Petech began his teaching career in India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
at 25 years old, as a reader in Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
at the University of Allahabad
, mottoeng = "As Many Branches So Many Trees"
, established =
, type = Public
, chancellor = Ashish Chauhan
, vice_chancellor = Sangita Srivastava
, head_label ...
from 1938 to 1946. His first recorded article is for the ''Calcutta Review
The ''Calcutta Review'' is a bi-annual periodical, now published by the Calcutta University press, featuring scholarly articles from a variety of disciplines.
History
The ''Calcutta Review'' was founded in May 1844, by Sir John William Kaye an ...
'' in 1939. His subject was the dramas and stories of the great Italian author Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...
, who had recently died two years after being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, caption =
, awarded_for = Outstanding contributions in literature
, presenter = Swedish Academy
, holder = Annie Ernaux (2022)
, location = Stockholm, Sweden
, year = 1901
, ...
. He says “the people” in Italy had unfairly turned their backs on the intellectual Pirandello as unrepresentative of the times (Petech 1939: 13) and as not speaking to their hearts (idem: 24).
With the outbreak of World War II, as an Italian enemy alien in British India, Petech spent most of that time in a civil internment
Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
camp. Petech used this time to study Tibetan literature Tibetan literature generally refers to literature written in the Tibetan language or arising out of Tibetan culture. Historically, Tibetan has served as a trans-regional literary language that has been used, at different times, from Tibet to Mongoli ...
and write an article on the chronological system of the 15th-century Blue Annals
The ''Blue Annals'' (), completed in 1476, written by Gö Lotsawa Zhönnu-pel (, 1392–1481), is a Tibetan historical survey with a marked ecumenism, ecumenical (Rimé movement) view, focusing on the dissemination of various sectarian spiritual t ...
of Tibet. Unlike Tucci, a staunch collaborator with the Fascist regime, Petech was apolitical.
Petech returned to Europe in 1947,to temporary teaching appointments at the Istituto Orientale of Naples and
University of Rome. For the next 8 years, he wrote 30 pieces of varying length on Asia, always focused on the meeting of different cultures from Asia or Europe, in areas bordering India.
From 1955 to 1984, he held the chair of History of Eastern Asia in Rome University, publishing 14 books and over 80 articles on Asia. At the end of this period, the foreword to the anthology of his selected articles, made to mark his retirement, praised his ‘objective, calm and sensible judgment, his willingness to cooperate, and his learning’ (Petech 1988: viii).
These traits are evident in his many works. In his books on Ladakh, Nepal and Tibet from medieval to modern times, his approach has the outward appearance of “history”—unimpeded by philosophy or superstition—unlocked through a serious and critical engagement with historical sources that are described before any of the events described in them.
In his magisterial seven volume ''‘I Missionari Italiani nel Tibet e nel Nepal'', Petech made available a mine of contemporary missionary accounts which are still invaluable source materials.
Petech’s monographs attempt to bring Himalayan history into the light of world history. This aim was always to be appreciated, and, as
Herbert Franke noted in 1950 when Petech published “China and Tibet in the early 18th century”,
It may be considered as a fortunate coincidence... just now when the Chinese government tries to establish again its
suzerainty
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...
over the land of snow because it will enable the reader to get a clear notion how the
Chinese protectorate
The Chinese Protectorate was an administrative body responsible for the well-being of ethnic Chinese residents of the Straits Settlements during that territory's British colonial period. Protectorates were established in each area of the Settleme ...
in Tibet came into being. (Franke 1950)
These are sentiments with which many would thoroughly agree. However, Petech’s early attempts also tend to subsume unique events within western explanatory frameworks. In 1947 he wrote:
As to Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
, there is little to be said. It suffered the fate of all countries which tried to build an empire without that indispensable foundation, a sufficiently large population of the home country. (1988 947
Year 947 ( CMXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
* Summer – A Hungarian army led by Grand Prince Taksony campaigns in Italy, heading ...
39)
This attempt to universalise the process of empire-building also has politically loaded connotations in a time when Italy had just failed to regain the
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
, thwarted by the dwindling imperial powers of Britain and France and the new empire, America.
When he returned to the topic of
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory which constitutes a part of the larger Kashmir region and has been the subject of dispute between India, Pakistan, and China since 1947. (subscription required) Quote: "Jammu and ...
in 1977, he admitted that ‘I found my first effort hopelessly obsolete’ (1977: xi). His second treatment is more nuanced, and he finally explains the collapse of Ladakhi power with more of an emphasis on economic overstretch (idem: 79).
''Central Tibet and the Mongols'', Petech’s latest book-length study, is a more fluidly written narrative, character-led and more descriptive in tone. It is still authoritative, and has naturally overtaken Tucci’s work on the same period. As
Elliot Sperling
Elliot Sperling (January 4, 1951 – January 29, 2017) was one of the world's leading historians of Tibet and Tibetan-China, Chinese relations, and a MacArthur Fellow. He spent most of his scholarly career as an associate professor at Indiana Uni ...
wrote in his 1995 review:
...since the 1949 publication of Giuseppe Tucci’s Tibetan Painted scrolls nd inthe absence of any single monograph dedicated to the public, this last work was often taken by default as the main secondary source on the subject....hile
Hile ( ne, हिले) is a hill town located in the Eastern Part of Nepal, 13 km north of the regional center of Dhankuta Bazar. At an elevation of 1948 meters, it is the main route to other hilly districts like Bhojpur and Sankhuwasab ...
“Central Tibet and the Mongols” is a relatively short work and leaves a few subjects less than fully explored... tis now the basic secondary source to which students of Yuan-Tibetan relations must turn. (''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 115.2 (1995): 342–3)
Petech has several students, including
Elena De Rossi Filibeck in Tibetan studies.
Luciano Petech died in his home on 19 September 2010.
References
Further reading
*Luciano Petech. 1988. ''Selected Papers on Asian History.'' Roma: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente. pp. xi–xviii.
External links
Luciano Petechon ippolito-desideri.net (in Italian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petech, Luciano
1914 births
2010 deaths
Tibetologists
20th-century Italian historians