Nikolai Andreevich Popov (1850–1901) was a graduate of the Chinese-Manchu chair of the Oriental faculty of Saint-Petersburg University. After the University he immediately entered the Asiatic Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and later served as Russian consul in Fuzhou (China). His partial translation from the “Code of Manchu shamanic sacrifices” is the first introduction of this Manchu text to Russian scholarly world and was done as a student work. The translation by Popov does not include imperial introduction and preliminary instructions, as well as the texts of the prayers, but it is concentrated precisely on ritual descriptions. The text is interesting for the history of the studies of Manchu shamanism, as well as the first known attempt to give a translation of all shamanic court ceremonies. A complete scholarly translation of the text was done much later by A.V. Grebenschikov in 1939. The article presents the first part of Popov’s manuscript on fols. 1a–29a.

Key words: Manchu shamanism, Code of Manchu shamanic sacrifices, N.A. Popov, Orientalists Archive of IOM RAS 

About the author

Tatiana A. Pang – PhD (History), Leading Researcher, Head of the Department of the Far East, Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of SB RAS; 18 Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya, St. Petersburg, Russiaб 191186; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.