HOW TO MAKE A VOICE AUDIBLE? CONTINUITY AND CHANGE OF KURDISH CULTURE AND OF SOCIAL REALITY IN POSTCOLONIAL PERSPECTIVES FRITILLARIA KURDICA BULLETIN OF KURDISH STUDIES № 13-14 09/2016 ISSN 2353-4052 INSTITUTE OF ORIENTAL STUDIES, JAGIELLONIAN UNIVERSITY NATIONAL SCIENCE CENTRE KRAKÓW, JUNE/SEPTEMBER 2016 Fritillaria Kurdica. W trzynastym i czternastym (podwójnym) Bulletin of Kurdish Studies. numerze naszego czasopisma przedsta- No 13-14/09.2016 wiamy artykuły w języku angielskim po- ISSN 2353-4052 wstałe zarówno w ramach projektu badaw- czego, jak i teksty gościnne lub powstałe The e-zine is edited in the scope of the rese- w ramach innych projektów badawczych. arch project: How to Make a Voice Audible? Continuity and Change of Kurdish Culture and The 13th and 14th (double) issue of our of Social Reality in Postcolonial Perspectives approved for financing by the decision num- bulletin is published in English language. ber DEC-2012/05/E/HS2/03779 of The Natio- Four articles were written by the mem- nal Science Centre of Poland bers of our research project and four other are guest publications or prepared in the Published by: Section of Kurdish Studies, scope of other research projects. Department of Iranian Studies Institute of Oriental Studies Hejmara 13-14an a kovara me nivîsên of Jagiellonian University înglîzî pêşkêşî xwendevanan dike. Çar nivîs ul. Podwale 7, 31-118 Kraków bi endamên projeya me hat nivîsandin û Editors: çar yên din jî bi mêvanan an jî di çarçoveya dr Joanna Bocheńska (editor in chief): projeyên din hat nivîsandin. [email protected] dr Renata Kurpiewska-Korbut: [email protected] dr Marcin Rzepka: [email protected] Krzysztof Lalik: [email protected] Karol Kaczorowski: [email protected] Proof-reading Otylia Plucińska Layout, typesetting Tomasz Mieloch Kraków, June/September 2016 www.kurdishstudies.pl Contents Seyedehbehnaz Hosseini 4 Life after Death in Manichaeism and Yārsān Joanna Bocheńska 35 Ehmede Khani’s Hymn to Forgiveness. Salvation of Satan in the Kurdish Classical Poem Mem and Zin Krzysztof Lalik 69 The impact of the Ottoman policy on the relations of Assyrians with Kurds. The case of Bedr Chan’s uprising Marcin Rzepka 82 The task of translation. Some remarks on the New Testament translation into Kurdish Мьзгини. Пəймана Ну (2000) Renata Kurpiewska-Korbut 93 Modern Kurdish Theater in Turkey. Between Political and Non-Political Nature Karol P. Kaczorowski 103 A Return of Forced Migration in Turkey? Olga Sewiłło, Oskar Podlasiński 123 Mother Tongue Multilevel Kurdish Education in Northern Kurdistan Artur Rodziewicz 151 The Armenian Portrait of the Peacock Angel. A polemical review of Garnik Asatrian and Victoria Arakelova’s The Religion of the Peacock Angel. The Yezidis and Their Spirit World FRITILLARIA KURDICA. BULLETIN OF KURDISH STUDIES | NO. 13-14, 09.2016 3 SEYEDEHBEHNAZ HOSSEINI1 Life after Death in Manichaeism and Yārsān2 ABSTRACT The idea of resurrection (i.e. life after death) is a common thread amongst different religions; however, there are considerable differences in concepts regarding the re- turn of the soul in this world. Like Manichaeism, there is a comparable belief in the Yārsāni Faith, referred to as Doon-ā-Doon. Significant similarities and differences among Manichaeism and Yārsān regarding resurrection underscore the motivation for conducting this study. From the analysis available ancient scripts, as well as view- points from Yārsāni scholars and leaders, this study attempts to obtain and offer a new, accurate, and pervasive interpretation of Yārsānis’ beliefs about life after death. Furthermore, the results obtained from this work will be analysed and compared with the obtained results with Manichaean beliefs, resulting in a new, innovative, and up- graded assessment. INTRODUCTION The objective of this section is to describe the research methodology that I have applied for this research. In addition, I will present an evaluation of the sources. I have used primary and secondary data for analysis. I have collected the pri- mary data regarding the Manichean concepts of life after death through library 1 Seyedeh Behnaz Hosseini completed her doctoral research with a focus on Yarsan in Iran and diaspora in the Department of Islamic Studies at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Uni- versity of Vienna. Her research interests include religious minorities in Iran and Iraq and forced migration. 2 This research is part of my fieldwork in Iranian Kurdistan. FRITILLARIA KURDICA. BULLETIN OF KURDISH STUDIES | NO. 13-14, 09.2016 4 research. Through fieldwork in Iran, as well as sources available in public and pri- vate Yārsāni libraries, I have collected the second portion of the primary data and secondary data. In addition, I have interpreted religious manuscripts and resources from outside of Iran. The most important focus of this paper is on Divan Gureh, the most essential Manuscript of Yārsān. Work on the text was not easy because interpretation of texts is very difficult as there are few Yārsāni adherents who can interpret even one line from these manuscripts. Finding the manuscripts was also difficult: upon my first request for theDivan Gureh, they told me I should first ask their leader, Seyyed Nasr Din in Kermanshah. Once he understood my need for the manuscript to conduct academic research, he allowed me access. Conducting this study was very difficult. Mr. Nemat Zahmatkesh apprised me that he had a great deal of information about the Yārsāni faith and its rituals because of his long coexistence with Yārsāni leaders in Iranian Kurdistan. He allowed me to visit his library to collect necessary references. He initially stated that interpreta- tion is not easy and that nobody has conducted a pervasive and scientific study on the Yārsānis’ manuscripts (kalām). All translations of Yārsāni poems are baseless and have been refuted by those who are familiar with Yārsāni manuscripts. He add- ed that some people have already published books by collecting kalām inscribed over Yārsāni tombstones – actions that Yārsāni leaders oppose very seriously. My transcription of sacred poems began under the supervision of a Yārsāni friend who lived in Finland. Another problem I encountered was the interpretation and trans- lation of these old poems written in Hawrami dialect that was used in this area in the past. Hawrami is different than Kermanshahi and Qalkhani dialects which are spoken there at present and people cannot understand these texts easily. Moreover, these texts contain many metaphors that refer to the times of Sultan Sahak and to interpret them special knowledge of kalam and sacred poems is required. Finding the manuscripts was also difficult: upon my first request for the Divan Gureh, they told me I should first ask their leader, Seyyed Nasr Din in Kermanshah. I will initially present the Divan Gureh, the most important religious manuscript of the Yārsānis. I agreed to continue interpretations on Doon-ā-Doon based on Yārsāni religious poems in the Divan Gureh to determine how they believed the soul transmigrated during different periods of their history. Divan Gureh includes a history of a long period from the Bohlol Era until the time of Seyyed Khamushi. FRITILLARIA KURDICA. BULLETIN OF KURDISH STUDIES | NO. 13-14, 09.2016 5 REINCARNATION IN THE MANICHAEAN RELIGION Life after death is manifested through metamorphosis and the Hearer, the believer, and one must find the competence to enter heaven through metamorphosis into another body (Beduhn, 2003). Klimkeit and Heuser relate that according to Man- ichaean principles, when a man comes into this world, he wears a garment made of soil that has been woven out of the corpses of monsters killed in the battle between lightness and darkness (1998). Mankind needs to doff this temporary garment in order to reach redemption. A number of Manichaean texts have explained the most detailed qualities of reincarnation. One of these, the Kephalaia, (The Kephalaia (Κεφαλαια), „Discourses,” found in Coptic translation) tells about the resurrection of the human soul into other creatures’ bodies, undergoing metamorphosis as many as 10,000 times. It has been emphasized that the process will continue until the soul reaches the kingdom of lightness, or eventual redemption (Klimkeit and Heu- ser, 1998: 78). As we can see in Kephalaia, when souls come forth from their body they travel on and go into life (Kephalaia 91.230, 12-19). They shall be purified in the heavens, in the same way that this alms-offering passes over to the Elect, and are given likenesses in many forms, are purified, and merge into the land of the living. The souls of the Catechumens, who shall never again enter a body, resem- ble them (Mirecki and BeDuhn, 1991: 29). A human soul will always suffer when returning to this world and entering another body before its time of redemption. Manichaean epistemology refers to this process of metamorphosis as Zadmurd. A study by Alexakis indicates that the Mani prophet had categorized his followers into three classes: the Elect, the Hearers, and the Sinners. While ordinary followers will be painfully punished after death, they will be returned to earth during rein- carnation. Mani both promises that the Elects’ souls will live in the Land of Light and warns about the manifestation of Sinners’ souls into the bodies of animals or plants. According to the Manichaean faith, deeds such as the eating of animal flesh and the killing of other animals will result in serious punishments and manifesta- tion into an animal body (Alexakis, 2001: 168). In another work, scripters point out that, by definition, the souls of Auditors are reprocessed into plants or into a human life, either as an Auditor once again, or as FRITILLARIA KURDICA. BULLETIN OF KURDISH STUDIES | NO. 13-14, 09.2016 6 an Elect, (Acta Archelai, 10), but this is not rebirth or reincarnation; the human soul does not cohere in ordinary passage from life to life.