Scientific life. Congresses, conferences, and symposia

On November 28-29, 2005, the Roerich Readings were held at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In his opening speech, the Director of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences R. B. Rybakov noted that the readings remain faithful to the traditions of Yu. N. Roerich. According to him, it is very gratifying that along with scientists who directly knew Yuri Nikolaevich, many young people speak at the readings. This means that "the fire in the hearth does not go out", and is a guarantee that traditions will continue to be preserved. He informed the audience that the Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the ICR had signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in order to jointly study the heritage of the Roerich family and cultural traditions of India."

The report "Some observations about the "wolf" in the Rig Veda "was made by T. Ya. Elizarenkova (Institute of Mechanical Engineering of the Russian Academy of Sciences). She recalled that many peoples, including Indo-European ones, had a cult of the wolf, and tried to find out what was the attitude towards it in the Rig Veda. To do this, we had to analyze all the cases of using the word "wolf" in this monument. Although the wolf was well known, it is rarely mentioned in the Rig Veda. The word vrka-m . "wolf" is used 30 times, and vrki-f., "wolf" - only 6 times. In most cases, the wolf is mentioned in negative contexts. This is indicated by his epithets "fierce", "malicious", "evil", etc. There is no description of its appearance at all. Most often, the word "wolf" is used as a metaphor for an enemy, a rival. Only a few times does "wolf" appear in a positive context, mostly in Ashwin hymns. The speaker described two cases of using this word, when it is, apparently, the name of either a plow or some tool used in agriculture. Based on the conducted research, it was concluded that there was no cult of the wolf in the Rig Veda and the attitude towards it was purely negative.

In the report B. V. Vertogradova (IB RAS) "Freemasons in the culture of Ancient India" investigated the problem of the origins of Indian pictorial art. For this purpose, a linguistic study of the complex of epigraphic texts from Mathura related to the worship of Nagoya was undertaken . The study allowed us to revise the reading of the main inscriptions of this cycle and connect them with the brotherhoods of master masons (sailalaka ), formed around the cult of Nagoya (mythologically associated with stone). The role of these brotherhoods in the creation of the first stone temples in India and the first stone icon (III-II centuries BC) was also revealed.The situation with Indian brotherhoods of master masons ("masons") was compared with the role of such fraternities in different cultural traditions of the world (Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe).

In the report "The invaluable contribution of Yu. N. Roerich to the lexicology of the Tibetan language" by I. N. Komarov (MGIMO(U) Roerich's Tibetan-Russian-English Dictionary with Sanskrit Parallels (Moscow, 1963-1993) has gained worldwide fame. It contains the richest material reflecting such lexical layers of the language as literary speech, archaisms and neologisms, colloquialisms, dialectisms and professional speech. Yu. N. Roerich explains the meanings of words, indicating their normative, functional and expressive stylistic colors. Of particular interest is the ethnolinguistic commentary, which contains national-specific features of thinking and linguistic behavior of native Tibetan speakers, especially the forms of politeness that permeate the entire lexical and grammatical system of the Tibetan language. The theoretical significance of the dictionary is that it reflects the characteristic features of the lexical-semantic system of the Tibetan language and thus makes an important contribution to the general theory of world and Tibetan lexicography.

E-Mail report Ognevoy (Lutsk, Ukraine) "Iconography of the Chinese ruler Qian-long in the European and Tibetan traditions" was dedicated to the thangka, which is kept in the collection of the Museum of Art. Bogdan and Varvara Khanenko (Kiev). It shows an obviously secular character in ok-

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six teachers of the Geluk school were involved. There were two versions of the identification of this image: Yu. N. Roerich defined it as the image of the Chinese ruler Kang-si (1662-1722). However, a number of signs suggested that this is a portrait of another Chinese ruler-Qian Long (1736-1795). The author of the report studied all known images of Kang-si and Qian-lun and compared them with portraits of other Qing rulers, both Chinese and European. This allowed us to prove that the Tibetan thangka has a portrait of Qian-lung. The report showed how the Chinese traditions of depicting emperors were refracted in this image.

In the report "Some thoughts on the prologue to the Clay Cart "by Yu . M. Alikhanov (ISAA at Moscow State University) offered a solution to one of the riddles of the prologue to the famous drama Shudraki. In her opinion, the transition of the sutradhara from Sanskrit to Prakrit after the play was announced was supposed to serve as a sign of transformation into a "game" sutradhara belonging to the world of characters in the play (it is in the Prakrit part of the prologue that the Sutradhara turns out to be a resident of Ujjaini, the city where the play takes place, and discovers acquaintance with the hero and his friends). The correctness of the solution found is confirmed, on the one hand, by the instructions of the Natyashastra, which allows the use of a change of language as a device marking a change in the position of the character, and on the other hand, by the situation of the "two sutradharas" in the prologue of Bhavabhuti's "The Last Acts of Rama". There, the sutradhara, after announcing the play, warns the audience about his transformation into the Ayodhya sutradhara of the time of Rama. At the same time, the warning is expressed in a phrase similar to that used by the sutradhara of the Clay Cart to warn the audience about switching to Prakrit.

In the report "From the letters of F. I. Shcherbatsky to S. F. Oldenburg" A. A. Vigasin (ISAA at Moscow State University) told about Shcherbatsky's trip to Europe. He went to Stockholm at the end of 1920 to give lectures and organize the publication of scientific papers of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His trip lasted three years. Having found himself at the center of the scientific life of Europe, he worked hard and fruitfully. Based in Stockholm, he traveled to London, Prague, Bonn, Berlin, and Paris. According to him, it was published "in five countries, in four languages" and received full recognition. The speaker read excerpts from his letters to S. F. Oldenburg, in which he talked about his research and work on publishing books, both his own and those written by other indologists.

A. M. Dubyansky (ISAA) made a report "Analysis of the poem (N 2) from the Tamil anthology Purananuru". He introduced the audience to a translation of this poem from Purananuru, a collection of classical Tamil poetry of the first and third centuries. Analyzing the text of the work, a panegyric of the Chera dynasty, the speaker pointed out the predominance of reminiscences of Sanskrit sources, as well as legends related to the mythical Tamil antiquity. This fact, along with the complete absence of a specific life environment, which is generally characteristic of Tamil poetry, indicates, according to A.M. Dubyansky, that this poem could have been composed and added to the anthology during its compilation and canonization, possibly in the second half of the 1st millennium.

N.'s report V. Alexandrova (IV RAS) "Sacred text in the figurative system of pilgrim literature" is devoted to the study of "Notes" of Chinese pilgrims of the V-VII centuries. The theme of the sacred text is one of the central themes in the works of pilgrims. The very journeys of Buddhist pilgrims from China to India, which were most intense in the middle of the 1st millennium, were mainly aimed at obtaining sacred texts. However, such an aspiration was due not only to the practical necessity of a certain set of texts for their study in China, but also to the fact that the text itself had a sacred value and its presence in the country or its absence was of fundamental importance. The theme of the sacred text is overgrown with various kinds of plots, which are built in accordance with this given relationship. The semantic relations on which ideas about the sacredness of the text are based may not be obvious to the reader of a different era or culture. The plots grouped around this theme form a common circle, the unity of which is determined by the underlying semantic juxtapositions, which often have archaic roots.

In his report "Once again on the nine and Twelve types of doctrinal discourse in the Indian Buddhist tradition", D. I. Zhutaev (Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences), based on the text "Abhisamacharika-dharm" of the XI-XII centuries, continued his research on this topic, which he has been developing for several years . Speaking about the essence and evolution of the archaic Buddhist teaching about the types of sacred texts of the Buddha's utterances, he previously distinguished nine classes of texts, called in the Pali tradition the angami of the Canon, and nine (or twelve) pravachans (dharmapravachans) mentioned in the Buddhist literature

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hybrid Sanskrit. However, his hypothesis that the nine-member list of pravachanas from the Dhar-masangrahi may belong to the Mahasanghik tradition was not confirmed. The Abhisamacharika dharmas belonging to the same tradition offer a completely different, though also nine-part list. At the same time, the general term sutranta is used for nine types of sacred utterances , which apparently confirms the hypothesis of E. J. Thomas that the agnamic division was originally a description of various types of sutras. The nine types of sutras (sutras) together constitute Abhidharma. The terms anga and pravachana are not mentioned. In the Abhisamacharika dharmas, nine types of doctrinal discourse are placed in the context of the monastic teaching system.

E's report . R. Pastukhova (MSU) " Levels of comprehension of reality in the aspect of personal identity (senior Upanishads, Advaita-Vedanta Shankaras)" It was devoted to the problem of personal identity, which is directly related to the gradation of levels of reality. This gradation is essentially a stratification of our cognitive ability. In a religious cult, a person identifies with the text of a ritual action, in ordinary life - with a perceiving and thinking subject. Atman-Brahman is a concept that leads to the problem of personal identity in the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta. Psycholinguistic analysis allowed the author to reveal its deep semantics. The search for a basic sense of " I " means actualizing psychologism, which is closely related to the event-based use of words. In Shankara's concept of Advaita Vedanta, we find attempts to coordinate various options for constructing an ontological scheme, which is centered on the concept of "Atman-Brahman".

Dr. N. Lelyukhin (Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in the report " The King-the founder of Dharma. The practical aspect of the ideological concept", based on the data of gift certificates of the Licchavas, the rulers of the kingdom in the Kathmandu Valley in the IV-VII centuries, showed how the ideas of the king - "the founder and protector of the dharma", were implemented in practice. The Licchavas, using the institution of donations, tried to weaken the influence of the old collective organizations-adhikarans in the villages, removing them from sources of income. At the same time, they relied on temples, councils-goshthas and Buddhist viharas. It was such organizations that justified the central place of tsarist power in secular life, defending their place in spiritual life. The speaker showed that organizations, conventionally called "religious", were an important structural element of the state in Nepal, ensuring the relationship between the royal power and the population, receiving in return numerous gifts and benefits from the kings.

E. G. Vyrshchikov (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report "Brahmins and Sramans from Pali and Sanskrit sources" examined the relationship of Brahmins and Sramans on the material of the Pali canon in comparison with the material of the sastras, as well as some ancient sources. To do this, he separately examined the relationship of these groups of people on the material of the Dighanikai sutras, and also for comparison - on the material of the Arthashastra and Manusmriti. The author came to the conclusion that these relations were not symmetrical: purely negative for the Brahmins, it was ambivalent for the Buddhists (at least at first). This is due to the fact that, according to the speaker, there were two different pictures of the world and society behind all this.

Report E . V. Tyulina (IV RAS) "Reflection of ancient ideas about the universe in the construction ritual" was made on the basis of treatises of the IV-IX centuries devoted to architecture and sculpture and included in the "Agni Purana", "Matsya Purana" and "Garuda Purana". Most of these works are devoted to rituals that allow you to find a place to live, various signs that accompany construction, as well as ways to organize the internal space, making it favorable and safe for life. The report showed how these texts expressed the idea of the building as a universe. In the construction ritual, the unity of the universe and the building was achieved by recreating the mental connections between the structural elements of the house and the elements of the world. The report emphasized the critical importance of studying the construction ritual for understanding the worldview of the Puranas as a whole.

D .Report Hazari Prasad Dvivedi and the Indian Literary Tradition was dedicated to the outstanding scholar of Indian literature, writer and bibliophile Hazari Prasad Dvivedi (1907-1979). A specialist in ancient Indian and medieval Hindi literature, astrologer and author of several novels, H. P. Dvivedi was a key figure in the Hindi literary process of the mid-20th century. G. V. Strelkova spoke about his work and in more detail about one of his novels, The Anamdas Manuscript, which is based on an episode from the Chandogya Upanishad. The report briefly analyzed the composition of the novel by Dana Harak-

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characteristics of the main characters, stylistic features are noted. Most attention was paid to the preface to this novel, which allows us to clearly demonstrate the connection of H. P. Dwivedi with the Indian literary tradition.

In her report "The Image of the charioteer in Ancient Irish and Ancient Indian traditions", N. Y. Chekhonadskaya (MSU) conducted a comparative analysis of the functional role of the chariot and charioteers in these traditions. For comparison, she chose the lives of Irish saints. These works are distinguished by an unprecedented wealth of mythological motifs, including those related to horses and chariots, which find parallels in the ancient Indian tradition. These are the motifs of horses emerging from the water, horses of unusual color, flying chariots, as well as the role and significance of horse racing. There is a mention of death under the saint's chariot as an expiation for sins, etc. The motif of the charioteer as a double of the hero is also interesting (compare Indra and Kutsa in the Rig Veda, Arjuna and Krishna in the Mahabharata). Such coincidences can be explained both genetically (common Indo-European heritage) and typologically, and in any case deserve further research.

K. P. Shrestha (IB RAS) in his report "Nepalese masks and their ritual significance" noted that in Nepal there are two types of masks: intended for commercial purposes and ceremonial, made by special order for ritual purposes. If the former can be found everywhere, the latter can only be found in the Kathmandu Valley (for ritual dances during Hindu holidays) and in the high-altitude Solu Khumbu region (for Buddhist holidays). According to historical sources, dancing with masks was very popular in the Middle Ages (XV-XVIII centuries). Traditions of making ritual masks were passed down from generation to generation and have survived to this day. The speaker spoke about the canons of making ritual masks and about the most interesting rituals that accompanied each stage of their creation and "life": from the choice of clay to the destruction after their use.

The report "Yu. N. Roerich's work " Animal Style among Nomads of Northern Tibet" by V. V. Zakharenko (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) was devoted to the main provisions of Yu. N. Roerich's article and its criticism by the contemporary researcher of Central Asia V. A. Korenyakoy, who questioned Yu. N. Roerich's attribution of some objects found on the territory of Northern Tibet.

Yu. I. Drobyshev (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report " Once again on the concept of "Central Asia" made an attempt to justify the expediency of identifying three historical and cultural regions: Central Asia, Central Asia, and East Turkestan, based on both natural science materials and data from archeology, history, and ethnography. In the author's interpretation, Central Asia includes Mongolia, Buryatia, Tuva, some regions of China (Inner Mongolia, Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region, north-eastern Tibet, and, with some conditionality, Qinghai and Gansu). It is proposed to understand Central Asia as the Central Asian republics of the former USSR: Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and the southern part of Kazakhstan. The term "East Turkestan" covers the territory of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, i.e. Kashgaria and Dzungaria. For the territories of Central Asia and East Turkestan that do not have a river flow to the World Ocean, it is proposed to leave the name "Inner Asia".

In her report "The beginning of the study of New Indian languages in Russia", T. N. Zagorodnikova (Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences) spoke about the first attempt to organize the teaching of New Indian languages for training military orientalists and translators. The beginning of Urdu teaching in the Russian Empire is associated with the name of I. D. Jagiello (1865-1942). In 1897, courses for training Hindustani officers (Urdu) were opened simultaneously in Tashkent and Ashgabat. I. D. Jagiello was first an Urdu teacher in Ashgabat. After merging these courses in 1899 and moving to Tashkent, he became their head and simultaneously taught Urdu and Persian until their closure at the beginning of the First World War. The report described the system of teaching at these courses, showing its weaknesses and strengths. In 1912, the issue of revising the curriculum was raised, but the outbreak of World War I prevented plans to reorganize the courses.

Report A. I. P. Minaev's Contribution to the Study of Nepal's Religions was dedicated to the 130th anniversary of I. P. Minaev's visit to the Kingdom of Nepal, a well-known indologist and founder of Nepalese studies in Russia. This visit resulted in numerous articles and the chapter " Nepal "in the book" Essays on India and Ceylon " (St. Petersburg, 1878, Part 1, pp. 231-284). I. P. Minaev studied the history, culture, and languages of the peoples of Nepal. He was most interested in religion, especially Buddhism. His works have not lost their scientific value to this day

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days. In addition, the rich collection of Nepalese manuscripts that he has collected is of great interest, which is now stored in the Manuscript Department of the Public Library in St. Petersburg.

Report About . Sven Gedin's "Secret Eastern Front" dealt with some little-known pages of the scientific and geopolitical activities of the Swedish scientist, Patriarch of Central Asian studies Sven Gedin (1865-1954). In addition to scientific fame, S. Gedin also gained fame as an ardent pan-Germanist and Swedish Nazi. He participated in conspiracies against the constitutional order and neutrality of Sweden, was a consultant to Wilhelm II and Hitler, Hindenburg and Himmler, took part in the First World War on the Western and Eastern Fronts of Germany. Referring to the articles by Yu. N. Roerich "Sven Gedin" and "Mongolia: the Path of the Conquerors", the speaker found indirect data on the participation of S. Gedin in the geopolitical projects of the German General Staff to establish control over the Silk Road and Mongolia. These projects were directed against the USSR and China and aimed at gaining dominance in Eurasia as the most important prerequisite for world domination.

In his report "From the history of Nagari typefaces", Marcis Gansuns (IMLI) spoke about the history of the creation and use of typefaces for printing Sanskrit literature in the XVIII-XIX centuries. in Europe, India, and Russia.

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