Prof. Dr. Ulrike Roesler: Language Use in Indo-Tibetan Encounters: Glimpses from Tibetan Travelogues

26 June 2018

Indians and Tibetans have a long history of travel between the Tibetan plateau and the Buddhist sites of India, and of joint projects of translating Buddhist literature into Tibetan. While we have fairly good records of the scholarly aspects of these encounters, such as the standard terminology used in Sanskrit-Tibetan translations, we know less about the pragmatic aspects of these encounters and collaborations. One of the open and tantalising questions in this respect is: How did Indian paṇḍitas and Tibetan lo tsā bas actually communicate with each other? What language(s) would they have used? This talk will explore the issue of language use between Indians and Tibetans by having a look at Tibetan biographies and travel accounts. These sources contain snippets of actual conversations and thus help us to gain a better idea of how everyday communication might have worked.

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June 27th, 2018 - 16.00h
Universität Hamburg,
Von-Melle-Park 9, Raum S08 (geändert)
Free Entrance.