Indology in Russia: Then and Now: A Conversation with Indologist Svetlana Ryzhakova

1. Tell us the beginning of Indogy and the study of India in Russia.

Indology, and particularly Buddhist studies began in Russia around the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20tb century. It was mostly a philosophical and intellectual pursuit. Ivan Minayev was the first Russian Indologist; as student at the University of Saint Petersburg he developed an interest in Pali literature. His Russian-language Pali grammar (1872) was soon translated into French and English; his main book “Buddhism: Untersuchungen und Materialien”, was printed in 1887. His student Fyodor Shcherbatskoy in large part was responsible for laying the foundations in the Western world for the scholarly study of Buddhism and Buddhist philosophy. According to Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, “Stcherbatsky did help us – the Indians – to discover our own past and to restore the right perspective of our own philosophical heritage.”  Another pupil of Minayev, Sergey Oldenburg was in Buddhist studies, too. At the same time, in Kunstkamera in Sankt-Petersburg the Indian ethnographic collection was created my Aleksandr Mervart and his wife, eminent personalities, exploring South Asia. But that was soon eclipsed by the Bolshevik Revolution; after the establishing of the new regime many intellectuals have left the country, many people went into exile. The atheistic ideology became dominant, so, for instance, nothing connected with religion was allowed to be studied positively. And you cannot avoid religion if you engage in Indian studies. Civil war happened and there was a huge crisis in the country. Indian studies were also stopped, too.

2. So the exit of philosophers and intellectuals from Russian society was an important factor in the collapse of Indology in Soviet Russia.

It was textual, intellectual history that laid the groundwork for Indian studies. A scholar tradition developed  – the philosophy, writings, hosting libraries, it became part of the education system. All this collapsed with the revolution.

The second flowering of Indology however I would say began in the 1957-1960s, and it was largely due to the efforts of Dr. Yuri Roerich, the son of the painter and philosopher Nikolai Roerich who had made India his home along with his family. It was under Khrushchev’s time that some development occurred. Yuri Roerich came to Russia in 1957 and lived there for three years before his unfortunate demise. Russian Indologists consider him and his contribution as key to the second flowering of Buddhist and Indian studies in what was now already the Soviet Union. He was a scholar who achieved the publication of the Dhammapada [Buddhist holy text] translated by my dear teacher Vladimir Toporov into Russian, something which was unheard of then. It was an immensely revolutionary step. Around Yuri a small circle developed comprising intellectuals who wanted to learn Sanskrit, to read the texts, to explore the Indian culture. It was almost impossible to visit India then, very few could do that is why there was then no professional fieldworkers. It’s only recently that we can travel freely to and can learn even local regional languages of India. Our senior generations were therefore mostly had text-based knowledge, a very strong literary tradition.

3. How did India fare in the popular narrative and imagination?

Of course interest in India predated the traditions that were established by intellectuals, even before the revolution. There were a few stalwarts who contributed to this. The first well-known Russian to travel to India was Afanasiy Nikitin, a merchant in the 15^th century. He was a merchant from the Russian city of Tver. He went to India which was something very brave and innovative at a time when the world was so less connected. So in that scenario India was this far away land, something as faraway and elusive as the moon, something that existed only in fairytales. He described his trip in a narrative known as  “The Journey Beyond Three Seas”. There is a famous Russian film “Khozhdeniya za tri morya” that is a fictitious account of Nimitin’s travels in India. Another famous Russian who came to India in the 18th century was Gerasim Lebedev, the creator of contemporary Bengali theatre. Recently a book was published in Russia on his days in colonial Calcutta, his connections with the Freemasons, his ideas etc. There is much about his life there that we don’t know as not everything was documented. Then it was Prince Aleksei Dmitrievich Saltykov (1806–1859), a Russian artist and traveller in Persia and India. He undertook travels in India in the 1840s and 1850s and he maintained a diary and based on his observations, writings and sketches we came to know something’s about India. So it was very few people, only those who were very rich that visited India or those like Lebedev, who was supported by the nobility and who funded his trip to India. India was for a long time some kind of dream land for most Russians.

The figure of the Boddhisatva also travelled to Russia is the garb of some Christian tales. So it’s these different fragments of ideas and information that weaved a fable about India rather than realistic life. So for instance in Astrakhan, a town on the CaspeanSea there was a tiny Indian community, sometime in the 18-19 centuries. They were mostly traders from Gujarat; and then they slowly vanished. Even a branch of my family is supposed to have origins in the community, but there are no certain records. So gradually one decade of history gave some development and connectivity.

I believe that real interest in India came with the establishment of the anthropology, linguistic and introducing it to the education. We have an Indian collection in St. Petersburg in the Kunstkamera that was a collection of Indian artefacts collected by the Mervat family. Alexandr Mervart (1884 – 1932) was a Russian Indologist, ethnographer, linguist and the first Russian dravidologist. In 1913, Mervart was appointed head of the Indian department at the Museum of Anthropology & Ethnography. In 1914-1918, he and his wife explored much of the territory of South India and Ceylon, and visited Malaya, Singapore and Indonesia. As a result of this expedition, Mervart managed to assemble a large and unique collection of artefacts and objects of folk art from all over South and Southeast Asia. Upon his return to Leningrad, Mervart became the keeper of the Museum of Anthropology & Ethnography (1924-1930) and a teacher at the Leningrad State University, where he would be the first one in Russia to introduce the course of the Tamil language to the curriculum.

The end all f the 19^th beginning of the 20^th century was what was called Russia’s  “Silver Age” (“Serebryanny Vek”), or cultural renaissance. People began travelling and many connections at an elitist level were forged both in Russia and by Russians abroad. More than Indologists they were Orientalists, like the philosopher Fyodor Shcherbatskoe who delved into Buddhism [founded  Institute of Buddhist culture in Leningrad in 1928 and also believed to have laid the foundation for the scholarly study of Buddhism in the West]. Elena Blavatskaya, a Russian occultist, esoteric philosopher, co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. These and many, many more people cannot be put into one category. They were quite different from each other. But they were very interested in India, Indian culture and wisdom. Later professional interest was generated.

4. And that was because of Yuri Roerich? Was that when Indology was institutionalised?

Largely. In 1957-58 a small study circle emerged around Yuri Roerich in the Institute of Oriental Studies. There is still today a Roerich cabinet to commemorate his work. Yuri Roerich lived there for three years only but he did mammoth work to establish Indology as a tradition, constituting an unofficial circle of those like Alexandr Pyatigorsky, Tatiana Elizarenkova, Yulia Alikhanova.

Now, we have two major conferences which have continued over the decades. One is Roerich’s Readings and  the other is Zograf’s Reading, both named after two eminent persons, Yuri Roerich and a linguists Georgy Zorgaf. Initially, the participants were predominantly linguists and those who studied literature, particularly texts and manuscripts. But later on historians and even ethnographers like me joined in. So these two conferences are major events till today;it unites colleagues Indologists from all over Russia and the Baltic States as well.

In 1970-80s a joint Indo-Soviet Anthropological Expedition was established by the Indian  Statistical Institute. About 57 persons participated in this expedition travelling all over India. Few Russian anthropologists participated, like my another dear teacher, Dr. Sergey Arutiunov. Two books were published in Russian, “The Origin of South Asian peoples” (1991) and“Ethnic history of South Asia” (1994).

There are quite a few Indologists in Russia today. Irina Glushkova, who was studying a Marathi culture and history, she is running a project ‘Under the sky of South Asia’s. Elena Karachkova, an anthropologist. Many more.

5. During the existence of the USSR India was popular with Russians and other Soviets. But after its dissolution has that waned as Russians and even Indians began increasingly to look at the West?

Different generations have had different approaches, in many senses. During the Soviet times India has always lived and featured in the imagination. Take for instance Bollywood and films by those like Raj Kapoor. They were so tremendously popular. However, when we talk of Indology we mean the philosophers, the writers, the reading of texts – all that belongs to the elites, those who could go deep into the Upanishads, for instance. I was more interested in the spiritual and intellectual life of India. If we look at the popular image of course it was mostly from the films and it was loved across the Soviet Union, especially in Central Asia, for instance. All across Russia today there are Bollywood fan clubs.

Dance and music has also played an important role here. Since the Indian Cultural Centre was established in Moscow in 1989 there is always a teacher in Moscow for tabla, kathak and yoga.

During the 1990s more people started visiting India. This is really interesting because nowadays people, even young people, are travelling a lot to and across India, learning languages even like Ladaki, arts and crafts, dance and music. We can see an interest in India growing. Increasing numbers of people are visiting on their own, some are even settling down in different parts of India for some time. Many of my students have visited India though there are not Indologists but they love the country. Hopefully those like me will help generate greater interest and knowledge through our works and records.

6. Tell us about your latest work on India.

Currently I’m working on books on the ethnic dynamics of North Bengal, and on performing arts.

admin

See author's posts