J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)
M. Vida : Serving two Nations: Tivadar Duka (1825—1908)
M. Vida : Serving two Nations : Tivadar Duka . 213 back the dreaming pursuer of the Hungarian homeland became a genuine scholar of the Tibetan language during two years. As it happened Csoma got acquainted with the noted British explorer William Moorcroft in Kashmir who helped to bring about the contract between Csoma and the Indian Government. (This contract and its fulfilment was first described in details by Duka.) In Lađakĥ, in the lama monastery of Zangla, Csoma studied Tibetan language and literature at length, and after returning to Calcutta he prepared the dictionary and the grammar. The biographer gives a vivid account of the strange and lonely life within the walls of the Bengal Asiatic Society, where Csoma lived greatly esteemed but completely withdrawn, meeting occasionally only some orientalists, Wilson and Prinsep. In the 1830's not only the promised dictionary and grammar appeared but other studies as well, the results of his researches in Buddhist monasteries. Duka published them in Hungarian as a supplement to the biography. Most of them were concerned with Buddhism: its moral and religious doctrines, Buddha's life, his sacred books Kahgyur and Stangyur the various Buddhist sects, etc. In addition he prepared the detailed geographic description of Tibet, making use of Tibetan sources as well. 6 0 Some of the records show that even during his serious Tibetan researches Csoma did not give up his dream of entering Central Asia and finding there the ancestors of the Hungarians. Even in possession of a deep knowledge of the Tibetan language he did not abandon his strange etymological fantasy to prove the special relationship existing between Hungarian and Sanskrit. In view of the fact that comparative philology was then still far from being exact and that Csoma could hardly learn about the methods of the new branch of linguistics, these etymological games look natural and do not deserve too serious a verdict. Although Duka published these articles, too, and even a comparative collection of Sanskrit, Hindi and Hungarian words, he laid the emphasis on the role of Moorcroft, the man who directed Csoma to the virgin soil of Tibetan philology. 6 1 There was another essay presented by Duka which deserves our special interest: "Egy tibeti orvosi munka ismertetése " (Review of a Tibetan medical work), 6 2 which was supposed to be the most important medical work translated into Tibetan by the lama of Zanskari monastery. Körösi was struck by the lama's familiarity with such disciplines as grammar, arithmetics, rhetorics and poetry, while "medicine, astronomy and astrology are his professions," 63 It shows that in 19th century Tibet medicine was one of the most important B n Csoma de Kőrös, Alexander : Geographical notice of Tibet. Bengal Asiatic Society's Journal. 1832. Vol. 1. p. 122. Cf. Duka, note (43), pp. 325-332. 6 1 It should be remembered that the relationship of Indo-Aryan Sanskrit with Persian, Greek, Latin, Germanic, Celtic, Lithuanian, and Slavic languages was established by comparative linguistics at the beginning of the 19th century. 6 2 Review of a Tibetan Medical Work by Alexander Csoma de Kőrös. Bengal Society's Journal. 1832. Vol. 1. p. 122. Cf. Duka, note (43), pp. 325-332. 6 3 Alexander Csoma de Kőrös to Captain C. P. Kennedy. Subathoo, May 5th 1825. — Cf. Duka, note (44) pp. 41-G5., quotation om. p. 42.
