Alexander Tumansky

Coat of arms of the Russian nobility Tumanskiy

Tumanskiy, Aleksandr Grigor’evich (Russian: Туманский, Александр Григорьевич) (1861–1920) – Russian orientalist, military interpreter, Major General of Imperial Russian Army, belonging to an ancient aristocratic family, which had originated from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Biography

Aleksandr Grigor’evichTumanskiy (Toumanskiy) was born on 23 September 1861. From 1888–1891 Tumanskiy, then an officer in the Imperial Russian Army, received his Oriental education at the Officer’s Courses of Oriental Languages organized by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He studied Arabic, Turkish and Persian language; at all he spoke eleven languages.

From 1891–1895 Tumanskiy was stationed in Central Asia. In 1894 he was responsible for establishing communications with Persia. Between 1900 and 1905 he served as the Russian vice consul in Van, Turkey. From 1908 and 1909 years he was ordered to Persia again to resume his diplomatic duties. In 1911 he was appointed the head of the officers’ Oriental language preparatory school in Tiflis (Tbilisi), which functioned under the Headquarters of the Caucasian Military Command.

In March 1917, Tumanskiy retired from the military service at the rank of General-Major.[1] He left Russia after the October Revolution in 1917 and died in Constantinople (Istanbul) on 1 December 1920.[2]

Scientific activity

Tumanskiy is one of the first Russian language researchers and readers information about Babis movement in Persia in the middle of the 19th century and about the first Bahá'ís in the East.[3][4][5][6] He befriended the Bahá'ís in Ashgabat where Mirza Abu'l-Fadl wrote a treatise for him as Risáliy-i Iskandaríyyh for a summary of the life of the founder of the Bahá'í Faith.[7] In 1899 year he found and translated the “Kitáb-i-Aqdas” by Bahá'u'lláh in Russian language. Now the book “Kitáb-i-Aqdas” is generally known, but in that time it was epochal discovery.[8] During his research of the Babis movement Tumanskiy corresponded with E.G. Browne[9] through Baron Rosen, Victor Romanovich.

His another discovery – finding of the lost work of Ulugh-Beg translation from it an ancient manuscript entitled “Olus-e-Arba’a”. Part of which “Hudud ul-'alam” was published in 1930[2] and in 1937.[10]

Being a military man, he wrote a book entitled “Military Art of the Anciet Arabs” in 1897.[11]

Opinions and memories about A.G. Tumanskiy

Russian Orientalist I. U. Krachkovskiy (1883–1951) wrote that Tumanskiy was one of the rare orientalises by his calling but not by his profession.[12]

Bibliography

1. Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, case 777, dos’e 87, sheets 7, 8 2. Full service record of Colonel of A.G. Tumanskiy in March 1917, Russian State Military-Historical Archive, fond 409, opis’ 1, case 148-610 (1917 year)

Selected works

1. И.Ю. Крачковский, "А.Г. Туманский" [некролог], ‘Новый Восток‘, блокнот 1, Москва и Петроград, 1922, стр. 112.

2. ‘Худуд аль-алам‘: рукописи Туманского, введение и содержание В.В. Бартольда, Ленинград, 1930 (факсимиле. издание).

3. Hudüd al-‘Ālam: ‘The Regions of the World,’ A Persian Geography 372 A.H.—982 A.D., ed. and tr. V.Minorsky, London, 1937.

4. Н.А. Кузнецова "К истории изучения Бабизма и Бахаизма в России, Иранский сборник 6, Москва, 1963 г., стр. 90 - 91

5. Hudüd al-‘Ālam: ‘The Regions of the World,’ A Persian Geography 372 A.H.—982 A.D., 2nd ed. pref. V.V.Barthold, ed. C.E. Bosworth, London, 1970.

6. Идем (Рай), Иран в период революции XIX века, 1983 г., стр. 199 - 231.

7. Дж. Дорри, “Proceedings of a Seminar on Nabil-i-A‘zam-i-Zarandi” Wienacht, Switzerland, 1996, pp. 125–50.

8. Абу‘ль-хази Бахадор Хан, Родословная Туркмен (Генеалогическое древо туркменского народа), перевод А.Г. Туманского, Ашхабад, 1897 г.

9. М.К. Басханов, "Русские военные востоковеды до 1917 года: библиографический словарь", Москва, 2005, стр. 242 - 243.

Notes

  1. ↑ М.К. Басханов, "Русские военные востоковеды до 1917 года: библиографический словарь", Москва, 2005, ISBN 5-02-018435-7 стр. 242 - 243.
  2. 1 2 ‘Худуд аль-алам‘: рукописи Туманского , введение и содержание В.В. Бартольда, Ленинград, 1930 (факсимиле. издание).
  3. ↑ Hudüd al-‘Ālam: ‘The Regions of the World,’ A Persian Geography 372 A.H.—982 A.D., ed. and tr. V.Minorsky, London, 1937.
  4. ↑ "Последнее слово Бахауллы - книга завета ‘Китаб-и-Ахд‘", ЗВОИРАО N7, 1892, стр. 193 - 203.
  5. ↑ "К вопросу об авторах истории Бабидов, известной под именем ‘Тарих-и-Манукчи или Тарих-и-Джадид‘, ЗВОИРАО N8, 1893, стр. 33 - 45.
  6. ↑ "По поводу ‘Китаб - Коркут‘" (рассказ о ‘Китаб - Коркут‘) ЗВОИРАО 9, 1896, стр. 269 - 273.
  7. ↑ Mírzá Gulpáygání, Abu'l-Faḍl; Translated by Juan Ricardo Cole (1985). Letters and Essays, 1886-1913. Kalimat Press. pp. xii. ISBN 9780933770362.
  8. ↑ ‘Китаб-и-Агдас‘. "Священнейшая книга" современных Бабидов, текст, перевод, введение и содержание А.Г. Туманского, С.-Петербург, 1899 (Записки Императорской Академии Наук, 8-ая Серия, Историко-филологическое отделение, том 3, номер 6.
  9. ↑ ‘The Tarikh-i-Jadid’ or ‘New History of Mirza 'Ali Muhammad The Bab, by Mirza Huseyn of Hamadan’, Translated from the Persian with introduction, illustrations, and appendices by Edward G. Browne, p.xxxv
  10. ↑ Hudüd al-‘Ālam: ‘The Regions of the World,’ A Persian Geography 372 A.H.—982 A.D., ed. and tr. V.Minorsky, London, 1937
  11. ↑ "Военное искусство древних арабов", Ашхабад, 1897.
  12. ↑ И.Ю. Крачковский, "А.Г. Туманский" [некролог], ‘Новый Восток‘, блокнот 1, Москва и Петроград, 1922, стр. 112.

See also

Sources of the information

The Encyclopædia Iranica, TUMANSKIǏ (Toumansky), Aleksandr Grigor’evich

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