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AccueilAbstracta IranicaVolume 40-412. Linguistique2.1. Langues anciennesAdam Benkato. Āzandnāmē. An editi...

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Adam Benkato. Āzandnāmē. An edition and literary-critical study of the Manichaean Sogdian Parable Book

Antje Wendtland
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Adam Benkato. Āzandnāmē. An edition and literary-critical study of the Manichaean Sogdian Parable Book. Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 2017, 210 p. (Beiträge zur Iranistik 42)

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1The work to be presented here is a re-edition of the Manichaean Parable Book (Āzandnāmē) published by Werner Sundermann, Ein manichäisch-soghdisches Parabelbuch (Berliner Turfantexte 15, 1985), supplemented by new material which has been found since. The book consists of two parts. The first part contains chapters on the discovery of the manuscripts, the script, orthography and grammar of the texts, and the translation with commentary. A glossary and a very useful list of Manichaean parables in Iranian languages and their publications are given the end of the book.

2Parts of three parables have been preserved, one very fragmentary (Parable of a Judge) and two longer but also incomplete ones (Parable of the Religion and the Ocean and Parable of two Snakes).

3The second part of the book is dedicated to an extensive textual analysis and a very detailed account of the interpretation of Manichaean parables and their meaning for the study of Buddhist literature. In particular, the analysis of the Parable of the Religion and the Ocean as an adaptation of a Buddhist model, its comparison and the explication of its Manichaean reinterpretation is of great value for Manichaean studies.

4Only a few minor points: In Sogdian γryw means “body, self” and can be used as a reflexive. In some text editions the translation “soul” is found. But as there is a stark contrast in the Manichaean religion between the human body (the result of mixture of good and evil) and the soul, it is quite unlikely that a word is used referring to both. It is rather a misunderstanding due to MP gryw. The Sogdian word for “soul” is rwʾn and occurs in the Āzandnāmē, in the Parable of the Snakes (cf. 181, 191, 194, 200). In 133 rty nwkr ZKw γrywH ʾʾβryn(ʾ)nt B. translates “Then they praise the soul”, following an emendation by N. Sims-Williams; he notes that here the texts diverges in respect to the otherwise used rwʾnH for “soul”. Sundermann reads the verb differently, as ʾʾβryncnt, “Und nun *veredeln sie sich selbst”. Only three lines above γrywH is used as a reflexive. In 106 ZY-šw prw γryw ptγrβʾtʾk δʾrnt B. translates “have taken it upon themselves”, but in the wordlist “soul?” is found. In an incomplete line in the fragmentary Parable of a Judge, ANj 30, B. considers translating γrʾywy as “soul”, although B. states that the context is lacking. The translation of xypδ as “my, your, his, their, own” instead of just “own” is a bit misleading, although, in its possessive meaning it can be translated accordingly, but this is attributed to the possessives in English, cf. Russian свой; xwnwx, rather “the one who, that which” than just “that”.

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Antje Wendtland, « Adam Benkato. Āzandnāmē. An edition and literary-critical study of the Manichaean Sogdian Parable Book »Abstracta Iranica [En ligne], Volume 40-41 | 2019, document 4, mis en ligne le 30 décembre 2019, consulté le 29 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/abstractairanica/50536 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/abstractairanica.50536

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Antje Wendtland

Allemagne

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