Sándor Kőrösi Csoma

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma

infobox_person
name = Alexander Csoma de Kőrös


birth_date = birth date|1784|3|27|mf=y [ [http://www.terebess.hu/keletkultinfo/korosi.html Short bio and works (hungarian)] ]
birth_place = Kőrös, Transylvania
death_date = death date and age|1842|4|11|1784|3|27|mf=y
death_place = Darjeeling, India
occupation = Linguist, philologist, traveler.

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, also known as Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, born Csoma Sándor (March 27, 1784 [ [http://www.terebess.hu/keletkultinfo/korosi.html Short bio and works (hungarian)] ] - April 11, 1842), was a Hungarian philologist and orientologist, author of the first Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar book. He was born in Kőrös, Transylvania. His birth date is often credited as April 4, which is literally his baptism day.Hoping that he would be able to trace the origin of the Magyar ethnic group, he set out for the East in 1820, and after much hardship along the way, arrived in Ladakh. Under great privation there, despite being aided by the English government, he devoted himself to the study of the Tibetan language. In 1831, he settled in Calcutta, where he compiled his "Tibetan Grammar and Dictionary" and catalogued the Tibetan works in the library of the Asiatic Society. He died in Darjeeling just as he was setting out for fresh discoveries. He is said to have been able to read in seventeen languages. De Kőrös is widely seen as the founder of Tibetology.

Life

Youth in Transylvania

He was born into a poor Székely family, as the sixth child of András Csoma and his wife, Krisztina Getse. His father served with the Border Guard.
* He is baptized on 1784 April 4.
* In 1790, he begins attending the local elementary school.
* In 1799, he walked to Nagyenyed (present day Aiud) with his father to join the boarding school "Bethlen Kollégium". He has worked small jobs in order to earn his tuition and support himself.
* He finished his high school studies in 1807, and continued at the university level.
* In 1815 he finishes his studies at the Bethlen Kollégium. Travels to Vienna, and - as it was usual at the time - continues his studies in Germany. After a short stay in Heidelberg, Csoma carries on to Göttingen.

Studies in Göttingen

* Between 1816 and 1818 he studies oriental languages under Johann Gottfried Eichhorn. In Göttingen, he was noted for being literate in 13 languages.

Eastward bound

* In 1818 he returns to his native Transylvania, brewing plans about a great journey to the East.
* Csoma sets out towards Bucharest on 1819 november 24.
* Leaves Bucharest for Sofia in 1820 January 1.

Middle East, Central Asia

* He arrives in Constantinople on February 7,1820, but has to leave soon due to an epidemic. He sails to Alexandria, where he stays with a blacksmith named Schaffer of Austrian origin. He wants to study Arabic in Egypt, but is forced again to leave due to the spread of the epidemic.
* On March 15, 1820, he sails to Latakia via Cyprus, Beirut and Tripoli. From Latakia, he continues on foot.
* On April 13, Csoma arrives in Aleppo, where he stays for a month.
* Joining a caravan, he arrives in Mosul on May 19, and continues to Baghdad, arriving there on June 21.
* In Baghdad, he stays for six weeks as he guest of Anton Swoboda, a Slovak living there. Swoboda supports Csoma with money and clothing.
* On October 14, he arrives in Tehran, where he stays for a longer period, perfecting his English and Persian. As his sporadic correspondence with Hungary stops here, his friends presume him lost. He leaves his documents in Tehran, and travels under the Turkish name of "Skender bey".
* He arrives in Meshed on April 18,1821 and is unable to continue for six months due to the war. He leaves for Bukhara on October 20.
* Csoma crosses the Hindu Kush mountains on January 6, reaches Kabul, where he turns south. He meets French officers in the Khyber Pass and joins them to Peshawar and Lahore. Finally, he arrives in Srinagar, after visiting Amritsar and Jammu.

In Ladakh

Near the Kashmir border he attached himself to William Moorcroft who encouraged him to study Tibetan for the East India Company. Soon after he moved to the isolated valley of Zanskar (he was the first European to visit the valley), and started on an intense initial sixteen-month imersion in study of the Tibetan language and the Buddhist culture which was the essence of its literature with a local lama, Sangs-rgyas-phun-tshogs. From 1827 to 1830 he was in Upper Bashahr in the Simla Hill States where he studied the collection of Tibetan manuscripts he had amassed in Ladakh, living on a monthly stipend of Rs. 50/- from the British. With his dictionary complete Csoma went to Calcutta to oversee its publication.

In Calcutta and Darjeeling

In 1831 Csoma joined the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. In 1833 he was unanimously elected as Honorary member of the Asiatic Society. In 1834 he was made an honorary member of the Royal Asiatic Society. From 1837 to 1841, he worked as Librarian of the Asiatic Society ["Journal of The Asiatic Society", Vol.XLVII, No.1, Kolkata: The Asiatic Society, 2005, p.236] . In 1842 he planned to travel to Lhasa. But before its materialization, he contracted Malaria in Darjeeling and died there.

Works of de Kőrös

*"Essay towards a dictionary, Tibetan and English.' Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1984.
*"Grammar of the Tibetan language." Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1984.
*"Sanskrit-Tibetan-English vocabulary: being an edition and translation of the Mahāvyutpatti." Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1984.

Works About de Kőrös

*"Life and works of Alexander Csoma de Körös a biography compiled chiefly from hitherto unpublished data : with a frief notice of each of his unpublished works and essays, as well as of his still extant manuscripts." Theodore Duka. London: Trübner, 1885.
*"Hermit-hero from Hungary, Alexander Csoma de Koros, the great Tibetologist." Hirendra Nath Mukerjee. New Delhi: Light & Life Publishers, 1981.
*"Alexandre Csoma de Kőrös." Bernard Le Calloch̓. Paris: La nouvelle revue tibétaine, 1985.
*"The Hungarian Who Walked to Heaven (Alexander Csoma de Koros 1784-1842)." Edward Fox. Short Books, 2001.
*"A Guest of Life." A film by Tibor Szemző, 2006. [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407702 IMDB]

Catalogue of the de Kőrös Collection

*"Collection of Tibetan mss. and xylographs of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös." József Terjék. Budapest : Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Könyvtára, 1976.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.thdl.org/texts/reprints/bot/bot_09_01_03.pdf Biography]
* [http://www.thdl.org/texts/reprints/bot/bot_1984_01_04.pdf Biography]
* [http://www.buddha-tar.hu/eng/csoma.php Biography]
* [http://www.lotsawaschool.org/csoma.html Biography and List of Writings on Lotsawa School]
* [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Alexander_Csoma_de_Koros 1911 Ecyclopedia article about Csoma de Kőrös]
* [http://csoma.mtak.hu/en/index.htm Alexander Csoma de Kőrös,] founder of Tibetan studies, and his legacy in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
* [http://yun.ro/ Himalayablue - pilgrimage in the footsteps of Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, 2007]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Sandor Korosi Csoma — Sándor Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, lithographie d Ágoston Schoefft Sándor Kőrösi Csoma ou Alexandre Csoma de Kőrös est un voyageur, un philologue et un orientaliste hongrois, fondateur de la tibétologie. Il est né à Kőrös (en Transylvanie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sándor Kőrösi Csoma — Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, lithographie d Ágoston Schoefft Sándor Kőrösi Csoma ou Alexandre Csoma de Kőrös est un voyageur, un philologue et un orientaliste hongrois, fondateur de la tibétologie. Il est né à Kőrös (en Transylvanie, aujourd hui Chiuruş) …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sándor Kőrösi Csoma — Sándor Kőrösi Csoma. Sándor Kőrösi Csoma (Covasna, Transilvania, 27 de marzo de 1784 Darjeeling, India, 11 de abril de 1842), explorador húngaro, considerado el fundador de la tibetología …   Wikipedia Español

  • Csoma de Körös — Sándor Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, lithographie d Ágoston Schoefft Sándor Kőrösi Csoma ou Alexandre Csoma de Kőrös est un voyageur, un philologue et un orientaliste hongrois, fondateur de la tibétologie. Il est né à Kőrös (en Transylvanie …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Sándor Csoma — Sándor Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Kőrösi Csoma (* 27. März 1784 in Kovászna, Siebenbürgen; † 11. April 1842 in Darjiling, Indien), auch Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, war ein ungarischer Forschungsreisender, de …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Sándor — (ˈʃɑndɔr) ist die ungarische Form des männlichen Vornamens Alexander. Namensträger Vorname Sándor Barcs (1912–2010), ungarischer Politiker, Journalist, Autor und Sportfunktionär Sándor Bárdosi (* 1977), ungarischer Ringer und Kickboxer Sándor… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Sándor — [ˈʃaːndɔr] est un prénom hongrois masculin correspondant au prénom français Alexandre. Prénom Sándor Bíró (1911–1988), footballeur hongrois Sándor I. Csajághy (Alexander Csajághy; 1810–1860), évêque catholique romain du diocèse de Csanád Sándor K …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Csoma — Dieser Artikel oder Abschnitt ist nicht hinreichend mit Belegen (Literatur, Webseiten oder Einzelnachweisen) versehen. Die fraglichen Angaben werden daher möglicherweise demnächst gelöscht. Hilf Wikipedia, indem du die Angaben recherchierst und… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Csoma —   [ tʃoma], Sándor (Alexander), genannt Körösi Csoma [ kørøʃi ], ungarischer Sprachwissenschaftler, * Körös (Siebenbürgen) 4. 4. 1784, ✝ Darjeeling (Indien) 11. 4. 1842. Auf der Suche nach der Urheimat der Magyaren bereiste Csoma 1820 Ägypten,… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Alexandre Csoma de Kőrös — Sándor Kőrösi Csoma Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, lithographie d Ágoston Schoefft Sándor Kőrösi Csoma ou Alexandre Csoma de Kőrös est un voyageur, un philologue et un orientaliste hongrois, fondateur de la tibétologie. Il est né à Kőrös (en Transylvanie …   Wikipédia en Français

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”