den unbekannten Literatursprachen Mittelasiens, Mémoires de l'Acad. imp. des sc. de St.-P., VIIIe série, Tome IV, No. 8, 28 pp., 2 pl.
46 Otryvki kašgarskix sanskritskix rukopisej iz sobranija N. F. Petrovskogo, ZVORAO, VIII, 1894, PP: 47-67; XI, 1899, pp. 207-267; XV, 1902-3, pp. 0113-0122; K kašgarskim buddijskim tekstam, ibid., VIII, 1894, pp. 151-153; Ešče po povodu kašgarskix tekstov, ibid., pp. 349-351.
47 The Weber Manuscripts, JASB, 62, part 1, 1893, pp. 1-40; Three further collections of Ancient manuscripts from Central Asia, ibid., 66, part 1, 1897, pp. 213-260; A report on the British Collection of Antiquities from Central Asia, JASB, 68, part 1, Extranumber Nr. 1, 1899 and JASB, 70, part 1, Extra-number 1, 1901.
48 S. F. Oldenburg, Predvaritel'naja zametka o buddijskoj rukopisi, napisannoj pis'menami kharoṣṭhi, Sanktpetersburg, 1897; E. Senart, Le manuscrit kharoṣṭhi du Dhammapada: les fragments Dutreuil de Rhins, JA, 1898, II, pp. 193-308, 545-548.
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