Kőrösi Csoma Day held in Delhi

Gopalan Rajamani, guest author from Delhi, India

On the 20th of April 2023, the Liszt Institute, Hungarian Cultural Centre, Delhi organised a Commemorative Day on the occasion of the 181st death anniversary of  Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, the renowned Hungarian Scholar and Founder of Tibetology. The event was inaugurated by Dr Marianne Erdő, Director of Liszt Institute-Hungarian Cultural Centre, Delhi. The function was attended by the former and present students of the Hungarian language at Delhi.

Every year a Kőrösi Csoma Day is scheduled by the Liszt Institute, Hungarian Cultural Centre, Delhi at the Department of Slavonic and Finno Ugrian Language, University of Delhi. But this year a meeting of the students of the Hungarian language was organised at the Embassy of Hungary at Delhi to commemorate Kőrösi Csoma.

Sándor Kőrösi Csoma (1784-1842)  is an evergreen inspiring personality for the students of the Hungarian language at Delhi. He was the first link between Hungary and India. Of course, he continues to inspire those who are interested in oriental studies in Hungary and Europe. He was the master of 17 languages which included 3 Indian languages, namely, Sanskrit, Marathi and Bangla. To date, we are not aware of any other scholar from Europe who had command over 17 languages. Pilgrim Scholar did pioneering work in Tibetology by writing the first English-Tibetan Dictionary and the grammar book. It’s worth mentioning that the two masterpieces of Sándor Kőrösi Csoma, the Tibetan-English dictionary and the Tibetan grammar were published in Calcutta in 1834.  His outstanding work opened Tibet to Western European scholars. As it is known by many, Kőrösi left Hungary in search of the Hungarians’ homeland in the Central Area. Though he did not succeed in his mission because he died in India in 1842, he earned an everlasting reputation for his work in Tibetology.

Kőrösi Csoma’s grave is at Darjeeling, India. A memorial was built at his grave by the Asiatic Society of Bengal. A Hungarian memorial tablet was placed on it with the following words of Count István Széchenyi:

“A poor lonely Hungarian, without applause or
money but inspired with enthusiasm sought
the Hungarian native country but in the end
broke down under the burden.”

Glowing tributes were paid to the Pilgrim Scholar by Dr Marianne Erdő, Director of Liszt Institute-Hungarian Cultural Centre, Delhi and Dr Mári Köves, Visiting Assistant Professor of Hungarian Language, University of Delhi.  At the function, students received prizes for having written excellent reviews on Hungarian films screened at the film festival in Delhi.