In memoriam: Theodore Duka, 1825-1908. : A lecture read before the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, October 27, 1913 / by M. Aurel Stein.

  • Aurel Stein
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: In memoriam: Theodore Duka, 1825-1908. : A lecture read before the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, October 27, 1913 / by M. Aurel Stein. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    Bactria two years after the meeting with Csoma. Moor- croft has not enjoyed the good fortune of finding as yet a biographer so devoted as Duka ; and tempting as the subject of his career is, it cannot be pursued here further. It must suffice for us to know that it was Moorcroft’s intuitive perception of Csoma’s special gifts and peculiar mentality to which we mainly owe that the wandering scholar, who previously had been content to pass through some of the most fascinating and then practically unexplored parts of Central Asia without adding anything to our know- ledge of their people, geography, or archaeology, at length settled down to the work which will for ever keep his name renowned in the history of Oriental researches. By a solemn agreement Csoma bound himself to Moor- croft to remain in Western Tibet and to pursue his Tibetan Studies already commenced in Kashmir ‘ until he shall have become master of the language of that country and be com- pletely acquainted with the subjects its literature contains’. On his side Moorcroft provided the requisite funds and indispensable help with the local authorities of Ladakh, and morally pledged his own Government to support Csomas labours thereafter. That Moorcroft had never, received or asked his Government’s authority for making this engagement is a minor yet significant fact. It only proves once more that the true pioneer, after he has succeeded in getting his own proposals accepted and turned into ‘ instructions ’ from his Government, must exceed them wherever he sees the chance of serving the real interests of his mission. It is Duka’s merit to have shown us in full clearness how loyally the covenant thus entered through Moorcroft between Csoma and the Indian Government was kept on both sides. It is needless to repeat here the story how Csoma, after leaving his patron Moorcroft, whom he was never to see again, proceeded to Ladakh ; then, having secured a qualified teacher, settled down in a monastery of Zanskar; and there, sharing the hard life of poor monks, by the uninterrupted exertions of sixteen months laid the foundations of his mastery of Tibetan language and literature. When, after this trying time of initiation.
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