著者

黒柳 恒男

出版者

The Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.12, no.1, pp.1-16,168, 1969

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Pancatantra, famous collection of animal fables of Indian origin, was translated into Middle Persian by Burzoe in the sixth century, but this version was lost. In the eighth century, Ibn al-Muqaffa' translated the Middle Persian version into Arabic prose and named it "Kalila wa Dimna" after the names of two jackals in the text. This Arabic translation became the basis for subsequent Persian versions.<br>First of all, in the tenth century the famous poet of the Samanid court, Rudaki put the Arabic version into Persian verse form at Amir Nasr's request, but no more than several verses of this epic have survived.<br>Abu al-Ma'ali Nasr Allah, probably a native of Shiraz, translated the Arabic version into Persian prose about 1144, which was dedicated to Bahram-Shah of Ghazna. This version was made in such an elegant style that it had effect on many later Persian works, such as "Akhlaq-i-Nasiri" and "Marzban-nameh".<br>About the end of the fifteenth century Husain Wa'iz Kashifi made by far the best known Persian version, entitled "Anwar-i-Suhaili", which was aimed at simplifying and popularising Nasr Allah's version. But his style was much more bombastic and florid, with many exaggerated expressions and considerably expanded parts.<br>This bombastic version became simplified in India and Abu al-Fadl, a famous historian and minister under Akbar, compiled a book, entitled "'Iyar-i-Danish", which was derived from Kashifi's version.