Almost two hundred years ago, a Hungarian by the name of Alexander Csoma de Kõrös visited Zanskar to study the Tibetan language. About his stay at Zangla it is said, “that he lived in an apartment nine feet square, sitting on a sheepskin cloak to protect himself from the freezing cold, reading the Tibetan canon.” This great Hungarian stayed over two years in Zanskar and eventually became recognized as a pioneer of Tibetan studies in the West for writing the first authoritative Tibetan-English dictionary and grammar. In order to write these books, Csoma de Kõrös received patronage from certain Zanskari scholars about whom I will shed light in my paper. Prior to that I would like to say few words about his life’s mission and the purpose of his travel from Europe to Asia,

and to Zanskar in particular.

Alexander Csoma de Kõrös was born in Transylvania, Hungary (now a part of Romania) in the year 1784. After twenty years of studying at the Gabor Bethlen College of Nagyenyed and at Gottingen University in Hanover, Germany, and having a command of thirteen different languages, he decided to go in search of the ancient homeland of the Hungarian race (the Yugurs)¹, or the ancient homeland of his proudly assumed Siculo-Hungarian stock of Transylvania,²which he believed to be Yarkand, a city in the Xinjiang province of China connected to Tibet and Ladakh by the old silk trading caravan routes. On November 28th, 1819, Csoma de Kõrös set out on a very difficult journey to travel from Europe to Asia by boat, raft and on foot along the old trade route to Yarkand via Srinagar.

His first encounter with Buddhist images must have appeared by the time he reached Afghanistan. Csoma de Kõrös crossed into India by the infamous Khyber Pass on January 26th, 1822, and, traveling via Lahore and Amritsar, reached Jammu from where he continued on to Srinagar. Csoma followed the old caravan route through the mountains and arrived at the ancient trading centre of Leh on June 9th, 1822. He was entranced by everything he saw. It was a land of sparkling sunshine, crystal clear air, majestic silence, fast tumbling streams with rope bridges over them, trapezoid shaped houses with flat roofs and elaborate carvings over the windows, mani-walls, stupas, gonpas and, finally, a people speaking and writing a language which was completely different from anything he had ever experienced. He waited in Leh for almost a month for companions for the trip to Yarkand, which was about six hundred kilometers away, but this was in vain, despite Leh’s central point along the caravan routes of the region. He then decided to return to Lahore. After two weeks of trekking, however, he arrived at the small village of Dras. There, on July 16th, 1822, he met William Moorcroft, a veterinary surgeon in the service of the East India Company who spent two years in Ladakh between 1820-and 1822, who was on his way to Leh.³ Csoma de Kõrös explained the purpose of his mission to Leh and Moorcroft, impressed by his knowledge and adaptability, suggested that he could be of great service if Csoma de Kõrös could learn Tibetan and construct a dictionary and record the grammar. This scholarly task appealed to Csoma de Kõrös, as he believed that it was possible he would find information about the original homeland of the Hungarians amongst the Tibetan writings. Small books with English explanations of the Tibetan script were available at this time and Moorcroft offered to obtain one for him. He also gave Csoma de Kõrös a letter of introduction to the Ladakhi Prime Minister bKa-blon Tse-dbang Don-grup and recommended that he go to the monasteries of Ladakh to achieve his objectives. Moorcroft then continued on to Leh while Csoma de Kõrös went to Srinagar, having first agreed that they would meet again in Srinagar in March, 1823.

Csoma de Kõrös returned to Leh on June 1st, 1823 and presented his introductory note to the bKa-blon. He was given a good reception and the scholarly Prime Minister recommended that Csoma de Kõrösvisit Zangla to study Tibetan under the guidance of the Lama Sangey Phuntsog. He also gave him a passport, calling Csoma de Kõrös, Secander-Beg (being the Ladakhi equivalent of Alexander the Great). He traveled in a southwesterly direction for nine days along the central trail known as gZung-lam and upon his arrival at Zangla he met the teacher recommended by the bKa-blon. He also received patronage from the local chief who allowed him to live in the palace at Zangla.

It was then that his task really began. At the outset Csoma de Kõrös had estimated that it would take one year to collect enough material to prepare a dictionary of the Tibetan language. However, when he started learning it in depth, Csoma de Kõrös found that the language and literature of the people from this part of the world was much richer than he had originally thought. He was left with no other alternative than to make a much deeper study and forget the other plans he had made.

bKa-blonTse-dbang Don-grup had recommended that Csoma study under Lama Sangey Phuntsog in Zanskar. But who was this lama? Unfortunately, not much evidence is available regarding Sangey Phuntsog, but one can assume that he was a known personality of the time, paying frequent visits to Ladakh’s court in Leh and passing along information about the socio-political goings- on in Zanskar. In the early 19th century, the Zanskar region of Ladakh was administratively a part of the present-day Kishtawar district of Jammu. The region gave birth to the 18th KushokBakula of Pethup who acted as the Tehsildar, or revenue officer, of Zanskar through a decree by the Jammu Maharaja and the table and the chair which he used during his tenure as tehsildar is found preserved in one of the chambers of Karsha Monastery. It was Kushok Bakula who brought Zanskar into the dominion of Ladakh by prevailing over the court of Jammu or obtaining due approval from the Jammu Maharaja. According to Lama Thupstan Paldan, a Ladakhi historian, Lama Sangey Phuntsog was an accomplished monk of Stongde Gonpa, hailing from the Gelukpa tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Contrary to that, P.J. Marczell in his book entitled Alexander Csoma de Kõrös, writes that “he (Lama Sangey Phuntsog) did not reside in any monastery, having married the widow of the Raja of Zangla around the age of 40.” On the basis of this finding, one can suppose that Lama Sangey Phuntsog may have had some say in the daily affairs of Zangla palace and might have persuaded Csoma to stay at Zangla palace. The palace had a glorious position in the religious and cultural history of Zanskar, being the birthplace of two lineage teachers of the Gelukpa school of Tibetan Buddhismin the 16th century namely, Trungpa Ta-phug-pa and Grup-khang-pa dGelegsr Gya-mtso. Both lamas were born into the Zangla royal family and both the Lama became well-known teachers of lam-rim, the “great path.” Their biographies are preserved in certain gonpas in Zanskar and in the libraries. Above the palace where Csoma lived during his stay in Zanskar is a rock that resembles an eagle, and inside the palace there exist two or three holy footprints of worship. It also housed a rich treasure of statues, thang-ka paintings and books. The apartment in which Csoma lived at Zangla palace was only of nine feet square and instead of any fancy carpet mostly he sat on a sheepskin cloak to protect himself from the freezing cold of Zanskar.

Whoever he was, it seems that the Sangey Phuntsog was a comparatively well-read person earning the respect of the Zanskari people and the elites of of Ladakh. Kaga Sonam Wangchuk of Karsha village in Central Zanskar, who still enjoys respect from the Zanskari people on the basis of his being a member of the noble family of Karsha, had earlier served as teacher in the local government schools. Later, shedding the worldly life, he became a monk, connecting the lineage of Lama Sangey Phuntsog with his own family’s. In the opinion ofKaga Sonam Wangchuk, he was a descendent of an upper class family, popularly known as skutak in Ladakhi, and was an amchi (a local medical doctor) and an onpo (astrologer) who enjoyed a good reputation among the people of Zanskar and the rest of Ladakh. He was well versed in the customs, manners, economy and polite language used among the nobility and also in the sacred volumes, and had the privilege to visit Tibet to study. Thus he was well versed in the functioning of the monastic institutions of both Ladakh and Tibet, and well versed in the canons and important works of Tibetan scholars. For Csoma de Kõrös, the lama was an indispensable person, being beside the other writer and a scribe as well, and having mastered the difficult block print script. Kaga Sonam Wangchuk further says that the writings of Lama Sangey Phuntsog are found preserved in certain places in Zanskar and could be available in the shelves of Zongkhul Gonpa, which remained locked.

Above all, Lama Sangey Phuntsog was a well-known astrologer. The horoscope chart or Thanka which he used in his lifetime later reached the hands of Lama Stagtsang Raspa, the incarnate Lama of Hemis and later it passed into the hands of a certain astrologer of Sabu village, or Lakjung Onpa in Nubra valley. The different version of study on the Lama Sangey gives evidence that the Lama had properties at several places in Central Zanskar and particularly one at Dankar, close to Ating village, not far from Zongkhul, the monastery of great meditation practitioners of Zanskar such as Ating Dupchen Nawang Tsering, his disciple Lama Zhadpa Dorje and finally his son Lama Kunga Chosleg, who too was associated with the studies of Csoma during his sojourn there. It is becoming now certain that for the sake of his scholarly quench, Lama must have developed cordial relation with the hermit monk Lama Kunga Chosleg the abbot of Zongkhul monastery. About Lama Kunga Chosleg it is said that he was a nephew of Siddhi Nawang Tsering, who was a symbol of Buddhist thought and culture of 18th Century Zanskar. Mention of Lama Kunga is also visible in the biography of Lama Tsultim Nima, a 19th Century Ladakhi scholar and a social reformer who was active during the time of annexation of Ladakh into the dominion of Maharaja Gulab Singh of Jammu in the year 1834. Since Lama KungaChosleg was a scholar of Buddhist thought and culture, Lama Sangey must have had introduced Csoma to Lama Kunga Chosleg and have had forth put many questions relating to the Buddhist religion.’ According to Kaga Sonam Wangchuk, Lama Kunga in reply to many questions put forward by Csoma to Lama Kunga, it is said that Lama had written a treatise in reply to Csoma’s question under the possible title of The Questions of European Iskander.⁴ The lama dealt in the treatise three subjects in this book: the formation of the world, its existence and its ultimate destruction. Unfortunately the copies of the same are not available with anyknown scholar. Like his predecessors, Lama Kun-dgah had a wife and two sons. Otherwise, in Ladakh, an abbot having a family is quite unusual. It is said that he became the abbot of the gonpa through inheritance from his grandfather, Siddhi Nga-dbang-tshe-ring (1717-1790), the famous Yogin of Zong-khul Gonpa. In a later period of his life he went on a pilgrimage to Karja Phagspa, the present Lahul and gained many disciples in Ladakh and Karja. Unfortunately, during the winter of his pilgrimage, a smallpox epidemic broke out in Zanskar killing many people including his two sons. This broke the line of succession and although the abbot was very upset there was no alternative but to pray for his sons’ salvation and he built a mchot- rten in the area to their memory. After staying for approximately two years in Zangla and Zongkhul, Csoma de Kõrös and his teacher, Lama Sangey Phuntsog, decided to shift their residence from Zangla to a more convenient place. They decided to go to Kulu because of the Lama’s family ties to the Chief of Lahul, and Csoma de Kõrös left Zangla. However, because of problems in Zanskar, the Lama Sangey Phuntsog was unable to follow him.

With the absence of the Lama the real difficulties in completing the research project began and Csoma de Kõrös had to think of alternatives. He visited various gonpas in the nearby areas searching for a suitable person who could work with him to give the final shape to the collected works. However all his efforts were in vain and he reached the conclusion that he must travel back to Zanskar and find his teacher again. After traveling for several days he arrived at Phugtal Gonpa in Zanskar and for some unknown reason decided to stay there. He made great efforts to contact the Lama Sangey Phuntsog and finally the lama arrived. After working for more than one year they succeeded in giving the final shape to his long and demanding tasks: the Tibetan-English Dictionary and a grammar of the Tibetan language. Csoma de Kõrös left a record of his stay noting that he had lived at Phugtal Gonpa from August 12th, 1825, until November 1826. After the completion of his mission in Zanskar, Csoma de Kõrös moved to the village of Kanam in the Sutlej valley in present day Himachal Pradesh along with his teacher Lama Sangey Phunsog. He spent three years—from August 1827 until October 1830—revising all the material collected for the Tibetan-English Dictionary, the definitions of Buddhist terminology and other information acquired on Buddhism and Himalayan culture and while bringing his Tibetan- English Dictionary Csoma specifically acknowledged his indebtedness to his Zanskari teacher stating that “prepared, with the assistance of Band’eSangs-Rgyasphun-tshogs, a learned l’ama of Zangskar, during his residence at Kanam, in the Him’alaya Mountains, on the confines of India and Tibet, 1827-1830.” Csoma de Kõrös moved to Calcutta to prepare his work for publication. He arrived from the mountains on May 5th, 1831, accompanied by a small library that he had acquired during his stay in Zanskar and Kanam. His scholarship was recognized and consequently he was employed by the Asiatic Society of Bengal as a librarian, where his main task was to prepare a catalogue of Tibetan literature and classical Indian languages such as Sanskrit. He worked hard and published several of his articles on Tibetan studies in the newly published Asiatic Society Journal. He was also able to publish his Tibetan-English Dictionary, a Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary of Buddhist Terminology and a book of Tibetan Grammar—all at the expense of the East India Company.

Although Csoma de Kõrös’ field of study included many subjects and languages, the Tibetan language and studies received top throughout his life. He was very keen to visit Lhasa, the capital of Tibet to expand on his research and left Calcutta in February 1842. Unfortunately, he only got as far as Darjeeling, the famous hill station, and died there from malaria on April 11, 1842. A person with a deep knowledge may die physically but his work

lives on forever. This is the case with the great Hungarian, Alexander Csoma de Kõrös, who was born almost two hundred thirty years ago but is remembered by Tibetologists all over the world as a great pioneer. The pioneer Tibetologist in the first half of the 19th century received worldwide fame due to his heroic efforts in producing his

Tibetan dictionary and grammar, residing and studying in one of the most isolated and remotest district of Ladakh called Zanskar in the year 1823. In the year 1984, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Csoma de Kõrös Society, Budapest celebrated his two hundredth birth anniversary with great pomp and ceremony. Tibetologists the world over assembled in the Hungarian capital to celebrate the occasion. I also had the privilege of attending on behalf of the people of Ladakh to pay tribute to the great Hungarian. At that time also I availed an opportunity to write a comprehensive article on the life and contributions of this Hungarian Bodhisattva, who is rightly known as the pioneer of Tibetan studies in the west.

References

1. History of Ladakh Called the Mirror Which Illuminates All by Tashi Rabgias. There are two places named Yugur. One is in the Sinkiang region of China. Ladakh carried on important trade relations with Yugur until recently. Yugur is also the ancient name of the Tibetan province of Guge in Western Tibet. Sengey-rNam-rgyal of Ladakh ruled Guge in the 16th century and he was described as the ruler of Yugur in the autobiography of the 5th Dalai Lama. This similarity may have led to Csoma de Kõrös ‘initial confusion. I am greatly indebted to Shri. Tashi Rabgias for this information.

2. P.J. Marczell, Alexander Csoma de Kõrös, Vol. 1 (Kolkata: Asiatic Society, 2007).

3. William Moorcroft and George Trebeck, Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan and the Punjab, Vol. 2.

4. Alexander Csoma de Kõrös 1784-1842 by Jozsef Terjek. Published by Akademinai Kiado, Budapest 1984. “The Question of the European Iskander or “Rgya-gar-rum-yul-pa Sken-dhasdris-lan.” A copy of this book is in the possession of Kaga Sonam Wangchuk, Karsha Lonpo. It was unknown to scholars until very recently when it was mentioned by S.S. Gergan in his history book entitled, “bLa-dakh-rgyal-rabs- Che-met-gter.”