RICERCA ITALIANA     

Epigraphic and literary monuments belonging to medieval Iran, Central Asia and India: philology and lexicography.

Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"

Abstract

The present project is meant to integrate in a single network specialist of Indian, Iranian and Central Asian languages of the Middle Ages active in the Dept. of Asian Studies of the University of Naples "L'Orientale" and at the Dept. of Oriental Studies of the University of Rome "La Sapienza". This is justified by the fact that the variety of languages present in the area can only be tackled by joining the efforts of specialists working in the different institutions. Given this, the Neapolitan research team will focus its attention on medieval Buddhist texts written in Sanskrit, Pali, Khotanese and Tibetan, studing them both from the literary and philological point of view and developing also the lexicological and lexicographical approach. This research unit will cover the geographical area of Central Asia and of the Indian subcontinent.
The Roman research team will focus on Middle Persian, the official language of the Sasanian Empire. This tongue was originally spoken in the south-western area of the Iranian plateau, but it later spread to other regions as well. The documents which will be studied are both epigraphic and literary and will be edited and prepared to be uploaded in the linguistic database. Synergies are evident. First of all for what regards methodology: the joint work on single problems will allow us to develop new approaches to the philological and lexicographical problematics able to be applied in the different linguistic areas. Then for what >>>

Principal Investigator

Carlo Giovanni CERETI Università degli Studi di ROMA "La Sapienza"

Research Objectives

Middle Persian texts:
1. Preparation of a critical edition of book seven of the Denkard, XML marking of the entire text in order to prepare it to be uploaded in the linguistic database;
2. Preparation of a critical edition of the inscriptions of Abnun, Mishkinshahr and Firuzabad, XML marking of the texts in order to prepare them to be uploaded in the linguistic database;
3. Sealings of Takht-e Suleiman: new photographies, publication of a new edition of the relevant material. Digitalization of the data.

Syriac tradition:
1. Publication of a comprehensive dictionary of Persian loanwords in Syriac.

A. Sanskrit texts:
1. Completion of the critical edition of the Sanskrit text of Narops's Sekoddesatika;
2. Completion of the critical edition of Vajragarbha's Hevajratantrapindarthatika;
3. Completion of the critical edition, translation and commentary Ravisrijnana's Amrtakanika;
4. Completion of the critical edition of the Paramarthaseva;
5. Critical edition of Aryadeva's Cittavisuddhiprakarana;
6. Translation of Vajrapani's Laghutantratika;
7. Paper on "Constructing the Wheel of Time: strategies for establishing a tradition";
8. Paper on "Constructing the Wheel of Time: the concept of Supreme Unchanging";
9. Pubblication of the volume "Buddhist Texts from Northern India. Vol. I. Texts from the Giuseppe Tucci Collection. Part I".

B. Pali texts:
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Timescale

24 months

National and international background

The project proposed by the research unit 1, coordinated by Prof. C.G. Cereti, represents the continuation of the NIBEG pilot project, and is meant to join two synergetic projects each aimed at the study of the linguistic and more in general cultural heritage of this period. The first is the Middle Persian Dictionary Project presently developed by two teams of experts, one in Rome and the other, already financed, in Jerusalem, and aimed at realising a comprehensive dictionary of Middle Persian. The second is the collaboration with the Iranian National Museum (Iran-e Bastan) of Teheran for the digitalisation of Pre-Islamic epigraphic texts. One of the most important activities foreseen in this program is the training of young Iranian scholars.
The planned collaboration with the Museum was hindered by burocratic impediments, but in the month of February 2005 it has come to a concrete agreement, since the Director of the Museum has then officially charged the present writer and Dr. Daryoosh Akbarzadeh with the re-edition of the bullae discovered in Takht-e Suleiman. Moreover, an agreement with the University of Kerman has been signed: the local Department of Ancient Iranian Languages will prepare the electronic edition of the Pahlavi Yasna. Joint seminars to train members of this team on the software are an integral part of this agreement.
The results of the Nibeg pilot project, which allowed the development of a specific software for Middle Persian, will provide >>>