George de Roerich

Early life

Much of Roerich’s early life was spent in Saint Petersburg. His brother, Svetoslav Roerich , was born in 1904. Both sons’ interests were nurtured by their mother, who wrote about her first childhood: “The elder one showed love for history and tin soldiers. the art of war has survived until now, this talent is inborn, and he is very proud of his ancestor – field marshal of the Russian Empire Mikhail Kutuzov , the hero of Patriotic War of 1812 . ” ^[2] [3]

Education

By the time Roerich was 15, he had already begun studying Egyptology with Boris Turayev and Mongolian language and history with Andrei Dmitryevich Rudnyev. He was a student with broad interests and many talents. After finishing his studies at Karl May School , he entered the Indian and Iranian Department of Oriental Languages ​​at London University in 1918. Under Indologist Professor Edward Denison Ross studied Sanskrit and Pali. ^[4] He was recognized for his language and was introduced to the best Sanskrit student to the Secretary of State for Indian Affairs who visited the university. ^[5]

Upon completion of his study at London University in 1920, he moved to America with his parents. He Studied in the Indian Philology Department of Harvard University and aussi Studied Pali Chinese languages ^{[ clarification needed ]}During His Time there. At the age of 18, Roerich was already firmly rooted in his passion for Oriental studies. He has mastered Sanskrit during his time at Harvard under the direction of Professor Charles Rockwell Lanman , whose comparative grammar lessons made at lifelong impact on George’s future studies. Roerich also attended lectures by Professor Michael Rostovtzeffon Middle Asia influences in the art of southern Russia. During his studies at Harvard, he wrote his first essay on Buddhism and Chinese classical studies. ^[6] He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Harvard University, then continued his education in Paris, France.

He spent the years 1922-1923 at Paris University in Sorbonne, working in the Department of Middle Asian, Indian and Mongolian-Tibetan Studies and studying in the Military Department and the Department of Law and Economy. During His time here, he cooperated with famous orientalists Such as Paul Pelliot and Sylvain Levi . He learned Mongolian and Tibetan while also continuing his study of Chinese and Persian languages. He graduated with his MA in Indian Philology in 1923. ^[7]

Career

Early work

Roerich began his independent research in the age of 21. In November 1923 he left for Bombay with his family. After years of study and preparation, his dream of going to India came true. By December 1923, he had arrived at the base of the Himalayas as a member of a scientific expedition to Sikkim. The purpose of this expedition was to visit ancient monuments and Buddhist monasteries, as well as to record local legends, beliefs and artistic traditions. In Darjeeling, George polished his colloquial Tibetan with scholar Lama LM Dorje, who also guided him in the study of Tibetan Art. Roerich found strong similarities between ancient Russian icon painting and the art of tankha painting in both technique and in the treatment of the subject. He wrote: “Indeed, it seems that the Russian icon art and the Tibetan pictorial art derive their methods of work from a common source. usually the case when Buddha or Bodhisattva is represented) ” ^[8]In 1925, Roerich published his first book entitled “Tibetan Paintings” in which he attempted to define Tibetan art, its history, and the three existing schools of art in Tibet. David Jackson in his ‘History of Tibetan painting’, which is credited in the Western scholarship, “the earliest account of Tibetan paintings styles …. was that of George Roerich”. ^[9]

Central Asian Expedition

The Roerich family embarked on an ambitious journey throughout Central Asia in 1925. This journey began in India and lasted four years. It was a crucial time in George Roerich’s career as a scientist and he began his study of ancient pre-Buddhist doctrine of Good and the translation of its manuscript. Despite the difficulties of political expediency, Roerich managed to make several important discoveries during this expedition, which were previously unknown in the Tibetan Epic of King Gesar . Another important discovery was that the animal stylethat was used by nomads who had migrated from Central Asia to South Russia in the 7th and 8th centuries BCE could also be found among Northern Tibetan nomads. Roerich believed that, “All art objects made in the style of art and found by the expedition clearly proved the existence of ancient Central Asian art among nomads of Tibet.” ^[10]

His role has been invaluable to the group as they traveled. Roerich could speak Mongolian and Tibetan fluently, in addition to many other Central Asian languages. Despite his young age, he was given the task of guarding the group’s safety. Here, his knowledge of military tactics from his university studies is useful and his tactical skills and courage. ^[11] His study of the geography, archeology, ethnology, and linguistics during the expedition formed the basis of his work “Trails to Inmost Asia”, which was published in 1930. Central Asia, Nikolay Przhevalsky , Grigory Potanin , Pyotr Kozlov, and Sven Hedin . ^[12]

Roerich later said, “The expedition led by Professor Nicholas Roerich, organized by the Roerich Museum in New York and the International Center of Art” Corona Mundi “had as its main task creation of the unique pictorial panorama of the The second task, the study of the possibilities of the new archaeological excavations, and thus, the preparation of the methods for the future expeditions in the region. , and gathering a big collection of objects, that depict spiritual culture of these nations, and a meeting place of many Asian civilizations, and inaccessible mountain valleyswhich can help to reconstruct the past of Asia. “^[13]

Himalayan Research Institute

The plethora of materials collected during the Central Asia Expedition became the foundation of the Himalayan Research Institute named ‘Urusvati’ in Darjeeling in 1928. A few months later the institute moved to Naggar in Kulu Valley. The department is in the business of exchange with 285 institutes, universities, museums, and libraries around the world. Roerich collaborated with Tibetan scholars and published in the Tibetan English Dictionary in 1934. One of his main focuses for the center is to bring the people to the institute who practiced and lived the cultures being examined by the center. ^[14] He was the director of the institute for 10 years. ^[15]

Manchuria Expedition

In 1934 – 1935, Roerich undertook an expedition with his father to Manchuria and Inner Mongolia which was organized by the US Department of Agriculture for the purpose of collecting seeds of drought resistant plants that would help prevent erosion of soils and spreading of pests. In addition to gaining a purely scientific knowledge, this expedition also had a social and cultural interest in agricultural cooperation and public collaboration. ^[16] Professor Nicholas Roerichled the expedition while George Roerich was the assistant and responsible for the medicinal research. They are a collection of drought resistant plants, herbs, and soils, as well as a valuable list of traditional medicinal treatments. Roerich made maps and conducted a photo survey of the region in which the expedition took place. In 1935, the research of the expedition was returned to India and the Roerichs returned to Kulu Valley in October 1935. ^[17]

Later life

After the Manchuria Expedition, Roerich spent many years living in India. His father, Nicholas Roerich , died in 1947. Due to political unrest in the area Roerich moved with his mother, Helena Roerich , from their home in Nagger to Kalimpong where he lived until 1956. Helena Roerich died in 1955 and in 1957 Roerich returned to Russia. ^[18] Roerich participated in several important projects.

He collaborated with Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark and R. Sanskrtyayana to translate the Buddhist text Pramanavaartikam from Tibetan into Sanskrit. Working with Tse-Trung Lopsang Phuntshok he wrote Textbook of Tibetan Colloquial . Together with Gendün Chöphel , he was translated the lengthy pioneering work on the Tibetan history, Blue Annals , which was published in two volumes by the Asiatic Society in 1949 and 1954. ^[19] After spending almost 30 years in India Roerich returned in 1957 to Soviet Russia , where he made efforts to revive the Russian School of Oriental Studies. As the Head of the Indology Department in the Institute of Oriental Studies in Moscow, he resumed editing ofBibliotheca Buddhica . This was a series devoted to the publication of Buddhist texts and monographs on the subject, started in 1897 by Prof. SF Oldenburg. In this same series AI Vostrikov’s Tibetan Historical Literature and Dhammapada were also translated from Pali . ^[20]

His return to Russia and the USSR’s opinion of his family was rather distorted. Because of his effort, the family has been kept alive by the family and maintained by the family. The first of his father’s exhibitions was organized in Moscow in 1958, then spread to Leningrad , Riga , Kiev , Tbilisi , and other cities. He was able to dispel myths about the family’s philosophy of Agni Yoga and start a cultural movement using this philosophy to spread Living Ethics in the USSR. ^[21] [22]

Roerich died on May 21, 1960, at the age of 58 and his ashes were placed in Moscow, at the Novodevichy Cemetery . Svetoslav Roerich is the author of the memorial to this outstanding Russian scientist . ^[23] [24]

Works

• Roerich, George (1925). Tibetan Paintings. Paris: Paul Geuthner.
• from Roerich, George (1930). The Animal Style Among the Nomads of Northern Tibet. Prague: Seminarium Kondakovianum.
• of Roerich, George (1931). Trails to Inmost Asia. Yale University Press.
• of Roerich, George (1931). “Modern Tibetan Phonetics: With Special Reference to the Dialect of Central Tibet.” Journal of Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal 27.1: 285-312.
• Roerich, George (1932). Review of Jäschke 1881. Journal of Urusvati 2: 165-169.
• of Roerich, George (1933). Dialects of Tibet: The Tibetan Dialect of Lahul. (Tibetica 1) New York: Urusvati Himalayan Research Institute of Roerich Museum.
• from Roerich, George (1958). The Speaking of Amdo: Study of an Archaic Dialect of Tibet. (Oriental Serie Roma 18). Rome: Istituto Italiano for the Medio ed Estremo Oriente.
• de Roerich, George Nicolas (11 vols., 1983-1993). Tibetsko-Russko-Angliiskii Slovar: s Sanskritskimi paralleliami. Tibetan-Russian-English dictionary with Sanskrit parallels. Y. Parfionovich and V. Dylykova, eds. Moscow: Izd-vo “Nauka,” Glav. red. vostochnoi lit-ry / Central Department of Oriental Literature.
• Roerich, George N., and Tse-Trung Lopsang Phuntshok (1957). Textbook of Tibetan colloquial: dialect of central Tibet. Calcutta: Govt. of West Bengal, Education Dept., Education Bureau.
• Roerich, George N. and Gedun Choepel (Translator) (1988). The Blue Annals by Gö Lotsawa . Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1976, Reprint in 1979. [Reprint of Calcutta, Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1949, in two volumes].

See also

• 4426 Roerich – minor planet
• Rerikhism
• Helena Roerich
• Nicholas Roerich
• Svetoslav Roerich

References