Nepal: View from Russia

145 years ago, in February 1875, the Little Nepal Kingdom in the Himalayas, closed to Europeans, visited the first traveler from Russia. It turned out to be a professor at the department of comparative grammar of the Imperial St. Petersburg University Ivan Pavlovich Minaev (1840–1890). He published his travel notes in the form of the book “Essays on Ceylon and India” (1878), the first part of which contained impressions of Nepal. So in Russia the basics of non -damping were laid. Unfortunately, there have always been few experts in this area in our country, and in recent years their deficiency has been felt especially clearly against the background of a growing interest in this amazing country, both from researchers and tourists.

On October 15, 2020, the Petersburg Oriental Studies publishing house published the book Nepal: a look from Russia edited by orientalist M.F. Albedil and Zoologist and science historian L. Ya. Borkin. This is a collection of popular science articles on different topics written quite scientifically and at the same time affordable. His publication can be considered a significant event for several reasons. Firstly, this is another step in the study of Nepal, secondly-the first edition of the Russian Association of Researchers of the Himalayas and Tibet, and thirdly-the new experience of multidisciplinary cooperation of scientists-orientalists and naturalists. The idea of ​​an integrated approach in the study of Nepal, justified in the preface, formed the basis of this collection dedicated to I.P. Minaev, the 180th birthday of which was celebrated last year.

The same idea of ​​inter- and multidisciplinary study is the basis of the ideology of the very young Russian association of researchers of the Himalayas and Tibet (Raigit), which was established in St. Petersburg on March 5, 2019 in order to coordinate the study of the Himalayas and Tibetes within the framework of natural, humanitarian and social sciences. 1 Almost all authors of the collection are members of Raigit. Therefore, it is not surprising that the name of this association is indicated on the title page of the book.

Immediately attracts the attention of the motley cover of the book, it reflects the kaleidoscopicity of Nepal itself. It is such a set of various and quickly replacing pictures that remains in the memory of a traveler who meets this amazing and many -sided country. The content of the collection is quite motley. 13 Articles included in it 18 authors are divided into two blocks.

10 articles from the field of humanities compiled the first section “Culture, Traditions, Religions”, which opens with articles about I.P. Minaev and the study of Nepal in Russia as part of Oriental Studies. Three articles are devoted to collections of Nepalic art stored in the State Hermitage and the State Museum of the History of Religion in St. Petersburg, as well as in the State Museum of the East in Moscow. Articles about the perception of the famous ancient Indian epic “Ramayana” in Nepal, as well as about the peculiarity of theatrical and dance work of residents of individual regions of the country. A large article is devoted to the analysis of the symbolism of the Buddhist stupa - a very characteristic element of the Nepali landscape.

The articles of the humanitarian bloc successfully combine the view of the history of an ancient country with an analysis of its modern position. In recent decades, very violent socio-political processes have passed in Nepal. The long -term civil war, in which Maoist groups played the main role, led to the change of state system. The monarchy in 2008 was replaced by the Federal Democratic Republic. Moreover, a country where, as they say, there are more gods than people, and there are more temples than houses, according to the 2015 constitution, became a secular state. Therefore, the article on the situation of religious denominations in modern Nepal is undoubtedly relevant.

Three articles of eight authors from the “Nature” block belong to zoology. A relatively small Nepal is characterized by a very rich and diverse animal world, which experts from different countries have long been studying, including, of course, the Nepal themselves. As noted in the collection, unlike orientalists, the field research of our zoologists in this country began relatively recently, only in 1996.

The presented articles are heterogeneous in style. The first of them describes observations of amphibians and reptiles during trips of the authors themselves. In another article, the distribution of birds through the high-precision landscape belts of the Sagarmatha National Park (as in Nepal is called the greatest peak of the world Jomolungma, or Everest). In the focus of the third article, the mechanism of choice by numerous small singing birds of their habitats, which are based on the psychospores of individuals with the environment.

Scientific and popular articles about Nepal are perceived with special interest if the reader has his own experience in acquaintance with the country. During the time spent in Nepal since 2006, I was lucky to visit different parts of the country, get acquainted with many local residents and their way of life, as well as accompany many Russian travelers.

I was immediately puzzled by the contrast between a rapidly growing interest in Nepal from Russian ascetic, trackers, as well as various spiritual seekers, and a weak knowledge of Nepal from Russian scientists. The Himalayas often go in search of "enlightenment", but it is also important to make efforts to ensure that enlightened travelers go on the road.

A look from Nepal on Russian non -member, it may help motivate new deep and systematic research on historiography, linguistics, anthropology, Buddhology, Indology and other modern sciences. This will allow future travels with the best understanding of the country and with more awareness of the natural and cultural features, which means with a more responsible attitude to the most valuable Himalayan heritage. Unknown to the world, treasures hidden in the Nepali archives are still waiting for their researchers. Rarely visited areas of the Nepali Himalayas, not yet affected by modern civilization, open the researcher the richest field for scientific activity.

The collection clearly manifested one common problem - discrepancies in the transcriptions of Nepal (and non -nevar) geographical names, names and terms. The most common example for Nepal is the name of the Palace Square Darbar. This term is massively used in tourist publications and, as a rule, with an error. Unfortunately, in the collection, even within the article of one author, the use of different transcriptions of the word is found.

There are also discrepancies in writing words in Russian with a common sealing “x” [ h ]. This leads to the fact that even in the same -rooted words, for example, in the name of the village of Bhimfedi and the name of the hero Bhimsen, in whose honor this settlement was named, the spelling is different. On geographical maps there is also no single approach to the names, and automatic transliteration that electronic cards offers even more confuses the situation. The path to solving this problem can be sought during its discussion within the framework of professional communities, such as Raigit, the All -Russian conference of translators of Buddhist texts and others.

From the point of view of historical authenticity, it is very doubtful to identify the entire territory of the modern state of Nepal with the “ancient Nepal”, which in reality only the Kathmandu valley with four historical principalities is considered. Also, the term “mandala of Nepal” traditionally refers only to the valley of Kathmandu itself, and not to the entire territory of the country in modern borders, which were established only in the last quarter of the 18th century. On the territory of modern Nepal, until the end of the 18th century, there were relatively independent principalities, and the official recognition of the name “Nepal” for the country as a whole (special edict) occurred only in the 1930s. Life in the Himalayas, including socio-political, actively pulsates, and modern Nepal is only one of the temporary conditions. The dynamic socio-political development of the country in the XX and in the XXI centuries can also become an object of deeper scientific interest.

The authors of articles, unfortunately, were not able to avoid common stamps and epithets that are not fully true. For example, the “all-seeing eyes of the Buddha” on the main stupas of the Kathmandu valley are not the eyes of the Buddha Shakyamuni, behind this symbol is a more complex Buddhist concept of Adi Budda. The epithet “Mountain Country” only partially describes Nepal, since about a third of the country and half of the population is located on the territory of the Indo-Gang Plain.

The articles of the NEPAL: View from Russia testify to another common problem: the rather weak use in the scientific apparatus of Russian non -western studies of the richest foreign bibliography and sources, which is more noticeable in the works of the authors of the humanitarian direction.

The stories of outstanding immigrants from Russia, who showed themselves in a special way in Nepal, deserve a more attentive study, primarily because there are few such people. So, for example, an insufficient study of the biography of Boris Nikolayevich Lisanevich (1905–1985) is not noticeable, which, having been in Nepal for the first time in the end of 1951, spent most of his life there and did a lot to make Nepal a more open world. In particular, it is important to note that the first hotel, founded by him in Kathmand in 1953 in the old Bahadur Bhawan Palace and existed under his leadership in this building until 1969, was called the Royal Hotel. This hotel was the famous bar “Yak and Yeti”, the memories of which were left by many world celebrities who visited Kathmandu in the 1950s and 1960s.

The undoubted advantage of the collection is a large color glow (60 pages, 95 photos), which contains images of various works of Nepal art and natural objects. I would like to see such a rich illustrative material equipped with more detailed signatures made in a single format. The more accurate attribution of some artifacts and links to illustration sources is clearly not enough.

The NEPAL: View from Russia collection is a rare example of successful cooperation in the study of the unique Gimalaye region by specialists of various sciences (orientalists and biologists) and allows us to evaluate the current state of study of Nepal. I would like to wish all researchers to move on: from the kaleidoscope of the first impressions to a more systematic and deep study of this special country, which has preserved many curious phenomena of nature and human culture.

Nadezhda Nepopokoeva, scientist secretary of the Himalayan center
scientific research of the St. Petersburg Union of Scientists

1 Read more see Bobrov V.V. In Russia, an association of researchers of the Himalayas and Tibet was created // Socio-Ecological Technologies. 2019. T. 9, No. 3. S. 379–385; Borkin L.Ya., Sapelko T.V. Russian Association of Researchers of the Himalayas and Tibet // News of the Russian Geographical Society, 2019. Issue. 3. S. 91–94.