مجله متن شناسی ادب فارسی
سال شانزدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 62، تابستان 1403)

Masnavi Manavi written by Jalaleddin Mohammad Balkhi (Rumi) is one of the most prominent mystical works in Persian literature. This book has been and is influential; consequently, the readers' needs have been and are subject to many descriptions in different languages.

Assessing and analyzing the method and the content of descriptions of Masnavi are considered the most important study subjects in searching the works of Mowlavi Analyzing the affectivity of the available descriptions would demonstrate the significance and stance of such works in the field of writing description. The description of Mostafa Ibn Shaban Soruri on the subject here is considered one the most complete and the oldest in Asia Minor in Persian. Regarding the antiquity and the description language of Soruri, it is essential to specify the rate of its affectivity in the process of writing a description. The objective here is to find the extent of the oldest Persian descriptions of Masnavi by comparing Soruri's description with Javaherolasrar and Zavaherolanvar by Kharazmi.

The results of this comprehension indicate that the description of Soruri has been affected by Javaherolasrar in terms of structure and content. An important part of Kharazmi's description is included in Soruri's description without any reference, while Soruri, in his foreword claimed that he perceived this work by discovering the spirit of Mowlavi.Keywords: Soruri's Description, Kharazmi, Javaherolasrar and Zavaherolanvar, Method, ContentIntroductionThe remarkable interest of Masnavi readers in comprehending it and the necessity to clarify its complexities initiated literary works like description, glossary, modification, translation, etc. in different contexts. The high volume of explanations of Masnavi from the past to the present indicates the level of interest in this book, and the necessity of proving the deficiency and weakness of its explanations. One of the significant research issues in the field of Masnavi studies is to recognize and analyze the procedure of writing descriptions. The comparison of Masnavi's descriptions in terms of method and content reveals the span of their overlap; next to assessments of advances, and shortcomings.The description of Masnavi by Moslehoddin Mostafa Ebn Shaban Soruri (1561) is identified as the oldest Persian description including both the Masnavi books. The two core questions here are: 1) Are all of these descriptions Soruri’s brainchild or they refer to other descriptions? and 2) If Soruri has resorted to others, how effective was it? Answering these questions necessitates considering analyzing and comparing the description of Soruri with othersThe objective here is to scrutinize and explain the method and content of Soruri's description by comparing it with the Javaherolasrar description (the oldest Masnavi description).Method and MaterialsThe method adopted here is analytic and descriptive based on library data. The focus here is on presenting a pattern to assess the different aspects of the descriptions of Soruri and Javaherolasrar Kharazmi. In the first section, the similarities and differences are compared and explained to clarify the verses; in the second section, the opinion of each commentator is analyzed in terms of compliance with the views of Mowlavi based on the model of the mystical tradition and in the third section, by assessing the preface of each book of Soruri's description, the acquired evidence indicate the outperformance of this description vs. Javaherolasrar.

Comparing the method in Soruri's description and Kharazmi's description indicates that primarily, many of the phrases and deductions of Kharazmi exactly resemble that of Soruri's description. Similar proses and verses are detected in both descriptions and that Soruri has taken advantage of Kharazmi’s descriptions is evident. Soruri applied the language of Kharazmi (books one to three) which is intricate. In other sections (book four and on), descriptions are written in simple prose. Soruri has summarized and simply described the verses not mentioned in the descriptions of Javaherolasrar.The content of the description of Kharazmi and Soruri is compared based on the mystical pattern of Mowlavi. Kharazmi has sometimes pointed out the viewpoints of Ibn Arabi in describing Masnavi. In some other cases, Soruri has made a connection between the first and second mystical traditions. Unlike Kharazmi, Soruri has mainly considered the lexical and rhetorical layers. To describe the mystical concepts, defined the outlooks of the second tradition of Kharazmi and sometimes described the first tradition. The foreword indicates that the commentator has consciously benefited from Javaherolasrar.The results of this study indicate that Soruri was affected by Kharazmi's description. There exist doubts about the independence of Soruri's opinion in Masnavi's clarification, thus, it cannot be considered an effective explanation. Direct affectivity from Kharazmi's description and not pointing out his name raises this notion that the rest of the materials not derived from Javaherolasrar may belong to others except Soruri.

In today’s interdisciplinary studies, assessing the relationship between literature and other sciences is highly beneficial in literary criticism. The psychoanalytic criticism is one of the pioneers of this phenomenon. This approach in the contemporary era has entered a new phase with the formation of new psychoanalytic cores in terms of psychoanalytic theories of love initiated by Robert Sternberg, who defines his analysis system based on the type of action of individuals in romantic relationships. He has developed efficient model in identifying the form of love in each person in this context. The objective here is to adopt a descriptive-analytical method to assess the love poem Khosrow va Shirin and Leili va Majnoon by Nezami Ganjavi with a comparative approach from Sternberg’s view and explain why the titles Eshq Nameh (love) and Havas Nameh (lust) are applied to the narration of Leili va Majnoon and Khosrow va Shirin. The results indicate that from Sternberg's point of view, perfect and holy love is a threefold relationship of commitment at the highest level and intimacy and passion at the lowest levels. In a narrative based on the failure of love in the direction of "ideal and perfect love" and its victorious hero is involved in "sad and romantic love", the type of relationship is based on lust the Havas Nameh and if the type of mutual love is of the "ideal love" type orientation, due to the priority of the commitment component, love is formed in its true meaning, the Eshq Nameh. The results here indicate that the element of commitment in Ganjavi’s self-consciousness has an operational structure and function in love-based relationships in terms of Robert Sternberg’s theory and cognitive psychoanalysis in the contemporary period.

Psychoanalysis is generally applied in exploring and analyzing of the mind’s functionality and psychological problems among people. The founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud, had a significant role in promoting literary studies. Among the theories of psychoanalysis, the category of love is one of the issues that have attracted researchers in the field of anthropology, especially psychologists, as an explanatory and fundamental subject in human life. In 1986, Robert Sternberg presented his first theory about love in "A Triangular Theory of Love" theory, in 1994; he re-evaluated the love triangle theory and developed the "love story" or "love as a story" theory.
The central element in Nezami’s narratives is the issue of love and its governing relationships. Two of his works, Leili va Majnoon and Khosrow va Shirin, have aspects of relationships that, above all, can be proposed and assessed in a comparative reading as a proper subject for this type of psychoanalytical analysis. Love is the principal theme in Nezami narratives. In his two significant narratives, his focus is on the clear border between love and lust. The objective here is to assess these two areas concerning the cognitive psychoanalysis of the contemporary period by relying on the data of psychoanalytical knowledge.

Method and Materials:

This research compares the type of love in the two narratives Khosrow va Shirin and Leili va Majnoon through the descriptive-analytical method.

According to the textual implications, passion is evident in all the stories as the most prominent component in the course of the characters’ affection. This component is more apparent in Khosrow va Shirin, especially in the course of Khosrow's love, followed by more elements of intimacy and commitment. The results indicate that Khosrow's love for Shirin was initially the type of love that only consists of passion, and there is no mention of the other two components. By enriching intimacy, Khosrow is placed in romantic love. Khosrow's love for Shirin is foolish, where experiences absurd love when dealing with Maryam; accordingly, in Shirin's personality, more than any other component, is at the first level, followed by intimacy and passion. Because the passion in Shirin evolves quickly next to intimacy and commitment, it can be deduced that love in Shirin, according to Sternberg's views, is the ideal and perfect love, while, the most explicit component of Farhad is his commitment, which appears to be mixed with elements related to intimacy and passion, thus, Farhad's love can be classified as ideal love. The findings here reveal that the frequency of love in the Khosrow va Shirin narrative is romantic love, complete love, foolish love, and empty love, respectively.

The tragic side of the narratives appears when the characters in whom the three elements of love have reached perfection and have experienced ideal love, though love turns out to be a failed experience. At the same time, Khosrow's character, according to Sternberg’s analytical principles, is devoid of the element of commitment and, based on the narrative, is the winning hero of the story. Leili va Majnoon is identified based on commitment, which is a two-way and mutual issue. Although Leili agrees to a forced marriage with Ibn Salam, a traditional marriage, according to the propositions of the text discussed earlier, she committedly insists on the love of Majnoon. Other elements of love are manifested in her existence to the extent of perfection. Because love in Leili and Majnoon is at the ideal love level, the bound between love and lust in Nezami’s narratives is somewhat bolder.
Another determining factor is the element of commitment that is from the perspective of cognitive psychology; a relationship that lacks commitment is practically empty of its perfection and can be defined within the boundaries of lust. Nezami names a story of love as “lustful”. From a cognitive point of view, if the type of love between the two sides is of the ideal love, based on the existential centrality of commitment, love is in its complete form.

Translation scholars have developed different approaches to demonstrate the nature of translation, one being the cannibalistic post-colonial approach. The story is -Brazilian natives ate the Portuguese priest (a symbol of colonization) during a ritual. This event was later presented as the Declaration of Cannibalism, and symbolically, the act of digesting and absorbing the achievements of the colonizer, by eating the flesh and drinking blood through which, the colony got stronger.

If we look at Masnavi Ma’navi from this perspective, the reason for the Quran’s tremendous influence on it will be completely clear. To clarify the impact of the Quran on Masnavi Ma’navi from a post-colonial translation perspective, Vinay and Darbelnet’s model is adopted because the post-colonial perspectives often have descriptive approaches. Vinay and Darbelnet’s model is concerned with two direct and indirect translation strategies in linguistics and translation studies.

The results of the study indicate that Masnavi Ma’navi, from a post-colonial perspective, is a form of translation of the Quran. Molavi’s motivation in resorting to Quranic verses, in parallel to the meaning of his poems, is to establish a Utopia of Persian literature so that Persian language and literature can reach the level of the high cultures of the world. Although Molavi applied both direct and indirect translation strategies in transferring Quranic verses into Masnavi Ma’navi, he is interested in ingurging, modulation, and equivalence methods as well.

Translation scholars have developed customized theories to demonstrate the nature of translation with ideological tendencies. One of these theories is the cannibalistic postcolonial approach. It dates back to the story where Brazilian natives ate the Portuguese priest (a symbol of colonization) during a ritual, later presented as the Declaration of Cannibalism. Symbolically, the act of digesting and absorbing the achievements of the colonizer, especially their language, by eating the flesh and drinking blood of the other party, was transformed into a means of strengthening and promoting the colony’s power. In brief, the objective of the colony was to absorb the power of the colonizer within itself as to generate new authority. Eating foreign flesh and drinking blood in this ritual is a symbolic sign of respect and acceptance statute and superiority, with no denial or rejection on the colonizer part. In this perspective, the colony replaced the subordinate stance with the superior stance and, like a superior culture, reached power and glory. In the Homogenetic approach perspective in the translation process, the source text is ingurgated to strengthen the target text (TT). A deep look at Masnavi Ma’navi in this perspective, the reason for the Quran’s tremendous influence on it will be completely clear. To clarify the impact of the Quran on Masnavi Ma’navi from a postcolonial translation perspective, Jean-Paul Vinay and Jean Darbelnet’s model is adopted because postcolonial perspectives have descriptive approaches and it is necessary to integrate these approaches with pattern-based and analytical approaches.

Method and Materials:

The Holy Quran and Masnavi Ma’navi constitute the primary sources of this study. The effect of the Holy Quran on Masnavi Ma’navi from the viewpoint of post-colonial translation is combined with Vinay and Darbelnet’s model. The two general strategies of their model are direct translation and oblique translation. Accordingly, in any translation, there exist seven key active processes or procedures::Ingurgitating: is to take a word from the source language (SL) and hold it in the target language (TL), the easiest of the procedures, usually applied in one of two situations: when addressing a new technological method for which there is no term in the TL, or when holding a word from the SL for stylistic effect, where the translator applied a foreign word.

Calque:

 is when a word from the ST is translated into the TT. Calques either adopt the TL syntax when translating each word literally, or they disregard the TL syntax and stick to the SL syntax, thus, making syntactical structure complicated in TT.
Literal Translation: according to Vinay and Darbelnet, this approach can only be applied in specific situations. These scholars believe that interpreting word for word without changing the context is an appropriate measure applied in literal translation. Simply, literal translation broadens the meaning of a calque more appropriately.

Transposition:

 according to Vinay and Darbelnet, is described as a change in word class without a change in meaning. This applies when translators alter the word form, such as nouns to verbs, without thinking about it. Transposition, to Vinay and Darbelnet is either mandatory or optional; they refer to the ST as the base expression and the TT as the transposed expression.

Modulation: 

is the process of generating a TT from a different perspective than the ST. When the results of the previous procedures produce an awkward-sounding translation despite being grammatically, syntactically, and lexically correct, Vinay and Darbelnet consider this procedure to be appropriate.
Equivalence: can be both simple and complex. Vinay and Darbelnet apply the example of someone expressing pain to describe equivalence as something that is almost inherently cultural, expression "ouch!" in English, while a literal translation of the sound would be useless to the reader in French, expression, “ae!.” Both terms will immediately convey to readers that there is a degree of pain involved.
Adaptation: when the translator attempts to make the SL into the TL while assuring that it is as important and meaningful as the original, adaptation is equivalent to equivalence. Imagine if the ST said anything so unmistakably English that translating it into French would be meaningless, or vice versa. Adaptation is needed at this point by the translator. The phrase banlieue is a great example of this, but it can be a bit of a double-edged sword when translated into English.

The findings here reveal that the level of linguistic interference depends on social and cultural factors next to the strength of different linguistic and literary systems; for example, when the translation is done from a strong language or culture, the reception of the SL will be greater in the TL, especially if TL or culture needs to gain strength in a specific context. In this article, the ingurgitation method, as the first of the seven main methods of Vinay and Darbelnet’s model, is fully adopted in the process of analysis of Masnavi Ma’navi to reveal new perspectives on translation studies. Ingurgitating elements of the SL are the methods applied in preservation, reduction, deletion, addition, transposition, and modulation. Among these seven models, the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th are applied in transferring the verses and phrases of the Quran into Masnavi Ma’navi. The translation with calque and literal translation methods was less than the others.

Based on the finding here, Masnavi Ma’navi, in a postcolonial perspective, is a form of translation of the Quran, as the translator has selected the highest and most sacred capital of the SL, like the Quran, and has applied its verses to compose his poems and give them meaning to the highest extent possible. Molavi’s motivation in applied Quranic verses, next to the meaning of his poems, is to establish a Utopia of Persian literature so that Persian language and literature can reach the level of the superior cultures of the world. Although Molavi considered both direct and indirect translation strategies in transferring Quranic verses into his Masnavi Ma’navi, without disregarding strategies like ingurgitation, modulation, and equivalence.

To correct and complete Sana`i’s works, it is necessary to refer to secondary sources, including Persian dictionaries. In this study, verses attributed to Sana`i in thirteen early Persian dictionaries are reviewed and his nineteen newly found verses are introduced. The method of this research is citation analysis, where, first, the verses attributed to Sana`i are extracted by the library method and based on some Persian dictionaries, and next, by applying the method of citation analysis, the status of each of the attributions is determined. His nineteen verses not available in his edited works are mentioned here. The cases where other verses are mistakenly attributed to Sana`i are introduced in brief. For critical editing and completing Sana`i’s works, it is necessary to resort to his poetic evidence in Persian dictionaries. By assessing thirteen Persian dictionaries from the 7th to the 13th century AH, a total of 1515 verses, are attributed to Sana`i is found, among which, his nineteen verses are absent in his printed works. The attribution of poetic evidence in Persian dictionaries is sometimes incorrect and a verse is mistakenly attributed to another poet. As in these thirteen dictionaries, thirty-one verses and one stanza are wrongly attributed to Sana`i. This mistake occurred mostly in the Suzani Samarqandi poems and Nezami Ganjavi's Haft-Peykar. In Persian dictionaries, among the works of Sana`i, the verses of Hadiqat al-Haqiqah and his Divan are cited the most. Sana`i’s printed works do not represent all his poems.

Referring to secondary sources is one of the necessary tasks for the critical editing of Sana`i’s works, because a) in his manuscripts, intentionally or unintentionally, all kinds of intrusions and omissions are evident; b) he was not able to compile and edit Hadiqa al-Haqiqah, and sections are scattered among the enthusiasts since long ago; consequently, by searching deeper in secondary sources, it would be possible to correct some of his verses and reconstruct some of his missing poems. The Persian dictionaries are among the secondary sources for critical editing. In this study, by assessing thirteen Persian citations from the 7th to the 13th century AH, it is sought to answer the following three research questions:1) What is the status of citing Sana`i’s poetry in Persian dictionaries, and which one of his works has received the most attention?
2) Which poetic evidence of Sana`i is not available in Persian dictionaries in his edited works?
3) Which of Sana`i’s poetic witnesses in Persian dictionaries are not of Sana`i and are mistakenly attributed to him?

Method and Materials:

The method of this research is citation analysis, where first, the verses attributed to Sana`i are extracted through the library method, based on some Persian dictionaries, next, by adopting the citation analysis method, the status of each one of the attributions is determined and next, his nineteen verses, not available in his edited works are revealed.

The findings here reveal that:1) By assessing thirteen Persian dictionaries from the 7th to the 13th century, we found a total of 1515 verses (or stanzas) are attributed to Sana`i, among which, 19 verses did not appear in his printed works. There exist reasons that support the attribution of some of those nineteen verses to Sana`i.
2) A total of 36 verses and one stanza from other poets like Adib Saber Termazi, Azraqi Heravi, Anvari Abivardi, Owhadi Maraqi Isfahani, Bana`i Heravi, Jamalu al-din Abd al-Razzaq Isfahani, Khaqani Sharvani, Soozani Samarqandi, Shah Ne`matollah vali, Shahid Balkhi and Kasa`i Marvazi, Kamal Ismail Isfahani, Latifi, and Nezami Ganjavi are mistakenly attributed to Sana`i, and this mistake has occurred mostly in the poems of Soozani and Nezami’s Haft-Peykar.
3) In Persian dictionaries, among the works of Sana`i, the verses of Hadiqat al-Haqiqah and then his Divan are cited the most. Among the masnavis attributed to Sana`i, only Karname-ye Balkh, Seyr al-Ebad el al-Ma'ad, and Tariq al-Tahqiq are cited, among which, Karname-ye Balkh is of high stance.
4) Sana`i’s printed works do not contain all his poems while containing other poets’ poems.
5) In the old days, some scribes wrote "Sana`i" as "θana`i".

1) In the critical editing of ancient texts, especially poetic texts, it is necessary to refer to secondary sources like Persian dictionaries and assess all the poetic references therein, especially for critical editing and completing the works that the author himself did not manage to compile and edit, while, the sections of those works are scattered and published separately for a long time. For the critical editing and completion of Sana`i’s works, it is necessary to consider the citations of the lexicographers to him in Persian dictionaries.
2) The attribution of poetic references in Persian dictionaries is sometimes incorrect, that is the degree of accuracy of the words of the dictionary authors is not to the extent that their words can be accepted without any doubt, because sometimes they have attributed a verse to another person mistakenly or for different reasons, including the similarity of the spelling of the name or the similarity in style. This type of mistake is more obvious, especially with equal-weight poems.

In recent years, attempts are made to overcome some of the ambiguities in Naser Khosrow’s Divan verses, while the remaining are yet to be overcome. The objective of this descriptive-analytical study is to explain and interpret some of the available ambiguous verses of Naser Khosrow’s Divan by referring to different resources. The objective here is to demonstrate that being aware of philosophical thoughts affects overcoming the ambiguity of vases in Naser Khosrow’s Divan. The results indicate that to facilitate the undertaking of correction and description of the subject, which is the core of the poet’s philosophical thoughts about the world, humans, and life, next to referring to the old manuscripts, close attention to the poet’s thoughts’ principles and origins is of high essence. As an example, with no deep grasp of the abstruse concepts as the central world topic and the element’s tendency toward it: 1) the elements’ love and hate in the world of existence and decadence, 2) the pairing of the wisdom and general soul and its contribution in constructing the lower world, the minor world, the major world, 3) overturning the tree and viewing its roots as its mouth, and 4) the advantages of a cat that catches a mouse, a major part of the ambiguous verses in this Divan would remain ambiguous.

The best-known edition of Naser Khosrow’s Divan is presented by Minovi and Mohaghegh’s (1986) correction. Didactic literature has a privileged stance in the history of Persian literature. The objective of this literary genre is to train and teach: lifestyle, ethics, religious, gnostic, philosophy, and theosophical subjects. Naser Khosrow is one the most famous poets and authors who sought to teach philosophical subjects to his audience. Understanding his poems in their proper sense is not possible without comprehending his ideological principles. Reflection on his thought principles opens the door to interpreting some important verses of his Divan. The objective here is to explain and analyze some important verses of Naser Khosrow’s Divan according to his ideological principles.

Method and Materials:

The adopted method here is a descriptive-analytical based on library sources to overcome some ambiguous verses of Naser Khosrow’s Divan. The objective here is to reveal that the ambiguity of some verses arises from the complication in the poet’s philosophical thoughts and cultural background. In this context, while the general context of the ode in the style of the phrase in different verses is of concern, the detailed philosophical subjects, based on the prose, the works of other Ismaili-era thinkers, and their intellectual sources are proposed. Through these expositions, an attempt is made to clarify the ambiguity of the verses.

Perception of the ancient wisdom on the central topic of the world, conflict amongst elements, the relationship between general intellect and general soul and its contribution to the creation of the world, correspondence and parallelism between humans and the world, the image of the tree root as its mouth, and the ancient belief in properties constitute the findings here.

Five philosophical and intellectual topics and one cultural belief in six ambiguous verses from Naser Khosrow’s Divan are assessed. The first topic is the ancient view about the center of the world which was first put forward by Aristotle and made its way to the Isma’ili works; the second topic pertains to Naser Khosrow’s attention to the conflict and struggle among elements in the lower world. The Greek philosophers were concerned with the love and hate of the elements and regarded them as the origin of the world’s unity. Naser Khosrow, influenced by these ideas, proposes a special interest in the conflict between the elements in the material world. The third topic relates to the origin of human life, which, unlike the body that belongs to the world of the elements, originated from the general intellect and general soul, which have a special stance in Naser Khosrow’s thought system. The fourth topic is the place of the big (major) world and the small (minor) world in Naser Khosrow’s works. The idea of appraisal of the world with the human body has a very long mythical history in Greek, Indian, and Iranian philosophical texts. The fifth topic is an explanation of an ancient and rare belief about the property of the creatures; the sixth topic is an account of the direction and manner of the plant, animal, and human placement order on the earth. There exist diverse sources of ambiguity in some verses in Naser Khosrow’s Divan. As observed, these ambiguities arise in part from the poet’s alluding to the precise intellectual and philosophical subjects and the technical and cultural backbone of his poetry without clarification of which understanding of a group of verses in Naser Khosrow’s Divan would be impossible.

Since Saeed Nafisi's research, many corrections of Rudaki's poems (Divan-e Rudaki) are published, where the authors have sought to provide a more accurate correction and explanation. The disappearance of Rudaki's Divan and the scattering of his poems in different versions have made the compilation of all versions and providing texts containing Rudaki's poems a challenging task for researchers. Consequently, correcting Rudaki's verses to achieve a revised and refined text is difficult. Sometimes, despite the existence of versions, researchers have incorrectly incorporated deviations into the text of their books which are not supported by any available version. In such cases, researchers have either followed Nafisi's corrections and his alternative versions or been indifferent to the old and challenging versions, by neglecting the distortions and alterations introduced by copyists. Careful consideration of the aforementioned issues and considering the recurring mistakes in Rudaki's collections raises the question: Which are verses of Rudaki's Divan in the available books where the accuracy of versions is disregarded. In this study, an attempt is made to propose corrections for some of Rudaki's verses, supported by precision in manuscript versions, including the vocabulary versions of Asadi Tusi (Lughat-e Furs) and the historical version of Sistan.