Sándor Csoma

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Sándor Kőrösi Csoma

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma , also Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, Hungarian: Kőrösi Csoma Sándor (born March 27, 1784 in Csomakőrös , Transylvania , † April 11, 1842 in Darjeeling , India ) was a Hungarian explorer who is considered the founder of Tibetology . He devoted most of his life to researching the origins of the Hungarian people . In Japan he was the first European to be declared a Buddhist saint ( Bodhisattva ) in 1933 because of his services .

Life

Alexander Csoma's itinerary with the most important stops and dates.
Göttingen memorial plaque for Csoma de Körös

Csoma, a Szekler , studied theology and philology in Nagyenyed from 1812 to 1815 and oriental languages from 1815 to 1818 in Göttingen under Johann Gottfried Eichhorn . There he came into contact with Johann Friedrich Blumenbach . This represented the thesis that the Magyars were the descendants of the Turkish Uighurs . Inspired by this idea, Csoma traveled to Asia to research the origins of the Hungarian people.

Csoma, the fluent Armenian language, broke in 1821 with a caravan when Armenians disguise of Khorasan and came over Baghdad , Tehran , Bukhara and Lahore to Leh , capital of Ladakh .

In 1823 he retired as a student of the local abbot Sangye Phuntsog to a Buddhist monastery in Zanskar in the Hindu Kush on Satluj and devoted himself to learning Tibetan and the basic concepts of Buddhism. His studies were also supported by the Lama Kunga Choleg , Phuntsog's teacher. The monks of the surrounding monasteries called him Phyi-Glin-Gi-Grwapa, the foreign student, because he absorbed their teachings and their language like no one else before him. From 1827 to 1834 he stayed in Ladakh on a British Government grant.

As a result of his studies, he published the first scientifically held grammar: A grammar of the Tibetan language (Calcutta 1834), and the first Tibetan dictionary: Essay towards a dictionary Tibetan and English (Calcutta 1834). Through this work, his Analysis of the Kandjur (on the basic teachings of Buddhism, Calcutta 1835) and his smaller writings, Csoma is considered the founder of Tibetology in Europe.

Csoma's research did not go unnoticed by the Dalai Lama either; he was the first European to receive an invitation from the 11th Dalai Lama to the capital Lhasa . Before he could start the journey, however, Csoma died in Darjeeling at the foot of the Himalayas .

The Csoma Archive of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, which keeps his works and works about him, was included in the World Document Heritage in 2009 .

Fonts

  • A grammar of the Tibetan language in English (Calcutta 1834)
  • Essay towards a dictionary Tibetan and English. Prepared with the assistance of Bandé Sangs-rgyas Phuntshogs, a learned Láma of Zangskár, by Alexander Csoma de Kőrös. Siculo-Hungarian of Transylvania. During residence at Kanam, in the Himálaya mountains, on the confines of India and Tibet. 1827-1830. (Calcutta 1834)
  • Analysis of the Kandjur (on the basic teachings of Buddhism, Calcutta 1835)

literature

Web links

Commons : Sándor Kőrösi Csoma  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ [1]
  2. ^ Csoma Archive of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. (No longer available online.) UNESCO, archived from the original on August 5, 2009 ; accessed on August 6, 2010 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / portal.unesco.org
  3. ↑ Publishing information about Fox: The man who went to heaven
personal data
SURNAME Csoma, Sándor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian explorer, Tibetologist
DATE OF BIRTH March 27, 1784
PLACE OF BIRTH Csomakőrös
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1842
Place of death Darjeeling , India