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Vol. 16, No. 4 (39)
Winter 2019

Journal based in 2004
Issued quarterly

The entire issue as a *.PDF file

RESEARCH WORKS

Youli A. Ioannesyan. The Vowel Variation [A]–[E] in Word Final Position in the Khorasani Persian Dialects — 5
The article considers the variation [а]–[е] in word final position as a constant tendency in the Khorasani Persian dialects as well as one of their features “intermediate” between the Western and Eastern groups of Persian-Dari-Tajiki dialects. The analysis is based on the material collected by the author in the course of his field research in Afghanistan and on data drawn from various sources, including vocalized and partly transcribed dialectal texts available online. Three representative Khorasani dialects are used for this study, namely Herati (spoken in the city of Herat and the Herati province in Afghanistan), Mashhadi and Birjandi (spoken in the Iranian cities of Mashhad and Birjand respectively), which enables the author to cover a wide geographic area in which the dialects of this particular group are located.
Key words: Iranian studies, Persian dialectology, Iranian dialectology, Afghan (Dari) dialectology

Igor A. Alimov. Notes on the Xiaoshuo Genre: Ye Ren Xian Hua — 13
The article is a part of a large ongoing study under the general title “A Concise History of the 1–13th Century Chinese Xiaoshuo Prose”. It is devoted to the xiaoshuo collection named “Idle Speeches of One Living in the Wilderness” by Geng Huan. This is a collection of various stories about the supernatural that existed in Shu (now Sichuan), as well as some unofficial information about those who served this kingdom and the Shu rulers themselves. The article considers the history of creation of the text, analyzes its composition, examines the issue of popularity of Ye Ren Xian Hua.
Key words: China, Chinese literature, Chinese Xiaosho prose, textology, Ye Ren Xian Hua

Stanislav M. Prozorov. The Origins, Problems and Tasks of Russian Academic Islamic Studies — 18
The paper discusses the following issues: the collection of Arabic-script manuscripts of the Asiatic Museum of Imperial Academy of Sciences (St. Petersburg) as a base for the emergence and subsequent development of Academic Islamic studies in Russia. The “Westernization” and “christianization” of Islamic vocabulary in Russia. The important events in the history of Russian Academic Islamic Studies: the first translations of the Qur’an into Russian from the original (D. N. Boguslavsky, G. S. Sablukov); the first Russian, fundamental “Arabic Anthology” and the Arabic-Russian “Dictionary for Reading the “Arabic Chrestomathy and the Qur’an”; the researches of Qur’anic vocabulary (K. S. Kashtaleva), Islamic studies of academician V. V. Barthold; the creation of the Chair of Islamic Studies in Petrograd University (November 1918). The purposeful and consistent course of action aimed at the creation of Russian school of Academic Islamic studies. The complex program of study of Islam and preparation of professional Islamologists. One of the chronic problems and, at the same time, weakness of Russian Academic Islamic studies is the absence of unification of the basic Islamic vocabulary, hindering the advance of professional knowledge about Islam in Russian society. The most important discipline of the Academic Islamic Studies remains until now Qur’anica, including Islamic exegesis and translations of the Qur’an into Russian. The strategic tasks of Academic Islamic Studies are: collective preparation of the “basic” translation of the Qur’an into Russian; joint efforts of leaders of the academic and educational institutes for the creation of special chairs of Islamic Studies; the creation of an Academic Multidiscipline Federal Institute of Islamic Studies.
Key words: Academic Islamic Studies, Asiatic Museum, “Basic” Translation of the Qur’an, Chair of Islamic Studies, Comment of the Qur’an, Institute of Islamic Studies, Islam, Islamological Education, preparation of professional Islamologists, translations of the Qur’an into Russian, unification of basic Islamic vocabulary (terms)

Anastasia V. Stepanova. The Meaning and Symbolism of the Berber Tattoos of the Maghreb — 34
The tradition of tattooing plays an important role in the Berber culture of the Maghreb countries. Despite the prohibition of tattoos in the Qurʼan, the features of atavistic animism, faith in the sacred meaning of symbols and the power of baraka inherent in living and non-living objects, are strong in Islamic societies of North Africa. Tattoo, its ingredients, needles, symbols have the power to affect the lives of people, protect them from the evil eye, the vicissitudes of fate and evil spirits (genies). The tradition of tattooing is a part of the female social space, through this practice the wisdom and experience of generations are transmitted. The article provides a brief study of major symbols, techniques and meanings of the Amazigh tattoos’ tradition.
Key words: tattoos, Maghreb, North Africa, Berbers, symbolism

HISTORY AND HISTORIOGRAPHY

Olga M. Chunakova. Sogdian Fragments of a Buddhist Sutra — 41
The article deals with ten Sogdian fragments from the Department of Manuscripts of IOM RAS. Their handwriting, appearance and specific folds and defects indicate that they are parts of the same manuscript. Their content and similarity to other Buddhist writings suggest that they belong to a collection of Buddhist narratives similar to the famous “The Sutra of the Wise and the Foolish”.
Key words: Sogdian, Buddhist sutra, the Department of Manuscripts of IOM RAS

Alexander V. Zorin, Alla A. Sizova. On the Tibetan Block Print from Khara-Khoto Housed at the Collection of the IOM RAS — 60
The collection of Tibetan texts from Khara-Khoto kept at the IOM, RAS has some fragments of a block print edition of a small collection of texts that has attracted much attention from academia, most fragments being gathered in the unit Kh. Tib. 67. This interest is caused by the fact that the text seems to be the earliest dated (mid-12th century) block print in the Tibetan language (the earlier Dunhuang and Turfan samples use Tibetan letters for rendering Sanskrit mantras). Moreover, Kh. Tib. 67 is a codex and, therefore, was mentioned in several works on the history of Tibetan books. This paper presents: 1) the history of study of the block print in connection with identification of analogous editions in Chinese and Tangut, 2) ascertainment of the unusual booklet form of Kh. Tib. 67 — a codex of Western type instead of the expected butterfly, 3) the first definition of all fragments of the block print (Kh. Tib. 67, on the one hand, and Kh. Tib. 63 and 68, on the other hand) as belonging to the same edition and, possibly, to the same copy of it; the part represented with Kh. Tib. 63 and 68 was used separately (presumably, as an amulet).
Key words: Khara-Khoto, Tibetan codicology, block prints in Tibetan, book culture of the Tanguts, emperor Renzong

Elena Yu. Kharkova. Foundations for Tibetan Lexicography in the Mahāvyutpatti — 76
The paper specifies the characteristics of the initial stage in the formation of Tibetan lexicography, as represented by the Mahāvyutpatti, the Sanskrit-Tibetan lexicon compiled in Tibet in the early 9th century. The study of the colophon to “The Grammar Commentary [on the Mahāvyutpatti] in Two Parts” (Sgra sbyor bam gnyis), or Madhyavyutpatti, allows to trace the main methodological principles that laid the foundations for Tibetan lexicography as a cultural science in its own right.
Key words: Tibetan lexicography, Indian lexicography, the Mahāvyutpatti , the Madhyavyutpatti, Dictionary, Buddhist terminology, Tibetan translations from Sanskrit

COLLECTIONS AND ARCHIVES

Svtetlana S. Sabrukova. Letters of V.I. Rassadin from Darkhan (from the Archives of Orientalists in the IOM RAS) — 88
The article publishes four letters written by V. I. Rassadin to his teacher T. A. Burdukova (1912–1987) between March 1962 and January 1963. In these letters, for the first time he described his own method of learning foreign languages, which became the basis for his further scholarly career. In details, his theory is presented in his letters, and can be applied not only to the Mongolian language, but to other languages as well. Following his method, V. I. Rassadin himself learned the Tatar language, taught Russian to Mongols, as well as Mongolian to Soviet specialists in Darkhan. His description of Mongolian life at the beginning of industrial development, as well as his personal perceptions could be of a great interest.
Key words: V. I. Rassadin, letters, Mongolian colloquial language, foreign language teaching methods

Olga V. Lundysheva, Liubov I. Kriakina. The IOM RAS Conservation Laboratory — 100
The article is dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Conservation Laboratory at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences — Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The main purpose of the article is to recall the names of all the conservators who worked and currently work at the Institute and thus express our respect and gratitude to their work. The article introduces several archival documents related to the history of the founding of the Laboratory.
Key words: conservation laboratory, manuscript conservation, archival documents, history of conservation

ACADEMIC LIFE

Ivan V. Bogdanov. The Third Academic Conference in Memory of Prof. Dr. Vladimir A. Jakobson “History and Culture of the Ancient Orient” (St. Petersburg, March 18–19, 2019) — 111

Mark A. Kozintcev. International Youth Forum “Russia and the Turkic World: The Outlook of Youth from Russia and Kirghizia” (Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, April 26–27, 2019) — 118

Anna A. Turanskaia, Alexander V. Zorin. Report on the 15th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies (France, Paris, July 7–13, 2019) — 121

Alexander V. Zorin. The Eighth St. Petersburg Tibetological Seminar (St. Petersburg, September 10, 2018) — 124

Tatiana A. Pang. Manchu Research Workshop (Germany, Münich, September 17–18, 2019) — 129

REVIEWS

Polhov S. A. Law Codes of Sengoku daimyo: Researches and Translations. New Researches on Japanese Culture. Book 2. Moscow: Krug, 2015. 648 pp. (Vadim Yu. Klimov) — 133

A. V. Belyakov. Uraz-Muhammad b. Ondan and Isiney Karamyshev, Son of Musait. An Attempt at Joint Biography. Almaty: ABDI Company, 2019. 208 pp. (Roman Yu. Pochekaev) — 138