A Newly Discovered Manuscript: Second Version of Syarh Rubai of Hamzah Fansuri Written by Syamsuddin Al Sumatrani

In the paper we provide a report on the discovery of a manuscript containing Syarh Rubai of Hamzah Fansuri written by his disciple Syamsuddin Al Sumatrani, which was found in the Minangkabau area. The manuscript is a second and largerly independent version in comparison to similar manuscript that has been previously found and edited by Ali Hasjmy in Aceh. We identify differences between both manuscripts such as the presentation structure, introduction, colophon, the number of stanza, the date of writing, and dictions. The manuscripts reflect the polemic on wujudiyah between Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin on one side, and Nuruddin Ar Raniri on the other side. Furthermore, the locations related to the manuscripts, Aceh and Minangkabau, show the spread of wujudiyah in the Malay world that add new information to the discussion on local Islamic studies. We argue that the newly found manuscript shows the spread of wujudiyah from Aceh to Minangkabau and the growing number of its followers in the region.

Russian Sources of the Qur’anic Ethnography II. Alexander A. Adamov and His “Arabic Iraq”

The scholarly and documentary heritage, the museum collections associated with the name of Alexander A. Adamov (1870—1938), one of the leading Russian diplomats and practicing orientalists at the eve of the First World War, are undoubtedly an important source for studying the history of the Middle East at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the history of the rivalry of the great powers in the region. Today, however, the significance of Adamov's texts and collections takes on yet another dimension. It is Qur’anic ethnography, a new scientific field, based on the results of specialized studies of previous years, and it is closely related to the studies of the Qur’anic language and the language milieu of Arabia at the time of the Prophet, to the ethnographical field studies in Arabia and Qur’anic archaeology. Researchers of Arabia are very well familiar with the phenomenon of the long preservation of elements of traditional tangible culture and economic activities here. This phenomenon is mostly based on the specific natural and climatic conditions, which brought about a set of elements of tangible culture that have proved to be highly viable throughout many centuries. In this connection, we regard the itineraries and works of European travellers to Arabia in the second half of the 18th century — first third of the 20th century as a serious source for our research. Whereas the names and papers of the Western travellers are well known and have been often referred to in various research projects devoted to Arabia, similar Russian works are still waiting for their turn. The second article of the series is dedicated to the activities of a man who devoted a significant part of his life to the study of Iraq and the Gulf region, the areas that played a huge role in the complex and largely ambiguous processes that led to the emergence of Islam. Accurate historical and ethnographic observations of Adamov make it possible to obtain material that is important for the reconstruction of territorial units and types of settlements, types of clothing and dwellings, the specifics of water supply and irrigation methods, agriculture and horticulture, the role of different types of animals in economic circulation, and nutritional systems typical for Arabia in the time of the rise of Islam.

The Mobility of Chinese Officials. II: Lu Zhen and Cheng yao lu

The present paper focuses on Cheng yao lu (“Notes of the Traveller in a Chariot), the itinerary diary of Lu Zhen (957—1014), a Sung historian and official, that attests to the mobility of the old Chinese dignitaries. Lu Zhen kept this itinerary diary during his ambassade in the Khitan state of Liao and described a lot of extraordinary details about the state, its local habits and customs, which makes this written monument an important source of historic and ethnographic information.

Scenes from the Lotus Sutra. An Old Uygur Temple Banner with Cartouche Inscriptions

The temple banner IB 4781 of the former Ethnological Museum in Berlin (today: Hermitage Museum ВД 585) originates from Qočo (Dakianusšahri: afterwards D 222). A. Grünwedel gave its detailed description, but after his publication in 1905 it remained more or less untouched. The picture is based on an overall composition in which individual passages from the sutra have been integrated. The groups of figures arranged in the cloud scenes were examined in detail in Grünwedel's description. They are mostly bodhisattvas. In depicting the figures sitting around the Buddhas the painter has included figures seen from behind, so that one can correctly imagine a circle, which of course should indicate that all the figures are concentrated on the Buddha. The 10 text cartouches contain quotations in Old Uygur based on the Chinese text of the Lotus sutra. They are read here for the first time. In the paper these cartouche texts are studied as well as the names of the donors on the bottom of the temple banner.

Lowercase Writing in Loanword Transliteration in Japanese

This paper shows how the so-called lower case katakana writing is utilized for the transliteration of loanwords in Japanese, avoiding unpermitted phonological sequences. In order to adapt the foreign ti, di, tu, du, hu sequences, Japanese orthography employs lowercase writing (i. e., written in “small letters”) to preserve the phonological entity of the target words in the transliteration, e. g., disko “disco” → <deisko>, feis “face” → <ɸue:su>. That is, the diphthongal representations have to depend on special symbols, i. e., lowercase glides. Due to many complexities, Japanese writing system, especially the Romanization, is regarded as one of the most complicated systems which cannot be accounted for in a simple way. In order to provide a unified account on this issue, we employ the framework of Optimality Theory and show what kinds of constraints and their ranking relations are required the Japanese lowercase writing. We here claim that vowel correspondence is ranked higher than consonantal correspondence in Japanese lowercase writing. Moreover, the preservation of mora is another important factor in loan adaptation. Furthermore, the constraint ranking is different, depending on the period of adaptation; the new and old loanwords are realized differently from each other, although they have the same phonemic inputs.

Safawid Diplomatic Documents from the Period of Shah Safi I in the RSAAA Collections

The paper provides an overview of documents in Persian and Turkic languages from the period of Shah Safi I, that are kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (hereinafter RSAAA). Concise information on Safawid missions to Russia is followed by classification of Safawid documents related to them. The documents, which we divide into texts and registers, are described in terms of their functions and content. The article concludes with attempts to distinguish and exemplify those components of formulary, that are common for all types of the texts, i. e. decrees, letters and petitions. The article can also be regarded as a brief summary of results obtained during the implementation of the project, supported by the RSF. Only few of the documents, found and explored by members of the project, had attracted attention of researchers, and none of them had been published, until the project got started.

Contribution of Pyotr Lerch to the Study of the History of Central Asia (Based on Materials from the Archives and Libraries of the Russian Academy of Sciences)

The article is devoted the works and activities of Pyotr Ivanovich Lerch (1828—1884), one of the modest but truly devoted to the real scholarship representatives of Russian academic Oriental studies tradition, whose scholarly contributions are closely connected the Central Asian studies. His name is associated with interesting collections of manuscripts and documents, study and replenishment of numismatic collections, archaeological surveys, philological research and important scholarly events.

“Scribal” Quatrains in Poetry Collections: A General Typology and the Question of Origin

Since many East Syriac copyists were also poets, they created a number of poetic texts — mostly quatrains — mentioning scribes and their work that obtained much importance in the both literary life and manuscript production of this Church in the Ottoman period. Some of them were placed in poetic anthologies. The current article discusses the problems of the origin and the general typology of such pieces that have never been studied before.

List of Complaints to Tsar Mikhail Fjodorovich by Shah Safi I, Submitted Verbally by the Persian Ambassador Adzhibek on April 13, 1635

The manuscript given below is uncommon for the Safawid corpus of the Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts (RSAAA). It is a list of instructions for verbal enunciation given by Safi I to his ambassador Hajji Inji who deliver the text at an audience with Mikhail Fjodorovich, held on April 13, 1635. The text brought up four particular issues that had been upholding conflictive environment in the Russian-Qizilbash relations to the moment of negotiations. The points raised were increasing Cossacks invasions, extradition of fugitives, return of the traders' property lost during shipwreck and detaining of the Shahs paper packs.