Palladius (Kafarov)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Pyotr Ivanovich Kafarov (Russian: Пётр Ива́нович Кафа́ров, pre-reform Петръ Ива́новичъ Кафа́ровъ), also known by his monastic name Palladius (Pre-reform Russian: Палла́дій; Modern Russian: Палла́дий; 29 September 1817, Chistopol – 18 December 1878, Marseille), was an early Russian sinologist.

Biography

Kafarov was born in the family of an

Mission
in China.

Like his teacher

The Secret History of the Mongols
.

During his scholarly career, Kafarov's works focused on Chinese linguistics, history, geography, and religion. Kafarov notably translated many Buddhist scriptures from Chinese, Mongolian, and Tibetan. Kafarov also studied the history of Christianity in imperial China and helped pioneer the study of Chinese Islam.[1]

For more than three decades, Archimandrite Palladius headed the Russian Orthodox mission in China[2] and held ethnographic and linguistic research there.

Kafarov designed a

Palladius system
. This system has remained the basis for official transcription of Chinese personal and geographical names in Russia ever since.

The Chinese-Russian Dictionary composed by Archimandrite Palladius remains a well-known work even today.

Works

See also

References

  1. .
  2. ^ "Путешественник - Архимандрит Палладий Кафаров", Russian "СМ номер один" Magazine, September 2005, in Russian