The Chinese Textual Tradition of the Story of The King and His Dreams: An Analytical Investigation of Two Unstudied Recensions of the Story
This article provides the first translation into a European language of a barely-studied Chinese version (i.e., Yijing’s version) of a story found in Kalīla wa-Dimna known as “The King and His Dreams.” The article then compares the story with three versions from the Arabic textual tradition. Moreove...
| Published in: | Journal of Abbasid Studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
Journal of Abbasid Studies
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| Further subjects: | B
Buddhism
B Taishō Tripiṭaka B Mirror for Princes B Kalīla wa-Dimna B Story of The King and His Dreams |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This article provides the first translation into a European language of a barely-studied Chinese version (i.e., Yijing’s version) of a story found in Kalīla wa-Dimna known as “The King and His Dreams.” The article then compares the story with three versions from the Arabic textual tradition. Moreover, discussing the structure and content of this story, yet another unstudied Chinese version (i.e., Kinkara’s version) of the story is introduced. Both Chinese texts belong to the Chinese Buddhist canon (Taishō Tripiṭaka). Our study shows that of the two Chinese texts, Kinkara’s version bears less similarity to the three Arabic versions in terms of structure and content. Yijing’s text and the three Arabic versions are very close, but display in a number of scenes discrepancies in the general plot as well as in details, thereby creating different morals for the story in the two traditions. While the Arabic versions can be regarded as belonging to political advice literature, Yijing’s version remains a story with a religious moral. The variances between Yijing’s text and the three Arabic texts could partly be ascribed to possible adjustment of the original Sanskrit text of the story by the compiler-author of the Middle Persian Kalīla wa-Dimna in order to make the story adaptable to the agenda and the context of his book. Yijing’s text shows distinct similarities to the Tibetan version of the story. |
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| ISSN: | 2214-2371 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of Abbasid Studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22142371-00802008 |