<i>L’oubli des Russes</i>: An (Almost) Forgotten Chapter in the History of 19th-Century Orientalism

Abstract

The celebrated Russian academician Vasily P. Vasilyevs (18181900) pioneering study of the history of Buddhist thought, Buddhism, Its Dogmas, History and Literature (St. Petersburg: Akademii Nauk, 1857), became well-known to Еuropean learned circles thanks to its excellent 1860 German translation by the Indologist Theodor Benfey (18091881). It was in this form that Vasilyevs work remained, for more than a century, one of the main Western sources of knowledge of Buddhist philosophy as it had been transmitted in Tibet. Largely forgotten, however, was the flawed French translation by G.A. La Comme (Paris 1865) and the controversy that it aroused. Dedicated to the contemporary French philosopher Roger-Pol Droit to honor his contributions to the history of the Еuropean study of Indian and Buddhist philosophy, the present article retraces that controversy and its implications for our understanding of the reception of Vasilyevs masterwork.