Tucci Giuseppe

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Biografie:
geboren in Macerata (Italien)
gestorben in San Polo dei Cavalieri (Italien)

GIUSEPPE TUCCI (1894-1984)
ONLY TWO MONTHS short of his ninetieth birthday on 5 April 1984 Giuseppe Tucci died in S. Polo dei Cavalieri, a village near Rome, where he had settled some years ago with his wife Francesca.
One month earlier I had the chance of visiting him in the com­pany of a common friend Ambassador Felice Benuzzi and I found him confined to bed, but as bright as ever, his mind always devoted to new ideas on scientific research, the way you would expect a mature young man to think. We recalled our meetings in various parts of Asia and he remembered with enthusiasm the nomadic life spent on Tibetan caravan tracks . I do not remember exactly when we first met in that area of the world, but I think It was in India in 1952 while he had to wait a long time for an entry visa to Nepal, in spite of assurances given in Rome before his departure. At that time I was making preliminary plans for a Himalayan expedition.
In Asia we met again several times. I remember Tucci in Kabul in 1960 recovering from a car accident and again in Kabul in 1981, then in Teheran in 1962 and 1973 when he suffered from a heart ailment. I mention these incidents to put in evidence how he never spared himself even at the risk of losing his health, when work was at stake.
In spite of his high age he was always alert, active and enthusi­astic of his scientific research. He was gifted with a prompt and sure memory and before ailing he was physically very fit.
Born on 5 June, 1894 in Macerata, he moved to Rome to the Uni­versity. He took Ms degree in Literature only in 1919 because his studies had been interrupted by conscription to the Army during World War I, Between 1925 and 1930 he gave lessons in Italian, Chinese and Tibetan at the Universities of Shantiniketan and Calcutta. At Rome University he taught Indian and Far Eastern Religions and Philosophy first as a Joint Professor and from 1930 onwards as Regular Professor.
In 1929 at the age of 35 years he was elected member of the Royal Academy of Italy.
In 1933 he founded the Institute per il Medio e Estremo Oriente' (ISMEO) in Rome, of which he was to be President from 1947 to 1978, at which time he was appointed Honorary President.
This is the sheer listing of his teaching carrier to which he devoted many years of his life. But it should be pointed out that this activity was almost a side-line to the intensive scientific work he carried out throughout his life travelling extensively along the caravan tracks of the most remote areas of Central Asia.
In 1956 while addressing members of the 'Camping Club* in Rome, Tucci stated: 'It is true that I was prompted by science to tread the arduous and tiresome paths of Asia, but doubtless this urge went side by side with an inborn will to evade, an instinc­tive love of freedom and space, an inclination to let loose imagi­nation and dream. This can only be done far away from human conglomeration when one is alone between earth and sky, here today, somewhere else tomorrow, in an ever changing landscape, among people new to me but deeply rooted in that ancient land. There, even the individual of today is an unconscious creation of a millenarian tradition and the vestiges of the past will tell those who dare to interrogate them of dramatic vicissitudes of the past, of vanished dreams and of eternal hopes.'
In such a mood Tucci began his travels in 1929 while teaching at Calcutta University. He first went towards Ladakh or Indian Tibet, as the area was then called, and there he came in touch with the Tibetan world for the first time. I have not been able to retrace exactly his early itineraries, but it can be easily assumed that they were rather similar to those he followed later, i.e. the traditional path leading from Srinagar to Dras across the Zoji la, on to Kargil towards the Indus at Kalatze and from there to Leh.
Tucci went back there in 1930 and 1931. During the latter year he covered 1600 km leaving Srinagar for Leh on the usual route and then on to Rupshu, Lahul, Saraj as far as the Sutlej valley in Bashar State. From there he proceeded to Kinnaur as far as Gartok (4500 m), capital of western Tibet, from there back to Simla on a 4 months' journey.
'Life with a caravan'—he wrote—'exerts a great fascination on me: it represents a chapter of quietness in the confused restless­ness ruling nowadays in the Western World.' He further stated: 'When travelling with a caravan you don't miss a single detail: each gorge of a mountain, each green spot, each bend of the toil­some track are deeply and clearly impressed in your mind. Every­body in the caravan is your mate, you are together from morning to night in a friendship and brotherhood that is always born out of shared risks and discomfort.'
Tucci certainly did not have an easy life: he recalls that while crossing the Maricianfule Gorge he became ill at 4800 m alti­tude and had to stop and wait to overcome his troubles.
In 1930 he led his first expedition to Nepal and a second one followed in 1931 immediately after the one to Western Tibet. He reached Kathmandu crossing the Sisagari and Kandragiri passes. The aim of his researches in that area was in particular the pre-Buddhist Bonpo religion about which he had already collected extremely interesting manuscripts during his previous trip to western Tibet. He also gathered information on local literature, inscriptions and archaeological findings.
Tucci's next expedition to Western Tibet in 1933 was even more demanding. Accompanied by Capt Eugenio Ghersi of the Medical Corps he entered Tibet on the Spiti track and the Chandra valley he had already covered in 1931 starting from Sultanpur. 'This is by far the worst way to approach Tibet'—he says—'because a caravan faces great difficulties all the time and it risks to be swept away by landslides and avalanches. But it offers the enormous advantage of travelling through Spiti, once part of the State of Gughe that still conceals most important pieces of ancient times of glory.' From Spiti he proceeded east eventually reaching Tashigang after having interrupted the long march by frequent visits to the numerous monasteries. Crossing the Shirang and Karum passes (over 4600 m) he reached Jantang and later Shang-tse. Marching all the time above 4000 m he finally negotiated the Laoche la (5250 m) reaching Gartok.
On his way back Tucci turned towards the west crossing Bogo la at 5900 m to reach Dongru and then, having crossed the river Sutlej, he touched Tsaparang, Puling and Kapra. Near Tinzan he crossed the Sutlej again and followed the track he had used on the first lap of his journey near Nu, following it as far as beyond Shipki. There he left it in order to reach Simla,
In 1935 from May to October Tucci undertook his sixth expedi­tion to Western Tibet. Starting point was the little Indian town­ship Almora. From there he proceeded to Taklakot and on to the famous Manasarovar lake at 4542 m arriving there on 9 July. He then went to Barkha passing at the foot of the sacred mountain Kailash (6414 m). He then proceeded to Darchin, Dongbo and Mangnang reaching Gartok on 1 September. Of course all along the way he stopped to visit each village, each monastery, each ruin taking records of anything interesting from a point of view of re­ligion, history and art.
From Gartok he followed the same itinerary used in 1933 re­turning to India through the Taglaung pass reaching Leh, for the fourth time on 3 October.
In 1939 Tucci left for Tibet on his seventh expedition pursuing the aim of studying the monuments of central Tibet. He wished to find out if temples and chapels of the early period of Buddhist expansion existed and if so whether they harboured documents of artistic value, particularly paintings. This time he set off from Gangtok in Sikkim, followed upwards the valley of the river Tista and, crossing the Kongra la, he reached Kampa Dzong (4350 m). From there he crossed several very high passes to reach Sakya, the ancient capital of Tibet at the time of the Mongolian dynasty. Then on to Latze Dzong on the river Tsangpo which he followed downstream for a short distance as far as Tashigang. He then proceeded on the usual caravan track towards east which led him to Shigatse. There, he took a long break studying the rich collections of the historical monastery Tashilhumpo. On his way back to India he crossed Gyantse and across Ta la (4590 m) reached Phari Dzong and from there over Natu la (4300 m) he made his way back to Gangtok.
During the Second World War Tucci's explorative action came to a standstill. Only in 1948 was he able to organise a new expedi­tion to central Tibet. He called the Navy Medical Officer Regolo Moise, Pietro Mele and Fosco Maraini to join him. Between April and October they covered about 2300 km by foot or on horseback setting off from Darjeeling to proceed to Gangtok and crossing the Natu la they reached Yatung. At first only Tucci was granted permission to proceed to Lhasa. He used the track to Gyantse he knew since 1939 in the opposite direction, then turned east towards the capital crossing the Karo la (5045 m) and the Yandrok lake.
After visiting all the sacred sites of Lhasa, Tucci hired three boats to navigate the river Tsangpo at over 3000 m, thus reaching the Samye monastery and other famous places, among them Chongyen, where he discovered the tombs of the Tibetan kings and managed to establish their chronology by interpreting ancient inscriptions. The discovery of two ancient Sanskrit manuscripts at Konkarzon was one of the highlights of this expedition.
On his way back, instead of using as previously the 'Wool Route', Tucci went to Shigatze, where he had already been and then pro­ceeded south via Kampa Dzong and the Sebu la, to arrive at Gangtok.
With the 1948 expedition Tucci put an end to his journeys to Tibet and returned to Nepal in order to finalise his research work there. He organised two expeditions (the 4th and the 5th) in 1952 and 1954. Both trips took off from Kathmandu, and on both occa­sions Tucci and his friends went to Pokhara via Nawakot and Gorkha. He travelled from October to December 1952 in the company of the Navy Medical Officer Concetto Guttuso and Miss Francesca Bonardi, a photographer, who from then on took part in all his expeditions.
In Pokhara Tucci joined a caravan to Ulleri and then proceed­ing north along a narrow valley deeply dug in between the Dhau-lagiri and Annapurna ranges, then passing through Dana, Tukuche and Mustang, thus getting close to the Tibetan border.
The strenuous itinerary had been used throughout the centuries by pilgrims and apostles. Therefore, it offered bountiful religious, historical and artistic highlights including decorated grottos like in Ranchum, monasteries and ruins of old Tibetan times like in Ghiling, Charang and Mustang.
Back in Dana, Tucci left the path he had already covered and proceeded south to Tansing and then to Bethari and Rummindei. From Tansing he turned north directly to Pokhara, where he took a plane back to Kathmandu.
In 1954 Tucci flew again to Pokhara and followed the previous itinerary as far as Syang, He then turned east for a long track through Jumla and Surkhet crossing again the Indian border to­wards Nishangara.
During all these expeditions Tucci was able to collect an enor­mous amount of data, information and documents on religious life and ancient history of local populations. To a great extent they are direct descendants of the Tibetan communities, but others are aboriginals and Indians as for example the ancient dynasty of the Malla (XIHth century) originating from west Nepal.
The following year (1955) Tucci made a preliminary visit to the Swat valley (Pakistan) where my 1954 expedition had dis­covered and offered to Tucci some Buddhistic high-reliefs of stone. In Swat, Tucci started in 1954 a number of archaeological excavations that continued throughout the years, ‘following the ideal route of three civilizations meeting in this area of ancient splendour: here Alexander waged war and Buddha preached and finally Islam dominated’. After the 1955 journey carried out with vehicles, Tucci was compelled very much against his will, to give up his arduous explorative programmes because of the unsettled political situation. 'As a consequence'—he wrote—'we have to go back in time, bring the dead to life. There is nothing more to explore on earth; I have closed my explorations with Tibet and Nepal; there, too, things are changing. Now, as the East absorbs our poison, all we can do is to plunge into the past and as we are dealing with shadows and images the soul remains in peace. All the rest is irrelevant.'
After this withdrawal, Tucci started new excavations in Afgha­nistan and Iran. Later he left them to his worthy assistants edu­cated at his school.
I treasure an unforgettable memory of this deeply knowledge­able and rather strange personality, whom I have had the chance of meeting in important cities of the East. Remains with us the legacy of his numerous works full of information and erudition mainly in the field of ancient religions inj Asia, on the origin and the social structure of its populations of whom we know so little and of territories that even today are not fully explored. We owe him gratitude for having created and furthered ISMEO, but even more so for having, in great modesty, achieved a preemi­nence among those who have honoured Science and Italy.1)
1) I am grateful to Mrs Francesca Tucci Bonardi who revised the content of my1 Italian manuscript and to Mrs Stefania Benuzzi who kindly offered to carry out the translation of it in English.
Ardito Desio
Quelle: Himalaya Journal 1985,Volume 41, Seite 219 ff

Geboren am:
05.06.1894
Gestorben am:
05.04.1984