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Alexander A. Stolyarov

(Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS, Moscow)

 

Buddhist Collections and Buddhological Studies in Russia:

Prospects for Electronic Forms Creation

 

Here a brief survey of principal Buddhist collections kept in the official depositaries (museums, libraries, archives) of different regions of Russia and some CIS republics is given. The material is grouped in six main parts: books, xylographs (or blockprints) manuscripts, images (icons and sculptures) and artefacts. The effort is made also to estimate both the capacity of each collection, the degree of it's description and treatment, the potential of scientific group working over it and the possibility of it's computer treatment. The main question is: what is the ground for the EBTI activities in Russia? The Table 1 is a partial answer to this question.

 

Table 1: Buddhist Collections in Russia and (partly) CIS

1. European Russia

1.1. Moscow

Organisation

Resources:

Structure, level of presentation

Equipment

Research groups
  1. Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS

Library, Roerich�s memorial collection
  1. Books in European, South Asian languages and Chinese - some 5000 items; catalogued
  2. Tibetan and Mongolian xylographs - some 250 items; catalogued

no

yes
  1. Moscow State University

    2. M. Gorky Scientific Library

manuscripts from P.Ya. Petrov�s collection, Fridrich Weller�s collection, xylographs (may be) - not described

n.k.

n.k.
  • Moscow State University

    • Institute of Anthropology

    1. Sculpture

    6. Artefacts

    n.k.

    n.k.
    1. Russian State Library

    Centre of Oriental Literature

    Manuscripts Department
    1. Books in South Asian, South-East Asian languages, Chinese, Japanese and European languages; partly catalogued
    2. Tibetan and Chinese xylographs; partly catalogued
    3. Manuscripts (may be, not known for certain)

    yes

    yes
    1. State Museum of Arts and Crafts of Peoples of the East
    1. Sculpture (Mathura-Ganhara-Baktria, India, Tibet, Mongolia, Buryatia) - some 500 items, catalogued
    2. Icons (tankas) - Tibetan (460, 13-19 cent.), Mongolian (450, 17-20 cent.), Buryatian (700, 18-20 cent.), catalogued
    3. Artefacts (Mathura-Gandhara-Baktria), masks, Tsam dress, catalogued

    no

    yes
    1. State Museum of Fine Arts

    4. Sculptures

    yes

    n.k.
  • State Historical Museum
    1. Sculptures

    5. Icons (tankas)

    yes

    n.k.
    1. Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts

    Oriental Collection
    1. Manuscripts (former State Foreign Ministry Archive) - described (mentioned in published description)

    yes

    n.k.
    1. State Research Institute of Restoration

    6. Artefacts (Termez collection)

    n.k.

    n.k.

    1.2. St. Petersburg
    1. Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS, Saint-Petersburgh�s branch

    Library
    1. Books in South Asian, South-East Asian languages, Chinese, Japanese and European languages; catalogued
    2. Xylographs: Tibetan - 200000 (M.Roach), Mongolian; catalogued
    3. Manuscripts: Dunhuang, Indian (Sanskrit, Pali) Sout-East Asian; catalogued

    yes

    yes
    1. Institute of the History of Material Culture of the RAS

    SPb branch of RAS Archive
    1. Photo archive - 700000 items (photos & negatives

    archaeology, architecture, ethnography, etc.

    yes

    yes
    1. Research Institute �Peter the Great Museum of Ethnography and anthropology� of the RAS (Kunstkamera)

    Several dozen collections (N.M. Yadrintsev�s, Ptitsin�s, Nicolas�s the 2nd, Ukhtomskyi�s, Osokin�s - 12 collections, also some collections from State Museum of Fine Arts and the Institute of Russian Language of the RAS - Pushkin�s house), catalogued

    n.k.

    n.k.
  • St. Petersburg University

    • Faculty of Oriental Studies

    Scientific Library
    1. Books in South Asian, South-East Asian languages, Chinese, Japanese and European languages - 300000 items, 185000 titles; catalogued
    2. Xylographs; catalogued
    3. Manuscripts; catalogued

    Japanese collection - 493

    Chinese collection - 90

    Tibetan collection - 283

    Kalmyk (Oirat) collection - 109

    Indian collection - 26

    Manchurian collection - 58

    Mongolian collection - 551

    yes

    yes
    1. State Hermitage
    1. Sculpture, catalogued
    2. Icons, catalogued

    6. Artefacts, catalogued

    yes

    (IBM-SH)

    yes
    1. Russian Ethnographic Museum

    �Special Treasury�
    1. Sculpture, catalogued
    2. Icons, catalogued

    n.k.

    n.k.
    1. State Museum of the History of Religion annd Atheism

    4. Kushan (Termez) Sculpture

    6. Artefacts

    n.k.

    n.k.
  • State Public Library (Saltykov-Schedrin�s)

    • Manuscripts Dept

    3. Burmese, Ceylon (pali) manuscripts - catalogued

    n.k.

    n.k.
  • St. Petersburg Buddhist Temple

    • 2. Tibetan xylographs

    1. manuscripts
    2. sculpture
    3. icons

    n.k.

    n.k.

    1.3.Republic of Kalmykia
    1. Kalmyk Institute for Humanities and Applied Studies

      2. Scientific Archive

    2-3. Oirat and Tibetan xylographs and manuscripts - some 500 items, partly described and catalogued

    yes

    yes
  • National Archive of RK
    		•

    2-3. Oirat and Tibetan xylographs and manuscripts

     

     
  • Kalmyk Ethnography Museum
    		•

    2-3. Oirat and Tibetan xylographs and manuscripts - some 400 items, partly described

    4-5. Sculpture and icons - some 4500 items, partly described

    6. Artefacts (dresses)

    no

    yes
  • Kalmyk Museum of Arts

    • 5. Icons (Including collection of Buryat late painter Donzan Dondukov)

    no

    no

    1.4.Stavropol
    1. Stavropol State Museum

    4. sculpture

    5. icons

    no

    no
    1. Asian Russia
    1. Republic of Buryatia
    1. Buryat Institute of Mongolian Studies, Tibetan Studies and Buddhism

    2. xylographs and

    1. manuscripts - some 200.000 items
    2. sculpture
    3. icons

    yes

    yes
    1. Buryat Historical Museum (Hangalov�s name)

    4. sculpture

    5. icons

    6. artefacts (masks, dresses)

    no

    no
  • Buryat Museum of Arts

    • (Sampilov�s name)
    1. sculpture
    2. icons

    no

    no
    1. Buryat Ethnographic Museum in the Open Air

    architecture

    6. artefacts

    n.k.

    n.k.
  • 22 datsans

    • 4. sculpture

    5. icons

    6. artefacts

    no

    no

    2.2. Irkutsk
    1. Irkutsk Regional Museum

    4. sculpture

    5. icons

    6. artefacts

    no

    no
  • 3 datsans

    • 4. sculpture

    5. icons

    6. artefacts

    no

    no
    1. Chita
    1. 3 datsans

    Aginsky datsan

    4. sculpture

    5. icons

    1. artefacts

    collection from Kunstkamera - 2000 items - described

    no

    no
    1. Tomsk
    1. Tomsk Regional Museum

    4. sculpture

    5. icons

    6. artefacts

    no

    no
    1. Republic of Tuva
    1. Tuva Historical Museum

    2. Tibetan xylographs

    1. manuscripts
    2. sculpture
    3. icons
    4. artefacts (masks, dresses)

    no

    no
    1. CIS
    1. Uzbekistan

    3.1.1. Samarkand

    1. Samarkand Museum

    6. artefacts (including Stupa) from Termez

    n.k.

    n.k.

    3.2. Tajikistan

    3.2.1. Dushanbe
    1. Institute of Oriental Manuscripts

    Sergey Oldenburg�s archive (partly)

    n.k.

    n.k.

    The picture reflected by this Table, of course, is not full. The Table is open to be filled with more pieces of information. Meanwhile with some certainty the picture of ongoing activities can be drawn. Let these activities be listed in the sequence of enumerating the Institutes in the Table 1:

    1. a) (see № 1 of the Table 1) Yuri Ya. Tsygankov, the keeper of Roerich�s memorial collection of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS is ready to create its bibliographical database;
    1. Victoria V. Vertogradova is ready to create the database for Indian Inscriptions from Old Termez;
    1. (see № 4 of the Table 1) Centre of Oriental Literature of the Russian State Library - their server is under construction at the moment;
    2. (see № 5 of the Table 1) State Museum of Arts and Crafts of Peoples of the East - Tigran K. Mkrtytchev, head of the Museum�s Archaeological subdivision applied to the Russian Scientific Foundation for Humanities to support financially the work to create the database for the Museum�s collection of Central Asian artefacts;
    3. (see № 6 of the Table 1) State Museum of Fine Arts (Pushkin�s name) - has its own computer diivision;
    4. (see № 7 of the Table 1) State Historical Museum- has its own computer diivision;
    5. (see № 10 of the Table 1) Saint Petersburg�s branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the RAS is taking part both in Asian Classics Input Project and in International Dunhuang Project;
    6. (see № 11 of the Table 1) Galina Dlujnevskaya, head of Saint Petersburg�s branch of RAS Photo Archive, situated at the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the RAS is ready to create database for the photo images of Russian expeditions to Central Asian Regions;
    7. (see № 13 of the Table 1) Computer department of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg University is ready to create database for its Scientific Library�s Buddhist collections;
    8. (see № 13 of the Table 1) State Hermitage has the Hermitage-IBM Project, the 1st part of it is to finished at autumn 1998;
    9. (see № 19 of the Table 1) Keemya N. Orlova, head of the Manuscripts� Division of Kalmyk Institute for Humanities and Applied Studies applied to the Russian Scientific Foundation for Humanities to support financially the work to create the database for the Institute�s collection of Oirats� Manuscripts;
    10. (see № 24 of the Table 1) Tsymjit P. Vanchikova head of the Manuscripts� Division of Buryat Institute of Mongolian Studies, Tibetan Studies and Buddhism of the Siberian Branch of the RAS is preparing the database for the Institute�s collection of Tibetan Xylographs