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Margarita Iosifovna Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya (Russian: Маргари́та Ио́сифовна Воробьёва-Деся́товская; 28 January 1933 – 13 June 2021) was a Russian Orientalist best known for her research on Central Asian manuscripts in the Sanskrit, Khotanese and Scythian languages. She retired as Curator of Central Asian manuscripts at the Institute of Oriental Studies, Saint Petersburg.

Life and death

Margarita was born in Leningrad in 1933. She took her Indologist husband, Vladimir Vorobyov-Desyatovsky's last name upon marriage.

In 1950, Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya began studies at the Indian department of the Oriental School of the Leningrad State University, transferring to the Leningrad branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Oriental Studies. She obtained her candidate of science degree in 1966 with a dissertation on Tibetan grammar. She worked as a senior researcher in the Tibetan division of the school, later joining the South and Southeast Asian division. From 1982 to 2005, she headed its department of manuscripts. The institute celebrated her jubilee in 2013. She retired in 2014.

Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya died on 13 June 2021 at the age of 88.

Academics

Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya focussed on Buddhist manuscripts as well as documents in Sanskrit, Khotanese and Scythian languages from East Turkestan, which were brought to Russia by 19th century expeditioners such as Sergey Oldenburg, Mikhail Mikhailovich Berezovsky and Pyotr Kozlov. Manuscripts were also obtained from Khara-Khoto and Dunhuang. These formed the basis for the large collection of Central Asian manuscripts in the Institute of Oriental Studies.

Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya published inscriptions from the Kara Tepe Buddhist monastery near Termez, as well as Mahayana texts from Turfan. She also published the Bairam-Ali manuscripts from the Merv oasis, a collection of Jataka-type tales in the Brahmi script dated to between the 2nd and 5th centuries AD.

Selected works

Monographs

• The Kasyapaparivarta. Romanized Text and Facsimiles. Tokyo: Soka University. 2002.
• The Hindu Pantheon: An Introduction, Illustrated with 19th Century Indian Miniatures from the St. Petersburg Collection. Garnet. 1994. ISBN 978-1873938478.
• История Бхадры. Moscow: Nauka. 1956.

Articles

• "The prospects of the Lotus Sutra's study in context of the history of Buddhist philosophical thought". Proceedings of the 37th International Congress of Orientalists. 2004.
• "Становление индологии в России". История отечественного востоковедения (до середины 19 века). Moscow: Nauka. 1990.
• Y.A. Petrosyan, ed. (1988). "Рукописи в культуре Индии". Рукописи в культуре народов Востока. Moscow: Nauka.

References

1. I.F. Popov (28 January 2013). "Юбилей М.И.Воробьевой-Десятовской". Institute of Oriental Studies. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
2. "Скончалась М.И.Воробьева-Десятовская" (in Russian). Institute of Oriental Studies. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
3. A.H. Dani; B.A. Litvinsky (1996). "The Kushano-Sasanian kingdom". In Ahmad Hasan Dani; B. A. Litvinsky (eds.). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: The crossroads of civilizations, A.D. 250 to 750. UNESCO. p. 118. ISBN 978-92-3-103211-0.
4. Tansen Sen, ed. (2014). Buddhism Across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange. Vol. 1. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. p. 149. ISBN 978-981-4519-32-8.
5. Timothy Lenz; Andrew Glass; Dharmamitra (Bhikshu.) (2003). A New Version of the Gāndhārī Dharmapada and a Collection of Previous-birth Stories: British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments 16 + 25. University of Washington. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-295-98308-0.

External links

• M. Vorobyova-Desyatovskaya at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts

• Academic staff of Saint Petersburg State University
• 1933 births
• 2021 deaths
• 20th-century Russian historians
• 21st-century Russian historians
• Russian women historians
• Saint Petersburg State University alumni
• Soviet orientalists
• Russian orientalists