Theodore Duka

“ I have a strong idea that Sir Charles Metcalfe would not be an unmoved spectator of zeal and talent so remarkable as that which characterises the individual who is now devoting himself to researches so interesting amidst the rigours of climate and the restraints of poverty. Sir Charles took sufficient interest in him from Moorcroft’s fate, when he forwarded my application to go to Ladak, for the purpose of requesting the Hungarian to undertake the trip for the recovery of his papers, to excite me to rely upon one so generous. ”

“ Csoma. He exhibits a singular union of learning, modesty, and greasy habits; and Mr. Csoma in this last respect vies with his learned companion, which is not very strange in such a country. The Lama is a man of vast acquirements, strangely disguised under modest confidence of superiority, the mildest and most unassuming address, and a countenance seldom disturbed by a smile. ”

“ Ye divine principal Rakshákas, rulers of the world, I beseech you, that you will make this patron, the bestower of charitable gifts, obtain the fruit of his work and actions, who is very faithful to the doctrine of Shakya. May he, with his household and family, prosper more and more, and abound in life, fortune, honour, wealth—like the increasing face of the moon.”
The text is given in the original with a literal translation. ”

“ That the doctrine of Buddha must have been diffused among many people, is evident from a similarity of terms in denomination in many languages of a spiritual head or chief ecclesiastic; thus ‘Buddha’ in Sanskrit, ‘peer’ in Persian, ‘sheik’ in Arabic, ‘presbyter’ in Greek and other European languages. I mention all these [60] facts to excite the curiosity of the learned to search after the ancient state of the Buddhists, and to respect a religion which is founded on the same moral principles with our own, namely, on the love of all men. ”

“ There is yet in Asia a vast terra incognita for oriental literature. If the Asiatic Society in Calcutta would engage for the illuminating the map of this terra incognita, as in the last four years of my travelling in Asia I depended for my necessary subsistence entirely upon British generosity, I shall be happy if I can serve that honourable Society with the first sketches of my researches. If this should not meet with the approbation of Government, I beg to be allowed to return to Mr. Moorcroft, to whose liberality and kindness I am at present entirely indebted for my subsistence ”

“ I hope, if I survive, and can again safely return to Calcutta, I shall be able to communicate to you the results of my studies and Indian tours. I shall want but little for my expenses, and I hope that the five hundred sicca rupees, left in your hand at my leaving Calcutta, will be sufficient during the time I intend to make my peregrination in India. Should I fail in making any useful progress in my studies worthy of the Government’s patronage, the Asiatic Society may always dispose of that money for literary purposes which you successively receive from Government on my behalf. ”

“ After having communicated the result of his labours to others, and heard from them that the Tibetan language, to the study of which he had sacrificed the best part of his life, was but a corrupt dialect of the Sanskrit, his heart was filled with undescribable anguish, and the strong man, who suffered so many privations cheerfully and without complaining, was prostrated on a bed of sickness by this new discovery. ”

“ Since the Buddhistic works consist not merely of wild metaphysical speculations, but contain several volumes of practical topics also, we should be acquainted with the whole, and judge accordingly. When Europeans shall have been acquainted with the practical part of the Buddhistic doctrine, with the language of Tibet, and with the several useful popular works it contains, then I think they will excuse them in some degree for the extravagance in the dogmatical part of their religion. ”

“ Csoma showed me some improvements he had made to his cottage; one was a fireplace, which has cost him twelve rupees, and here I could not help feeling with sympathy the value of such a sum to a man, whose whole earthly happiness consists in being merely able to live and devote himself to mankind, with no other reward than a just appreciation and honest fame, [88] while I was at the same time daily and no doubt foolishly expending more than enough to give comfort and effect to a mind so noble ”

“ They who put off all vices are venerable. Fools committing vices, how much soever they be adorned, are never pleasing.
“The venerable are always like a bowl full of milk and curd. It is a great happiness to see human nature capable of such purity. ”

“ The students of Tibetan have been most rare, if they existed at all. Isolated among inaccessible mountains, the convents of Tibet have remained unregarded and almost unvisited by the scholar and traveller; nor was it until within these few years conjectured, that in the undisturbed shelter of this region, in a climate proof against decay and the destructive influences of the tropical plains, were to be found, in complete preservation the volumes of the Buddhist faith in their original Sanskrit, as well as in faithful translations, which might be sought for in vain on the continent of India. ”

“ His learning has not made him bigoted or self-sufficient, but it is singularly contrasted with his person and appearance, which are humble and dignified and greasy. Mr. Csoma himself appears like one of the sages of antiquity, living in the most frugal manner, and taking no interest in any object around him, except his literary avocations, which, however, embrace the religions of the countries around him. He showed me his labours with lively satisfaction. He has read through 44 volumes of one of the Tibetan works, and he finds unceasing interest in their contents. ”

“ I was on very friendly terms with Csoma during my stay in Calcutta, where I found to my satisfaction that the people of that city had much clearer ideas about Hungary than before, for which, doubtless, we are indebted to Csoma. Nevertheless, the truth must be told, that I never saw a more strange man than him. He lives like a hermit among his Tibetan and other works, in the house of the Asiatic Society, which he seldom leaves. Of an evening he takes slight exercise in the grounds, and then he causes himself to be locked up in his apartment ”

“ Moorcroft’s liberal assistance, of learning of what sort and origin the Tibetan literature was, I cheerfully engaged in the study of it, hoping that it might serve me as a vehicle to my immediate purpose, namely, my researches respecting the origin and language of the Hungarians. The result of my investigation is that the literature of Tibet is entirely of Indian origin, the immense volumes, on different branches of science, being exact and faithful translations from Sanskrit works. ”

“ Although ignorance and barbarism have destroyed the ancient favourite seats of learning and civilisation, yet before this had happened: for the benefit of mankind, many works of learned men—which so conspicuously contribute in every country to public happiness, by forming the heart, illuminating the mind, and exciting to industry—were rescued from the deluge of destruction, by being transported to Tibet. ”

“ There are many valuable works in the libraries of those ancient cities which are likely never to become an acquisition to our knowledge but through the labours of such a genius as Mr. Csoma. His great aim and unceasing anxiety is to get access to Mongolia and make himself acquainted with the language and people of that strange and very ancient country. The study of dialects to him is no labour, grounded as he is in a perfect knowledge of classical literature and more or less familiar with the structure of every spoken language ”

“ Our idiom2 is not inferior either to the Sanskrit or Arabic, and I beg leave to confess that I am not merely a linguist—I have learnt several languages to learn polite literature, to enter into the cabinet of curiosity of remote ages, to acquire useful knowledge, and to live in every age and with every celebrated nation, as I do now with the British. ”

“ As my parents were dead, and my only brother did not want my assistance, I resolved to leave my native country and to come towards the East, and by some means or other procuring subsistence, to devote my whole life to researches which may be afterwards useful to the learned world of Europe in general, and, in particular, may illustrate some obscure facts in our own history. ”

“ The modern language of Thessaly, and of some districts in Macedonia, blended with many Latin words, is the same as that of the Wallachians in Lower Hungary, Transylvania, Moldavia, Wallachia, and contains many Sanskrit words. It is totally different from the Hungarian idiom both in words and structure. There is a peculiarity of that language in the use of definite articles. For instance, ‘Domnu,’ ‘Dominus’ in Latin, ‘a lord’ in English; with the affixed definite article ul we have ‘domnul,’ ‘the lord’ in English. The feminine is ‘domna,’ ‘domina’ in Latin; ‘a lady,’ or ‘the lady,’ in English. ”

“ The origin of the Tibetan race is attributed to a fabulous union between a she-demon and an ape. Some refer their origin to India, others to China, others again to the Mongols or Turks. They admit five races among themselves, according to the countries they live in; their pronunciation differs much, but they all understand each other. Except the Mohammedans of Ladak and Baltistan, they all profess the religion of Buddha, whose records are written in the same language and character. ”

“ The contrast is, however, great, though there is both identity and unity in their divinity and chief duties, for Mr. Csoma affirms that the Tibetan faith, both in precept and practice, approaches nearer to the Christian religion than that of any Asiatic nation whatever. The Tibetan works appear to have been very widely disseminated throughout that country, and we may safely ascribe this multiplicity of books to the facility which the art of printing afforded. We find fragments and manuscripts of great antiquity scattered about and deposited in situations which are now almost deserted by man. ”

“ For the future, as also the length to which I propose to carry my travels and researches, I beg leave to add, the civilised and learned world is indebted to Great Britain in many respects for useful discoveries, inventions, and improvements in arts and sciences. ”

“ Csoma would accept of assistance only from a public source, because he seems confident of his ability to return a remunerating advantage; but to private individuals he says he has nothing to give. The only things he would receive from me on his first arrival at Sabathú were a few books to read, and the first he asked for, was the Bible, as best calculated to revive his English, which he had studied grammatically on getting here. This he read through in eight days, and on his journey from Zanskar he accepted of a Latin Dictionary, and on my late tour I left with him a Greek Lexicon. ”

“ There are to be found in Tibet several examples of alphabets used anciently in India. The late Mr. Moorcroft had sent to Calcutta a copy of the same set that have been exhibited in the plates. The Lantsa letters and their skeletons (that have been likewise represented on the same plate) are used sometimes by the Tibetans now too for inscriptions. They generally use their own characters, either the capital or the small. Their literature in general is contained in books written in any of these two. When one is acquainted with the principles of the Tibetan language, he can read easily both. ”

“ It is true, the sky is mostly clear, and the sun’s rays at the loftiest spots are sufficient to keep the people, or rather one side of them, warm in the dead of winter. During my stay at Kanum the extremes of the [98] thermometer were 33° to 77°; but when I returned, only one month later, I found them 30° and 52°, and snow had fallen. So sudden is the vicissitude in an atmosphere deriving its heat from solar radiation. I left a thermometer with Mr. Csoma, being desirous of ascertaining the winter climate of the spot which rears the vine so abundantly. ”

“ The power of acquiring languages was the extraordinary talent of Csoma. He had studied the following ancient and modern tongues, and was proficient in many of them: Hebrew, Arabic, Sanskrit, Pushtu, Greek, Latin, Sclavonic, German, English, Turkish, Persian, French, Russian, Tibetan, with the addition of Hindustani, Mahratta, and Bengali. His library at his death had a dictionary of each of the languages he was acquainted with, and on all were his manuscript annotations. ”

“ In every language of Europe, except the Hungarian, Turkish, and those of Finnish origin, there are prepositions like in the languages of Hebrew or Arabic origin, but in our tongue, like in the Indian, Chinese, and Tibetan, we have postpositions, and for the formation of different cases in declension, we have affixes with which to form from the same root several sorts of verbs. ”

“ Medicine, astronomy, and astrology are his professions; about twenty years ago, in searching after knowledge, he visited in six years many parts of Tibet, Teshi Lhunpo, Lassa, Bootan, &c., and also Nepal. He knows the whole system of their religion, has a general knowledge of everything that is contained in their books, and of customs, manners, economy, and of the polite language used among the nobility, and in the sacred volumes; speaking respectfully to superiors. He acquired a great deal of geography and history respecting the Tibetan countries. ”