Sir Aurel Stein

Sham S. Misri

Sir Marc Aurel Stein was the great Hungarian scholar. He translated the Rajatarangini which was written by  Kalhan, 12th century Kashmiri Brahmin, regarded as Kashmir's greatest historian . Sir Aurel Stein was a "great pilgrim, a  great scholar and a great adventurer and a visionary who explored Central Asia. He  was a European scholar. He showed his great aptitude and took lot of pains to translate the most famous book on the history of Kashmir the Rajatarangini  at a time when everybody in Europe was thrilled by the discovery of Sanskrit: Stein represented the European consciousness.  When he arrived in India, his "great master" Prof. Buhler, had already explored and catalogued "the Sanskrit manuscript wealth of India". Coming from Hellenic tradition, Stein, who was in search of the track of Alexander the Great, was fascinated in particular by one manuscript in which Buhler had motivated his interest - the Rajatarangini. This great book of Rajatarangini  was an important text from many points of view. It helped people understand, how just before Islam secured a strong foothold in the north, things were shaping in India. It (the Rajatarangini) projected the Indian, and the Hindu, point view. "It is a traffic which has never been really studied in depth. The Hindu Shahi (of Afghanistan) had very close connections with Kashmir. The languages of Kashmir happen to share very richly with the languages of Kafiristan and other parts of north and united India." But even as Stein was investigating the Rajatarangini, his mind was set on the track of Alexander. As the Afghans did not encourage him, and with Dr. Buhler provoking him to study Rajatarangini, Stein came into contact with a Sanskrit Pundit to help him, he undertook the entire work of editing and translating and interpreting the Rajatarangini -- his edition of the work ultimately appearing in 1900." Ever since, it is the only or the main edition of the Rajatarangini. The Sharda text of Kalhana's chronicle "has been preserved somewhere, and understood clearly. It is believed that the book Rajatarangini was written sometime during the 10th-11th century based on the kings and kingdoms mentioned in it, all of whom are known to have existed prior to this date.

Apart from the Rajatarangini, Stein's greatest contribution is in "unraveling the sands of Central Asia", and his first expedition to Khotan was a "tremendous revelation.” He brought for the first time to the Western world the idea that we need not only to look at Kashmir for the earliest catch but to Central Asia, The earliest Indian manuscripts, were from Central Asia, all predating the Japanese manuscripts. Some rare manuscripts  were also found from this very region, belonging to even earlier then the 2nd century B.C.

         The accidental discovery of a Sanskrit manuscript in Kucha by Lt. Col. Bower is another story. Lt. Colonel Bower had gone to find out the criminal who had assassinated a British army official. He was accompanied by some other officials. While they were trying to locate the criminal, they located an ancient temple. There was a cow standing there and just as they opened the door, the cow crumbled to dust and from the stomach of this cow came out the Sanskrit manuscript which was later known as the Bower manuscript. It was the first proof to the fact that Sanskrit manuscripts are very ancient and these could exist in Central Asia. This was one of the major inspirations for Sir Aurel Stein to reach Central Asia and find out these. So, Sir Aurel Stein extended the history of Sanskrit and the cultural interflow of the ancient world. Sir Aurel Stein's "major achievement", is discovery of manuscript of Tun-Huang. "These manuscripts are being studied  very carefully. They give an insight into the evolution of the Chinese political strategies in Central Asia".