52
One of the most important contributions to oriental studies during the
18
th
century was the dictionary study, which was also supported by
Katherina. This comparative dictionary (Sravnitelnye slovari vcekh yazykov i
narechiy, sobrannye desnitseyu Vysochyshey osoby) comprised words from
200 different languages including 51 European languages and 149 eastern
languages. In the dictionary, words from different languages, phonetically
similar but different in meaning were put together.
115
The 19
th
century was a period when oriental studies in Russia reached
maturity together with and the Russian expansion towards Central Asia.
Russian expansion into the Central Asian steppes first initiated by Ivan the
Terrible in the 16
th
century accelerated in the 19
th
century. The invasion of
Central Asia was undertaken by the conquest of Tashkent in 1865 and the
conquest of Goktepe in 1881. Hive and Bukhara had accepted Russian rule
as well. All these had an impact on the acceleration of the new works of art
and texts found in the places newly conquered. The Russian administration
was a crucial prerequisite in the region for the security of the expeditions.
Therefore it is not unjust to claim that there is a certain coincidence between
the expansion of the influence of Russia in Central Asia and the development
of orientalistic in St. Petersburg in the 19
th
century.
It can be argued that the studies and works belonging to the pre-19
th
century period was a preparation for this century. With the acceptance of
115
Bartold, op. cit., in note 4, p. 416.
53
the first university regulations in 1804, it was also decided that there would
be an oriental languages chair within the history-philology faculty. Similar to
the West, the oriental languages corresponded to the langueages of Muslim
peoples. The languages of the Far East were also included in the university
curriculum in the following years. The chairs established at the Moscow,
Kazan and Harkov universities and later at the St. Petersburg University in
order to teach eastern languages, religions and literature played a crucial
role in analyzing and studying the East seriously. The institutes such as
Lazarevski and Rishelevski opened in Moscow and Odesa in the 19
th
century
also played the same role. Alhotugh there were not immediate and
surprising results, this decision enabled the training of scholars and
permanent academic departments to conduct scientific research on the East.
At the same time, this gave birth to three different schools of thought:
Kazan with its Muslim population, St. Petersburg University as the Russia’s
window to Europe and the Moscow schools.
116
It is not surprising that the first chair opened to teach eastern
languages was founded in Kazan. As I mentioned before the Tatars and
naturally Kazan had already occupied a distinguished place in all studies in
Russia. C. D. Fren in 1807 founded the Department of Eastern Languages,
especially to teach Arabic and Persian. Although the Tatar language was
116
Frye, op. cit., in note 31, pp. 39-42.; A. N. Kononov and I. I. Iorish.
Leningradskiy Vostochniy Institut. Stranitsa Istorii Sovyetskogo Vostokovedeniya.
Moskva: Glavnaya Redaktsiya Vostochnoy Literatury, 1977, pp. 4-6.
54
taught at the beginning, the Department of Turk-Tatar Language was not
founded until 1928. Kazan became the best place for oriental studies with
opening of the chair of Mongolian in 1833 (under the administration of,
Orientalist and later diplomat, O. M. Kovalevsky), Chinese in 1837
(archimandrite Daniel Svillov and under chairmanship of O. P. Vojtsehovsk),
Armenian in 1839, Sanscrit in 1842 (under chairmanship of P. J. Peter) and
Manchurian in 1844. There were great orientalists like I. N. Berezin, A. K.
Kazam-Bek, F. I. Erdman, V. F. Dittel among professors of the university.
However there were not many students in these departments until the
government sent civil servants for training here. In 1850’s, the Department
of Oriental Studies of the university had been closed. Frye attributes this
situation to opening of teacher collages and other schools for local
population in Kazan and he indicates that people probably regarded these
schools as more important than oriental studies.
117
Beside these
developments, taking of Fren’s the Asian Museum presidency and so his
move to St. Petersburg and in the same way Kazem-Bek’s ,who was being
accepted as an école himself, move to St. Petersburg to found a faculty for
oriental studies can be accepted as noteworthy factors in the decline of
oriental studies in Kazan.
St. Petersburg, which was the center of the Academy of Sciences,
replaced the Kazan School. The Asian Museum founded with the order of S.
S. Uvarov in 1818 was the first special oriental institution in the system of
117
Frye, op. cit., in note 31, p. 39.
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