April 22-24, 2009 at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of St. Petersburg State University (hereinafter-VF SPb.The XXV International Conference "Source Studies and Historiography of Asian and African Countries: Oriental Studies and African Studies in the Dialogue of Civilizations" was held.

Currently, the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg.The State University of Oriental Studies is the only one that teaches in the direction of "Oriental Studies. African Studies". Established in 1855 as the Faculty of Oriental Languages by decree of Emperor Nicholas I, it continues to be today one of the main centers of Oriental studies in our country, a recognized world center for teaching and studying philology, history and cultures of the East, where specialists are trained to develop the best traditions of the classical St. Petersburg Oriental school. The theoretical courses, which are attended by about 600 students in 30 specializations, cover a wide range of historical, literary, linguistic, ethnographic and religious studies disciplines. They are a continuation of the research of such outstanding Russian Orientalists who worked here as O. I. Senkovsky, A. K. Kazembek, I. N. Berezin, V. P. Vasiliev, P. M. Melioransky, V. R. Rosen, V. V. Radlov, K. G. Zaleman, V. V. Barthold, V. M. Alekseev, N. I. Konrad, S. A. Shishkin, and others. F. Oldenburg, F. I. Shcherbatskoy, A. P. Riftin, I. Y. Krachkovsky, S. A. Kozin, N. K. Dmitriev, S. E. Malov and A. N. Kononov, D. A. Olderogge, N. Ya. Marr and I. A. Orbeli, V. V. Struve, B. B. Piotrovsky and others.

This large scientific event brought together Russian and foreign orientalists from 25 countries. They presented 345 reports, including: from the Middle East-17 reports, the Far East - 7, Africa-1, Germany-3, Switzerland-1, Great Britain-2, France-2, Italy-1, Greece-2, Cyprus-1, Romania-1, Latvia - 2, Poland-1, Ukraine-3,

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Belarus - 1, Armenia - 2, Kazakhstan - 3, Uzbekistan - 8, Azerbaijan - 5, Tajikistan - 1, Turkmenistan - 1.

Among the participants are prominent Russian and Western scientists from various centers of Oriental studies - the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Asian and African Countries (MSU), the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the French State Institute of Oriental Languages and Culture (Paris), the Tashkent State Institute of Oriental Studies, Kazan State University, etc.

Основными задачами конференции явилось исследование и обсуждение широкого спектра вопросов по истории и филологии стран Востока.

The plenary session was attended by reports of the Honorary Dean of the VF SPb.GU akad. M. N. Bogolyubov, Russian Academy of Sciences "Traditions of the Faculty of Oriental Studies: Modern Oriental Studies"; Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Acad. RAS M. L. Titarenko " The role of the School of the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg.GU in the development of domestic Sinology"; Director of the MSU ISAA M. S. Meyer "Oriental Studies in the era of globalization"; acad. V. S. Myasnikov (IB RAS) "New problems of Old Oriental Studies"; Dean of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg.State Institution E. I. Zeleneva "Geocultural space: return to the image of the world".

Breakout sessions were held in accordance with the main scientific directions of the conference: "Source studies and historiography of Arab countries"; "Source studies and historiography of Afghanistan and Iran"; "Readings in memory of D. A. Olderogge"; "Source Studies and Historiography of the Ancient East"; "Source Studies and Historiography of India and Southeast Asia"; "Source Studies and Historiography of the Caucasus"; "Source studies and historiography of China"; "Literature of Asian and African countries and the World literary process"; "Mongolian Studies, Buddhology, Tibetology"; "Source Studies and Historiography of the Ottoman Empire and Republican Turkey"; "Source Studies and Historiography of Central Asia";" Source Studies and Historiography of Japan and Korea";" Languages of Asian Countries - past and present";"School of Young Orientalists - 2009".

For the first time, the section "Mongolian Studies, Buddhology, Tibetology" was singled out as an independent one (head - P. L. Grokhovsky). Over three days, it was attended by about 20 people representing 8 organizations: the Russian State University for the Humanities (RSUH), the Institute of Mongolian Studies, Buddhology and Tibetology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IMBT SB RAS), the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (IV NAS), the Russian Ethnographic Museum (REM), the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences - Kunstkamera (MAE RAS), Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IVR RAS), Institute of Linguistic Research (OR RAS), Saint Petersburg State University (SPb.GU).

The reports and presentations of the section covered a wide range of topics, touched upon the history of the formation of collections and collections of the Asian Museum and the Kunstkamera, the problems of research of monuments of Mongolian and Tibetan writing that were not put into scientific circulation, the periodization of the history of Mongolian literature, the study and existence of poetic genres, and the history of Sino-Mongolian relations in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

S. V. Dmitriev (REM) in his report "On the history of the receipt of one copy of the Tibetan Ganjur and Danjur to the Asian Museum "traced the route of this monument from Lhasa to St. Petersburg. He noted the great role in the history of their appearance in St. Petersburg of the head of the ethnographic department of manuscripts and books in Eastern languages D. A. Klementz, podesaul of the first Don Cossack regiment N. E. Ulanov and regular gelyun (monk-disciple) Kalmyk Dambo Ulyanov. During 1909-1910, Buddhist sacred books were sent to the ethnographic department of the Museum, and in 1923 they were transferred to the Asian Museum under the name "Chinese Encyclopedia".

Dmitry Ivanov, curator of the Collections of Ethnography of Peoples of Foreign Asia (MAE RAS), made a report on unknown objects from the collections of Peter Simon Pallas and on the history of the formation of Buddhist collections of the Kunstkamera. He noted that in the course of studying the collection No. 719, which came to MAE from the Asian Museum in 1837, it was possible to identify about 70 Buddhist figurines, which can be identified as exhibits collected by P. S. Pallas. In his opinion, this allows us to re-evaluate the collection and better understand the history of the formation of the Buddhist collections of the Kunstkamera and the Asian Museum.

E. D. Ogneva (YVES NAS) in her report "Tibetan-language versions of Vajrachchedika in the collections of Ukraine" made a report on the identified four copies representing the handwritten and woodcut traditions of the Diamond Sutra. The first Vajrachchedika manuscript is kept at the Institute of Manuscripts of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kiev in the Fund VIII 561/11. The second one-as part of a collection of six works-is in the collection of the Odessa Municipal Museum of Private Collections

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A. Bleshchunova. The third copy, which is a ceremonial Mongolian manuscript from the Gandan Monastery, is kept in a private collection in Kiev. The fourth, a Chinese woodcut edition, is also kept in a private collection in Lutsk. As the author notes, these copies of the" Diamond Sutra " are a reliable basis for its textual research, since the woodcut and handwritten texts represent different traditions of the creation and existence of the sutra.

A. V. Popov (VF SPb.GU) in his report "The order of division of Mongolian lands in the Qing legislation of the XVIII-IX centuries" drew attention to the fact that the legislation introduced by the Qing Empire in Mongolia of the XVIII-XIX centuries, defining the order of distribution and division of lands inhabited by Mongols, was an indispensable legal basis for administrative, judicial and fiscal order, the establishment of which was the main goal policies of the Qing Empire authorities in Mongolia.

B. Darima, post-graduate student of VF SPb.GU, dedicated her message to a Mongolian fairy tale. She noted that the problem of the existence of fairy tales is related to questions of their genesis, methods of transmission, variability, storytelling skills, poetic culture and genre features. After describing each of these aspects in detail, she concluded that fairy tales functioned in the context of certain life situations, were part of traditional life and an obligatory element of ritual.

I. V. Kulganek (IVR RAS) in her report "Changing the role of the word in Mongolian poetic folklore (early period)" paid attention to the issue of the status of the word at different stages of the development of Mongolian poetic creativity. She noted that the first stage in the history of poetics was characterized by a pronounced sacred role of the word and the absence of tropes. The artistry of ancient folklore works was achieved through the use of phonetic-compositional techniques and manifested itself at the level of architectonics. According to the author, the development of the figurative system of Mongolian poetic folklore went from mnemonic techniques to metaphorization.

Report of M. P. Petrova (VF SPb.GU) "Postmodern poetry of B. Galsansukh" was devoted to the peculiarities of the poetic work of this Mongolian author. A specific feature of B. Galsansukh's poetry is that he, ignoring the language norm, sought to create his own poetic language.

L. G. Skorodumova (RSUH) in her report "On the issue of periodization of the history of Mongolian literature" reviewed the well-known periodizations in Mongolian studies proposed by Russian scientists B. Ya. Vladimirtsov, G. I. Mikhailov, and Mongolian researchers B. Sodnom, G. Galbayar, and H. Sampildendev. In the author's opinion, it is advisable to highlight the XX century in the literature. two stages: literature of the new (1921 - 1980) and modern (from the 80s of the XX century to the present day) time.

The report of Y. D. Badmaeva (IMBT SB RAS) " The category of compatibility in medieval Mongolian monuments "was devoted to the peculiarities of the use of the forms of the joint and connective cases in the language of the"Hidden Legend". In this monument, the joint case mainly serves as an attribute, as a result of which nouns are adjectivized and become adjectives. The connective case in the" Hidden Legend " indicates the person or object with which the action was performed.

P. L. Grokhovsky (VF SPb.GU) made a presentation on "Madhyavyutpatti as a source for studying the history of the Tibetan language", in which he noted the important role of the Sanskrit-Tibetan dictionary "Mahavyutpatti" and its commentary - "Madhyavyutpatti" in the implementation of language reforms in Tibet. Madhyavutpatti consists of a colophon and two sections, which, according to the speaker, are important for studying the history of the formation of the lexical composition of the classical Tibetan language in the process of translating the Buddhist canon from Sanskrit.

P. O. Rykin (OR RAS) in his report "On the history of studying the Mongolian text of the Tyr Arrow (Stele) of 1413" spoke about the study of the monument of medieval Far Eastern epigraphy by Russian and foreign researchers. He noted that the study of the text of the Tyr Arrow in comparison with other Mongolian epigraphic monuments of the Middle Ages is still relevant.

N. S. Yakhontova (IVR RAS) in her report "Peculiarities of translation of Sanskrit composites into Tibetan and Mongolian" reported that taking into account the structural features of the original Sanskrit words can be useful when translating them from Tibetan and Mongolian. Translation into Tibetan was carried out in two ways - literal and semantic. As a result, the speaker noted, two expressions are sometimes recorded in parallel in Tibetan (and later in Mongolian), which are perceived as independent, but are actually a translation of one Sanskrit composite.

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Students of the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg State University took an active part in the work of the section. Thus, A. A. Sizova, a 5th-year student, in the report "Lamrim Gampopa in the Mongolian literary tradition" considered the work of the lamrim genre of the teacher of Tibetan Buddhism Gampopa "Precious decoration of Liberation". She noted that during the textual analysis of the manuscript of the abridged Lamrim Gampopa into Mongolian with the Tibetan original, it was found that the structure of presentation constructed by Gampopa was not always observed. The author concluded that the abridged version was intended for practical purposes, namely, to give the reader a brief idea of the picture of the Buddhist path.

N. V. Yampolskaya, a 6th-year student, made a report on the Mongolian-language didactic works stored in the manuscript collection of the Library of the Higher School of Economics of St. Petersburg State University. She identified 53 didactic essays and divided them into two thematic groups. After analyzing the artistic features of the text, she noticed that most of the works have a mixed theme - both secular and spiritual. A number of texts are instructions of Buddhist content.

O. V. Shalimova, Master of the Higher School of Economics, Saint Petersburg.GU, in the report "On the structure of complex determinative sentences in the modern Mongolian language" introduced the concepts of "definable name" and"determinative participial construction".

6-year student A. A. Turanskaya read the report " Mongolian collection of sadhanas of five dharmapalas (from the collection of the manuscript collection of the Library of the Eastern Faculty of St. Petersburg State University)". Describing the concept of sadhanas as ritual texts of a consolidated nature, she drew attention to the analysis of the woodcut Mongolian-language collection of sadhanas of the five dharmapalas. Sadhanas, she noted, included in the collection, are written within the strict limits of the established canon and constructed from ready-made compositional and stylistic cliches.

A 5th-year student, M. O. Smirnova, in her report "The Precious Wreath of Good Sayings" - a commentary on the Tibetan grammatical treatise" Sumchupa", reported that the basis of the Tibetan grammatical tradition is" Sumchupa" and "Tagkichugpa". "The precious wreath of good sayings" is one of the first commentaries on them, introduced into scientific circulation in the West. Explanations are inserted directly into the text of the commented essay, so that its structure generally repeats the structure of "Sumchupa" and "Tagkichzhugpa".

The reports presented at the section were met with interest and became the subject of discussion, and were actively supplemented by the conference participants. Most of the reports showed considerable research work of their authors and a comprehensive approach to many issues; the reports of young scientists were distinguished by a high theoretical and practical level. The section highlighted a number of topical scientific problems, broadened the horizons of young researchers, introduced them to modern issues of studying Mongolian studies and Tibetology, contributed to the emergence of new ideas and the establishment of new opportunities for cooperation.

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