On December 18-19, 2013, the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the Roerich Readings on the topic "Text and Problems of Cultural History in Ancient and Medieval India and Central Asia".

In her report "Towards the discovery of an ancient Buddhist complex in Central India", V. V. Vertogradova spoke about the first stages of research of the Deorkothar Buddhist Center, discovered by archaeologists under the direction of P. K. Mishra (excavations in 1999-2000). The monument consists of stupas, remains of monastic residences, fragments of stambhas with partially preserved paintings and sculptures. Of particular interest are the two Indian inscriptions made by early Brahmi on the columns, which, despite the damage to the texts, can be reconstructed. According to paleographic criteria, the speaker dates the inscriptions from the third to the beginning of the second century BC (by analogy with the early Sanchi). The inscriptions record the installation of stambhas and contain genealogical lists of Buddhist teachers (prakr. vamsa, skt. vamsa). In the form of inscriptions, the speaker found an affinity, sometimes almost verbatim coincidence with the edict of Ashoka of Rumindea, which requires further study of the inscriptions found in the context of the early Buddhist textual tradition. This provides new research opportunities for early Buddhist schools.

The report.A. Vigasina (ISAA MSU) "Indian coin found during the excavations of the Tillya Tepe necropolis (Afghanistan)" was dedicated to one of the most interesting finds of the expedition led by V. I. Sarianidi (1978-1979)-a gold coin dating back to the first century. The coin contains inscriptions in Kharosthi script on both sides, which indicates its origin in northwestern India. On one side of the coin there is a lion with its front paw raised and its mouth open, on the other side there is a figure of a man who turns an eight-spoke wheel with effort. The caption on the coin reads: dharmacakrapravatako (Skt. pravartako) "Turning the wheel of dharma". Based on the fact that these words are an epithet of Shakyamuni Buddha, the famous researcher J. Fusman concluded that the coin depicts the Buddha. And since initially in Buddhist art it is represented only in the form of certain symbols, the coin from Tillya Tepe was considered by scientists as the earliest anthropomorphic image of Shakyamuni. This thesis was accepted by a number of researchers and served as the basis for reconstructing the history of iconographic interpretation of the founder of Buddhism. A. A. Vigasin, using rich illustrative material, showed that there is no sufficient reason to consider the hero on the Indian coin from Tillya Tepe as an early iconographic type of Shakyamuni Buddha. He tried to prove that this coin depicts a king who, in the guise of Hercules, "turns the wheel", spreading the teachings of the Buddha. This coin remains a vivid illustration of the Greek-Indian political and cultural interaction at the turn of the new era.

V. G. Lysenko (Institute of Philosophy of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in her report "Varna-background, phoneme, sound type?" analyzed the term varna, which in the Indian phonetic and linguistic tradition denoted the ultimate unit of speech segmentation. Interest in the term varna and the desire to understand its status in Indian linguistics arose in the speaker in connection with the project" Atomism and World Culture", the essence of which is the hypothesis that models of language analysis in terms of part-whole relations could serve as a heuristic prototype for the doctrine of atoms in various philosophical schools of India. The report examined the question of the adequacy of translating the term Varna as a "phoneme" and showed how the Varna of the Indian linguistic tradition correlates with the various interpretations of this term that exist in modern linguistics.

E. G. Vyrshchikov (IB RAS) made a report on "Features of the relationship between "concept" and "term" in Sanskrit and Pali texts". In his opinion, the same term can correspond to several dissimilar concepts that have completely different subject relationships, and many key concepts can be designated by several non-equivalent terms. At the same time, some important concepts do not have a corresponding term, but their meaning is conveyed descriptively. The most unusual thing for the European understanding is that these "nameless" concepts have a stable cultural transmission over long historical periods (a millennium or more). The speaker believes that the concept of

in the process of historical development, it can be conveyed in different terms, again become "nameless", but at the same time maintain a stable subject correlation. The speaker calls for studying the historical and cultural monuments of ancient India to explore the conceptual grid as an independent phenomenon. This, in his opinion, is no less important than studying the system of terms. Both of these research procedures should be conducted in parallel and independently of each other.

N. A. Zheleznova's report "The Concept of mind in the Jain tradition: on the issue of clarifying terms" was devoted to the concept of manas in the Jain tradition, primarily its Digambara branch. Based on the analysis of Umasvati's text (II-III centuries) "Tattvarthadhigamasutra" and the earliest commentaries on it "Sarvarthasiddhi" by Pujyapada (V-VI centuries) and "Rajavartika" by Akalanka Bhatta (VIII century), the author described the specifics of understanding mind-manas as a special cognitive ability directly related, on the one hand, to the Indriyas On the other hand, it is the activity of processing data obtained by indriyas and determining what is good and not good for a living being. In this connection, the question was raised: who does the Jain tradition itself consider to be endowed with intelligence (samanaska)? On the basis of early and medieval philosophical treatises, it was shown that Digambara authors consider living beings capable of distinguishing between good and bad for themselves, capable of learning and responding to their own name. Thus, the definition of samanaska jiva covers a fairly wide range of living entities, including some species of animals, birds and reptiles. The speaker drew attention to the fact that Jain teachers probably did not distinguish between learning based on natural instincts (in the case of animals, etc.) and high cognitive ability, which is the mind.

Yu. G. Atmapova (MSU) devoted her report "The specifics of Mughal perception and interpretation of Ancient Indian epic literature" to Mughal translated literature, mainly the ancient Indian epic "Mahabharata". In the last quarter of the 16th century, the court of Mughal Padishah Akbar began work on translating Sanskrit literature into Farsi (the official language of Mughal India). According to sources, the interest of the ruler and his high-ranking nobles was attracted by works of various subjects and forms: "Atharvaveda", "Simhasanana dvatrimshika", "Mahabharata", "Harivamsa", "Ramayana", "Rajatarangini", "Panchatantra", as well as scientific works "Lilavati"and " Tajik". The first was the translation of the Mahabharata, which in Persian was called Razmnama ("Book of Battles"). During the reign of Akbar, this work was rewritten and illustrated several times. Yu. G. Atmanova showed the specifics of the Mughal translators ' working methods, described the techniques and methods used by them in interpreting unfamiliar (sometimes alien) historical and cultural phenomena and concepts.

N. V. Alexandrova (IB RAS) in her report "Lalitavistara in the light of the Fa-hu translation (IV century) "analyzed the features of the early Chinese translation of the Lalitavistara, one of the fundamental sutras of Mahayana Buddhism. The author emphasized that to reconstruct the history of this monument, it is of great importance to study its Chinese translations, which show significant differences from the Sanskrit version, which indicates unknown to us, lost editions of the Lalitavistara. From this point of view, the Fa-hu translation is very interesting as it is the earliest and most different from the Sanskrit version, as regards both the composition of the monument and the content of individual plots. While working on the translation of this version, the peculiarities of the Fa-hu translation style are revealed. First of all, this is an extreme literalism in the transmission of Sanskrit phrases, which becomes the main reason for the incomprehensibility of the Chinese text. This kind of "literalism" can also be observed in the transmission of individual words (for example, those with prefixes), which leads to incomprehensible formations that can only be translated if there is a parallel Sanskrit text. In the Fa-hu translation, there are also examples of duplicated translations of concepts. In some cases, you can talk about words that are misunderstood (or incorrectly heard, because the text was read out during the translation process), and the translation of which clearly comes from a consonant word. Another result of working on the translation of Fa-hu's text is the identification of a different, earlier version of the Lalitavistara, which he apparently had in his possession.

Yu. I. Drobyshev's report "Magical influence on weather in the culture of nomads of Central Asia" highlighted the ancient tradition of Central Asian nomads for using magic to influence the weather. He noted that among the

The rites of summoning rain, snow, and wind with the help of special stones - "rain stones" - are known among the Turkic peoples. Weather magic was used both for military purposes (to bring down bad weather on the head of the enemy), and for peaceful purposes, to facilitate the transition through the desert or to water crops. The speaker told about the history of the emergence of ideas about "rain stones" and gave examples of the use of weather magic drawn from various written sources.

A. M. Dubyansky (ISAA MSU) in the report "Two poems on the theme of separation from the Tamil collection "Pattuppattu" ("Mulleippattu" and "Nedunalvadey"). Experience of Comparison " described two works of classical Tamil poetry devoted to the same topic. The comparison revealed the continuity between them. The speaker showed that the author of the second poem undoubtedly focused on the first one. This is evidenced by both the increase in the volume of the text due to descriptions, and the style of the descriptions themselves, which is close to the Sanskrit kavya style. The speaker identified a significant similarity between the poem "Nedunalvadey" and the poem "Shilappadikaram" ("The Tale of the Bracelet"). This allowed him to speak about the relatively late origin of this text and about its belonging to medieval literature. He recalled that the Pattuppattu cycle is usually dated to the IV-V centuries AD, but it is likely that it was formed two or three centuries later.

In her report "Vratyas in the context of the ritual of receiving the guest of Honor (atithi)" N. A. Korneeva (Moscow) noted that vratyas are one of the most mysterious characters in Sanskrit literature. For more than a hundred years, scientists around the world have been trying to determine who they are, but so far the problem of vratyev remains unresolved. The very name vratya belongs to Sanskrit terms that have changed depending on the genre and time. Tradition treats the brothers in different ways in texts of different genres, even if these texts are slightly distant from each other in time of creation. The dharmashastras consider those who have not received timely initiation to be brothers, as well as some members of mixed castes, censure the way of life of the brothers and prohibit contact with them - communication, eating, marriage, etc. Somewhat aside are the "Apastamba-dharmasutra" and "Hiranyakeshi-Dharmasutra", where the brothers are mentioned only in the context of the reception ritual atithi), which is shown in the report and suggests a connection between these texts and the Atharvaveda . Considering the recent hypothesis that "Atharvaveda" was created in a circleIt becomes clear why the Apastamba-dharmasutra treats vratyas not as "deviants from Savitri" or representatives of mixed castes, but as an honored guest-atithi, who may be feared, but respected. Perhaps further research on the problem of brothers-in-law will allow us to understand the contradictory features of the Apastamba-Dharmasutra - an archaic language and a number of not so archaic elements, and contradictory evidence regarding the place of creation of the text, etc.

Yu. M. Alikhanov (ISAA MSU) in her report "The Palace Park in Indian literature of the IV-VII centuries" reviewed the literary material that allows us to get an idea of the structure of North Indian palace parks, their everyday purpose and deep semantics. The park, which was located on the women's side of the palace (antahpura), was supposed to serve primarily as a place for walks, games and entertainment, love meetings of the king with his wives and concubines. The layout of the park and various structures corresponded to these tasks: wooden slides, swings, gazebos, "rain" and" sea " houses, etc. To understand the basic idea behind the design of palace parks, the speaker was enabled by the presence on their territory of an artificial slide and a large reservoir (pond or lake), which can be interpreted as analogies of the world mountain and the ocean. Thus, the enclosed territory of the park, closed from all sides, was conceived as a symbolic reproduction of the infinite universal space, and the owner of the park acted as the master of the universe, free to taste all the endless pleasures.

In her report "Synonyms in the designation of space and numbers and their meaning in vastuvidya texts from the Puranas", E. V. Tyulina (IB RAS) noted that these texts devoted to architecture and construction describe the position in space and the size of various structural elements of buildings, altars, pedestals, columns and statues. At the same time, we did not use any drawings or calculations that are familiar to us from modern texts of this kind. It was noticed that the descriptions used a huge number of synonyms. This is partly due to the fact that in poetic texts and poems, as a rule, several synonyms with different numbers of syllables are used to create the desired rhythm. Since in the Indian tradition there are different ways of describing the universe (in the form of an anthropomorphic universe, a mandola of the universe,

"eggs of Brahma", etc.), then it is from them that these synonyms are drawn. This determines their important role in the vastuvidya texts, since these texts consider any buildings (temples, shrines, residential buildings, etc.) as analogs of a harmonious universe, where each element is inscribed in the overall picture of the universe. In the report, it was suggested to preserve the abundance of these synonyms in translation in order to preserve the specifics of these texts.

D. N. Vorobyova (MSU) in her report "The image of a dwarf in the iconographic program of an Indian temple (Ljanta, Ellora, Aurangabad) of the V-X centuries" considered the features of the image of a dwarf in the context of ritual performances. She noted that in addition to the decorative role, the image of kar-lmka-gaia has a symbolism that goes back centuries, based on the image of a ritual jester of Vedic times. Therefore, it is organic to the cult consciousness of the Indian tradition. The report showed how the dwarf figure in Indian art went from displaying the most ancient yakshas (a local Chthonic cult) to esoteric beings of Tantric teachings. The presence of images of dwarfs in the reliefs of Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples-gyanoe indicates a deep penetration of folk traditions into the iconographic program of temples, indicates some shifts in religious ideas in the period from antiquity to the Middle Ages, changes in the value system that led to the unification of folk and religious-dogmatic into a single whole. Images of Ghanaians in temples are so similar that almost identical images can be seen in temples of different religions. This transreligious movement of Gan images is primarily due to their peripheral position. In Hindu sculpture, images of dwarfs came from early Buddhist plastic, then they penetrated into the Jain tradition. The image of the dwarf is both serious and humorous, both malicious and benevolent, he is on earth and in heaven, he is among the gods and among the demons. We can talk about the ambivalence of the image of a dwarf in art, but there is no contradiction here, since in Indian mythology there is no division into good and evil, good and bad, right and wrong in our understanding.

D. N. Lelyukhin (Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences) in his report "The concept of maryada in Nepalese inscriptions" showed that the legal structure of the early state society of Nepal (and India) followed the peculiarities of the organization of power. Legislative and judicial functions were divided between the supreme (tsarist) and local authorities, which in Nepal were mainly represented by collective rural and other community-based organizations. The supreme (tsarist) power proceeded from the actual recognition of the authority of local legislation (local customs, maryada) in actions that somehow affected common interests when they concerned local affairs. At the same time, the king, issuing decrees (ajna), had the right to change specific, including local, norms, rules, mainly for residents of individual villages. Such changes are recorded in the decrees of the Licchavas. According to the speaker, such a structure of organizing the execution of the functions of lawmaking, judicial proceedings and resolving disputes provided, to a certain extent, a single legal field in the entire Lichchav state, i.e., relative stability and viability of its functioning. Internal disputes were resolved within local organizations on the basis of local traditional norms, the authority of which was confirmed by the royal authority. Cases that went beyond the competence of local authorities were decided by intercommunal bodies (for example, adhikarai) or the king. Formally, the general rights of the royal power itself were not regulated in general and local legislation in particular, although the Licchavas declared their adherence to local customs. This is precisely what seems to be the most important basis for the legal organization of the Licchava kingdom, whose logic of formation followed mainly the transformation of local, local rules and legislation into supralocal and national ones, and not vice versa (the introduction of national legislation from above).

In her report " The concept of pratitya-samutpada in Early Buddhist literature (based on the Pali Canon)", A.V. Lozhkina (MSU) presented the concept of causality (pratitya samutpada) from the point of view of its significance for the Early Buddhist tradition as a whole; considered the problems of the genesis of specific lists of pratitya-samutpada in the views of various schools. She recalled that pratitya samutpada is the basis of all doctrinal constructions in early Buddhism, their theoretical foundation and the basis of theoretical reflection. So-called dependent origination describes the nature of reality. The speaker noted that the above, however, does not imply a simplified understanding of pratitya-samut-

pads as a concept of causality, which has 12 closed links related to past, present and future life. On the contrary, pratitya-samutpada is a complex, difficult-to-understand philosophical teaching that has developed gradually over time. The report made the following conclusions: the concept of causality in early Buddhist texts is not explicitly expressed, but it should be taken into account when analyzing any religious and philosophical problem of early Buddhism in general or the construction of specific schools; to give a particular list of links does not mean to understand the essence of pratitya-samutpada; when considering its essence, it is necessary to refer to the broad context of Indian philosophy and culture.

A. K. Vasiliev (MSU) in his report "Manas/mana and dhamma: towards understanding the first Utterance of the Dhammapada "noted that currently there are at least 60 English translations of the Dhammapada text and only one complete Russian translation from Pali. Using the example of the first utterance of the Dhammapada, the report showed the difficulties faced by translators and researchers, as well as demonstrated possible approaches to understanding the text. In the first aphorism, the greatest discrepancies are observed in the translation of such important terms as manas/mana (in different translations - "mind", "mind", "attention", "thought") and dhamma (dhamma, dharma, "everything we are", "all objects", " states of consciousness", "knowable"). The advantages and disadvantages of different versions of the translation were analyzed, and such approaches to understanding the text as the use of different versions (in particular, the Sanskrit Udanavarga) and the traditional commentary (Dhammapada-atthakatha by Buddhaghosa) were considered.

Other speakers at the readings were: D. I. Zhutaev (IB RAS) on "The multiplicity of Buddhas and the soteriology of Mahasanghikas" and S. C. Ofertas (IB RAS) - "The dispute between Abhinavagupta and Utpaladeva with Buddhists in the first part of Ishvarapratyabhijna-vimarshini".

At the Roerich Readings, they traditionally recalled the bright pages of the life and work of Yu. N. Roerich and members of his A. M. Shustov family (IV RAS), having prepared a rich illustrative material, in the report "Historical Studies of Yu. N. Roerich and his family members".N. Roerich in Ladakh " told about his visit to Ladakh as part of the Central Asian expedition of his father N. Roerich (1925). In Ladakh, Yu. N. Roerich paid close attention to Buddhist monuments. He visited famous Buddhist monasteries: Mulbekh, Lamayura, Alchi, Likir, Bazgo, Seljang, Spitug, Zangskar, Khemis, Tiksi, as well as monasteries of Leh, the capital of Ladakh. He explored both Buddhist stupas and Myeongdong. Among other things, Yu. N. Roerich studied the cult of Bodhisattva Maitreya in Ladakh and noted that elements of honoring Gesar Khan, the hero of numerous legends of Central Asian peoples, get along well with it. In Ladakh, Yu. N. Roerich studied material related to the history of Christianity. As you know, there were many Nestorian colonies here and Christian legends were in use. According to the Russian traveler N. A. Notovich, the Khemis monastery in Ladakh contained manuscripts about Jesus ' sojourn in this part of Asia. N. K. Roerich's expedition found some evidence of this. In addition to Buddhist history, Yu. N. Roerich was also interested in the pre-Buddhist period of the Kingdom of Ladakh. In the town of Dongga, he examined boulders with many mountain goats carved on them, hunters with bows and swastika signs. The description of the expedition's route and some of its results were published by Yu. N. Roerich in English in the monograph "On the Trails of Central Asia "(1931).

The reports presented at the readings, in one way or another, continue the research directions of Yu. N. Roerich. These include the study of Tibetan, Sanskrit and Jain works, Nepalese epigraphy, ancient Indian art and religion. The overwhelming majority of reports are devoted to various problems of text research and methods of working with them. V. V. Vertogradova, summing up the results of the readings, expressed the hope that the demonstrated research will help form new disciplines related to general text theory and cultural anthropology.

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