Boris Ivanovich Pankratov (Борис Иванович Панкратов; 1892–1979) was a Soviet Sinologist and Mongolist.

Academic career

Pankratov was a graduate of the Oriental Institute in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

. In 1919, he went to

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers w ...

, China on the pretext of language practise before moving to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in 1921 to take up a job with the local branch of the

Russian Telegraph Agency Russian Telegraph Agency (, ROSTA) was the state news agency in Soviet Russia between 1918 and 1935. It was the central information organ of the Soviet Union. After the creation of Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union in 1925, it remained the ne ...

. In 1923, he took up a position as an interpreter of

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

Mongolian Mongolian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Mongolia, a country in Asia * Mongolian people, or Mongols * Bogd Khanate of Mongolia, the government of Mongolia, 1911–1919 and 1921–1924 * Mongolian language * Mongolian alphabet * ...

, and

Tibetan Tibetan may mean: * of, from, or related to Tibet * Tibetan people, an ethnic group * Tibetan language: ** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard ** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...

at the Soviet Embassy under

Lev Karakhan Lev Mikhailovich Karakhan (''Karakhanian'', , ; 20 January 1889 – 20 September 1937) was a Russian revolutionary and a Soviet diplomat. A member of the RSDLP from 1904. At first a Menshevik, he joined the Bolsheviks in May 1917. In Octobe ...

, serving until his return to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

1935. The following year, he became one of the first scholars of the Manchu section of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, under A. V. Grebenshchikov. From 1942 to 1948, he again served his government in China, in the

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

and Tihua ( Urumqi) areas. Aside from his pure linguistic interests, Pankratov was interested in the history of Russian Sinology, especially the lives of

Nikita Bichurin Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin (; – ), better known under his archimandrite monastic name Hyacinth, sometimes known as Joacinth or Iakinf, was one of the founding fathers of Russian Sinology. He translated many works from Chinese into Russian, w ...

and

Vasily Vasilyev Vasily Pavlovich Vasilyev or Wassiljew (Василий Павлович Васильев; 1818-1900) was the preeminent Russian Sinologist of the 19th Century. Vasiliev was born in Nizhny Novgorod and entered the Oriental department of the Kazan ...

. He was also respected for his knowledge of

Buddhist art Buddhist art is visual art produced in the context of Buddhism. It includes Buddha in art, depictions of Gautama Buddha and other Buddhas and bodhisattvas in art, Buddhas and bodhisattvas, notable Buddhist figures both historical and mythical, ...

and

Buddhist philosophy Buddhist philosophy is the ancient Indian Indian philosophy, philosophical system that developed within the religio-philosophical tradition of Buddhism. It comprises all the Philosophy, philosophical investigations and Buddhist logico-episte ...

. Following his death, he left his personal library to the IOS, including a number of rare 17th-century Manchu manuscripts.

Suspected political activities

Pankratov was reportedly quite secretive about his exact activities while living in China, leading to speculation that he was involved in espionage. Various people who knew Pankratov in the 1970s tell a story that he once visited

Kumbum Monastery Kumbum Monastery (, THL Simplified Phonetic Transcription, THL ''Kumbum Jampa Ling''), also called Ta'er Temple, is a Tibetan gompa in Huangzhong County, Lusar, Xining, Qinghai, China. It was founded in 1583 in a narrow valley close to the vil ...

dressed in a monk's robe, carrying a

revolver A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...

underneath. V. M. Alekseyev claimed that once, when he and Pankratov were eating breakfast at

Alexander von Staël-Holstein Alexander Wilhelm Freiherr Staël von Holstein (, 1 January 1877 in Testama manor, Livonia, Russian Empire16 March 1937 in Beiping, China) was a Baltic German aristocrat, Russian and Estonian orientalist, sinologist, and Sanskritologist spe ...

's house, Pankratov identified himself as serving in the

State Political Directorate The State Political Directorate (), abbreviated as GPU (), was the secret police of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from February 1922 to November 1923. It was the immediate successor of the Cheka, and was replaced by the Joint ...

. One later scholar suggests he may have played some role in

Nicholas Roerich Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh (), better known as Nicholas Roerich (; October 9, 1874 – December 13, 1947), was a Russian painter, writer, archaeologist, theosophist, philosopher, and public figure. In his youth he was influenced by Russ ...

's schemes to increase Soviet influence in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

, perhaps as a liaison with the

Panchen Lama The Panchen Lama () is a tulku of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Panchen Lama is one of the most important figures in the Gelug tradition, with its spiritual authority second only to the Dalai Lama. Along with the council of high la ...

. His former student, Yuri L'vovich Krol', even confirms that Pankratov met with Roerich.

Selected works

*. A translation and study of

The Secret History of the Mongols The ''Secret History of the Mongols'' is the oldest surviving literary work in the Mongolic languages. Written for the Borjigin, Mongol royal family some time after the death of Genghis Khan in 1227, it recounts his life and conquests, and parti ...

Notes

Sources

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pankratov, Boris 1892 births 1979 deaths Linguists from the Soviet Union Russian sinologists Mongolists Manchurologists Far Eastern Federal University alumni