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110 Book reviews Tucci, G., The Religions of Tibet - London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980, xvi + 340 p., £8.95. HEISSIG, W., The Religions of Mongolia - London, Routledge and Kegan Paul, xii + 146 p., £7.50. In a review-article in NUMEN(vol. XXVI, 1979) mention was made of the many "History of Religions" series published in recent years in America and Europe, including Germany (ibid. p. 250). One of the most ambitious series is that published in Germany by Kohlhammer, and some of their volumes (e.g., the two volumes on Indian religions by Prof. J. Gonda) have established themselves, immediately on their appearance, as standard works. One volume in this series was devoted to Die Religionen Tibets und der Mongolei (1970) and co-authored by Professors Tucci (Tibet) and Heissig (Mongolia). Books in English on Mongolian religion are not too plentiful (or, to be more exact, hardly exist), whereas the Tibetan ground is fairly well-covered-from Waddell to the translated Alexandra David-Neel to Charles Bell to D. Snellgrove to the translated Rolf Stein and others. But even there the emphasis tended to be on Buddhism (Lamaism, Tantrism etc.) rather than on non- or pre-Buddhist things, unlike e.g. H. Hoffmann's Die Religionen Tibets (note the plural which, as in Tucci's title, clearly proclaims the intention to include indigenous shamanism and the Bonpo religion). Prof. Tucci, already known to English readers from translations of some of his other works, is undoubtedly the "nestor" and doyen of Tibetan studies today, and his Die Religionen Tibets deserved to be known in English as the most recent and up-to-date account of the subject. Heissig's account of Mongolia similarly pays equal attention to Buddhism, original shamanism (and its suppression by Lamaism), and the Mongolian folk- religion and its pantheon. Messrs. Routledge and Kegan Paul should be congratulated on their initiative in publishing translations of the German (in Tucci's case Italian/German) original, and, moreover for publishing these accounts not in one hefty volume but in two well-produced and convenient-to-handle books. RJZW
Numen – Brill
Published: Jan 1, 1981
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