Sándor Kőrösi Csoma
Sándor Kőrösi Csoma (March 27, 1784[1] – April 11, 1842), born Csoma Sándor, also known as Alexander Csoma de Kőrös, was a Hungarian philologist and orientalist, author of the first Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar book. He was born in Kőrös, Grand Principality of Transylvania (today Chiuruş, Romania). His birth date is often credited as April 4, which is actually 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 British government, he devoted himself to the study of the Tibetan language. He made the first English-Tibetan Dictionary while living at Zangla Monastery in Zanskar in 1823. The dictionary was published a year later in 1824.[2]
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.
- 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.
- Leaves Bucharest for Sofia in 1820 January.
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 immersion 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 May 1827 to October 1830 he resided in Kanum 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 and grammar 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[3]. In 1842 he planned to travel to Lhasa. But before its materialization, he contracted Malaria in Darjeeling and died there.
The memory of Kőrösi Csoma
There is a project under way with the aim to restore the old royal palace (Kharkongma) of Zangla where Csoma de Kőrös lived and compiled his Tibetan-English dictionary. Anyone can get involved, and by paying a small donation one can have his/her name written on a brick and incorporated in the new monastery.[4]
He was declared as a Bodhisattva in 1933 in Japan.[5]
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 Kőrös a biography compiled chiefly from hitherto unpublished data : with a brief 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. IMDB
- Zangla - Path of Csoma, a film by Zoltán Bonta, 2008.
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
This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.