Wojtilla Gyula: A List of Words Sanskrit and Hungarian by Alexander Csoma de Kőrös.
II. Csoma and Sanskrit Studies
2. Csoma's studies in Indie languages and comparative linguistics When Csoma arrived at Leh in 1822 he certainly was not a master of Sanskrit or of any Indian languages. But his letters from 1825 indicate a great progress in Sanskrit. His Tibetan studies made him recognise the importance of Sanskrit and his work in Tibetan lexicography, and Buddhist terminology yielded a great deal in special Sanskrit vocabulary, too. His immediate interest in this field took form in his Mahävyutpatt i which was posthumusly edited by Sir Denison Ross in 1910. But this does not mean that he did not recognise the whole horizon of Sanskrit culture. He did it as far as the circumstances allowed him to have an insight. Obviously, the years in India before 1831 spent with Tibetian studies needed all his energy for his main engagement, however, as time permitted he devoted himself to classical Sanskrit studies. In his letter to Baron Neumann dated 30th April 1832 he clearly delineated the importance of Sanskrit. He said he was going to buy Sanskrit books for the money sent to him by Hungarians. He was aware that Sanskrit studies were miraculously thriving in Europe and he wanted to contribute to the development of such studies in Hungary by sending Sanskrit books to Hungarian learned institutions and seats of learning. 26 As soon as his Tibetan dictionary was printed he turned to Sanskrit and modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars with a renewed interest. One of his objects in going to Titalya was to acquire more knowledge of Sanskrit. Unfortunately we do not know what he had achieved in this subject. We can only guess that he might have learnt Sanskrit grammar from learned brshmanas and read Sanskrit texts. There is also no information about the nature of his Sanskrit studies in Calcutta between 18371842. He became more and more immersed in Sanskrit sources. With the help of printed texts and manuscripts in the library of the Asiatic Society and the grammars and dictionaries, he steadily pursued his goals. Since his contemporaries described him a lonely scholar-hermit, we do not know whether he carried out his Sanskrit studies alone, or followed his own method in Tibetan learning and kept contact with distinguished pandits. Most likely not, because he lived inside the walls of the Asiatic Society which was a European institution at that time and there is not even the slightest evidence that he had any relation with the College of Fort William. We have indirect information about his readings in Sanskrit. After he died in Darjeeling in April 1842, dr. Campbell prepared an inventory of his bequest. There was Calcutta-edition of Mahäbharat a , the famous medico-botanical encyclopaedia of Susrut a , the Kashmi-
