Manuscripta Orientalia. International Journal for Oriental Manuscript Research. Vol. 31 No. 1 2025
CONTENTS
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EDITORIAL BOARD — 3
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E. Rezvan. Editorial Board — 3
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TEXT AND MANUSCRIPTS: DESCRIPTION AND RESEARCH — 4
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B. Bicheev. The Parable “The Buddha and a Brahmin” in Clear Script — 4
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E. Rezvan. Russian Poet and Harari Booklore. IV Bindings — 17
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A. Arakelyan, K. Harutyunyan, L. Hovsepyan, T. Manukyan. Reuniting the Portions of the Same Manuscript: A Fresh Approach to the Analysis of Ms. M8897 and the Shek (Fawn) Gospel — 29
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V. Shorokhov, S. Krasutsky. Documentary History of Negotiations Between Russian Ambassadors and Officials of the Shāh ‘Abbās II — 43
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TEXT AND ITS CULTURAL INTERPRETATION — 56
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M. Ghozali, N. Cholily, A. Kholid. Colophons as Cultural Markers: A Reflection of Religious, Cultural, and Linguistic Influences in Madurese Manuscripts — 56
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I. Alimov. Dong jing meng hua lu: Towards the History of the Text — 72
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O. Volkova. “It Was When the King…”: Inscriptions Naming Years in Late Shang China — 76
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Y. Ramli. Ḥamza Fanṣūrī′s Critique of Tantra — 86
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PRESENTING THE COLLECTIONS — 105
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R. Poghosyan, R. Tonnarelli. Hebrew Binding Fragments Within Armenian Manuscripts at the Matenadaran and the Library of the Armenian Patriarate in Jerusalem — 105
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O. Khachatryan. Characteristics of Kafas in the Gandzaran Collections — 115
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G. Ter-Vardanean, G. Eliazyan, S. Manukyan, A. Khorozian. Study of the Dyes of the Etchmiadzin Gospel (M2374) and Newly Discovered Fragments of the “Etchmiadzin Gospel Group” — 122
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CULTURE AS TEXT — 133
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A. Kudriavtceva. Towards the Ideological Positioning of the Jabal al-Qarah Caves in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia — 133
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E. Rezvan. “Abyssinian” Sabres Made in Russia — 140
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O. Sokolov. Memory of the Crusades in the Architecture of the Medieval Levant and Egypt — 151
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OUR ARCHIVE — 158
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A. Kolesnikov. Russian Travellers on the Military Organisation of the Peoples of Central Asia (on the Example of Kashgaria in the Second Half of the 19th Century) — 158
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AUTHORS
Dr. Igor A. Alimov — Head of the Department of East and Southwest Asia at the St. Petersburg Kunstkamera. Specialist in Far Eastern ethnocultural texts. Author of a series of monographs in the field.
Dr. Ani Kh. Arakelyan — Senior Researcher in the Department of Armenian Codicology at the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts, specialising in medieval Armenian literature and codicology, with an interest in the interaction between written and oral literary traditions. Author of several articles on related topics.
Dr. Baazr A. Bicheev — Leading Researcher at the Scientific Department of Kalmyk State University named after B. B. Gorodovikov, a researcher on Buddhism, and a specialist in Buddhist literature based on Clear writing.
Naufal Cholily — a manuscript enthusiast affiliated with the Nahdlatut Turats Bangkalan organisation, he is a lecturer at the Faculty of Ushuluddin and Philosophy, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, Indonesia. He is actively engaged in researching Qur’ānic manuscripts in Bangkalan, with a particular focus on those attributed to Syaikhuna Khalil Bangkalan.
Dr. Gayane Eliazyan — Specialist in the chemistry of high-molecular compounds, she is the Head of the Conservation Department at the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts and President of the Association of Restorers of Armenia. Her research focuses on parchment, pigments used in medieval manuscripts, and plant–based substances with antifungal and antimicrobial properties. She is the author of 129 scientific articles.
Dr. Mahbub Ghozali — Lecturer at the Faculty of Ushuluddin and Islamic Thought at UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, Indonesia, he works within the Qur’ānic and Tafsīr Studies Programme, specialising in Qur’ānic manuscript studies and philology. He is the author of a series of articles in the field.
Dr. Knar M. Harutyunyan — Researcher in the Department of Armenian Codicology at the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts, a codicologist and specialist in Old Armenian. She is co-author of one book, four catalogues of Armenian manuscripts, and twenty academic articles.
Dr. Lilit V. Hovsepyan — Senior Researcher in the Department of Armenian Codicology at the Matenadaran and Assistant Professor in the Chair of Ancient and Medieval Armenian Literature and Teaching Metho dologies. Specialising in codicology, the study of texts, and ancient and medeval Armenian literary genres and commentaries. Author of several articles in this field.
Ovsanna Khachatryan — a philologist, Armenian manuscript expert, and Researcher at the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts. Author of a series of articles in the field.
Dr. Abd Kholid — Professor at the Faculty of Ushuluddin and Philosophy, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya, he maintains a keen research interest in pesantren studies, particularly examining the evolution of knowledge within the pesantren tradition.
Dr. Armin K. Khorozian — Senior Restorer at the Conservation Department and Biochemistry Laboratory of the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts, he specialises in the analysis of manuscripts, including their inks, paper, miniatures, and metal covers. He is the author of several scientific articles on these topics.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Kolesnikov — Director of the Center for Eurasian Studies at St. Petersburg State University, he specialises in the history and politics of Turkey and Central Asian countries, along with Russia′s military history. With over 100 scientific articles and monographs, his work contribute significantly to these fields.
Stanislav Krasutsky — Research Engineer at the Institute of History, St. Petersburg State University. Author of several publications on related subjects.
Dr. Anna Yu. Kudriavtceva — Senior Researcher of the Laboratory “International Centre for Islamic Studies”, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences. A specialist in Qur’ānic and Islamic studies, including the Qur’ān and pre-Islamic poetry, as well as Muslim rituals.
Dr. Seda Manukyan — Researcher at the Department of Codicology of the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts, specialising in art history with a particular focus on Armenian miniature art. She has also conducted research at the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, INALCO (National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations, Paris), and various Parisian libraries, including the BnF and INHA. She has published approximately 20 scholarly articles, as well as several popular science publications.
Dr. Tatevik G. Manukyan — Senior Researcher in the Department of Armenian codicology, Department of Philology and Secular Literature at the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts, specialising in Ancient Greek, and Latin Armenian; medieval Armenian grammars and Linguistic terminology. He has co-authored four catalogues of Armenian manuscripts, published over twenty articles, and led two grant-funded projects.
Dr. Ruzanna Poghosyan — Senior Researcher at the Department of Translated Literature, Matenadaran, a specialist in medieval Armenian literature and the Hebrew language. Author of three books and numerous articles in these fields.
Dr. Yusri Mohamad Ramli — Senior Lecturer at the Research Centre for Theology and Philosophy, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia. Author of several scholarly publications in these fields.
Prof. Dr. Efim A. Rezvan — Editor-in-Chief of Manuscripta Orientalia, Head of the Laboratory “International Centre for Islamic Studies”; Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences; UNESCO Chair Professor of UNESCO Chair in Comparative Studies of Spiritual Traditions, Their Specific Cultures and Interreligious Dialogue; affiliated with the Russian Scientific Research Institute for Cultural and Natural Heritage named after D. S. Likhachev.
Dr. Vladimir A. Shorokhov — Associate Professor at the Institute of Theology, St. Petersburg State University; specialist in Russian relations with the Muslim East. Author of several scholarly works on these subjects.
Dr. Oleg A. Sokolov — Associated Professor at St. Petersburg State University; Arabist and specialist in the history of the Crusades and intellectual history. Author of several scholarly works on these subjects.
Dr. Sci., Prof. Gevorg Ter-Vardanean (1951—2023) — Chief Conservator and Head of the Codicology Department at the Matenadaran — Mesrop-Mashtots Research Institute for Ancient Manuscripts. As a renowned expert in Armenian manuscripts, he played a pivotal role in the compiling and editing the multi-volume Mayr Tsutsak (General Catalogue of Armenian Manuscripts of the Mashtots Matenadaran). With approximately 200 scholarly works to his name — including articles, research papers, and monographs — he also taught for many years at Yerevan State University and St. George's Seminary, training generations of codicologists at the Matenadaran.
Dr. Roberta Tonnarelli — Postdoctorcal researcher at the École Pratique des Hautes Études. Her research interests include Jewish Studies, Judaism, Hebrew palaeography. Author of a series of articles in the field.
Dr. Olesia N. Volkova — Associate Researcher at the Center for Research on Chinese Excavated Classics and Palaeography at Fudan University (Shanghai, China). Her major research interests include the history of early China and early Chinese writing, especially oracle-bone inscriptions of the late Shang Dynasty. She also conducts comparative research on the history of script development across the Chinese, Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Mesoamerican traditions. Author of several articles on related topics.
Submissions
Before submission, please, see our Publication Ethics and Publication Malpractice Statement and Notes to Contributors at http://manuscripta.ru/. Manuscripts should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Efim A. Rezvan by E-mail: efim.rezvan@mail.ru. | 
