ALEXANDER CSOMA DE KÖRÖS.
LIFE AND WORKS
OF
ALEXANDER CSOMA DE KÖRÖS.
A Biography compiled chiefly from hitherto Unpublished Data;
WITH
A BRIEF NOTICE OF EACH OF HIS PUBLISHED WORKS AND ESSAYS, AS WELL AS OF HIS STILL EXTANT MANUSCRIPTS.
BY
THEODORE DUKA, M.D.
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND;
SURGEON-MAJOR HER MAJESTY’S BENGAL MEDICAL SERVICE, RETIRED;
KNIGHT OF THE ORDER OF THE IRON CROWN;
CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF HUNGARY
LONDON:
TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL.
1885.
[All rights reserved.]
Ballantyne Press
BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO.
EDINBURGH AND LONDON [[v]]
PREFACE.
Scanty as are the authentic data from which this biography was compiled, they form, nevertheless, a connected narrative of the chief events in the life of a remarkable man of science, who, although a foreigner, never published anything but in the English tongue. Few, if any, foreign savants have been honoured by Englishmen as he was; a fact to which the memorial standing over his grave bears ample testimony.
It is hoped that the reader will follow with sympathy the details of an arduous scientific career, the best years of which were offered to the service of the British Government, and will agree with us also in thinking that Alexander Csoma de Körös attained in some measure the reward he looked for, in so far that his name will never be omitted from any work bearing upon Tibetan literature or Buddhistic learning.
This biography is herewith presented to the reader in the sincere hope of a generous indulgence for its many [[vi]]shortcomings, although the production of it, imperfect as it is, has, in the circumstances under which it was prepared, necessitated the attention of many years before it could be brought to its present state of completion.
When the late Mr. Nicholas Trübner first saw the manuscript of this book, he at once kindly expressed his readiness to undertake its publication, and even suggested the desirability of editing a complete collection of all the works and essays of Csoma de Körös, which, at the present time, are only to be found scattered over many volumes of publications, extending over a period of more than thirty years. Perhaps Mr. Trübner’s successors may see their way to carry out the project he had in view, and to rescue, for the benefit of European students, the important work in manuscript which is noticed in the Appendix xvi. at page 207 of this volume.
The reader will observe that a certain latitude has been permitted in the spelling of Indian names and Tibetan words occurring in this work. In the text Dr. Hunter’s system has been generally followed, but in the quotations, both from print and manuscripts, the ancient forms of spelling have in most cases been retained. As to the Tibetan words Csoma’s authority was decisive; moreover, instead of adhering invariably to the strict rules of Tibetan orthography, with its frequent use of mute letters, the abbreviated forms have been preferred. The strict rendering [[vii]]of accents and diacritical marks seemed hardly requisite in a work like this.
The author desires to express his acknowledgments to Mr. Frederic Pincott, M.R.A.S., for important assistance rendered by him in reviewing and passing through the press the Sanskrit and Hindi part of the vocabulary at the end of the volume.
London, 55 Nevern Square,
South Kensington, February 1885. [[ix]]
CONTENTS.
PAGES
Introduction—Csoma’s birthplace, parentage, and early childhood—Studies at Nagy Enyed in Transylvania, and at the University of Göttingen in Hanover—Plans and preparations for the journey—Departure for the East 1–14
Biographical sources—English and French authorities—Baron von Hügel’s data examined—First news of Csoma in India—His appearance at the frontier—Detained at Sabathú—Csoma’s first letter to Captain Kennedy—Moorcroft’s introduction 15–38
Government orders respecting Csoma’s stipend—His report regarding his past studies in Hungary, Germany, and at the Buddhist Monastery of Yangla in Zanskar—Account of his journey across Central Asia—Plans for the future 39–66
Second journey into Tibet—Sojourn at Pukdal in Zanskar—Csoma’s position as to the Asiatic Society of Bengal—Return to Sabathú 67–72 [[x]]
Embarrassing situation—Csoma petitions Government to be allowed to visit Calcutta, or to go to Tibet for three years more to complete his studies 73–78
Government orders on Csoma’s last application—Third journey into Tibet to Upper Besarh—Dr. Gerard’s visit to Kanum, and his letter to Mr. W. Fraser on the subject 79–98
Csoma completes his Tibetan studies at Kanum—Correspondence with Dr. Horace Hayman Wilson, Captain Kennedy, and Mr. Brian H. Hodgson 99–111
Csoma’s arrival in Calcutta—Resolution of Government of India as to the publication of his works—Was elected Honorary Member of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 112–118
The Tibetan Grammar and Dictionary are published at Government expense—Mr. Prinsep’s letter to Government on the subject—Prince Eszterházy to Mr. James Prinsep—Mr. Döbrentei, of Pest, to the same 119–130
Csoma applies for a passport in November 1835 to enable him to travel in Hindustan—Leaves Calcutta—His last letters to Mr. Prinsep—Return to Calcutta in 1837—Dr. Malan, Secretary of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 131–142 [[xi]]
Csoma’s stay in Calcutta as Librarian to the Asiatic Society of Bengal from 1837–1842—Last arrangements—His bequest to the Asiatic Society of Bengal—Leaves Calcutta for the last time—Sets out on his journey to Lassa—Death at Darjeeling—Dr. Archibald Campbell’s report to the Secretary of Government—Csoma’s grave and tombstone 143–162
Prince Eszterházy’s inquiries regarding Csoma’s papers—List of some of them—Renewal of his tombstone at Darjeeling, which is placed on the list of public monuments by Government—His portrait—Conclusion 163–167
PAGE
[[1]]
LIFE OF
ALEXANDER CSOMA DE KÖRÖS.
CHAPTER I.
Introduction—Csoma’s birthplace, parentage, and early childhood—Studies at Nagy Enyed in Transylvania, and at the University of Göttingen in Hanover—Plans and preparations for the journey—Departure for the East.
Towards the end of 1843 Dr. Archibald Campbell, the Government Agent of British Sikkim, wrote as follows:—“Since the death of Csoma de Körös I have not ceased to hope that some member of the Asiatic Society (of Bengal) would furnish a connected account of his career in the East. It is now more than a year and a half since we lost him, but we are as yet without any such record in the Journal of the Society, to show, that his labours were valuable to the literary Association, he so earnestly studied to assist in its most important objects.”
It was Dr. Campbell who, in April 1842, watched the closing scenes of Csoma’s life at Darjeeling, and his was the friendly hand, which performed the last services at his grave.
The 4th of April 1884 was the hundredth anniversary of Csoma’s birthday, and the Hungarian Academy of Sciences thought this a fitting occasion to render homage to that distinguished man of science, who was a Fellow of their Society. The method of commemoration which [[2]]suggested itself was the publication of a collected edition of his scattered works and essays, translated into the Hungarian language, and accompanied by a biographical sketch. In the compilation of this sketch, advantage has been taken of the disjointed and imperfect data which have as yet appeared on the subject; and at the same time important facts have been brought forward which had previously remained unknown.
In the archives of the Foreign Office in Calcutta, many letters are to be found which refer to Csoma de Körös and to his Tibetan labours, during the prosecution of which he enjoyed the support of the Supreme Government of India. Copies of these letters have been placed at the writer’s service by the courtesy of Mr. Durand, under-secretary of that department. Six original letters of Csoma have also been found in the library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, which will be noticed in due course.
The narrative as it now stands will, it is hoped, make those interested in philological science better acquainted with the details of Csoma’s early years, and enable them to follow without interruption the steps of his long and arduous wanderings. These were for the most part accomplished on foot, and extended from Europe across Central Asia, Bokhara, through Afghanistan, the Panjab, and Kashmir towards the borders of China, and afterwards into Tibet and Hindustan down to Calcutta.
The motives which led him to devote himself to these literary and historical researches, and the causes which induced him to sacrifice so many years of his life to the study of the Tibetan language and literature, will be set forth on the authority of hitherto unpublished data; and it is confidently expected, that they will clear up many still obscure points in the career of this remarkable student, and dispel the erroneous, and sometimes even unjust, judgments which have been formed regarding his works and merits.
Of Alexander Csoma’s early years but few data exist. [[3]]According to the parish register he was born on the 4th of April 1784, in the village of Körös, in the county of Háromszék, in Transylvania. Körös is situated in a beautiful valley below the town of Kovászna, and its inhabitants carry on a flourishing trade in the manufacture of sieves (for which there is a special demand), and various articles of fancy woodwork. Körös is a pure Székely village, where the occupier and the proprietor are one and the same, where landlords and subject-cultivators of the soil were never known. It is the only frontier community in which no Wallachian ever settled.[1] The house in which Alexander first saw the light was destroyed by fire, but it is known that the dwelling which at present bears the number 143 on the village register, was built on the same plot of ground as the house stood in which Csoma was born.[2] His father’s name was Andrew, and the mother’s Ilona Göcz. His family was poor, but belonged to the military nobles called Széklers, a tribe which had for centuries guarded the frontiers of Transylvania against the invasions of the Turks. Csoma’s family is still known there; one of his nephews, also called Alexander, fell as a Honvéd in the War of Independence during a street fight at Nagy Szeben[3] in 1849. Gabriel, his only brother, left a son, also Alexander by name, who survives. A cousin, Joseph Csoma, was Protestant pastor in the small village of Mono, in the county of Middle Szolnok. The proprietor of the village, Baron Horváth, whilst residing there, met him almost daily. We learn from this source, that our Csoma’s near relations, and those friends who knew him in early life, are all dead, and we are therefore unable to gather much information of the incidents of his boyhood. Baron Horváth, however, tells us, on the authority of Joseph Csoma,[4] that Alexander, even as a boy, showed a keen desire for knowledge, and was of a [[4]]restless disposition, which, “like a swallow, is impelled on a distant journey when the autumn arrives.” He was endowed with a strong body and a sound constitution, and by continual exercise became fitted for extraordinary feats of endurance, such as we witness in the course of his life.
“He was of an elastic nature, and a Székler of powerful frame, resembling me to a certain extent,” was the remark of Joseph Csoma, a remark which he made with evident satisfaction; “but yet we were not quite alike,” the pastor added with a smile, “because if I walk much, I like to rest betimes, but my cousin Alexander, if once started off, did not stop till the end of his journey was attained. As boys, we could never compete with him in walking, because when he happened to reach the top of a hill, that did not satisfy him, but he wished to know what was beyond it, and beyond that again, and thus he often trotted on for immense distances.”
Alexander Csoma’s early education began at the school of his native village, and it appears, that in or about the year 1799 he entered the College of Nagy Enyed as a student. One of his masters, afterwards a faithful friend, Professor Samuel Hegedüs, always took a warm and kindly interest in the lad; and the memoir which he has left regarding Csoma, being based on personal knowledge, will ever remain a valuable source of information respecting Csoma’s early career. Professor Hegedüs has described in vivid terms the parting scene when Csoma set out on his life’s destiny. “I knew him,” the Professor said, “from his childhood, and I may say I lived in most intimate friendship with him. We held a long conversation up to the moment of his departure; and I can therefore conscientiously say, from all I know of him, I do not recollect, that he ever gave his superiors or teachers cause for reproof, or his fellow-pupils an occasion for a complaint. I include Csoma among those fortunate and rare individuals, against whom nobody has ever had a grievance, nor have I heard him make a [[5]]complaint about others. He bore work and fatigue to a wonderful degree, a power which he owed to temperate habits and purity of life and conduct.
“He was of middle stature, with dark hair and complexion; his face was oblong, the expression of his countenance full of sympathy, his eyes replete with thoughtful melancholy. He spoke little. If he happened to be of a contrary opinion to those around him, he never pressed his own point obstinately. I do not believe,” says Hegedüs, “he could ever be very angry with anybody, a trait in his character which secured him friends and sympathy everywhere.”
In dress he was neat and simple, easily satisfied, and economical; and he was particularly careful in money matters. The small savings, which as a senior student he was enabled to effect, from fees paid to him by his juniors for private tuition, he stored so carefully, that he was considered one of the richest in the school.
The generality of Székler students, except the higher and well-to-do nobles, have to undergo many hardships during their years of public school-life. The College of Nagy Enyed has, however, always lent a helping hand to the sons of this nationality. Some of the Székler boys perform menial services for their richer fellow-pupils, and in return obtain food and lodging; others are employed to keep the lecture and public rooms clean and tidy, for which food is given them at the college-board. For others again, if there are sufficient funds, provision is made free of all payment. The number of such poor students amounts often to two hundred and more.
Csoma’s education at the College of Nagy Enyed was obtained under the arrangements here described. Hegedüs knew him first as a pupil-servant[5] in the lower form, and afterwards in the upper school, when he gave Csoma private lessons in ancient literature and mathematics, [[6]]and was in the habit of correcting his Latin and Hungarian compositions. As regards intellectual powers, Csoma was not considered in any way a genius, but rather looked upon as an example of industry and perseverance.
In 1807, Csoma finished his career at the Gymnasium, and was promoted to the higher course of academical studies. At this time the desire to travel in Asia was kindled in him. As, while attending lectures at the college, history happened to be a favourite branch of study, owing to the popularity of Professor Adam Herepei, the teacher of this subject, it was natural that frequent and interesting debates and conversations should arise among the students regarding the ancient history and origin of the Hungarian people. It is recorded that Csoma and two of his fellow-pupils had made a vow, to undertake a scientific journey, with the object of discovering some trace of the origin of their nation. Ten years later, we find Csoma at the German University of Göttingen animated by the same desire. Here he came under the influence of Professor Eichhorn, the celebrated historian and oriental scholar, and under him, the student’s long-cherished design was fully matured. Csoma used to say that he heard from Eichhorn statements about certain Arabic manuscripts which must contain very important information regarding the history of the Middle Ages and of the Hungarian nation when still in Asia, and that much of these data remained unknown to European historians. This induced Csoma to devote himself to the study of Arabic under Eichhorn’s guidance, and made him resolve not to proceed on his travels until he had studied at Constantinople all the available Arabic authors on the subject.
Theophylaktes Simocatta, the Greek historian under the Emperor Mauritius, declares, in the course of his annals of the war against Persia, that, after dispersing the Avar hordes, in A.D. 597, the victorious Turks subdued the [[7]]Ugars, a brave and numerous nation. On this supposition, certain writers have come to the conclusion that, as there is a similarity in the sound of the words Ugor, Ungri, Hungar, Unger, Hongrois, &c., this long-forgotten tribe might possibly be the ancestors of the Hungarians of the present day. Other writers, again, according to Pavie, have maintained that the Hungarians are an offshoot of the ancient nation of Kiang, which took its wandering steps westward.[6]
We shall find, in Csoma’s own account, the special reasons which induced him to decide on prosecuting his specific object. He was made of the right stuff for such an enterprise, for, having once taken the resolution, he was ready to face all the trials and struggles in the way, of the magnitude of which he was duly warned. He deliberately prepared himself for the task, by systematic scientific studies continued over many years, without patronage or pecuniary aid of any kind, beyond Councillor Kenderessy’s promise of support, amounting to one hundred florins a-year. The entire sum of his other resources amounted to little more than two hundred florins. “Relying solely,” as Hegedüs says, “on Divine Providence and on the unalterable desire to sacrifice his life in the service of his country, he started towards the distant goal,” regarding which Csoma pointedly remarks that he “cannot be accounted of the number of those wealthy European gentlemen who travel at their own expense for pleasure and curiosity; being rather only a poor student, who was very desirous to see the different countries of Asia, as the scene of so many memorable transactions of former ages; to observe the manners of several peoples, and to learn their languages, … and such a man was he, who, during his peregrinations, depended for his subsistence on the benevolence of others.”[7]
But we have still to add a few details to the history of [[8]]his life at Nagy Enyed. After completing his studies there, he was elected Lecturer on Poetry, in which appointment he acquitted himself with credit, to the entire satisfaction of his superiors. On the pages of a manuscript Vocabulary in the library of the Academy of Sciences at Budapest (Appendix XVII.) there are some verses in Hungarian, which tend to show how versification remained always a favourite occupation with him; and his skill therein doubtless cheered the dreary hours during his long sojourn in the Buddhistic monasteries.
We find similar relics of Csoma in the shape of several Greek and Latin distichs, and a French quotation. They are in his handwriting, and found on the back of a portrait of Professor Mitscherlich of Göttingen. This picture, now in the possession of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, he gave as a memento to his friend, Szabó de Borgáta, who, it is said, was instrumental in inducing Csoma to undertake a journey to the East.
The characteristic quotations are as follows:—
I.
Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.—Virgilius.
II.
Συν Μουσαις[8] τὰ τερπνὰ καὶ τὰ γλυκέα Γίνεται πάντα Βροτοῖς
Εἰ σοφὸς, εἰ καλὸς, εἴ τις ἀγλαὸς Ἀνήρ.
—Pind. Od. xiv.
III.
Σμικρὸς ἐν σμικροῖς, μεγας ἐν μεγάλοις Εστι.
—Pind. Pyth. iii.
IV.
C’est par le plaisir et par la vertu que la nature nous invite au bonheur.
V.
Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci.—Horatius. [[9]]
VI.
Omnia deficiant, virtus tamen omnia vincit
Per quodvis praeceps ardua vadit iter.
—Ovidius.
VII.
Sit tibi, quod nunc est, etiam minus; at tibi vive,
Quod superest sevi, si quid superesse volunt Di.
—Horatius.
Scribebam dulcis recordationis ergo,
Göttingae, die 10o Aprilis, anni 1817.
Part of his holidays Csoma was wont to spend as a private tutor. In 1806 his friend Hegedüs left Nagy Enyed to take up clerical duties elsewhere; but after an absence of eight years, on returning to his former professorial chair at the old College, he was greeted, on the part of the students, by Csoma, who then held the position of Senior Collegian. Hegedüs noticed then, with much satisfaction, that besides an acquaintance with general literature, Csoma had made marked progress in the Latin and Greek classics, and had become familiar with the best works of French and German authors. In 1815 he passed the public “rigorosum” in the presence of Professor Hegedüs, by which Csoma became qualified to continue his studies at a University abroad.
This is a fitting place to mention a circumstance, of which probably few Englishmen are aware. It may be [[10]]looked upon as another link in the bond of sympathy which still exists between Hungary and England. History tells us, that in the year 1704, during the Hungarian civil wars, the town of Nagy Enyed and its flourishing college were almost razed to the ground, the students were cut down, and one of the professors was mortally wounded. Not merely the public exchequer but private individuals and the municipal corporations became completely exhausted and ruined, by the long-continued struggle against the Imperialists, under the national leader, Rákóczy, between the years 1703 and 1711. This calamity was the reason why nothing could be done at that time by the Hungarians themselves for Nagy Enyed, and yet the necessity of taking some steps became more urgent day by day. Students in large numbers were applying for admission, but the College authorities were not even in a position to put a roof over the ruins which remained standing, still less to afford that assistance which is so much needed by the Székler youths. The prevailing distress was brought to the knowledge of Queen Anne of England and of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and through them to the English nation. And the cry for help was not in vain. The aristocracy and the citizens of London came forward most liberally, the Archbishop caused collections to be made in the churches for the relief of the distressed; and the result was that a sum, exceeding eleven thousand pounds, was collected and deposited in the Bank of England. A great part of the money remains to this day invested in the 3 per cent. Consols for the benefit of the college, and is managed by the banking firm of Messrs. Herries, Farquhar & Co.
This contribution from England was the basis on which the future material prosperity and intellectual progress of the College of Nagy Enyed was reconstructed after the great national disaster which befell Hungary at the commencement of the eighteenth century. We [[11]]may add, that the funds have been most conscientiously administered, enabling the managers of the College to found two travelling scholarships in 1816. Csoma de Körös was one of the first scholars to whom an annual subsidy of fifteen pounds sterling was allotted, to assist him whilst studying at the University of Göttingen. The director of the university boarding-house—the Alumneum—was then the above-named Professor Eichhorn, and it was from this gentleman’s hands that Csoma used to receive his modest stipend. In that manner, Csoma was brought into nearer acquaintance with Eichhorn, and this doubtless had considerable influence over the future career of the enthusiastic student.
Josef Szabó de Borgáta was a fellow-undergraduate of Körösi in Göttingen, and the two students lived in intimate friendship with each other. This gentleman is still alive (May 1884), and from him we learn that they frequently interchanged ideas on their favourite subject. He recollects that on one occasion Csoma declared before him, that he longed to attain celebrity and renown.
In the course of this biography we shall repeatedly have occasion to notice his striving after this worthy aim, but nowhere more pointedly is it expressed, than in the lines we find jotted down, in his manuscript Vocabulary already alluded to, where we read as follows:—
“Ardeo cupiditate incredibili, neque enim, ut ego arbitror, reprehendum est, nomen ut nostrum illustretur atque celebretur literis Tuis.
“A viro laudato laudari pulchrum est,” &c.
We can never hope to discover what particular incident suggested the above characteristic quotation; it seems to refer to circumstances which occurred in later years of his life, and it is probable that a correspondence with Wilson, Rémusat, or Klaproth, may have furnished the occasion.
The study of the English language Csoma began at [[12]]Göttingen under Professor Fiorillo. “On leaving the German University,” says Szabó, “I made over to Körösi my English Grammar, Chatham’s Letters, and even my hat, because his was getting rather worse for wear; but as he would accept nothing gratis, I sold it to him for ten kreuzers.” What Szabó tells us is an illustration of Csoma’s studious habits and his spirit of independence.
This occurred in the summer of 1818. Towards the latter part of 1818, Csoma returned from Germany to Transylvania. On the last Saturday of that year he met his late master and faithful friend, Professor Hegedüs, at Nagy Enyed. Here two appointments were waiting for him,—one, a private tutorship in a nobleman’s family, and the other, a professorial chair at the school of Sziget, to which he was appointed by unanimity of votes. But he declined both.
On the 7th of February 1819, Csoma made known his final determination to Professor Hegedüs, and at the same time informed him that he meant to leave for Croatia, to learn first the Slavonic language. Hegedüs tried in vain to dissuade him from this purpose, by placing before his young friend, not only the promise of the useful services he would be able to render to the cause of science and education in his native country, but the sure prospect of obtaining a first-rate professorial chair in the College, and securing for himself fame and reputation similar to that which his own celebrated uncle had earned at Nagy Enyed before him. “But when I saw,” says Hegedüs, “that he would not yield to arguments, I placed before him the obstacles and inevitable dangers of the intended journey.” “If I wished to start for London,” were the Professor’s words, “I could do so with safety with a walking-stick in my hand, and nobody would hurt me; but to travel in Central Asia is hardly a problem for a single individual to solve. But when I noticed that my remarks were displeasing to him, I ceased to bring forward any further objections.” “I mention this,” says Hegedüs, “to show [[13]]how determined Csoma was in his purpose. Neither the alluring prospects at home, nor the almost certain dangers of a long journey, nor friendly remonstrances, were able to turn him aside from his path.” Seeing this, his friends refrained from further disturbing him by their well-meant objections. The friendly feelings, however, continued as before, and they went so far on the part of Körösi as to ask the Professor, to favour him with certain written instructions for the journey; but Hegedüs’ answer was, that he needed them not, his knowledge being already equal to that of his Teacher, on matters connected with Central Asia, and when once those countries were reached by him, he would know more than anybody else on the subject.
Csoma’s first plan was to travel viâ Odessa, and thence through Moscow, where he might find a favourable opportunity to join a caravan for Irkutsk, and from that place endeavour to reach the northern border of China. With this view, therefore, he undertook, during the early spring of 1819, a journey on foot to Agram, in Croatia, to study the Slavonic language, and he remained several months there. For this Croatian journey, Councillor Michael de Kenderessy gave Csoma one hundred florins, and, as was mentioned already, promised the traveller a similar sum every year, till he should return from Asia. Csoma’s grateful heart never forgot this unsolicited help. Money was subsequently raised for him by public subscription in Transylvania in 1836, but this he returned to found at Nagy Enyed a scholarship, which to this day goes by the name of Kenderessy-Csoma Scholarship.
The circumstances of the farewell, Professor Hegedüs has minutely recorded as follows:—“It was Sunday afternoon, that Csoma came to see me saying, ‘Well, with God’s help, I am leaving to-morrow.’ The distant time has not effaced from my memory that expression of joyful serenity which shone from his eyes; it seemed like a beam of delight, which pervaded his soul, seeing [[14]]he was wending his steps towards a long-desired goal. We spent some time in friendly conversation, and drank our parting glass in some old tokaji. Next day, that is Monday, he again stepped into my room, lightly clad, as if he intended merely taking a walk. He did not even sit down, but said, ‘I merely wished to see you once more.’ We then started along the Szentkirályi road, which leads towards Nagy Szeben. Here, in the country—among the fields—we parted for ever. I looked a long time after him, as he was approaching the banks of the Maros, and feelings roused by the words, ‘Mentem mortalia tangunt,’ filled my anxious heart.”
In the thirty-sixth year of his age, not in a fit of excitement, but armed with the result of special scientific preparatory studies, pursued over a period of ten years, Csoma entered on the memorable journey of his life. He saw clearly his object, and knew what he meant to attain. We may well say that Csoma belongs to the rank of those noble minds who devote their lives unselfishly to a worthy, though apparently thankless object, yet in the pursuit of which nothing but death will stop their efforts. And if a pioneer on the unbeaten track meets his fate, as Csoma did, before reaching the end of his arduous path, what is due to him from posterity is the laurel wreath, and not commiseration, for which a man of his stamp always entertains a noble disdain. [[15]]
[1] The bulk of the people on that frontier are Wallachians. [↑]
[2] See Orbán Balázs: Székelyföld leírása. [↑]
[3] Hermanstadt, in German. [↑]
[4] Nemzet, 17th April 1884. [↑]
[5] Pupil-servants occupy a position similar to that of sizars at the English colleges in past times. [↑]
[6] “Revue des deux Mondes,” vol. xix. p. 50 et seqq. [↑]
[7] Preface to the “Tibetan Dictionary.” [↑]
[8] γὰρ ὐμῖν. Recensione Heyne. Londini, 1823. [↑]
[9] The full name in Hungarian is Körösi Csoma Sándor, which means in English, Alexander Csoma of Körös. The family name is Csoma, and the word Körösi, meaning of Körös, stands as a designation, to show that he is a noble of Körös.
Körösi, although an adjective, may be used either alone or as above, after Alexander, but in that case Csoma must be omitted; that is to say, Alexander Csoma Körösi would be a mistake.
The terminal i in Körösi means of, hence de cannot stand before Körösi. When de is used, Körös must follow. [↑]
[10] Siculus in Latin, Székely in Hungarian, Székler in German and other continental languages. [↑]
CHAPTER II.
Biographical sources—English and French authorities—Baron Hügel’s data examined—First news of Csoma in India—His appearance at the frontier—Detained at Sabathú—Csoma’s first letter to Captain Kennedy—Moorcroft’s introduction.
We have two main sources on which to rely for data referring to the details of our traveller’s career, after he started for the East, apart from what he wrote himself on the subject.
The first source of information comprises the notices published by his English friends and by Monsieur Pavie in the “Revue des deux Mondes” for 1849. The most important among them is doubtless that, which we owe to Dr. Horace Hayman Wilson. It appeared in the “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society” in 1834, and consists of an abridgment of the letter which Csoma addressed to Captain Kennedy in January 1825. This communication was frequently cited by his own countrymen as the earliest authentic source of information from India, concerning the Tibetan scholar, and has again recently been noticed (conjointly with Dr. Archibald Campbell’s report of 1842) in one of the leading weekly journals, “The Vasárnapi Ujság” of Budapest, when reviewing Mr. Ralston’s “Tibetan Tales.”[1] The preface of this book contains a letter from the celebrated orientalist, Professor Arminius Vámbéry, dated 20th February 1882, addressed to that author, to which we shall have occasion to refer at a later period. [[16]]
With regard to Dr. Wilson’s above-quoted article in the “Royal Asiatic Society’s Journal,” Dr. Archibald Campbell wrote in 1843 as follows:—
“The autobiographical sketch of the deceased which appeared in the ‘Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society’ many years ago, was corrected by the subject of it shortly before his death. The number of the journal containing the sketch, with the author’s manuscript corrections, was made over to me, according to the intentions of the deceased, as expressed previous to his illness.” The volume referred to, we regret to say, is no longer available, but we shall give the original letter of Csoma, from which that sketch was compiled, without abbreviations.
The second source of information is of a more recent date, and originates from the celebrated Austrian traveller, Baron Charles Hügel, who, starting from Calcutta for Mussurie, arrived at the latter place on the 21st of June 1835. On the 25th of September the Baron visited Simla, where, on the 6th of the following month, the Maharajah Ranjit Singh’s permission to travel in the Panjab reached him. We find that a reference is made on three different occasions to the Tibetan scholar, in connection with Baron Hügel’s name, from which it appears, that Csoma and the Baron were in Calcutta at the same time; but we have no record stating how often they met, if at all. Hügel mentions Csoma’s name twice in his book which he wrote on Kashmir, and we also find the Baron’s name appear in a speech on Csoma, delivered by Baron Eötvös before the Scientific Society of Hungary, in Pest, in 1843. Judging from these it seems, that Hügel possessed but a very imperfect knowledge of Csoma’s life, circumstances and labours; and owing to the erroneous and imperfect information furnished by Baron Hügel, mistaken conclusions have been arrived at regarding Csoma. For the sake of the latter’s memory, therefore, we propose to examine those records as they are presented to us, hoping for the reader’s indulgence, if we [[17]]appear to dwell longer on this particular subject than would otherwise seem to be necessary. We shall quote Baron Hügel’s data seriatim.[2]
First, in the original German edition of his book, published at Stuttgart, 1848, part ii. p. 165, that author writes as follows:—
“Czoma de Körös, a Transylvanian, who spent eleven years in a Buddhist monastery, in the province of Kanaur, in the Himalaya, with the view of learning Tibetan, in which he perfectly succeeded. But when, later, he arrived in Calcutta, and then became aware that he had studied a dialect only (untergeordnete Sprache), he afterwards devoted himself to its primary source (Ursprache), the Sanskrit.” (!!)
Secondly, the following quotation from Baron Eötvös’s speech contains the second allegation made by Baron Hügel:—
“After finishing these works (the Tibetan Grammar and Dictionary), in order to publish them, and also that he might consult other savants, Csoma left at last his sombre abode in the Monastery, and commenced his journey to Calcutta via Simla and Sabathú. This is the period,” remarks Eötvös, “from which I have some more details of information of our Fellow; although scanty still, the perfect authenticity thereof is guaranteed by the celebrated traveller, Baron Charles Hügel, who, having travelled in India, was well acquainted with Csoma, and has been kind enough to communicate these data to me.”
Eötvös goes on to explain how Csoma, on his first arrival in British India, was detained at Sabathú, but afterwards received permission to continue his travels; that the “Governor had put him up in his own house, and at his host’s request, Csoma discarded the Indian dress he wore, and appeared instead in the costume of his native country, namely, with Hungarian trousers, waistcoat, and a tailcoat, [[18]]which costume he wore at Sabathú, and ever afterwards, the hot Indian sun notwithstanding.”
Eötvös continues to communicate other details on the strength of his information, and concludes:
“A great trial, however, was in store for Csoma in his new sphere of action at Calcutta. After having communicated the result of his labours to others, and heard from them that the Tibetan language, to the study of which he had sacrificed the best part of his life, was but a corrupt dialect of the Sanskrit, his heart was filled with undescribable anguish, and the strong man, who suffered so many privations cheerfully and without complaining, was prostrated on a bed of sickness by this new discovery.”
It will be our duty to show that these allegations have no foundation whatever in fact. The same must be said of what we read further on in Eötvös’s speech, namely, “that Csoma had prepared his extracts from Tibetan works in Latin.”
Baron Hügel, we know, was in Calcutta in 1835. Csoma’s Dictionary and Grammar were published in 1834; if, therefore, Baron Hügel had thought of it, he might easily have gathered correct information regarding the progress of Oriental literature. Csoma’s merits were then fully acknowledged by the Government and by the learned world.
The statement that Csoma spent eleven years in a Buddhistic monastery at Kanaur is quite inaccurate, as appears from the following data:—
In the monastery at Yangla in Zanskar, Csoma lived from 20th June 1823 to 22d October 1824.
In the monastery at Pukdal or Pukhtar, also in Zanskar, he remained from 12th August 1825 to November 1826.
At Kanum, in Upper Besarh, also written Bussahir, Besahir, from August 1827 to October 1830.
It is also an error to say that Tibetan is a subordinate dialect of Sanskrit. It belongs to the Chinese group of languages. This has been pointed out already by Giorgi, [[19]]about the middle of the last century, in his work the “Alphabetum Tibetanum,”[3] and this was precisely the book which Moorcroft gave into the hands of the Hungarian traveller in 1823, from which Csoma obtained his first glimpses of that language.
Csoma arrived in Calcutta at the end of April 1831. In his letter to Captain Kennedy, which will be found further on, dated 25th January 1825, para. 17, we find in regard to the Tibetan works and literature the following remark: “They ALL are taken from Indian Sanskrit, and were translated into Tibetan.” This disposes of the charge against Csoma and his alleged ignorance as to the linguistic relationship between Tibetan and Sanskrit, the discovery of which, eight years later, is said to have caused him a “dangerous illness in Calcutta.”
The mere mention of Csoma’s dressing himself up at Sabathú, at the “Governor’s” request, in his national costume, will elicit a smile, and we may well ask how a poor wanderer through the immense distances of Central Asia and Tibet was able to carry with him on a journey, already of five years’ duration, his Hungarian costume, in which to appear on festive occasions?
But on the matter of Csoma’s dress we have the following statements:—
In the oft-quoted letter to Captain Kennedy, para. 7, he writes, “From Teheran I travelled as an Armenian” (in 1821). Moorcroft, in his Diary, edited by Dr. Wilson, mentions on the 16th July 1823, “On my journey to Dras, I was met by Alexander Csoma de Körös, an European, in the garb of an Armenian, who had travelled from Hungary to Tibet.” Dr. Gerard, writing from Kanum in September 1829, says, “Csoma is poor and humbly clad, and dresses in the coarse blanket of the country.” See also letter from Captain Stacy to Dr. Wilson, dated 3d August 1829. In Dr. Campbell’s report on Csoma’s [[20]]death, we read that he had “a suit of blue clothes, which he always wore, and in which he died.” Dr. Malan writes as follows, dated 8th December 1883: “I remember Csoma’s dress quite well. I never saw him in his best (if he had one), but I always met him in the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, of which I was Secretary during my stay in Calcutta. He wore a jacket very much like a loose shooting-jacket with outside pockets, of the common blue cotton cloth of India; he wore a waistcoat of figured red, brown, black, or yellow stuff of Indian manufacture, and trousers of a kind of light-brown stuff, cotton stockings, and shoes.”
This disposes of the question of Csoma’s dress.
Now as regards his studies. The reason which induced Csoma to devote his best talents for so many years to Tibetan will become evident in due course, but it was certainly not the mistaken fancy attributed to him of having discovered a resemblance between it and the Magyar tongue.
Thirdly, we have the statement contained in Part II. of Baron Hügel’s work, p. 165, where we find Csoma’s name mentioned in a foot-note. Hügel calls him there his “friend;” but if we understand the Baron rightly, his remark will be taken rather as a reproach against Csoma for not furnishing the Baron with information regarding the names of the two Tibetan mountains Mer and Ser, which Csoma, always ready to impart all he knew, must have found himself unable to supply.
There is an incident described in Baron Hügel’s work (vol. i. p. 303) which appears to us strange. It refers to the occurrence of the 18th of November 1835, when the Baron was at Srinaggur and met two Englishmen there. The Baron writes thus:—
“I proposed to my English friends that we should erect something like a monument in memory of the travellers who preceded us in Kashmir.… The following inscription was proposed by me:—
“ ‘Three travellers in Kashmir, the Baron Charles [[21]]Hügel, T. G. Vigne, and Dr. Henderson, have caused the names of all the travellers who preceded them in Kashmir to be engraved on this black stone, namely, Bernier, 1663; Forster, 1786; Moorcroft, Trebeck, Guthrie, 1823; Victor Jacquemont, 1831; Joseph Wolff, 1832.’ ”
Csoma’s name is not mentioned here; yet we have proofs that Csoma travelled in and through Kashmir on three different occasions before Hügel: first, immediately after he overcame the dangerous route through Central Asia and Afghanistan to the Punjab, namely, in 1822, in April and May; and again, on returning from Leh in July; and, for the third time, in the winter of 1822–23. Csoma reports in the letter to Captain Kennedy (para. 12), “I left Kashmir on the 2d May 1823, after I had passed five months and six days with Mr. Moorcroft.”
These details give an account of Csoma’s travels in 1822 and 1823, showing that he spent very much more time in Kashmir than the Baron ever did, who devoted three months only to his journey in that country, twelve years after Csoma. Yet Csoma’s name does not appear in Baron Hügel’s list. We bring this forward for no other reason but that of adding another proof of the defective nature of Baron Hügel’s data.
We have, therefore, been compelled to treat with suspicion the statements made by this author, there being much evidence to show that they are not made with the necessary exactitude. Corroborated statements, which happen to be found in the Baron’s notices of Csoma, including those contained in the Spicker’sche Zeitung, cited by the “Chronick der gebildeten Welt,” Band. III. (Carlsruhe, 1842), have been taken from the original English, and probably also French sources, by which alone we have been guided in this part of the biography.
Critics do not omit to mention, that Csoma was quite ignorant of Sanskrit whilst engaged in his Tibetan studies. It is quite true that when, in 1822, he travelled through Kashmir, and reached Leh, intending to penetrate by way [[22]]of Yarkand to the borders of China, and there to become acquainted with the Mongolian languages, he thought that these latter would serve his purpose better than any other. He certainly was not then a master of Sanskrit, his original or final aim of research not being India, but China, especially Mongolia. But when he seriously commenced the study of Tibetan, and had also come across numerous elementary Sanskrit and Tibetan works, of which we find special mention in his writings, can it be reasonably supposed, that the ever-eager and indefatigable student, would have neglected such opportunities as presented themselves to him, and have remained entirely ignorant of the Sanskrit language for so many years, which, as he tells us at the outset of his new study, was the basis of all Tibetan learning? So far from this being the case, his letters to Captain Kennedy furnish ample proofs to the contrary. For instance, in his second letter to Captain Kennedy, para. 12, we read as follows:—“Besides the vocabulary which I have now by me, … I have another large collection of words in Sanskrit and Tibetan.” This clearly establishes our surmise, that long before 1825 Csoma devoted serious attention to Sanskrit; indeed, how otherwise could he have written his report of 1825 to Government, through Captain Kennedy?
Csoma’s principal trait of character was his regrettable diffidence—almost, we might say, an overstrained vaunting of ignorance—and his own too modest estimate of himself. This has often served as justification for disparaging his unique accomplishments. Of this, Prinsep, Gerard, and Campbell bear frequent testimony; and even Henry Torrens, who knew him less than those just mentioned, notices that “Csoma’s exceeding diffidence, on subjects on which he might have dictated to the learned world of Europe and Asia, was the most surprising trait in him.”[4] Under these circumstances, to avoid misunderstanding [[23]]and to correct false impressions which have prevailed, it seems necessary that, instead of mere extracts, we should lay before our readers some of the correspondence and other documents without curtailment.
In November 1824, our traveller appeared on the north-west frontier of the British possessions, and reported his arrival to Captain Kennedy, the commanding officer at Sabathú. The correspondence which passed at that time between the authorities and the traveller is of much interest.
Captain Kennedy wrote to the Assistant Political Agent at Umbála, on the 28th of November, reporting that “an European traveller, who gives his name as Alexander Csoma de Körös, a subject of Hungary, has arrived at this post. He is particularly introduced to my notice by Mr. Moorcroft, whose letter I herewith enclose. Mr. Csoma de Körös remains here at present, and waits the arrival of a Lama, whom he expects in a few days, to proceed with him towards Tibet. I request your instructions regarding this gentleman’s movements.”
To this the following answer was received the next day:—
“Be good enough to detain the European traveller at Sabathú until instructions of the agent to the Governor-General at Delhi can be received regarding him.”
From the following it will appear that Lord Amherst gave orders that Csoma be requested to give a complete account of himself and of his plans, and to submit the same through Captain Kennedy.
Csoma’s letter, dated Sabathú, 28th January 1825, will be found below; it is the same as that which, in an abridged form and in a different shape, was published in the first number of the “Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of London” in 1834, to which allusion has already been made: [[24]]
“To Captain C. P. Kennedy, Assistant Political Agent and Commanding Subathoo.
“Sir,—I beg leave to acknowledge your communication of the Secretary to Government’s answer to your letter reporting my arrival at Subathoo, through the Governor-General’s agent at Delhi, dated Fort William, 24th December 1824; and since, by the Government’s order, it is required from me to give in writing a full and intelligible account of my history and past proceedings, and of my objects and plans for the future, as also of the length to which I propose to carry my Travels and Researches, I have the honour to state, for the information of the Governor-General of India, as follows:—
2. “I am a native of the Siculian[5] nation (a tribe of those Hungarians who settled in ancient Dacia in the fourth century of the Christian era) in the great principality of Transylvania, subject to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria.
3. “Having finished my philological and theological studies in the Bethlen College at N. Enyed in the course of three years, from 1st August 1815 to 5th September 1818, I visited Germany, and by his Imperial Majesty’s permission, at the University of Göttingen in Hanover, I frequented several lectures from 11th April 1816 to the last of July 1818; and on my request to the Government of Hanover, I was also for one year favoured there with Libera mensa regia.
4. “As in Transylvania there are no Sclavonick people, and the learned men of that country are generally unacquainted with that language, although it would be necessary for consulting Sclavonian authors on the ancient history of the Hungarians that are surrounded from all parts by nations of Sclavonick extraction—after being acquainted with several ancient and modern languages, I was desirous to learn the Sclavonick also. For this purpose, after my return from Germany, I went to Temeswár, [[25]]in Lower Hungary; where, from 20th February to 1st November 1819, I was occupied with this language, making also a journey to Agram, in Croatia, for the acquirement of the different dialects.
5. “Among other liberal disciplines, my favourite studies were philology, geography, and history. Although my ecclesiastical studies had prepared me for an honourable employment in my native country, yet my inclinations for the studies mentioned above, induced me to seek for a wider field for their further cultivation. As my parents were dead, and my only brother did not want my assistance, I resolved to leave my native country and to come towards the East, and by some means or other procuring subsistence, to devote my whole life to researches which may be afterwards useful to the learned world of Europe in general, and, in particular, may illustrate some obscure facts in our own history. But as I could not hope to obtain, for this purpose, an Imperial passport, I did also not beg for it. I took a printed Hungarian passport at N. Enyed to come on some pretended business to Bucharest, in Wallachia, and having caused it to be signed by the General Commandant in Hermanstadt, in the last days of November 1819, passing the frontier mountains, entered Wallachia. My intention in going to Bucharest was, after some acquaintance with the Turkish language, to proceed to Constantinople. There was no opportunity for my instruction, nor could I procure any mode, to go directly to Constantinople, therefore:
6. “The 1st of January, 1820, I left Bucharest, and on the 3d, passing the Danube by Rustchuk, I travelled with some Bulgarians, who having brought cotton from Macedonia to that place, returned with unladen horses. After travelling for eight days in rapid marches, we reached Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria, whence, with other Bulgarians, I came in five days to Philippopolis, in Roumelia, or Thrace. I wished now to proceed by Adrianople to Constantinople, but the plague in that place forced me to [[26]]descend to Enos, on the coast of the Archipelago. Leaving that place on the 7th of February, I passed in a Greek ship by Chios and Rhodes, and on the last day of February I arrived at Alexandria, in Egypt. My plan was to stop for a certain time either at Alexandria or in Cairo, and to improve myself in the Arabic, with which I was already acquainted in Europe, but on a sudden eruption of the plague I left Egypt, and proceeding on a Syrian ship I came to Larnica, in Cyprus, thence to Sidon, Beyruth, and then, on another vessel, to Tripoli and Latakia, whence, travelling on foot, on the 13th of April I reached Aleppo in Syria. I left that place on the 19th of May, and travelling with various caravans in a simple Asiatic dress, on foot, by Orfa, Merdin, and Mosul, whence by water on a raft. On the 22d July I reached Baghdad. Thence, in August, I addressed a letter, written in Latin, to Mr. Rich, the English resident, who was at that time in Kurdistan, about eight days’ journey from Baghdad, giving him intelligence of my arrival and design, and begging his protection. His secretary, Mr. Bellino, assisted me with a dress and with some money, through his friend, Mr. Swoboda, a native of Hungary, with whom I was then lodging, and to whom I was recommended from Aleppo. I left Baghdad on 4th September, and travelling in European costume, on horseback, with a caravan, passing by Kermanshah (where, in the service of Mahomed Ali Mirza, the eldest son of Fateh Ali Shah, king of Persia, were several European military officers), by Hamadan, on 14th October 1820, I arrived at Teheran, the present capital of Persia.
7. “On my arrival I found no Europeans in Teheran, but in the English residence a Persian servant received me with kindness, gave me lodging and some other things that I required. On the 3d of November 1820, in a letter, written in English, addressed to Mr., afterwards Sir Henry Willock, on his return from Tauris, or Tebriz, I represented to him my situation, and acquainted him with my circumstances and intentions. I begged him also for assistance. I am infinitely [[27]]indebted to Messrs. Henry and George Willock for their kind reception and generosity at my departure (and to them I beg to refer for my character). Through their complaisance I sojourned four months in the capital of Persia, became acquainted grammatically with the Persian, improved myself a little in English, perused several treatises for my purpose, examined many ancient silver coins of the Parthian dynasty. When I left Teheran I left also the European dress, and took the Persian. I deposited there all my books and papers, among others, my testimonial from the University of Göttingen, my passport from Transylvania, and a certificate in Sclavonick on my progress in that language. I gave also to those gentlemen a letter written in Hungarian, addressed to N. Enyed, in Transylvania, for Mr. Joseph Kováts, Professor of Mathematics and Physics, with my humblest request, in case I should die or perish on my road to Bokhara, to be transmitted. Mr. Willock favoured me with Johnson’s Dictionary in miniature, and I travelled hereafter as an Armenian.
8. “The 1st of March 1821, I bid adieu to my noble benefactors, and the 18th of April arrived at Meshed, in Khorassan. On account of warlike disturbances in the neighbouring countries, it was the 20th of October ere I could leave that place to proceed in safety, and on the 18th of November I reached safely Bokhara, but, affrighted by frequent exaggerated reports of the approach of a numerous Russian army, after a residence of five days I left Bokhara, where I intended to pass the winter, and with a caravan I came to Balk, Kulm, and thence by Bamian; on 6th of January, 1822, I arrived at Kabool.
9. “As that was not a place for my purpose, and being informed by the Armenians that two European gentlemen were with Mahomed Azim Khan, between Kabool and Peshawur, and in the same time finding an opportunity to travel securely with a caravan, I left Kabool 19th January, and came towards Peshawur. At Daka, the 26th January, I met two French gentlemen, Messrs. Allard and Ventura, [[28]]whom afterwards I accompanied to Lahore, because it was not the proper season to go to Kashmir and to cross the mountains into Tibet. We arrived at Lahore the 11th of March 1822, and on the 23d of the same I left it, and going by Amritsir, Jamoo, I reached Kashmir the 17th of April, where I stopped, waiting for proper season and companions, till 9th May; when leaving that place, and travelling with four other persons, on the 9th June I arrived at Leh, the capital of Ladak; but I ascertained the road to go to Yarkand was very difficult, expensive, and dangerous for a Christian. After a sojourn of twenty-five days I resolved to return to Lahore.
10. “I was, on my return, near the frontier of Cashmere when, on the 16th of July 1822, I was agreeably surprised to find Mr. Moorcroft at Himbabs. He was alone. I acquainted him with all my circumstances and designs, and by his permission remained with him. I accompanied him on his return to Leh, where we arrived on the 26th August. In September, after Mr. Trebeck’s arrival from Piti, Mr. Moorcroft gave me to peruse the large volume of the Alphabetum Tibetanum, wherein I found much respecting Tibet and the Tibetan literature, and being desirous to be acquainted with the structure of that curious tongue, at the departure of Mr. Moorcroft from Leh to proceed to Cashmere, in the last days of September, I begged leave to remain with Mr. Trebeck, who obtained for me the conversation and instruction of an intelligent person, who was well acquainted with the Tibetan and Persian languages; and by this medium I obtained considerable insight in the Tibetan.
11. “At Mr. Moorcroft’s request, before his departure from Leh, I translated into Latin a letter written in Russian characters and language, procured by Meer Izzut Oollah of Delhi, the companion of Mr. Moorcroft, dated Petersburgh, 17th January 1820, and addressed to the chief prince of the Panjab (Runjeet Singh), which, as Mr. Moorcroft informed me after his arrival at Kashmir, he sent to Calcutta.” [[29]]
N.B.—This was the letter of Count Nesselrode; sent through the Russian Emissary, Aga Mahdi Rafael.
12. “During the winter in Kashmir, after my return with Mr. Trebeck, considering what I had read and learned on the Tibetan language, I became desirous to apply myself, if assisted to it, to learn it grammatically, so as to penetrate into the contents of those numerous and highly interesting volumes which are to be found in every large monastery. I communicated my ideas respecting this matter to Mr. Moorcroft, who, after a mature consideration, gave me his approbation, favoured me with money for my necessary subsistence, and permitted me to return to Ladak; nay, he recommended me to the chief officer at Leh, and to the Lama of Yangla, in Zanskar. Being prepared for the journey, I left Kashmir on the 2d May 1823, after I had passed five months and six days with Mr. Moorcroft.
13. “After my return to Ladak I arrived at Leh on the 1st of June 1823, delivered Mr. Moorcroft’s and Meer Izzut Oollah’s letters and presents to the Khalon. This Prime Minister recommended me in a letter to the Lama of Yangla; gave me a passport, and favoured me with about eight pounds of tea. From Leh, travelling in a south-westerly direction, on the ninth day I arrived at Yangla, and from 20th June 1823 to 22d October 1824 I sojourned in Zanskar (the most south-western province of Ladak), where I applied myself to the Tibetan literature, assisted by the Lama.
14. “During my residence in Zanskar, by the able assistance of that intelligent man, I learned grammatically the language, and became acquainted with many literary treasures shut up in 320 large printed volumes, which are the basis of all Tibetan learning and religion. These volumes, divided in two classes, and each class containing other subdivisions, are all taken from Indian Sanskrit, and were translated into Tibetan. I caused to be copied the contents of these immense works and [[30]]treatises in the same order as they stand in the printed indexes. Each work or treatise begins with the title in Sanskrit and Tibetan, and ends with the names of the author, translators, and place wherein the author has written or the translation was performed. As there are several collections of Sanskrit and Tibetan words among my other Tibetan writings, I brought with me a copy of the largest, taken out of one of the above-mentioned volumes, consisting of 154 leaves, every page of six lines.
15. “As I could not remain longer in that country with advantage to myself I left it, having agreed with the Lama to pass the winter, 1824–25, with him at Sultanpore, in Coolloo[6] (whereto his relations, also the wives of two chiefs of Lahool, commonly descend for every winter, and whom he was desirous to visit there), and to arrange the collected materials for a vocabulary in Tibetan and English. The Lama was detained by some business, and prevented for some days leaving Zanskar.
16. “As the winter was daily approaching, by his counsel I continued my march to pass the snowy mountains before the passage would be obstructed by the fall of any heavy snow. I arrived at Sultanpore, in Coolloo, without any danger, and from thence, passing to Mendee, Suketee, Belaspore, on the 26th of November of the last year I reached Subathoo. On my arrival I expected the Lama would follow me in about ten days. He came not, and at present I have no hope he will join me, as the pass in the Himalaya is now closed against him.
17. “At my first entrance to the British Indian territory I was fully persuaded that I should be received as a friend by the Government, because I supposed that my name, my purpose, and my engagement for searching after Tibetan literature, were well known in consequence of Mr. Moorcroft’s introductions, to whom, before my return to Tibet in the last half of April 1823, when I was in Cashmere, on his writing and recommending me to the secretary [[31]]of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta, and requesting him also to forward me some compendious works on the stated subjects, I promised by my hand-writing in the same letter, which I beg to refer to, that I would stand faithful to my engagements, to study and to be diligent in my researches.
18. “I think I have given, as it was required from me, an intelligible account of my history and past proceedings. For the future, as also the length to which I propose to carry my travels and researches, I beg leave to add, the civilised and learned world is indebted to Great Britain in many respects for useful discoveries, inventions, and improvements in arts and sciences. There is yet in Asia a vast terra incognita for oriental literature. If the Asiatic Society in Calcutta would engage for the illuminating the map of this terra incognita, as in the last four years of my travelling in Asia I depended for my necessary subsistence entirely upon British generosity, I shall be happy if I can serve that honourable Society with the first sketches of my researches. If this should not meet with the approbation of Government, I beg to be allowed to return to Mr. Moorcroft, to whose liberality and kindness I am at present entirely indebted for my subsistence; or, if it pleases the Governor-General of India, that I shall be permitted to remain under your protection until my patron’s return from his present tour to Bokhara.
19. “After my arrival at this place, notwithstanding the kind reception and civil treatment with which I was honoured, I passed my time, although in much doubt as to a favourable answer from Government to your report, yet with great tranquillity, till 23d inst., when, on your communication of the Government’s resolution on the report of my arrival, I was deeply affected, and not little troubled in mind, fearing that I was likely to be frustrated in my expectations. However, recollecting myself, I have arranged my ideas as well as my knowledge of the English language will admit, and I humbly beseech you to receive these sincere accounts of my circumstances, and if you [[32]]will be pleased to forward them for the better information’s sake and satisfaction of His Excellency the Governor-General in Council, and with my humblest acknowledgments for his lordship’s regard respecting the manner in which I should be treated.
20. “I beg leave for my tardiness in writing, for the rudeness of my characters, and for my unpolite expressions, if sometimes I used not the proper terms.—I have, &c.
(Sd.) “Alexander Csoma de Körös.
“Subathoo, 28th January 1825.”
From the above we gather that our traveller started from Transylvania on November 1, 1819, and at the end of that month crossed the frontier into Wallachia, the present Roumania, and reached Bucharest.
1820, on the 1st of January, he left that capital, and on the
3d of January, crossed the Danube into Macedonia.
11th January, he arrived at Sophia.
16th January, he reached Philippopolis, and thence proceeded to Enos.
February 7th. Left Enos in a Greek ship, and sailing by Chios and Rhodes, on
February 28th, he arrived at Alexandria, in Egypt.
In March, he took passage in a Syrian ship to Cyprus, thence to Sidon and Beyrut, and thence on another raft by way of Tripolis he arrived in Latakia.
In April, at the beginning, he left on foot for Aleppo, where he arrived on the 13th of that month.
On May 19th, he left Aleppo, again on foot, and travelled by way of Orfa, Mardin, Mosul, arriving on July 22d at Baghdad.
September 4th, he left Baghdad, travelling on horseback through Kermanshah and Hamadan, reaching on
October 14th Teheran.
1821, March 1st, left Teheran, and arrived April 18th [[33]]at Meshed, in Khorassan, whence, owing to rumours of war, he started on October 20th, and reached Bokhara on November 18th.
November 23d, he left Bokhara, and, travelling viâ Balkh, Kulum, and the Bamian Pass, arrived
1822, January 6th, at Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
January 19th, he left Kabul.
January 20th, at Daka, met Generals Allard and Ventura, French officers in the service of Ranjit Singh.
March 12th, he arrived at Lahore.
March 23d, he started viâ Amritsir and Jamu, and on April 14th arrived at Kashmir.
May 19th, he left Kashmir, and on June 9th arrived at Leh, the capital of Ladak.
July 3d, he left Leh on a return journey to Kashmir.
On July 16th, he met Mr. Moorcroft on the banks of the river Himbabs, in the Dras Valley, and retraced his steps towards Leh with Mr. Moorcroft.
On August 26th, he reached Leh a second time. At the end of September Moorcroft returned to Kashmir, and Csoma remained at Leh with Mr. Trebeck, whom he afterwards accompanied to Srinaggur, where they arrived on November 26th, and Csoma joined Moorcroft and remained with him for five months and six days.
1823, May 22d, he took leave of Moorcroft in Kashmir, and on June 1st he arrived at Leh for the third time.
June 17th, he left Leh, and
On June 26th, he arrived at the Monastery of Yangla, in the province of Zanskar, where he spent sixteen months. This is the place where, as we shall find more fully described later on, Csoma laid the foundation of his acquaintance with the language and literature of Tibet; it was here that he resided, being confined (with the Lama, his teacher, and an attendant) to an apartment nine feet square. For more than four months they were precluded from stirring out by the state of the weather. Here he read from morning till night, sitting enveloped in a sheep-skin [[34]]cloak, with his arms folded, and without a fire. After dark he was without a light; the ground forming his bed, and the walls of the building his protection against the rigours of the climate. He was exposed here to “privations such as have been seldom endured” without complaining.
1824, October 22d, he left Yangla, and on November 20th arrived at Sabathú.
If we glance at the map we shall find that Csoma’s route was the same which, forty-two years later, was followed as far as Bokhara by his famous and enterprising countryman, Arminius Vámbéry. Csoma left no record of the hardships which he necessarily had to overcome in Central Asia; but if we scan the interesting pages of Vámbéry’s autobiography, we may surmise in some degree what sufferings, dangers, and hairbreadth escapes were the accompaniments of travelling in those inhospitable regions. Csoma’s lamentable reticence on the subject of his exploits and of what he experienced, deprives his biography of much that would have been most attractive. The still available correspondence, and the casual remarks of his friends and admirers, give us sufficient information as to the character of the man; but the full details, which otherwise make up the charm of the story of a life like his, are lost, and can never be made good.
In his letter to the political agent at Umbála, dated the 28th of November, quoted above, we find Captain Kennedy stating that a special introduction was brought by Csoma from Mr. Moorcroft. That letter was forwarded to the Government, and is dated Kashmir, the 21st of April 1823. This letter is worthy of being preserved, if only as a memento of the ill-fated writer. Mr. Moorcroft writes thus:—
“To the Commandant at Sabathú.
“Sir,—The object of this address is to bespeak your good offices for Mr. Alexander Csoma, or Sekunder Beg, of Transylvania, whom I now take the liberty to introduce. [[35]]
“2. I have known this gentleman for five months most intimately, and can give the strongest testimony to his integrity, prudence, and devotedness to the cause of science, which, if fully explained, might, in the opinion of many, be conceived to border on enthusiasm.
“3. As well in pursuance of original plans of his own for the development of some obscure points of Asiatic and of European history, as of some suggestions stated by me, Mr. Csoma will endeavour to remain in Tibet until he shall have become master of the language of that country, and be completely acquainted with the subjects its literature contains, which is likely, on many accounts, to prove interesting to the European world.
“4. Although no substantial grounds exist for suspecting that he will not succeed in accomplishing the object above stated, the recent date of European intercourse with the country of Ladakh may justify the adoption of substituting other measures, should the result of the plans contemplated not meet the present sanguine expectations of success.
“5. If, therefore, events should arise to prevent Mr. Csoma continuing in Ladakh until he may have effected the matter alluded to, I beg leave respectfully to request that you will so far oblige me as to afford him such assistance as may be required to facilitate the prosecution of his studies, along with some well-informed Lama in the northern part of Besarh, as the Superior of the Gompa or Monastery of Palso, near Leh.
“6. It is possible that the contingency of my death, or of delay of the present expedition beyond a certain period mentioned to Mr. Csoma, may induce the Government to desire him to proceed to Calcutta, in which case I shall feel myself personally obliged if you will be kind enough to furnish him with two hundred rupees, to meet which I now enclose my draft at sight on my agents at Calcutta.”
This letter furnishes very important information in [[36]]respect to circumstances which matured into a formal compact between these two travellers. Csoma makes mention of the first meeting between them in his letter to Captain Kennedy (para. 10). Mr. Moorcroft refers to it in his journal, and adds,[7] “Csoma remained with me some time, and after I had quitted Ladakh, I obtained permission from the Khalon for him to reside in the Monastery of Yangla, in Zanskar, for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the Tibetan language,” &c.
The two preceding letters settle, therefore, those points regarding which so much uncertainty and so many mistaken ideas have prevailed.
We know now that Csoma’s original plan “for the development of some obscure points of Asiatic and European history,” conceived in Hungary, was to proceed through the northern regions of Central Asia, as Hegedüs pointedly remarks, towards the “borders of the Chinese Empire and towards Mongolia;” and we can trace his steps from Persia to Khorassan and Bokhara, through Balkh, Kulm, Bamian, across the Hindu Kush, in that direction, till he reached Kabul on the 6th of January 1822. Thence, viâ Lahore, he travelled into Kashmir, where he arrived on the 14th of April. The journey towards China led viâ Turkestan, and he travelled as far as Leh on his way thither; but having ascertained, when at Leh, that the road to Yarkand was “very difficult, expensive, and very dangerous for a Christian,” as he did not attempt to travel in disguise, he resolved to return towards Lahore. On this journey he met Moorcroft, who entertained him hospitably, and lent him Giorgi’s “Alphabetum Tibetanum.” This book Csoma studied through, and was thus induced to propose to Moorcroft that he would thoroughly master that language, if, during his studies, his daily wants could be provided for. The supposed reason, therefore, that Csoma devoted himself to Tibetan merely because he had observed a similarity between the Magyar [[37]]and the Tibetan languages, is not supported by any proofs. At the time we speak of, the British power was feeling its way slowly and extending its influence towards Central Asia: doubtless the Government officers on the frontier perceived the advantages that could be gained by a thorough acquaintance with the language of Tibet, which then indeed was a real terra incognita to Europeans. Dr. H. H. Wilson points out clearly this aim when he says: “To establish an accurate knowledge of the nations around us, and to promote a friendly intercourse with them. This will not only promote the commercial and political prosperity of Great Britain and her Indian possessions, but may effect the still more important end of teaching to yet semi-barbarous tribes the advantages of industry and civilisation.”[8]
Csoma was ready to become a pioneer on this difficult road, IF his terms were accepted. A solemn agreement, therefore, was entered into between Moorcroft and Csoma: the former supplied the requisite funds, of which he gave an account to the Government,[9] and Csoma promised, by “his own handwriting,” that he would faithfully abide by his engagement. No proof whatever exists in corroboration of the opinion that, previous to his meeting with Moorcroft, Csoma ever contemplated making Tibetan the study of his life. Nor is there any authentic proof to warrant the assertion that Csoma ever declared himself to be a believer in any special affinity between his mother-tongue and the Tibetan.
The concluding paragraphs of Csoma’s letter will be read with sympathy even at this distant time; great was his anxiety as to how his fate would be decided by Government. The power of Ranjit Singh was still paramount in the Punjab. Csoma’s detention at Sabathú was but a natural precaution on the part of the English that any European stranger should, as a matter of prudence, be [[38]]watched; especially after the proof the Indian Government had in their hands of the intrigues of the Russian Government, through emissaries like Aga Mahdi Rafael.[10]
Csoma’s pride and highly honourable feelings were nevertheless deeply touched on finding that he had been suspected, which to the end of his life he never forgot. He had to wait for three long months before an answer reached him, as will be seen from his second letter, written in May. That letter touches on some points now out of date, but its general contents will doubtless be read with much interest. It furnishes proofs also in several passages of the fact, that Csoma was not altogether ignorant of the Sanskrit tongue when, in accordance with the order of the Governor-General, he wrote his second letter, addressed to Captain Kennedy. [[39]]
[1] “Tibetan Tales,” by W. R. S. Ralston, M.A. Trübner & Co., London, 1882. [↑]
[2] An abridged English edition of B. Hügel’s works, with Major Jervis’s annotations, appeared in 1845. [↑]
[3] See “Alphabetum Tibetanum, studio et labore, Fr. Augustini Antonii Georgii.” Romæ, 1762, pag. 820. [↑]
[4] “Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,” vol. ii., 1844, note to Dr. Campbell’s paper. [↑]
[5] Székler, military nobles. [↑]
[7] Moorcroft’s “Travels,” edited by H. H. Wilson, vol. i. p. 338. [↑]
[8] Preface to Moorcroft’s “Travels,” edited by H. H. Wilson. [↑]
[9] See Prinsep’s Report, dated 5th January 1834, in chap. ix. [↑]
[10] Moorcroft’s “Travels”, vol. ii. p. 383. [↑]
CHAPTER III.
Government orders respecting Csoma’s stipend—Report as to his Tibetan studies in the past and plans for the future.
Csoma’s first letter to Captain Kennedy was dated the 28th of January 1825. Owing to the distance and other incidental delays, it was not till the month of May following that an answer to it, from the Calcutta Government, reached Sabathú. This decided Csoma’s fate. The Government granted a regular stipend of fifty rupees a month, which enabled him to prosecute the Tibetan studies, and, as regards his own position, to perpetuate his name in the domain of science and literary research.
In the second letter, addressed to Captain Kennedy, Csoma made known in detail all he had already learnt of the language of Tibet, and of the religion of Buddha, and explained his future plans, particularly in paragraphs 27 and 28. He gave a promise that he would devote himself entirely to that special study; he kept to the determination, and spent some of the best years of his life (between 1825 and 1834) in the attainment of his object. When once his task was finished, he remarked with melancholy emphasis to Dr. Gerard, as they met at the Buddhist monastery, he would then be “the happiest man on earth, and could die with pleasure, seeing that he had redeemed his pledge.” On examining what Csoma has written, we nowhere find the slightest trace to justify the assumption that he believed in any particular resemblance between the Tibetan language and his native tongue. This, therefore, could not be the reason that urged him to study it. Except in the case of one Tibetan word,—[[40]]khyöd, anglice, you; in Hungarian, kend, kegyelmed,—we find no other marked out by Csoma for comparison as to any supposed similarity between these two languages. There were, however, weighty motives which induced him to devote himself to the literature of Tibet. The first was doubtless the wish of a grateful heart to do some service, if he could, to his English patrons. He felt that already, at the University of Göttingen, he was supported from the scholarship founded by English benevolence; and it was there, we may add also, that he first began to study English under Professor Fiorillo. When Csoma set out on his venturesome journey, he always found help and patronage, when in need, from Englishmen; and now again, when at Sabathú, he saw clearly that without English protection and liberality he could never hope to succeed.
Secondly. He believed, no doubt, to be some day in a position to furnish a key to the learned of Europe for further exploration of an almost terra incognita, and this, indeed, he subsequently accomplished. Moreover, he hoped to promote his original objects, if, fortified with newly-acquired knowledge, he could reach Lassa, where the library of the Grand Lama would be accessible to him, and where he would be in a position to explore thoroughly those Tibetan works which elsewhere he sought for in vain, and which, according to his information and belief, contained the early history of the Mongols and the Huns.
The Tibetan tongue, moreover, is the most generally known among nations professing the Buddhist faith.[1] It is the channel of communication between the educated and influential classes in the state and society, especially where the Dalai Lama of Lassa is the acknowledged head of the faith. This, therefore, is evidently the channel through which the civilisation of the West could most easily penetrate into those distant regions.
Csoma’s second letter is dated the 25th of May 1825. In the previous one, we possess already a sketch of his [[41]]personal history and earlier studies. Many interesting points are touched upon in his second letter, throwing a light on the discoveries and progress of that department of Oriental literature which Csoma was exploring. Paragraphs 29, 32, and 34 will be especially interesting to his countrymen, even at the present day, and the letter will not, it is hoped, be unacceptable to the general reader as well, who will generously make allowance for the somewhat imperfect English of the writer.
“Sir,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of a letter to the address of the Governor-General’s Acting Agent at Delhi, C. Elliott, Esq., dated Fort William, 25th March 1825, communicated to me by you, containing the Government’s orders respecting my further proceedings; and since his Lordship in Council has vouchsafed to absolve me from the suspicion I imagined I was under at my arrival at this place, and to approve my research for Tibetan language and literature, and to grant me generously pecuniary aid, I accept with the highest respect and acknowledgment the offered assistance, and in obedience to Government’s request for a summary report of the contents of the Tibetan works in my possession, I have the honour to state as follows:—
2. “I am very sensible that during the last six months I could make no further progress in the Tibetan, being separated from that intelligent Lama, by whom, while in Zanskar, I was assisted, through Mr. Moorcroft’s liberality to him, in my literary pursuit, he remaining behind for the arrangement of his affairs, and afterwards not following me. In this manner, left alone, as I have not yet the practice of Tibetan writing, and sometimes, in dubious cases, I ought to consult an intelligent man for that language, I was not able to arrange the collected materials as I had planned.
3. “At my first application to this language I proposed in myself to collect whatever is required for the preparation of a grammar, a vocabulary, and a general account of [[42]]Tibetan learning and literature. How far I succeeded in my purpose, I beg leave first to give a short enumeration of the materials which I have now in my possession; secondly, of the insight I acquired into the Tibetan; and, lastly, of my intention for the future. Then, firstly,
4. “It was by the medium of the Persian language that I learned so much from the Tibetan, that, after my return to Ladak, I could communicate my ideas to the Lama, and engage him to assist me in my undertaking. He writes very well both the capital and the small characters, is acquainted with the grammatical structure of the Tibetan language, with arithmetic, rhetoric, poesy, and dialectic. Medicine, astronomy, and astrology are his professions; about twenty years ago, in searching after knowledge, he visited in six years many parts of Tibet, Teshi Lhunpo, Lassa, Bootan, &c., and also Nepal. He knows the whole system of their religion, has a general knowledge of everything that is contained in their books, and of customs, manners, economy, and of the polite language used among the nobility, and in the sacred volumes; speaking respectfully to superiors. He acquired a great deal of geography and history respecting the Tibetan countries. He is now about fifty-two years old; he is not a resident in a monastery, having married about twelve years ago the widow of the Yangla Raja. He is the chief physician of Ladak, and sometimes the chief secretary employed by Government in writing to Teshi Lhunpo, and Lassa.
5. “It was this man I spoke of who, in the course of three months after my arrival at that place, wrote down, at my request, some thousand words arranged after certain heads, and since he had many books with him containing collections of words, and could easily procure others from the neighbouring monasteries, he gave me such account of technical terms used in arts and sciences, that I acquired sufficient information to be interested in the Tibetan literature, and to pursue in certain order the study I was engaged in. [[43]]
6. “In the first place, he enumerated the names or attributes of the Supreme Intelligence, the first person in the Tibetan Trinity, in more than one hundred and ten terms, which frequently occur in their religious books, and are highly expressive of the Supreme Being respecting His perfections, and are the same as we have in our own theological systems, or in the works of the ancient Greek and Roman poets. There are, besides many others, seven chief emanations or incarnations (Nirmankaya, in Sanskrit) of this Supreme Being, called commonly Buddhas, of whom Sakya (who has more than twelve names, is addressed in the sacred volumes frequently as Gotama, principally by Brahmins), which is a very ancient family name of his ancestors, was the last in appearing in the world, and probably was the same with the most ancient Zoroaster, and must have lived some centuries before the age of Ninus, the great king of Assyria. Champa (the Clemency), Maitreya in Sanskrit, is to come hereafter.
7. “The Lama proceeded afterwards on the Second Person of the Trinity, which is called the ‘Chief of Morality,’ and gave me thirty names of the moral doctrine, upon which there are many treatises in the sacred volumes.
8. “The Third Person of the Trinity is called ‘the Chief Collector or Promoter of Virtue’ (the Holy Ghost, agreeably to our faith); such promoters of virtue are all the teachers of moral doctrine or religion. Among these the most perfect are styled in Tibetan ‘Byang-chhub Sems-d’pah’; in Sanskrit, Bodhisatva, a saint. They are represented to be of ten different degrees of perfection; to be immortal; free from passive metempsychosis; and to possess great powers or faculties of mind for the promotion of universal happiness in the world. There are many appellative or common names, as also proper or peculiar ones, to express such imagined or supposed beings, which all have the signification of excellent qualities or virtues. There is also a list of other saints of inferior abilities. [[44]]
9. “After these follows a full register of all the gods, goddesses, and their families, heroes, good and bad spirits in the upper and lower regions, with names of their habitations, of their offices, &c. There are many appellative names for the expression of a god or angel; also many attributes or names of every peculiar divinity in their mythology. The Brahma of the Indians (Uranos, Cœlum of the Greeks and Romans) in the Tibetan has more than twenty names. Vishnoo (Chronos, Saturn), twenty-five, among which is Narayana, the most beloved son; Titan, his brother, has ten. For Iswar or Iswara (Zeus, Jupiter), thirty; and so on for Indra and the other imagined guardians of the ten corners of the world. For the Rirap (Sumeru, Olympus) and the whole system of the ancient mythology there are hundreds of names; also for the phenomena or meteors in the atmosphere; among the planets, the sun has more than one hundred and twenty names or attributes; and so on; the others also have many appellations, which in poetical works and astronomy are often introduced. There is also an exact description of the twelve zodiacal signs, of twenty-eight constellations, and of everything belonging to astronomy. Further—
10. “He has given a complete account of the human body, specifying every member, articulation, fluid substances and distempers thereof, so fully as it is required for an intelligent physician to know the structure of our body. There is a full enumeration of all the good qualities, as also of all the defects and diseases. Afterwards follow the faculties or powers of our mind, with their opposite defects; then are classified the virtues and vices. There is also a very copious enumeration of everything relating to our dresses, furniture, victuals, family, parentage, &c., &c.
11. “Then follows the enumeration of all quadrupeds, birds, amphibious animals, fishes, conchs or shells, insects, and worms, with several designations. Vegetables and [[45]]trees, shrubs, plants, all sorts of corn, pulse, flowers, herbs, &c. Minerals, and different kinds of earth or soil, stones (common and precious), salts, metals, &c. &c. Words for all sorts of instruments employed in farming, manufactures, and every kind of workmanship; arms and everything relating to war. All sorts of pronouns, numbers, adjectives, with their opposites. Inward and outward properties of bodies, colours, figures, technical terms, with several distinctions in arts and sciences. Names of officers, civil and military. Ecclesiastical persons, orders, dignities, and different sects in Tibet; their great names and their titles; monasteries or convents, and their buildings; respecting religion and superstition. Verbs, participles. In a word, there is a full enumeration of whatever we can meet within the region of the elements, as they are called, namely, the earth, water, fire, air, ether, and in the intellectual kingdom. These all were arranged after my direction and plan.
12. “Besides this vocabulary of the most necessary words which I have now with me, written all by the same Lama in the Tibetan capital character, I have another large collection in Sanskrit and Tibetan (the Sanskrit also being written in the Tibetan capital character, as they early adapted their alphabet to express properly every Sanskrit word), copied from the Stangyur Do division, 90 volumes, from the 223d leaf to the 377th, consisting of 60 sheets of common Cashmerian paper, having writing but on one side, and having on every page 32 lines. This vocabulary, arranged after certain matters or subjects under general heads, contains many thousand words of every description; several distinctions and divisions highly interesting in order to understand better the whole system and principles of the Buddhistic doctrine.
13. “As there is frequent mention made both in the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur’ of the five sciences of the greater class as: sgra-rigpa, gtantziks-rigpa, ḇzo-rigpa, sman-rigpa, and nangdon-rigpa, corresponding to our philology or [[46]]grammar, sabda in Sanskrit; philosophy or logic, hetu in Sanskrit; technology, silpa in Sanskrit; medicine, vaidya in Sanskrit, and divinity; the five small ones of the lesser class, as s̱nyanṅak, sdebsbyor, nonthol, dasgar and skar-rtsis (rhetoric, poesy, lexicography, dance music, and astronomy). The same person, at my request, wrote me a short account on grammar, and on the five sciences mentioned in the last place. On about five sheets the history of medicine, and the contents of its eight branches, arranged in chapters after the system of the most celebrated physicians, also in two sheets an account on astronomy, to find the places of the sun, moon, and planets, and to calculate eclipses. I have also in about ten sheets an account of the whole religious system of the Buddhists, written, at my request, in fine capital characters by a Lama of great reputation, a relative and friend of the Lama whose pupil I was. For an account respecting learning in general, and logic in particular, I have the answer of a celebrated Rab-hbyams-pa (doctor of philosophy), who was twenty-five years at Lassa, and now is sixty-five years old.
14. “Although in modern times, in Tibetan countries, there are several works on different branches of science, but the bases of them all are the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur’ (Commandment’s version, and Instruction’s version, on account of their being a version or translation from the Sanskrit); they correspond in signification to Bed and Shastra in Sanskrit. The first contains the doctrine and moral precepts of Shakya, in accordance as after his death his principal disciples arranged them. The second, written by ancient Indians and a few Chinese learned men or Pundits, is filled with treatises containing commentaries on the first, many original works on religious rites, ceremonies, arts, and sciences.
15. “The ‘Kahgyur’ family, in manuscript exemplars (copies), were divided according to the size of paper, characters employed in copying, into more or less, but generally [[47]]in 100 volumes. They form now in printed exemplars 90 volumes, with an additional one, containing, on 124 leaves, a prolix and historical account on several subjects, not reducible under one general head. I have now in my possession an exact copy, word for word, of the last 42 leaves, specifying the contents of the above-mentioned 90 volumes, with all their divisions and subdivisions, mentioning the names of the translators, the number of chapters and leaves in every volume, written in capital characters by a good writer, on common Kashmirian paper, bearing ink but on one side, in 30 sheets. It is impossible for me to give now a detailed account of the contents. I shall mention, therefore, the principal parts.
16. “According to this Register, the ‘Dulva’ (education, Vinaya in Sanskrit), in 13 volumes, in a very easy and agreeable style, gives interesting historical accounts on wars, particularly between the kings of Magadha and Anga, in Paks-yul (arya in Sanskrit, the highland); and for moral instruction relates many hundred fables, apologues, and parables. The She’s-rab-kyi-p’ha-rol-tu-p’hyin pa, by contraction ‘Shér-p’hyin’ (evergoing or everlasting wisdom; Prajna’ pàramità in Sanskrit), written on moral subjects, contains, in 12 volumes, many excellent moral precepts.
17. “The ‘Do-de,’ or merely ‘Do’ (rule, treatise, &c.; sútra in Sanskrit), in 30 vols., contains much from natural philosophy, divinity, and astronomy. I have with me two specimens of this class on thirty pages, elegantly copied by the Lama himself. The first is taken from the 30th volume of the ‘Do,’ signed with the A, the last letter of the Tibetan alphabet, beginning on the 364th leaf. This is against the holding so scrupulously on castes. When, on a certain occasion, the King of Kosala and a chief Brahmin, who frequented the meetings of Shakya, in a great assembly had expressed their disapproval, that his (Shakya’s) nephew, Kungavo, although of royal family, should marry the daughter of a common man. Shakya tells a story how, anciently in India, such and such a [[48]]chief of the Sudra caste, by his learning and address, obtained the beautiful daughter of a Brahmin of high rank, for his well-educated son. This story, in the above-mentioned volume, consists of sixty leaves, and gives interesting accounts of the four castes, their origin, and a summary report on the arts and sciences. The second specimen is taken from the 2d volume of the ‘Do,’ signed by ‘Kh,’ beginning on the 120th leaf, and is against the covering of the face of women. The principal, newly-married wife of Shakya, ‘Satsuma,’ being solicited by her maid-servants to keep her face covered while sitting with others, expresses her sentiments against the veil in a few elegant verses, with which her father-in-law was so well pleased, that he bestowed on her a great quantity of precious stones of all sorts.
18. “The ‘Gyud-de,’ or ‘Gyud’ (line, canon, original work, &c.; Tantra in Sanskrit), in 21 vols., treats on different subjects,—natural philosophy, medicine, astronomy, astrology, charms, secret praises (snyags) to imaginary spirits, prayers, &c. For a specimen of this class I have a correct copy of that same piece which, in 1722, in the last century, excited the curiosity of the learned in Europe. It is taken from the ninth volume, signed by T., beginning on the 336th leaf.—Vide P. Giorgi, Alphab. Tibet., p. 665.
19. “I will not go further in specifying the other divisions of works or treatises in the remaining twenty-two volumes. It is enough to state: they contain, collectively, ample stores on the political state and genius of the ancient Indians, from the Sita (Sihon, Jaxartes), on this side of the great snowy mountains, downwards to Ceylon.
20. “There is frequent mention made, almost in every volume of the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur,’ of an opposite religious sect, styled in Tibetan ‘Mo-stegs-chan,’ Tirthika in Sanskrit, of which there are many different branches. Judging from the proper meaning in the Tibetan, and according to their principles, they were Determinists or Fatalists, and the Buddhists Indeterminists or Libertinists, [[49]]which distinction we find also among the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers. We know very well at present that the Mohammedans are generally addicted to the doctrine of Fatalism. The Buddhists declare we have free-will in our actions, and, consequently, we can be punished or rewarded for our bad or good deeds. Hence the Hell and the Paradise, the place of punishment and reward after death, and the good and bad metempsychosis, with their several distinctions in their religious system. They are all ignorant of our principles and religion, and think we are all of the same principles as the Mohammedans (vide P. Giorgi, Alph. Tib., p. 501, the letter of the Pro Lama, at Lassa, while the Dalai Lama, Bezah-zar-boba, was exiled in China, written 1730, to P. Horatius, to be transmitted to Rome to the Pope).
21. “The ‘Stangyur’ (in 224 vols., 76,409 leaves, of about two feet long, on each side seven lines of middle-sized characters) contains the works of several ancient pundits in Asia, Kashmir, Sindhu, Ujain, Bengal, Nepal, and other countries. According to the register (which in 144 leaves makes the last volume), one volume, signed by the letter K, contains many praises and hymns to several divinities and saints.
22. “The ‘Gyud Class,’ in 36 volumes, contains more than 2600 treatises on several subjects, such as natural philosophy, astronomy, religious rites, ceremonies, prayers, charms, superstitious sentences, &c.
23. “The ‘Do’ Class, in 136 volumes, contains science after certain divisions. Ninety-four volumes are filled up with theological subjects, dogmatic, polemic, or controversial and moral. The following 21 volumes treat on philosophy, theoretical and practical, on logic, dialectic, metaphysics, and ethics. It is very probable that, whatever exercised the speculative mind of the ancient philosophers in Greece and Rome, respecting the origin and end of the world, or of the human soul: we meet with all those or like subtleties in these 115 volumes last mentioned. [[50]]
24. “The next two volumes contain grammar, rhetoric, poesy, and synonymy, afterwards five volumes, medicine. In the next volume there are several treatises on different arts—on alchemy, the mode of preparing quicksilver, ether, &c. The rest, mostly written by ancient Tibetan scholars, contain treatises on grammar, collections of vocabularies in Sanskrit and Tibetan, of which I have now with me a copy of the largest mentioned above.
25. “As I have copied specimens for the style and contents of the ‘Kahgyur,’ I have taken also from the ‘Stangyur’ some pattern-pieces. The first is on divinity, and gives an explanation of the ten moral precepts. The second is taken from technology, and enumerates what must be the proportion in feet, inches, lines of a statue representing Buddha or Shakya. The third, from medicine, is written on temperaments, viz., sanguine, choleric, and phlegmatic, &c. The fourth is from philosophy, on the elements of right knowledge. The fifth, from ethics (niti shastra), a collection of apophthegms, prudential and moral. From grammar, a treatise on twenty Sanskrit particles, which, if compounded with nouns and verbs, change their signification in several manners. Every particle is illustrated by examples in Tibetan. The twenty Sanskrit particles are the following:—Pră, pará, á, sam, anu, apa, nir, antar, vi, ava, ni, adhi, api, ati, su, ut, abhi, prati, pari, upa. It was written by a celebrated ancient pundit or professor, Chandra Komi, in Bengal, from whom, according to historical accounts contained in the ‘Stangyur,’ the modern city of Chandernagore (near Calcutta) obtained its name. From this learned man there are in the ‘Stangyur’ principally, many excellent treatises on grammar. All these specimens here enumerated fill thirty-two pages, written in large capital characters. The volumes and pages are quoted.
26. “The whole contents of the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur,’ with the pattern pieces copied by the Lama and by another good writer, make a volume of 277 pages, in [[51]]folio, on Kashmirian common paper, bound in leather at Kashmir, which Mr. Moorcroft had the kindness to give me on my return to Tibet. This and all other papers on Tibetan literature now in my hands belong to Mr. Moorcroft (consequently to the British Government), to whose liberality I am infinitely obliged.
27. “But since the Governor-General in Council favoured me with pecuniary aid, I beg leave to communicate my wish and plan for the future. The Tibetan literature merits, without doubt, to be fully explored. In return of my acknowledgment for the received liberal assistance, if Government pleases to permit me to be under the protection of the commanding officer at Sabathoo, and to devote myself again to the Tibetan, I hope that if I could join either the same Lama, to whose intelligence I owe now my insight into this class of Asiatic literature, or be able to procure another intelligent person, I shall be able to finish what I have commenced in the course of one year; and then
28. “I shall have the honour to present to the Government in English (a.) a large theoretical and practical grammar of the Tibetan language, on the five principal parts of the grammar, viz., Orthography (very difficult in the Tibetan, but sufficiently regulated by the best grammarians, in their collections of many words for the same purpose), Orthoepy (variable according to different provinces—can be fixed for the European students), Etymology (very simple and copious), Syntax, and Prosody (will not take much room). Specifying in etymology every part of speech, giving perfect patterns of declensions for personal, possessive, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, and reciprocal pronouns; for numbers, cardinal, ordinal, and adverbial; for adjectives and nouns of every kind; patterns of conjugations for verbs, neuter, active, intransitive, transitive, passive, causal, &c.; a complete catalogue of adverbs, prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections, and the proper use of them in the syntax. (b.) A vocabulary of more than 30,000 words in Tibetan and [[52]]English, introducing all technical terms used in arts and sciences, leaving alone every conjecture respecting the relation of Tibetan words to any other language. (c.) A short account on the Tibetan literature. (d.) A succinct history of Tibet, in Tibetan language, taken from the works of native historians, word for word, accompanied by a short geography and chronology in Tibetan. (e.) Selected specimens of every kind in Tibetan.
29. “If there is no objection, I beg you will do me the favour to obtain the Government’s leave for me, to proceed with my literary labours to Calcutta, as soon as I have completed them.
30. “In support of the possibility to accomplish my engagement, I beg leave to state that I am acquainted with several ancient and modern European and Asiatic languages, and that my mother-tongue, the Hungarian idiom, is nearly related, not in words, but in structure, with the Turkish, Indian, Chinese, Mogul, and Tibetan languages. In every language of Europe, except the Hungarian, Turkish, and those of Finnish origin, there are prepositions like in the languages of Hebrew or Arabic origin, but in our tongue, like in the Indian, Chinese, and Tibetan, we have postpositions, and for the formation of different cases in declension, we have affixes with which to form from the same root several sorts of verbs. Our idiom[2] is not inferior either to the Sanskrit or Arabic, and I beg leave to confess that I am not merely a linguist—I have learnt several languages to learn polite literature, to enter into the cabinet of curiosity of remote ages, to acquire useful knowledge, and to live in every age and with every celebrated nation, as I do now with the British.
31. “It is recorded in Tibetan books that the ruin of the ancient Buddhists in the kingdom of Magadha, happened by the Turks, who, taking the city of Otantrapur, destroyed their colleges, killed many priests, and that those who escaped from the common peril fled southwards [[53]]to India. I cannot now say in what year. There is frequent mention made of Magadha in Asia, the scene (according to what is related) of the most illustrious actions and the home of the most celebrated learned men. I have not yet had sufficient time to search after curiosities: I must first learn the language. I have read but few volumes as yet from the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur’; but if we consider the words of a prophecy by Shakya recorded in the ‘Kahgyur’ (probably introduced thither in modern ages from historical evidences), that ‘his religion or doctrine shall advance from north to south, from south towards the north, and from north to north,’ as it verily happened, since historians mention the Buddhists in Asia, Kashmir, Sindh, Malwa, Ujain, Singhala, Kalingah, Malabar, Ceylon, Bengal, Burmah, Bhutan, Tibet, and the Mogul countries in recent times: we have every reason to suppose that this Asia [eminence, the high country, which is a Sanskrit word, and its literal translation in Tibetan is Pakspa; this also is a title of honour for persons of high dignity, spiritual and secular, in the same manner as we use the words ‘highness,’ ‘eminence,’ ‘excellency’] is the same as the Asia of Ptolemy and of other ancient geographers and historians, and is an appellative name for high countries in general, and comprehends all the ancient Scythia on this side of the Imaus, consequently includes the Transoxiana, Khorassan, and Bactria. In the same manner India or Hindia (from hin, hon, hinta = lowness, or Hindes, low countries) must have been a common or appellative name for many countries; which appellation the ancients extended so far as Arabia and Egypt, and mentioned sometimes three Indias.
32. “This opinion is confirmed by the splendid accounts of almost all the historians of antiquity who had mentioned these countries; and among other Asiatic authors by two Syrian historians, Abulferagius and Abulfida, in their ‘Dynasties and Annals,’ and consequently must have been the same central country, whence, according to Sir William Jones’s opinion, the Chinese, Tartars, [[54]]Indians, Persians, Syrians, Arabians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Gauls, Goths, Germans, and the Sclavonians derived their civilisation or culture in their arts and sciences. There is also, according to Niebuhr, existing in the inland countries of Arabia, an ancient tradition, that they were civilised by a people which descended from the environs of Samarcund.
33. “In the eastern and north-western parts of Europe there are many vestiges of the ancient Buddhism and of Sanskrit words among all the peoples, who but of late (after the time of Charlemagne) were converted to the Christian faith by means of the sword. But the most numerous monuments thereof are Sanskrit words used by Greek and Roman writers in their accounts relating to ancient Thrace (Rumelia), Macedonia, and the countries on both sides of the Danube, Servia, Pannonia, and Dacia.
34. “I beg leave to give a few instances of my assertion. Pannonia is a literal translation of the Sanskrit word ‘sarbiya,’ now applied to a province on the south side of the Danube, of which Belgrade is the capital, formerly belonging to Hungary, now[3] under Turkish dominion. Dacia, or, after Greek orthography, Dakia (the modern Lower Hungary, Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia, Bessarabia), was probably an appellative name for those countries, on account of their being abundant in grapes, from the Sanskrit word ‘dakh’ or ‘dak,’[4] signifying ‘the grape,’ in the form of the adjective ‘dakhia,’ or ‘dakia,’ ‘the graped.’ This is confirmed by other historical facts. Ancient geographers and historians mention the Agathyrsi (in the same countries probably I enumerated above). Thyrsus is Bacchus’ rod with the winded vines, and was an emblem of wine. The great river Dnieper, in the south-western part of modern Russia, is called by the ancients Borysthenes. This is a Hungarian name signifying ‘the wine—godded’ (the river being taken for the country), from ‘bor,’ ‘wine,’ and ‘isten,’ ‘god,’ with the adjective affix ‘es,’ equivalent to the English ‘ed.’ [[55]]
35. “Among the many names, in different languages, designating wandering people, as, e.g., Scytha (probably from the Sclavonian: Skitati, ‘to wander’), Heber, or Eber, Aavor, Bunger (all from the Hebrew or Arabic, Vandal, &c., there is also a Sanskrit word, ‘Geta,’ signifying walking, going, wandering, the English ‘to go,’ the German ‘gehen,’ are derived probably from the same source). The Getæ are mentioned and described by ancient writers in Central Asia, the modern Chinese Tartary, near the Oxus and the Caspian Sea, the Massagetæ, farther on the north-western shores of the Black Sea, in Thrace (now Rumelia), on both sides of the Danube. Hence Ovid, in his banishment at Tomi, near the Black Sea, in modern Bulgaria, says, ‘Jam didici getice sarmaticeque loqui!’ ‘I have already learnt to speak the Getic and the Sarmatic (Sclavonian) languages.’ The modern Indians do not use the word ‘geta’ as a participle noun; they have changed it into ‘jata;’ but they form the preterite of the same verb, ‘giya,’ regularly from ‘jata’ (the jat tribes in India). Among the attributes of the Supreme Being, or his representative, the Buddha, the first name is ‘Bhagvan’ (overcomer, a Sanskrit word), the second ‘Tatha-gata,’ walking on the same road, i.e., the ‘Just.’ Both these names also highly confirm every adopted opinion respecting Buddhism and the Sanskrit words in Europe. From the frequent mention of the Bhagvan (God) by the Buddhists, I think bigoted Christians, by way of contempt, called them Pagans, and the second word, ‘Tathagata,’ confirms the proper signification of ‘geta,’ mentioned above.[5]
36. “We know very little of the Parthians, the rivals [[56]]of the Romans for empire through more than four hundred years. But since Justin, the Roman historian, calls them the banished Scythians (exules Scytharum), and since, on public monuments and coins, there are many evidences of their being friends, admirers, and patrons of the Greeks, we may take them to be the same leading people as the Getæ in Europe and in Asia. Historians mention several princes of Parthian dynasty in Asia Minor (Mithridates, in the Greek empire, at Constantinople, in Macedonia; vide Gibbon’s History). After the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans, it is probable that the Parthian chiefs retired towards the Danube to their relatives, and from animosity and the great hatred they conceived against the Romans, never afterwards ceased to infest the Roman empire with all their auxiliaries. Hence Virgil in the Eclogue: ‘Aut Ararim parthus bibet aut Germania Tigrim.’ If we suppose that Alexander himself was of Parthian extraction, we can easily explain his successes in conquering Asia, and the subsisting for so long a time of the empire of the Greeks in Bœotia.
37. “We must not wonder that in the ancient Greek and Roman authors we find but slender accounts respecting Pannonia, Dacia, and the other countries on the Danube. Carthage was before the sight of Rome, yet very little is known now of its internal state. The Getæ probably descended successively from Asia (forced by Asiatic revolutions) [[57]]towards Assyria and Egypt, on one side, in a very remote age, called by these people, from their passing the great rivers Tigris and Euphrates, ‘Heber’ (an appellative name for wandering people), whence, about the time of Moses, several principal persons, forced to leave Phœnicia and Egypt, fled to the islands of Archipelago, Rhodes, Crete, &c.—hence the Pelasgi,—and on the other side, by Persia, Asia Minor, and so on to Thrace, Macedonia, and Thessaly. The modern language of Thessaly, and of some districts in Macedonia, blended with many Latin words, is the same as that of the Wallachians in Lower Hungary, Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia, and contains many Sanskrit words. It is totally different from the Hungarian idiom both in words and structure. There is a peculiarity of that language in the use of definite articles. For instance, ‘Domnu,’ ‘Dominus’ in Latin, ‘a lord’ in English; with the affixed definite article ul we have ‘domnul,’ ‘the lord’ in English. The feminine is ‘domna,’ ‘domina’ in Latin; ‘a lady,’ or ‘the lady,’ in English.
38. “In the Hungarian language the definite article a (or az before words beginning with a vowel, like the Hebrew ha, Arabic el, English the) is invariably put before every case and number. The Greek, German, French, Italian, Spanish, &c., languages also have definite articles put before nouns, but they vary according to the different genders, cases, and numbers. The Latin, Sclavonic, and Turkish languages have no distinct signs for the expression of a definitive or emphatic locution, like the the in English. There are also in the Tibetan, Sanskrit, Indian, Syrian, Wallachian, and Swedish languages certain signs denoting distinction in gender, marking a definitive and emphatic locution, but all these languages have the peculiarity of such particles being affixed to the nouns. Such affixes in the Tibetan are for masculines, pa, po, va, vo; for feminine, ma, mo, e.g., philingpa, European man; philingma, a European woman; rgyelpo, the prince, king; rgyelmo, the princess, the queen; lavo, the god; lamo, [[58]]the goddess; zlaba, the moon; nyima, the sun; contrary, nya-rgyas, full moon. In Sanskrit, deo, a god; deva, the god; devi, the goddess; raj, a prince, king; raja, the king; gang, a river; ganga, the river. The sign for such an affix in the Syrian is the same as in the Sanskrit; for the Wallachian I refer to the above-mentioned example; for the Swedish I cannot now cite an example. As in the Indian, Persian, Sanskrit, the word sived or sifed signifies white, fair. I may conjecture that the Swedes have taken their name from those Scythian people who spoke the Sanskrit language (the Getæ) when they mixed with them in Asia Minor and in the south-eastern parts of Europe, and passed many centuries together, like the Gauls, Germans, and Saxons; and it was in that time and in those regions that they all adopted many Sanskrit words, and that peculiarity mentioned above respecting the definitive article affix, like the Wallachians and Syrians, who have taken all these peculiarities in their language from those Scythians with whom they lived long since and formed a people under one government.
39. “The ancient Greek and Sclavonic languages, by their structure, particularly by the use of many particles, and of duals, both in the declensions of nouns and in the conjugations of verbs, show sufficiently that they were formed after the ancient Sanskrit. Those Scythians (Getæ) whose idiom was the Sanskrit, were few in number, like the Europeans in modern times in America and Asia; but as they were learned, well disciplined, possessing wealth, and being expert in warfaring with elephants, chariots (retha in Sanskrit, reda in Latin), and on horseback, with a few people displayed wonderful actions, in the same manner as the first Europeans in America and Asia with their artillery. I return now to Buddha.
40. “In the same manner as Europeans, Christians formed the word Pagan from Bhágván (the contemptuous name to design a Buddhist); so also did the Asiatics, principally the Mohammedans. They call both the Buddhists and [[59]]the Hindoos Bud or Budparast, derived from the noun Buddh, or with the affix a, Buddha, and from the Persian verb perishten, to worship, which, therefore, signifies a worshipper of Buddha, and is no contemptuous name by itself. But the Mohammedans generally use it so by way of contempt, and mean by it an idolater.
41. “There were in ancient times in many countries of Europe and Asia several representations of Buddha (Oden or Woden of the Goths and Germans, &c.) by statues; but afterwards, owing to religious hatred, they were all thrown down by the Christians and the Mohammedans. There is yet in ancient Bactria, at Bamian, on the road between Cabool and Balk, a large colossal statue, with two others of smaller size at a certain distance from the first, hewn in the mountain-rock. It is very probable this was a representation of Buddha, or Shakya, with his disciples represented in painting on both sides of the wall. The painting is in the same style as is usual amongst Tibetans or amongst the Christians of the Greek Church, to represent saints, with the radiant or solar circle round the head. In a vocabulary, entitled ‘Amara Kosha’ (Immortal Treasure), written by Amara Sinha (Immortal Lion), translated into Tibetan at Yampu (Katmandú), in Nepaul, there is in a single line a short and exact explanation in Tibetan of the word ‘Buddha’—‘Buddha rgad dang mkhas-pa yin;’ literally in English, ‘Buddha, an old and wise man’ (Buddha, senex sapiens). It was so indeed, as he lived eighty years, and was a genius of his age; but afterwards, his moral principles and his doctrine being formed into an ideal system by his disciples, his followers worshipped him like Christians do Jesus. That the doctrine of Buddha must have been diffused among many people, is evident from a similarity of terms in denomination in many languages of a spiritual head or chief ecclesiastic; thus ‘Buddha’ in Sanskrit, ‘peer’ in Persian, ‘sheik’ in Arabic, ‘presbyter’ in Greek and other European languages. I mention all these [[60]]facts to excite the curiosity of the learned to search after the ancient state of the Buddhists, and to respect a religion which is founded on the same moral principles with our own, namely, on the love of all men. I beg leave to communicate here a verse in four lines, each of seven syllables, containing a moral maxim taken from the ‘Stangyur.’
“In Tibetan—
“hTams tsad chhos ni mnyan par-bya,
hTos nas rab tu gsung-bya ste:
‘Kang zhig bdak nyid mi hdöd pa,
De dak kzhan la mi baho.’ ”
“Literally in English—
“Hear ye all this precept, hear,
Having heard do not forget—
‘Whatever I wish not to myself,
I never do it to another.’ ”
“The Mongols, a great and mighty nation in Central Asia, whose ancestors were the companions of Gengiz Khan in desolating the world, since the last four or five centuries, after being converted to Buddha, are a quiet and religious people, and faithful followers of Shakya.
42. “Although ignorance and barbarism have destroyed the ancient favourite seats of learning and civilisation, yet before this had happened: for the benefit of mankind, many works of learned men—which so conspicuously contribute in every country to public happiness, by forming the heart, illuminating the mind, and exciting to industry—were rescued from the deluge of destruction, by being transported to Tibet. This was the effect of the conquest of Persia by the Mohammedans in the year 636 after Christ.
43. “According to M. de Guignes’ account (vide P. Giorgi, ‘Alphabetum Tibetanum,’ p. 417), Fo-a-Xaca (Shakya) was born 1027 years before Christ. A Tibetan annalist, the author of ‘rGyel rabs gsal-vahi mé-long’ [[61]](a clear mirror of royal pedigree), tells us that it is recorded in the Chinese Great Depter (memoir), called ‘Zhu-Hu-hou,’ that, till the Emperor Thang and his contemporary in Tibet,[6] there elapsed, since Shakya, 1566 years. Taikún, the son and successor of Thang, was contemporary of Srongtsan Gambo, the son and successor of Nami Srongtsan (in Tibet). After the concurrent testimonies of all historians in Tibet, it was Srongtsan Gambo who, through his two wives, married from Nepaul and China, and by the ability of his minister (who was educated in India), Sembhota (which name was given to him by the Indians, signifying a good or excellent Tibetan), introduced into Tibet the doctrine of Buddha or Shakya, and encouraged learning. Mr. Gibbon, in his History, mentioned the king of Persia,[7] who, after the conquest of Seleucia, the capital of Persia, 636 after Christ, retired to the Emperor Katai Taikun, of the Thong dynasty. In the Chinese history of P. du Halde, Thong commenced a new dynasty about the end of the sixth century, succeeded by Taikun, his son, who favoured the Christians. Now, from these data, we can say with certainty that Srongtsan Gambo (the twenty-fourth in the order of the Tibetan kings, and who is supposed to have lived in the first century of our era, according to the ‘Alph. Tib.’ of Giorgi, &c.) reigned in the seventh century after Christ; consequently there are many mistakes in the above-mentioned ‘Alphabetum Tibetanum.’ With this now fixed epoch agree very well both M. de Guignes and the ‘Zhu-Hu-hou,’ already alluded to; consequently, Nami Srongtsan, the contemporary of Thang, was reigning in Tibet about 539 after Christ, but it is uncertain how long afterwards he reigned. It is enough his son and successor, Srongtsan Gambo, succeeding in the thirteenth year of his age, lived eighty-three years. The sixth after Srongtsan Gambo, in the ninth century, was Khri Srong déhu tsan. He favoured learning and learned [[62]]men, and contributed much to the establishment of the Buddhistic religion in Tibet.
44. “Many works in the Tibetan volumes end with this wish of the author or translator (Sahi steng ma nyi-zal ltargyur chik), “Be it on the earth like the sun and moon.” They were a long time hidden from the curiosity of Europe, and it is but of late that we have received some accounts respecting the literary treasures in Tibet. For an easy and agreeable way to the storehouse of this interesting ancient literature, we are indebted to the public-spirited zeal and liberality of Mivang, a regent or king at Lassa, from 1729 till 1746 of the last century. According to his order, whatever time has spared from the works of antiquity of foreign countries, were collected, arranged in registers, and printed by types engraved in wooden tables of birch tree.
45. “The Kahgyur (in 98 volumes, with separate index, every volume being 2 feet long and 8 inches broad; on each side of the leaves are seven lines in large capital characters; in every volume, taken on an average, are more than 300 leaves) was finished in 1731 before Christ, in about fifteen months.
“The Stangyur (consisting of 224 volumes, the whole making 76,409 leaves, having on each side seven lines in somewhat closer and smaller capital characters than those of the ‘Kahgyur’) was finished in one year, in 1742 after Christ. There is at the beginning of each work an index or register (karchak, in Tibetan), giving a detailed account of the expenses, both in kind and cash, names of people of every description (more than 3000) who were employed on the work, and of the gratuities and contributions towards it, both of secular and ecclesiastical persons of high rank and wealth.
46. “The wooden typical tables yet in continual use, deposited in Narthang, a large building or monastery near Teshi Lhunpo, are in the possession and disposition of Panchen Rin-po chhe, the great Lama residing at Teshi Lhunpo. [[63]]
47. “In Derghe, the capital of Kham-yul, or Potchenpo, Great Tibet, about forty days’ journey eastward from Lassa, there is another recent and more correct edition of the ‘Kahgyur,’ which, I am informed, is highly esteemed. Besides these two great works, there are many other printed volumes written by Tibetan learned men.
48. “There are in the ‘Stangyur,’ on about 18 leaves, passports for such pious men who desire to visit Kalapsa in Shambhála. The mentioning of a great desert of twenty days’ journey, and of white sandy plains on both sides of the Sita (Sihon, Yaxartes), render it very probable that the Buddhist Jerusalem (I call it so), in the most ancient times, must have been beyond the Yaxartes, and probably in the country of the Yugurs.
49. “Kun-dgah Snying-po, the author of the above-mentioned ‘rGyel rabs gsal-vahi mé-long’ (sec. 43), who wrote in the monastery of Sa-skya (two days’ journey westwards from Teshi Lhunpo, a very celebrated place for all sorts of manuscripts), about 800 years ago, says: ‘We have received from the East, from China (Gya-nak, the black plain), medicine, astronomy, and astrology; from the South, from India (Gya-kan, the white plain), orthodox religion; from the West, from Nepaul and Sokyul, goods and victuals (Sok-po is the common name in Tibet for Moguls, Kalkas, Kalmucks, &c.); from the North (from the countries of the Hors and Yugurs), books of laws and of workmanship.’ All those people in Central Asia who speak the Turkish language are called in Tibet the Hor; and Gengiz Khan, according to this and other authors, was of this race.
50. “From the same author, there is another historical work, entitled ‘Depter Ningpo’ (ancient memoir). I was not able to procure it, but I am informed it is a very interesting work, particularly for the history of Gengiz Khan. His apophthegms, from another work I am acquainted with, are very judicious and elegant.
51. “In the Tibetan books the name of the Yugurs is [[64]]written Yoogoor, and their country sometimes is called Yoogera. I could not learn further any other interesting things on the Yoogoors, except that in the ‘Stangyur’s’ register is mentioned a small treatise translated from the Yoogoor language, containing a short account on the wandering from one country to another of an original statue representing Shakya, and which is now kept at Lassa, brought thither from China by Kongcho, the wife of Srongtsan Gambo.
52. “The most ancient Buddha on record, I believe, was the same as Zoroaster, who, according to an ancient author, lived in about the same age with Ninus, the great king of Assyria. In support of this opinion the following æras, being the times in which Shakya is supposed to have lived, speak for themselves. The first four æras are, according to the opinions of the most learned men in Tibet and Nepal, in Srongtsan Gambo’s time, in the seventh century after Christ. The tenth æra or opinion is that which in modern times has most authority at Lassa.
53. “In the present year of the Christian æra (1825) the Tibetans count the nineteenth year (shingmocha) of the fourteenth cycle of sixty years, which commenced with the new moon in February last. But this mode of counting years is of very recent date, commenced about eight hundred years since, and probably was adopted from the Chinese. As with respect to more ancient times, there is a great uncertainty in chronology: Padma Karpo, a celebrated Lama in the Bhutan country of Tibet, in the twenty-sixth year of the tenth cycle of sixty years, in 1592 after Christ, collected a short disquisition (now extant, in nicely printed copies of thirty-one leaves each), containing the different opinions of learned men in ancient times of Tibet, Nepal, and Kashmere, on the æra of Shakya or Buddha, the great prophet of the Buddhists. These opinions or æras were found to be twelve in number, to which he added his own.
54. “According to these thirteen opinions, the numbers [[65]]of years which elapsed from the death of Shakya till the author’s time, in which he wrote, viz., 1592 A.D., and then the total number of years from Shakya till the present year, 1825 after Christ, would be as follows:—
The Numbers
Of Opinion. Of years till 1592. Till 1825 after Christ. 1st 4012 4245 2d 3738 3971 3d 3725 3958 4th 3729 3962 5th 2900 3133 6th 2342 2575 7th 2243 2476 8th 2136 2369 9th 2470 2703 10th 2427 2660 11th 2166 2399 12th 2474 2707 13th 2650 2883
55. “Thus I have endeavoured, to the best of my abilities, to give a summary report of the contents of the Tibetan books and papers in my possession as Government required from me. Both the Sanskrit and the Tibetan literature open a wide field before me, for future speculation on the history of mankind. I possess the same ardour as I felt at the beginning, when I planned and determined to come to the East. Should these first rough drafts of my labours, arguments, and sentiments have the Government’s approbation, I shall be happy if I can serve them with my ulterior literary researches.”
| Of Opinion. | Of years till 1592. | Till 1825 after Christ. |
| 1st | 4012 | 4245 |
| 2d | 3738 | 3971 |
| 3d | 3725 | 3958 |
| 4th | 3729 | 3962 |
| 5th | 2900 | 3133 |
| 6th | 2342 | 2575 |
| 7th | 2243 | 2476 |
| 8th | 2136 | 2369 |
| 9th | 2470 | 2703 |
| 10th | 2427 | 2660 |
| 11th | 2166 | 2399 |
| 12th | 2474 | 2707 |
| 13th | 2650 | 2883 |
Notwithstanding the change of circumstances and the great progress which has been effected in Oriental literature, and especially in the studies to which Csoma devoted his energies, the above paper, written though it be in imperfect English, will still command respectful consideration at the hands of those who take an interest in [[66]]what Csoma has done. This is his first important essay on Tibetan learning, then so little known; many eminent scholars have since followed in the same direction; Rajendrolála Mitra, one of the greatest living Orientalists, declares “that no European has studied Tibetan with greater success than Csoma did;”[8] while Dr. Malan remarks, “Csoma laid down the foundation, and others merely built upon it.”[9] [[67]]
[1] See Yule’s “Marco Polo,” vol. i. p. 209, regarding Buddhist ritual in China. [↑]
[5] Deductions based upon the etymology and similarity in the pronunciation of certain words, are not safe grounds upon which to rest scientific conclusions. Csoma has frequently shown his distrust of such. Yet such an objection need not preclude our noting down any striking examples which we may have fallen in with.
What may have been the faith of the Magyar ancestors is not yet decided; this subject demands yet further investigation, especially in the direction in which Csoma laboured.
Csoma says, with reference to the study of Tibetan, and especially of the Sanskrit, that his countrymen will find in it a fund of information [[56]]respecting their national origin, manners, customs, and idiom.
Even among the early data of the ancient history of the Hungarians, there are words and names which seem to point unmistakably to their Buddhistic origin. Bihar is an important county in Lower Hungary. Buda, the old capital of Hungary, sounds the same as the name which is still worshipped by hundreds of millions of the human race. Why should it be a far-fetched conclusion to assume that on the neighbouring hills, rising on the banks of the Danube, there stood in ancient times a temple of Buddha,—perhaps a Lama monastery? Below it, on the opposite bank, stretching into the distant plain, was built Pest. “Pest,” “past,” is a Persian word, and expresses the topographical relation which exists between the ancient town of Buda and the new town of Pest. Whether this suggestion is likely to attract the attention of those, who are more competent to judge may be questioned, but the coincidence is very striking, and it is perhaps not out of place to put it on record here. [↑]
[7] Yezdegird, the last of the Sasanian Dynasty. [↑]
[8] Nepalese Buddhist Literature. Calcutta, 1882. Preface, p. xiii. [↑]
[9] “Journal Royal Asiatic Society,” vol. xvi., p. 493. [↑]
CHAPTER IV.
Second journey into Tibet—Csoma’s position as to the Asiatic Society of Bengal—Return to Sabathú.
The favourable view which the Government had taken of Csoma’s intentions, and the resolution which followed, that he should be assisted with a monthly allowance of fifty rupees from the public treasury, dissipated the heavy clouds of uncertainty which hung so long over his fate. He was ready to start on his second journey into Tibet, and actually did so in June 1825.
Mr. Stirling, the Government secretary, in his letter of the 29th of July, made known to Dr. Wilson of the Asiatic Society the intentions of Government, by informing him that the Hungarian traveller, Csoma de Körös, had arrived in the previous November at Sabathú, with a letter of recommendation from Mr. Moorcroft, and that, as the Government and the local authorities had become satisfied that the object which he had in view was the study of the language, literature, and history of Tibet, he had been granted permission to continue his journey, and should, moreover, receive pecuniary assistance whilst so engaged.
“In return for this,” says Mr. Stirling, “Mr. de Körös has expressed his wish to place the results of his literary labours and inquiries at the disposal of the British Government. It appears the Government desirable that we should take advantage of this opportunity for procuring a good grammar and vocabulary of the Tibetan language, and also translations of some of the historical tracts which [[68]]Mr. de Körös states himself to have collected, and the best way of turning his services to account will obviously be through the medium of the Asiatic Society.
“I have been directed, therefore, to transmit to you the accompanying copies of the reports (addressed to Captain Kennedy as above), and to invite the Society to open a communication with him on the subject of his present researches. He will also be requested … to be guided by any advice and suggestions that may be offered by you.”
Csoma de Körös left Sabathú in June on his second visit to Tibet, and after a prolonged journey, of which he gives us some details in the letter below, he settled at the Gonpa or Monastery of Pukdal or Pukhtar, or rather at the adjoining village of Teesa, in the province of Zanskar. On leaving Sabathú he passed through Simla and Kotgurh into the valley of the Sutlej, and was afterwards accompanied by a hill servant named Padma to his destination.
Csoma’s letter to Captain Kennedy is dated the 16th of October. By glancing over the map we can trace the direction which he followed in those hilly tracts. Csoma writes that on this second journey into Zanskar he was anxious to arrive early at Pukdal for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Lama was inclined to make an arrangement for finishing “those elementary works of the Tibetan language for which I have collected materials during my former residence in this country. I had promised, so soon as I should reach this place, and have the Lama’s consent to assist me diligently in my undertaking, to acquaint you with my circumstances. There have elapsed four months since I recommenced my journey, and yet I was not able till now to write with certainty. I beg leave for my tardiness, and shall excuse myself in the following lines for my negligence.
2. “On leaving Sabathú, on the 6th of June, I was not yet decided which route of the two I should take, whether that by Kulu or by Besarh; but being furnished by your [[69]]kindness with recommendatory passports for either case, and being informed that in the upper part of the Besarh there are some villages in which the language is Tibetan, and that there are also some monasteries,—in hope to find an intelligent person in that part for my purpose,—I resolved at Kotgarh to take my journey along the Sutlej by Besarh.
3. “Dr. Gerard had the kindness to give me a note to the officers in the Court of Besarh Raja, to procure me among the Tibetans in the upper part of their country, three persons as bearers for my boxes for a certain pay, and who will come with me to Zanskar. The officers at Sruan gave me a man with a written order to the Basuntram at Kanum, to fulfil my desire if possible respecting the bearers. I found him at Naho, but he could procure me no bearers, and his letter to the Kharpon at Piti with regard to bearers was of no use. Hence my slowness in proceeding.
4. “The Basuntram at Naho, on my request, gave me for my companion an old man, a native of Hang, Padma by name, who from the 26th of June till now was with me, and to whom for the said time I have paid besides nourishment twelve rupees. Should it be necessary to communicate to me any important matter either from Government or from the Asiatic Society, in that case this Padma of Hang is willing to return again and to remain with me during the winter.
5. “In the Besarh countries I have no difficulty in travelling, my boxes being carried for small pay from village to village as rapidly as I desire. But I found that way to come to Zanskar very circuitous. The most direct road is that by Kulu and Lahoul, Pukdal being four days’ journey from the upper part of Lahoul.
6. “On my arrival at Kanum in Upper Besarh, being informed that, besides other Tibetan books, there are also the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur,’ the printed volumes mentioned by me in my last report to you, para. 14 and elsewhere, I [[70]]have inspected them. They are deposited in an apartment belonging to Balee Ram, whose grandfather is said to have procured them from Tibet, near Teshi Lhunpo. The religious persons at Kanam and Sungnam are half Hindus; they detest and hate the Tibetans on account of their eating beef. In general they are very ignorant, nor can they speak the Tibetan language properly.
7. “As I could not procure in that country an intelligent person for the Tibetan language, nor find those grammatical works which I lay down for the foundation of my grammar and vocabulary, I left Besarh to proceed to Zanskar by Piti and Lahoul. In both countries I was for some time hindered by the rainy weather and the want of bearers. On my whole journey I have met with no hindrance or incommodity, except that I could not procure bearers as quickly as I required them.
8. “I reached Teesa in Zanskar, the village of the Lama, on the 12th of August. He was then absent on some mercantile affairs in the deserts of Tibet. I looked every day for his return. He arrived on the 26th of September. Now I have made arrangements with him for finishing the works I have planned. He has engaged to dwell and labour with me from the 10th of November till the summer solstice of next year, in an apartment belonging to his own family.
9. “I have calculated my future expenses. The money which I have now with me will, I think, be sufficient till my return to Sabathú, which I propose to do in October next year. And as the Lama, who wishes to accompany me to that place, to whom I have promised to pay yet more if he will be diligent in assisting me, I beg you to give me permission to bring him with me. We will descend from Piti by the nearest way to Sruan in Besarh.
10. “I remember every day the great obligations laid upon me by the Government at Calcutta, by Major Willock and his brother, by Mr. Moorcroft, by yourself, by Dr. Gerard, Adjutant Nicolson, and by other gentlemen [[71]]whom I have the honour to know, and to whom I express, on this occasion also, my humble respects and acknowledgments. Continue, my dear gentlemen, your benevolence to a stranger, whose chief care is to merit your favour and to extol your kindness.”
This communication was transmitted by Captain Kennedy to the Supreme Government, and is to be found among the records of the Foreign Office in Calcutta.
The next letter from Csoma is in the possession of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. It was forwarded, as usual, by Captain Kennedy, who wrote in very kind terms on this occasion to Dr. Wilson, and also to the Assistant-Political Agent at Umbála, concerning his protégé, pleading his cause, and requesting substantial support for him.
Csoma’s letter to the Secretary of the Society is dated the 21st of August 1826. He gives an important, though not a satisfactory account of his studies. After acknowledging Dr. Wilson’s communication of the 10th of August 1825, and mentioning some details about himself, he continues thus:—
“I received the pamphlets, which contained some interesting articles on the subject on which I am employed. But since they came too late to me, namely, on the 26th of June, and the man who brought them was very idle and vagrant, I trusted not to send a letter by him. I beg leave that I delayed so long to write to you.
“I was not successful after my return to this place as I imagined on leaving Sabathú that I should be, the Lama being very negligent in assisting me as I desired.
“He passed but a few months with me, and I could find and employ no other person able for my purpose. I am still uncertain what will be the issue of my works, or how far I can bring them, according to my promises. Should I fail, for the present, in fulfilling in all respects my engagement, you shall have, I assure you, if not the whole, at least the grammar, and such views on the language and [[72]]literature of Tibet, that will be sufficient to induce future inquirers to engage in this branch of Asiatic literature.
“I am very much obliged to you for the review of my letters, the remarks made upon them, and the hints given me. Whatever I found on the Tibetan language in the Quarterly was very incorrect. I will not now enumerate the defects. I hope I shall be able to fix a standard for this curious language, founded on indubitable authorities.
“I beg leave for tardiness and brevity in writing. After my return I shall be happy if I can serve you with all my acquirements,” &c., &c.
Csoma returned from Pukdal to Sabathú in January 1827, loaded with literary treasures, but greatly dissatisfied with the result of the journey. The negligence of his instructor, the Lama, was a cause of keen disappointment to him, and we may well understand that this unlooked-for misfortune intensified the mortification of his sensitive and enthusiastic spirit. [[73]]
CHAPTER V.
Embarrassing position—Csoma petitions Government to be allowed to visit Calcutta, or to go to Tibet for three more years to complete his studies.
Csoma’s arrival at Sabathú from Pukdal was notified by Captain Kennedy on the 17th January 1827, when he wrote to Dr. Wilson, stating that he was shown by Csoma “an immense mass of manuscripts and many printed volumes, and that he appeared to have attained a thorough familiarity with the language and literature of Tibet. He bids me say,” continues Captain Kennedy, “that it will afford him pleasure to correspond with you upon any literary subject you may please to propound to him. He is in no immediate need of money, having about one hundred and fifty rupees left out of the five hundred which the Government advanced to him upwards of two years ago. He declines any attention that I would be most happy to show him, and he lives in the most retired manner. Out of nine Tibetan words which you sent to him, printed at Serampore, he says there are five errors. I shall introduce him to Mr. Stirling when the Governor-General arrives.”
Immediately after returning to Sabathú, Csoma felt it his duty to inform Captain Kennedy, for the information of Government, of the disappointing result of his second visit to Tibet. This he did in a report, of which the original, bearing the date of the 18th January 1827, is still extant, in the possession of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. After expressing his acknowledgments for many kindnesses [[74]]received at Captain Kennedy’s hands, he writes as follows:—
“Since my former reports[1] addressed to you I have developed the contents of the Tibetan library works, and have specified some papers in my possession, and also given a scheme of a grammar, a vocabulary, and other works which I am about to prepare. Now, I will not expatiate again on Tibetan literature; I think it sufficient to state, that I was disappointed in my intentions by the indolence and negligence of that Lama to whom I returned. I could not finish my planned works as I had proposed and promised. I have lost my time and cost. But I have brought now with me many small printed columns of good authority treating on grammar, chronology, astronomy, and on moral subjects. I have sufficient materials for a grammar, and being acquainted with the grammatical structure of the language, now I am able to prepare the elementary work, so large as they will require.
“The dictionary is too large: it is yet in pure Tibetan, written by a good hand in fine capital characters of small size, arranged alphabetically. I had not yet leisure to add the signification of each word in English. I can translate the greatest part without mistake, but for the explanation of many words I must get the assistance of an intelligent Tibetan. I have also extracts of chronology, geography, and literary history, written by the Lama according to my direction.
“From Dr. Wilson’s letter and the Quarterly[2] sent to me I observe, there is nothing yet known of the Tibetan language and literature, and they seem also to be not much interested for them. It is certain that the Tibetan books mentioned in my former reports have been taken in the seventh century after Christ from India, especially from Nepal, Central India, Kashmir, and other countries. [[75]]They contain both materially and formally (sic) more than the literature of any country in Asia.
“I will not make any application to Government, as Dr. Wilson advises me. I am already under heavy obligations to Government and to some gentlemen. I never meant to take money, under whatever form, for the editing of my works. I will prepare them to the best of my ability, and afterwards I wish to convince some qualified Oriental scholars of the authenticity and correctness of my communications. And I shall be happy to deliver to your Government all my papers on Tibetan literature, for the received assistance from his lordship in Council and from other gentlemen. My honour is dearer to me than the making, as they say, of my fortune.
“I have resolved not to return again to any part of Tibet, until I have delivered to the Government my present materials. I humbly beseech you to have the kindness to take me under your protection and patronage this year, and be pledge or security before Government, if it be necessary, for my conduct. I shall endeavour to be worthy of your patronage.
“I wish to live a retired life till October next, either at this place or in the neighbourhood, wherever you please to permit me to reside.”
The tone of this epistle is vividly suggestive of Csoma’s position; he was disappointed in his instructor and unable to find another in the Monastery of Pukdal, to render him the requisite assistance. “I have lost my time and money,” was his complaint, although he did all he could, and had collected Tibetan books in large numbers, with which, after an absence of eighteen months, he returned to Sabathú at the beginning of 1827. He made a truthful report to Captain Kennedy, and through him to the Asiatic Society. His best and first friend, Mr. Moorcroft, was already in his grave; the circumstances had altered since; Csoma found that the Calcutta savants knew little of the Tibetan language and literature; and he, [[76]]moreover, suspected that they did not take any particular interest in these subjects.
This was not an encouraging position for a zealous investigator, and though he could not blame himself in being unable to fulfil engagements which he so earnestly strove to accomplish, he felt, nevertheless, that he could make no further claim for support from Government, and therefore declined asking for it. He was most desirous, however, to make over to the authorities his literary collections and the grammar, which he had already completed, as a slight acknowledgment for the generous help he received at “His Lordship’s and other private English gentlemen’s hands.”
The correspondence which passed between the parties concerned, does credit to all, as indeed does almost every letter which this memoir contains, bearing testimony to the liberality of Government on the one hand, or to the merits and deep gratitude of its object on the other. On the 3d of April, that is, two months and a half after his last letter, Captain Kennedy wrote to inquire of Dr. Wilson the result of his communication as to the fate of the Tibetan scholar, his protégé, and says:—
“Csoma is very anxious to hear from you. I have just introduced him to Lord Amherst. He proposes to remain here and compile his grammar and dictionary until next October. I rather suspect that Mr. Csoma’s finances are at a low ebb, and how we shall be able to approach the Government for a further grant to him I am not very certain. Perhaps a letter from the Asiatic Society would be the most proper channel to solicit a further sanction of a few hundred rupees for him.”
It is evident that a good deal of correspondence had passed between the Government officers, the Asiatic Society, and Dr. Gerard, as to what steps should be taken with respect to the further prosecution of Csoma’s labours; doubtless the question was seriously discussed as to the advisability of remaining content with what had been [[77]]already attained, before sanctioning further expenditure of money, which a third journey into Tibet must necessarily entail upon the public treasury.
We find that his friend Dr. Gerard wrote to Csoma asking for copies of reports he had already furnished to Government. With reference to these, Csoma wrote to Captain Kennedy on the 5th of May 1827, as follows:—
1. “Dr. Gerard desired to obtain from me a copy of my former letters and communications to you, for the purpose of showing them to Mr. Mackenzie. I am a very bad writer; I could not copy them in a more proper manner. I thought it my duty to send them direct into your hands. If it may be your pleasure, I beg you to permit Dr. Gerard to show them.
2. “I was much perplexed by that gentleman’s letter to me. In my answer to the stated subjects, I would not enter into the wide field of speculation as I was directed. My objects of research are a comprehensive grammar, vocabulary, and an account upon Tibetan books and learning. The grammar and literary history I can give whenever I shall be desired to furnish them, and will accompany them with a short geography and a succinct chronological history of Tibet, in Tibetan and English. But, as there is yet nothing fixed with respect to Tibetan orthography, I fear if I should send my papers, without going myself to Calcutta, they could not make proper use of them there, and it would give again rise to many mistakes, which, as I observe in every publication on the Tibetan language, are now also too much multiplied. The completion of the vocabulary or dictionary, since I missed my aim on my second return to Ladak, must be the fruit of some years’ industry.
3. “If, then, there is no objection, I beg you will do me the favour to obtain for me the Government’s permission to go to Calcutta next November, for the purpose of communicating my papers; or, if Government would yet delay my visiting Calcutta, as I observe from Dr. Wilson’s [[78]]letter to you: to give me leave for three years to go to Upper Besarh, where the language is Tibetan, and to direct the Rajah of Besarh, that I should have leave to read such of the Tibetan volumes deposited in the Monastery at Kanam, in Bali Ram’s possession, as I should find interesting for my purpose; and if Government will please to approve my further application to the Tibetan, and accept afterwards the results and fruits of my labours, I beg that you will have the kindness to obtain some assistance for my necessary expenses.
4. “If neither of my wishes can meet with Government’s approbation, as uncertainty and fluctuation is the most cruel and oppressive thing for a feeling heart, I beg you to favour me with the Government’s resolutions when obtained.”
This was doubtless the most critical point in Csoma’s literary career. He saw that time was going by, and his work still unfinished, and withal he felt quite powerless to complete his labours, without further help and encouragement. Everybody will sympathise when he reads at the end of his letter forebodings full of uncertainty and apprehension. [[79]]
[1] See the two letters above, dated 28th January and 5th May 1825, Chapters ii. and iii. [↑]
[2] Oriental Quarterly Magazine, 1825. [↑]
CHAPTER VI.
Government orders on Csoma’s last application—Dr. Gerard’s visit to Kanum, and his letter to Mr. Fraser.
On the 14th of June 1827 Mr. Stirling, Government Secretary, wrote to Captain Kennedy, commanding at Sabathú, to inform him that “the Governor-General was pleased to allow Csoma de Körös leave to proceed to Upper Besarh for a period of three years, for the purpose and on conditions specified in his letter of the 5th of May, and that his lordship had given authority to pay that gentleman fifty rupees a month for his support, and perhaps enable him to purchase Tibetan manuscripts.” The same was notified in the Government Gazette of the 10th of September following, with the remark that “these objects are the more desirable, as we understand Mr. de Körös considers the recent labours of Klaproth and Rémusat, with regard to the language and literature of Tibet, as altogether erroneous.” “Monsieur Rémusat, indeed,” proceeds the article, “admits the imperfections of his materials, but Klaproth pronounces ex cathedrâ, and treats the notion of any successful study of Tibetan, by the English in India, with ineffable contempt.”
We know not exactly the date on which Csoma left Sabathú, when he set out on his third journey into Tibet, for we find him always most reticent in everything that concerned merely his own person. The permission of Government to spend three more years in Upper Besarh, doubtless lessened the heavy load from his anxious mind. [[80]]He travelled presumably viâ Simla to Kotgarh, and thence along the valley of the Sutlej to the Monastery of Kanum. At this place he was visited by his devoted friend, Dr. Gerard, whose graphic pen has placed on record a most interesting episode in Csoma’s life.
Dr. Gerard, of the Bengal Medical Service, was travelling in the Himalayan countries, for the purpose of introducing vaccination there, with the humane object of putting a stop to the ravages of smallpox, which usually caused such devastation among the scantily peopled districts of the highlands. In this beneficent errand he was efficiently seconded by the presence of the Hungarian traveller at Kanum, and of his teacher, the learned Lama, to whose kindly influence Dr. Gerard pays a warm tribute. Dr. Gerard addressed his interesting report to Mr. W. Fraser, Agent to the Governor-General, and Revenue Commissioner of Delhi. Chiefly upon the few extracts of this report, is based what is at present known, of the details of Csoma’s industry and wonderful perseverance in the Buddhist monasteries, which, as we know, are situated in most inhospitable regions. The Government Gazette of the 9th of July 1829, gives some interesting extracts from Gerard’s paper, but the document is of such importance to the memory of the subject of this biography, that we do not hesitate to give a place for it here in extenso. It alludes also to the hardships and privations Csoma suffered at the Monastery of Yangla, in Zanskar, in 1827, “privations such as have been seldom endured;” and gives some other details of Dr. Gerard’s own journey, which are worthy of being rescued from oblivion. A copy of the document has been obtained from the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and bears date, Sabathú, 21st January 1829:—
“Having lately returned from a tour through Kunawar, where I saw Mr. Csoma, in the midst of his studies, I imagine I shall not be tiring you by some account of his requirements, and the progress he has made with his [[81]]literary works. He has lost none of his ardour in that secluded region, and the deeper he penetrates into those mines of learning by which he is surrounded, he finds himself impelled to further research; but I have to regret the circumstances which afforded me so short a time to profit by his conversation. Besides this interesting interview, my present journey has likewise been remarkable for some new discoveries, which have in a degree proved a consoling recompense for the sacrifices it entailed and my disappointment in the chief object that urged me to visit a country I had so frequently traversed. I have returned to Sabathú amply gratified, only to look towards the period when I may myself meet with better success; in the meantime, I should hope that my notice of Mr. Csoma’s labours would be satisfactory to those who have already interested themselves in his behalf, and that any facts connected with his researches, or that have come to my own view in the course of my travels, would be sufficiently strong to awaken curiosity towards a field of such varied resources, and ultimately to details alike interesting and beneficial. If the physical character of those mighty regions is likely to receive illustration by specimens of organic remains, productions, &c., I should not consider myself unremunerated for the exertions I have made for an object which may still prove but an illusory advantage; and though I have been extremely anxious to make another journey, under the prospects which the Chinese have tantalised me to rely upon, in an invitation next season to Lake Mansarowur, I shall be unwilling to attempt it except I receive some little encouragement in the prosecution of objects which, if not of actual public benefit, are at least of public interest.
“The presence of Mr. Csoma in Kunawar and his learned associate the Lama opens a field to my view, which no exertions on my part could give me a hope of approaching. The example and influence of such a man as the Lama, who is so much respected in those regions [[82]]for his learning and wisdom, could not fail to advance my object of utility, especially vaccination, as he himself offered to try the experiment, could it have been effected under favourable circumstances; and should the Chinese invite me to their country, Mr. Csoma’s literary pursuits will eventually derive a more extended solicitude, through the medium of a friendship established upon philanthropy.
“In this tour I have made a very curious collection of fossil shells (Ichthyolites), ammonites, and other petrifactions, which are chiefly valuable from the vast elevation at which they occurred, and from having myself found them in situ. I observed nothing very remarkable upon the nether side, except the cholera at Chepaul, in Joobul, at a height of almost 8000 feet, in spite of those theorists who would have restricted it to a lower limit, and a deodar 29½ feet in girth, and this is surely a prodigy in nature peculiar to those mountains. I never beheld such a sight as this enormous trunk, springing up like a mound to the height of almost 200 feet. The barometer afforded me the only practicable means of ascertaining this, and I imagine there are no others in such situations except to cut the tree down. On the northern frontiers of Kunawar I obtained an elevation of 20,000 feet without closing snow, and beheld, if not China itself, its frontier,—a scene of desolation and grandeur beyond my power to describe, for here language altogether fails. The country continued peaked, arid, and free from snow, yet every point had an altitude above my own level. The thermometer stood at 27°, but I was scorched by the sun’s rays.
“I now turn to the Hungarian, who is far from the least remarkable of the many objects which have passed before me in this journey, and on whose account chiefly I trouble you with so long a letter. I found him at the village of Kanum, in his small but romantic hamlet, surrounded by books, and in the [[83]]best health. He had not forgotten his reception at Sabathú, and was eager to manifest a feeling springing from gratitude. A year and more had passed since we met, and he seemed glad and proud to show me the fruits of his labours. He has been most persevering and successful, and were not his mind entirely absorbed in his studies, he would find a strong check to his exertions in the climate, situated as he is and has been for four months. The cold is very intense, and all last winter he sat at his desk wrapped up in woollens from head to foot, and from morning to night, without an interval of recreation or warmth, except that of his frugal meals, which are one universal routine of greasy tea; but the winters at Kanum dwindle to insignificance compared with the severity of those at the monastery of Yangla,[1] where Mr. Csoma passed a whole year. At that spot he, the Lama, and an attendant, were circumscribed in an apartment nine feet square for three or four months; they durst not stir out, the ground being covered with snow, and the temperature below the zero of the scale. There he sat, enveloped in a sheep-skin cloak, with his arms folded, and in this situation he read from morning till evening without fire, or light after dusk, the ground to sleep upon, and the bare walls of the building for protection against the rigours of the climate.
“The cold was so intense as to make it a task of severity to extricate the hands from their fleecy resort to turn over the pages. Some idea may be formed of the climate of Zanskar from the fact, that on the day of the summer solstice, a fall of snow covered the ground; and so early as the 10th September following, when the crops were yet uncut, the soil was again sheeted in snow; such is the horrid aspect of the country and its eternal winter.
“I have mentioned the above as a proof of the assiduity [[84]]of Mr. Csoma, who collected and arranged 40,000 words of the Tibetan language in a situation that would have driven most men to despair. He has already nearly completed the Dictionary, and the Vocabulary is far advanced, and both, as well as I may venture to judge, exhibit singular industry and research. He told me with vivacity that he has acquired a sufficient knowledge of Tibetan, to enable him to accomplish his objects, even should he be deprived of the Lama’s services by sickness or other causes. He (the Lama) has, however, engaged to remain for two years longer, and from his great erudition, being acquainted with the refined and court languages, and learned in history: his resources will long prove an acquisition to Mr. Csoma. He exhibits a singular union of learning, modesty, and greasy habits; and Mr. Csoma in this last respect vies with his learned companion, which is not very strange in such a country. The Lama is a man of vast acquirements, strangely disguised under modest confidence of superiority, the mildest and most unassuming address, and a countenance seldom disturbed by a smile. His learning has not made him bigoted or self-sufficient, but it is singularly contrasted with his person and appearance, which are humble and dignified and greasy. Mr. Csoma himself appears like one of the sages of antiquity, living in the most frugal manner, and taking no interest in any object around him, except his literary avocations, which, however, embrace the religions of the countries around him. He showed me his labours with lively satisfaction. He has read through 44 volumes of one of the Tibetan works, and he finds unceasing interest in their contents. He seems highly pleased with the prospects of unfolding to the world those vast mines of literary riches, and I should say that he is flattered by his own ability to illustrate the objects which daily come to his view, but I am almost afraid to risk making known, from mere recollection, the attainments he has already arrived at, and the discoveries [[85]]he has made, because he is so scrupulously tenacious of correctness in everything relating to and said of him, and carries his high feeling and independence to a degree which may be the custom of his country, but I am inclined to consider a fault in one so situated. In his conversation and expressions he is frequently disconsolate, and betrays it in involuntary sentiment, as if he thought himself forlorn and neglected. He can form no idea of the spirit in which Government will receive his works, and almost fears they may not be considered with that indulgence which is due to his research. Yet he told me, with melancholy emphasis, that on his delivering up the Grammar and Dictionary of the Tibetan language, and other illustrations of the literature of that country, he would be the happiest man on earth, AND COULD DIE WITH PLEASURE ON REDEEMING HIS PLEDGE. He showed me with great animation a printed work upon poesy, in which he pointed out the original of a translation from the Mahabharut, written in a number of the Oriental Quarterly; a great part of that work (the Sanskrit edition) is supposed to be lost, and the discovery of Mr. Csoma in the Tibetan books leads to the conclusion, that the whole of the Mahabharut may yet be preserved in the monasteries of that country, which seem to have afforded an asylum to literature at a very early period, even before its retrogression in India. In a small pocket abridgment of (I think Robertson’s) ‘India,’ Mr. Csoma showed me an extract of a poem from the Sanskrit, at the same time holding in his hands the original passage in the Tibetan.[2] The systems of philosophy contained in those immense compilations he says are very numerous, and he thinks will astonish the learned in Europe; some of them are sublime in conception. I was naturally anxious to know the contents of the books of medicine, of which there are five volumes, and characters of 400 diseases [[86]]he had collected and arranged. They treat copiously on physiology; and, in fact, there is no knowing yet what they do not contain. In his brief memoir to Government,[3] the five volumes upon medicine were alluded to, but in Mr. Wilson’s observations on that paper they are not noticed, at which Mr. Csoma seems disappointed, and has strangely concluded that his assertion was discredited, but consoles himself with the prospect of disclosing many facts even much more unexpected. The Lama has informed him that at Teshi Lhunpo the anatomy of the human body is represented in wooden cuts or prints (for I forget which) in so many different attitudes. He also observes, that the art of lithography has long prevailed in that city and at Lassa, where learning has flourished from a very remote period.
“Mr. Csoma’s objects embrace a wide expanse, of which he justly considers a grammar and dictionary of the language they relate to, as the first desideratum, and none of the specimens of words which he has occasionally gleaned from books, or those sent to him by Mr. Wilson, are correct in orthography. The works in which Mr. Csoma is now engaged will only form a prelude to their further extension and copiousness, and they cannot, I should imagine, fail to excite interest towards that end; but, poor man, his means are limited, and far from adequate to accomplish the vast objects which his mind surveys. The Lama receives twenty-five rupees a month, a servant costs him four, his house-rent one, and writing materials consume a proportion which leaves him less than twenty rupees to provide the necessaries of life, which in that remote and secluded region are very expensive, and must frequently be supplied from Sabathú, or from a distance of two hundred miles. He lives in the most economical manner; his resources would compel him to this if his inclination did not. He enjoys the best of health, perhaps in consequence; for though residing [[87]]at a spot abounding with grapes, apricots, and many other fruits, he assured me he had this season abstained from everything of the sort from a prudent conviction that they could not make him happier, and might injure him. His chief and almost only meal is tea, in the Tartar fashion, which is indeed more like soup, the butter and salt mixed in its preparation leaving no flavour of tea. It is a repast at once greasy and nourishing, and being easily made, is very convenient in such a country.
“Mr. Csoma’s hamlet is at the extreme upper limit of the village of Kanum, at an absolute elevation of 9500 feet. Around him are the romantic abodes of monks, whose religious ceremonies, their pious incantations, &c., have a singular affinity to Romish customs. Below is the monastery, containing the Encyclopædia, but it is also converted into what seems a more substantial purpose with the people, for on my return to Kanum in the beginning of November I found it filled with grapes, and about thirty whole sheep hung up for winter consumption, yet poor Mr. Csoma can hardly afford to taste even a piece of one. The climate here, though warm in summer, is singularly dry, and to this circumstance more than temperature is owing the preservation of animal food for months. There are several convents at this village, but the exactions are far from rigorous, and Mr. Csoma told me, with an air of derision, that many of the nuns became mothers, and in fact enter the convents if they cannot get married or do better; their choice is therefore a prudential measure when they are liable to fare worse: there is much sense though no merit in this. Mr. Csoma showed me some improvements he had made to his cottage; one was a fireplace, which has cost him twelve rupees, and here I could not help feeling with sympathy the value of such a sum to a man, whose whole earthly happiness consists in being merely able to live and devote himself to mankind, with no other reward than a just appreciation and honest fame, [[88]]while I was at the same time daily and no doubt foolishly expending more than enough to give comfort and effect to a mind so noble; feeling, as I did, how little he wanted for himself and how little I valued that which to him provided food for body and mind. Two rustic benches and a couple of ruder chairs are all the furniture in his small abode; but the place looks comfortable and the volumes of the Tibetan works, the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur,’ his manuscripts, and papers are neatly piled up around him. Had Mr. Csoma greater pecuniary resources, he would invite learned men from Teshi Lhunpo, Lassa, and with their assistance study the Mongol language, which he considers the key to Chinese literature. There are many valuable works in the libraries of those ancient cities which are likely never to become an acquisition to our knowledge but through the labours of such a genius as Mr. Csoma. His great aim and unceasing anxiety is to get access to Mongolia and make himself acquainted with the language and people of that strange and very ancient country. The study of dialects to him is no labour, grounded as he is in a perfect knowledge of classical literature and more or less familiar with the structure of every spoken language; but he wants books to revive his early impressions. With a knowledge of the Mongols, their literature, history, and customs, his hopes of new discoveries would never cease to occupy his mind, and on the completion of his present studies he will direct his views to those higher objects.
“Though residing within the British dominions in a country where the inhabitants are morally good, nevertheless Mr. Csoma has to combat against several irksome restraints. The bigotry of the Lamas attached to the monastery, arising from their ignorance of their own faith and of the contents of their beautifully printed works, is a source of much disquietude; while the Wuzeers of the Besarh frontier (Hindoos), under whose care the building is placed, having themselves little [[89]]interest in an institution which emanates from a region where the cow is killed and eaten, but still keeping up the mummery and superstitious reverence of regard, and protecting and in some degree respecting the house of learning, are very intolerant. Mr. Csoma, it is true, has access to the works in the monastery, but this is not without some suspicious vigilance on the part of both Lamas and Hindoos, who allow but two or three volumes to leave the monastery at a time, while his labours require simultaneous resolution, and wound that self-esteem and independent feeling with which he used so frequently to provoke us at Sabathú. His motives are no doubt the best, but they are too refined for society, and certainly would not be always tolerated with patience, especially amongst strangers. He still refuses every offer of assistance, and will not accept of the most trifling article, though in a situation which ought not to admit of such ceremonious policy. I imagined that the late English papers would afford him amusement, but after a few days, he desired me not to send them, adding, that he would not throw himself open to the imputation of suspicion by attending to anything but that which he had pledged himself to prosecute; he then with great emphasis revived his old and strange ideas of his having been taken for a spy, treated at Sabathú as a fool, caressed and ridiculed at the same time, adding, with much self-complacency, that the world would soon see what he was. The same singular feeling regulates his conduct on every occasion. He is jealous of the least suspicion, even of his habits of life. I asked him if he ever used the spirits made from the grape (which are nearly as good as Scotch whisky). He told me that on one occasion of sickness he had procured a little, but afterwards, conceiving that the people of the country might give him the repute of drinking instead of studying, he resolved never again to touch spirits. [[90]]
“On leaving Kanum, I thought I might venture to ask his acceptance of a cloak which was well adapted for so cold a climate. I sent him also some rice and sugar, but he returned the whole, and out of his scanty resources sent me sixteen rupees to purchase a few articles at Sabathú, which I have despatched since my arrival. All this is no doubt commendable, but I cannot think it very wise. Yet though thus extremely tenacious of his own independence, Mr. Csoma would accept of assistance only from a public source, because he seems confident of his ability to return a remunerating advantage; but to private individuals he says he has nothing to give. The only things he would receive from me on his first arrival at Sabathú were a few books to read, and the first he asked for, was the Bible, as best calculated to revive his English, which he had studied grammatically on getting here. This he read through in eight days, and on his journey from Zanskar he accepted of a Latin Dictionary, and on my late tour I left with him a Greek Lexicon. These last are useful to his present studies. He is greatly in want of books of reference, and particularly anxious to see some of the numbers of the Oriental Quarterly Magazine relating to his avocations, two having been sent to him by Mr. Wilson, which from their inaccuracies and references to other numbers excited his curiosity to see more. He would be glad to see some authors on ancient Geography, such as Quintus Curtius, Ptolemy, Diodorus Siculus, and Pliny. Mr. Csoma’s researches are not merely confined to the compilation of the Grammar and Dictionary of the Tibetan language; they embrace many objects of remote ages, illustrative of ancient geography and history, to which the old authors would contribute identity and explanation. He has collected from the printed works and manuscripts in the possession of the Lama much curious information on the geographical and physical features of Tibet. Those records [[91]]treat fully, and, I should say, sensibly, of the route and sources of rivers, remarkable mountains, mines, statistics, religions, creeds and institutions, chronology and historical events. For instance, Lake Mansarowur has always been considered by Eastern geographers as the central source of the great rivers of India, Brahmapootra, Gogra, Sutlej, and Indus, and the highest table-level there, because the waters are thrown off in every direction from that point; but our over-scrupulous exactitude, in literally deriving those rivers from the same lake because the Hindoos had assigned a common origin to them, has led us to tax their ancient traditions with vagueness, incorrectness, and falsehood. Mansarowur being the reputed or even veritable source of these rivers, was a mere figurative position: it was also celebrated on account of Kylas, the throne of Mahadeo, which spires up from that lofty base in the form of a cone, sheeted in snow, and is, without a doubt, the highest point of the earth’s surface. The Hindoos knew as well as we did, that two rivers in so rugged a country could not flow out of the same lake in opposite directions, but there is no question about the proximate conjunction of the whole four. We have yet to learn the Tibetan accounts, and as they promise to be free of much of the theological tincture of the Hindoos, we have still before us an unexplored field of interesting prospects.
“Mr. Csoma is anxious that some British officer who has studied Sanskrit, should make himself also acquainted with Tibetan, as he says they would give reciprocal light to each other, and to a just estimation of the value of the latter language. He himself, though ardent in his researches, is at the same time careful and cautious in his deductions, though these may appear extravagant to others who have no access to the sources of his knowledge, and on this account he is reserved and diffident in communicating all he has acquired; but he only wants encouragement to give full effect to his varied and comprehensive resources. He is deeply sensible of the liberality of [[92]]Government towards him; but at the same time feels his own ability to make a suitable return. For my own part, I should say that the works he is now engaged in (if justly appreciated) will far exceed in actual value and ulterior importance the support he has received from our Government for their accomplishment, though without it he might certainly still have remained in obscurity; and with such men as Mr. Wilson, Mr. MʻKenzie, and Mr. Stirling—all of whom are acquainted with his situation and objects,—I can anticipate nothing but a reward worthy of the individual, and he looks to the future with no small degree of concern. He wants but the means of subsistence, and has only to speak for himself to gain sympathy and respect; but he is poor, humbly clad, and reserved, unless stimulated to animation by some temporary interest; and to see him, as I have seen him, wrapped in sheep-skin, and measuring his wants by his means, one would little suppose him to be the man destined under good fortune to perform the great works he has now in progress. Nothing pleases him so much as to appear interested in his conversation; but he has evidently not been accustomed to the society of the world, and from not knowing the idiom of the English language, he often puts a misconstruction upon words, and breaks forth into singular and dignified irritation at times; he is full of vivacity, but this is often interrupted by the anxiety most natural to him, and he lapses into gloom without a visible cause. When he spoke of his want of books, he remarked that these were few and easily supplied, but that they had not been considered. He particularly dwelt upon the resources of the Asiatic Society—forgetting, however, that he had never solicited their aid. He is too diffident to appeal in his own behalf, and too independent to seek the means through the hands of others. When I offered to make known his situation and the progress he had made with his literary works, he thanked me, and perhaps felt more [[93]]than he wished to express, though in doing so I but do justice to merit in one so situate; and being myself almost the only person who has visited his sequestered retreat, and knowing what is expected from him, any observations may be satisfactory; and I can only add that, if means could be devised to increase his small allowance even to 100 rupees a month, it would be liberality well conferred, and must eventually be well repaid. Mr. Csoma has no selfish gratification; the tribute of honest fame is his only ambition. There are no doubt many in India who would afford him the aid he requires; he peremptorily refuses to accept of anything, but from a public and recognised source. I cannot myself venture to seek the aid of the Asiatic Society in behalf of so bright an object of their patronage, but I should hope that the merits of so highly-gifted and modest an individual will not be long unnoticed. Mr. Csoma will give a most satisfactory explanation of his views, but he would like to be addressed by some one either on the part of the Asiatic Society or Government. He would be flattered and stimulated by such a recognition. The Society, in supporting such a man, would receive their fullest reward in his contributions of literary knowledge of the highest order, and belonging to countries which are yet only known to us as vast terra incognita both in regard to physical configuration, mankind, and learning, and Mr. Csoma would in his turn derive his best gratification from his alliance with an institution so highly established.
“As I was residing in the Monastery at Kanum, I took an opportunity of getting access to the Tibetan Encyclopædia, by stepping in behind the officiating Lama when he came to worship. On discovering me he made some civil remonstrance, and then allowed me to stand behind the door when he slowly opened the folding leaves of the library, and in the interval I stepped up and looked over his shoulders. The works, being distinct, are arranged in separate places. These resemble large [[94]]chests or cisterns, standing on end, and partitioned into cells, each containing a volume, which is carefully wrapped within many folds, laced with cord, and bound tightly between boards of cypress or cedar. The ‘Kahgyur’ is a work of morality, and is, in fact, the Bible, and consists, I believe, of 104 folio volumes, each containing from 500 to 700 pages, all beautifully printed from wooden types. The ‘Stangyur’ is more copious, comprising 240 volumes, and treats upon arts and science. Five volumes are devoted to medicine; the others comprehend astronomy, astrology, rhetoric, poesy, philosophy, history, and a vast variety of subjects. Some of the volumes were opened before me, and I gazed with a sort of reverential feeling upon such gigantic compilations yet unfolded to the world, and thought of the humble individual in the hamlet who was occupied in illustrating their unexplored contents. It is rather singular that those works should be found planted in a Hindoo village, or, at least, established amongst people who are not alienated from Hindoo tenets, though tinctured with Buddhist principles; but poor Moorcroft mentions, in his tour to Mansarowur, having seen a greater number of Hindoo images in the Tartar village of Dala, than he ever recollected meeting with before in India, at any one spot. The contrast is, however, great, though there is both identity and unity in their divinity and chief duties, for Mr. Csoma affirms that the Tibetan faith, both in precept and practice, approaches nearer to the Christian religion than that of any Asiatic nation whatever. The Tibetan works appear to have been very widely disseminated throughout that country, and we may safely ascribe this multiplicity of books to the facility which the art of printing afforded. We find fragments and manuscripts of great antiquity scattered about and deposited in situations which are now almost deserted by man. At the village of Skuno, which lay in my route, and is planted upon the eastern frontier of Kunawur, near the confines of [[95]]China, at a height of 12,000 feet, is a labrung or monastery, a melancholy record of better times. Here the traveller beholds files of printed papers full of learning, bound up in cypress boards, as if shut for the last time. I had a Chinese interpreter with me, who dipped into one of the books and read some passages relating to science. I could not but gaze with wonder and reverence upon those relics of learning now no longer useful, but as dead records: nobody turns over the fine pages of those ancient and extraordinary works, upon which time has made but little change, and in so cold and arid a climate will remain when the temple itself falls to ruin, and this is going on gradually; but two hundred years have effected little decay. The type of the printing is very beautiful, and looks fresh; bound as they are closely together, in an atmosphere without insects or moisture, in a climate rude even in summer, they seem calculated to defy time itself. In former days those books were read and people attended here at prayers, but now there is nothing left of what has once been. The masters are gone for ever, but the temple and books stand still, like the pyramids, pointing to times which have no other record. I was much tempted to commit sacrilege here, and steal away some of the scientific volumes, but I had not a good opportunity.
“The edition of the ‘Kahgyur’ and ‘Stangyur’ at Kanum was sent from Teshi Lhunpo only about nine years ago; the printing bears a date of ninety years, yet the ink and type look as perfect and fresh as ever. No insects attack them, though the climate here is varying in summer. The book-cases being made of cedar are indestructible. The fact of printing in Tibet, however curious, can no longer be questioned, for I myself have brought down a specimen of it from Sungnam. The types are not movable, but cut in wooden frames, which must be productive of great labour and bulkiness, if used to any extent; but I suspected that at Teshi Lhunpo [[96]]and Lassa the types are alphabetical, and like our own are movable. Should this not be the case, the only other substitute instead of frames would be lithography, which is known to prevail there; but Mr. Csoma says that the art of printing dates a little posterior to the era which discovered it in Europe. There are no images in the temple at Kanum, and worship seems to be performed out of pure respect for the house of learning. Kanum is the only spot of Kunawur which possesses those works entire.
“We find indeed detached volumes and piles of papers in many of the other villages, as Sungnam, Skuno, and Nissung; and in Piti, in Ladak, where those works are sheltered, beautiful paintings and casts as large as life adorn the monasteries, leaving us wondering at the origin and antiquity of such remains in regions wild in aspect and sterile in production. Additional interest is thrown over those mighty scenes of the Himalayas in the curious fact, which has recently come to my knowledge, of the discovery in an obscure spot of Kunawur of a relic of the Romish missionaries’ work on Tibet, the Speculum Veritatis, bearing a date of 1678. This curious record was picked up by the Rev. Mr. W., whom I met with in my travels, and then little thought that so precious a fragment would have found its way into his hands, judging from an observation on first meeting him on the northern face of the Himalaya. The fragment of literature acquired by Mr. W. (which I suspect is part of Andrada’s mission) has been sent to Mr. Csoma for elucidation, and I expect soon to hear of its contents.
“In all this, I have only been able to trace a margin of a new and gigantic map; we must look to the central plateau of Tartary for that knowledge which we have seen indicated elsewhere, and a grander field as regards natural aspect and configuration could not be selected, an aspect barren, it is true, but interesting from the grandeur of its barrenness, and concealing under its [[97]]rugged and forbidding features, resources the most varied and estimable to science, literature, and art. To speak of those positive advantages in respect of climate and production even within our territory: such is the aridity of the interior of Kunawar that the roots of the rheum palmatum, which I dug up from amidst patches of snow on the slope of the pass in the Himalayan chain in the end of June, were already dry and pulverisable the following month, and moist opium received from Kotgarh in July became brittle and fit to be powdered in August, while in Calcutta this is impracticable in the driest season without the aid of adventitious heat.
“It was now the end of September, and the climate was highly agreeable, the grapes being already ripe. Here, at an elevation of nine thousand feet, the vine finds a temperature congenial to its perfect maturity; but it is to the summer heat of those spots that its successful culture is indebted, since in winter reigns a keen and protracted frost, and the snow falls from four to five feet deep, lying in the fields till April. The vines are left unprotected, and remain buried under their congealed clothing. Fruits of various kinds, as apples, apricots, and nectarines, come to high perfection in a climate free from periodical rains and exposed to intense solar radiation. Thus a region which produces the finest grapes if in insolated exposure, or lying on the Indian aspect of Himalaya, will hardly yield a crop of grain, owing to the want of a stronger ephemeral heat. For the same reason grain succeeds in the valley of the Sutlej, and in spots within the Chinese dominions, at elevations which, on the southern side of the Himalayas, are loaded with ice; but the winters of the interior, on the other hand, teem with rigours which we can form but little idea of. It is true, the sky is mostly clear, and the sun’s rays at the loftiest spots are sufficient to keep the people, or rather one side of them, warm in the dead of winter. During my stay at Kanum the extremes of the [[98]]thermometer were 33° to 77°; but when I returned, only one month later, I found them 30° and 52°, and snow had fallen. So sudden is the vicissitude in an atmosphere deriving its heat from solar radiation. I left a thermometer with Mr. Csoma, being desirous of ascertaining the winter climate of the spot which rears the vine so abundantly. But Mr. Csoma has little or no interest in anything beyond his literary studies, and I was often provoked at his indifference to objects calculated to illustrate the physical character of the countries he resides in and add to the value of his own pursuits.
“He has promised to keep a register of the temperature for me.
“On the 30th of September I took leave of the Hungarian and his intelligent companion the Lama.”
Csoma’s aversion to occupy himself with anything outside the range of his studies has been noticed already; but to please his friend Dr. Gerard he was induced to make meteorological observations, and did furnish valuable records from Kanum, extending over a period of two years. These came ultimately into General Cunningham’s hands, and were embodied by him into his own work on “Ladak,” at page 184. [[99]]
[1] In the district of Zanskar, in the province of Ladak. [↑]
[2] For a further explanation of this incident, see the author’s Tibetan Grammar, at page 168. [↑]
[3] See letter to Captain Kennedy, at page 46. [↑]
CHAPTER VII.
Csoma completes his Tibetan studies at Kanum; Correspondence with Dr. Wilson, Captain Kennedy, and Mr. B. H. Hodgson.
The perusal of Dr. Gerard’s almost forgotten letter gives a vivid picture of the strange surroundings in the midst of which Csoma was placed whilst studying at the Buddhist Monastery among the Himalayan Mountains. In the truthfulness of the description, Gerard’s pen surpasses almost the fancies of imagination. The devoted student spent four winter seasons exposed to the rigorous climates of Yangla and Kanum in the pursuit, not of imaginary theories, as has been so often stated of him, but in the fulfilment of engagements which he undertook for the Government.
“He is frequently disconsolate, and betrays it in involuntary sentiment, as if he thought himself forlorn and neglected.… He told me with melancholy emphasis,” continues Dr. Gerard, “that on his delivering up the Grammar and Dictionary to the Government, he would be the happiest man on earth, and could die with pleasure on redeeming his pledge.”
Dr. Gerard has given expression in another place of the deep interest he felt for Csoma’s studies and in his personal concerns. On the 22d of January he wrote a private letter also to Mr. Fraser; a fragment only of it is extant, in the Library of the Asiatic Society in Calcutta. Even this fragment, however, is worth preserving, as it relates to Moorcroft’s papers, and shows the attempts made and the anxiety displayed by the Government to recover them after his death, and also bears [[100]]witness to the confidence felt in the ability and in the spirit of enterprise of the Hungarian traveller, when there were thoughts of entrusting him with the mission to Andkhoi in Bokhara, where Moorcroft died.
This is the fragment, dated Sabathú, 22d of January 1829:—
“My dear Fraser,—Since my return from Kunawar I often thought that I might be doing a service to the Hungarian traveller by just making known a few facts connected with his pursuits and situation in that sequestered region. I am anxious enough to believe that I shall not be imposing a tax on your patience, and I am sure I shall not be deceived in anticipating your views and estimation of an object so deserving of encouragement. It is natural in me to interest myself in Mr. Csoma’s welfare, since I was the first who received him at Sabathú, and I am now the last who has seen him amongst his researches, and on this account I perhaps have the best knowledge of his situation and the objects that can be obtained.
“In sending you the accompanying remarks,[1] I have a conviction that your own high and liberal mind may suggest some means calculated to bring Mr. Csoma into notice, for where merit is the appeal, I need not stay to consider the effect with you. I have a strong idea that Sir Charles Metcalfe would not be an unmoved spectator of zeal and talent so remarkable as that which characterises the individual who is now devoting himself to researches so interesting amidst the rigours of climate and the restraints of poverty. Sir Charles took sufficient interest in him from Moorcroft’s fate, when he forwarded my application to go to Ladak, for the purpose of requesting the Hungarian to undertake the trip for the recovery of his papers, to excite me to rely upon one so generous. And I am an” —— The fragment ends here.
What splendid testimony is this to the confidence [[101]]which was reposed in the unselfishness and ready self-sacrifice of the Hungarian scholar, who at that time was engaged in his studies at the Monastery of Pukdal! Moorcroft’s papers had been secured, before Csoma was made aware of the important project regarding himself.
William Moorcroft, the ill-fated traveller whose name is so intimately connected with the Hungarian philologist, was director of the Government studs in India. Attached to the cavalry, he arrived in Bengal in 1808, and was soon afterwards selected for employment as Government Agent in Western Asia; during his journey he suffered much hardship, and was more than once in danger of his life. In 1819 he started on a fresh expedition, accompanied by his relative, George Trebeck, and visited the Panjáb, Kashmir, Tibet, and Bokhara. Having faced many obstacles and escaped imminent perils, he was seized with fever and died on the 27th August 1825. His tomb is at Andkhoi in Bokhara, to which place he went for the purpose of buying horses for Government. Moorcroft’s diary was arranged and edited in two volumes by Dr. H. H. Wilson, under the title, “Travels in the Himalayan Provinces, by William Moorcroft and George Trebeck, in 1819–1825. London, 1841.” At page 338 of vol. i. is described the first meeting between Moorcroft and the Hungarian traveller in the valley of Dras in Ladak.
Gerard’s friendly pleading for Csoma was not without effect. We find extracts from his letter cited in the Government Gazette of 9th July 1829, with the following prefatory remarks:—
“The extracts read from Dr. Gerard’s paper respecting the labours of Mr. Csoma de Körös were of a most interesting nature, not only as giving a vivid idea of the admirable, we may say heroic devotion, of that singularly disinterested and enterprising person to the cause of literature, in spite of difficulties that would confound a [[102]]less determined spirit, but as referring to depositories of learning, which for ages have been confined to a peculiar people, of whose language and institutions but little is known to Europeans, but which, through the fortunate instrumentality of Mr. Csoma de Körös and his learned associate the Lama, it is hoped, will not long remain a fountain sealed to the literary world.”
In the same article occurs a paragraph which shows the ultimate aim of Csoma as to his researches:
“In the libraries of the ancient cities of Teshi Lhunpo and Lassa there are said to be many valuable works, which the world is likely to become acquainted with only through the instrumentality of such a genius as Mr. Csoma. He is very anxious to get to the country of the Mongols, and make every possible research into the history and institutions of that ancient people.”
The Council of the Asiatic Society of Bengal resolved to grant Csoma a monthly allowance, equal to that he was receiving already from Government. This step was due to the exertions of Sir Charles Metcalfe, Mr. Simon Fraser, Mr. Calder, Mr. Mackenzie, and Captain Stacy, all of whom strongly urged that Csoma should be more liberally provided for while studying at Kanum. Captain Stacy, in a letter dated 3d May 1829, to the address of Dr. Wilson, says: “Csoma expends very little upon himself; he dresses in the coarse blanket of the country, and eats with the natives.”
There is no doubt, therefore, that Csoma had to suffer many privations, but he never uttered a word of complaint on that account; what affected him deeply, however, was the thought of his being neglected and forgotten in the far-off monastery. We know, however, that such was not the case. A stranger and foreigner could never wish to find warmer friends than Csoma found in Captain Kennedy and Dr. Gerard. The former was always a faithful exponent of his wishes before Government and private friends, and Dr. Gerard’s letters testify to the [[103]]sincere interest he took in him. Dr. Wilson, on behalf of the Asiatic Society, wrote on the 15th July 1829, informing Csoma of the Society’s resolution as to the increase of his stipend, part of which was at once forwarded to him through Captain Kennedy. Dr. Wilson added, “I have been also instructed to procure for you such books as you may think serviceable to your inquiries.”
Csoma’s character showed traits of a quiet melancholy and desponding tendency. The following original letter, the paper of which is already much damaged by age, shows with what anxieties his mind was beset; but, when his isolated position is considered, and the other depressing circumstances under which he lived, nobody will feel surprise at them.
This letter of Csoma’s to the secretary of the Asiatic Society, is dated 21st August 1829[2] from Kanum, and reads as follows:—
“I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, together with a draft, dated Calcutta, 15th July 1829, which reached me this day. I feel much obliged to the Asiatic Society for the interest they have been pleased to take with respect to my literary inquiries in Tibet, and for the kind resolution they came to in granting me 50 rupees a month for my support. But since I found their resolution to be of very indefinite character, which leaves me for the future as uncertain as I ever was, since my first study of the Tibetan, and since I cannot employ with advantage the offered money during the short period I have still to stay here: I beg leave for declining to accept the offered allowance and of returning the draft.
“In 1823, in April, when I was in Kashmir, in the beginning of my engagement with the late Mr. Moorcroft, being destitute of books, Mr. Moorcroft, on my behalf, had requested you to send me certain necessary works. [[104]]I have never received any. I was neglected for six years. Now, under such circumstances and prospects, I shall want no books. If not prevented by some unforeseen event, next year I shall be ready with my papers. Then, if you please, you shall see what I have done and what I could yet do.
“If the Asiatic Society will then earnestly be desirous to get further information respecting Tibetan literature both in India and Tibet, I shall be happy to enter into an engagement with them or with the Government on proper terms.”
Reasons were especially given for his refusing to accept the Society’s proffered aid, but it was nevertheless considered by Csoma’s well-wishers a mistake to push his spirit of independence so far. This disapproval may be guessed at from Captain Kennedy’s letter also, addressed to Dr. Wilson. It should be borne in mind, however, on the other hand, that Csoma was not aware of the steps taken on his behalf, and the endeavour made by his friends to improve his position was entirely unknown to him at Kanum. No doubt Csoma need not have held so tenaciously to his ideas of independence; such policy was of no advantage to either of the parties concerned.
Captain Kennedy, on forwarding Csoma’s last letter of refusal, writes to the secretary of the Asiatic Society on the 3d of September 1829:
“I am disposed to think that, on a better acquaintance with Mr. Csoma, you will find him a most eccentric character. He is enthusiastic in the object of forming a grammar and lexicon of the Tibetan language, and appears anxious to avoid the society and attentions of Europeans, chiefly, in my opinion, to retain the incognito he lives in at the Monastery of Kanum in Upper Besarh. He is a man of most sanguine, hasty, and suspicious disposition. I have left no act undone to accommodate and to meet his wishes, and I think that he feels grateful to me; but on some occasions he has received my advances, to be [[105]]obliging, with a meanness not to be accounted for. There can be no doubt but that he is a man of eminent talents, possessing a most retentive memory, and apparently much versed on subjects of general literature. He considers himself acting under a solemn pledge to Government to furnish the grammar and lexicon by the end of the ensuing year, at which period he proposes to proceed to Calcutta to superintend their publication. His wants are few, and I am informed his expenses on diet, &c., are of the most moderate description, in fact, not more than of one of the inhabitants of the village in which he resides.
“Should you wish to have any further communications with Mr. Csoma, I shall be most happy to be the medium of it; and I beg you will command my best services whenever there may be occasion for them.”
Csoma’s studies among the Buddhist monks were now drawing towards completion. On the 26th March 1830, Csoma applied for permission from Government to remain at Kanum till after the rainy season should cease. Captain Kennedy notified this request to the Resident at Delhi on the 9th of June, asking at the same time for a grant to Csoma of a sum, by way of travelling expenses, to enable him to visit Calcutta, and to take his Tibetan books and manuscripts with him. Captain Kennedy observes, in the course of his letter:
“I deem it my duty to mention that Mr. Csoma’s conduct has been exemplary during the three years he has resided within the protected British territory, and, as I have reason to believe, he has achieved the object he had in view by visiting these states, of forming a grammar and lexicon of the Tibetan language. I beg to submit for your consideration, and eventually for that of Government, the propriety of advancing this learned and enterprising individual a small sum of money to enable him to reach Calcutta, the amount of which I do not apprehend would exceed 500 rupees.” [[106]]
This was sanctioned on the recommendation of the Resident at Delhi, dated 14th June 1829.
Two more original letters in Csoma’s handwriting are extant, written by him at Kanum, and addressed to Mr. B. H. Hodgson, resident at Katmandú, in answer to certain questions which that gentleman addressed to Csoma. These documents also are now in the possession of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. They were generously presented by Mr. Hodgson in 1882, with a request for them to be preserved among the relics of the late Tibetan scholar, in the archives at Budapest. These letters refer to questions of much scientific interest at the period when they were written, and throw light upon the history of Buddhistic literature, when Hodgson and Csoma were fellow-labourers in the same field of Oriental learning. They have not been published before, and deserve, therefore, to find a place in this biography.
The first letter is dated 30th December 1829, and reads thus:
“Sir,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt of the volume you have favoured me with, which reached me on the 21st instant. I feel much obliged for the kindness you have done me, in making me acquainted with the names and contents of so many valuable works you have brought to public notice, and with many other things respecting Buddhism in Nepal. Since you desired me that I should make any remarks on the twelfth article of the volume, I beg you will kindly accept of some observations I take the liberty to make on the subject. And I beg to have me excused for my not having been more particular, as perhaps you had expected from me; my circumstances have not permitted me to do otherwise.
2. “(With reference to p. 410, &c.) Tibetan words, if written properly, are very distinct for the eye, but very confused for the ear, as they are generally uttered. [[107]]In the whole of Tibet there is but one mode of writing, with respect to orthography; there are several ways of pronunciation, according to the several distant provinces. Hence that great discrepancy in the catalogues of Tibetan words furnished by several Europeans. There are to be found in Tibet several examples of alphabets used anciently in India. The late Mr. Moorcroft had sent to Calcutta a copy of the same set that have been exhibited in the plates. The Lantsa letters and their skeletons (that have been likewise represented on the same plate) are used sometimes by the Tibetans now too for inscriptions. They generally use their own characters, either the capital or the small. Their literature in general is contained in books written in any of these two. When one is acquainted with the principles of the Tibetan language, he can read easily both.