मारिया नेज्यैशी--
It is a matter of pleasure and great privilege that I have got an invitation to this Central and Eastern European Conference on Regional Co-operation in Indian Studies. Many/some of you might recall that three years ago, in March 2002 there was an International Hindi Conference in Budapest. It was great occasion to collect several scholars, professors of Hindi from seven Central European countries. Though the work of that conference concentrated on Hindi Studies, it gave a good overview of the Indian Studies in countries like Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Ukraine, and we also could welcome some distinguished Hindi scholars from India.
I am delighted that today here, in Warsaw we have a new opportunity to establish or strengthen our relations in a broader scope on the field of Indian Studies. By now some of the countries mentioned above became members of the European Community and hopefully this will provide us much better facilities in co-operation.
My paper would like to give not only a short report on the history of Indian Studies in Hungary but some ideas of possible collaboration.
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Early history
Indians visiting or working in Hungary are often sincerely moved by the affection and deep interest that Hungarian people show in Indian culture. India has got a significant presence in our country since long centuries: Indian culture, philosophy, religion and art have been drawing great attention of Hungarians scholars and common man alike.
In Hungary Indian literary works had been published in translation even much before Indology became a field of academic study. The first such work was translated by Dávid Rozsnyai in the end of the 17th century. His Horologium Turcicum contains the first Hungarian version of the Pañcatantra; however, the translation was not directly done from Sanskrit but from a version in Turkish called Humāyūn-nāme. It is very likely that even before the mentioned translation, Pañcatantra was known to Hungarians as its excerpts in Latin or some remarks in mediaeval works can be traced back. Its other 18th-century Hungarian translations are likewise not directly from the Sanskrit . Elements of the life history of the Buddha reached Europe as part of the mediaeval parable literature in the form of the popular story of Barlaam and Joashaph . Its Hungarian translation was alrady written down in the Codex Kazinczy of 1526. Similarly popular collection of tales, the History of Pontian, was published from a German version in the 70s of the 16th century.
Sanskrit itself has been studied in Hungary since the 18th century. In about 1750 István Vályi, a Hungarian studying in Leiden, met some Indian students there; his paper commenting on the relationship between Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages preceded better-known work by other scholars such as William Jones.
Ferenc Verseghy (1757-1822), a writer of the Age of Enlightement, in his attempt to write a world history dedicates almost a whole volume to India.
In the 19th century he life-work of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös (Kőrösi Csoma Sándor, 1784-1842) is still a landmark in the history of Hungarian Indology. His avowed purpose was to find the original homeland of the Hungarians in Asia. Traditionally Hungarians regard themselves people of Oriental origin. In the 13th century missionaries sent by the Royal Court succeeded in locating some Hungarians who remained in the East but their traces were lost because of the Mongolian invasion. Alexander Csoma de Kőrös took upon himself the task of finding the reality behind this tradition.
He arrived in India as a poor student and tried to adapt himself to the way of life of the inhabitants. He approached the Indians and Tibetans as friends and relatives of his nation. He spent more than ten years in Ladakh and discovered many ancient texts of fundamental importance concerning Indian history, literature, philosophy, religion and medical science. In 1834 he published his Tibetan-English dictionary which is still now the basic dictionary for Tibetologists and the first grammar of the Tibetan language . He died in Darjeeling, his original quest still unfulfilled; his tomb became a place of pilgrimage for all Hungarian visitors.
In the end of the 19th century a growing interest can be observed towards the Indian literature. János Arany (1817-1882), one of the greatest poets in Hungary was enchanted by Kālidāsa ’s Abhijñānaśākuntalam and attempted to translate it. Nevertheless, this pioneering work was done by Károly Fiók who was the first to translate the play from Sanskrit original.
20th century
By the turn of the 19th –20th centuries several Sanskrit literary works were translated into Hungarian: Sándor Kégl (Bhagavadgītā), Pál Pitroff Vikramorvaśīya), Pál Büchler (Mānavadharmaśāstra) ) must be mentioned in this context.
In 1919 a separate museum was established for Far Eastern Art by Ferenc Hopp (1833-1919) already having some Indian items, but the first director, Zoltán Felvinczi-Takács and Imre Schwaiger contributed a lot to the collection of Indian Art.
In 1913 some poems of Tagore were published in the famous progressive Hungarian literary journal Nyugat, in translation by Mihály Babits the famous Hungarian poeta doctus. By the time of Tagore's visit to Hungary in 1926 more than 20 of his works had appeared in Hungarian. His visit was partly for medical treatment in a sanatorium of Balatonfüred. His treatment was wholly successful, and to commemorate the visit he planted a tree there, which still stands. Later on this became a tradition, and many distinguished Indian guests of Hungary, politicians, scholars and artists planted a tree so today there is a unique Indian „kunj” in the famous promenade of the town. On his return home Tagore maintained lively contacts with Hungarian scholars and artists, e.g. he invited Prof. Gyula Germanus to teach in Shantiniketan. Tagore gave full support to the Hungarian painters, Mrs. Sass-Brunner and Elisabeth Brunner mother and daughter who arrived there by Tagore’s spiritual call and they felt so much at home in Indian environment and overwhelmed by Indian love and affection that they decided to make India as their permanent home.
A further important link between the two countries was represented by Amrita Sher-Gil (1913-1941). The talented painter had a Hungarian mother and an Indian father. She pioneered a new phase in the development of Indian painting. In September 2001 the representative exhibition of her works (organised by the Ernst Múzeum,Budapest and the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi) in Budapest was a great success.
The oeuvre of Sir Aurél Stein (1862-1943) is another landmark in the history of Hungarian Indology though his academic achievements were obtained outside Hungary. He won international renown on many fields. His most important philological work was the critical-text edition of Kalhana's Rājataranginī. His most valuable activity, however, was the organization of three expeditions to Central Asia between 1900 and 1916. These brought to light a large quantity of ancient manuscripts (mostly from Tun Huang, western China) whose study has not yet been completed. For his work he received a British knighthood. The Delhi National Museum has a special exhibition of the material collected by him.
During the 20th century Ervin Baktay (1890-1963) also played a seminal role in popularizing Indian culture in Hungary. From the 1920’s onwards he published many books on the subject, notably his version of the epics Rāmāyana and Mahābhārata, and books on Indian philosophy, yoga and religion. After 1946 he worked at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Art, and also gave lectures on Indian art at the University. His book on Indian art, published in 1958, is a classic work.
József Vekerdi is a celebrated translator of a large number of classic Sanskrit works, amongst which are the Kathāsaritsāgara, the Vetālapañcavimśatikā, hymns from the Rgveda, and works of Kálidása.. His work produced in cooperation with Sándor Weöres has been particularly acclaimed; their version of Jayadeva's Gitagovinda has been praised by Indian poets. He is also a distinguished scholar, with a special interest in the language of the Gipsy people.
History of the Department of Indo-European Studies
Our Department of Indo-European Studies was established in 1873 in the Faculty of Philosophy of the University to provide a chair for research on Indo-European comparative linguistics. Indology has always formed a major part of the work of the Department.
The department belongs to the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest (ELTE). Its foundations were laid in 1635 in Nagyszombat (today known as Trnava, Slovakia) by the Cardinal-Archbishop of Esztergom, Péter Pázmány (1570-1637) and in the year of 1777, after the expulsion of the Turks from Hungary, the Habsburg Empress Maria Teresa ordered the University to be transferred to the newly rebuilt royal palace in Buda.
Throughout its history, the University has undergone changes in structure to meet the demands of the time. Under the Faculty of Humanities the Department of Indo-European Studies forms the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World together with such departments as Latin, Greek, Egyptian Studies, Assyriology and Hebrew Studies.
The first professor of the Department of Indo-European Studies was Aurél Mayr (1846-1915). His special field of interest was the history of Ancient Indian Law. and his works on this topic (published in German) are still of scientific value.
His successor in the Department was József Schmidt (1868-1933) . His lectures on comparative linguistics were renowned for their erudition and for the lively presentation of his own researches. Besides Sanskritology his other research fields were Iranian Studies and Indo-European Comparative Linguistics. His most popular works were published during the 1920's, such as "Life and Works of Kālidāsa", "Life and Doctrines of the Buddha", "The History of Sanskrit Literature", and "Indian Philosophy". He published several translations including the Mālavikāgnimitra ("The King and the Courtesan") of Kālidāsa, the Mrcchakatika ("The Little Clay Cart") of Śūdraka, and the Pañctantra.
In 1920 the Department's work had to cease for political reasons, and was resumed only after the Second World War and it was formally re-established in 1952, when János Harmatta was appointed as its head. At that time the principal activity of the Department was the teaching of the linguistics of classical languages (Latin and Ancient Greek); Sanskrit was taught as an optional subject.
Professor Harmatta (1917-2004), was a Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, he continued teaching as a professor emeritus up to the last days of his life. His major specialties were: Indo-European linguistics, Classical Philology; Iranian Studies and Indology (Prakrit languages including Gandhari Prakrit, history of the Indian languages, Brahmi and Kharoshti inscriptions). He has also translated Sanskrit works including some hymns from the Rgveda.
In 1956 Indology was introduced as a formal university subject in the Department (that is students get MA degree in 5 years). This was the first time such a course had been offered in Hungary; and it remains the only such course in the country today.
Professor Csaba Töttössy (1931- ) was Head of Department from 1987 till 2001. In 1956 he was commissioned by the Ministry of Education to extend Departmental activities to include the formal teaching of Indology; he established the university syllabus for this subject. He has taught grammar, text-reading and analysis, history of Sanskrit language and literature, etc. since then. He also lectured on Indo-European linguistics and Latin historical grammar. One of his research interests is the comparison of Greek and Latin with Indo-Iranian languages. His studies on the Śukasaptati are a major contribution to Sanskritology. All Indologists currently working in Hungary were trained in the Department.
Studies on contemporary India, especially Hindi language and literature, only began in Hungary a few decades ago. Nevertheless, Hindi was an integral part of the syllabus right from the time that formal training in Indian Studies started in 1956.
The first teacher in this field was Dr. Árpád Debreczeni (1911-1984). His research interests included the stress and intonation, the verb-structure and the different "registers" in the use of Hindi. He translated some works of modern Hindi literature. Unfortunately his pioneering Hindi-Hungarian dictionary is still unpublished; but the first Hungarian-Hindi dictionary, published in 1973, was revised by him. It had been compiled by Péter Kós, the former Hungarian Ambassador to India.
Stucture of Studies and Syllabus
Let me shortly summarize the traditional structure of the Indology MA course which proved to be very successful during the last decades:
During the first few years very strong emphasis is placed on the acquisition of language skills in Sanskrit and Hindi. The objective of the first-year syllabus is to equip students with a sound basic knowledge of Sanskrit and Hindi, which can then serve as a tool for their further studies. The second and third years are based on the reading and analysis of a considerable quantity of Sanskrit texts, in parallel with similar work on Hindi texts. In Hindi, active oral and writing skills are also developed. During these two years linguistics is studied from both the comparative and historical point of view. The students must also demonstrate their competence in English, which is a necessary tool for work in this field. The study of Indian cultural topics may commence in the second year.
Cultural studies on Indian civilization, which stretches back four millennia, take place in the fourth year; but the further development of linguistic knowledge and skills also continues. At this stage students can elect to study topics of particular relevance to their interests or needs; in some cases it may be necessary to extend their studies to a fifth year.
Examinations take place at the end of each semester (in January and June). Students work on a selected research topic and prepare a written thesis during the final year, which must demonstrate competence in utilizing and analyzing both primary and secondary literature. An oral examination on the thesis is held in the end of their univrsity studies.
Throughout, studies in Sanskrit and Hindi proceed in parallel.
Achievments of graduates of Dept.
Research plans: text editions
Recently two major projects have been started by the staff of the department and other graduates of Indology. The aim of the first project is to prepare scholarly text editions of some important Sanskit texts and commentaries (Abhinavabhàratã of Abhinavagupta) and the other project similarly prepares edition of some Hindi works, such as Kavitavali of Tulsidas. The project is four years, the work of the first year was of locating the original manuscripts which might be available only in different libraries of India or Nepal and getting the copies of them. During the second and third year the research teams transcribed the collected material in the computer, and alongwith this data input we also analysed the texts, prepared the apparatus criticus. To the end of the forth year we have to make all the necessary corrections so that the texts would be ready for publishing.
Other activities – Emb. course, filmclub, translations
As you can understand what I have mentioned there is a long tradition in Hungary of Indology Studies. However our experience that our government priorities have changed and there is more focus and more attention towards the west. Frankly, we cannot even blame the govermnet as Hungary recently has been a part of the European Union that there would be much more interaction with and benefit from the west. Consequently most of the financial resources are being allocated to the western studies, departments like ours, focusing on Indian Studies suffer financial constraint.
We would like to encourage more students to undertake study and research in indology. Also the interest among students to study Indology is evident. But because of these resource constraints we are not able to employ more academic and research staff.
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