Vol. 15 No. 1 June 2009
Manuscripta Orientalia. International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research.
CONTENTS
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TEXTS AND MANUSCRIPTS: DESCRIPTION AND RESEARCH - 3
PRESENTING THE COLLECTION - 35
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L. Pavlinskaia. On the History of Photo-Illustrative Collections of the Department of Siberia of MAE RAS. I: The Concept of the Clan Ancestor Spirit and the Territory Host-Spirit Among the Peoples of South-Eastern Siberia in the Context of Ethno- and Culture-Genesis Processes - 35 |
PRESENTING THE MANUSCRIPT - 41
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A. Kudelin. Muhammad ‘Abdu's Letter to Leo Tolstoi (History of Russian-Arabic Cultural Dialogue in the Beginning of the 20th Century) - 41 |
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M. Dehqan. Mala Muhammad Sharif Qadi's Account on the History of Kurdistan: a Unique Manuscript from the Central Library of Tehran University - 50 |
ORIENTAL PANTHEON - 53
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I. Alimov. "Tai-ping guang ji": Motives Related to the Dead Souls - 53 |
BOOK REVIEWS - 66
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Hebrew Manuscripts in the Vatican Library. Catalogue. Compiled by the staff of the Institute of Microfilmed Hebrew Manuscripts, Jewish national and University Library, Jerusalem. Edited by Benjamin Richler. Palaeographical and Codicological Descriptions Malachi Beit-Arié in collaboration with Nurit Pasternak. Citta del Vaticano, 2008. XXVII + 678 pp., [2], 66* p. (Studi e Testi. 438).
by Sh. Iakerson - 66 |
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Diego de Guadix. Recopilación de algunos nombres arábigos que los árabes pusieron a algunas ciudades y a otras muchas cosas. Ed., introd., notas e índices de Elena Bajo Pérez y Felipe Maíllo Salgado. Gijón: Trea, 2005. 1226 p. (Bibliotheca arabo-romanica et islamica / Universidad de Oviedo, Seminario de estudios árabo-románicos. Vol. 3).
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Diego de Guadix. Diccionario de arabismos. Recopilación de algunos nombres arábigos. Estudio preliminar y edición Maria Águeda Moreno Moreno; Prólogo Ignacio Ahumada. Jaén: Universidad de Jaén, 2007. XCV, 508 p.
by I. Wojewódzki - 69
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IN ME MORIAM - 71
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Karen Nikitich Yuzbashian (1927-2009)
by J. Russell - 71 |
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ABSTRACT
A. Fedeli
RELEVANCE OF THE OLDEST QUR’ANIC MANUSCRIPTS FOR THE READINIGS MENTIONED BY COMMENTARIES. A NOTE ON SURA “TA-HA”
An important aspect of Qur’anic studies concerns the variant readings, the so-called qira’at. The article presents a detailed analysis of the tradition of Musa, narrated in sura “Ta-Ha”. The author focuses on the variant readings found in the Qur’anic manuscripts of the Musa story in relation to the standard text.
Keywords: manuscript, Qur’anic, Musa, qira’at, sura “Ta-Ha”
A. Ambartsumian
ON THE MANUSCRIPTS OF PAHLAVI WORK “AYADGAR I ZARERAN”
The text “Ayadgar i Zareran” preserved in the oldest collection of Middle Persian secular and homiletic texts known as “Pahlavi Shahnama”. The article is devoted to the description of two Parsi manuscripts of the text that are stored in Bombay, a cultural and religious centre of Zoroastrians in India.
Keywords: Ayadgar i Zareran, manuscript, Parsi, Pahlavi, Middle Persian, Shahnama, Zoroastrian, Bombay, India
A. Grib
IN-BETWEEN THE “ELITE” AND THE “PAGAN”: QUR’ANIC BOARDS FROM WEST AFRICA
The article is a study of illumination and graphic canons that accompany the textual message of the Qur’an in West Africa (Sahel and a part of Sahara). Wooden Qur’anic boards are widely used across this region in the traditional Qur’anic schools. In the article the Qur’anic board is viewed as a material demonstration of how the Islamic component penetrates into the traditional pagan culture. The author analyses several Qur’anic boards from major museum collections, including the script, the ornamentation and the shape of each board.
Keywords: Qur’anic board, West Africa, Sahel, Islamic, Arabic, maghribi, pagan
L. Pavlinskaia
ON THE HISTORY OF PHOTO-ILLUSTRATIVE COLLECTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SIBERIA OF MAE RAS. I: THE CONCEPT OF THE CLAN ANCESTOR SPIRIT AND THE TERRITORY HOST-SPIRIT AMONG THE PEOPLES OF SOUTH-EASTERN SIBERIA IN THE CONTEXT OF ETHNO- AND CULTURE-GENESIS PROCESSES
The article focuses on two unique pictures of a raw-hide tent with a big copper mask-guise attached on its external side from photo-illustrative collections of MAE RAS. The studies of religious monuments in Transbaikalia, Mongolia, Tuva and Tibet give all reasons to believe that the raw-hide tent is the Evenkis model of the so-called oboo, a tribal cultic structure symbolizing a sacred center of the inhabited area, and the mask on the raw-hide tent represents an image of the host-spirit of the tribal territory.
Keywords: photo-illustrative collection, M. G. Levin, MAE RAS, Siberia, Transbaikalia, Evenkis, oboo, host-spirit, ancestor-spirit
A. Kudelin
MUHAMMAD ‘ABDU’S LETTERS TO LEO TOLSTOĬ (HISTORY OF RUSSIAN-ARABIC CULTURAL DIALOGUE IN THE BEGINNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY)
The article is devoted to the correspondence between two outstanding figures of Egypt and Russia – the Grand mufti of Egypt Muhammad ‘Abdu, one of the most influential ideologists of Muslim modernism, and the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoĭ. This significant event in the history of Russian-Arabic cultural ties would hardly have taken place, if it hadn’t been for active participation of interested intermediary parties.
Keywords: Muhammad ‘Abdu, Leo Tolstoĭ, Egypt, Russia, Russian-Arabic, Sidney Cockrell
M. Dehqan
MALA MUHAMMAD SHARIF QADI’S ACCOUNT ON THE HISTORY OF KURDISTAN: A UNIQUE MANUSCRIPT FROM THE CENTRAL LIBRARY OF TEHRAN UNIVERSITY
The author presents a unique manuscript on the Kurdish history from the collection of the Central Library, University of Tehran. This manuscript encompasses political events and intellectual developments and provides some new material for constructing the history of Kurdistan. The focus of its text is on Iranian Kurdistan.
Keywords: manuscript, history, Kurdish, Kurdistan, Persian, Iranian, Central Library, Tehran University, Sa’id Nafisi.
I. Alimov
“TAI-PING GUANG JI”: MOTIVES RELATED TO THE DEAD SOULS
The article deals with a well-known anthology of the early Chinese prose “Tai-ping guang ji”, which can be considered as a source of invaluable information on traditional Chinese beliefs about the spirits of the dead (gui). The main part of “Tai-ping guang ji” is based on xiaoshuo prose. This form of Chinese literature shows folk believes and traditional views not in a natural form of their existence, but in a manner arranged by the culture representatives themselves. The anthology claims to explain the essence of key concepts (categories) of the traditional spiritual Chinese culture of the 10th century.
Keywords: Tai-ping quang ji, gui, xiaoshuo, dead soul, Chinese culture, Chinese literature
AUTHORS
Dr. Igor A. Alimov - Head of the Department of East and Southwest Asia of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), specialist in Far Eastern ethno cultural texts. Author of the series of monographs in the field.
Mr. Arthur A. Ambartsumian - Independent researcher, graduated from Department of Iranian Languages at the Faculty of Asian and African Studies (St. Petersburg University), made postgraduate research at the Department of the Ancient Near East in the Institute of Oriental Studies (St. Petersburg Branch). Main interests - Old and Middle Iranian languages, culture and history of Ancient Iran. Author of the series of articles in the field of Iranian studies.
Mr. Mustafa Dehqan, MA - specialist in Kurdish Studies with an interest in the literature and religions of Kurdistan. He earned a bachelor's degree in Historical Studies and a master's in Historical Linguistics from the University of Tehran. Author of the numerous articles in the field.
Mrs. Anastasia S. Grib - post graduate student of the Oriental Department at the State Hermitage Museum. Specialist in the Qur'ānic calligraphy and indigenous art in West Africa. Author of the internet based Guide to Islamic Calligraphy (www.khatt.ru); formerly a special reporter in Cairo for the "Around the World" magazine, an intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Department of Islamic Art), managing editor of the "Hermitage Magazine".
Dr. Alba Fedeli - Lecturer in Arabic in the University of Milan (Università degli studi di Milano, Italy). PhD student in the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (Paris 3) on the earliest Qur'anic manuscripts.
Prof. Dr. Shimon M. Iakerson - Leading researcher at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, specialist in the History of Hebrew manuscripts and incunabula, author of a series of monographs and articles.
Prof. Dr. Alexander B. Kudelin - Full member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the World Literature Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, specialist in the history of the Arabic literature; author of the series of monographs in the field.
Dr. Larisa R. Pavlinskaia - Head of the Department of Siberia of the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg), specialist in ethnography and history of Siberia, history of Russian ethnology and Kunstkamera Museum collections. Author of the series of works in the field.
Prof. James R. Russell - Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University. Recent books include "Bosphorus Nights: The Complete Lyric Poems of Bedros Tourian", "The Book of Flowers of Derenik Demirjian", and "Armenian and Iranian Studies". Recent articles include "The Rime of the Book of the Dove: From Zoroastrian Cosmology and Armenian Heresiology to the Russian Novel" and "Solov'i, solov'i".
Dr. Igor N. Wojewódzki - Chief Librarian in the library of the St. Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, specialist in Semitic studies, author of several articles dealing with the history of Islamic and Judaic culture. |
