Русские индологи и их польские коллеги: первая половина XX века

This articles covers certain aspects of academic contacts between Russian and Polish indologists. It also traces some similarities in the development of the academic Indology in the two countries. Both indological schools had deep roots and benefited from the contacts with other European indological traditions, namely, British, German and French. Russian indologist Gerasim Lebedev made an interesting attempt to study Tamil and Bengali language directly from his Indian teachers. In the 19th century Russian Academy sponsored the publishing of Sanskrit-German Dictionaries that became known worldwide as the St. Petersburg Dictionaries. Later on Professors Minaev, Oldenburg and Sherbatsky in St. Petersburg continued research on India and pioneered teaching of Indology in Russia as an academic discipline. Russian-Polish contacts are discussed mostly in connection with the leading personality of Fiodor Ippolitovich Sherbatsky (Sherbatskoy), who was born in Poland but spent most of his life in St. Petersburg (Leningrad). Russian and Polish indologists shared their interest to early Buddhism. Such personalities as Professor Sherbatsky , Professor Gawroński, Professor Schayer contributed a great deal to the development of indological studies in Europe.