Oriental Collection № 3/2012
Philippines, a photo essay by Maria Dubrovskaya, opens the third issue of 2012.
In 2012 there is 120th anniversary of the eminent Russian orientalist Nilolay Nevsky’s (1892—1937) birth. The magazine publishes several articles by Russian and Japanese scientists dedicated to poorly known aspects of his scientific biography.
- For a long time Nevsky was better known in Japan than in his Motherland, Mikhail Alpatov writes in his article «Enthusiasm and Light of Science Burned in Him». The scale of this personality begins to be realized only now. Though Nevsky had interest in many problems, in the focus of his scientific interests always stayed the Japanese culture in all its manifestations.
- Vasily Shchepkin. Twelve Days in Tokyo. One of the remained Nevsky’s diaries is for period from late December, 1921 to early 1922. Even the small part of it published by the magazine let imagine the intensive creative life of the beginner scientist. There was no day when he failed to know something new in the field which was his then special occupation — the Ainu mythology and culture.
- Evgeny Baksheev. Two Letters from Otaru or Russian Silver Age in Hokkaido. Short publication presents Nikolay Nevsky from unexpected side. He was a keen connoisseur of Russian poetry, knew the Silver Age poets’ works and composed the verses himself...
- Michiko Ikuta. The Birth of a Scientist. In an article written specially for «Oriental Collection» the Tokyo University professor M. Ikuta on the base of archive documents tells of Nevsky’s life in Osaka. Definitely there, thinks the author, he was born as a scientist: here he studied Ainu and Tangut languages, ethnographic and linguistic researches in Taiwan and Okinawa. Here also he married and became a father.
- Evgeny Baksheev. A Russian in the Islands of Immortality. As a researcher of the culture of Japanese Ryukyu archipelago Nikolay Nevsky is not yet enough known in Russia and nearly not known at all in the West. Many of his works are in the archives of Japan and Russia — not studies, not published and often not accessible even for specialists. The author of the article studies the scientist’s legacy for many years.
- The exhibition «Pyotr Sevastyanov — the Collector of Christian Antiquities» took place in the Russian State Library. There were presented notebooks, letters, drawings and photos from the collector’s archive. The chief curator of the Manuscripts Department, RSL Olga Solomina in her article «It’s Impossible to Live Only for Pleasure...» tells of the personality and the collection of Pyotr Sevostyanov who was the first to attach an attention to the meaning of photo for the purpose of copying and perpetuating monuments.
- Svetlana Ryzhakova. «Don’t Forget Radha!». This slogan can be read on the walls of many buildings in Indian town of Vrindavan. According the legends, these are this town’s environs where the love meetings of young Krishna with herdswomen, mostly with Radha, took place. Now thousands of Krishnaite pilgrims from all around the world point to Vrindavan.
- Maksim Mikhalyov. Gloom Dazzleness. The author tells of his travel to wild places of Mountain Altai. This is here, in the central part of Eurasia, where the different natural zones converge. But Altai is also a border between West and East, here is the meeting of the most ancient cultures, here Buddhism is next to Christianity, and Islam is next to Shamanism.
- Nikolay Listopadov. Buddhistic Hills of Andhra Pradesh. On the Western coast of the Bay of Bengal, near the city of Visakhapatnam, are remained nearly untouched places of old India that lives in a traditional way of life. Archeologists discovered here multiple relics of Buddhism.
- Ekaterina Komissaruk. Mission to Ladakh. In the middle of 19th century in Ladakh appeared two missionaries who intended to convert natives into Christianity. These two and their followers did not succeed well in this area but made a valuable contribution in the studying of local languages, nature and native customs.
- Andrey Strelkov. Potala in Legends and History. The Potala palace in Lhasa is one of the main Tibetan sanctuaries, the gemstone of world architecture. Making his rounds by multiple rooms of the palace the article’s author compares his notes, reminds the legends and presents the historical information on Potala.
- Yury Averyanov. The Pioneer of Printing Ibrahim Efendi and His Books. In the founds of Oriental Centre, Russian State Library there are 16 of 17 books edited in early 18th century by the first Turkish printer Ibrahim Mьteferrika. At one time they became the evidence of Ottoman Empire’s drawing into European cultural values. The magazine publishes the translation of extract of the book «The History of Western India».
- Tatyana Solovyova. The Handfuls of Memories. It seems to be no places in Mesopotamia not visited by Agatha Christie when she travelled and took part in archaeological excavations led by her husband Max Mallowan. Here she planned her «Oriental» detective stories with Hercules Poirot as a hero...
Our «Orientnet» section presents web resources on «National Flowers of the East» theme.