Vassilkov Yaroslav Vladimirovich
12 December 1943, Polyarny, Murmansk Oblast
Biography, education, career:
In 1946 Yaroslav Vassilkov’s family left Polyarny and returned to Leningrad. In 1967 he graduated from the Department of Indian Philology of the Faculty of Oriental Studies, Leningrad State University. He studied under V.G. Erman, T.E. Katenina, and N.V. Gurov. Vassilkov defended both his dissertations at the Faculty of Oriental Studies: in 1973 he defended his Candidate’s Dissertation, titled Some Problems of Comparative Studies in Mahabharata; and in 2003 – his Doctoral Dissertation, titled The Mahabharata, Epic of Ancient India: A Historical and Typological Study. In 1967 – 2005 he successively occupied the positions of research assistant, junior research fellow, senior research fellow, leading research fellow and Head of the South and South East Asia Department (1993-2005) of the Leningrad Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, USSR AS / Saint-Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, RAS. Since 2005 he is a Senior Research Fellow at Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), RAS. Vassilkov lectured at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of LSU / SPSU, Higher School of Religion and Philosophy, Saint-Petersburg Oriental Institute, and European University in Saint-Petersburg. In 2007-2010 he occupied the position of Professor at the Department of Philosophy and Culture of the East, Institute of Philosophy, SPSU.
Areas of expertise: History and ethnography of the peoples of India; Folklore studies; the Indian epic; comparative epic studies; Indian folklore and ethnography; Indian, Indo-European and comparative mythology; Historiography, Source studies and Methodology of Ethnography (Oriental studies, ethnography)
Major scientific achievements:
Translation and multi-year versatile research of the great Indian Epic Mahabharata; study of Russian-Indian cultural relations from the Bronze Age to the present day; research papers in the field of comparative mythology; publication of previously unknown documents related to the work of the first Russian Indologist G.S. Lebedev.
Awards and titles:
Yaroslav Vassilkov received a Certificate of Merit of the Governor of Saint-Petersburg “for his long, dedicated service, his significant contribution in the preservation of the cultural heritage of Saint-Petersburg, and on the occasion of the 295th Anniversary of the MAE RAS” (2009 г.); he is the winner of the ‘Best Scientific Monograph of 2010’ nomination of the MAE RAS (2011 г.); he received an official message of thanks from the Committee on External Relations of Saint-Petersburg “for his contribution to the development of international cooperation of Saint-Petersburg, and on the occasion of the 90th Anniversary of the All-Union Society for Cultural Relations”.
Membership in scientific organizations and unions:
International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Studies; International Association of Sanskrit Studies (Member of the Board, Regional director for Eastern Europe in 2003–2015); International Association for Comparative Mythology (Harvard University).
Major publications:
• Махабхарата / Издания подготовили Я.В. Васильков и С.Л. Невелева. Кн. 3, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15–18. М.: «Наука», «Ладомир»; СПб: «Наука» («Литературные памятники»), 1987 – 2006 (кн. 14 и 15-18 переизданы в 2016 г.); [The Mahabharata / Vassilkov, Y.V., Neveleva S.L. (Eds.). Books 3, 8, 10, 11, 14, 15-18. Moscow: Nauka, Ladomir; Saint-Petersburg: Nauka (Literaturnye pamyatniki), 1987-2006 (Books 14, 15-18 rev. ed. in 2016)];
• Миф, ритуал и история в «Махабхарате». СПб: «Европейский дом», 2010; [Myth, Ritual and History in the Mahabharata. Saint-Petersburg: Evropeisky dom, 2010];
• Индоевропейская поэтическая формула в мордовском обрядовом тексте // POLUTROPON. К 70-летию Владимира Николаевича Топорова. М., 1998. С. 352–369; [Indo-European Poetic Formula in a Mordvin Ritual Text // POLUTROPON. On the Occasion of V.N. Toporov’s 70th Anniversary. Moscow, 1998. Pp. 352-369];
• Древнейшие индийские зеркала из скифо-сарматских курганов России // Степи Евразии в древности и средневековье. К 100-летию со дня рождения М.П.Грязнова. Книга 2. СПб, 2003. С. 27–33; [Ancient Indian Mirrors from the Scythian-Sarmatian Mounds of Russia // Eurasian Steppes in Ancient Times and the Middle Ages. On the Occasion of 100th Anniversary of M.P. Gryaznov’s Birth. Vol.2. Saint-Petersburg, 2003. Pp. 27-33];
• Балтийский ключ к проблеме Вия-Вайю (совместно с Д. Разаускасом) // Scripta Gregoriana. Сб. в честь семидесятилетия акад. Г. М. Бонгард-Левина. М., 2003. С. 24–46; [The Baltic Key to the Problem of Vij-Vayu (co-authored with D. Razauskas) // Scripta Gregoriana. A Collection of Papers dedicated to the 70th Anniversary of Academician G.M. Bongard-Levin. Moscow, 2003. Pp. 24-46];
• Люди и судьбы. Биобиблиографический словарь востоковедов – жертв политического террора в советский период (1917 – 1991) (совместно с М. Ю. Сорокиной). СПб, 2003 [People and Fates. A Bibliographical Dictionary of Orientalists, Victims of Political Terror in the Soviet Era (1917-1991) (co-authored with M.Y. Sorokina). Saint-Petersburg, 2003];
• Indian “hero-stones” and the Earliest Anthropomorphic Stelae of the Bronze Age // The Journal of Indo-European Studies. Vol. 39, № 1& 2, Spring/Summer 2011. Pp. 194–229;
• «Махабхарата» и индийская практика паломничества в свете новых эпиграфических данных // Зографский сборник. Выпуск 2. СПб: МАЭ РАН, 2011. С.157–197; [The Mahabharata and Indian Practice of Pilgrimage in the Light of New Epigraphical Sources // Zograph Collection. Iss. 2. Saint-Petersburg: MAE RAS, 2011. Pp. 157-197];
• Новое о первом русском индологе: письма Герасима Лебедева И. Ф. Крузенштерну // Письменные памятники Востока. Т. 16, № 1. Весна – лето 2012. С. 188-206; [New Data on the First Russian Indologist: Letters of Gerasim Lebedev to I.F. Krusenstern // Pismennye Pamyatniki Vostoka (Written Monuments of the East). Vol. 16, № 1. Spring – summer 2012. Pp. 188-206];
• Индийский дикий кот и «домашняя» кошка // Азиатский бестиарий. Выпуск 3. СПб., МАЭ РАН, 2014. С. 65–83; [The Indian Wild Cat and ‘Domestic’ Cat // Asian Bestiary. Iss.3, Saint-Petersburg, MAE RAS, 2014. Pp. 65-83];
• Неварский «повествовательный свиток» с рисунками на тему жизни Будды из коллекции И. П. Минаева в собрании МАЭ РАН // Зографский сборник. Вып. 4. Отв. ред. М. Ф. Альбедиль и Я. В. Васильков. СПб., МАЭ РАН, 2014. С. 128–169; [Newari Scroll with Drawings Illustrating "Lalitavistara" from I.P.Minaev's collection in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography // Zograph Collection. Iss.4. / Eds. Alvedil, M.F. an Vassilkov, Y.V. Saint-Petersburg, MAE RAS, 2014. Pp. 128-169];
• Виды индийских аскетов (по материалам коллекции № 2993 в собрании МАЭ РАН) (Совместно с М.Ф. Альбедиль) // Сборник Музея антропологии и этнографии (Кунсткамера) имени Петра Великого. Образы и знаки в традициях Южной и Юго-Западной Азии. Отв. ред. М.А. Родионов. СПб., МАЭ РАН, 2015. С. 11–50; [Types of Indian Bhikku (on the Material of Collection № 1993 of the MAE RAS) (co-authored with M.F. Albedil) // Sbornik Muzeya Antropologii I Etnografii (Kunstkamera) imeni Petra Velikogo (Digest of Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera). Images and Signs in the Traditions of South and Southwest Asia. / Ed. M.A. Rodionov. Saint-Petersburg, MAE RAS, 2015. Pp. 11-50];
• Месопотамский и древнеиндийский мифы о потопе: случайны ли сходства? // Tamiḻ tanta paricu. Сборник статей в честь Александра Михайловича Дубянского. М.: «Издательство «Перо»», 2016. С. 172 – 198 (Orientalia et Classica. Tруды Института восточных культур и античности. Выпуск LXIII). [Observations on the Mesopotamian and Ancient Indian Flood Myths // Tamiḻ tanta paricu. A Collection of Papers in Honour of Aleksandr Mikhailovich Dubyansky. Moscow: Pero, 2016. Pp. 172-198].
About Y. Vassilkov:
• Garg G.R. An Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature. Sanskrit, Pali, Prakrit and Apabhramsa. Delhi, 1982 (Vasilkov Y.V. P. 472);
• Русские фольклористы: справочник. Сост. Л.В. Рыбаковой. М.: «Индрик», 1994; [Russian Folkorists: A Reference Book / Comp. Rybakova, L.V. Moscow: Indrik, 1994];
• Личные страницы на сайтах МАЭ РАН, ИВР РАН, Факультета философии и политологии СПбГУ, Института лингвистических исследований и др. [Personal pages on the web sites of Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, RAS; Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, RAS; Institute of Philosophy, SPSU].