58
However Japanese did not receive as much attraction as Chinese. Although
there were some attempts to found a chair of Japanese in the Faculty of
Oriental Languages in 1871, it came into being in 1898 in St. Petersburg.
122
Apart from oriental studies in the universities, a branch was opened in
1823 to train the specialists in oriental languages for the service of the Asian
Committee (1802) under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is closely
connected with the Russian policy of interference to Central Asia and
Caucasus. One of the main driving forces behind the rise the Lazarev
Institute was the need for training orientalist-diplomats who had been
dramatically important with the Russian expansion from the midst of 19
th
century on. As it was mentioned, the Lazarev Institute became an
instrument of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a while. The well-
educated, young and Orthodox students were accepted to this five-year
school.
123
E. P. Kovalevski, head of the Asian Department and an orientalist-
diplomat, sparked great scientific and diplomatic missions towards Asian
states. Thus N. V. Hanykov in Iran and Afghanistan; N. P. Ignatiev in Hive
and Bukhara, and N. G. Stoletov in Buhara and Afghanistan carried out
missions.
124
Similar to what Ministry of Foreign Affairs had done, since the Russian
Army needed orientalists, the Orenburg Neplyuevskiy Military Academy was
122
Ibid., pp. 452-467.
123
Frye, op. cit., in note 31, p. 40.
124
Bartold, op. cit., in note 4, 439-451.
59
founded with the order of Alexander I in 1824. Military interpreters were
trained for the Russian Army in this six-year school. A similar school was
founded in Tashkent in 1897. Both Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the army
was totally pragmatic in their approach to oriental studies. However all these
efforts undoubtedly improved oriental studies in Russia.
Consequently, oriental studies in Russia included both academic and
practical purposes in this period. Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the
army and universities had different considerations, all of them tried to fulfill
their needs for the orientalists. The penetration of Russia to Central Asia and
the Caucasus accelerated these studies. As a consequence, there emerged
three different schools having three different characteristics in Russia.
Although the teaching of Eastern languages in the Moscow University lost its
importance, the Lazarev Institute kept its importance because it provided
civil servants to the government. The Kazan school already had different
place due to its Muslim population. St. Petersburg being the seat of the
Academy of Sciences and having abundant materials continued to be the
center of oriental studies. As a matter of fact, most of the remarkable
Russian orientalists of the 20
th
century came from the St. Petersburg school.
Bartold indicates that Kazem Bek and Senkovsky created the Russian
orientalism with their courses and works. And almost all the members of
next generation were their students or their students’ students.
125
. Senkovsk
served in St. Petersburg University between 1822 and 1847 and Kazem Bek
125
Ibid., op. cit., in note 4, p. 467.
60
between 1845 and 1870. O. I. Senkovski in Turkish; H.D. Fren and V.V.
Grigorev in Persian; V. R. Rozen, V. S. Goleishcheva and B. V. Turaev in
Arabic; I. P. Minaev and F. I. Shcherbatskiy in Indian; N. J. Bicurin and V. P.
Vasilev in Sinology were outstanding figures in the academic circles of the
Russian oriental studies.
61
Chapter IV
Conclusion
Minaev, one of the founders of Indology in Russia, states the following:
“
In Russia, learning the East has never been abstract, it could not be so. We
are so close to the East that we cannot have an abstract interest. Russia’s
interest is always closely related to the East and that is why the Oriental
studies in Russia cannot exist without their practical reflection.
”
126
The oriental studies in Russia until the 19
th
century are not abstract in
nature but emerged out of practical commercial, military and/or diplomatic
reasons. Also in the development of oriental studies, the expansion of
religion and the role of the Church are important. Therefore this thesis
argues that oriental studies in Russia have the following features:
1.
The studies on Eastern societies, which the Russians have come
across, traded or fought with, were motivated by practical reasons.
2.
The studies of academic nature at the institution level which initiated
by Peter were parallel to Russia’s geographic expansion towards the
East.
126
I. P. Minayev. Ob izuchenii Indii v russkix universitetax. Otchyet o coctoyanii
Imperatorskogo C.-Peterburgskogo universiteta i deyatelnosti ego uchenogo
cocloviya za 1883 g. CPB. 1884, p. 89.
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