Terjék József: Kőrösi Csoma-dokumentumok az Akadémiai Könyvtár gyűjteményeiben. Budapest, 1976.

Preface

9 and making thorn speak. Térjék did not, of course could not, adhere to the Academy's memories only, since to understand these better he was bound to examine documents and records protected elsewhere. He did not aim at completeness though; because his task was not the presentation of an overall Csoma biography and oeuvre, but both less and more than that. Less than that because of a limited material in the Library of the Hungarian Academy, more because he wanted to introduce Csoma to the Hungarian reader as he himself - a Tibetist - had come to know, even admire, him. For we have a double picture of Csoma. One is the romantic hero in the consciousness of the national reading public who, through unspeakable pains and indigence, was seeking after our original home and the descendants of kinsmen speaking our language even now somewhat distorted but still intelligible to us. He is a tragic hero in "domestic" eyes snatched by death near before his goal. Even Hungarian criticism, which used to be most sporadic, represented first by baron József Eötvös, assessed him the same way sounding a pitiful opinion of Csoma'«; undertaking as castles in the air and its failure being predictable. Preoccupation with the Tibetan language means to them some sort of a secondary, negligible thing, an inescapable overtone not worthwhile attending to. The other Csoma has been, and is still, living abroad. His exploration of the Hungarian original home is not known there at all, or would not be taken much notice of. Alexander Körösi Csoma means there the scholar, the founder of a science, the pioneer of Tibetan studies. If we were to have a glance at the writings of great foreign scholars and read how Csoma is referred to by the representatives of Tibetan studies today, then we should be stricken by a fantastic colorful spectrum of appreciation where all shades of views can bo found from detached review to unreserved appreciation. His ascetic way of life, his unsparing devotion and unequalled bent through which Csoma attained success is not unknown for the Tibetists. Although Hungary did not have a representative of Tibetan studies for almost a hundred years after Csoma, his fame-and-name proved sufficient