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The Origins of the Kalīlah wa Dimnah: Reconsideration in the Light of Sasanian Legal History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2012

JANY JÁNOS
JANY JÁNOS*
Affiliation:
Pázmány Péter Catholic University
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Abstract

Kalīlah wa Dimnah, a compendium of individual tales and short stories, is a very well-known Middle Eastern literary work. Although it can not match the popularity of the ‘One Thousand and One Nights’, it is nevertheless sufficiently well known to have attracted scholarly interest for decades. As a result, a considerable volume of scholarly writing has been produced regarding its origin and importance.

This article focuses on the origin of one story in the work, the trial of Dimnah. Since the Indian original is missing, accepted wisdom attributes the writing of this story to its first Arabic translator, Ibn al-Muqaffac. Although I do not challenge this view, I argue that there could be an Urtext in Middle Persian which was later rewritten by the famous translator. In what follows, this article provides evidence for this hypothesis from what at first glance might be considered a surprising perspective – Sasanian legal history.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 22 , Issue 3-4 , October 2012 , pp. 505 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 2012

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Footnotes

1

The writing of this article was sponsored by the TAMOP 4.2.1 B-11/2/KMR grant of the European Union and the Hungarian government.

References

2 Brockelmann, C., “Kalīlah wa Dimnah”, The Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. IV. (Leiden, 1986), pp. 503–506 Google Scholar.

3 Firdawsī, Shāhnāme (ed. J. Mohl) (Tehran, 1369) vol. 4., pp. 1891–1897.

4 C. Brockelmann 1986, pp. 503–506; de Blois, François, Burzōy's Voyage to India and the Origin of the Book Kalīlah wa Dimnah (London, 1990), pp. 1–10 Google Scholar.

5 de Blois 1990, pp. 40–41.

6 Ibid., p. 39.

7 The Pañcatantra, The Book of India's Folk Wisdom. (Translated by Patrick Olivelle) (Oxford, 1997), “Introduction”, p. x.

8 Olivelle 1997, p. xii.

9 See Kangele, R. P., The Kautilya Arthaśāstra, Part III: A Study. (New Delhi, 1965), pp. 269–273 Google Scholar.

10 Thapar, Romila, Early India. From the Origins to AD 1300 (London, 2002), pp. 175–176 Google Scholar.

11 With regard to the author and date, the various pro and contra arguments are discussed in detail by Kangele 1965, pp. 59–78.

12 Kangele 1965, p. 12.

13 Olivelle 1997, p. xxix.

14 For details of the life and work of Ibn al-Muqaffac, see Gabrieli, F., “Ibn al-Muḳaffac ”, In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam III (Leiden, 1986) pp. 883–885 Google Scholar.

15 de Blois 1990, p. 3.

16 Ibid ., p. 14.

17 Kalīlah wa Dimnah (ed. Muṣṭafa Luṭfī al-Manfaluṭī), Dār al-kutub al-carabī, (Beirut, 2005), p. 220.

18 Jany, J., “Criminal Justice in Sasanian Persia”, Iranica Antiqua XLII (Ghent, 2007), pp. 376–377 Google Scholar.

19 Ibid ., pp. 373–384.

20 Braun, O., Ausgewählte Akten persischer Märtyrer (Munich, 1915), p. 146 Google Scholar.

21 Kalīlah wa Dimnah, p. 208

22 Jany 2007, pp. 350–354.

23 Kalīlah wa Dimnah, p. 137.

24 Zaehner, R., The Teachings of the Magi (London, 1956), p. 102 Google Scholar.

25 Kalīlah wa Dimnah, p. 155.

26 Al-Ghazzālī: Nasīhat al-mulūk (ed. Galāl al-Dīn Hemmātī) (Tehran, 1351), p. 111.

27 Kalīlah wa Dimnah, pp. 191–193.

28 Qābūs, Kay, Nasīhat-nāme (Qābūsnāme), (ed. Sacid NefisīTehran, 1342) pp. 115–117 Google Scholar.

29 de Blois, 1990, p. 14. He is of the view, however, that Ibn al-Muqaffac is the author of the story of the punishment of Dimnah.