Sanskrit Studies in Latin AmericaAuthor(s): Juan Miguel de MoraReviewed work(s):Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 103, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1983), pp. 615-616Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/602043 .Accessed: 04/11/2011 21:29

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DE MORA: Sanskrit Studies in Latin America 615

Sanskrit Studies in Latin America

It would be difficult to pinpoint in which Latin American country the first Sanskrit studies began, but there is no doubt that the most advanced one at present in that field is Brazil, at whose University of Slo Paulo one can find the full course culminating in a Bachelor's degree in Sanskrit Language and Literature.

In Uruguay,the first to teach Sanskrit at the University was Benigno Ferrario in the 1940's, but this endeavour did not last for soon afterward Ferrario left the institution. In 1951, E. Coserin, then professor of Linguistics at the Faculty of Humanities and Sciences and director of the Institute of Philology, invited Dr. Nicolis Altuchow to give a short series of lectures on Sanskrit to the students of Linguistics. Dr. Altuchow had studied at the John Kazimir University of Lw6w, Poland, and had been a student of Professor St. Stasiak. From that time to the present, Sanskrit and Indian culture have been taught at the Faculty, at first as an independent course, then as an elective for various major fields and finally as an obligatory course of one semester for the Bachelor of Arts degree in Literature, should Indology or Chinese Language and Culture be chosen. With a U.N.E.S.C.O. Fellowship in 1962-63, Doctor Altuchow spent five months in India. He participated in 1961 in the First Summer school on the Orient in Santiago de Chile; in the Symposium on the Orient at Mar del Plata in 1970; in the First Latin American Conference of Sanskritists at Sao Paulo in 1981 and in the First Symposium on the Sanskrit Language at Mexico City in 1982.

In the Argentine, there is more activity in the field of Sanskrit. On the one hand, the Centre for Philosophical Research set up a Seminar on Indology two years ago, with Doctor Fernando Tola as Director and Doctor Carmen Dragonetti as Secretary. This Seminar is dedicated to research and has a good library at its disposal. So far, it has produced fourteen publications and translations, in the form of books and pamphlets, of philosophical texts used in Doctor Tola's course at the University. Some of the students at the Uni- versity use the Seminar's library for their research work, under the guidance of Doctors Tola or Dragonetti, both of whom are also the authors of various articles published in the bulletin of the Spanish Society of Orientalists, in the Journal of Indian Philosophy, the Wiener Zeitschrift, ABORI, etc., as well as authors of a great number of books. On the other hand, the Argentine National Council for Scientific and Technical Research engages the services of Doctor Fernando Tola, who is one of its principal researchers in the exclusive field of Sanskrit language and culture, and of

Doctor Carmen Dragonetti, who works as an independent researcher on subjects related to philosophy and Sanskrit. The Philosophy Department of the National University of Buenos Aires has a Centre for the Study of Oriental Religions and Philosophies, created by Professor Armando Asti Vera. Among the courses offered at the Centre,there is one on the Sanskrit language, inaugurated by Dr. Fernando Tola in 1970. This Centre has published a review bearing its name ("Estudios de Religiones y Filosofias de Oriente"), acquired the library of Doctor Vicente Fatoul, containing a wide selection of works on India and organized series of con- ferences, some of them on India and its culture. For quite a few years now, Dr. Tola has given the course on Philosophy of India at the National University of Buenos Aires as well as a Seminar on the reading of Indian philosophical texts. The number of students varies around thirty. Furthermore, also in Buenos Aires, the Universidad del Salvador has an Oriental Studies Centre where lectures on Sanskrit and Hindi as well as on Indian culture are offered. Research is also done in that field. A review entitled "Oriente y Occidente" is published.

Nevertheless, as we mentioned at the beginning of this article, Brazil is the only country in Latin America, up to this moment, which offers a major in Sanskrit Language and Literature at its University of Sio Paulo. Under the guidance of Professor Izidoro Blikstein, a distinguished group of Sanskritists carries on the tasks related to Sanskrit studies as well as research work in that field. They are Professors Carlos Alberto da Fonseca, MArio Ferreira, Maria Valiria Aderson de Melo Vargas, Lilian Proenqa de Menezes Mon- tenegro and Elisa Fumiko Kikuchi Tamajusuku.

In Mexico, where the first known Sanskritist was Pedro Urbano de la Calle, the only formal and constant work in the field of Sanskrit language, literature and culture is being done at the Institute of Philological Research at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, with the collaboration of the Humanities Coordination, by the author of this article and Ludwika Jarocka, M.A. Most of the work being done is in the field of research, although the author also gives a course on Sanskrit Literature, in Spanish, at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. Within these activities, the First International Symposium on the Sanskrit Language was organized in 1982, attended by the most outstanding person- alities in the world in that field.

With most of the Sanskritists of Latin America present, the Latin American Association of Sanskritists (Asociaci6n Latino-Americana de Sanscritistas) was founded at the

616 Journal of the American Oriental Society 103.3 (1983)

University of Sao Paulo in February, 1980. The Associa- tion celebrated the First Latin American Conference of Sanskritists-also at Sao Paulo-in 1981 and the First International Symposium on the Sanskrit Language-at Mexico City and under the auspices of the National Autono- mous University in Mexico-in 1982.

Following is a list of some of the publications brought out by the Latin American Sanskritists.

ARGENTINE: Bhagavad Gita, El Canto del Seior. Direct translation from the Sanskrit, introduction and notes by Fernando Tola. Monte Avila Editores, Caracas, 1977; Dham- mapada, El Camino del Dharma. Direct translation from the Pali, introduction and notes by Carmen Dragonetti. Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 1967; Doctrinas Secretas de la India, Upanishads. Introduction, selection, direct translation from the Sanskrit and notes by Fernando Tola. Barral Editores, S.A., Barcelona, 1973; Gupta, Damodara, Los Consejos de la Celestina, Kuttanrmatam. Introduction, se- lection and translation from the Sanskrit by Fernando Tola. Barral Editores, S.A., Barcelona, 1973; Himnos del Atharva Veda. Selection and translation by Fernando Tola. Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 1968; Himnos del Rig Veda. Selection and translation from the Sanskrit by Fernando Tola. Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 1968; Jayadeva: GrtJ Govinda. Translation from the Sanskrit by Fernando Tola. Editorial Sudamericana, Buenos Aires, 1971; Tola, Fernando and Carmen Dragonetti: Yoga y Mistica de la India. Editorial Kier, S. A., Buenos Aires, 1978; Yogasutras de Patanjali. Direct translation, introduction and commentary by Fernando Tola and Carmen Dragonetti. Barral Editores, S.A., Barcelona, 1973.

BRAZIL:Blikstein, Izidoro, "Hinduismo, Semiologla e Lingifistica" in "Revista Alfa"; Fernindez Miazzi, Mafia Luisa: Fabulas do Hitopade(a; Fernindez Miazzi, Mafia Lu'isa: "Compostos Nominais do Hitopadeqa" in "Lingua e Literatura"; Ferreira, Mario: "Agni/Fogo, nos confins da Lingua" in "Estudos de Filologlia e Lingii'stica"; Fonseca, Carlos Alberto da, "A arte da India no Brasil" in "Lingua e Literatura," "Os assignalados: a prop6sito da fala do Catual do Malabar a Vasco da Gama" in "Revista Camoniana," "As biografias de Kalidasa" in Lingua e Literatura," "Alguns compostos nominais do Meghaduita de Kalidasa" in "Estudos de Filologia e Linguistica," Cabdagharma, "o fogo interno do signo " sanscrito. M onografia de mestrado, in~dita; Fon- seca, Carlos Alberto da and MArio Ferreira, Introdufao ao Sanscrito Chissico, Textos de Literatura Sfinscrita, "O molde e a materia: a prop6sito de uma gramAtica da flingua sin- scrita" in "Lingua e Literatura;" Proenqa de Menezes Mon- tenegro, Lilian, "Sobre a grafia das palavras sanscritas" in Cultura Sanscrita 11; Proenqa de Menezes Montenegro, Lilian: "O universo semantico do jogo de dados no sanscrito" in "Estudos de Filologia e Lingiistica."

MEXICO: Bhavabhiiti, Uttarardmacarita. Direct translation from the Sanskrit, extensive introductory study on Sanskrit theatre and on Bhavabhfiti and his work by Juan Miguel de Mora and Ludwika Jarocka. Sanskrit-Spanish bilingual edi- tion. Instituto de Investigaciones Filol6gicas, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico (in press); El Rig Veda. Translation from the Sanskrit, introduction and notes by Juan Miguel de Mora, with the collaboration of Ludwika Jarocka. First edition: Editorial Diana, S.A., Mexico, 1974. Second edition: Instituto de Investigaciones Filol6gicas, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, 1980; Levi, Sylvain, La India y el Mundo. Introduction, critical study and commentary by Juan Miguel de Mora. Direct translation from the French and English and notes by Ludwika Jarocka. Editorial Diana, S. A., Mexico, 1975; Mora, Juan Miguel de, La Dialictica en el Rig Veda. Editorial Diana, S.A., Mexico, 1978; La Filosofia en la Literatura Shnscrita. Uni- versidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, Mexico, 1968, The Principle of Opposites in Sanskrit Texts. Pandit Rampratap Shastri Charitable Trust, Beawar, Rajasthan, 1982; Sam- skrtasamskrtih. Cultura Shnscrita. Some Aspects of Sanskrit Culture. Proceedings of the Conversaciones ALAS 80 at Slo Paulo, Brazil. Coordinaci6n de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, Mexico, 1980; Samskrta- samskrtih. Cultura Shnscrita. The Importance of the Sanskrit Language in the past and today, from China to Latin America. Proceedings of the First Latin American Conference of Sanskritists at Sao Paulo, Brazil, 1981. Coordinaci6n de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico, Mexico, 1981; Samskrtasamskrtih. Cultura Sanscrita. Pro- ceedings of the First International Symposium on the Sanskrit Language, Mexico, 1982. Coordinaci6n de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional Aut6noma de Mexico (in press).

URUGUAY: Altuchow, Nicolas, Gramhtica Shnscrita Ele- mental. Universidad Mayor de la Repiblica, Montevideo; "Herasim Lebedeff (1746-1817)" in the Ludwik Sternback Commemoration Volume of the Indologica Taurinensia, Vols. VIII-IX, 1980-81; "La Influencia de la India sobre la Cultura Japonesa" in "Prometeo, Revista Uruguaya de Cultura," Vol. II, 1980-81; Bhartrihari: Epigramas. Introduction, trans- lation from the Sanskrit and notes by Nicolis Altuchow. Universidad Mayor de la Repiblica, Montevideo; Nikitin, Afansi: El Andar Mas Alla de los Tres Mares (Un viajero ruso del siglo XV y su relato sobre la India). Introduction, translation and notes by Nicolas Altuchow. Universidad Mayor de la Reptblica, Montevideo; Shankara: A tma-bodha y Moha-Mudgara. Introduction, translation from the Sanskrit and notes by Nicolhs Altuchow. Universidad Mayor de la Repiblica, Montevideo.

JUAN MIGUEL DE MORA NATIONAL AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY OF MWXICO

Article Contentsp. 615p. 616

Issue Table of ContentsJournal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 103, No. 3 (Jul. - Sep., 1983), pp. 485-672Front MatterWomen on Folk Medicine: Judaeo-Arabic Texts from Sefrou [pp. 485-493]"Trilingual" Marginal Notes (Arabic, Aljamiado and Spanish) in a Morisco Manuscript from Toledo [pp. 495-503]Q Iy's Rebellion against the Almohads in Sabtah (A. H. 542-543/A. D. 1147-1148) New Numismatic Evidence [pp. 504-514]Turkish Manuscripts: Cataloguing since 1960 and Manuscripts Still Uncatalogued. Part 2: Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania [pp. 515-532]Patron-Client Relations in the Later Han [pp. 533-542]Vedic Rudra-iva [pp. 543-556]Some Observations on Recent Soviet Excavations in Soviet Central Asia and the Problem of Gandhra Art [pp. 557-567]Asseverative *la and Hypothetical *lu/law in Semitic [pp. 569-593]Brief CommunicationsFour Varieties of Pashto [pp. 595-597]An Addendum to the History of T'ang Art: Painting on Water [pp. 599-600]A Textual Note on the I Ching [pp. 601-605]A Note on the Function of Tone Patterns in Chinese Verse [pp. 607-609]Studies in Tocharian Vocabulary II: Words Pertaining to the Lower Limbs in Tocharian B [pp. 611-613]Sanskrit Studies in Latin America [pp. 615-616]Fever in Vedic India [pp. 617-621]A Contribution to Hittite Onomastic Studies [pp. 623-627]

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