Orality and Textuality in the Iranian World Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture Editors Guy Stroumsa (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) David Shulman (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) VOLUME 19 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/jsrc Orality and Textuality in the Iranian World Patterns of Interaction across the Centuries Edited by Julia Rubanovich LEIDEN | BOSTON This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see brill.com/brill-typeface. issn 1570-078X isbn 978-90-04-29183-6 (hardback) isbn 978-90-04-29197-3 (e-book) Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill nv, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill nv incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Rodopi and Hotei Publishing. All rights reserved. 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Contents Acknowledgments ix List of Illustrations x Notes on Transliteration and Abbreviations xii Notes on Contributors xiii Introduction: New Perspectives on Orality in Iranian Studies 1 Julia Rubanovich Part 1 Approaching Orality 1 Memory and Textuality in the Orality-Literacy Continuum 19 Karl Reichl 2 Orality and Esotericism Reflections on Modes of Transmission in Late Antiquity 43 Shaul Shaked Part 2 Sacred Traditions and Oral History 3 Irano-Talmudica III Giant Mythological Creatures in Transition from the Avesta to the Babylonian Talmud 65 Reuven Kiperwasser and Dan D.Y. Shapira 4 The Islamic Ascension Narrative in the Context of Conversion in Medieval Iran An Apocalypse at the Intersection of Orality and Textuality 93 Maria E. Subtelny 5 The Motif of the Cave and the Funerary Narratives of Nāṣir-i Khusrau 130 Jo-Ann Gross vi contents Part 3 Iranian Epic Tradition 6 ʻThe Ground Well Trodden But the Shah Not Found . .ʼ Orality and Textuality in the ʻBook of Kingsʼ and the Zoroastrian Mythoepic Tradition 169 Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw Vevaina 7 ʻThe Book of the Black Demon,ʼ or Shabrang-nāma, and the Black Demon in Oral Tradition 191 Gabrielle R. van den Berg 8 Why So Many Stories? Untangling the Versions of Iskandar’s Birth and Upbringing 202 Julia Rubanovich 9 Some Comments on the Probable Sources of Ibn Ḥusām’s Khāvarān- nāma and the Oral Transmission of Epic Materials 241 Raya Shani 10 Professional Storytelling (naqqālī) in Qājār Iran 271 Ulrich Marzolph Part 4 Oral and Literary Traditions as Channels of Cultural Transformation 11 The Literary Use of Proverbs and Myths in Nāṣir-i Khusrau’s Dīvān 289 Mohsen Zakeri 12 Classical Poetry as Cultural Capital in the Proverbs of Jews from Iran Transformations of Intertextuality 307 Galit Hasan-Rokem 13 Gashtak: Oral/Literary Intertextuality, Performance and Identity in Contemporary Tajikistan 316 Margaret Mills and Ravshan Rahmoni contents vii 14 The Tale of ʻThe Old Woman on the Mountainʼ A Jewish Folktale from Afghanistan 342 Tsila Zan-Bar Tsur Part 5 Performative Aspects of Orality in Visual Artefacts 15 Aramaic Incantation Texts between Orality and Textuality 365 Charles G. Häberl 16 Between Demons and Kings The Art of Babylonian Incantation Bowls 400 Naama Vilozny 17 Between Written Texts, Oral Performances and Mural Paintings Illustrated Scrolls in Pre-Islamic Central Asia 422 Frantz Grenet Index 447 Acknowledgments The present volume is based on the international workshop ‘Orality and Textuality in the Iranian World: Patterns of interaction across the centuries,’ convened in December 2008 by the editor of this volume in collaboration with Shaul Shaked at the Institute of Asian and African Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Generously funded by Dr. May and Rolando Schinasi, the workshop inaugurated the establishment of the May and Rolando Schinasi Foundation for Iranian and Central Asian Studies at the Hebrew University. May, an important scholar of Afghan history and culture, and Rolando, a notable collector of Islamic metalwork, believe in the importance of dialogue about the history and cultural heritage of the Persianate world between Israeli scholars and their counterparts overseas. I would like to express my gratitude to these two inspiring personalities for promoting such dialogue. I wish to thank the contributors to this volume for their fine scholarship, but also for the immense patience and courtesy with which they have borne the lengthy and fastidious editing process. I am grateful to David Shulman and Guy Stroumsa for accepting this work in their series Jerusalem Studies in Religion and Culture. Thanks go to my dear friends and colleagues, especially to Shaul Shaked for his support and readiness to share his knowledge and advice during the preparation of this book, Donna Shalev and Geoffrey Hermann for their invaluable help with specific articles. My daughters Esther and Aya bring great joy into my life every day. I am grateful for their genuine interest in my work and their delicate understanding and loving support. Julia Rubanovich List of Illustrations 5.1 ‘Alexander/Iskandar and the Hermit in the Cave.’ 133 5.2 Shāhzādamuḥammad ibn Sayyid Farukhshāh and His Sons, Shohikalon ebn Shohzodamuhammad (left) and Muhammad Sherzodshoh (right). Porshnev, Badakhshān 139 5.3 Boulder and shrine of Nāṣir-i Khusrau in Yumgān 147 5.4 Interior view of the mazār of Nāṣir-i Khusrau 155 5.5 ‘The Aṣḥāb al-Kahf in Their Cave.’ 157 6.1 ‘The Paladins of Kay Khusrau Perish in a Snowstorm.’ Firdausī 174 9.1 ‘ʿAlī Lifting the Gate of Khāvarān.’ 248 9.2 ‘ʿAlī and His Companions Crossing a Trench on Napkins.’ 254 9.3 ‘Muḥammad and Jabrāʾīl Watching the Miraculous Deeds of ʿAlī in Khāvarān.’ 254 9.4 ‘Ibn Ḥusām Meets Firdausī in His Garden.’ 264 9.5 ‘ʿAlī and His Mount Duldul, Encountering a Marauding Lion.’ 264 16.1 and 16.1a Incantation bowls. Schøyen Collection 2053–198, 2056–12 402 16.2 and 16.2a Hybrid creatures on the bowls. Schøyen Collection 2056–10, 1911–1 403 16.3 An incantation bowl. Schøyen Collection 2053–182 406 16.4 A Sasanian amulet 406 16.5 An incantation bowl. Schøyen Collection 2053–250 408 16.6 An incantation bowl. Schøyen Collection 2053–198 408 16.7 An amulet from Emmaus, Palestine 409 16.8 Frontal position of the images on the bowls. Schøyen Collection 2053–237 409 16.9 Decorated limbs on the bowls. Schøyen Collection 1911–3 411 16.10 Parthian costumes 412 16.11 A Sasanian silver bowl 412 16.12 An incantation bowl. Moussaieff Collection 414 16.13 A Sasanian golden coin 414 16.14 An incantation bowl. Schøyen Collection 2053–217 415 16.15 An incantation bowl. Schøyen Collection 1928–2 417 16.16 and 16.16a An incantation bowl. Moussaieff Collection 418 17.1 Panjikent, Rustam Tale (second register from the bottom), western and northern walls, scenes 1 to 5 424 17.2 Rustam Tale, scenes 1 and 2 426 17.3 Rustam Tale, northern and eastern walls 426 17.4 Rustam Tale, scene 7 (the battle with the demons), detail 428 list of illustrations xi 17.5 Engraved wooden boards: Tepsey cemetery, Tashtyk culture, Southern Siberia, 3rd–5th c. CE 428 17.6 Panjikent, The Merchant and the Spirit (or Beauty and the Beast?) 430 17.7 Panjikent, The Monkeys, the Elephants and the Woman Playing with the Ram 431 17.8 Panjikent, The Bull, the Lion and the Jackal 432 17.9 Panjikent, Pairs of Lovers 433 17.10 Dalʾverzintepe, wall painting from a private house, 2nd c. CE 434 17.11 Detail of Leda, with comparative material: left, Leda seated on the swan; right, Leda stroking the swan’s neck 435 17.12 Detail of Iphigenia’s Sacrifice, with comparative material (Attic oeno- choe, 430–420 BCE) 435 17.13 Turfan scroll 437 17.14 Detail: Nirṛti 438 17.15 Detail: Virgo (legends in Tokharian: mot ‘alcoholic drink’; ṣipāṅkiñc ‘abacus’) 439 17.16 Detail: Aquarius (legend in Sanskrit: kumbha ‘jar, Aquarius’) 439 17.17 Detail: Gemini 439 Notes on Transliteration and Abbreviations The transliteration for Persian and Arabic follows the system adopted in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies (IJMES), with the following modifications: no difference between Persian and Arabic is made in translit- erating ‚ ‚ , tāʾ marbūṭa and the nisba ending and they are rendered according to the transliteration for Arabic. For modern colloquial Persian and Dari and modern Tajik, the transliteration guidelines are explained separately in the relevant articles. Abbreviations BAI Bulletin of the Asia Institute BSOAS Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies EI2 The Encyclopaedia of Islam. Ed. H.A.R. Gibb et al. New edition. EIr Encyclopædia Iranica, ed. E. Yarshater EQ Encyclopaedia of the Qurʾān JAF Journal of American Folklore JAL Journal of Arabic Literature JAOS Journal of the American Oriental Society JRAS Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society JSQ Jewish Studies Quarterly JSAI Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam ZDMG Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft Notes on Contributors Gabrielle van den Berg studied Persian language and literature at the University of Leiden (Ph.D. 1997) and at the University of Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Her research focuses on Tajik oral tradition, in particular on the poetic traditions of the Ismāʿīlīs of Tajik Badakhshan and on classical Persian literature. From 1998 to 2001 she was E.G.