Another Ethnogenetic Myth of the Yezidis

The article is an attempt of the analysis of the ethnogenetic myths preserved in the Yezidi folklore. A special focus is made on the third, previously unknown version of the Yezidi origin. The latter was found in a text written down in the 40s of the last century in Armenia. It is particularly interesting that the legend reveals an obvious parallel with one the Shahnamehʼs story lines. Among the specific features of the text is the unique use of the term “Ezdistan”.

The paper focuses on the discussion and interpretations of the terms denoting “frog (toad)” in Western New Iranian. It attempts particularly to clarify the origin of an obscure lexeme in Classical Persian commenting in this regard on some issues of the Iranian historical phonology.

The paper discusses the role of literature and literary studies in the possible humanisation of people representing different cultures. It is based on the results of socio psychological studies on the subtle forms of dehumanisation and on the personal experience of being a representative of minority. Furthermore, the author focuses on Kurdish literature by offering a close analysis of a story by Mehmet Dicle, the Kurdish writer from Turkey. She argues that whereas people have generally a tendency to ascribe less of the so called uniquely human features to the representatives of the outgroups (i.e. to subtly dehumanise others), the access to the inner worlds of others – as expressed through literature – may become an important tool to overcome this dangerous phenomena. It is because the aesthetical aspects of the narratives and the moral imagination they furnish make us more sensitive to the complexity of human choices. Accordingly, paying more attention to the literature of minoritized groups seems of crucial importance for challenging the discriminatory policies and exclusion.

This paper discusses bees as noxious creatures in the Zoroastrian animal classification system and the problem of honey for consumption in the Iranian world. The mention of honey as the production of evil being not only appears in Zoroastrian literature, but also in early Persian histories where primordial king Tahmures is hand this beneficial product for use. The name of the demons in this Persian text associated with honey suggests a long tradition of association of honey with the daivas or fallen gods of the ancient Iranian world. Eventually, in the early Islamic period honey was allowed for use, but with certain restrictions.

Moḥammad-e Mofīd was a 17th century diasporic Iranian living in Mughal India. In the introduction to his detailed geographic survey of Iran (Moxtaṣar-e Mofīd) he offers clear and emphatic proof of his patriotic feelings for a country which he had left decades before. Various scholars have hitherto argued as to whether there was any consciousness of “Iranian identity” among Iranians as early as the 17th century or not. Our author would definitely answer in the affirmative.

Moḥammad Ḥoseyn Roknzādeh-Ādamiyat’s short novel Dalirān-e tangestāni (publ. 1931/1934) relates the story of warriors from Tangestān, located in the southwestern Iranian province of Bushehr, and their fight against the British in and shortly after World War I. From the time of its publication the novel met unfavorable criticism with regard to its  artistic value but was applauded for conveying patriotic spirit. This article argues that the novel is based on and structured by the idea of heroization of the local protagonists, which ultimately served the nationalist policies of the Reżā Shāh period (1925–1941). In Roknzādeh-Ādamiyat’s introduction his novel is presented as a device of remembrance: just as remembrance of history forms the basis of a nation’s coherence, its self-esteem is augmented by the recorded memory of its heroes and their deeds. The protagonists of the novel are singled out for their heroic characteristics through the elaboration of specific motifs, e.g. individual bravery and the readiness for self-sacrifice. In the process of nation building, heroes also function as a link between the individual and the community; this article isolates the characteristics that are chosen in the novel to offer a model of identification to the imagined (Iranian) reader, and demonstrates how the contextualization of the heroes makes their integrative functions more visible.

The history of Bible translation into Balochi goes back to the late 19th century. One century later, in 1999, a complete New Testament in Southern Balochi was published. This translation (abbreviated SBKT) was carried out in Karachi, and largely reflects the variant of Southern Balochi spoken in Karachi. There is also a more recent translation of the  four Gospels into Southern Balochi (abbreviated SBCT). The text of this translation is published online. The purpose of the present article is to explore how the two translations of the four Gospels into Balochi have dealt with toponyms occurring in the Greek source text.

The toponyms are presented and discussed in alphabetical order in three  different subsections (countries and provinces, towns and villages, rivers, lakes and mountains etc.) based on their names in English as found in the New Revised Standard Version from 1989.

Toponyms in the Gospels have already undergone translation rather than copying in the translation of the Gospels into the national languages of Iran and Pakistan, Persian and Urdu, which serve as models for the toponyms in the two translations studied here. SBKT basically uses the copying strategy, but with the addition of diacritics for short vowels, whereas SBCT uses the translation strategy, which involves phonological and orthographic adaptation to Balochi.

Both translations also make use of addition to make the toponyms more comprehensible to the target audience, both in comparison with the original Greek source text, and with the translations into Persian and Urdu. SBKT does so almost invariably and SBCT to a more limited extent.

The paper deals with Arabic and Persian loanwords in Daghestanian languages. Adaptive phonetic changes and possible semantic deviations are investigated.

This study traces the evolution of quruq – a Mongol term referring to something restricted, embargoed – from its original meaning as a royal burial or hunting ground off-limits to commoners, to what it came to signify in the (late) Safavid period – the embargoed, male-free and eunuch-controlled zone surrounding royal females during their appearance in the public arena. I show how the growing incidence of quruq in 17th-century Iran reflects the transition of the Safavid polity from a steppe dispensation to a sedentary order, turning what used to be the freerange mobility of an ambulant court into controlled mobility fit for urban royal living. The final part of the study documents how quruq persisted long beyond the safavids, only to fade in the late 19th century.

This paper introduces the existence of a sophisticated automaton clock that was set up in the square (maidan) in Kashan in the reign of Shah ‘Abbas (1587–1629). Operated by a series of levers and weights, the clock struck the hours of day and night, accompanied by the movement of various figures constructed out of cardboard. The clock was shown as a curiosity to the refugee Uzbek Khan, Vali Muhammad, on his way to the court in Isfahan in 1611 to seek Shah ‘Abbas’s support against his rebellious nephews in Transoxiana. The clock was constructed by a certain illiterate, Maulana ‘Inayat, and was still in operation in the reign of ‘Abbas II (d. 1666). The discussion locates the invention of the clock within the context of the history of clock-making in Iran up to and during the Safavid period.

Article entitled Identity in Literary Output and Cultural Life in Oman is a kind of Introduction in showing the beginnings of the cultural activities through establishing Cultural Clubs and newspapers in Oman in 20th century. It presents names of Omani prose writers and poets dealing with Identity in their literary output. Among them: Abū Muslim al-Bahlānī, Abū Surūr Ḥamīd al-Ğāmi‘ī, ‘Abd Allah aṭ-Ṭā’ī, Ḥamad ibn Rashīd ibn Rāšid and others. For them identity became one of the aims in their literary output to define history, language, culture and religion.

Topos of the Indian Epic Hero or the Image of Perfect Sovereign as Shown in the Mahābhārata

The article is an analysis of some chosen fragments of the Indian epic Mahābhārata. They are chosen in order to check whether, on the basis of them, it is possible to establish the topos of an ideal Indian epic hero. The excerpts come mainly from book three of the epic Vanaparvan and from book one, Ādiparvan. The material gathered enables to  ive the positive answer to the question. The male characters are described there in detail. The given features are so typical that they re-apper in most of the cases. First of all, in the text one can find the descriptions of five heroes of the main narrative, the Paṇḍava brothers – Yuddiṣṭhira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Additionally, several fragments in which the features of sub-stories’ male characters, such as e.g. Aśvapati or Nala, are discussed. The final result of the analyse brings several observations. The typical epic sovereign should have the virtues of both the spritual and physical nature. Most of the heroes of the chosen fragments are described as the ones who should be full of all kind of virtues, just and generous. They cannot be liars. They should fulfill the rights of dharma as far as the obligations of kings are concerned. They should look after their subjects, their wives and families. As far as their bodies are concerned they hàve to be handsome, bright and good to look at. Their faces are compared to the moon or the  un. Their eyes are described as wide and often compared to the lotus petals. Their noses are aquiline. They should be strong and delicate at the same time. Their images are sometimes built with the usage of comparisons to different members of the Vedic pantheon. The most popular comparisons are to Indra and Agni. However, also Kama, Aditya and some others do appear not excluding the demi-gods such as Gandharvas or Yakshas.

After the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iranian women writers with their feminist issues successfully stepped into mainstream literary discourse, focusing on topics previously omitted, emphasising socio-cultural gender issues and contributing to the development of specific attitudes and values among readers. The article comments on the post- Revolutionary women’s criticism in Iran expressed through literature and art, that has been aimed at not only the political establishment, but also the wider patriarchal cultural patterns. The example analysed in the text is the novel Women without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur – an important contribution to Iranian post-Revolutionary literature that helped to shape feminist discourse and inspired future generations of writers and other artists, contributing to the fact that women’s issues have gained a new meaning in contemporary Iran. On the example of Women without Men, as well as the works of Shirin Neshat – a widely recognised Iranian visual artist – inspired by the novel, the article shows how Iranian female artists have engaged in the struggle for women’s issues and are advocates of change in the Iranian society shaped by the male-dominated culture.

The Achaemenid Empire, established by Cyrus the Great, provided a model looked up to by subsequent empires on the territory of Iran and the Middle East, including the empires ruled by Alexander of Macedonia, the Seleukids, and the Arsakids. Achaemenid patterns were eagerly imitated by minor rulers of Western Asia, including Media Atropatene,  Armenia, Pontos, Kappadokia and Kommagene. The Arsakids harked back to Achaemenids, but their claims to the Achaemenid descendance were sporadic. Besides, there were no genealogical links between the Arsakids and Achaemenid satraps contrary to the dynastic patterns common in the Hellenistic Middle East.

This article aims at showing that Shahriyar Mandanipur employs narrative techniques in his short stories that look like those one finds in post-modernist fiction, but that these narrative techniques are rooted in a modernist world view. There is a truth and a reality in Mandanipur’s short stories – contrary to the post-modern belief – but in Mandanipur’s short stories this truth and this reality is always defined by a narrative and a narrator. Hence one must talk about different angles on truth and reality as demonstrated by the following analysis of Shahriyar Mandanipur’s short story Shatter the Stone Tooth.

In 2016 the author took part in a scientific fieldtrip of German academics to Iranian Azerbaijan. There he received two books devoted to the Armenian dialect of the town Salmast. One of them was a collection of about 800 proverbs in this dialect spoken in the past near a town located to the north-west of Lake Urmia (Orumiye). The present publication gives English translation of about 50 proverbs of the Salmast dialect.

Focusing on the early Pahlavi period the article is aimed at showing the tendencies and processes of development of Christianity among the Iranians as well as the circumstances under which the Protestant believes were communicated, debated and assimilated by the Iranian converts. Adopting the historical methods for describing the social changes that occurred in Iran as a result of the authoritarian policy of the Iranian monarch Reza Shah the article reveals the concept of conversion as a change of values arguing that the converts constructing and imagining their identity remained Iranians by keeping the most valuable feature – the Persian language. Thus, the religious conversion was associated with the concept of Iran-ness (iraniyyat) yet an alternative to the state national policy at that time.

In this article the author claims that there is good reason to search in Iranian scholarly writings to find the origins of anthropology in retrospect. The author claims that the intentions of Nasser Khosrow Qobâdiyani were different from that of a student of anthropology when he/she sets out to do research to become an anthropologist, but the descriptions of what he sees are very important for various subfields of anthropology today. Nasser Khosrow paid particular attention to city planning, architecture, interior decoration of various sites, and then to water and uses of rain water, agriculture and herding. He described in great detail locations of pilgrimage where he performed what was expected, and he also gave minute descriptions of celebrations across various classes, and various ethnic and religious groups.

The nationalization of oil fields in Iran on 20 March 1951 turned into a conflict between the British and Iranian governments. It was a heavy blow for the oil company from Great Britain, which since the beginning of the 20th century was present in Iran (since 1933 under the name of Anglo-Persian Oil Company, the name was changed for Anglo-Iranian  Oil Company).  British government lodged a complaint against Iran with the International Court of Justice, and then on 22 June 1951 filed a further request for the interim measures of protection to be implemented until the dispute is resolved. Two of the judges of the International Court of Justice gave a dissenting opinion in this case, one of them was a Polish judge, Bohdan Winiarski. In his opinion, and also opinion of Egyptian judge Abdel Hamid Badawi Pasha, the British government was not a party to the contract because it was signed between the Iranian Government and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company not with the British Government. This opinion was accepted by the International Court of Justice in Hague. The positive verdict of the Court was a huge victory for Iran. Without doubt, the Polish judge, Bohdan Winiarski, contributed to it.

The present article is devoted to the history of the community of Zarathustrians of Poona (Maharashtra). Although invidual Parsi settlers had appeared there also in earlier times, their presence became clearly manifested there at the beginning of the 19th century and has continuously lasted in that city for more than two centuries now. The first fire temple in Poona was established in 1824. However, not only fire temples and towers of silence marked Zarathustrians’ arrival. One of the precepts of their religion is charity and the Parsi community have engaged in it on the Indian land for centuries. Some of wealthy Parsis have arranged for extensive water works or supported the construction of educational institutions and hospitals. The Zarathustrian community have been contributing to the development of Poona exactly in this way, thus becoming part and parcel of the history of the city.

This study examines the evolution and lasting impact of a section of the Habsburg-Ottoman borderlands which was established in 1664 along the Raab river and existed until the 1680s. Although it was short, the upcoming events that led to this period and the contrasting fates of the two sides of the river during the era were to leave a profound mark on the cultural memory of local communities as well as those living in the hinterlands. It will be shown in the article how the river delineated and imprinted the sense of West and East in both popular consciousness and historiography. In particular, the study will contextualise two castles (Hainfeld and Bertholdstein) on the Styrian, i.e., western, part of the area, pointing out the continuity of their development between the Ottoman through the Post-Ottoman periods. Among the Post-Ottoman personages who ensured the Islamicate continuity of these two castles, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall and Władysław Kościelski will be highlighted in the essay.

This short paper contributes to a larger field of text and skill transmission, as exemplified by editorial traditions linked to the Shāhnāma circulation in the Early Modern Central Asia. The analysis of the callligraphic work of a Bukharan professional known as Ādina Kāteb Bokhāri (end 15th/early 16th century) shows that he clearly specialized in the production of good quality copies of Persian literary texts, and especially the Shāhnāma epics. It also gives some insight into the organisation and circumstances of book production linked to professional copy workshops. The study of manuscript volumes signed by Ādina also brings to light such issues as specialisation, collaborative scribal work, larger editorial projects, but also literary trends and readership of literary texts.