Csoma arrives in Calcutta—Resolution of Government of India as
to the publication of his works—Was elected Honorary Member of
Asiatic Society.
Csoma’s long-cherished desire of visiting Calcutta was at last realised
in April 1831. He remained at Kanum till the commencement of the
previous cold weather. After arrival at Sabathú, the Government having
supplied him with funds for the journey, he was enabled to take with
him, to the Presidency, the manuscripts and books which he had so
eagerly collected. On 5th of May he reported himself to Mr. Swinton,
the Secretary to Government, and placed all the literary treasures in
his possession at the disposal of the authorities.
Dr. Wilson at the same time reminded the members of the Council of the
Asiatic Society, in a memo, dated 21st May 1831, that they were under a
promise to Csoma to grant him 50 rupees a month from the 15th of April
1830 to date, which sum, however, he refused to accept. But the
Government sanctioned 100 rupees a month, on condition that Csoma would
prepare a catalogue raisonné of the Tibetan works Mr. Hodgson had
forwarded from Nepal.
A letter from Dr. Wilson to the Secretary of Government refers to the
arrangements which had been made with regard to Csoma. It bears the
date 15th July 1831, and states that the Society were willing to avail
themselves of Csoma’s services for two years, on the salary which the
Government had already sanctioned to him.
Eighteen months after the date of the above, Dr. Wilson wrote another
letter, announcing to Government the completion of Csoma’s works for
the press, and suggesting, at the same time, how they should be dealt
with.
On the 26th of December 1832, Dr. Wilson writes that, besides the
Dictionary and the Grammar, a translation of a Tibetan vocabulary,
containing “a summary of the Buddha system,” [37] was ready for
publication and at the disposal of Government, “to whom the author
considered his works to belong, in return for the patronage it had been
pleased to afford him. Should it be the pleasure of Government to
defray the cost of publication, which has been estimated at from 3000
to 4000 rupees, Mr. Csoma will be happy to conduct them through the
press in Calcutta; or he is willing, should the Government think
proper, to send them, through me, to England, where, perhaps, the
Honourable Court of Directors or some literary association may
undertake their publication.”
Dr. Wilson was preparing to leave India, and he was ready to take
charge of the manuscripts, with a view to their being published in
Europe.
The following was the resolution of the Government as to the
publication of the Grammar and Dictionary, and this finally decided the
hitherto pending question. The order was, that the works should be
printed in Calcutta at the expense of Government, which had certainly
the very great advantage of the author’s immediate supervision whilst
issuing from the press.
The Government Secretary’s letter to Dr. Wilson is dated the 27th of
December; it alludes to circumstances of some interest, and pays a
deserved tribute to his remarkable merits as a man of science, on the
eve of his departure for Europe.
“The Vice-President in Council is disposed to think it most desirable
that the Tibetan Grammar and Dictionary prepared by A. Csoma de Körös
should be published in Calcutta, at the cost of the Government, India
being the most appropriate place for the publication, and the
Government being the only party likely to incur the expense.
“I am instructed to observe,” continues Mr. Swinton, “that the
Government is sensible of the advantage which would be derived from
your taking charge of these works and superintending their publication
in England, if it were proposed to transmit them for that purpose; and
recognises in your offer the same disinterested zeal which has ever
distinguished your devotion to the advancement of literature.
“The Vice-President in Council has perused with much gratification the
report of the meritorious labours of Mr. Csoma.”
In January 1833, Dr. Wilson, having spent many years in the study of
Oriental literature, left Calcutta for England, to devote the remainder
of his days to the same cause, as Professor of Sanskrit in the
University of Oxford. Other and more worthy pens have done justice to
the brilliant talents and meritorious accomplishments of Horace Hayman
Wilson. A grateful remembrance of him is due also from the biographer
of Körösi Csoma Sándor, for the interest he took, when in Calcutta, in
the Hungarian traveller, and for his kindness afterwards in publishing
a biographical sketch of him in the “Journal of the Royal Asiatic
Society” in 1834. The sketch, so far as it went, has hitherto served as
the basis of all notices of Csoma’s earlier life.
Dr. Wilson was succeeded by Mr. James Prinsep as Secretary to the
Asiatic Society of Bengal, who considered it as one of his most
important duties to urge that Csoma’s works should be pushed through
the press as rapidly as possible. Mr. Prinsep’s letter on the subject
is dated the 30th of January, and is addressed to the Secretary of the
Government, giving full details as to expenses connected with the
publication, and mentioning other arrangements also. Mr. Prinsep,
writing in the name of the Asiatic Society, “trusts that the Government
regard Csoma’s labours of national interest.”
“Previous to the departure of Dr. H. H. Wilson for England, that
gentleman placed in my hands a copy of the letter which he addressed to
the Government on the 26th ultimo, relative to the Tibetan manuscripts
of Mr. Csoma de Körös, and your reply of the 27th of the same month,
conveying the sentiments of the Honourable the Vice-President in
Council upon the best mode of publishing them, in order that I might
submit the whole to the Asiatic Society, to whom the responsibility and
honour of superintending the publication of Mr. Csoma’s Tibetan Grammar
and Dictionary naturally devolves: upon the determination of the
Government in favour of printing the work in this country, in lieu of
committing it to the care of Dr. Wilson for publication in Europe.
2. “The President and Committee of Papers of the Asiatic Society now
direct me to report, for the consideration of the Honourable the
Vice-President in Council, that they have made the requisite inquiries
as to the probable expense of printing the manuscripts in Calcutta, and
they are happy to assure his Honour in Council, that the cost will be
trifling compared with the importance of the work to literature, and
considering the necessity of preparing an entirely new fount of type in
a character as complicated, from the number and form of its compounds,
as the Sanskrita itself.
3. “Mr. Pearce, of the Baptist Mission Press, states that the Grammar
and Dictionary together may be comprised in one neat quarto volume of
about 600 pages in typography and 32 in lithography. Supposing the work
to be included within these limits, and 500 copies to be struck off, he
engages to execute it at the rate of 8 rupees per page, or about 5000
rupees for the whole, exclusive of all extra charge for the new fount
of type. The expenses per copy, on superfine English paper, will thus
be about 10 rupees, besides a trifle more, say one rupee, for binding.
4. “Mr. Csoma de Körös has expressed to the Society his entire
readiness to undertake the superintendence and correction of the press,
provided the work be commenced immediately, so as not to detain him in
Calcutta much beyond the current year. On the part of the Society I beg
also to tender my own services, in inspecting and correcting the
English portion of the volume, and in otherwise co-operating with Mr.
Csoma, to the utmost, in expediting the appearance of the volume.
5. “The Asiatic Society’s funds, owing to the recent untoward pressure
in commercial affairs, are not in a condition to enable it to bear the
whole, or even any part, of the expense of publication, however
desirous it would have been to do so under other circumstances; but the
Society trusts that the Honourable the Vice-President in Council will
regard the matter as one of national interest, and will coincide with
itself in thinking that the support already given to Mr. Csoma, while
prosecuting his studies, will have been misapplied, unless followed up
by the immediate diffusion of the knowledge gained through his
unwearied labours, and now so honourably tendered by him to the nation
from whom he first received assistance, although the learned of his own
and of other countries of Europe would do much to induce him to
transfer its possession to them.”
The only reward which Csoma ever looked for was an appreciation of his
labours by his contemporaries and posterity. The esteem which he had
won, even at that time, from his fellow-labourers, will be best
understood when we look at the opinion of the Council of the Asiatic
Society, given previous to his election as an Honorary member of that
Society. That opinion is thus recorded in the Minutes of the
Proceedings of the meeting held on the 30th January 1834:—
“Mr. Alexander Csoma de Körös was proposed as an Honorary Member by
Mr. Trevelyan, seconded by Mr. Prinsep.
“The nomination was referred to the Committee of Papers.
“Remarks by Mr. Prinsep.—The Committee of Papers are aware of Mr.
Csoma’s qualifications as a Tibetan, Sanskrit, and general
linguist, and I need say nothing in recommending him to the honour
proposed to be conferred on him further, unless it be to remind the
members that he has spent the last two years in preparing
catalogues, translations, and superintending the printing of his
Dictionary, without accepting any remuneration from the Society or
the Government.
“By Rev. Dr. W. H. Mill.—I heartily concur in this nomination, as
strictly due to the extraordinary merits of M. De Körös.
“By Dr. A. Wallich.—I am most happy in concurring entirely with the
sentiments expressed by the Secretary and by Dr. Mill.
(Signed) “C. T. Metcalfe, B.S. Sen, R. W. Forbes, C. E. Trevelyan,
J. Tytler, John Franks, C. Crozier.”
It is unnecessary to add that Csoma was unanimously elected Honorary
member of the Society, on the 6th of February 1834.
The individual opinions of his fellow-labourers recorded here testify
to the sincere appreciation entertained of his merits, and doubtless
Csoma felt great satisfaction at the honour thus conferred on him. He
probably thought of the lines which he once wrote for his friend, Szabó
de Borgáta, when a fellow-student at Göttingen:
“A viro laudato laudari pulchrum est,” &c.
Beyond this solitary honour Csoma declined all others which the
Societies of Europe and Asia sought to confer on him. He cannot,
however, deny himself the title, so says a writer, “of an indefatigable
student, a profound linguist, and of a man who devoted his life to the
cause of learning, regardless of any of its popular and attractive
rewards, and anxious only for the approbation of posterity.” [38]