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Art. VII.—The Alchemist. A Persian Play

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2011

Guy Le Strange
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Extract

The Alchemist is one of a series of plays lithographed at Tehran, in 1874, by Mirza Ja'afar, a native of Karâjeh-Dâgh. They are his translation from an Azerbaijani-Turkish original, written by Mirza Fath-‘Ali, of Derbend, and first published at Tiflis in 1861. In conjunction with Mr. Haggard, some few years ago, I had occasion to edit, with a translation, the first in order of these plays. Recently, an excellent edition in Persian of three more of Mirza Ja'afar's comedies, and among them “The Alchemist,” has appeared under the auspices of two well-known French scholars.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , January 1886 , pp. 103 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1886

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References

page 103 note 1 The Vazîr of Lankurân. Edited, with a translation, notes, and a vocabulary, by Haggard, W. H. D. and le Strange, G.. London, 1882.Google Scholar

page 103 note 2 Trois Comédies Persanes. Publiées avec un glossaire et des notes par de Meynard, C. Barbier et Guyard, S.. Paris, 1886.Google Scholar

page 106 note 1 All these places are in the Caucasus Province. Kaldak is an Armenian village in the Karabagh Hills, near Erivân; Sâmûk is a town on the Kûr (Cyrus) Eiver, not far from Ganja, or Elizabethpol; and Nakhû (or Nakhî) is the chief town of the district lying to the south-east of Tiflis.

page 106 note 2 Khâchmaz is a village lying to the south-east of Nakhû. The title of Shaikh here implies that this personage was Chief of a Darvîsh College.

page 106 note 3 A.D. 1832.

page 107 note 1 A village near Erivân.

page 107 note 2 The Russian “pood” weighs about two stone.

page 109 note 1 Ustâd, literally Master.

page 109 note 2 Khleb sol is Bussian for “Bread and salt,” presented by the host to the incoming guest.

page 110 note 1 The Kârûn; of the Kurân is identical with the Biblical Korah, who headed the rebellion against Moses in the Wilderness. In Moslem legend he is proverbial for his wealth, as we say of Crœsus.

page 113 note 1 The literal translation of the Persian expression. It means “Are you well?”

page 115 note 1 Such as Darvîshes usually wear

page 115 note 2 Darvîshes generally carry a cow-horn, or conch, for sounding before they call for alms.

page 115 note 3 Monsieur Barbier de Meynard takes occasion to point out in a note that the presence of the cock, in this incantation scene, is probably due to some confused recollection in the popular mind of the respect accorded to this bird in Zoroastrian legends. In Persia of Sassanian times, the cock was a sacred fowl, being the favourite of Vohumanô, the best of Ormazd's creatures, in whom was incarnate “Wisdom and Science. It was the cock who at dawn of day crowed and called the faithful to their prayers, thereby chasing away the Dîv of sleep. Also, according to the Bundehesh, the cock and the dog were the emblems of vigilance and the adversaries of the evil genii and Yatûs.

page 115 note 4 This is the Darvîsh cry all over the Moslem east. It is Arabic, and means literally, “O He! (Allah the Only One) O the Truth! (that is, Allah.) ”

page 115 note 5 These verses occur in that portion of Sa‘adî’s Divân, which is entitled “Tay-yibât,” or “Perfumed Words.” In the Bombay edition of 1851 they are given, but in a different order, in vol. ii. p. 41.Google Scholar

page 116 note 1 This is a favourite position with Darvîshes.

page 117 note 1 Towards Mekka.

page 117 note 2 The attitude of respect and attention.

page 118 note 1 Vartash or Vartashin, a village lying south of Nakhû.

page 119 note 1 See note 2 to p. 107.

page 122 note 1 Farsakh = Parasang. a little over three miles.

page 122 note 1 This is probably Abu Yakûb Sakâkî, the Necromancer, who composed the work entitled Miftah al' Ulûm, “The Key of the Sciences.” He died in A.D. 1229.

page 123 note 1 Who this learned doctor was I have been unable to discover.

page 125 note 1 A common sign of distress in the East.